Christmastime was looming on the horizon, and Emma knew that they would have a semi-awkward time with the Weasleys. For one thing, apparently Hermione Granger had apparently fallen out with the boys and would not be visiting the Burrow, so the only female contact beyond her mother-in-law would be Ginny. Emma was all right with that, but the fact that Molly still didn't know about her marrying Fred would put her on edge.

"Relax," Fred said with a laugh. "Try to act like it's any other Christmas. You didn't mind Grimmauld Place."

"I had other things on my mind," Emma reminded him. "And we weren't married."

Fred could do little to argue with her, but he certainly did his best to comfort her.

"Relax, darling," he said with a grin. "We still have a week before you have to suffer through Christmas."

George overheard their conversation and piped in, "You know, Mum said Remus is going to be there."

Emma perked up, raising an eyebrow.

"Really?" she said happily, thinking it was going to be a set-up. "Is Tonks coming too?"

George's face fell slightly and he frowned, thinking.

"No, I don't think so," he said sadly. "I think she might have said if Tonks were going to be there."

"She probably invited her, though," Fred said helpfully. "You know Mum. She's a firm believer in those two being together, just like you. I suppose Tonks couldn't stand the thought of the awkwardness."

Emma began stroking the side of the plate she was holding thoughtfully, staring at the faucet of the sink. Perhaps she could change Tonks's mind. Of course, she would have to check with Molly first to make certain that an invitation was open to Tonks, but...

"Don't," Fred said firmly, taking the plate from her.

"Don't what?" Emma said, giving him her most innocent smile.

"Don't interfere," he warned her. "Supporting Tonks is one thing. I'll even let you throw a few hints at Remus while we're at the Burrow, but leave the proper conniving matchmaking to my mother, okay? I don't want what's free of your life to be consumed by plotting to get those two together. They're stubborn, love. It could take years."

"It better not take years," George said with a grin. "Mum would likely kill them by knocking their heads together too vigorously before then!"

The couple groaned, thinking that it was both a bad joke and a very, disturbingly real possibility.

"You don't think she's going to start pressuring us to marry again?" Emma said nervously.

Fred shrugged.

"I doubt it. I mean, we're still pretty young. Charlie's still not even got a girlfriend as far as we know. She's so focused on Tonks's love life, which is sweet of her really. I think she's a bit preoccupied."

"But what if she does?" Emma pressed, watching George put the pasta on the table.

"Then you tell her as delicately as possible that you're already married," George said in a rather somber, warning tone that sounded strange with his voice. "No, Fred, don't argue, you know I'm right. Hiding it from her at that point would be cruel. We both know she's probably not going to even think of it, but if it does come up, I think it might even help Emma put a bit of pressure on Remus."

"How so?" Emma asked, starting pointedly at a spot on the table that she was picking at, trying to decide if she could really handle Molly's horror that her son had eloped without even telling her right after the fact, or Merlin forbid, that her husband already knew.

Fred touched his hand to hers, stopping the picking motion before lacing his fingers in hers and squeezing her hand gently.

"I think he's right, love," Fred said softly. "I mean, think about it, Remus has a lot to be nervous about, but he knows that you and Tonks are close, and if you're not only one of Tonks's closest friends but also speaking from the standpoint of a wise newlywed -" Emma snorted "- you'll have a lot more to say than just that Tonks is miserable and they need each other. He's heard that all before."

Emma quirked an eyebrow at him.

"You want us to tell your mother?"

"Merlin, no," he said quickly, his face flushing slightly. "I'm just saying that if it somehow did have to come all out in the open, at least this wouldn't be the worst time and place for it. I'm trying to find a silver lining, darling."

She just laughed at his very firm insistence that they not tell his mother and kissed his cheek, glad that he'd been so thoughtful about the whole thing, especially because she was still internally panicking. She still could hardly think of herself as Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh, Merlin," she muttered, smacking her forehead. "Your mother's not going to expect us to bring something, is she?"

"She might be a bit offended if you did," George offered sheepishly.

"I wasn't thinking food necessarily," she replied with a frown. "Just...I dunno, something."

"Bring her a book," Fred teased. "Then she'll have no doubt whose idea it was."

Emma smacked him lightly, but he just laughed. He thought her sensibilities about manners were his mother was concerned were rather funny, but she didn't think there was anything funny about manners. She'd had proper etiquette drilled into her from a very young age.

Besides, Emma knew that Molly appreciated her well-bred but modest manners, and so Emma began to think about what she might pick up for Molly that the matriarch would like and use around the house to bring as a present. Whatever the boys thought, it wouldn't do to be rude, especially if they might end up having to break the news that she was married to Molly's son and just hadn't told her yet.

