**Disclaimer** I do not claim to own anything that's not mine (J.K. Rowling wrote these amazing things before I could even dream of them). I do claim my main character, Dee.

The day at the lake was perfect, but now that the ornery duo has had their way with one of my guests, I found myself irritated. George pouted at me from beside me on the couch.

"Forgive me pweese." He begged. I looked at him from the corner of my eye.

"You two need to leave her alone. I like Annie and you need to be nice to her. No more tricks. She obviously doesn't like it." I commanded. He nodded his head in agreement, still giving me the puppy dog eyes. Fred came scrambling down the iron stairs that led up to Annie's bedroom from the library. His face was as red as his hair. "You okay Fred?" I asked. He ignored me.

"So, I think it's time for me to go. I'll see you tomorrow at the shop. Okay George? "George nodded. "I can't believe you let Verity run it by herself today…" He grumbled before he disapparated away.

"Are you going to leave now too?" I asked, hoping he would say no even though I was still irritated at him. He was silent a long moment so I looked at him. He was staring at me, contemplating his decision. I quirked an eyebrow at him and he grinned.

"I'll stay… Unless you'd rather me leave." He stated, cleverly forcing me to admit that I wanted him to stay. I playfully scowled at him making him chuckle. Con walked into the room, drying her hands on her apron.

"Did Annie calm down yet?" She asked. I shrugged at her. I considered going up after her but I wasn't sure what I'd say to her. Errr… Ya, sorry about George and Fred, they like to pull stupid pranks. Don't worry, you'll get used to it, maybe even come to love it. For some reason Annie didn't seem the type to get used to being pranked or even like it. "Watch her eyes when she gets angry. If they flash, then you better run or pull out your wand and immobilize her." Con informed us. I looked at her in concern.

"Is that really necessary?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes. She's an animagus. Her choice of form is a tiger. She used to have some problems controlling her temper when she was a child. She definitely got her temper from her father…" She mused as she headed out of the room and back downstairs to the kitchen. George and I both exchanged a curious look. A moment passed before I finally decided I should go talk to Annie.

"I'm going to go talk to Annie. It's probably safest for you to stay away for a little bit." I suggested. He laughed.

"Stay away or get bit. More like it." He said with humor. I laughed.

B~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~B

I hear the water running in the bathroom as I came up the stairs. Of course, she would be taking a shower to get all that flour out of her hair. I sat myself down on her tiger stripped chair. I leaned back and enjoyed to beautiful view of the sky. My eyes were heavy; I was tired from all that swimming. It had been nice, swimming in the Black Lake, after my dream about it. George was so sweet to have thought to take me there. I felt my eyes closing as the enchanted sun heated me with its rays.

A shriek awoke me with a start. I sat up, awake. Annie stood in the doorway of the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around her. Her eyes were wide still from being startled to find me as she came out of the bathroom.

"Is this a conspiracy against me? You are trying to scare me away from here? Because if so, I can tell you right now there's no need. I wouldn't be here except that my mom dragged me here. Who in their right mind moves to a country that is being taken over by evil?" She blurted out, clearly upset. I frowned.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to startle you. I just wanted to talk to you and when I came up here you were already in the shower, so I sat down and waited for you to get out. I must have fallen asleep. Swimming tends to make one sleepy. Anyways, I've talked to George and he has promised that he and Fred will not play anymore jokes on you. The good news is, that them playing jokes on you means that they like you." I said, ending with a cheerful smile. She stared at me for a long moment, her feelings unreadable by her facial expressions. Finally, she sighed and smiled.

"Okay. I'm sorry I ranted at you. I'm not used to being around people who treat me like this." She explained. I furrowed my brow in confusion.

"How do people you're normally around treat you?" I inquired. She blushed slightly and was quiet for a bit.

"Well, normally people just ignore me. I'm kind of shy. Plus, I had some temper control problems when I was younger and people remembered to be afraid of me because of it." She said softly, still blushing. Understanding dawned on me about her reaction to all the interactions she witnessed or was a part of.

"So, you don't have any friends?" I asked sadly, with sympathy, almost disbelieving what I was hearing. She nodded her head slightly. I frowned sadly. "Well, that's gonna change now, isn't it?" I chirped. "No one here is going to know that you used to have a bad temper. Plus, people here are nice and pushy. You will have many friends. The first will be me!" I added with a big smile. Annie returned my smile and I felt our friendship had just kicked off to a good start.

