Gunpowder & Cinnamon {Fred Weasley}

Prologue

On the warm morning on July 31st, the smell of freshly brewed tea and cooked eggs filled the small flat above the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes joke shop. The shop below was quiet as the doors had yet to open that morning for customers. The only sound that could be heard was that of footsteps coming down the stairs from the flat.

Fred Weasley walked into the shop with his twin, George right behind him. The two of them dressed and fully prepared to open up the shop for the day. George headed to the backroom to prepare the till for the sales while Fred traveled through the aisles to make sure that the shelves were stocked and full of the products that were to be sold.

Everything seemed to be in order when the two suddenly heard an angry cry erupt from the flat upstairs.

George poked his head out from the backroom.

"I think Ellie might have discovered that her shampoo was different this morning." he chuckled.

"You didn't." Fred said looking over at him with a grin.

A couple of minutes later, they heard Eleanor come downstairs from the flat and walk into the shop. She had her hands on her hips, but she said nothing as she looked to George and then her eyes rested on Fred.

Unlike her normal brown locks, Eleanor's found herself bald. She stood with a calm expression for a few moments but the two men knew it was the calm before the storm.

"Which one of you decided to change out my shampoo?" she asked in a steady voice. Fred immediately pointed to George.

"I thought so." she said as her hair began to reappear back to it's usual state.

"I couldn't resist Ellie." George said. "It's the only time that I figured you aren't wearing anything knitted."

Eleanor smiled at him, and quickly George's smile faded.

"That's okay, Georgia. That's quite alright. Good one." she said before leaving upstairs again.

George quickly looked to his brother. " She didn't retaliate right away....that's not good."

"She's probably plotting your death now. Well," Fred walked over and clapped his hand onto his brother's shoulder. "We had a good run. I'll miss you."

George ran over to the stairs.

"Oh Ellie!" he called upstairs. "No hard feelings right? Right?!"

Fred leaned against the counter as George left after Eleanor to apologize to reduce the risk of her retaliating later using deadly force.

Verity knocked on the door, as she arrived for her morning shift. He walked over and allowed the employee in.

"Are you the only one awake?" she asked looking around for George and Eleanor.

"Nope. But it just might be you and I today." he said.

"Why do you say that?"

They heard a high-pitch scream echo from the flat.

"That wasn't Eleanor screaming, was it?" Verity said.

"Sadly, no. That was George." Fred confirmed.

The next thing they heard was someone whistling a tune, and Eleanor appeared in the shop. She looked over to see Verity and Fred watching her, waiting for an explanation.

She only smiled and winked at Fred before she left to fix one of the displays.

"Yeah, he's dead." Fred said before leaving to finish what he was doing beforehand.

Verity was tidying up the boxes of Skiving Snackboxes when George came downstairs, half of his hair gone.

He turned to Fred who didn't try at all to conceal his laughter.

"Did you not think of going upstairs to check up on me!" he said to his brother.

"I wasn't getting involved, it was between you and Ellie." Fred said. "Although, I'm loving the new look, Georgie."

"Shut up! I look like a deranged cockatoo. " George fretted as his hair began to grow back slowly.

"It doesn't look that bad. It's starting to fill in." Verity reassured him.

"Actually, I think deranged cockatoo was an accurate description." Eleanor smiled.

"This isn't over." George pointed at her before walking away.

Fred and Eleanor turned to each other, as Fred shook his head in amusement.

"Good job." he told her as he quickly leaned towards her and gave her a peck on the lips. The familiar aroma of gunpowder and cinnamon greeted Eleanor's nose as she shared the kiss with him. One of the many things she loved about Fred Weasley.

The four worked diligently through the day, which consisted of Fred and George showing off products to customers entering the store while Eleanor managed her own area with Verity working the register. With the war over, her knitted products were able to go on sale and they were quite popular, even in the summer months.

Around five in the evening, Eleanor glanced up at the clock behind the counter and called to Fred and George.

"You two should consider closing up here soon." she told them. "Because I am not taking the blame for arriving late to the party."

It was Harry's birthday and everyone had been ordered by Molly to arrive by six at the Burrow to celebrate.

Everyone was expected to be there, even Anora and Charlie along with their daughters. After the war ended, everyone had tried to return to their normal lives, which was easier said than done. However, it would be the first time in weeks that everyone would be together again and all were looking forward to it.

"Fifteen more minutes and we'll close up here." Fred said as he spotted several customers walking into the shop.

Eleanor looked to George. "We're going to be late." she said with a chuckle.

"Fashionably late, Ellie. It just means we'll have to make an entrance. You know how this works."

"Oh do I." she smirked. "Sorry about making you look like a deranged cockatoo."

"Ellie, have you learned nothing about the prankster life after all these years? You never apologize for a prank!"

"Sorry!"

"Stop saying sorry."

"So-"

"Ellie!"

Eleanor clapped her hands over her ears and began apologizing profusely gaining looks from the patrons of the shop.

"Stop apologizing!"

Fred watched as Eleanor continued saying sorry while George tried to get her to stop. He turned back to his customers. 

"If I can direct your attention to this aisle ...all the way over here far from them..."