It's Better If You Do

Bellamy glanced around the room, straightening out her crisp white shirt, before walking over to shelves filled with various colored potions and various sized vials. She lifted up a particularly vulgar looking brown one and wrinkled her nose. It wasn’t until she saw the handwritten label on the side that she frowned dramatically.

“U-No-Poo?” She asked, glancing over her shoulder at Fred and George with a hesitant expression.

“Ah, I see you’ve found our potion prototypes,” Fred said with a grin as he walked over to her, glancing over her shoulder as she turned the large vial over in her hands.

“And in that lovely French accent of yours it doesn’t sound half as bad as it actually is,” George continued, giving Bellamy a bawdy wink, to which she rolled her eyes and set the vial down with a loud ‘thud’. “It’s self-explanatory really. You drink that, you no poo. We’re still working on it though, since it’s got some dreadful side-effects, eh Fred?” With a smirk, he elbowed his twin, who gave Bellamy a nod and a smile, looking quite cheerful despite the crude nature of the potion.

“The rest are mostly for making new Skiving Snackboxes-”

“-which are the bread-and-butter of our store.”

“Best sellers, those are-”

“--though if Rose continues on with her charm we may have another with the pygmy puffskeins.” Both twins glanced over their shoulder to the blonde and gave her wide grins, to which she quickly blushed and looked away. Bellamy rolled her eyes yet again and stepped away from the shelf. She glanced around the room once more and gave an approving nod.

“This is a substantial size for a decent kitchen I’d say,” she murmured to herself before turning to the twins. “If I’m to help with potions I would need this room as well, I don’t do well when others are watching and it would be a bit dangerous to have a gaggle of rowdy children around a boiling hot cauldron.”

“I can’t agree with you any less, Bellamy,” George said with a smile to the woman. She merely gave him a look that had him thinking of his mother, especially when he had flown that old Ford Anglia to Surrey and retrieved Harry Potter from his dreadful Aunt and Uncle’s house.

“We’ve always cared about the safety of our customers,” Fred added with a smile and twinkle in his eyes that hinted otherwise. Bellamy frowned a bit before letting out a heavy sigh, glancing over to her sister and Ryuiss, and crossing her arms over her chest again. “Perhaps we should let the girls wander the store on their own and if anything catches their fancy, we’ll explain it to them. They don’t need to learn everything today and it’s already proved to have satisfactory effects already .” He grinned to Rose, causing her to smile back to him in return and quickly look to Ryussi to try and hide her blush, yet again.

“I wouldn’t expect them to,” George said, shaking his head as he glanced between Rose and Bellamy, “we’ve got a rather extensive supply of products and it’d be impossible to learn all in one day. But yes, I suppose we should let them wander to their hearts content today.” He gave a shrug and looked over his brother with a proud grin. Bellamy took the initiative and turned, leaving the room without another word. Rose frowned a bit at her sister’s back before following behind her, hearing both Fred and George following behind her.

Bellamy wandered the store for a few minutes, looking over all the colors and dodging a few run ins with overly eager children that nearly knocked her over to get to their favorite gag gifts. She found herself climbing a staircase to the second floor, drawn to a shining, golden telescope that was poised to look out the front windows of the store. She had a particular fondness for astronomy, because it was the one thing that didn’t rely on her magical abilities to be proficient at. The other girls at Beauxbatons found the study to be rather dull and annoying, since it required late nights on the roof of the school, but Bellamy adored looking up at the cosmos.

Fred and George, splitting their attentions between attending to customers and the two new employees that were roaming the store, noticed the brunette’s fixation on the telescope and grinned to each other for a bit. She dawdled a bit around other products, but looked set on getting to the telescope and inspecting it.

“You should go stop her, George, lest she get any more mad at us,” Fred murmured with a wry grin. George looked back at him for a moment, wearing a similar grin, before glancing back to Bellamy.

“You’re just afraid that she’ll get mad at you if you go,” he murmured before heaving a heavy sigh, “but I’ll go, you coward.” Fred gave a chuckle and shook his head, handing out a small cauldron to a child that was chomping on a puking pastille then a large handkerchief to another who was feeling the effects of a Nosebleed Nougat.