Perhaps two gifts, Emma mused, wincing slightly at the thought of what Molly might say or do when the truth all came out.

"Fred?" Emma asked later that evening when she was helping the boys go over their orders and make sure all the numbers matched up with their inventory.

"Yeah?"

"I know you say you do deliveries no questions asked, but maybe you should warn certain people."

Fred looked up at her in confusion, glancing down at the order list from Hogwarts for Wonder Witch products that she was holding.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just that Hermione mentioned in a letter that there's some Christmas party with dates and such," Emma said slowly, running her finger down the list. "And it looks like nearly every Gryffindor girl between the ages of thirteen and sixteen bought a love potion in the last week. Maybe you should warn Harry that he or one of his classmates is about to be drugged."

Fred considered for a moment.

"It's not illegal."

"Well, no-"

"And it's not dangerous."

She sighed.

"It is if they've got two or more potions slipped to them in the period of three days," Emma countered. "And if I'm right, an unsuspecting Harry might get poisoned if you don't say something."

Fred and George exchanged nervous looks, clearly trying to decide if warning Harry was against policy.

"Maybe if we write to Granger..."

"I'll do it right now," Emma said sharply. She got up, tossing the Wonder Witch list aside, gathering some fresh parchment, a quill, and ink and began scribbling a note to Hermione.

Hermione,

I hope this letter reaches you quickly and that all is still well. You're clever, so you may have already thought of this, but I've been going over the orders for the shop with the twins and I think that some people might be trying to use love potions on Harry for that party you told me about.

And by some, I mean dozens.

In Gryffindor alone.

Keep an eye out for him. Constant vigilance and all that. Good luck. Stay safe. Let me know if I have to box some ears on this end.

-Emma

"George," Emma said firmly, "take this down to the owlery and get their quickest owl on it. I don't want an accident to happen because you were lazy."

George gave her an annoyed look, but he seemed to understand her nervousness, because he agreed and hurried off down to the alley to take care of the letter.

Emma sighed, curling up with Fred.

"Sorry about that," she said. "I just... I don't want to interfere with our business at all, but I also feel like Harry's had enough happen to him without-"

"I understand, Emma," Fred whispered, kissing her forehead. "And so does George. We'd be terrible friends, anyway, if we didn't warn Harry. And maybe you're right. Maybe we need to be more careful with the Wonder Witch orders. Or at least, the love potions."

Emma nodded, thinking of all the horrible things that could happen with the indiscriminate use of a love potion.

And then her eyes brightened.

"I've just had the best idea," she cooed, grinning at Fred as his face turned anxious.

"No."

"But-"

"You are not slipping Remus a love potion at Christmas."

"But they-"

"They're already in love, Emma, they just need to sort things out. We shouldn't interfere."

She raised her eyebrow again and he winced.

"Fred, you live to interfere."

"Emma-"

"Why make love potions in the first place if we can't use them for good?"

"Love potions when thought of as a joke product or used by silly teenagers are one thing," Fred warned. "Love potions used on people who already have intense feelings can have disastrous consequences. You know that."

She did know, but she didn't like the idea of just letting things work themselves out, even when Molly was so eagerly pushing the lovebirds together.

No, Emma mused, she really should keep her nose out of it, not think of drugging them, even if it was for their own good. She wondered if perhaps she should remind Fred of the fact that they had been drugged by well-meaning friends, and without it they might never have gotten together.

When she opened her mouth, though, he seemed to sense what she was going to say.

"No, Emma."

"But-"

"It's not the same thing as a love potion," he said, a bit more patiently. "And we'd have to force them into the same room for something other than an Order meeting, and I don't see that happening any time soon, do you?"

Emma nibbled on her lip.

"Perhaps if I just-"

"We're not writing to Tonks."

"I didn't say anything about you writing to her, darling."

"Emma."

Eventually, not long before George got back, Emma capitulated and Fred officially won, but in Emma's eyes the whole discussion wasn't over.

She simply needed a proper ally, that was all.

The question then became whether that ally would be George or Tien, or even someone else. Perhaps Molly would be interested in slipping things innocently into their tea. She'd be very good at it, Emma was certain.

As the wheels turned in Emma's mind the boys decided not to stop them, seeing that she was not stressing about Christmas with the Weasley family for the first time since December hit. They weren't about to spoil the moment, even if they would have to stop her plotting later.

"Right," Emma finally said with a forced smile. "Back to work."

She picked up the Wonder Witch papers again, flipping through them absently, but she didn't really read them as she had done before. She would check to ensure that things matched up, but she no longer took interest in who was ordering how much of what. Her mind was preoccupied with her plotting, and she felt exhilaratingly alive.

They went to bed that night all thinking of things deeply, but Emma could hardly sleep for thoughts of how to help Tonks be as happy as Emma was with Fred.

