"What do you think of the catalog?" George spread out some of the spare photos across his coffee table. He and Fred only had a mockup of the catalog so far while they worked on finalizing it. "The plan is to roll out to the stores that stock our products before the holidays start later in the year. Give us a chance to get orders from more customers and convince the stores to stock more products."
"Hmm, it's good." She turned the page to the WonderWitch product spread. The photographer had gone for an elegant spread and a black, white, and pink color scheme. "I like the way this looks. The pink gives it enough color for the right details to pop without being too busy. I think the classy look is perfect."
"Do you have much experience with this sort of thing because you sound like you understand this better than me." He grabbed his wand a moment later the teapot came soaring through the air. "Marketing is getting more complicated when it comes to places outside of our store."
"I help commission cover art for some of my projects and I spent a stint in marketing when I first got into publishing. Had to work my way up to editor. How many stores are you working with now?"
"Only half a dozen spread out over America and Europe. America is only selling our defensive products as is our partner in Germany. We'd like to keep expanding but it's a bit overwhelming to figure out where to start. Everywhere we've signed contracts with approached us first. With how well our WonderWitch products do we've been thinking about starting with them. I was hoping to get your take on possible stores since you have more experience with makeup and beauty stores than Fred and I combined."
She tapped the spread in front of her. "You should contact the big beauty chains. Send them something like this with a few samples."
"Sounds like a great idea to me, but would they take two guys seriously?"
"If you can give them a product that will sell they will stock you. My favorite store contracts with a bunch of brands and they each have their own little spot in the store with their logo at the top. If you could get into a place like that it'd get you in front of tons of new makeup customers. There's a branch about twenty minutes from my place."
George poured them each a cup of tea. "Can you take me to it and show me around? I'll have to run it by Fred but I think it's worth pursuing. We've been considering hiring someone to help with marketing and this sort of thing but we keep putting it off. We've been doing so well we don't know if the investment is worth it or if we'll just overextend ourselves."
"I'll tour your around the place and I'll look into how to contact them. You might be able to start by getting your products into the local stores and then going from there to avoid a huge increase in production all at once." She perked up, her earlier work worries fading away as she got sucked into her new idea. "Imagine the way your showcase would look. You could use this color scheme or bring in more colors from the shop logo as the backdrop. And you'd need a short marketing line to get attention. Everyone goes for luxury and pampering, if we could add some humor to yours it would stand out." She put the catalog down and peered at the extra photos of the WonderWitch products. "You've already worked with a designer on the packaging, right?"
"Yeah. We even had boxes designed for mail orders and if we need anything else we can let her know. She's brilliant at design. She did up some of our bottles."
"Sounds like you have everything you need, just need to find a way in." She tapped her quill against her chin. She believed the same about herself once, but editing had taken her passion and drained the well empty. Moving hadn't fixed that and now that she'd settled into her relationship with George and he wasn't such a shiny new distraction, those worries bubbled back to the surface. Same problems, different country. "How did you know this store is what you wanted to do? How did you know it was right for you?"
George leaned back as he considered the question. "I can barely remember how it all started it was so long ago. Our family never had much money, so we couldn't buy the Zonko products we wanted, and somehow Fred got the idea to make them instead and inevitably dragged me into it. Things went from there. Much to our mother's annoyance. She wanted us to go into the Ministry of Magic like Dad did, but we never considered it. Once we set our hearts on our own products, it felt like there was no going back. Nothing else felt like a real possibility. We got a plan and spent years working toward it. I never bothered considering if it was right or not."
"You never doubted it even once?"
He shook his head. "No, but you have to understand Fred to know why. Whenever Fred gets an idea he can convince the socks off anyone. And he once did that literally, by the way. He made the shop sound like a guaranteed thing as long as we put the work in. Oliver tried to talk us into aiming for a Quidditch league with him, but Fred wouldn't hear of it, not when we had our shop to work on. Of course back then Oliver had no idea of what he meant because we didn't have the shop yet, but that didn't matter to Fred. And now that we have it I can't imagine doing anything else. The shop has the best parts of both of us in it and it's given us financial security for the first time in our lives."