“It’s not my fault she’s so fiery-tempered,” he replied as George left the Skiving Snackboxes table and making his way up the stair cases to Bellamy. It was less crowded where she was, as was in her nature to seek out an area where she could breath and walk without being bumped into. George neared her even more, without her even noticing, and pulled off an item on a particularly high shelf for a child without even looking. He watched as she gazed out the large front window of the store, at the crowds of witches and wizards below, then to the telescope. George leaned back against the bookshelf, crossing his arms over his chest. She began to lean in, to look into the eyepiece, and he finally spoke up.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” George commented, causing her to jump slightly and spin around to him, looking a bit cross with him. Her brow furrowed as she cut her eyes at him.

“Why not?” She asked before leaning down to the eyepiece and looking into it stubbornly. George let out another sigh and plucked a metal tube from a shelf as he watched her as she gave a half-surprised, half-injured yelp and pulled away from the telescope. She cupped a hand over her profusely watering right eye, her black makeup smearing onto her cheek.

“What the bloody hell was that?!” She exclaimed, glaring at George with her only visible eye. He tried to keep the grin off his lips, so instead the corners of them gave a feeble wobble.

“A Punching Telescope,” he said simply as that angry pink color flooded Bellamy’s cheeks once more. “I told you, you shouldn’t have. No one ever listens when I tell them to.” She pulled her hand away from her eye angrily, her mouth tense as she continued to glare at him. “Ah, I see you’ve bruised up nicely. Let me take a closer look at it to make sure you’ve still got an eyeball left in your head.” Grudgingly, she took a step toward him and he placed his fingers under her chin, turning and tilting her head to the side as he looked over it. “That’s a shade of purple I haven’t seen before,” he murmured in a voice that he was sure Bellamy wouldn’t hear, but she turned her light brown eyes to him and flashed him a dark look. “Hold still, don’t jump, don’t blink, and look up,” he said as he squeezed a bit of a thick, yellow paste onto his fingertips.

“Why?” She asked through clenched teeth and thin lips. Her eye was still springing forth tears and her eye makeup, on that eye anyways, was dribbling down her cheek and dripping off her chin. A violent violet-red color painted nearly the entirety of her eye socket in a perfect circle. George gave another heavy sigh as he placed the tube aside and looked back at her.

“Just do it. You’ll thank me later,” he said as he placed his clean fingertips back under her chin. Bellamy did as she was told, but not without her fair share of murmuring nasty things under her breath in French. Smoothing the paste under her bruised eye, they were both made suddenly aware of their proximity. “Close your eye,” George said softly and Bellamy did as she was told. He tried to be as gentle as possible, as to not agitate the already tender, bruised skin.

“What is that stuff?” Bellamy asked forcibly, hoping this wasn’t another joke. She had reached her limit for the day and should any other pranks be pulled on her, she was sure she would stomp out of the store and not return for sometime.

“Bruise-Remover Paste,” George said simply as he finished up on her eye, taking a step back and the awkward tension dissipated almost immediately. “The bruise will be gone within an hour or so.” Bellamy opened her eyes and shot him a venomous look.

“Is there anything else in here that’ll punch me?” She asked, clearly trying to keep her temper under control. George’s eyebrows raised so high they threatened to disappear beneath his hairline as he shook his head. “Good,” Bellamy said tersely, before turning, making sure her ponytail whipped him in the face, and stomped off loudly.

While Bellamy was getting punched with a telescope, Rose was walking aimlessly around the shop. Now that she owned the only Pygmy Puff left, she had no interest in the section next to the WonderWitch Products, and the Skiving Snackboxes didn't need any inprovement, she was sure. The one thing she and Bellamy were most alike in, were their need for solitude. Rose weaved her way through most of the crowds, and made it to a back corner, where the shelves were high, but most of their products were sold. A few remained, and she scanned for something she might be interested in.

A particularly colorful box caught her eye. She reached up on her tip toes, and grabbed it, a smile brightening up her face. Sitting on the floor, she amused herself with reading the back, and noticing the detailed photographs, swirling and booming all over the box.

