"Why do you always complicate things that are really quite simple?"

-Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins)

"You, Fred, are a miracle worker."

Fred looked up as his twin appeared at his side, passed him one of the two butterbeers in his hand, and clapped him on the back. "Yeah?" he asked with a grin as he opened the butterbeer and took a sip.

"Yeah, I mean, it's incredible. There's a huge difference. We've all seen it."

Fred shrugged and readjusted himself slightly against the kitchen doorframe he was leaning against. "I didn't really do much. It couldn't have happened unless Scarlett wanted it for herself. And it's not like it happened overnight, either."

"I didn't say it did. And I actually think you did a lot," George argued as they stood and watched Scarlett, Ginny and Erica in the kitchen. A little over a week had passed since the funerals and it was now Fred and George's birthday. Mrs. Weasley had been working practically all day, preparing all of their favorite foods for dinner. Now, she just had everything staying warm on the stove while Scarlett, Ginny and Erica worked on the cake.

Fred smiled affectionately as he watched Scarlett accidentally smudge cake batter on her nose. Erica began laughing at her immediately, but Scarlett just smiled and stuck her tongue out at her friend before slowly touching it to her nose and licking the frosting off. Erica rolled her eyes before returning to pouring the cake batter into a pan.

"How do you even do that?" Ginny asked.

Scarlett giggled. "I'm not telling you."

"Is she still having nightmares?" George asked, glancing at Fred as he took a sip of his butterbeer.

"A bit," Fred answered, nodding seriously. "The one she had on the night of the funerals was the worst, though. Honestly, I was just glad she fell asleep in the first place. But then again, the way she was screaming….I hate it. And then after that she cried for what felt like hours. Nothing I said was calming her down, so I just had to hold her and let her cry."

"But they're getting better?"

"Yeah, mostly she's just been fidgeting in her sleep now, but sometimes she'll wake up gasping for air."

"No more screaming, though?"

"Nope, the screaming stopped after about four nights."

"That's good, then. See what I mean? She's improved a lot."

"I know." Fred grinned as he watched Scarlett put the cake in the oven and dust off her hands.

"When are you going to tell her?"

"Tell her what?"

"That you love her."

Fred felt his cheeks and his ears turn bright pink. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. "Um….I don't—I don't know," he stuttered.

"I wish you could see how you were looking at her," George said with a smile. He paused and grinned. "You have to tell her. The only question is when."

"I told you, I don't know. Not now, that's for sure. It's not the time," Fred said. "It might still be too soon after her mother and Justin…I don't want to spring anything more on her just yet."

George nodded. "What about marriage plans? What are you doing about that?"

Fred's stomach clenched nervously. He still had no idea. "Let's not talk about that right now. It'll ruin my birthday."

"You'll have to talk about it eventually, Freddie," George said seriously.

"I know." Fred turned to his brother and patted his shoulder. "We'll figure it out."

"How're the birthday boys?" Scarlett asked, coming up beside Fred and kissing his cheek.

"Old," Fred said, wrinkling his nose. "I'm practically decrepit."

"What do you mean practically?" Erica teased, resulting in Ginny doubling over with giggles.

"Shut up," Fred laughed, grinning and shaking his head.

"What color icing do you want on your cake?" Scarlett asked. "Pink, right? And I know you want flowers."

Fred laughed. "Sounds perfect to me," he said as he leaned down to kiss her.

"Oh, and how many candles are we putting on it?" Erica added, pretending to think. "Two hundred? A hundred for each of you? Does that sound about right?"

"Shut up, Erica," George said, reaching forward and trying to mess up her hair. Erica laughed and ducked, shoving his arm away as she did so.

"Want to go for a walk outside?" Scarlett whispered, taking Fred's hand and smiling up at him.

"Sounds great," Fred answered. He finished off his butterbeer and set the bottle on the table before leading her to the back door. They made their way over to the swing and Fred sat down on it as Scarlett pushed him.

"I have to tell you something," Scarlett said as she gently pushed against his shoulders. Fred swung forward and back again. He tilted his head back so he could clearly see her face for a split second before he was swinging away from her again.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I probably should have told you sooner, but things were…crazy." She sighed. "I found someone who can marry us."