"I envy you a bit. The certainty of everything."
"Ah, but you love editing, don't you?"
She stirred honey into her tea, taking time to gather her thoughts. "I do but reading isn't the same anymore. I struggle to turn off my mind, to relax and enjoy a story. I miss the way it was before I worked in publishing. And this week there was talk of a restructuring and possible positions and hours being cut." She swallowed. As the newest one in the office her spot would be the first to go if it happened. "I've started wondering if it's time to make a career change." Maybe put some of her old marketing experience to use. If she wanted to stay in England with George, she needed to get herself into a comfortable position.
"You'll figure it out." He kissed her cheek. "I have complete faith in you. If you need something quick there's a few places in Diagon Alley hiring. You can use me as a reference, just don't tell them our relationship." He winked.
She giggled. "I hope it doesn't come to scrambling for something. I considered jumping back into the marketing side of things. There's a business lecture on marketing that's open to the public at the local college this week. I think I'm going to go to it. I knew it would be risky coming here, but I admit I thought the job would last a lot longer. Of course I could be worrying for nothing but I'd like to have a backup plan. Being an adult sucks sometimes." She hated the way her life seemed to enjoy veering off track. During her last year of school she'd felt so sure about what she wanted to do. She loved books, but working in publishing had tarnished them in a way she hadn't expected. Maybe doing what you loved for a living wasn't sound advice after all. Oliver's dream had come true. George was content with his shop and Fred, well his drunken confession made her wonder if he was the only one who could understand how she felt, like an aimless failure. George's words painted a different picture than Fred's, so what had changed for Fred? Had his breakup put him through a similar crisis?
"That it does. But you'll stay in England, won't you?" A note of worry hung in his voice.
"Yes, but to stay long-term I need to prove I have a job to stay. I came over through my company."
"Worst case scenario I'll hire you part time and vouch for you."
"That's sweet." She cuddled closer and leaned her head against his chest. "This is why I love you." The word slipped out. Her eyes widened when she realized what she'd said. This wasn't how she'd hoped to tell him. She'd thought she'd ask him to go to the park or somewhere more romantic before working up the courage. She wanted it to be somewhere more memorable.
For a minute silence stretched between them, long enough for her heart to race and her palms to sweat. This was where he informed her he didn't feel the same, she decided. He would turn her down and she'd go cry to Oliver and if he was smart he wouldn't remind her of his early warning about the Weasley Twins. She squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she could disappear through the floor.
George's lips pressed against her forehead and she opened her eyes. "You too," he said, his words coming out breathless. "Love you too." He grabbed her hand with an eager smile. Then his lips were on hers and before she knew it somehow her shirt had come off and he had a hand inside her bra.
"Bedroom," she said. She would die of embarrassment if Fred came home and walked in on them. She'd never be able to look him in the eyes again. Knowing him he'd tell his friends and then everyone would find out she'd been caught red handed on the couch. The last thing she needed was for Oliver to find out about any of the intimacies of her love life.
"Right. Wraps your legs around me."
She did and then he picked her up in one swift motion. She clung to him as he carried her to his bedroom, enjoying the way it felt to nestled against him. She nuzzled his neck and wiggled against the bulge poking her bottom. Maybe her slip up wouldn't be so bad after all.
He lowered her onto a pile of pillows stacked on his bed. He had so many she didn't know how he managed to sleep with them all. She had to admit though, they sometimes came in handy during sex, like when he used one to prop her bottom up to get a certain angle that made her toes curl. George plopped down beside her and trailed kisses form her jaw to her stomach.
"I hope you don't have somewhere you need to be." He gave her stomach another kiss, his hair gliding over her skin and making her jerk. He grinned at her.
"The only place I need to be is here."
