I don't own Hellsing or Harry Potter, and I'm not making any money from this.

Constance wound up staying in the hospital wing until Sunday afternoon. When Madam Pomfrey released her, she insisted that she wear an arm sling for another two days to ensure the bones set properly. The girl knew it was a necessary precaution, but trying to write things down in class while wearing the bloody thing was damn near impossible. Thankfully, Hermione and Mihnea took excellent notes in the classes she shared with them, and while Neville's weren't of the same pristine quality as theirs, he loved Geomancy enough to pay attention and take notes that were useful to study by. The only class she really had to worry about was Charms, since that was the one she had with the Ravenclaws and Slytherins this year. Professor Flitwick, however, took pity on her and gave her an enchanted quill which wrote down anything dictated to it. He had always been an especially considerate teacher but Connie suspected that McGonagall may have taken advantage of her friendship with him to make sure he'd allow it.

The entire school fell into a state of anxiousness about Black; Gryffindor house most of all. It was the second time their dormitory had been targeted and this latest attack saw the dark wizard actually come within their walls. Their safe haven - the place they all considered their home away from home - had been successfully invaded. No one felt safe sleeping in their own beds anymore because they all knew that one of their own had woken up to find the man standing there. It could have been any one of them. Since the portraits obviously weren't effective in guarding the entrance, Dumbledore fired the knight that had taken the Fat Lady's place and hired a set of guard trolls. They were a pair of massive, ghastly looking creatures who hulked about with heavy clubs in their hands. Constance personally wondered how much good they would do since Harry, Ron, and Hermione managed to knock out a fully grown mountain troll when they were eleven. But apparently these were a different breed with more intelligence (though not by much) and specific training in how to handle situations like this. They relied on visual confirmation rather than passwords so on the day of their arrival, every member of Gryffindor house had to line up outside the dormitory while Professor McGonagall called their names and pointed them out so the trolls would recognize who they were. Poor Neville had nearly fainted when one of them got a little too close for comfort and snorted into his face. Hermione tried to reassure him by pointing out that at least he wouldn't have to worry about remembering passwords anymore. Not surprisingly, it didn't do much to soothe his nerves. No one liked having them around very much.

There was also a second, more mundane reason for the students to be upset - and it was often used as a way of distracting themselves from the more serious matter at hand. The morning after Black's invasion of the school, the hourglasses in the Great Hall showed a discrepancy in house points. Gryffindor had been put ahead of Slytherin by five points after their win against Ravenclaw and Professor McGonagall had awarded ten points each to Harry, Hermione, and Constance for their actions during the attack on their dormitory. Ron was miffed that it hadn't been more than that, but their head of house wasn't known for giving outlandish rewards. Nevertheless, the addition of thirty points should have put them further ahead. But the tally showed that Slytherin was in the lead. No one could figure out what happened until word spread that even with as upset as Snape had been with him that night, the man awarded Mihnea fifty points for confronting and attempting to capture Sirius Black. Fifty! Even Slytherins who avoided him like the plague took to bragging about how amazing Mihnea Bassarab was. Three Gryffindors had fought against Black and failed miserably, but it only took one of their Slytherins to send the dark wizard running. The Gryffindor students were quick to point out that Black had run off because Harry and his friends attacked him first, but that didn't matter. There had been three of them, and one of Mihnea. Ron (who they made out to be a complete waste of space for not doing anything) had a panic attack and Connie wound up in the hospital wing for two days from her injuries. All Mihnea suffered was a broken nose. That made him the equivilent of a god in their opinion.