"What?" Fred dragged his feet against the ground and half turned in the swing so he could see her face. "How? When? Who?"

Scarlett chewed on her lip and frowned slightly in thought. "I'm not telling you who until we go see them. Then you can see for yourself."

"Why?" Fred asked. He was confused to say the least. Why couldn't she just tell him who it was?

"It's complicated."

"Who are these random people that you seem to know but won't talk about who are so willing to help us? I mean, you won't tell us who rescued you from Umbridge, and now you won't tell me who agreed to marry us."

"It's the same person," Scarlett said, staring at him and wringing her hands nervously. "That's all I'm saying. You just have to trust me on this, okay? Whenever we're ready, we can just go to this person and they'll marry us."

"Wait, wait, wait," Fred said, standing up from the swing and holding up a hand. "You mean to tell me that the same person who saved you is going to marry us? How did he even know about the vow? Did you just tell him? Was when he rescued you the first time you met him? Is it even a guy?"

"I'm not telling you," Scarlett insisted.

"Scar, I don't know about this…."

"Do you trust me?" Scarlett asked, taking a step closer to him.

"Scar, I—"

"Do you trust me?" Scarlett repeated, slower this time. "You asked me this same question a few times before, if you remember, and my answer was always yes."

"Yes," Fred sighed, resting his forehead against hers. "I trust you."

Scarlett took his hand in both of hers and held it between them. "I've got it under control, okay? It'll be fine. It'll work out. All we have to do is say when and we can get married."

"I actually like the sound of that," Fred whispered, lightly kissing her.

"Two and a half years ago you didn't," Scarlett giggled. Then, her expression became serious. "Oh, and we can't tell anyone. It's going to have to be private. We can't have your whole family leaving this house all the time. It was even unsafe for us to go to the funerals. It's a safe house for a reason."

"Okay," Fred nodded. "But George has to come. I'm not getting married without him there."

"George is fine." Scarlett hesitated and bit her lip.

"What is it?"

"I want Erica and Ginny to come, but that just leaves your parents out and then it just seems silly to not invite them, too. And what about Muriel? She's let us stay here for quite some time and she is family…."

"My mum would go on for about an hour about how upset she was that she couldn't plan us a real wedding," Fred laughed. He shrugged. "And Muriel would just insult everyone and complain about how we went about this all the wrong way and should never have made such a dumb vow. You know, the usual. I don't want to be rude, but how about we just stick to me, you and George? It's less stress that way, less of a chance of getting caught…the others will just have to deal with it and look at the wedding pictures later."

Scarlett laughed. "But Erica's my best friend."

Fred nodded. "I know, but if Erica comes, Ginny will be angry when she finds out and...it just makes more sense. If it's the two of us and one witness, then nobody can complain about someone else being invited over them."

"I guess," Scarlett sighed. She looked up. "Okay, then, just me, you and George."

"Just how it used to be when we were little," Fred grinned.

"The good old days," Scarlett said, leaning up to kiss him. "I'm surprised you remember that far back since it was so long ago for you. Isn't that right, Mr. Old and Decrepit?" She smirked and darted back towards the house, but Fred was fast. He caught up to her in a matter of seconds and threw her over his shoulder.

"I don't think someone old and decrepit could have done that," he said with a smile.

"Okay, okay," Scarlett giggled. "You can put me down now."

Fred set her down and kissed her cheek before taking her hand in one of his and pulling the back door open with the other. "After you," he said formally with a slight bow.

"Thank you," Scarlett sniffed, pretending to curtsy.

They both laughed and headed inside to the delicious smells of food and the sound of people laughing. When they reached the dining room, they stopped in the doorway and looked inside. Mrs. Weasley was hitting Mr. Weasley with a dishtowel for stealing a piece of bread from the basket in the middle of the table. He was cowering slightly and his mouth was full, but he was laughing anyway, and so was Mrs. Weasley. It was the happiest Fred had seen her in a while and he couldn't help but grin.

"Happy birthday, Fred," Scarlett whispered, turning to him with a smile on her own face.