"Good. Let's get these off then." He unbuttoned her jeans and helped her shimmy out of them. She grabbed his shirt and slipped it off, letting her hands trail over his skin as she lifted the shirt. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the inside of her thigh and she shivered. His hair tickled her thighs as he kissed his way to her core. His tongue flicked out, brushing over her clit. She let out a moan, her right handing twisting the ends of a pillowcase. Her hips bucked up as his tongue continued to explore in little circles. Just as the pleasure began to build and she felt like she was getting close, his head popped up.
"Can't have you finishing yet." When she gave him a pout he grinned and tweaked her nose. "We're just getting started." He moved into position, lifting her legs up on either side of him as he slid forward. His tip slid against her folds, teasing her. In desperation she lifted her hips higher. "Hey, Luce?" he said as he caught her gaze. "Love you." He pushed inside and she arched into him with a cry of pleasure.
Fred stopped to catch his breath when he reached the little pond at the park. He leaned forward, resting his hands on his thighs as his breaths came in huffs. Too much slacking in his jogging routine lately and he was beginning to feel it. This was the week he'd s sworn to get back on track. He'd even started marking the days he jogged on his calendar as a reminder. Maybe his therapist's reminder to not drown himself in work was starting to sink in. Until he returned to the monthly Quidditch games and started going back to his dueling club he hadn't realized how important they were too him, how much better he felt afterwards, but after Angelina…well he'd thrown himself into work and let everything else dropped to the wayside. Only alcohol had numbed his heartache.
Before Angelina, being single had never bothered him, but she'd made all his worst fears come true. Alone he would never be good enough when held up alongside George. Everyone always compared them and without George he was just the troublemaker with no one to reel him in. The difficult one. As a child he never meant to be difficult, but his trouble making had been a way to stand out. To make people look at him, to really see him as more than just one of the twins. But even that didn't last long once he made the mistake of roping George in.
George had a knack for finding the issues he couldn't see in products. He could fix the faulty ones and turn them into something brilliant. During the Angelina aftermath too much of keeping the store afloat had fallen onto George's shoulders. Poor George. What would his life be like without Fred? George always claimed he couldn't imagine doing anything else other than the shop but he had it in him to do any number of things. Maybe he'd have gone pro at Quidditch and gotten married already without Fred's playboy reputation haunting him. He'd have been a better student at school without Fred tugging him into all his schemes. He might have even gone into the Ministry like Mum wanted.
Trying to explain the whole thing was always difficult. Mum never understand. No one but George really. It'd taken three sessions for his therapist to start getting the hang of it. And Lucy, well she almost understood. That had surprised him, but she was tuned into George who'd had his own issues with the twin thing. Romantically mostly thanks to Fred. He blew out a breath. Damn the guilt that ate away at him whenever he thought about it.
He dipped a hand into the pond and wiped the water across his forehead to get rid of the sweat threatening to trickle into his eyes. Two ducks paddled closer. One quacked at him. He held up his empty hands and the ducks continued on down the pond's shore to the kids at the other end just as their mother pulled out a slice of bread from her purse. The ducks were spoiled from all the food thrown their way. He'd learned that the hard way when he'd brought a snack with him a few weeks ago and stopped to sit by the pond and eat. One of the damn ducks sat itself at his feet and wouldn't shut up until he threw it a chunk. Protein bars probably weren't even good for ducks. He'd heard you weren't supposed to give them bread either but that never stopped anyone. Just like George's warnings hadn't been enough to keep him from drinking.
Angelina ripped the first chunk of his heart out the day she asked for a threesome with George. Nothing was the same after that. The girl he used to play Quidditch with and wrestle down in the snow had changed and he could no longer ignore the bright red warning signs slapping him in the face. The very things she used to moan about her mother harping on about she now agreed with. Like landing a man with a respectable job, not someone who worked in a prank store. She'd suddenly started talking about having children too and once commented George would make a great dad. From there their plans to travel Europe together fell apart. One domino after another toppled. She'd made him feel like an immature twat to not want to discuss kids right out of school. He might want them later. Or never. And neither of those options had satisfied her. The easy romance they shared in school died, cannibalized by the decisions and stresses of adulthood.