The resulting conflict over the details of the incident only served to make things worse. On Sunday morning during breakfast, Draco Malfoy had shouted at the Gryffindor table that it was a shame that Bassarab hadn't waited until after Black slit Weaselby's throat to chase him down. Maybe then they wouldn't look so pathetic, he said. Harry and Ron had immediately jumped up to beat the ever living shit out of him, quickly followed by Fred, George, Ginny, and a few other Gryffindors who took enough offense to get involved. Mihnea, who had been sitting near enough to hear the vicious comment, had grabbed Malfoy by the front his shirt, jerked him up off the floor, and threatened to send him back to his mother in pieces if he didn't shut his mouth and learn some manners. Then announced he'd do the same to any other Slytherin who dared to agree with the boy. Snape wound up breaking up the fight and took ten points away from every Gryffindor involved - which lost them 80 points in one go. Mihnea was then awarded even more points for 'having the moral fiber to stand up for the members of an opposing house'. Connie had still been holed up in the hospital wing at the time, but when she heard about it second hand it seemed that the Potions Master had only been using her cousin's response as an excuse to give more points to Slytherin. He certainly hadn't done anything to Draco for being the cause of the whole mess. Gryffindor house believed that they were being unfairly picked on and the vast majority of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students agreed.

With all this bickering going on, one would think that the student body would attempt to place the blame firmly on Mihnea's shoulders. Nothing was further from the truth. Seemingly overnight, the common perception of him began to change. Whereas other Slytherins wouldn't have gotten involved unless they were personally bothered, Mihnea had boldly put himself at risk to come to the defense of Gryffindor house - which was Slytherin's greatest rival. It was also the first time he had visibly lost his temper and torn into one of his housemates for the entire school to witness. Granted, Mihnea hadn't done anything worse than pick Draco up and give him a hell of a scare, but it was enough to make a lasting impression. People had always known that he ignored tradition and didn't behave like most of his house, but Mihnea had still been seen as a person to be wary of due to his being grouped in with the 'bad sort'. Now that the spotlight had been turned on him, he was treated differently. Students still found him dark and intimidating and he still made people a bit nervous... but perhaps he wasn't truly as bad as they had thought. Constance (and all of her friends) were a little annoyed that everyone made such a huge deal about him over their contribution, but it was still nice to see that people weren't acting so damn stupid around him anymore.

Of course, her notion of 'not acting stupid' didn't apply to the girls. Good God in Heaven, the girls. They were in a category all their own. Never in her life had Connie ever been so ashamed of the other members of the female gender.

When she was stuck in the hospital wing, Fred had commented during a visit that her cousin had a 'gaggle of groupies' following him around now. At the time, Constance had thought he was exaggerating or telling tales for her amusement. It wasn't until she got out and saw the state of things for herself that she realized how right he was. She knew full well that her cousin was no stranger to being noticed by the girls in his own house. He was his father's son, after all, and very good looking. The whole 'tall, dark, mysterious' routine he had going on didn't hurt either. But it had never been to this degree before. When Mihnea walked down the halls, girls from all houses would stop and stare at him, then blush and whisper to each other behind their hands when they thought he was out of earshot. Some of the older, braver ones would actually approach him in an attempt to be noticed. He hated the attention and tried to ignore it for the most part. But some of the things these nitwits did were so outlandishly brazen you couldn't pretend it wasn't happening.

One notable incident occured about three weeks after the break-in. Things had finally settled down to a more normal state and people were getting back to business as usual. During study hall, Constance, Hermione, Harry, and Ron had been working on an essay for Transfiguration. To be more accurate: the girls worked on their essays whilst arguing with the boys about doing their own work instead of copying after them. Fred, George, and Mihnea sat directly to their left. They didn't know what the specific questions were, but the twins claimed to have discovered some inside information that this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL was going to have some very vampire-centric components. Her cousin had an 'oh, what the hell' moment and agreed to study with them. (Probably because it gave him a legitimate excuse to get away from the Slytherin table for a while.) They were working intently, minding their own business, when George caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye. He nudged Mihnea's shoulder.

"Badgers at three o'clock."

Mihnea paused to glance in the indicated direction and groaned. "Bleeding Christ, not again." he muttered. He fixed his eyes on the parchment in front of him and took up writing again. "Ignore them and maybe they'll go away."