Fred wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple. "Thanks, Scar," he replied as his grin only got wider. It looked like things were getting better. They were on their way to happiness again and that was exactly how Fred wanted it.

"This is really happening," Scarlett whispered to herself as she studied herself in the mirror. She was wearing a white sundress that had been packed in with the things that Bill had brought when she first came to Muriel's house. She was mentally thanking Erica a million times for putting the dress in the bag. If she hadn't, Scarlett had no idea what she would be wearing tonight.

In a few minutes, she, Fred and George would be sneaking over to Percy's place. She still hadn't revealed his identity to the twins and she hadn't told him they were coming. As she had learned the hard way, sending letters was too risky, especially about something that could possibly get Percy in trouble. Scarlett only hoped that he was home. That was one of the reasons she had decided it would be best to go at night. Percy was more likely to be home and there was also less of a chance of being spotted.

They had also chosen this particular day to get married for a reason. At least somewhat, anyway. It was April 17th, just about exactly two weeks after Fred's birthday and two weeks before Scarlett's. It was right in the middle of the last month of their time limit and it seemed perfect.

Suddenly, there was a knock on Scarlett's door. "Who is it?" she asked, freezing for a moment and hoping it wasn't Erica or Ginny.

"It's George. I came to check up on you and see if you were ready."

Scarlett crossed the room to the door and opened it to reveal a grinning George, wearing a dress shirt and pants, his tie hanging from his neck untied. "Yeah, I'm ready," she grinned.

"You look gorgeous," George said. "Fred sure knows how to pick 'em, let me tell you."

"George," Scarlett giggled. She swatted him as he let out a laugh of his own. "How's Fred holding up?"

"He's a wreck."

"You're not being sarcastic, are you? Because I'm a wreck right now and if Fred is fine, I'm—"

"No, he's seriously a wreck," George said. "He's shaking worse than Snape confronted with shampoo and I think he forgot how to tie his shoes."

"Is he still figuring it out now?" Scarlett asked with a smile.

"Probably. I sure as hell wasn't going to do it for him. I'm not his mother."

Scarlett smiled and began to tie George's tie. "But I'm going to have to be yours for a moment, aren't I?"

"You could always tie ties better than I could," George said, tilting his chin up slightly so Scarlett had more room to work. "Remember when we would practice putting ties on so we'd be all prepared for Hogwarts even though we weren't going for, what, another two or three years?"

Scarlett giggled. "I remember." She finished with the tie and straightened George's collar around it. "Perfect," she said, smoothing out his shirt. "You look very handsome."

"As I do every day," George said. "Now, I'm going to need you to turn around."

"Why?" Scarlett asked suspiciously.

George reached into his pocket and pulled out a blindfold. "I need to cover your eyes. I'm going to do the same to Fred. This way, we can still make sure neither one of you see the other before the wedding."

"We saw each other up until about an hour or two ago," Scarlett said.

"Yes, but you haven't seen each other all dressed up yet," George argued. "Now turn around."

Scarlett sighed and did as he said. A second later, she felt George tying the blindfold around her head. "If you mess up my hair, George, I swear to you, I'll—"

"Yeah, yeah, calm down," George said. "Your hair's still perfect. Okay, finished. Now go sit on your bed and wait for me to come back for you. I'll have Fred with me and then we can leave."

"George?"

"What?"

"I can't see. How am I going to find my way to my bed?"

George sighed and took her arm, leading her to the bed. "Sit," he said, pushing her down gently.

"Thanks, George," Scarlett said sweetly.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be back in a minute."

Scarlett heard George leave the room and she sat there in the silence, anxiously playing with her hands. She was so nervous. Not only was she about to get married, but Percy was going to be the one marrying her. Fred and George still weren't on good terms with him and she wondered how they'd react. She hoped they wouldn't be angry with her. It wasn't like she had any other options. It was either have Percy marry them or not fulfill the vow.

Finally, she heard footsteps coming down the hallway and her door being pushed open. "George?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's me," he said. He took her arm and pulled her to her feet. "You two romantic saps ready to go?"

