"You see, I don't know any stories. None of the lost boys know any stories."

-Peter (Peter Pan)

"Come on, Scar, don't slack off on me now!"

Scarlett rolled over and blinked up at Fred. "I have been helping to clean this house all day, then Harry was cleared at his hearing, and then we got our Hogwarts letters and Ron and Hermione were made prefects so we had to celebrate-,"

Fred scrunched up his nose at the mention of prefects and Scarlett laughed

"The events of the day have made me extremely tired," she said dramatically, "so I flop onto my bed for two seconds and then you come bother me and say I'm slacking."

"So you aren't slacking?"

"No, I did promise to tell you those stories, didn't I?" she asked. "I was just resting for a minute."

"Ah, no, you can't," Fred answered, tugging on her arm. "I know how that works. People say they're resting for a minute and then they end up falling asleep for hours."

"Oh, alright," Scarlett groaned, sitting up. "You win."

"No surprise there," Fred teased, sitting on the bed next to her.

"Why are you so eager to hear these stories, anyway?" Scarlett asked.

"Because I don't know any Muggle stories. None of us here do except for you, Hermione and Harry. They're fascinating and I like hearing them."

Scarlett smiled. "Do you honestly like them?"

Fred nodded. "Honestly, I do." He grinned widely. "So first it was Rapunzel, two days ago you told me about Peter Pan. Last night was Thumbelina, and tonight is…?"

Scarlett smiled. "Beauty and the Beast."

"Conceited and insulting!" Fred gasped dramatically.

"No," Scarlett said, swatting him. "It's the name of the story."

"What a title," Fred snorted.

"It's another one of my favorites," Scarlett replied.

"Okay, then proceed," Fred said, bringing his legs up on the bed and tucking them under him.

Scarlett smiled again before launching into the story. Over the next few weeks, she told him quite a few fairy tales and classic stories—almost all of the ones she knew, actually. Sometimes Ginny would come and listen and a lot of the time George came to listen as well, but some nights it was just Scarlett and Fred. Scarlett actually really liked the fact that they were interested. She didn't know how well she was doing telling the stories. Since most of the classic stories were longer than fairy tales, she had to try and sometimes condense them, but not by much. Besides that, she found herself really enjoying telling the stories. She was an only child and never had any siblings to tell stories to.

She also found it amusing to watch their reactions to the stories. Peter Pan remained both Fred and George's favorite, but Ginny loved Beauty and the Beast. They all thought The Princess and the Pea was silly, though, which Scarlett thought was funny. She had always thought the story was cute. They all loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and hated The Witches, which was understandable.

Before she knew it, it was September first and they were getting ready to head to King's Cross Station.

"I'm actually a little disappointed," Fred said as they stood by the door. Mr. Weasley had gotten two cars to bring them to the station and they were running a little late.

"Why?" Scarlett asked, surprised.

"No more stories," Fred said with a shrug. "I liked them."

"I liked telling them to you," Scarlett said. She sighed and looked around at everyone else waiting in the entry way. It was chaotic. Everyone was anxious to leave. George was tossing paper at Ron while Mrs. Weasley scolded him and Ginny laughed.

"What's wrong?" Fred asked. Scarlett looked back at him to see him staring at her with his head tilted to one side. "You look like you're thinking really hard."

"Things are going to be different at school, aren't they? Between us, I mean."

"Why do you say that?" Fred asked.

"Fred, we have to get married."

"I know what we have to do," Fred said quickly. "Things don't have to be different between us, though."

"So you want to act like we have been acting at school all these years? Almost like strangers?"

"No, we can act like we have been recently. Friends, you know?" He sighed. "I just don't want anyone to be suspicious."

"Won't people be if they see us talking? We haven't talked in years and people pay attention to these sorts of things. At least girls do."

"So? I'm sure nobody will jump to the conclusion that we have to get married."

"Technically, we're engaged, aren't we?"

"I guess we are. I never thought of that." Fred sighed and looked at Scarlett. "I don't want anyone to know just yet."

"We'll have to tell Angelina and Justin."

Fred shook his head wildly. "I'm still asking Angelina out. You and I only have to get married in two and a half years."

"I know, but what are you suggesting we do? Tell them at the last minute? Hurt their feelings? I mean, they'll be hurt no matter when we tell them, but if we wait, it'll be worse."