Curious as to what would inspire that kind of reaction, Connie looked over herself. Standing about ten feet to their right was a group of three older Hufflepuff girls. Sixth years, from the look of them. They were giggling and whispering furiously amongst themselves. Two of them were shoving the other girl toward their table, trying to get her to do something. After a few minutes, their prodding took effect. The girl they were pushing at resolutely squared her shoulders and came forward. Constance didn't know who she was, but she was nice looking. Tall and lean - a ballerina's build - with smooth, coffee colored skin and a head full of thick, tightly curled ringlets that bounced as she walked. You couldn't say she was the prettiest girl around, but she had the air of someone who knew exactly what to do and how to hold herself to... what was a polite way of putting it? Show off her assets and use them to her advantage. Yeah, that sort of girl. She waltzed right up to the table across from where Mihnea was sitting and put her hands down on the surface to lean toward him. She wasn't wearing a tie and her shirt was unbuttoned just enough to show a hint of cleavage without it being considered indecent. But the way she positioned herself certainly made it so.

"Hello, Mihnea." she said. "How are you?"

Her voice contained a small, yet noticeable sultry tone that anyone with more than two brain cells would notice. Harry and Ron hadn't been paying much attention, but both of them looked up from their papers to see what was going on when they heard it. Hermione quietly berated them for oogling the girl and forced them to put their heads back down. George was very pointedly not looking at her, while Fred was doing his damndest not to stare at her chest and failing miserably. Mihnea didn't even look up from what he was doing.

"In case you haven't noticed, I am studying." he said firmly.

"I see that." the girl replied. "And I'm sorry to bother you, but I couldn't help but notice what nice hands you have..."

"So you came over here and interrupted me while I'm doing something important to tell me how nice my hands are?" Mihnea questioned before she could finish, still not looking at her.

The girl appeared a bit put out by him interrupting, but otherwise undeterred. She cleared her throat and went on. "Well, you have very lovely hands, you see. With nice, long fingers. Seeing things like that will make a girl wonder... so I came over to ask if there was anything I could do interest you in showing me if the rest of you is that way."

Connie's mouth - along with everyone else's who was close enough to hear - dropped open in disbelief. She didn't just say what she thought she said, did she? In the middle of the Great Hall with all these people around? Granted, there were only a handful of people who could actually hear what was being said, but still! What sort of person did that? The moment the proposition left the girl's mouth, Mihnea's quill halted in the middle of the word he was writing. Without lifting his head, his eyes flicked toward her and focused on the sight of her chest put on display for him. For a split second, Connie thought she saw a flicker of consideration on her cousin's face - like he was actually thinking about taking her up on the offer. But the look disappeared almost as soon as she saw it. Mihnea sighed deeply, dropped the quill, and sat up straight to look her full in the face.

"What's your name?" he asked.

Now that she had his full attention, the girl smiled brightly. She thought the question indicated that he was interested. "Yasmin Taylor." she replied.

Mihnea inclined his head. "Alright Yasmin, answer a question for me." he told her. "Do I look stupid to you?"

Yasmin's expression faltered, confused. "Um... no."

"Do I look desperate?"

"No..."

Mihnea sat back and sniffed. "If I don't look stupid or desperate, then I fail to see why you or anyone else would think I'd be interested in someone who prisses around in front of me like a common whore."

The girl suddenly bolted upright and stared at him with wide eyes. "What?"

"You heard me." he said calmly. "You're acting like a whore. If you have to sleep with random guys to feel better about yourself, then that's a problem you need to figure out on your own. Being with me wont help you." He jerked his head toward the two girls she had left behind. "And if you need to have sex with me just to impress your friends, then you might want to think about getting new ones because those aren't the sort of people you should be hanging around with. If you can't do that, then you're pretty enough to get any guy you want. Go look for a fuck buddy somewhere else, because you're not going to get that from me." he made a dismissive, shooing motion with his hands. "Now go back to your little girlfriends over there and leave me alone."

With that, he picked up his quill and went back to his work. Yasmin just stood there for a long time, looking like she had no idea what to do with herself. Her expression was difficult to interpret. Constance imagined that most girls would get upset or offended after hearing someone tell them that. But this girl was more... caught off guard. Maybe the way he had been so calm and direct about it put her off balance or something. When Mihnea noticed she wasn't going anywhere, he looked back up.