Emma went in to work the next morning and attacked her large stack of paperwork and there was a knock on the door.

"Enter," she said as cheerfully as she could, in case it was Umbridge. There was no reason to let the cow know how miserable she was.

"Good morning, Emma," Arthur said kindly, sitting down across from her. "I've got a surprisingly quiet day and thought I might pop in and check on you, see if I could help with some of your paperwork."

She sighed with relief.

"Yes, please," she said with a smile. "I've got six different cases of enchanted toenail clippers with so much paperwork I feel I'm swimming in it!"

"Toenail clippers," Arthur said with a bemused chuckle. "What will they think of next?"

Emma knew that he was half wondering himself what toenail clippers could be enchanted to do, which was probably precisely why he so eagerly grabbed the stack of papers she'd gestured to, sifting through them with a careful anxiousness.

This was where the twins had gotten it from. Their incurable curiosity, their desire to figure out how things work, to explore the possibilities of things, was a gift from their father.

"George tells me you're nervous about Christmas," Arthur said after a bit.

Emma gave a strained sort of snort of laughter.

"You could say that," she said slowly. "Molly won't press us, will she?"

"I doubt it," he said with a good-natured smile. It was comforting, that smile. "She's very much intent on working Remus up to asking Tonks on a date."

"Do you think he will?" Emma asked eagerly. "I mean, they're so perfect-"

"I don't think he will, no," Arthur said sadly. His smile was still there, but strained, and Emma felt the comforting feeling slip right out of the room. "He's very afraid, Emma."

Emma just frowned, flicking her quill into another round of signatures. She didn't understand what there was to be afraid of, not really, but Arthur must have sensed her confusion and decided to enlighten her.

"You still haven't told Molly that you're married."

She winced and Arthur laughed.

"You're afraid," he said softly. "Don't argue. You are. And the things you're afraid of, while very real, are temporary. Molly may very well be upset with the pair of you for keeping it from her, for eloping, but she is a hypocrite to do so and she'll forgive you when she's cooled off. She'll welcome you into the family with open arms." Emma smiled and shrugged. It was what she wanted, of course, but she was still afraid.

"Tonks," he continued, smiling at her gently, "has much bigger fears, and so does Remus. He's worried he'll make her into a pariah, that she'll lose a job she loves, that he can't give her things she wants like a nice house and a family. He's much older than her, and he's what many people, including himself at times, would call a monster. At best being with him would make her life difficult. At worst he might kill or bite her. Do you see?"

And for the first time, Emma did see. When she'd looked at Remus and Tonks, she'd seen what Tonks saw, their love for each other, the way they obviously suffered at being apart from each other, no matter how justified Remus thought he was. She saw the pain and the suffering of denying love, she felt how empty she'd felt thinking she'd never have Fred.

She hadn't seen how different their situations truly were. She hadn't realized just how much this decision was truly hurting Remus.

"But you think they will get together?" Emma asked softly, moving aside the papers she had been working on and turning to the next case.

"Oh, I think very probably," Arthur said, frowning at one particular point in the toenail clipper case. "Not right away, certainly. I think they both have things they need to think over and come to terms with. But love is love, Emma. You know that as well as I do. And those two, whatever else they may be, are in love."

Arthur finished up the toenail clipper case papers and went back to his own office, but he left Emma thinking the rest of the day.

Perhaps Fred was right about letting things work out without her help. Drugging them into sorting out their problems wouldn't necessarily be the wrong thing, but the more she thought about it, the more Emma thought it probably wasn't the right thing. She turned in massive stacks of papers to various departments before leaving for the night, still running through her mind the possible ways things could turn out for Remus and Tonks.

Emma was beginning to agree with Remus, though. No matter how much they loved each other, certain things might not be meant to be overcome. Perhaps despite their love, Remus and Tonks were better off this way.

She was feeling incredibly demoralized when she arrived back at the flat, Fred flipping through his notebook for the shop, frowning at it.

"Hello, love," he muttered. "Valerian."

"What about it?" she sighed, shrugging off her cloak.

"Can you use the stem in a potion?"

Emma frowned, thinking back to her school days, her copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.

"Well, I suppose you could try it," she replied, sitting across from him wearily, trying to decide whether or not to talk out her thoughts about Remus and Tonks. "But I don't know that it would do anything. It's not poisonous, but..."

"Hmm," he muttered. "How was work?"

Emma hesitated, but finally she said, "Fine, lots of paperwork," and kissed his cheek, rubbing his shoulders for a mere moment before turning to start in on dinner, more to take her mind off things than anything else.

She would talk it through later. They had enough to think about without considering someone else's love life. Arthur was right. Things would work themselves out in time.