At first he tried to put it all down to her struggling after the Battle of Hogwarts, they were all suffering in their own ways, but his hanging on only drew the pain out. "You'd be nothing without George," had been her last words to him after the break up. She'd known right where to stab and twist the dagger for maximum effect.
The little boy on the other side of the pond shrieked and ran as a duck flew at him. The boy's dad chuckled while his mother panicked and stepped between him and the duck. A wand peeked out from her sleeve and a second later the duck went tumbling back into the water. It was the sort of scene Angelina had started to crave with every fiber of her being, the happy family out for the day. His heart throbbed. The pain got duller every month but he couldn't wait for it to disappear altogether when thinking about her.
He turned and started back toward home, keeping his pace steady. In truth when Lucy told him he had almost everything together part he'd taken it as a compliment. It was proof of how far he'd come in the last six months. No longer did he shutter himself up in the basement working on products every night and drink until he blacked out on weekends. What felt overwhelming at first happened so gradually he'd barely noticed. Thank god for George stepping in and hiding the alcohol when he did. Not having it in easy reach had kept him from drinking so much when he didn't want to leave the basement. The week following the breakup he spent four days in the shop and George had to bring him a change of clothes. The shop had felt like his sanctuary and more than once he'd woken up on the shop floor after a night of heavy drinking out.
These days he felt more like himself. Unfortunately everything about Clara had been a mistake and it felt like a lot more than a "bump on the road to recovery" as his therapist called it. He'd been too eager for someone to see only him again. Despite everything he felt no bitterness toward George. It wasn't his fault they were twins and everyone compared them and mixed them up all the time. Wanted them both. George was right about his type. He needed to find a new type. One that wouldn't aggressively stomp all over his heart.
Overheard clouds rolled in and he hoped the rain would hold off long enough for him to get home. George had mentioned Lucy would be visiting. Had she told him about her feelings yet? Thinking about it made his chest feel hollow. He couldn't forget the dreamy expression George gave him the night before when he said, "I think she might be the one." It'd gotten him thinking about the future. Specifically one where George moved out to live with Lucy and left him all alone. He didn't like the idea of living alone. It sounded crushingly lonely. Home would feel too quiet after the shop. He still had no idea of what he wanted yet outside of the shop, but Ceece always assured him that was okay. He'd figure it out as he went.
However that didn't keep him from feeling like George was about to leave him behind. They'd always lived together. Learning to have his own room had been difficult enough because he was so used to sleeping near George. Too many nights he'd tossed and turned until he sneaked into George's room to sleep on the floor. George's breathing had lulled him right to sleep. Sure they'd still have the shop together. It wasn't like he would suddenly never see George, yet he couldn't shake the fear of a future living alone. He'd be like Percy. That weasel lived alone in a little flat and while George had made up with Percy, Fred still struggled to forgive him for his past decisions. For breaking away from the family to try to ladder climb. Percy's place always felt haunted almost. Too sparse and plain to feel lived in.
A rain drop splashed onto his nose and he sped up. He ignored the ache in his lungs as his street came into view. The rain picked up, the chill of it refreshing compared to the sweat soaking the top of his shirt. The distant boom of thunder was less inviting. At Hogwarts he had loved watching storms roll in. The way the sky darkened above the lake and made the air smell like rain. It carried an eerie beauty to it. He missed Hogwarts sometimes. Spent too many years there not to. He couldn't imagine having gone to a different school like Lucy, but he knew little about the American schools of magic. Hogwarts was in his family's blood. Too much a part of him to imagine going anywhere else.