"I said, go away." he told her. Not in a cruel way, but it was spoken in a hard tone that indicated he wasn't going to be argued with.

The girl gave a start and stepped back. Her mouth opened and closed a few times - as if she wanted to say something but didn't know how - then she blushed and turned away. When she rejoined her friends, they all immediately began jibbering amongst themselves.

"Oh my God, he's so sexy!" Yasmin declared in a rush of breath.

It was unbelieveable. Of all the reactions she could have had, no one thought that would be it. Fred stared at the group of Hufflepuffs as they moved further away, then turned back around with the oddest expression on his face.

"This is unreal. You insult them to their face and they still love you!" He peered jealously at Mihnea. "How do you do that?"

"Believe me, if I knew what it was, I wouldn't be doing it." her cousin replied.

Harry and Ron were so taken aback by what they witnessed that they shot an incredulous look at each other, then leaned over to look down the table.

"You mean this has happened more than once?" Ron asked.

"It happens all the goddamn time." her cousin replied with an irritated huff. He thrust a finger out toward where the girls had gone. "At least that one had enough sense to come up and ask. A couple of days ago I was minding my own business in my common room and I caught Desdemona Fortean trying to sneak Innamorartia into my drink."

Constance's mouth fell open with a sharp gasp. "Excuse me?"

Harry just looked confused. "What's... 'innamorartia'?"

"It's a potion, Harry." Hermione whispered to him, looking just as disturbed by the idea as Connie felt. "Innamorartia is classfied as a love potion, but that's never what it's used for. It's... the wizarding equivilent of a date rape drug."

Mihnea nodded. "It makes you horny as hell, your inhibitions disappear so you'll do things you'd never normally do, then once it wears off, you can't remember a bleeding thing that happened."

It wasn't the sort of thing anyone would want to find being slipped into something they were going to drink. Mihnea had a natural immunity to magics that were designed to affect the mind like that, but it was the principle of the thing. The potion was specifically created so that rapists could avoid legal trouble by claiming that their victim was willing. It was positively disgusting.

"What did you do?" Connie asked him.

Her cousin gave her an intent, meaningful look. "You really don't want to know."

The girl didn't like what the tone of his voice implied. He could have done a whole host of horrid things - some of which were beyond her ability to imagine. She leaned over and grabbed his arm.

"Don't even start with that!" she told him. "What did you do to that girl?"

"What do you think I did?" he asked calmly. "When I saw what she was trying to do, I grabbed her, forced the entire bottle down her throat, then left."

The boys' eyes all bulged out of their heads in disbelief and Hermione started flipping out.

"You what?" she demanded. Her voice came out louder than she intended and she quickly looked around before lowering it to a venemous sounding whisper. "What if someone found her that way and... took advantage her?"

Mihnea snorted. "Not my problem." he said. "Besides, Desdemona is known for being the whore of Slytherin house, so if something like that happened, the only thing she'd be upset about is not being able to remember who it was."

Hermione continued to stare at him open-mouthed. "I can't believe you!" she exclaimed as quietly as possible. "I was just thinking that what you told that girl was the most insightful, intelligent thing I've ever heard a boy your age say before. Then you have to go and come out with something like that. What would your mother say if she knew?"

"Oh please, Granger." he said with a dismissive wave. "If mom found out, she'd be pissed at me for all of five minutes then calm down and say the little bitch deserved it."

Connie opened her mouth to argue with him, but slowly closed it again. With everything aunt Syn had been through in the past, she could see her saying something like that. Especially when it came to anything involving her son. She looked across the table at Hermione.

"You know, I think she probably would." she admitted.

Hermione and the two boys sitting with them looked like they weren't sure how to take that. Meanwhile, Fred was still befuddled as to why Mihnea was turning away so much feminine attention. It was something he would certainly never do. As he was teasing/questioning him about his reasoning, a dreamy sounding voice cut into the conversation.

"If want the girls to leave you alone, you could just tell them about your habit of leaving bruises when you get excited."

