Status: I'm back (:

Brontide

Chapter Twelve

I felt my feet land on the cobbled pavement of Diagon Alley and I dropped my trunk upon impact, Nestor's empty cage rattling noisily against the ground. I quickly gathered my things before looking up at the building in front of me, Fred unlocking the front door. The lights were off but along the front of the building, underneath a big, silly looking model of the twins, were the words Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Plastered to the front windows were posters advertising all sorts of things, including, "Headless Hats: Your Friends Will Lose Their Minds!" There were signs for their Wonder Witch products, which included love potions and blemish removers. Posters for Skiving Snackboxes, Patented Daydream Charms and Canary Creams were also illuminated by the moonlight, and the longer I looked at the exterior of their shop, the more ecstatic I became.

They led us inside and George said "Lumos", the room lighting up in front of us. The walls were painted the same magenta color as their robes, and in the middle of the room was a spiraling staircase painted an even more violent orange than the twin's hair. I grinned; it was so typical of them to go against the norm. There was a landing above us that allowed for more shop space, and they'd started installing shelves along the walls, though nothing was stocked yet. The floors were wooden and there was a till and checkout counter towards the back of the store. As I slowly climbed up the staircase, running my hand along the winding railing, I tried to imagine what the room would look like when it was all finished. It was open for a lot of possibilities and I really couldn't wait to get started.

"I love it," I called down to them, observing the first-floor landing. The back of the huge Weasley twin model could be seen from one of the windows, and I couldn't help but grin at how cheesy they really were to have put it up in the first place.

"You better, because you'll be spending a lot of your time here," Fred called back.

I leaned over the railing, staring down at him. "Says who?"

"Says your bosses," he and George said together cheekily.

I rolled my eyes. "It's been almost eight years, and I'm still not used to you doing the weird twin thing."

"Well, get used to it already," George chuckled.

Rae was looking around below me, coming to a stop in front of a door that said Employees Only. "What's in here?" she asked.

"That's the storage room," George told her.

"Come back down, Cass," Fred called, "you can't get to the flat from up there."

I made my way back down the staircase and dragged my trunk over to the storage room, flicking my wand and extinguishing the store lights. There were stacks of boxes labeled with different products, some of which I hadn't even heard of. In the back of the room was a narrower spiral staircase that we ascended, the twins helping us with our trunks. After much winding in circles, we came to a small landing and a door that they unlocked, letting us into their flat.

It appeared to be larger than I initially expected. The first thing I saw was the sitting room, which was fairly roomy and housed two comfy-looking leather sofas. On the far left side of the room was a fireplace with a mantelpiece above it. The walls of the flat were a basic white, with the occasional smudge of some sort of substance or ash from a minor explosion lingering on it. To the right was a doorway that led to the kitchen, with cabinets full of what I hoped to be food, a kitchen table with four chairs set up and even more explosion marks streaking across the walls, giving me a looming sense that I'd be cooking a lot. On the far wall of the sitting room, next to the hallway was the bathroom, which was pretty small but it had the essentials. Then, next to the kitchen but before the hallway was Fred's room, and the first door in the hallway was George's room. Across from that was a tiny closet, along with one final door that sat at the very end of the hall.

"This," Fred said, pushing the last door open, "is where you two ladies will be staying."

The room was a bit smaller than the other bedrooms with a full-sized bed in the corner and a wooden dresser. The one window it had was drawn shut with violet curtains, the walls smudge-free of any experiments-gone-wrong.

"It's not much," George said off-handedly, " but we figured you lot would be moving in with us once school was done."

I put my trunk under the window, setting Nestor's cage on top of it. Rae put her luggage next to mine. "It's simple but I like it," I said truthfully, Rae nodding her head in agreement.

"I hope you two don't mind sharing a bed," Fred winked cheekily.

" And I hope you don't mind starving to death," I retorted, folding my arms over my chest. "Now, if you don't mind, Rae and I would like to get some sleep. We've had a long day."

They bid us their goodnights, reminding us to be up at a decent hour so we could start helping them with the shop. Rae and I changed into our nightwear and crawled under the cool bed sheets. I focused my eyes on the moonlight that was seeping in through the curtains, my braided hair dangling off the side of the bed.