B~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~B

Maybe I was quick to assume that Annie and I would get off to a good friendship. Her golden eyes glowed and I was sure she was about to turn into a tiger and eat me alive.

"Annie, calm down. It will be good for you to spend some time helping out here in George and Fred's joke shop. You'll get to meet many people that you'll be going to school with this coming year before the year starts. Don't you want to make some friends you'll be going to school with?" I tried to reason with her. Con and I had decided this would be the perfect opportunity for her to meet people and make a little money for herself at the same time. The summer would be boring for her if she didn't have anything to do but lay around.

"Well, Hello ladies." George greeted us, Fred came along behind him. Fred grinned at us as well but I noticed how he blushed slightly when he looked at Annie. "Are you ready to learn how to run a successful Joke Shop, Annie?" George continued. "We'll teach you how best to do the pranking and avoid being pranked." He added with a wink. I didn't think it was a good time to remind her of their little prank from the night before. George noticed Annie's unhappy glare finally and swallowed nervously. "Um, Verity will be here soon. I'll have Fred show you around a bit first and then we'll set you to working with Verity. She can train you about stocking and all the little quirks of the shop to watch out for." George explained. Annie continued to scowl as she followed Fred off to tour the shop. "Not a morning person, is she?" George commented.

"I think it's more like, she's not a 'joke shop' person. She was so mad when she found out we set her up to work here. I think she's just nervous about having to meet new people. She didn't have a lot of friends from where she moved from. She is quite shy and reserved." I explained. George nodded in understanding.

"She sure isn't shy about showing that temper of hers though." He mused with a chuckle. I joined him and he looped his arm around my waist. "We better head into the office before Verity comes in and sees you." George said. I smiled.

"You know, as soon as Da's will becomes public, everyone will know about me." I told him. George stopped in his tracks and looked at me, shocked before frowning. "What's wrong George?" I asked.

"Well, I just liked the idea that I got to keep you secret from everyone… Not that I'm ashamed of you or anything, it just made me feel special. I had the most beautiful, amazing woman as a girlfriend and I don't have to share her with everyone else in the world." He said animatedly. I laughed.

"George, you're silly."

"So, have you thought about how the Ministry is going to react to you being able to evade their magic laws all these years?" George inquired as we continued to make our way towards the office, stopping to re-shelve some decoy detonators. I scowled. I have had this question running through my head since I read Da's letter he left for me.

"I'm not quite sure yet. I've come up with some good arguments but I think I'll end up winging it since I can't really anticipate their reaction to the fact that I've evaded them all these years and actions they'll take towards me. Who knows, I may have to go into hiding if they decide I've broken enough laws and want to take me away to Azkaban." I mused. George nodded, agreeing with me. We entered the office finally and he shut the door behind us.

Looking around I see several stacks of parchment and see a few owls, one being my Trixy. She hooted at me longingly. I grabbed a treat from nearby and fed it to her. I felt the heaviness of the silence around me and could sense George's gaze on me from behind. I turned and looked at him and he had an unreadable expression on his face. I quirked an eyebrow and smiled.

"What's that expression about?" I asked. A slow grin spread across his face.

"Nothing, just, that I love you." He said softly. My heart pitter pattered loudly. My sweet George… What would I do without him to make me happy?

The sweet moment was shattered as he heard a large crashing noise and the sound of a tiger roaring. We rushed out of the office to see shelves knocked over and Fred beneath a fierce tiger, her sharp teeth mere inches from ripping his throat out. I sighed. What had Fred done now?

*** Thank you for all the reviews from the last chapter. =) They made me happy. Keep up the encouraging words; I really need them as I'm struggling to make time for everything in my schedule. School is so much work… I am so tired today but I was like, no, Tricia, you have to finish that chapter for your readers. It's been 3 days since you updated… LOL. So here you are. I have been writing this little by little in my little bits of spare time every day. I hope you enjoyed. Please Review and let me know how well you enjoyed it. What do you think is going on w/ Annie and Fred? Isn't her story supposed to be a Cedric/OC…? Oh wait, she hasn't met Cedric yet… hahaha. Anyways, Love you all! Thanks for reading. REVIEW! Please. Don't forget to check out Tyger. I am posting a new chapter of it tonight as well. =) .net/s/7328033/1/Tyger