Everyone looked up to find that Luna Lovegood was standing less than a foot away. It appeared that she might have been there for some time waiting for an opportunity to speak. She was so damn quiet none of them had noticed. When he heard her voice, Mihnea immediately straightened his posture and glanced in her direction with a welcoming expression.

"There are some people out there who wouldn't be put off by that." he pointed out.

The blonde girl put a finger to her lips in consideration. "Hmm... I suppose you're right." she conceeded. "I hadn't thought of that."

Mihnea chuckled at her and reached out to take her hand, pulling her over to sit down next to him. "How are yours, by the way?"

Luna peered at him curiously. "My what?" she asked. Her eyes then lit up in understanding. "Oh, the bruises you left, you mean? They've been gone for days now. I told you not to worry about it."

Constance noticed everyone grow quiet and a bit uncomfortable now that the girl was there. It was probably less to do with Luna herself than with the mention of Mihnea doing something to her that left marks behind. Considering the conversation they'd been having before her arrival, it no doubt conjured up all sorts of odd mental images. The shift in atmosphere around the table could also have been due to Mihnea's quick change of manner. When Luna was around, he automatically became more open and friendly - giving the younger girl his full attention. It was an astonishing thing to see if you weren't used to it. Mihnea told her that he was showing concern because he hadn't intended to be so rough with her (which made everyone feel even weirder), then switched topics.

"So, did you want something or are you just over here to make sure I don't get approached again?" he asked playfully.

Luna gave his shoulder a small swat. "Of course not, silly! I think you're more than capable of scaring the girls away on your own." she told him. "I came to ask you something. I spoke to Hagrid earlier today and he says that the preganant thestrals are due to give birth around the end of April or beginning of May. He said I could come to help if I wanted. But he did say that they only go into labor in the late afternoon or at night when it's quiet..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Harry exclaimed suddenly, leaning across the table to gape at her in surprise. "The thestrals? You can see them too?"

"Yes, I can see them." the girl replied, turning to look at him placidly. "I watched my mother die when I was nine years old."

Harry quickly simpered down and winced. "Oh." he said. "Uh... I'm sorry."

Luna gave him a small smile. "Thank you for saying so, but you don't have to be. It was a long time ago." She paused to study each of them intently for a moment, then fixed her attention on Hermione. "You'll see them again one day."

The bushy haired girl went very still, her face white from shock. "Excuse me?"

"Well, I knew you must have seen death if you can see the thestrals now." Luna replied. "All of you have different colors than before. But the change in yours is very dramatic, so you must have witnessed the death of someone you loved very much." her expression became gentle and understanding. "It's a terrible thing to go through, but when people die they never truly go away. You will see them again."

Hermione kept staring at her. "How..." she began softly, then stopped and fixed a hard look on Mihnea that came extremely close to being a death glare. "Did you te...?"

"I promise, Mihnea didn't tell me anything." Luna interrupted before she could finish. "He doesn't have to. I can tell from looking at you. And if it's something you don't want people to know, you don't have to worry about me spreading it around. I'm the safest person in the world to share secrets with, actually. Everyone thinks I'm crazy so even if I were to tell someone, they would never believe me, see?"

The last bit was said in a reassuring tone and Luna smiled at her. No one, Connie included, knew what to do or how to respond. She could tell that they had seen death and could gather how close they had been to the victim just by looking. Constance hadn't known such a thing was possible. Not only that, but the girl was aware of what other people thought of her and made out like it was a good thing they could use to their advantage. Like they could, if they wanted, make her out to be a bold faced liar and everyone would believe it. And she didn't mind. Mihnea noticed the growing discomfort and cleared his throat.

"So they'll probably go into labor at night..." he said, reminding Luna of what she'd been saying before the interruption.

The girl shook her head and turned back to him. "Yes." she replied. "And it will be in the forest. I know you don't approve of me going out there alone so I wanted to ask before I made any plans."

Mihnea slowly arched a brow. "You're asking me for permission to go out in the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night to birth a thestral?" he repeated. "You realize that's more than a month away, right?"

"I know, but Hagrid said he wouldn't know anything definite until a day or two before they go into labor. Possibly not until the day it happens." Luna told him. "And I already know that if you let me go, you'll be going along too. I wanted to give you plenty of forewarning since you have exams to prepare for."