Scarlett felt herself blushing slightly. Fred was in the room and they were within an hour of getting married. "Hi, Fred," she whispered.

"Hi, Scar," he whispered back.

"George, stop rolling your eyes," Scarlett said.

"Wow, you do know me well," George muttered. "Okay, I'm going to lead you two outside now. Remember to be as silent as possible and if I see anyone coming, I'll help you hide. Scar, you can Apparate us there once we reach the charm boundaries?"

Scarlett nodded. "I can."

"I wish I knew where there was exactly," Fred huffed.

"You'll see soon enough."

"Okay, come on," George whispered.

They moved in silence through the house, George whispering instructions every now and then to guide them. After a few minutes, they came to a stop. Scarlett let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. They had made it outside without getting caught.

"Are we ready?" She squeezed George's hand a bit tighter.

"Ready," the twins chorused.

Scarlett took in a breath and turned on the spot, picturing Percy's flat in her mind. A moment later, they came to a stop.

"Where are we?" George asked.

"I wouldn't know," Fred said, "seeing as you blindfolded me."

"Are we in front of a brick building?" Scarlett asked.

"Yeah," George answered.

"Okay, great. We need to head up to the flat on the second floor."

George didn't say anything, but a second later, he was leading Scarlett and Fred up to the correct floor. "Okay, we're here," he finally said. "Now what?"

"You knock, of course," Scarlett said.

She heard the sound of the knock a second later and then silence.

"Maybe this person isn't home," Fred said. "What happens then?"

"They're home," Scarlett said, feeling more and more confident in that fact with every passing second.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Scarlett heard the door open and it was met with a very awkward silence.

"Is it me, or did things just get really awkward in here?" Fred asked, voicing Scarlett's thoughts. "George, what's happening? Who answered the door?"

"Oh, bloody hell. No way. Not happening," George said.

"Shut up, George," Scarlett said, turning towards him, even though she was still blindfolded. "This is happening. We don't have a choice. He offered and we have no one else who will do it."

"Will someone please clue me in on what's happening?" Fred asked.

"Scar, no," George said stubbornly.

"Yes," she answered, just as stubbornly.

"That's it, I'm taking off my blindfold now," Fred said.

"Fred, wait," Scarlett said quickly as she reached up for her own blindfold. By the time she had removed it and her eyes had adjusted, Fred had already taken his off and he was staring at Percy in utmost shock and horror. George had a look of annoyance on his face and Percy just looked surprised and guilty.

"I wasn't, uh, expecting you," he said awkwardly.

"Sorry I didn't warn you," Scarlett said. "I didn't want to write. It's not safe."

"No, you're right," Percy said, looking away from Fred and focusing on Scarlett. "Um, come in."

Scarlett began to step into the flat, but then Fred and George spoke behind her.

"No."

She turned around and grabbed their arms, pulling them into the flat's living room. "Come on," she said, glaring at them. "Stop being such babies!"

"Scarlett, are you mental?" Fred cried, turning to her. "Percy's going to marry us? I mean, how much did you have to pay him because I can't believe he'd actually volunteer for this!"

"Fred, stop it!" Scarlett scolded.

"No, Scar! Have you forgotten what he did? He walked out on us! He betrayed us! He sent back his Christmas sweater, for Merlin's sake! He practically broke Mum's heart!"

Percy let out a strangled groan and sank onto the couch, burying his head in his hands.

"Fred, don't say that," Scarlett pleaded. "You've forgotten that—"

"No, he has every right to say it," Percy said, raising his head and looking at her. "It's all true, no matter how much I regret it."

"See, Scar?" Fred asked. "He's even admitting it!"

Scarlett looked at George for help, but he was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a disgusted look on his face.

"Look, you two are forgetting something quite important," Scarlett said. She glanced at Percy and lowered her voice. "He saved my life. He rescued me from that little room in Umbridge's office and gave me somewhere to sleep for the night. He gave me something to eat the next morning. He chased after me when I ran off to my mother's to try and protect her from Scabior and Greyback and he tracked me down at Justin's. He was incredible that day."

"I thought Sirius found you at Justin's," Fred said, glancing at Percy.

