Swear to Shake It Up

Obviously this is slightly AU, as Fred doesn't die during the Battle of Hogwarts. Nothing else I really have to add at the moment. The first half is in the original character's point of view, whilst the second is in Fred's point of view. The story will be mostly in the original character's point of view, but sometimes it will be Fred's point of view. I won't make it trashy, I promise.

***

I'd never had a real boyfriend before I met Percy Weasley. Well, I had. But nothing of the serious sort. No spending copious amounts of time around families, no thinking about moving in together, and the "L" word had only been dropped once, and in hindsight it wasn't even true feelings.

To be fair, it still applied now. I was now only at the tender age of twenty-one, I had only been seeing Percy for a couple of months, so the "L" word and moving in were definitely out of the question. I had never met any of his family, but that was about to change.

Percy was building a career in the Ministry of Magic, which is where we met. I'm a law student, and was accompanying a high profile lawyer in the courtroom at the Ministry when I first met Percy. Not a romantic way to meet someone, but definitely a nice story above the way that muggles meet perspective partners these days.

It was my first court case. In the third year of studying to be a wizardry lawyer you needed to shadow a lawyer for half a year, working like an intern or traineeship. The tasks they had you complete were completely up to them.

I was shadowing Colin Griffiths. He was a well-known lawyer in the Wizarding World legal industry, and was very picky with his cases. He did both civil and criminal cases, but mostly civil. He was famous for taking on cases where a big entity had done the wrong thing by the little guy. If I did this right and managed to stay with Colin Griffiths for my entire internship, my career would automatically be set up for me, and the future looked bright.

Which is why I was shockingly nervous on this first day. I had a clipboard in one of my hands, and was nervously pacing up and down outside the courtrooms. I was early, very early but I wanted to ensure I had the correct courtroom.

"Excuse me miss, can I help you?" I heard a voice ask me, a very well spoken voice.

I turned around to see a male a little older than me, smiling slightly at my discomfort. He presented himself very proper. Neat hair, moderately priced suit, hell even his posture was proper, he was standing perfectly straight, even now that this setting had turned "social" he was still straight with his shoulders perfectly horizontal. His voice matched his appearance.

"Oh, um, is this court room twenty two?" I asked him, nervously tapping my shiny heels to distract me from this awkward situation. I felt like an idiot for asking, I felt shy that I was talking to a complete stranger and I was mostly nervous about this case.

He also made me feel a little nervous about my appearance too. I was wearing a muggle suit under my proper wizarding dress robes, but because I had been up working on the case so late last night I didn't have time to wash my hair, so instead I used muggle dry shampoo - something the wizarding beauty industry had yet to catch up on. Maybe I looked scruffy, compared to this man I certainly did.

"It is, yes. You're quite early though; the first cases begin at ten o' clock." The stranger stated to me, his amused smile turning into a worried frown.

It was now my turn to smile, I still felt a little awkward but my worries about the case began to melt away as this conversation was distracting me.

"Ah yes. I underestimated myself, you see. This is my first visit to the ministry. I live in a flat within walking distance to here, but I didn't realise the way down, or the security clearance would be so quick. I was planning on being quite early though, so I still achieved my goal." I explained to the stranger, my smile not leaving my face.

"As fate would have it, should you believe in fate, it appears I'm early too. Would you like to go for a coffee? There's a very nice café located on the seventh floor. I can guarantee I'll have you back here well before your case." The stranger offered, sending me a comforting smile.

"Well, I'd like to believe in fate. It's a comforting thought to think that everything happens for a reason. I'd love to accept your invitation for coffee but first I must ask, what is your name?" I curiously asked the stranger, cocking my head to one side out of habit.

"My name is Percy Weasley. I work in the Department for Magical Transportation. I must ask the same question, who are you?" Percy asked me. Such a blunt question would usually be interpreted as rude, however the warm smile on his face and blatant curiousity showed that he was interested, and not trying to be blunt at all.

"That's quite interesting Mr Weasley. I'll save all questions for our coffee date. My name is Carly Donovan and I'm currently studying Wizardry Law, so I'm undertaking a six month internship." I introduced, offering my hand for Percy to shake, which he did in a firm manner, but ruined any professionalism by having a smile on his face.

That conversation was a while ago. Percy and I now manage to have a laugh at that coffee 'date' as we put it. It built the foundations on which our relationship now stands on, but things feel so different now we're more comfortable around each other. Think of the feelings you had when you first met a boyfriend, either a current one or an ex. Whether they are positive or negative feelings, you certainly feel different as your relationship takes its path.