After a few minutes of silent thought, I asked Rae quietly, "What do you think? 'Bout all of this, I mean, like living with the twins and working at the joke shop tomorrow and being out on our own."

I was answered with a quiet snore, her body thudding against the wall as she rolled over. I snorted back a laugh, going back to staring at the moonlight until my eyelids grew tired. "Thanks for the input," I mumbled, finding it fairly easy to fall asleep.

***

The next morning I was jolted awake by a rumbling BOOM! My eyes shot open and I reached around wildly to find my wand, sitting straight up once my fingers had wrapped around the thin strip of wood. Rae was beginning to stir from next to me and she was mumbling incoherent things, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands. I stayed sitting with my left ear cocked to the door, listening for any more noises, my eyes widening when I heard another BOOM! The floor shook a bit this time, and briefly I wondered if we were being attacked by something.

I threw my legs over the side of the bed, not even caring that I was in my night shorts and an old t-shirt. Rae had woken up the rest of the way, looking at me with concern on her face.

"What's going on?" she asked, her voice groggy.

"I dunno, but I'm about to find out," I told her, striding across the floorboards and yanking the door to our room open.

When I peeked out into the hall, I immediately smelled something burning. There was black smoke streaming out of the kitchen into the sitting room and I covered my nose and mouth, making a beeline for that area. I could hear Fred and George bickering, unable to see them through the smog.

"My fault? How is this my fault?" George sounded greatly offended.

"I told you to find out how to make toast the other night!" Fred argued. I could see them waving their wands around, trying clear up the smoke before it consumed the whole flat.

"How hard could it be to make toast? It's literally just cooked bread," George coughed, bumping into me. They hadn't noticed me come in. "Any numpty could – what the –"

"Out of the way!" I ordered, wrenching open the kitchen window and letting the room clear out. Down below were some witches and wizards walking around Diagon Alley, the streets not bustling quite yet. A frumpy-looking witch looked up to the window and I gave a small wave, quickly pulling my head back inside. I was finally able to see Fred and George and my eyes narrowed at them.

"What time is it?" I asked quietly, my voice dangerously low.

They glanced down at the watches on their wrists, not sure if they should answer my question. "Half past six –" Fred said earnestly.

"– In the morning," George added.

"Do I need to be up at half past six in the morning?" I asked a little louder, sure that there would be bags under my eyes and my braid was half undone. I must've looked a royal sight.

"I mean, well, you are supposed to start helping us set up the shop this morning, so...yeah," Fred said thoughtfully.

"Sounds about right," George agreed. I inwardly sighed. They were trying my patience.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, my other hand on my hip. "Is making breakfast really that much of a debacle every morning that you both struggle in making even toast?"

They exchanged glances before nodding. "Yes," they said in unison.

"Okay, move over," I muttered tiredly, pushing past them to rummage through the cupboards.

"What are you doing?" Fred asked with a knowing tone in his voice.

"Making everyone some breakfast, now get out," I said defeated, pointing my wand at the doorway. Fred and George high-fived each other before bounding happily from the room, already wearing their magenta work robes.

"We'll be down in the storage room so just let us know when breakfast's ready," Fred called. I grumbled a response before I heard them open and close the flat door, their footsteps banging down the spiral staircase.

I'd managed to whip up some toast and omelets for everyone and at the smell of hot food Rae came shambling into the kitchen, her hair sticking up in the back. She took a seat at the kitchen table and started loading up eggs and toast onto a plate, stopping when she noticed the new rather large explosion mark on the wooden table.

Her green eyes went over to me, then the mark, then back to me again and she burst into a fit of laughter. I sent a glass of orange juice flying over to her seat, looking at her with narrowed eyes. "What?" I asked bitterly.

She was snickering, not even bothering to hide it as she stuffed a forkful of eggs into her mouth. "You're their flat wench."

My mouth set in a thin line, eyes slightly bloodshot from lack of sleep. "I am not!" I protested.

A shit-eating grin was plastered on her face. "Whatever you say, Flat Wench."