"He did. He was sent over by your father. Nobody knew Percy was going to show up."

"I made a terrible mistake," Percy croaked out, looking between Fred and George. He swallowed thickly. "I realized it pretty shortly after I walked out. It didn't take long at all, but it was hard to come back. You have to believe me. I've wanted to make things right for a long time, and I thought being the one to help you out with this vow thing would be a good start. Like I told Scarlett, I don't want to miss out on another family member's wedding. Bill and Fleur's was hard enough as it is, but yours, Fred, would be even harder. You and George are my little brothers. It's different with you. I'm the older brother closest to your age and I should've been around more often for you. I don't think I really appreciated you two for who you are, either, and I'm sorry. If you want to know the truth, in these past few years, I've wished I had you and your jokes around. It's been that long since I've had a good laugh."

Scarlett turned to the twins as Percy finished speaking. They were both looking at the ground, their expressions serious as they thought over what Percy said. Finally, they looked at each other and shared a glance before looking back at Percy.

"You really offered to do this all on your own? No matter the consequences?" Fred asked.

Percy nodded. "I want to do it wholeheartedly."

"This is why I wouldn't tell you who he was until you had seen him for yourself," Scarlett said. "I wanted you to hear all this from him."

Fred bit his lip and looked at the ceiling for a minute before looking at Percy. "When Scarlett told me someone had saved her, but wouldn't tell me who, it annoyed me quite a bit. I wanted to know who had done what I couldn't and thank them. I felt like I owed them. I still feel that way, to be honest." He looked at George for support, looking unsure of what to say next.

"You leaving hurt us all, Perce," George said. "We may have pranked you to no end, but you're our brother." He looked at Fred and they seemed to silently agree on something.

"You're our brother even if you were a Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power hungry moron," Fred finished with a small smile.

Percy looked up, an expression of slight surprise on his face. "So does that mean you're forgiving me?"

Fred and George nodded. "But when all this is over," George said, "and you decide to be part of the family again, expect a lot of pranks."

"Oh, no," Percy groaned, letting out a tiny laugh.

"You said you missed them," Fred shrugged. "And by the way…I really do owe you. For what you did. Thank you…so much."

"Don't mention it," Percy said, blushing and adjusting his glasses. "Well, then, should we get started?"

The twins nodded and Fred turned to Scarlett. "Wow," he breathed, finally getting the chance to look her over for the first time. "You look amazing."

Scarlett blushed under his gaze, but at the same time, she loved the way he was looking at her. It was as if nothing else mattered to him anymore except for her. "That should have been the first thing you said, but instead you practically threw a tantrum over Percy."

Fred blushed. "Sorry. And I didn't throw a tantrum. I had every right to act the way I did."

Scarlett giggled and stepped towards him. "Well, in any case, you look pretty handsome yourself."

"So," Percy began, looking around. "Where do you want to do this? I guess here in the living room won't be so bad….It's better than the bathroom or my bedroom. It's too bad I didn't know you were coming. I could've put up a few little decorations or something."

"It's fine," Scarlett said. "That plant in the corner is decoration enough."

"Should I change?" Percy asked, gesturing to his t-shirt and jeans. "I don't think it's appropriate for me to be dressed like this."

"No, I want you dressed like that," Fred said. "At least one of us should be comfortable." He tugged at his collar somewhat irritably as Scarlett rolled her eyes.

"Okay, um…." Percy closed his eyes and inhaled through his nose as he thought. "Oh, I almost forgot." He opened his eyes and looked at them. "I'm sure considering the circumstances, you two haven't picked out any rings."

"Oh, Merlin, I didn't even think of that!" Scarlett cried. "And we need them, don't we?"

"Why?" Fred asked. "Can't we just skip them for now and get them later?"

"The rings are a physical symbol of the marriage," Percy said, "and in order for the Unbreakable Vow to work, just saying 'I do' isn't enough, I'm afraid. But," he smiled, "I thought of this soon after I rescued Scarlett and offered to marry the two of you. I figured you wouldn't be able to get rings, so I took the liberty of getting some for you myself."

"You what?" Scarlett gasped as Fred's mouth dropped open.