It turns out that Percy wasn't coincidentally early that day. The head of his department was holidaying around America, so he was left in charge. His workload was immense, but he would receive a nice bonus once his manager returned. He went into work early to get through some of his workload but in his words 'I couldn't skip the chance to take a stunningly gorgeous woman such as yourself out to coffee' but of course out of embarrassment, it took him a long time to admit that fact to me.

But now we were taking our relationship to the next level. Percy wished for me to meet his family. His family was very large. This made me just as nervous as I was at the first court case I shadowed.

I had met a boyfriend's family. Once, and we were together for two years. Obviously it didn't go down too well – they were muggles (Not that there is anything wrong with that – but there was a culture difference) and thought I was a 'snob', which made me nervous. Percy had told me that his family didn't have a lot of material possessions growing up, would they think I was a snob as well?

But I had to grin and bear it. I saw the relationship that Percy and I possibly blossoming into a serious relationship. That meant I'd have to meet the family at some point, and it was probably best sooner than later.

***

As George and I apparated into our old residence, no attention was paid to us, as chaos was everywhere. Mum was rampantly cooking in the kitchen, she was multitasking too as she was yelling at Dad to set the tables and get everything ready.

Victoire, my niece was screaming in the living room, making Bill and Fleur pre occupied with trying to calm her. Hermione and Ginny were also cooing over the newest addition to the Weasley family.

George and I shared a look as we approached Ron and Harry, knowing how to make our presence now known.

"Good luck you two." I smirked at them both.

"W-what do you mean?" Harry stuttered, giving George and I an odd look.

"They're getting clucky. They're going to want marriage and babies soon." George teased, whilst I hummed the tune of 'here comes the bride'

"Oh hush you two! They're girls. Girls go crazy over babies. It's built into their minds or something!" Ron whined, his ears going pink from the embarrassment.

Upon hearing our teasing, Percy stuck his head in the doorway. He gave George and I a dirty look as he beckoned us into the quieter entrance foyer.

I smirked as I trotted into the foyer, George hot on my heels.

"You two are not to do anything to embarrass me, or make this situation bad, got it? I happen to have very deep feelings for this woman and I can see this relationship having a long course." Percy scolded us, and I wrinkled my nose in distaste for this lecture.

"Yes sir." George loudly stated, giving Percy a salute, to which Percy replied with a dirty look.

"Fine. No light comedy to create a good mood. Make her think we're all boring twats. See if we care." I shrugged.

Before Percy could scold my choice of language there was a small tap on the door. Percy immediately froze, before quickly bounding into the lounge room.

"Can one of you make sure everything is ready to go? My girlfriend is here. I need to greet her." Percy asked.

I heard everyone scurry away to the kitchen, with the exception of Fleur and Bill who carefully carried Victoire away. I chose to lean in the doorway with a good view of the front door, smirking as I crossed my arms across my chest. I was amused, I was curious to see what Percy would date this time.

Percy's only other ex girlfriend, Penelope, wasn't exactly unattractive. But at the same time, she wasn't amazing to look at either. She was plain – the kind of girl you'd expect Percy to date. Plain and boring.

I chuckled to myself as I watched him compose himself before answering the door. He definitely did have it bad. As much as I would never admit this to the overachiever, I loved my brother and wouldn't ever purposely jeopardise this relationship for him. But I'd sure as hell tease him about it later!

After straightening his clothes he answered the door, and as they hugged each other I scowled, as I couldn't see her properly. I needed to have a better look, so I craned my neck to have a gawk at what she actually looked like.

Percy finally moved out of the way and I finally got a good look at her. She was cute, but very prim and proper looking which took away from her attractiveness, at least in my opinion.

She had honey hair, which was obviously coloured from a darker natural hair colour. She had a white blouse on, with a light pink pullover over it with some prestigious muggle brand's tiny logo stitched onto her chest. She also had on a waist high pin striped skirt, which went to her knee, and a white headband on her head. It was made very apparent why Percy was going for her.

Credit where credit is due, she had amazing eyes. They were large and bright blue. They were bright and went well with her features, and they really helped with the look she had going on, as they looked so innocent.

Definitely a step up from Penelope, but the prim and proper look she had adopted just did not suit her at all.

As she stepped into the hallway she then noticed me. She sent me a smile, and then I added something to the 'pro' list of her looks. She had a nice smile. A perfect set of pearly whites, plus her actual smile added to her cuteness. Many people in this world were good looking, with white teeth. Not many people had a smile that could light up a room, though. However, she did.

"Nice to meet you…Carly. I'm Fred, Percy's younger brother." I said to her, pausing a little as I almost forgot her name as I offered my hand.

"Thank you for the warm greeting and it's lovely to meet you." Carly smiled, directly towards me again.

Percy looked pleased at my first impression towards Carly, and even gave me a friendly pat on my shoulder as they passed by me, making their way towards the rest of the family.