Fred watched the quiet scene for a moment, wishing that things had turned out differently, but here he was, and she was over there, sitting with his children. His. Yesterday's conversation wouldn't be the last. He wanted answers and he'd get them. There'd be no more of this, running away crap. Not until he'd gotten to know everything that he'd wanted. Shaking the thoughts from his head, he walked into the room, smiling as both boys began to sit up and stare at him, and then George.
"Guys, could you give us a minute?" Hermione asked quietly, and Ginny and George both nodded, before slipping out of the room. Sirius and Remus both sidled up to Hermione, and watched Fred warily.
"Sirius, Remus, I'd like you to meet someone very special." Hermione said softly. Both boys nodded. "THis, is Fred. He's your dad." At this they both looked at her.
"Momma, what's dad?" Sirius asked slowly. She smiled at him.
"Remember Sicily?" at this he nodded. "You know how she has a mum and a dad?" at this, the boy's eyes lit up.
"Why do you look like Uncle George?" Remus asked quickly. Fred grinned.
"We're twins." Both his boys looked at him astonished.
"Awefosome!" They yelled.
"Boys, it's awesome." Hermione corrected, automatically. But both looked at her with innocent grins. "Go on." she said nudging them. With that they both flung themselves at Fred, tackling him with a hug. Hermione stood up and slipped out to find George and Ginny.
"Come on you two." she said nodding back towards the door. They both smiled, when they saw the twins, examing Fred's face, and hair. Once they caught sight of George, they made him sit down so they could do the same.
"Okay, we want a bit of girl time, so you two can watch the boys today?" Ginny asked. Fred nodded immediatly.
"Don't forget, Celia is always willing to help, and she knows the rules. No sugar. That's more for your safety than anything." Hermione said extremely quickly, causing George to grin. "I'll see you later guys." Sirius and Remus waved as the girls apparated away.
"Do you want to take them to the shop?" George asked the second the girls were gone. Fred grinned at his brother.
"Do you really think that's a safe thing to do?" he asked.
"Well, the only worry would be, Hermione killing us, and mum seeing them." Fred looked at both boys who had started watching them in amusement.
"I say risk it. We can take them until it's time to open up, and then we'll leave Verity in charge for a bit, till the girls get back." Fred said grinning. George nodded, before looking at Fred again.
"You know Mione's going to be pissed." Fred's eyes glazed over at the mention of his ex.
"Frankly, I don't give a damn about what Mione says." George nodded.
"Dad, what does damnnened mean?" Sirius asked looking up with wide eyes. George stifled a laugh, at Fred's bug eyes.
"It's a bad word, that you should never say." Fred said quickly.
"But you said it." Remus pointed out.
"Do you guys want to go on a trip?" George interjected. At this they both squealed and yelled yes. About two seconds later the mini-twins and the regular twins were standing in the middle of the joke shop, while Remus and Sirius stared in awe.
The rest of the morning consisted of Fred and George showing their life's work to the toddlers. Not to mention the basics of pranking. But the best by far was when Fred had to duck out into teh back room and there was a loud explosion from out front. He'd come running to see that his own twin was covered in a sticky, green goo.
"What happened?" He asked looking at the three. Both toddlers looked at each other before pointing at George.
"He tripped." They both said. George looked outraged, at the same time as amused and in awe. In about ten seconds, Fred and George had erupted into laughter.
"There's no denying that they're yours." George said grinning.
"You should have seen them at the shop today." George said sitting down at the kitchen table with Hermione. She had made them both steaming mugs of hot chocolate, seeing as Celia was with Fred and the boys.
"Oh? What happened?" she asked warily. He grinned at her.
"They blew up some of our newer merchandise that we just put out and then blamed me. I have to give them credit, all the evidence was covering me." Hermione grinned at the thought. "They're just like him."
"Yes, they are." she said softly. "You know...I wanted you to be Godfather right?" she asked, causing him to choke on his drink. He stared at her in shock.
"Me?" he squeaked. "But...why?"
"You're my best friend." she said softly. "Next to Gin, of course. Not to mention, that you're Fred's twin and the boys' uncle. Besides, you'd be an awesome godfather. It's one of my biggest regrets, in this whole mess."George didn't waste anytime. He immediatley dove across the table, dragging Hermione into an ultra tight hug.
"I've missed you so much." he said.
"I missed you too." she whispered. "God, I've screwed everything up haven't I?"
"Nothing you can't fix. Just be glad that you didn't wait years and years and years. Especially for the next part. I need to tell you something." his voice was so serious.
"What?"
"Katie and I eloped."
"Harry?" Hermione called walking up to knock on his study door.
"What's up Mione?" he asked swirling around his leather chair to face her.
"I think we need to get some help. Do you think we could call Kingsley? We know we can trust him. Besides I'm worried about whoever is after us."
"I'll owl him. Invite him for dinner."
"Thanks Harry."
That evening Hermione was in pieces. She was pacing in the kitchen back and forth, while Ginny sat on her kitchen table eating ice cream, and sharing with the twins who were sitting on either side of her.
"Mione relax." she said for the eight time. "Kingsley will understand."
"I'm going to throw up." Hermione said. "this isn't going to go well."
"You've told Fred. HE's the one who'll react the worst. No one else's opinion even matters." Ginny soothed. Hermione nodded absently. She seemingly had calmed down, until she heard the doorbell go off.