"I'm honestly not worried about the tests." he replied with a sniff, then cocked his head sideways in consideration. "I don't see a problem with that. I guess when it gets closer to time, I'll send Pixie up to stay with you and you can send her to me with a message when you hear something. I'll come to your dorm to help you sneak out." he paused to point a finger at her. "No wandering around without me."

"No wandering." Luna promised, nodding in a serious manner. She then beamed happily and leaned forward to give him a hug and kiss on the cheek. "Thank you!"

Mihnea accepted the embrace with a friendly smile. "No problem."

The girl smiled brightly at him then turned toward Connie. "Would you like to come too?"

Constance gave herself a good shake when she realized she was being spoken to. "Me?" she asked. Her brows furrowed. "Isn't playing with the thestrals the thing you guys always do together? I don't want to get in the middle of your time..."

"Oh, don't be silly." Luna said. "Didn't you say we should spend more time together to get to know each other? We're always doing other things outside of class, so this will be the perfect opportunity for it! Besides, bringing a new life into the world is one of the most magical things there is. It would be a shame for you to miss it."

In Connie's opinion, birthing a flying horse sounded like a messy business so she wasn't sure about how 'magical' it would be. But otherwise, the girl had a point. She didn't know what Luna did outside of class, but she was usually doing things with her friends or George, so she was probably hard to track down. She took a moment to think it over, then nodded in acceptance.

"Sure." she replied. "I'll go if you want."

Luna appeared happy with her response and said she was looking forward to the event. She then returned to her usual nonchalant, dreamy manner and began talking to Mihnea in a softer tone. Something about having an idea for the 'project' they were working on which might help with some of the problems they had encountered. Connie had no idea what they were talking about, but Mihnea's eyes lit up with interest. He questioned Fred and George as to whether they needed his assistance with anything else and they both shook their heads. Either they had finished what they were working on, or they didn't feel they would be able to get anything else done. Her cousin packed all of his belongings into his messenger bag, then pulled it onto his shoulder to follow Luna out of the hall.

Everyone stared as they walked out together.

"Whoa..." Ron said, almost whispering. "Did you guys know Bassarab could smile? I didn't know he could do that."

Constance shot a disapproving look at him, then lowered her head to go back to working on her essay. Meanwhile, Fred and George were staring off toward the end of the hall with curious expressions.

"Okay, what's the deal?" George asked. "If he wants the girls to leave him alone, all he has to say is that he's got a girlfriend. That would take care of most of them."

Connie briefly glanced up from her scroll of parchment. "What makes you think Luna is his girlfriend?"

"Uh, have you seen the way they act around each other?" Fred asked. He pointed off in the direction the two of them had gone. "He buys her expensive presents and she sits with him all nice and cozy and gives him kisses? That's definitely girlfriend behavior."

"It was a kiss on the cheek." she pointed out. "I've kissed every last one of you on the cheek at some point. And Mihnea spent a good deal of money on the two of you only a few months ago, so are you going to say he's dating you now?"

Fred scoffed and waved a hand. "That was a business arrangement." he insisted. "Totally different."

"Yeah, and if we had known he was spending that much before hand, we wouldn't have let him do it." George added.

His twin nodded, then put his face in his hands and rested his elbows on the table. "So... what's going on with them? Seems a funny thing to be all mysterious about if you ask me."

Constance huffed and tossed her quill down in frustration, sensing that she wasn't going to get any more work done. "Why are you worried about it?" she asked. "If you want to know so much, why don't you just ask him?"

"We have." Fred and George said together. "He won't say a bleeding thing and tells us it's none of our business."

The girl pointed at them. "There you go then." she announced. "It's none of your business. And Mihnea and I have an unspoken agreement not to talk about each other's personal lives to other people, so you're not getting a damn thing out of me."

The twins both slumped and the others looked a bit put out that they wouldn't be getting any information on the matter. Connie thought for a second that would be the end of it and she'd be able to get back to work. But before she had time to pick up her quill again, George nudged his brother in the ribs and whispered something along the lines of: 'Don't worry mate, I've got this'. He then turned on the bench so he was fully facing her and put on his best puppy dog eyed look.

