Chapter 11

I thought that I was dead, Alicia. Really. You know: kicked off, six feet under, pushing up daisies, moving on. That was until I heard a shout. I haven't been dead before, so it's not as if I'm speaking from experience here, but I don't think that they shout much in heaven. In fact, I've always imagined heaven to be a bit of a peaceful place. It was probably this thought that made me open my eyes…To even more darkness.

I gasped and reached for my wand. Pulling it out was a bit hard, as I was sitting on the ground in an awkward position, but I managed it. "Lumos," I muttered, before looking around. It seemed that I was in some sort of…room. I blinked once, before shouting out, "Fred! George! What the hell have you done to me?" I wasn't worried; the Weasleys had gotten me into and out of situations worse than this. I was more squeamish, there was not much room to breathe…

My thoughts were interrupted as suddenly it was bright again. I inhaled through my teeth and covered my eyes. I slowly pulled my hand away, and to my surprise Lee's nose was just inches from mine. "You okay, Kate?" he asked. I pulled my head back a little, so that there was more room between us. "I didn't mean to drop it on you."

I looked around; Fred was there, folding up a piece of tarp. The thing that had, apparently, fallen on top of my head. It was the advertisement for the "Amazing Peruvian Darkness Powder! All the Fright of Real Darkness!" I was glad that they finally got around to taking it down; after what had happened at Hogwarts, they've been so careful as to who they were selling it to that the stock that they had barely moved at all.

I blinked in a disoriented way. I mean honestly, Alicia. Being chucked out of my living arrangements, and then chucked into some sort of crazy Weasley situation did not have the calming effect that I was looking for that Saturday morning. Lee put an arm around my waist as I stumbled off of the ground.

Lee tilted his wrist towards the sun, grimaced, and straightened his robe. "Time for me to be getting to the Ministry. Anything you need, Gred?" This was about time when I noticed that his dreadlocks were looking particularly tidy, and his robes were of especially high quality. I tilted my head to the side and examined my long-time school friend. This was when he worked for the Ministry in an insignificant job under his dad. You know when I mean. When he only commentated when his long hours would allow, I think that I may have mentioned it before. Of course, working for the Ministry allowed Lee to…ah…pull some strings for the Twins…

Fred frowned and clicked his teeth together. "Handful of Venomous Tentacula seeds would be nice. Please and thank you, Lee." Lee grinned and gave Fred a thumbs-up. Turning to me, he gave a sardonic grin and a nod, before Apparating. Poor Lee. He really was unhappy at the Ministry.

Fred looked over from where he was standing, only taking a small pause in his folding. "Sorry, Kate. We were trying to take down the sign. When you Apparated, Lee got distracted. Hence the sign throwing." He finished folding and threw it on the ground, his hands in the air. "I had nothing to do with it, I promise." There was only a moments' pause before Fred withdrew his wand, and pointed it at another pile of tarp on the ground. With a lazy wave, he unfolded it.

"George! Pay attention, man! Tell us when it's straight!" I winced. For some reason, Fred was in a particularly foul mood. He didn't pause for a joke. There was no good karma that came off of him, either. I followed his glare to the top of the building across the street, where it looked as if George was in completely opposite spirits. He was laughing at something and only snapped to attention when he heard his brother's yell.

As soon as it looked as if George was looking our way, Fred waved his wand and levitated the long piece of tarp. From my location, I couldn't quite make out the words right above me. Doing a bit of a dance on his tiptoes that I would have laughed at, had Fred not been in a right mood, he tried to position himself as close to the center as he could.

"There!" George called loudly across the street. "It's straight right there!" Fred waved his wand to apply the Sticking Charm and George, his duty done, saluted to whoever he was laughing at. Then he was gone from the rooftop and standing right next to Fred. Apparation. I will never fully get used to it.

"Whose shop is that?" I asked George, but Fred answered instead. "It's a family shop. The girl who runs it now is about our age. When we moved in, she brought us cookies." I nodded appreciatively at the Apothecary shop that looked quite high class, from what I could see. Someone who did so well as to have such a beautifully painted sign as that, and still managed to find time to bake cookies got points in my Quidditch Scorebook 'o' Life.

George folded his arms and raised an eyebrow at me. "Okay, I'll bite. Twenty questions it is, Bell. Why're you here?" He stood stock still, and only looked away long enough for both he and Fred to wave at a generously proportioned old man down the street. I sighed, and once again explained my displacement. They both listened quietly and, I feel awful for saying this, but it was the perfect day for Fred to have a bad day. He had no smart-ass comments to throw back at me with a grin.

