Chapter 9:
Allison opened the fridge in the back of the store the next week to see it was filled with food for once.
"Oh hello dear," a voice said from behind, making her jump three feet.
"H-hi, Mrs. Weasley," she replied clutching her heart, "I guess you're staying then?"
"Of course," she said triumphantly, "Fred and George shouldn't torment a young girl like you to such an extent as having you try out their hair-brained ideas."
"No, no, you don't understand" Allison explained, "I volunteered for this, they just decided to pay me. Besides, I like coming here, it's a good working environment, I can see my friends, and I can help Fred and George. Ma'am, you're sons really are well-behaved beings. The joke about the bathroom hygiene was just that, a joke."
"Oh I know," she whispered, "but don't you just love it when their little faces get so red?"
Allison laughed, and she understood where the twins had come by their knack for mischievous tasks. Perhaps Mrs. Weasley wasn't as bad as the twins had complained to her.
"So, which one's your favorite?" she asked, starting to chop some onions.
"Uhh… what do you mean?"
"Well, for you to stay this long you'd have to like one of them more than the other. It's just common sense."
"I don't though," Allison told her.
"What's wrong with my boys? Are they too old for you?" she teased as she dumped the onions into a pot of boiling water.
"Well, I don't know…" Allison said thinking hard; did she like one of them more than the other?
"It's okay sweetie, you just seem like a girl who could get their priorities straightened out. They need that you know… they need a woman in their lives, not just a mother… they need someone new."
"And you think that I'm that girl?"
"Maybe one day." she shrugged, nearly making Allison choke on her soda.
Her with one of the twins? As in… marriage? It was so wrong!
"I don't think so," Allison said, backing out of the room and right into George when she turned the corner.
"Oof!" he said dropping a glass tray and then steadying himself on the wall.
"Sorry," Allison muttered, helping to pick up the shards of glass.
"It's okay," he said, and then whispered, "I hated that tray anyway."
Allison laughed, "I guess it's your mum's?"
"Of course," he said, but Mrs. Weasley had heard the crash and had repaired the glass immediately with a quick spell.
"Too bad," Allison said when she carried it into the kitchen.
"Eh, you win some you lose some. You know where Fred is? I need him to go catch some worms with me."
"I'll come," she suggested.
"You're a girl."
"Thanks for noticing." She said rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, but girls are afraid of worms… and dirt… and-"
"Things that go bump in the night?" she finished, "Please, I don't get grossed out by anything, and rarely scared. One of the few people in the world that doesn't… it's like nothing freaks me out."
"Except when my mum comes up from behind."
"No, that was a surprise. If I had been scared I would've screamed bloody murder. Trust me, you'll know when I get scared." She told him darkly.
He shrugged, "As long as you don't mind getting dirt on your jeans."
"Not at all." She said.
0o0
Allison picked up the two thousandth worm it seemed, and she had already missed the doors to re-enter the castle. George just laughed when she'd fallen into the mud and her entire pant leg was covered in brown glob.
"George?" she moaned, "When are we going to be done?"
"In a few minutes." He answered, "I'll pay you over-time."
"I don't care about over-time right now, I want to just take a shower and wash all this gunk off."
"See! You are disgusted by mud! Ha!" he cried.
"Am not!"
"Are too!" he laughed.
Allison hurled a handful of mud at him, hitting him right in the mouth. He sputtered and had to wash his mouth out with water from the lake, making gagging noises all the way back too.
"Oh get over it, you sissy." Allison muttered as he began to brush his teeth for third time.
"I heard that." He called from the bathroom in the apartment upstairs.
"Good! I hope you did!" she called back.
"Allison, honey, is that you?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
Allison cringed, "Yes."
"Good! Come up here and have some dinner with us." She said, and it sounded more like an order than a request.
Oh god, she thought, this lady wants me to be laughing stock of all Ravenclaw when I tell Moonshine.
Allison sat down after washing her hands three times and ate some of Mrs. Weasley's chicken. It was okay… well… it was great, but Allison would have never admitted to this while under the same roof as that woman. There was something about her… she was overbearing Allison finally concluded when she left. Fred escorted her back up to the castle via a small passageway through the back, which connected with others as well.
"A bit cramped don't you think?" she asked as he helped her out behind a statue in the hallway near her house.
"Eh, all thieves have to sacrifice something."
"Is that what I am now? I thief? Of what… worms?" she joked.
"Well, see you next week." He said.
"Right, next week." She waved, and disappeared down the corridor.
Allison walked up to the entrance of her house and whispered the password. She crawled through the hole in the wall to see a party going full swing with Moonshine drunk.
"Moonshine," she whispered in her ear, "let's get you up to bed."
"Why? It's a celebration, Corn stalk!" she said, slurring her words.
"For what? Nothing happened." Allison told her, trying to avoid the pungent breath coming out of Moonshine's mouth.
"It was an announcement this evening at dinner, didn't you hear?"
"What announcement?" she asked steadying her on her shoulder.
" Oh that's right, you weren't there…"
"Tell me what happened." Allison demanded.
"Voldermort's dead!"
Well, what do you think?