Fred sighed again. "I don't want to ask Angelina out and then tell her I have to get married to someone else in two and a half years. She might not want to go out with me anymore. I really like her, Scarlett." He sounded almost pleading.

"I know. I'm having the same problems with Justin as you can imagine. I don't want him to get scared off."

"So what are we going to do, then?" Fred asked as the cars arrived and everyone hurried outside.

Scarlett sighed. "Maybe we don't have to tell them right away, but it'll be better to tell them sooner rather than later."

Fred nodded as they got into one of the cars. Scarlett spent nearly the entire ride to the station with her forehead pressed against the window. She felt torn about what to do. She didn't know what the best solution to all of this was and it made her nervous.

They finally made it to King's Cross and onto Platform 9 ¾, where everyone immediately separated to greet their friends.

Scarlett began searching for Erica, her best friend. They were in the same year and the same house. They had been best friends since their first train ride to Hogwarts.

"Scarlett!" She heard a voice squeal from behind her. Whirling around, Scarlett saw Erica jogging her way.

"Hey," Scarlett laughed, throwing her arms around her friend when she finally got close enough. "I missed you!"

"I missed you, too! Where have you been? You wrote me saying you were going away for the summer and couldn't get letters, but where'd you go? Was it somewhere beautiful with lots of sun and a beach?"

"I wish," Scarlett answered, rolling her eyes. She knew she could tell Erica where she had been. Her best friend could keep a secret.

"Where were you, then?" Erica persisted.

"In some ancient, dusty, dingy old house with the Weasleys, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger, that's where."

Erica's mouth dropped open in confusion and she stared at Scarlett. "Why?"

Scarlett fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "My mum and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley needed to tell us something. Harry and Hermione were there because it was a lot safer for Harry and they're friends with Ron and—,"

"Scar, what happened? Something happened. You haven't talked to the Weasleys since you were-,"

"Nine, I know."

"What did they have to tell you?"

"Can I tell you after we find a compartment?" Scarlett gestured towards the train.

"Sure," Erica replied slowly.

Scarlett looked over Erica's shoulder as they lifted their trunks and saw Fred standing with George, Lee and Angelina. Fred looked up and saw Scarlett looking. He gave her a tiny smile that Scarlett returned before turning back to the train.

"Okay, so what's going on?" Erica asked once the two friends were comfortably sitting in a compartment.

"It has to do with me and Fred."

Erica's eyes widened. "Are you dating? Do you like him? Did you sleep with him? What about Justin?"

"Erica," Scarlett groaned. "No! I already said his parents and my mum had to tell us something. That's what this is about."

"Oh. So you still like Justin?"

"Yes, I still like Justin."

"Okay. I mean, I need to stay updated on these things. We couldn't write for most of the summer. I'm just trying to stay on track here." She flashed her friend a smile. "So, what did they tell you?"

"Fred and I," Scarlett began. She took a deep breath. "Well, we have to get married by the time I turn twenty."

Erica was silent for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. "You aren't serious! You can't be."

"I'm completely serious," Scarlett said with a straight face.

"And you said yes?" Erica asked.

"There wasn't even a question or an option or a way out. Fred and I have to get married. We made an Unbreakable Vow when we were nine and then Fred's brother erased the memory from us and it was all kept a secret until recently."

"Bloody hell," Erica muttered, staring at Scarlett wide-eyed.

"When you start using that sort of language that's when I know it's bad," Scarlett sighed.

"You said you still liked Justin!" Erica said.

"I do, and Fred's asking Angelina out today. We both like different people."

"So you aren't going to do anything about you and Fred?"

"What can we do? We'll just get married when we have to. I mean, we have two and a half years."

"But you don't even like him. Well, you do, but not like that. I mean, well, I'm sorry," Erica said, giving Scarlett a sympathetic look. "The two of us always dreamed about our weddings and-"

"And it was never like this," Scarlett said, nodding in agreement. "At least you still have freedom. You can marry whoever you want."

Erica looked down at her feet. "So are you going to tell Justin?"

"Well, yes, I have to," Scarlett said. "It's been worrying me all morning, though. I have to tell him, but I have no idea when! Fred doesn't want anyone to know yet. He doesn't want Angelina to get scared away. I guess he has a point. What if I tell Justin now and he gets freaked out? I really like him and Fred likes Angelina and we're ruining each other's relationships!"