He pushed his legs to go faster and escape the coming rain. Rays of sunshine poked through gaps in the dark clouds and then were just as quickly swallowed up. By the time he reached the front door his lungs felt ready to burst again. He gave himself a moment to catch his breath. Then he headed toward his bedroom to grab his change of clothes. He'd take a nice relaxing hot shower then watch the rain out the window with a hot cup of tea. It'd been a good run. He deserved to have a few minutes to himself to unwind.
"Harder. Mmmm."
He froze at the sound of Lucy's voice. Across the hall from his door George's hung cracked, just enough for him to hear the bed creak and Lucy moan. The sounds of a woman being shagged were enough to send his blood rushing south.
"Yes! Oh god, yes!"
He didn't need to look down to know he stood at attention. He'd put a break to his one-night stands. It'd been too long since he last got lucky. He wouldn't mind an outlet. He imagined stepping into the room and joining them, having a threesome like they had with Angelina. The most fucked up part of that situation had been the fact that he enjoyed it. Pushing for a threesome had driven him and George apart a bit, but actually doing it, he'd never felt closer to his brother afterward. Nothing about it had been sexual toward George, but he hadn't told his therapist about it either. He doubted pleasuring a woman together was the sort of healthy bonding experience she'd recommend. She'd probably give him a lecture on how he saw George as a mirror of himself or some other psychological mumbo jumbo. Plus he'd gotten his therapist working through the fact that he felt girls always wanted both of them and would never be satisfied with him alone. Turning around to say he wanted threesomes with his brother made no sense. But it'd been a sort of adult bonding experience akin to the way they used to share a bed as kids. He hated himself for feeling that way. Hated the way he couldn't seem to make up his mind on what he wanted.
Lucy let out a gasping moan as the squeaking picked up speed. Fred darted into his room for his clothes and then fumbled his way to the bathroom. He didn't want to give himself time to make a stupid decision he'd regret later. Peeking in was too tempting. Lucy wasn't his usual type, but she was pretty. And she listened to him in a way Clara never tried to and Angelina hadn't toward the end of everything. She acted like she truly wanted to understand, even if only for George's sake. He couldn't think of anyone else who'd put in the effort to do that outside of Angelina at the start of everything.
Lucy's gasps and moans chased him into the bathroom. Once he closed the door sweet silence greeted him. Then the sky opened up and rain tapped at the frosted window. He turned the water on to warm up and made quick work of his clothes, the shower drowning out any noises that might make it past the door. All the while his body made no attempt to calm down. He stepped into the shower and leaned against the front wall, letting the water cascade over him.
Even to the end Angelina had always been a good shag. He loved the way she let him tie her up or fuck her against a tree. Her noises had been as good as Lucy's too. His cock twitched at the memories. He tore his mind away from her, moving instead to the cute blonde he'd taken doggy style during his last one-night stand. She'd had a great ass. His hand traveled down until it wrapped around his hard on. Then he began to pump himself, remembering how good it'd felt when he'd entered her and the way she'd squeezed her legs around him when she came. He leaned more of his weight against the wall to keep his legs steady as the memory played out. Somewhere along the lines the blonde in his memory made the same noises as Lucy. He tightened his grip and his breathing grew more ragged. So close. A few more pumps and he came, spurting against the wall. The sight of his cum dripping down the shower wall made his shame rear its head.
Thinking of his brother's girlfriend while jacking off. What kind of sick bastard had he become?
"Look, this lotion and soap are made locally." Lucy grabbed the sample bar of soap sitting out and sniffed it. It smelled like vanilla and something else she couldn't pinpoint. She set the soap down, her nose twitching as she tried to hold the growing sneeze back. The sneeze escaped, head jerking forward from the force. The picture of the goat at the back of the display let out a bleat.
George chuckled. "Think I'll pass on trying the soap if that's the effect it has."
This late in the evening few shoppers roamed the store. A group of teen girls crowded around a display of lingerie enchanted to change colors. Lucy turned to Fred but he was distracted by the loud group of girls. He'd been distracted the whole trip. She'd gone to the dueling club the day before to take another class, but his sulky expression told her now wasn't the time to tease him about going on different days as him. She turned her attention back to Fred and the model posing in a picture at the back of the next display.