I showed her my middle finger before going to the flat door, yanking it open with more force than what was necessary. "Oi, you wanks, come and eat!"

They came thundering up the stairs a minute later, rubbing their bellies and inhaling their breakfasts. Fred left the room when he was done and came back a minute later, leaving two sets of magenta work robes on an empty chair.

"When you're done eating don't forget to put these on," he told us.

I made a face of distaste, swallowing my mouthful of eggs. "Why do we have to wear them now? The shop's not even open yet."

"We're getting in the spirit –" George said.

"- And the habit," Fred added. I scrunched up my nose. "Oh, for Merlin's sake, Cassie, just put the ruddy thing on."

After breakfast Rae and I, clad in matching magenta monstrosities, went down the spiral staircase into the storage room. The twins were moving boxes out into the shop so they could start stocking and we joined them, the shelves soon filling up with all of their different creations. We'd work until late at night when our arms and legs were completely shot and our stomachs growled persistently. If we were too tired to make anything sometimes Rae or I would go over to the Leaky Cauldron and pick up something for supper.

This was how it was for about a week or so. We worked on product placement as well as ways to jazz up the displays, tossing around some product ideas with Fred and George as well. It was soon July and the twins had enough of their products on the shelves and backed up in the storeroom that they felt it was time to finally open up shop. All displays were set up properly, everything that needed to be painted had been finished and the store looked almost unrecognizable from when we first walked in. The walls were completely covered with products and isles and displays practically covered the floors. Things whirred above my head and whizzed by on tracks along the ceiling, the Pygmy Puffs in the corner were chirping and squeaking for our attention and Decoy Detonators clicked and honked along their shelves, threatening to start exploding with gas until someone shut them off.

On one occasion, during a night of particularly late work, I'd come downstairs from the orange staircase to grab something from the storeroom, and instead of finding what I was looking for I found a very startled Rae and George interlocked in a snogging session. Needless to say, I left very quickly and the two of them went back to preparing the store, both red in the face.

I wasn't exactly sure of what was going on between her and George. I couldn't seem to get a straight answer out of her, but I didn't think she even knew what was going on. They would snog once in awhile, or have an arm around each other or sometimes hold hands but they mostly acted as they normally did. Fred and I were both excited about it though, and we gossiped about them sometimes when they weren't around. It was cute, and I was happy things were finally happening for the two of them.

On the day that Weasley's Wizard Wheezes opened Rae and I were ready downstairs, prepped in our magenta robes with Fred and George behind us, rocking back and forth on their heels. There was a line of people waiting outside, the crowd quickly pushing their way through the moment the front door was unlocked. The store was soon flooded by children, parents and elderly people alike.

Rae and I found ourselves bustling around like maniacs. We ran the shop till in turn, switching with the other to restock the shelves and yell at children trying to pocket things. Fred and George floated around the store, greeting everyone with fervor and saying hello to people they knew from Hogwarts. I watched as they stood on the large orange staircase, surveying the view before them of children looking at their products in awe, and their faces made me smile. I was so proud of them at that moment that I almost didn't see the brunette boy next to me trying to stuff a Decoy Detonator into his pocket.

"Hey!" I growled, yanking it out of his hand. "Try that again and you'll lose your hands." The boy looked very startled and scurried off in the opposite direction.

I went to the back room to get more Extendable Ears and Fanged Frisbees, digging through some boxes and pushing them out of the way when I'd opened the wrong ones. Fred came over to the storeroom and leaned against the doorframe.

"What do you think so far?" he asked, his arms folded over his chest.

I pulled a bundle of Extendable Ears from a box, trying to untangle them. "Aside from dealing with the snotnosed brats trying to pocket things I'm having a fairly easy time," I grumbled, trying to undo a huge knot.

Fred suppressed a laugh, watching me struggle a little before extending his hand to me. "Here, let me try."

I handed him the bundle of knotted ears and continued to search for the Fanged Frisbees, tripping over a box and landing flat on my stomach. I heard Fred laughing from behind me and I clamored back up to my feet, brushing off my robes.

"You're supposed to help your employees when they hurt themselves, not laugh at them," I half-laughed, opening the box that I'd tripped over and pulling out the Fanged Frisbees.