Talking to the Twins, however, is still not as nice as talking to you. You know when to sympathize, Alicia. You know when to make those obnoxious cooing noises (Don't deny it now, dear). The Twins, however, just looked at me, nodded, and both mumbled a version of the clichéd phrase, "Well that's the way is goes, isn't it?" I guess with all that they have been through, it's hard for them to feel sorry for me. And that's okay.

I shrugged off their attempts at sympathy and backed out from underneath the sign. I could finally read it. I was so sure that it was an ad for some wild and wacky new invention of theirs…

WEASLEY'S WIZARDING WHEEZES NOW HIRING!

Not a brain? Need not apply!

I frowned. I looked at the Twins. Then I looked back at the sign. Then at my shoes. Finally, I looked back at the Twins. It certainly was not what I expected. They both looked back at me, innocent faces in place. I swear that I saw a ghost of a smile on Fred's face before he said, "Like it? Forge made it."

I looked back at George and gave a hesitant smile. "Always knew you were the eloquent one, George." He gave a tight smile and a nod. Peering back at the sign, I just stared a moment. I had to ask…It was killing me… "What happened to…to…Veric...Veris…Blondie?".

It was as if the lights in their faces had suddenly clicked off. Fred ground his teeth and George set his jaw, sneaker toeing the dirt. There was a pregnant pause before Fred finally decided to answer me. "Verity. We chucked her." There was a small sigh of relief from my side. As long as she wasn't eaten by anything that they had invented. Eaten or mauled. That could put a damper on anyone's fun.

George finished for him. "She was nicking from us, Katie. Left and Right. We just thought that we had made some errors in counting. Honest mistakes. But she was a bloody sneak. We found out just this morning, Veronica spotted her."

It didn't even occur to me to ask who Veronica was. The wheels in my head were turning, and I didn't want to stop them in the middle of whatever idea they were coming up with by asking some mindless question. I glanced upwards at the sign before pacing the length of it, turning around, and walking the length back.

Let me give you some insight into my mind, Alicia. Maybe everything will make a bit more sense to you. I was thinking that if I took that job at WWW, then I would have some pocket change. Some extra money would allow me to rent a flat, which would allow me to be mother/roommate's sister free. Then I could live there, play on England National, and have money spare. It was the perfect solution.

I finally stopped pacing. The Twins were whispering back and forth to each other, and when I stopped walking, they stopped talking. "I'm interested." I announced. They both gave me blank looks. You would have thought that I was talking to a kneezle. Honestly, Alicia. "…In the job." I finished, and they looked at each other. I couldn't read either of their expressions, but I have no doubt that each knew what the other was thinking.

"Katie is a bit of a brain." George pointed out with a shrug to Fred, who was looking straight at me. "She wouldn't nick anything from us, either." Fred muttered to himself out loud. Like I wasn't even bleedin' there, Alicia. I tell you, they are such…men!

The looked at each other again. "Right-o." George told me. Then Fred was quick to take my arm. I was elated, Alicia! It was the first good thing to happen to me in the longest time. I let Fred tow me through the doors to WWW, through the front two rooms, and finally into the back room. There, Fred pushed me into a chair and began rummaging through a desk drawer.

I watched him with a dazed look. It was amazing. I had been down on luck for so long, that it was basically the equivalent of you dating the handsome Jonathan. It was that good.

Fred slapped a piece of clean parchment onto the desk, and George sat behind it. It looked lovely and orchestrated (To mine eyes, at least). George pulled a quill from a drawer, as well as a bottle of ink. Dipping the quill, he was careful not to drip onto either the table or the parchment. As soon as this was done, Fred began to pace the room and dictate.

I am telling you, Alicia. For all the jokes that the twins have pulled over the years, you would think that their sense of humor would carry over to WWW. But no, Alicia. They took their business extremely seriously. Fred was babbling in legal mumbo jumbo, and I began to tune him out. I figured that neither of the twins would rip me off. And if they did? I knew where they lived, and where they worked. So there was no way that they would get away with it.

What exactly was I tuning him out with? Good thing that you asked, Alicia (Or at least thinking about asking.) I was visualizing my new flat. It would have a lot of windows, and a couple of rooms. There would be an absolutely breathtaking view of some meadow filled with roses. No! With sunflowers! I was also visualizing, quite vividly, the things that I would put into my flat. I lovely little stove, a flowerpot with titchy purple flowers, an English National banner. Not to mention that I would have enough to give my broom a full service and repair…

"Okay, Kate?" Fred broke into my reverie. I looked up with a faint smile. Fred was watching me intently, and George was hunched over the parchment, writing with unusually slow strokes and biting his lip all the while.

"Absolutely." I told him with a grin. George pushed the parchment across the desk towards me, and handed me the quill. Once again, I knew that the twins would not intentionally cheat me, so I just looked over the document and signed it with a flourish. "What exactly does this job entail?" I asked leaning back, my hands behind me head.

George looked at me from a position that looked frighteningly similar to mine. "Stacking, stocking, handling money, selling, fetching things from other places, working with customers…" He let the pause drag on in a painfully awkward way. I smiled and nodded. It was an easy enough job to perform, I had no problems with it. Also, could one think of a job any more entertaining than one that was under the twins? I sure couldn't. Not at that time, I couldn't.

Fred looked at me. I knew that he knew that I hadn't listened. I could tell just by the look on his freckled face. "Of course, you'll have to be here from after Quidditch practice until closing, on Saturdays from 8:30 until 6:30 ( A half-hour before opening, and after close), and on Sundays from seven until eight to stock for Monday." He tapped his wand at the parchment. "It's all in the contract that you just signed."

My smile faltered. That sounded like a lot of work. No Alicia, let me rephrase that. That sounded like a lot of work. As in…No time left in my schedule. At all. I clicked my teeth together and gave a dry laugh. "Remind me how much you're paying me." I requested, not as if they had said anything about it in the first place. Fred told me.

I closed my eyes and put my hand to my forehead. It was plenty of money, that wasn't the problem. The problem was,that it wasn't enough to buy my own bloody flat. It was it was a little more than England National was playing me to be pelted my bludgers and sit on a bench. It wasn't enough to even buy the titchy purple flowers, not if they were the magic ones that lived forever, and told you when to water then. Because let's be honest, that's a bit necessary for me.

I cleared my throat, and still avoiding their eyes, I broke the news to them in the form of the words: "Then you have to figure out how to board me. I haven't got any money for a flat, both Alicia and Angelina have roommates, and I really don't feel up to trusting some stranger to live with me."

When I looked up, they both were looking at me. So I finally confessed, "And I've got too much bloody pride to ask my parents for help, and my sister is moving in with Dave." George grinned, but tried to hide it behind his hand, and Fred's mouth turned into an 'O' of surprise. They both looked at each other.

Once again, I have no idea what is being said when they look at each other like that, but I do know that one second they were calm, and the second minute Fred had told me, "You can stay with us." Relief flooded over me, and I would have hugged them both if George hadn't have leapt out of the chair with both hands up and palms extended. He looked at Fred warningly.

"No. No. No! No, Fred! I know what you're thinking. No!" George looked utterly serious as he circled around behind me. I didn't have the slightest clue as to what he was talking about, and turned in my chair to watch him inch toward the doorway.

Fred spotted my puzzled look, and filled me in. "You can stay with George. He's got the bigger room." I looked hesitant, as Fred assured me that it was not a big deal.

"That's not fair! You can't use that against me!" George nearly wailed as he leaned into the wall in defeat. "I only got the bigger room because you got the bigger bed, because we decided that we didn't have room to buy anything else and we didn't want to spend our start-up money! Why do I have to bloody share?"

I held out my hands toward Fred in a gesture not unlike the one that George had given. "Really Fred. It's not that big of a deal. A couch in a corner would be fine. I'm not needy--"

Fred waved me off. "Have you been upstairs to our flat? It consists of two bedrooms, a closet-sized kitchen, and a bathroom. There's not enough space. That's the only place that we can manage to shove you. George's room isn't even as big as we make it sound."

I clicked my teeth and hung my head in what I hoped was a humble way. I don't think the twins know how much they helped me. They restored my confidence and my paycheck. Eventually I would save up for my own flat. Even the titchy purple potted plant. "I thank the two of you greatly for this opportunity. You are not only great businessmen, but great friends also. I don't think--"

George cut in. "Save the shit, Bell. Just go get your things so that we can find a way to shove them away, eh?" He scowled, and Fred socked him playfullyin the shoulder and gave him a grin. I hopped out of my chair and scampered from the room, but not before enclosing the both of them in a hug.

"Make sure you're back here soon, and we'll show you the ropes. Tomorrow is your first official day!" Fred called after me, and the tiny bell rang as I exited the shop.

Just outside the doorway, I took a deep breath and let it out very slowly. Finally, I was becoming an independent woman. I had two jobs (Overachieving hurts sometimes, Alicia. It really does.), a place to live, and friends. What else could I need?

Well, the answer wasn't what I needed. It was what I wanted. I wanted a first-string position badly. And now that I was settled in the other areas, I could finally take care of the main goal at hand.

Wanting badly to skip away from WWW, I held in my glee. Throwing my shoulders back and holding my chin high, I strutted away. I stopped only to draw my wand and point it at the help wanted sign. Performing the de-sticking charm quite wall, may I say, thetarp fell into a crumpledpileat my feet.

I left it there. The main thought going through my head right then was: Bloody hell, this is going to be a lot of work. But strangely enough, I didn't seem to mind.