She was lost in thought of herself as a young girl, with Bellamy at her side, watching the fireworks from outside their window, as her parents and their friends threw their annual New Year's party. Simpler times, when staying up late was customary for the two, and their mother would creep in, her eyes bright, and tell them stories. Then after they were both just on the edges of sleep, she'd kiss them goodnight, and leave the door cracked.

Quiet footsteps indicated someone's approach, and she looked up, recognizing the twin at once. She looked at the box quickly, before glancing back up, a compliment already on her lips, "These are extraordinary. I love fireworks."

Fred sat down beside her, grinning. "Why thankyou, Rosie."

Looking quickly back down at the box, she pointed to a certain firework, and he leaned over to see. "I like these best."

He looked at her with a rueful smile. "Those were my idea, actually. George and I took turns designing the fireworks, but of all of them, they were best... in my opinion," Fred raised his eyebrows with a wicked smile. "They lasted the longest, and had the loudest bang when we set them off last month."

"You set them off in school?" she gasped.

He shrugged, smirking. "Our new headmaster wasn't up to par."

"So you set off fireworks?" her dissaproval was fading, and the grin growing on her face made Fred laugh.

He nodded, leaning back against the shelf. "That wasn't what got us in the most trouble, though. When we turned a corridor into a swamp was when she really got sore."

Rose laughed loudly, just picturing it. "Were you always such a trouble maker?"

Fred clasped a hand over his heart, "How on earth could you think such a thing? Us? Troublemakers? Perish the thought!"

She bit her lip, grinning, and shook her head. "Silly me to think such a thing."

"I won't hold it against you," he said teasingly.

A thoughtful look came across Rose's face as the silence continued, but she didn't want to break it just yet. It was nice. She absent mindedly traced the ever swirling fireworks on the box, thinking of a way to phrase her question without breaking the light hearted mood. Fred was watching her, noticing just how a smile could brighten her entire face, and how in another second she would look away, and seem saddened by something. There was something deep about her, and he wanted to figure it out. There was never a mystery he didn't want to solve, or a road unventured.

When she looked up to ask her question, her eyes immediately met his, and they sat for a moment, the brown eyes staring into the blue. Rose couldn't have moved if she wanted to, and she really didn't want to. Her entire mind blank, she had already forgotten the question she was going to ask. She wished she knew what to right about now. Bellamy had experiences with boys- not her! But Fred was nice, and funny, and thoughtful, and-

"OI! FRED! Where are yo- Oh. There you are."

Rose and Fred leapt apart, Fred already on his feet, the tips of his ears uncharacteristically pink. Rose had buried her face into the back of the box, sure that her heart was beating in time with the fireworks. George was glancing between the two, with an already growing sense of supsicion, but he didn't comment. He simply raised his eyebrows, and asked Rose quietly, "You think you'd like to help design more of our Wildfire Whiz-Bangs? We could always use another batch."

She nodded vigorously, "I would. These are enchanting."

"Well, your sister's already miffed with me again," he informed. "The black eye should be gone within the hour-"

"Black eye?" Rose cried, standing quickly.

Fred was shaking his head, a smirk on his face, while George raised his hands in defeat. "I couldn't stop her. She was so bloody set on looking into that telescope. I told her not to, tried to tell her it was a punching telescope, but..."

She sighed heavily, running her hands through her hair. "I'll go see to her. She's furious, isn't she?"

"A bit," George admitted.

Nodding, Rose gave a small smile to both of them before taking off quickly in search for her sister. Fred bent down to pick up the box she had left on the floor, avoiding his brother's gaze. George's arms were folded across his chest, and an oddly misplaced scolding look had taken the place of his easy going smile.

"Fred-" he began.

"I know, I know, George. I just- I dunno what's up with me! Ordinarily, I could just charm the girl and have nothing left to do with her, but she's just..." he trailed off into silence, glaring at the shelf.

"Different." George finished for him. "I wasn't going to get on to you, Freddie. But, this is her first day here. She's as shy as they come, so maybe you could let her settle in first, ya know? I would rather like them to stay."

"I would too." Fred muttered.

"And iff you still like her within a few weeks, who's going to stop you?"

A horrified silence settled over them. They shared a long look before they each said simply, "Bellamy."