"Scarlett," Erica said, holding up a hand to put a stop to Scarlett's rambling. "If you want my honest opinion, you should tell Justin now. He'll keep it a secret for Fred's sake and for yours." She started pulling her brown curls into a bun. "As for me, you know I won't tell a soul."

Scarlett nodded and rested her head against the window, stretching her legs out on the seat beside her. She lifted her thick hair off her neck before pulling it off to one side. The ends dangled over her shoulder and she began playing with them absentmindedly.

"So," Erica began, "what did you do while you were staying in this dark, dingy house with Fred Weasley and his family?"

"I told them stories," Scarlett answered.

"You told them stories?" Erica looked as if she hadn't expected that answer at all. Maybe it was a little strange, but Scarlett had had fun doing it.

"Yeah," Scarlett shrugged. "Muggle fairy tales, actually."

"How did that start? Were they just begging you to share your knowledge of Muggle children's stories?"

"No," Scarlett laughed. "It started the night Fred and I found out we had to get married. We couldn't sleep."

"I can imagine," Erica snorted. "Was that all you did?"

"We cleaned," Scarlett said, shrugging. "The house needed it." She didn't want to say anything about the Order. She couldn't, actually, having been sworn to secrecy. She couldn't even tell Erica.

"Boring," Erica sighed. "I guess it's safe to say your summer was pretty terrible."

Scarlett shrugged. Actually, as nervous as she had originally been about going to Grimmauld Place, and as bad as everything sounded to an outsider, Scarlett's summer hadn't been all that bad. It could have been so much worse in a lot of ways.

"Where's Justin?" Erica asked. "I figured he'd want to sit with you."

Scarlett shrugged. "I have no idea where he is. He's probably with Ernie and Hannah. We'll see each other when we get to school, anyway."

Hours later, as the train finally slowed to a stop, Scarlett felt suddenly nervous. She would most likely end up sitting next to Justin at dinner. Would it be too sudden and too weird telling him the truth then? Most likely. She could tell him in the common room that night. Or maybe the next day. Or maybe not at all. She really just wanted to curl up under her covers, fall asleep and not wake up until the entire mess had taken care of itself.

"Scarlett!" She heard a voice yelling her name. Erica stifled a laugh and Scarlett swatted her and turned around. It was Justin.

"Hi," she said shyly.

"I'm glad I caught up to you," he said, smiling as he reached her. "I was hoping we could get a carriage together since I didn't see you at all on the train. Erica can join us too, of course." He smiled at Erica.

"We'd love to," Scarlett said.

Justin smiled wider and tentatively picked up Scarlett's hand. She felt her insides flip.

"So, why didn't you see me at all on the train?" she teased, smirking.

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't want to come find me?"

"Hey, it's a two way street, you know!" Justin laughed.

Scarlett smiled. "Well, at least you caught up to me now."

"Yeah, I shouldn't have. I should have just let you come find me. Sometimes I wonder if I'm too good to be around you," Justin teased.

"Oh, please," she snorted, nudging him. Erica pretended to gag and Scarlett shot her a look.

They walked to the carriages and Scarlett realized that Angelina, Fred and George were sitting in the carriage parked directly in front of them. She tried to walk slower so that it would leave before they got there, but Justin pulled on her hand and gave her a weird look.

"Why are you walking so slowly?"

"I'm not. I just-,"

"Hey," Angelina said, waving at Scarlett, Erica and Justin. "Come join our carriage. We need three more people. Katie, Alicia and Lee got stuck taking the carriage ahead of us." She rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Er," Scarlett began, unsure of what to say.

"Come on," Fred grinned. Scarlett saw him glance at her and Justin's intertwined hands and smirk. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Fine," she said, climbing into the carriage and trying to sit as far away from Fred as possible. No luck, though. She ended up right across from him.

"I'm Justin Finch-Fletchley," Justin said, taking a seat next to Scarlett. He probably figured the others didn't know who he was. The only thing was that they did know. At least Fred did, anyway.

"We know." Fred smirked even wider and he subtly hit his knee against Scarlett's. She glared at him as the carriage started to move.

On Justin's other side, Erica was wearing the smile of someone trying incredibly hard to hold in their laughter. Scarlett wanted to make a face at her, too.

As the carriage rolled towards Hogwarts, Scarlett fought the urge to fling herself overboard. This ride was going to be so awkward.