Fred smirked at me. "Really? Because I seem to have missed that memo." He handed me the Extendable Ears that he'd untangled, turning to leave the storeroom. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to make sure George and Rae aren't snogging under the store till," he said with a shit-eating grin, going back into the bustling shop. I let out a snort of laughter at the thought and left shortly after him, my arms laden with products.

By the time we closed up at seven everyone was thoroughly exhausted. The shop had been nearly cleaned out of everything and the storeroom was emptied when we refilled the shelves, trying to get everything nice and neat again. Packages had been ripped open and Skiving Snackboxes had been emptied onto the floor. The Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder had left a mess near its display and a love potion or two had been dropped on the floor, a mess of shattered glass and liquid that put me in a bad mood. I'd enchanted a broom and a mop to do a lot of the cleaning and Rae and I tidied up the best we could, locking up the till and the front door and extinguishing the lights.

Completely wiped out, we pulled the work robes over our heads and collapsed onto the sofas. The twins were busy in the kitchen, in over their heads and doing a thousand tasks at once. Their work wasn't done for the day because they had to make more items to restock for the next day, having underestimated how insane the opening would be. I knew they would be up until the late hours and either Rae or I would be picking up supper that night, but we didn't want to move at that moment.

I sank into the sofa and closed my eyes. I was fondly remembering the squishy sofas and armchairs back in the Gryffindor common room because the twins sofa's reminded me of just that. There was even a fireplace there. Granted, it wasn't stoking because the weather was too warm but I still thought of Hogwarts with a sort of longing. It had been about two weeks since our departure and I still felt like the baby bird afraid of leaving its mother's nest. However, I had spread my wings a little and taken the plunge of becoming employed and supporting myself away from home. It was a big step for me and I felt a little proud of myself.

I didn't notice that Rae had been calling my name for the past few minutes. I snapped out of my trance and glanced over at her on the other sofa, her legs dangling over the arm of it. "Sorry, what did you want?" I asked faintly.

She rolled her eyes. "I was trying to ask –" She scooted closer to me, her eyes glancing over to the kitchen where the twins were distracted and she lowered her voice. "– if you'd finally pulled your head out of your arse and acknowledged your fondness for Fred yet."

Oh Merlin, not this again. I looked away from her defiantly, folding my arms over my chest. She hadn't brought up her crazy theory for months and I thought she'd finally forgotten about it, but alas, there it was. I thought perhaps it was because she'd worked herself too hard and was suffering from being overtired, the side effects including having a blabbermouth and being completely deluded.

"Are we really discussing this again?" I asked breathlessly. "There's literally nothing to talk about because for the billionth time I don't fancy him. Why are you so hooked on this idea?"

Rae wasn't going to be so easily discouraged this time. "Look, George and I have gotten our shit together. The two of you are living under the same roof so it's only a matter of time before it's your turn."

I thought about Fred for a very brief moment, with his cheeky grin, freckled face, and messy ginger hair. When I felt my stomach do a weird sort of flutter I quickly pushed the image out of my head, feeling a little sick. "No," I said certainly, "it's not going to happen." I felt more like I was trying to convince myself rather than Rae.

She let out a small sigh, hugging a couch pillow. "You may not see it now, but trust me...one day, you will. And it may not be entirely as bad as you picture now."

This, coming from the girl who back in November would've been horrified if George discovered her feelings, surprised me. I turned my head to look at her, my hair falling over my eyes. I pushed it back persistently. "We're growing up, aren't we?" It came out as more of a statement.

She gave me a small nod. "Yeah, I think we are."
♠ ♠ ♠
So this took a bit longer than expected, and I apologize. This weekend's been busy and I got sick last week so I was a bit delayed in my writing. This chapter was a bit of a filler but the next chapter has important stuff coming, so keep your eyes peeled for an update. I just wanted to set the tone for what their life outside of Hogwarts would be like and I hope I conveyed it properly in this chapter. Thank you to Eggrolls for always being wonderful and commenting! And thank you to anyone who's supported this so far by continuing to read and giving me a reason to start writing again. c: