Bumblebee (A Fred Weasley Fanfiction)

- CHAPTER FOURTY-ONE -

The Shop

As soon as Emmie got off the train at King's Cross station, her mother pulled her and her sister into a giant hug, "it's okay," she whispered as she stroked their hair.
On the car journey home she kept muttering, "he's back. It's just like last time. We're not safe,"
Emmie didn't know what to do, she had never seen her mother like this and it was making it all too real.
"If you need me to look after you I can stay here," Emmie said when they had arrived home, "no. If you want to fight then you should," her mother replied, "you've just got to remember that it's all very real. If you mess up a spell, make a mistake, then you can't just try again. You could die out there."
"I know mum, I know," Emmie said, sitting on the arm of her chair, "but I want to do it. It's a risk I'm willing to take."
"I'm so proud of you," her mother smiled before suddenly cheering up, "hey, you're gonna be starting work soon. Are you excited?"
"Yeah, I suppose. Hopefully the boys don't make me do too much,"
"Hopefully they pay you well."

*

With a loud crack, Emmie arrived in Diagon Alley. The colourful, glittering window displays of spellbooks, potion ingredients and cauldrons were lost to view, hidden behind the large Ministry of Magic posters which bore moving black and white photographs of death eaters known to be on the loose.
Emmie headed along the street in search of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
Set against the dull shop front, Fred and George's shop hit the eye like a firework display. The left-hand window was dazzlingly full of an assortment of goods that revolved, popped, flashed, bounced and shrieked; the right-hand window was covered with a gigantic poster, purple and yellow:

Why Are You Worrying About You-Know-Who?
You SHOULD Be Worrying About U-NO-POO -
the Constipation Sensation That's Gripping the Nation!

Emmie chuckled to herself before entering the shop, it was packed with customers. There were bins full of trick wands, boxes of quills which came in Self-Inking, Spell-Checking and Smart-Answer varieties and boxes upon boxes of Skiving Snackboxes.
"Emmie!" A voice called, she spun around to see Fred stood before her, arms open, beaming, wearing a set of magenta robes that clashed magnificently with his flaming hair. "Welcome to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!"
Emmie opened her mouth to talk but didn't know what to say, she jumped into his arms and hugged him tightly, "this is amazing," she finally spoke,
"D'you wanna come see the apartment?" He asked her.
They walked towards the door to the back room when George appeared, "Emmie!" He said hugging her, "it's so good to see you," she said,
"We're just going to the grand pad," Fred said before leading her upstairs.
He opened the door and they stepped into a hallway with doors along it, through the first door was a fairly spacious living room which housed a sofa and small dining table with four chairs. Through the door opposite was the kitchen, it was quite small and the countertops were a burnt orange colour. Through the door at the end of the corridor was a small bathroom and two more doors, opposite each other, lead into the boys bedrooms, both with similar wicker double beds and chest of drawers.
"This is perfect for you two," Emmie said as she sat on Fred's bed, "yeah. It's not much but it's good," there was a silence before Fred spoke, "anyway, we should probably get on with training so you can work here."
"Actually, I was wondering if I could talk to you," Emmie replied nervously,
"Of course. What's up?"
"I'm gonna be honest, when you left without saying goodbye or even telling me, it kind of hurt. Okay it really hurt I was a mess -" she laughed slightly, "- but then Ginny made me realize that I was being pretty stupid, we're not even together and I can't just expect you to know what I want, you know?"
Fred stared at her blankly.
Emmie took a breath, "what I'm trying to say is, it's been over a year since we agreed we would take it slow and I think we should, you know, make it serious again."
She looked at him hopefully.
"I-" he spoke, "wow, it's been that long?"
Emmie nodded.
"I agree," he smiled, "I think... Yes... We should get back together. You know, I was gonna ask this later actually but, erm, d'you wanna move in with us?"
"Move in with you?" Emmie asked shocked, "yeah, of course only if you want to. Me and George just thought it would make sense if you were working here and, I guess, if we're serious again then it makes even more sense, right? He asked,
"Yes, yeah. I would love to move in with you guys. I really would."

*

"Okay, so these are Patented Daydream Charms - one simple incantation and you will enter a top-quality, highly realistic thirty minute daydream, easy to fit into the average school lesson and virtually indestructible," Fred said,
"And what about this?" Emmie asked,
"Punching telescopes," George replied, "And over here - we were inspired by the whoopee cushions you sent so we decided to start selling Muggle magic tricks,"
"The darker stuff is over here," Fred led them to the corner of the shop, "Edible dark marks, shield hats, cloaks, glove and instant darkness powder,"
Emmie walked around the shop and read different labels, "decoy detonators, joke cauldrons, love potions, Guaranteed Ten Second Pimple Vanisher and Pygmy Puffs. Okay, I think I've got everything."

*

Emmie was in the back room one afternoon when Fred, George and Harry came in.
"Harry!" She exclaimed hugging him, "how are you?"
"Good, thanks. You?" He asked,
"Yeah, not bad."
"We were just showing Harry the shielding line," Fred said,
"You wouldn't believe how many people, even people who work at the ministry, can't do a decent Shield Charm," she said to Harry and George lifted some boxes off the shelf. "Course, they didn't have you teaching them, Harry."
"That's right... Well we thought Shield Hats were a bit of a laugh," said Fred, "you know, challenge your mate to jinx you while wearing it and watch his face when the jinx just bounces off. But the Ministry bought five hundred for all its support staff! And we're still getting massive orders!"
"So we've expanded into a range of Shield Cloaks, Shield gloves..." George added.
Emmie left the room as Fred was reaching for a number of weird looking black objects.
"And our Decoy Detonators are just walking off the shelves," he said, " you just drop one surreptitiously and it'll run off and make a nice loud noise out of sight, giving you a diversion if you need one."
"Handy," said Harry impressed,
"Here," said George, throwing a couple to Harry.
Emmie poked her head back round the door, "there's a customer out here looking for a joke cauldron," she said.

They followed her back into the main part of the shop to find Hermione and Ginny poring over the Patented Daydream Charms.
"Haven't you girls found our special WonderWitch products yet?" Asked Fred, "follow me ladies."

- Princexiero xx