"Please?"

Constance glanced sideways at him and instantly regretted it. Why did he have to look so adorable when he did that?

"I said no." she stated firmly.

But George just wouldn't have it. Sticking his bottom lip out in a pout, he leaned forward to rest his head against her shoulder, looking up at her with those beautiful, pleading hazel eyes of his.

"Pretty please with strawberries on top?" he asked sweetly. He lifted his hand and pinched his fingers together so there was a miniscule amount of space between them. "Just a teensy, tiny something?"

Across from her, Hermione's lips were pressed together in a half hearted attempt to cover a smile, while Harry and Ron were exchanging bemused glances between themselves. Connie's face twisted up and she pushed George off her shoulder.

"For God's sake, will you stop acting stupid?" she said with a sniff. "Look, all I can say about it is that Luna Lovegood is not Mihnea's girlfriend. Will you leave it alone now?"

Fred's brow went up. "So she's just a friend, huh?"

The girl crossed her arms over her chest and shot a unappreciative look at him. "I didn't say she was 'just a friend'." she replied. "Only that she wasn't his girlfriend."

The statement made Ron blink. "What the devil does that mean?"

"Ah ha!" Fred exclaimed, his face lighting up. "So they have an understanding, do they? You could have just said so in the first place instead of making it so complicated! I've got one of those with Angie, so I know all about that."

Poor Harry looked hopelessly confused. "Wait, what's this you're going on about? What's an 'understanding'?"

Constance opened her mouth to tell him it wasn't what Fred made it out to be, but he managed to get his word in first.

"You've never heard about having an understanding with a girl before, mate?" he asked. "It's where you're more than friends but you don't date each other so you're not stuck with just that one person. It lets you keep your options open, see?"

Hermione frowned pointedly at him. "And how does Angelina feel about that?"

Fred shrugged. "She doesn't care. She doesn't tie me down, I don't tie her down, and everyone's happy. Angie knows she's my number one."

"Are you sure about that?" she proded, looking unconvinced. "It sounds like you just have commitment issues."

As if struck by a bolt of lightning, Fred immediately straightened his spine and threw out a hand to shush her. "Don't say the 'c' word!" he admonished. "It's bad luck! That and the 'r' word are the worst things you can say in front of girls. It makes them go crazy in the head!"

Constance made a face. "What 'r' word?" she asked. Her eyes lit up when she understood what he must have meant. "You mean relationsh..."

"Shut your mouth!" he interrupted. "Did you not hear what I just said? Damn Georgie, you need to teach your girl how to open her ears up a little."

George held up his hands to signal that he didn't intend to go there. "Hey now, don't go pushing things off of me just because you can't keep a girl longer than five minutes." he said. He leaned toward Connie and lowered his voice. "He's just jealous."

Fred's mouth fell open in mock outrage. "I am not jealous! My longest was three months, thank you very much." he countered. When he saw Hermione about to say something, he went on. "And no, Miss Know-It-All, I don't have any 'c-word issues'. In fact, I'm doing everyone a favor. This," he jerked his thumb toward his chest. "Is too much Weasley for any one girl to handle."

For a brief moment, everyone stopped to look around at each other, letting his words sink in, then they all snorted and burst out laughing. Connie thought it was so damn funny she had to lean over and grab George's arm to keep herself from slipping off the bench to roll on the floor.

"Is that what you're doing, Freddie?" she asked between giggles. "Spreading yourself around so no one gets overloaded?"

"Damn straight, I am." he replied. He grinned in that way that showed he was deliberately making fun of himself for their benefit. "Why, if I stayed with a girl too long, her head might explode from the sheer awesomeness of me! I can't imagine anyone who'd want to clean up a mess like that."

That made them all laugh even harder if it were possible. Hermione somehow managed to sober up enough to comment on it.

"So you have commitment issues and you're full of yourself?" she questioned.

"Merlin's beard, woman! Stop saying that ruddy word!"