AN: Hello! I think I'm finally back, and better than ever! You guys can thank the Beatles for this chapter, because I was inspired while listening to Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds.

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"Hi."

Fred blinked once. Twice. Three times. "Hello," he said finally, his tone bland.

"I'm Cynthia," the girl said happily, extending her hand towards Fred. He smiled politely and shook it. She had short, blonde hair and big brown eyes that reminded Fred of a doe. She was tall and thin. And he couldn't figure out for the life of him what she wanted.

"Fred," he replied simply.

"I know," Cynthia replied, then turned red. "I mean…uh, I've seen you around…"

"Oh," was all Fred could come up with.

"I was wondering, actually," Cynthia began. "If you might like to get a drink with me?" The request came out as more of a question, as if she were asking Fred rather than telling him what she'd been thinking.

Poor Fred! His wit escaped him temporarily, seeming to flee at the first sight of a female who wasn't Katie, and he was speechless. He couldn't understand why this stranger was asking him out. Didn't she realize he had a girlfriend?

No, he realized suddenly. She didn't.

Taking his silence for rejection, Cynthia blushed profusely, mumbling an apology and turning as quickly as possible, starting to walk away.

"Wait!" Fred called after her, embarrassed by his momentary lapse in conversational skills. "Uh…have you met my brother George?"

That night, Fred paced back and forth in the living room of the twins' small flat, biting his lip and wringing his hands.

"So, we need some ideas for new products," George said conversationally, his tone that of someone who was perfectly aware no one was listening.

"I'm going crazy!" Fred cried, still pacing. "I have to see her."

"Yes, good idea," George replied thoughtfully. "But will it sell?"

"But how?" Fred wondered aloud, agitated.

"I don't know," George mused, neither twin actually listening much to the other. "Perhaps we could bottle it and sell it as a type of perfume…"

Fred looked at George. "Wait, what?" he asked, confused.

"What?" George replied stupidly, and there was an awkward silence for a moment.

"Floo powder!" Fred exclaimed suddenly, leaving his twin to decipher the odd conversation on his own. Practically throwing himself at the fireplace, he shouted, "Gryffindor Common Room!" just before falling into the green flames.

A chocked scream was the first thing he heard, just before he barreled into the love of his life, knocking her into the side of an armchair.

"Kates!" he cried, a grin spreading over his face before he kissed her. Shocked, Katie didn't have time to register anything that had happened, and when Fred pulled back, he saw that she was wide-eyed and more than a little surprised.

"Fred," she breathed, disbelieving. "Y-you're here!"

"I'm here," he assured her, kissing her again, lightly. "I'll always be here."

"Fred," Katie repeated, tears forming in her eyes. "You're here!" She threw her arms around her boyfriend's neck and began to kiss him, not even thinking about the fact that they were still sitting on the floor in the Gryffindor Common Room. "I missed you."

"I missed you more, Fred replied, taking bother of her hands in his. "And I-"

Katie bit her lip as he stopped suddenly, his thumb tracing the scars on her left hand. "I will not blaspheme, he read in a monotone, lifting their clasped hands to eye level. "I will not perform unnecessary spells. Katie, what is this?" he demanded, sounding hurt.

"I-I…she-I…" Katie was at a loss for words.

"How could you do this?" Fred asked her angrily. "How could you go and get yourself in trouble like that? You have to stay safe!" Now he sounded frantic and panicked.

"She made you leave!" Katie retorted. "That woman--that monster!--is the reason you're gone! And you expected me to just sit here? And do what--knit? Shall I start making hats for you, waiting until you come back!? That isn't me Fred!" she yelled hysterically, tears clouding her vision.

"So you're going to get yourself killed?" he asked. "Is that what you're going to do? As some sort of horrible payback for me leaving you?"

And then she slapped him. It was just a reflex, something her mother had told her to do if a man ever hurt her. She didn't register until after she had done it that her mother meant physical harm, nut this burning feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Fred turned and, throwing the last of his Floo Powder into the fireplace, left.

The next day, a decree went out that all fireplaces in the castle were closed to Floo travel, and Katie had a new scar that read: I will not sneak around with naughty boys.