"See how they all have similar photos and styling? Doing something different would get your products noticed quicker. They'd stand out and draw shoppers' eyes. But you still need to make it look stylish to fit in well enough." George's head bobbed in agreement as she spoke.
"Seeing this place in person makes it easier to visualize. I like the idea of starting locally to see if our products land and then going wider. What do you think, Fred?" George turned to his brother.
Fred glanced between them and Lucy got the feeling he hadn't heard any of it. "You've always had good instincts when it comes to business, whatever you think is best."
George's eyebrows shot up. "Busy daydreaming, Freddy? Let's go see if the manager is around. I want to talk to them."
"I'll keep looking while you do that." Lucy made her way from display to display, analyzing everything from product packaging to the colors and arrangement. In bookstores shoppers tended to go for the books with the covers facing out. Anything else was too easy to overlook because the spines didn't stand out enough. Some publishers paid to get their books front and center, cover out, to boost sales. Likewise dated covers tended to get passed over. She applied what she knew to the beauty products, the way her gaze skimmed the products with outdated packaging to land on something splashier. Her thoughts kicked into gear as she considered how the WonderWitch products would look next to these brands. It was the same sort of excitement she used to get when books she worked on launched.
She peered over a round tower displaying lipsticks in every color of the rainbow. At the register Fred and George chatted with a woman who looked like she'd stepped out of a beauty magazine. Fred had come back to himself. He gestured animatedly at a nearby display, the local soap. He was in business mode now, they both were.
Tomorrow she planned to attend the marketing lecture. It was bound to be dreadfully boring but full of information she needed to brush up on. Maybe she could learn something that would help George. Fred and George both shook the woman's hand before heading in Lucy's direction. They whispered back and forth conspiratorially, their steps slow.
"We're going to try to get an appointment to discuss our products," George told her. His gaze slipped to Fred before landing back on her. "We were wondering if we could get you to come with us for it."
"Me?" She gaped at him. "Why me?"
"Well look at the manager," Fred said as he waved a hand in the woman's direction. "She's wearing a bunch of products she bought here. We need someone to show the products off in everyday use. Have a woman vouch for them."
George cut in. "I'm prepared to bribe you with dinner of your choice. And dessert."
She hated to say no and disappoint him. "We'll see." The prospect of seeing inside their business dealings excited her, but fear also made her heart stutter. She didn't want to ruin a big deal for them.
"I'm going to meet with our main distributer to discuss increasing production," George said. "We'll run the numbers and see what the owners of the shop have to say."
"Do all the boring things before the exciting things," Fred added.
George looked out the large window. "You two wanna go get something to eat? I think we've earned a nice dinner. There's a good restaurant just down the road."
Fred rubbed his arm. "You two go ahead."
"Are you sure?" George frowned. "You're more than welcomed to join.
"I'm going to go meet up with some friends." Fred shoved his hand into his pockets and kept his gaze down. "I'll catch up with you later." Fred slinked out of the store, his shoulders hunched.
"What's up with him today?"
George shrugged. "I think Clara might still be getting to him. Mum also wrangled us into a family dinner tomorrow. Fred isn't a fan of trying to make nice with one of our brothers."
"Ah, family drama. Always a bucket of fun."
He opened the door for her and they started down the street. Across the road dance music pumped out of a club.
"Fred asked me a question last night that got me thinking, do you think you'd ever want to move in together?"
Her heart skipped a beat. "Of course. I mean, if you were okay with it."
He grabbed her hand and entwined his fingers through hers. "I'd very much like it if you stayed in England. Eventually I want to move into a nicer place. When the time comes maybe it's a step we can take together."
"I hope so." She squeezed his hand, feeling so happy she could burst. It wasn't until they reached the restaurant that Fred came to mind. If she moved in with George, would Fred be okay with her splitting them up?