An Affair to Remember (Fred Weasley)

43) Matchmakers

28th MARCH

Business in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was very slow today. Fred lazily leaned against the counter on his elbows, flipping through a Quidditch magazine as he read an article about his sister, Ginny. She was busy in training with the Harpies once more for the Quidditch Premier league.

Ginny Weasley impresses the crowds yet again with her fine Reverse Passes and Porksoff  Ploys!

Fred smiled, reminding himself to call her to congratulate her for making Quidditch Weekly for the second time in her entire career, she was a very talented Chaser.

"Is Oli in that too? He said he was interviewed the other day for the magazine" George said, snatching the magazine from him and flipping through it "Ah! Here it is, 'Oliver Wood talks about his legendary move, the Double Eight Loop' George read out proudly.

"Your sister's in that too, aren't you going to read about her?" Fred chuckled. "I already read about her, I was the first one to call and congratulate her" George rolled his eyes, heading upstairs to the flat. They had recently bought a couple of telephones and Hermione had taught them how to use it. Since there weren't many customers today, George used the telephone to call up Oliver and congratulate him on his appearance in the magazine.

Due to a lack of things to do, Fred decided to visit Maggie, she was probably on her lunch break. He informed Verity that he was taking a break for a bit but just before he could grab his coat, the door pushed open and in walked Walter, a massive smile on his face. "Good Afternoon Mr. Weasley!" he greeted.

"Afternoon Walter, how can I help you today?" Fred asked, deciding to put off his visit to Maggie's workplace for a later time. "I'm not going to buy anything because I don't have the money but can I go to the product trial section?" he asked excitedly.

The 'product trial section' was the official term for a little play area in the back of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes where kids could while away their time playing with small products that weren't for sale, giving them a taste of what the shop had to offer. "Alright, I'll show you some of the new things we've got there" Fred said, leading him to the back.

Walter sat himself at one of the little tables while Fred pulled out a couple of boxes from the shelves, handing them to Walter. They contained everything a kid would need for drawing, building blocks and those sorts of things. "Does your mum or your aunt know you're here?" Fred asked.

"My mum and my aunt are both in Diagon Alley today but they don't know I'm here" Walter replied, removing some blocks from a box and putting them on the table. "Don't you think they'll be worried?" Fred asked, amused, Walter was quite mischievous.

"Doesn't matter, besides, you already know my aunt so it's okay" said Walter.

"Ah yes, Martha, she came to our shop the other day" Fred remembered the elderly woman who bought a few potions from the joke shop a few days ago.

"Who's Martha?" Walter asked, confused. 

"Your aunt" Fred shrugged, "Middle-aged woman, kinda short, greying hair, you do know what your aunt looks like don't you?" Fred joked.

But Walter only stared back at him with confusion in his eyes, "Greying hair? My aunt's only twenty-three!" Walter laughed, starting to build a small tower out of the box. Fred crossed his arms, "I don't think Martha's twenty-three, she looked well above forty-five"

"Why do you keep saying Martha? That's not her name, and I'll prove to you that she doesn't have grey hair" Walter said, digging in his pocket and producing a couple of parchments from them. He handed one of the parchments to Fred, "A portrait of her that my nan drew, she's very nice at drawing, in fact..."