"We have so much time and so little to do. Strike that, reverse it."
-Willy Wonka (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
"Get anything you'd like," Scarlett told Fred as they waited in line. "It's my treat."
"Well, in that case, one of everything," Fred smirked.
"Shut up," Scarlett replied, lightly shoving his shoulder.
Fred smiled. "You have Muggle money?" he asked.
"That's a good point," Scarlett said. She grabbed his arm and pulled him in front of her. "Stand in front of me." Glancing around to double check that nobody in the crowded bakery was looking, Scarlett pulled out her wand and transfigured some of her coins into Muggle money. "Okay, we're good," she whispered, stepping out from behind Fred.
They each ordered a slice of apple pie, and after Scarlett paid they found a seat towards the back of the bakery.
"So," Scarlett said, poking at her pie with her fork. "We're not exactly done talking yet."
"No?" Fred asked through a mouthful of pie. "What more is there to say?"
"Plenty," Scarlett muttered, twirling her fork between her fingers.
"Scar, you're overanalyzing again. You're thinking too much."
"Well, it's what I do, so maybe you should learn to like it."
"I do, actually," Fred shrugged. "In a weird, twisted way, of course."
Scarlett finally looked up. "When did you even start to consider that you might possibly have feelings for me? I know you can't pinpoint an exact date where everything made sense and neither can I, but when did you first start thinking it could be possible?"
"The night my dad was attacked and we had that big talk on the roof, to be honest," Fred said. "That's when it started, although I wasn't sure about it. But the more time I spent with you, the more sure I became."
"I think that's what happened to me. I mean, I liked being around you more and more, but I think I just forced out any thought that suggested I liked you as something more. I would blame it on the vow or on Erica and Ginny messing with my head."
Fred nodded as he finished off his pie. "What I can't believe, though, is that the Finch told Angelina before I could. It was kind of low, even for him."
"I didn't see that coming, either, but now that I think back, maybe I should have."
"Speaking of the Finch, though, I do actually have a question for you."
"Okay, ask away."
"If you're in love with him, then how can you have feelings for me?"
Scarlett didn't answer right away. "Well, like I think I told you, I did love Justin and I still care for him very much, but what I felt for him wasn't the same for what he felt for me. At first I didn't know why, but I suppose it all makes sense now. I mean, I can't not have some kind of strong feelings for him after all he did for me."
"Like buying you expensive jewelry?" Fred asked.
"Not just that," Scarlett replied, shooting him a look. "He was very nice to me."
"Yeah, he only accused you of something you didn't do and then he lied to Angelina about it and got me involved. Sounds like a really wonderful person."
"Look, Fred, I don't need you picking on him right now."
"Aren't you upset about what he did?"
"Of course I am, but that doesn't mean I'm going to trash talk him every chance I get."
"You're no fun, then," Fred muttered. "By the way, what did you do with that locket he gave you? You were wearing it every day."
"I gave it back to him. I gave all the jewelery back and gave him the money for the clothes his mother bought me. I didn't deserve to keep it and it would be weird anyway."
Fred smirked. "You should have kept it. That's a lot of expensive stuff. You could have at least sold it if you didn't want to keep it. You could've been rich right now."
"Don't be a jerk," Scarlett said, smiling slightly. "Selling it would have been even more insulting to Justin."
"I guess," Fred shrugged.
"So, what do you think Erica and Ginny will say? How are we even going to tell them?" Scarlett asked.
"Tell them what?" Fred asked, smiling.
"Don't mess with me, Fred. You know what! How are we going to tell them we kissed? Then, they're going to assume we're together. Are we together?"
"Scar, slow down," Fred said. "It's up to you whether or not you want to be together. I can understand if you'd rather take it slow. I'll be happy either way."
"You will?" Scarlett asked, looking up in surprise.
"Well, not really, but I'll have to be, won't I?" Fred grinned. "I'll certainly try."
Scarlett smiled. "I do think I just need some time. At least a little bit. Things just moved so fast…."
"Yeah, I know," Fred whispered. "I get it."
"So we still haven't figured out what we're going to tell Erica and Ginny…and everyone else for that matter."
"Well, I think you can handle Erica. If we tell Ginny, the rest of my family will find out within seconds. And then my mum will tell your mum."
"I think I can tell my mum on my own, but what do we say?"
"We tell them we kissed and we're working through our feelings and deciding our next move. Then we add something about how sorry we are for all the annoyance we put them through."
"You do realize how annoying it'll be seeing them gloat, don't you?"
"I do," Fred answered with a smile, "but it'll be worth the suffering."
"Fred, I just don't get it."
"Get what?"
"How you can go from begin perfectly happy with Angelina one minute to liking me the next."
"I told you I thought my relationship with Angelina was falling apart, didn't I?"
"Yeah, because of your busy schedules! You didn't say anything about not liking her anymore. Or did you lie about that, too?"
"No," Fred said, "that is the real reason, but I just didn't feel like trying to fix it because I was already suspecting that I had feelings for you. I told you I was afraid that I wasn't trying to fix things with Angelina. I wasn't trying to make time for her like I should have been and it was all because I was trying to figure out what I actually felt for you."
Scarlett was quiet as she processed what Fred had said.
"You've hardly touched your pie," Fred stated.
"You sound like your mother," Scarlett replied, picking up her fork again. She took a bite of her pie. "Happy?"
"Thrilled."
Scarlett couldn't help but smile.
"Did I tell you Bill and Fleur announced their engagement last weekend?"
"No," Scarlett replied, looking up, "you didn't tell me."
"Yeah, the whole family was over for dinner last Sunday and they broke the news then. Mum's not too happy."
"Why not?"
"I told you she's not too crazy about Fleur and she thinks Bill's rushing things a bit."
"Poor Fleur," Scarlett sighed. "I'm sure all she wants is for your mum to like her."
"I guess," Fred shrugged.
"I know I wouldn't feel too great if it were me your mother didn't like."
"But she does, so you have nothing to worry about."
Scarlett just shrugged. "I still feel bad for Fleur."
"You know," Fred said after a moment, "you should come over for dinner one weekend. It'll be great."
"Is that how you want to announce to everyone that we're, well, whatever we are?"
"No, but we can if you want to."
"I'd rather just do it…quietly," Scarlett said. "Not by announcing it around the dinner table."
"Why, are you worried about upstaging Bill and Fleur's announcement?"
"No," Scarlett replied, shooting Fred a look.
"Ginny and my mum are actually anxious for us to fall in love. It's kind of ridiculous. They think Bill and Fleur are falling in love too fast and they think we're taking too long. Anyway, my point is that us kissing is a step in the right direction for them. They've been waiting for this news, so we'd probably upstage Bill and Fleur no matter what."
"Don't say that. A wedding is great news."
"Yeah, but at least mum and Ginny will be happy with our news."
"Which is why we shouldn't announce it to everyone all at once. I don't want to make Fleur feel any worse when she sees their reaction."
Fred nodded. "I guess that makes sense. By the way, you're invited to the wedding."
"Bill and Fleur's?"
"Of course. What other wedding could I possibly mean? Certainly not ours because there's no way you're invited to that one. You never had a chance."
"Funny, Fred."
Fred just grinned. "Anyway, we all want you there. They're getting married next August at the Burrow. Your mother's invited as well."
Scarlett nodded. "I'll let her know."
"I'm sure you'll both be getting formal invitations anyway, but I thought I'd tell you."
Scarlett nodded again.
"You're not going to finish that, are you?" Fred asked, smirking as he gestured to the half-eaten apple pie on Scarlett's plate.
"I'll get a box for it and bring it home for later," Scarlett shrugged. She glanced up at Fred and smirked. "Happy?"