"Yeah, I went out and bought some. I just said they were for friends who were very busy planning the wedding and couldn't pick them up themselves. I gave no information about you whatsoever, and the man at the store didn't ask, so we're fine. Besides, I don't think Umbridge is exactly looking for you or anything. And I think a ring shop is the last place she would look even if she was."

"Percy, you're a genius," Scarlett said, flinging her arms around him. "Thank you so much!"

Percy patted her back and smiled. "My pleasure. I couldn't have this vow not working for you." He pulled away and started heading down the hall. "Let me just go get them and we can get started."

"Wow," Scarlett sighed, turning towards Fred. "This is actually happening. We're getting married."

"Are you excited?" Fred asked. "Nervous?"

"Both, to be honest," Scarlett whispered.

"Me too," Fred whispered back, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

Just then, Percy reappeared, the rings in his hand. He passed them to George. "Here you go. Don't drop them."

"I'm not five, Perce," George said. "I can handle this."

Percy nodded and turned to Fred and Scarlett. "Okay, where do you want to stand?"

"How about in front of the window?" Scarlett asked.

Fred agreed and looked the window up and down. "Mm, those curtains are lovely, Perce. You really have an eye for decorating."

Percy sighed before positioning himself in front of the window. Scarlett and Fred stood in front of him, facing each other. George stood just behind Fred, grinning happily.

"Ready?" Fred asked.

"Ready," Scarlett nodded.

"You're going to need to hold each other's right hands," Percy said. "Just like you would have been doing when you made the vow."

Fred and Scarlett followed the instructions, but it looked and felt awkward and they both knew it. To make it less weird, Fred reached over their intertwined right hands with his left and picked up Scarlett's free hand.

"Still a little awkward, but not as bad," he grinned.

"Okay, let's get started, then," Percy said.

They proceeded to do just that, and everything was absolutely perfect up until it came time for them to say I do. Neither one of them had a problem with saying it, but it was what happened after that was the issue.

The second the words had escaped both of their lips, glowing bands of light appeared around their right hands. But that was just it. There were glowing bands. Plural. As in, more than one. To be exact, there were three. One was glowing gold, one was glowing red, and the third was this weird, silvery-white color that was almost translucent and it wasn't really glowing all that much.

"Uh-oh," Percy said.

"What do you mean uh-oh?" Scarlett asked, still staring down at her and Fred's hands as the bands disappeared. "And why were there three of those surrounding our hands? Shouldn't there have been one? There was only one part of the vow."

"Apparently not," Percy whispered.

"What do you mean apparently not?" Fred asked, turning to Percy.

Percy chewed on his lip in thought. "Neither of you remember the exact words of the vow?"

"No, our memories were modified," Scarlett said. "All we know is that Charlie performed the vow. He did all the work. We just went along with it. Then, Bill came in later and modified our memories so we wouldn't be able to blab and so we could be eased into things. Something like that."

Percy sighed. "So, Bill wouldn't really know anything since he came in later….There must have been something Charlie never told mum and dad. Either that or he forgot. I'm willing to bet he forgot because it'd be stupid of him to not give up every bit of information. This is important, after all. Essentially, it's life or death and Charlie's not—"

"Perce, stop babbling and tell us what's going on," George ordered.

"Well, I've actually seen other cases of Unbreakable Vows that had to do with marriage. None necessarily like yours, but that's not really the point right now. In any case, gold is simply the color that symbolizes marriage. So, the band that was glowing gold was the one that symbolizes the part of the vow where you promised to get married. Since it was glowing and took the gold color, it means it was fulfilled."

"Okay, what about the other two?" Fred asked.

"The other two are kind of like a package deal," Percy said. "You don't usually see one without the other unless you specifically say so in the vow. The one that wasn't really glowing and had no color was the one that wasn't fulfilled."

"So the vow isn't completed?" Scarlett asked, her voice coming out in a squeak.

"If the other two parts were like a package deal, how come one's fulfilled and one isn't?" Fred asked.

"Well, when I said package deal…." Percy trailed off and sighed. "Let's think of Unbreakable Vow's like a checklist, shall we? When you make a vow, you have to promise to do a certain number of things. Sometimes there's only one thing, but sometimes there are multiple. In your case, you have two items on your checklist, but the second one involves both of you to do something. That's why three bands appeared. It was most likely phrased as one statement, though. Anyway, one item on the checklist was to get married. You've done that, so the gold band was glowing. The second item, like I said, requires action that both of you have to complete, but it usually doesn't happen at the same time. That's why there were two bands for it. One was glowing because one of you has completed it. The second one wasn't glowing because the other one of you hasn't completed it."

"Well, what is it?" Scarlett asked. "Do you know? Maybe we can complete it now and finish this."

"Er, I don't know about that. It might take time," Percy said.

"So you know what it is, then?" Fred asked.

"Yes," Percy nodded. "The red color of the one that did glow symbolizes love, so that must mean that part of the vow was that the two of you had to actually fall in love with one another. It also means, like I said, since only one was glowing, only one of you has actually fallen in love. Now, the thing about the vow is that it's really strong magic, and it'll pick up on the feelings in order to prevent someone from simply saying they're in love. But it also only works if the person has actually admitted it to themselves, is aware of the emotion and truly believes it and truly wants it. They can't be holding back for any reason. So, technically, you can love someone and in essence have the basis to complete the vow, but it won't work if you haven't admitted it to yourself. I know it's crazy and complicated, but that's how this works. It also applies to vows where other feelings are involved, not just love. And the good news is that you won't need me or any other official around anymore. The legal part is done. If one of you—whatever one hasn't fallen in love yet—does end up falling in love, all you'd have to do is join your hands again and it'll work. Does all of this make sense?"

Neither Scarlett nor Fred answered him. Instead, they were both looking at each other. Scarlett didn't know what her own face looked like, but she imagined it was a mix of surprise, slight confusion and panic. Fred's face clearly showed surprise at the new information as well, but it also showed hurt. Thanks to the vow, it had been revealed that one of them was in love and one wasn't. Since Scarlett knew it wasn't her, that meant it was Fred. What a terrible way to find this information out. No wonder he was hurt. Besides that, they only had two weeks before their time to complete the vow was up and they had just found out about another part of it that they hadn't even known about. It was almost overwhelming.

"Fred…?" she began, looking up at him and begging him to be the first to speak.

"You might as well actually tell her, Fred," George said quietly.

Fred looked at the ceiling. "This was not how I imagined you finding out," he said. "I was going to wait until it was the right time. I know things have been hard for you lately and I didn't want to…." He trailed off and closed his eyes for a second before opening them and looking at her. "I'm in love with you, Scar. I have been for a while. I love everything about you. Your hair, your smile, your eyes, even the scar on your chin that I didn't know existed until almost three years ago. I love all of it. I love the way you laugh and the look on your face you get when you're lost in thought. I love that you never give up and I love how strong you've been lately. Hell, I even love the way you cry. I just—I thought you might have felt the same way by now, but I—maybe it was stupid. I should have known. But I guess things have been hard. Especially with losing your mother and Justin and you clearly still deeply care for him….Or maybe you just aren't taking this as seriously as I thought."

"What?" Scarlett felt as if he had hit her. "No, Fred, I'm taking this very seriously! I just—my feelings are so confusing right now and I thought I had time to sort them out! I was afraid that maybe you weren't taking this seriously and some part of my mind kept telling me that the way we were progressing was too good to be true. That you were only dating me because you felt you had to. And besides that, I'm—"

"Yeah, of course it's assumed that I wouldn't take it seriously." Fred said, laughing in disbelief. "Because I'm the jokester. I'm incapable of being serious, right?"

"No, that's not what I meant," Scarlett protested. "Fred, please just listen to me—" She reached out to touch his face, but he pulled away.

"Just—just don't right now, Scar, okay?" He gave her a look of disappointment, hurt and anger. "Just don't." With that, he turned on the spot and Disapparated.

A/N: Hopefully the explanation of why the vow didn't work isn't too confusing. I had to keep fixing that section to make sure it didn't sound too complicated, but if anyone needs clarification about it, let me know.

Thanks for reading!