"Thrilled," Fred grinned.
Scarlett giggled, stood up and held out her hand to Fred. "Come on, let's get out of here."
The last month and a half of summer flew by quickly. Scarlett was kept busy with work and barely had time to register that that for the first time in seven years, September 1st came and went without her getting on the Hogwarts Express.
As far as her relationship with Fred, they had been taking it slow ever since they kissed. They saw each other whenever they had free moments. Sometimes they went to lunch together before they had to hurry back to work. On the weekends, they sometimes went out on dinner dates, and sometimes stayed in at either Scarlett or Fred's flat. To Scarlett, it basically felt as if they were dating anyway, but it just wasn't official yet. She hadn't spoken to Justin since the breakup and Fred hadn't spoken to Angelina. Scarlett had heard in a letter from Ginny that Justin hadn't even told anyone at school about the vow. He had simply been telling people things didn't work out. Scarlett would have been grateful, but something told her that he was keeping his mouth shut to prevent himself from looking like a fool rather than to respect Scarlett's privacy.
As for breaking the news of Fred and Scarlett's kiss and slight relationship change to everyone else, Scarlett had told Erica on the same day it had happened. Fred had hung around Scarlett's flat for a bit after they got back from the bakery, but eventually he had gone home. Erica had returned about an hour later and Scarlett had given her the details. As expected, Erica had squealed with joy and jumped to conclusions that Scarlett and Fred were madly in love. Scarlett then had to convince her to slow down just a bit.
The next day, Scarlett had told her mother, who took the news a lot more calmly than Erica had. She simply smirked and said, "I knew you'd do the right thing."
As for Fred's family, Scarlett had gone over for dinner at the Burrow the next weekend. She and Fred told Mrs. Weasley the news while she was cooking dinner and everyone else was outside. Upon hearing the news, she turned around with lightning speed and pulled Fred and Scarlett into a bone crushing hug while repeating over and over how she had known all along this would happen.
It also turned out that Fred and Scarlett didn't have to tell Ginny the news separately. She had been standing outside the kitchen door and overheard the news. Nobody had even noticed she was there until she dropped the stack of plates she had been holding. Once she had gotten over the initial shock, she spent the rest of the evening sending Scarlett and Fred gloating looks, which they tried their best to ignore.
By the end of the night, the entire family had figured out Fred and Scarlett's news. Even Sirius, who had also come over for dinner, figured it out pretty quickly and took it upon himself to smile widely at Scarlett every time she made eye contact with him.
In other news, Scarlett was finding that work was keeping her busier and busier with every passing day. It was becoming almost a struggle to see Fred during the week, and she was now considered "on call" during the weekends, which meant if she was called in to work, she had to go. She was basically done with training and practically considered an official Healer by this point. It was good news, but also meant that things were getting more demanding.
On the other hand, Scarlett loved her job. Demanding hours, terrible injuries, and irritable patients aside, Scarlett felt right at home in St. Mungo's. She loved watching people return to health and knowing that she had played a part in it.
She had also found a wonderful friend in Healer Wilson, the Healer who had helped train her. Scarlett had started out on her first day calling her Healer Wilson, but the Healer had insisted Scarlett call her Dani, which made Scarlett feel immensely more comfortable.
"Hey, how are you doing?" Dani asked, stopping Scarlett in the hallway one day in the beginning of December.
"Okay," Scarlett sighed. "It's a bit overwhelming, even though I've been here since July. Is that normal?"
Dani nodded and smiled. "It is, trust me. You'll get used to things, though. But I actually stopped you because I wanted to show you something. Are you available?"
Scarlett nodded. "Yeah, for a few minutes at least."
"That's all I need," Dani smiled. "Come on."
Scarlett followed her friend down the hallway and into a room Scarlett had never been in before. "Where are we?" she asked, taking in the multiple tables and shelves filled with cauldrons, vials, papers and test tubes. It looked a lot like the medical version of Fred and George's workroom.
"It's where we work on developing our own new cures and medicines."
"Wow," Scarlett breathed.
"I thought you would find this room interesting." Dani walked over to a table in the corner. "Anyway, this is what I really wanted to show you." She pointed to a cauldron sitting on the table.
"What is it?" Scarlett asked, walking over and peering at the liquid before looking at the numerous papers littering the table. They were covered in complicated equations and lists of ingredients.
"It's something I've been working on for a while. It's a potion that will be able to cure nearly all injuries caused by dark spells, curses and jinxes."
"Aren't there spells and other potions for that?" Scarlett asked.
Dani laughed. "Usually, but not always. There are spells that exist that cause injuries that can't be reversed or healed by another spell or potion. These spells are considered very, very dark magic and were very famous years ago with—"
"Death Eaters," Scarlett finished, nodding.
"Exactly. That's why I'm trying to work on this and complete it now. The sooner the better, really. Things are changing. If I succeed in creating this potion, it could come in handy. I mean, obviously, this potion won't fix everything. Really, it's just those irreversible injuries. Cuts, bruises, gashes, that sort of thing. And some of those injuries are fatal. Death Eaters know what they're doing. Sometimes they like dishing out slow deaths and those irreversible spells were the perfect way to do it."
"Do you think you're close to figuring this out?"
"Yeah, actually I think it's almost done. I mean, it's not quite perfect yet, but I think I've almost got it figured out. Sometimes it's difficult, though…."
"Do you need any help?" Scarlett asked.
"No, I think I can manage it. Thanks, though. I think it's mostly done, but I just need to work out one last problem."
"Which is what?" Scarlett asked.
"I tested it for the first time last week because I was sure it was finished. It heals wounds just fine, but it leaves a scar. I'm aiming for it to heal any injuries perfectly."
"Well, it still looks like you could use this now and work things out at the same time. I mean, what if you need it sooner than you think?"
"I don't think I'm ready to put it out there and start selling it just yet. I mean, I'm kind of a perfectionist. I want to do it perfectly the first time."
"I suppose that makes sense, but do you think it'll be long before you finish it?"
"I hope not."
"Me neither. I mean, this will be incredibly handy and a war is coming. Almost everyone can tell by now."
"I know," Dani said quietly. "I feel as if I'm on a time limit. It's crazy. You have no idea how late I've stayed up night after night trying to figure this out. It's stressful and sometimes I feel like I'm under a lot of pressure. I am under a lot of pressure. But I love this job…." Dani trailed off and looked up at the ceiling. "It's all worth it knowing that I can help someone, you know?"
"I do," Scarlett whispered. "Look, are you sure you don't want help? Maybe I could help speed things along and take some of the pressure off. You really do look exhausted, you know. And now that I'm looking at you, you look thinner. Do you even make time to eat?"
"Scarlett, really, I'm fine. You just started working here after all. You don't need any more to add to your work load. Besides, this has to be kept top secret and within the hospital. If people start finding out it exists before it's done, they'll be begging for it. A lot of people are scared right now."
"Okay, well, if you're sure," Scarlett replied slowly. "I just…all this stress can't be good for you. You're worse off than I am."
"It's part of being a perfectionist, I suppose," Dani said, smiling wearily. "But I'll be fine. I'm positive. Speaking of work, though, we should both be getting back to actually doing just that."
Scarlett smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that might be best."
The two of them left the room together, but for the rest of Scarlett's shift, she was bothered by how hard Dani was working and how it was taking a toll on her. By the end of the day, Scarlett had made a decision. Before she left, she snuck back inside the workroom. She slowly filled a vial with the potion Dani had showed her, careful not to spill a drop. She covered the vial and stuck it in her bag before tiptoeing out of the room. No matter how much Dani had refused help, Scarlett thought she could really use it right now. Even if she had to be kept in the dark about it.