Chapter 7

A/N: Many thanks to SHUG for being my beta - she's amazing. Also, thanks to JKR for creating the playground we all play in. I don't own them, I just play with them.

Ginny, sitting at her desk in her back office at WWW, looked up at the clock. It was still ten minutes to close. Sighing, she looked back at the parchment cluttering her desk. She had never mentioned to her brothers how hurt she was about the fake client meeting Fred had sent her on, so she’d been very surprised when they’d begun to give her more responsibility for the delivery owl portion of the business.

While she was grateful for the challenge, and the faith they seemed to have in her abilities, she found that she was now busier than ever. She was also happier than ever. The more she looked into the twins’ business model, the more ideas of how to increase the owl order sales she came up with.

Ginny looked up from the parchment, rubbed her stiff neck, and glanced at the clock again. Sighing, she noted that it was only three minutes later than it had been the last time she looked. Time was moving exceedingly slowly.

Deciding that she was becoming too distracted and wasn’t going to accomplish anything else today, she stood up from her desk and stretched her tight muscles. It was very quiet in the office; hopefully it was just as quiet in the shop. She needed to find a way to convince the twins to leave the shop without explaining why. Stepping out of the office, she looked towards Fred at the counter and then George, who was checking the stock on the shelves, thankful to find the shop was empty.

“Boys, how about if I close up? I don’t have any plans tonight, and you could try to meet the girls for drinks.”

George looked up from where he was working. “The girls decided we weren’t invited for drinks tonight.”

“It seems,” Fred continued, “they weren’t amused by our latest prank at the Three Broomsticks.”

“We could see if Lee wants to meet up. He’s usually not so sensitive to our…”

“… product testing.”

George wandered over to Fred and leaned across the counter so Ginny couldn’t hear.

“She’s been offering to close the shop much too often lately,” he said quietly. “Either she’s up to something or we really need to find someone for her.”

“Are you sure she’s not seeing Wood? I really thought I had succeeded in getting them together that last attempt.” He looked thoughtfully at his brother. “Think Lee would go for her? Did you see the kiss she laid on him?”

George shrugged. “Whatever she’s doing, she’s not quite herself. She’s been a little too happy. We may need to keep a closer eye on her.”

“Thanks, Ginny,” George bellowed loud enough for her to hear.

“We’re going to head up to the flat and see if Lee is free,” Fred continued. “We’ll lock up the back of the shop on our way out.”

After the boys left, Ginny walked to the back of the shop to ensure the door was locked, not trusting her brothers, and added a spell of her own. Pointing her wand at the shop’s front door, she turned the sign to read ‘closed.’ Once she was convinced no one would interrupt her without her knowledge, she transfigured her work robes to a pretty shade of emerald green. Finally, with one last wave of her wand, she added a soft curl to her ginger hair. Walking quickly to the mirror the boys had put next to the joke hat collection, she checked how she looked.

“You look lovely dear,” the mirror complimented.

“Thank you,” she said with a curtsy to the mirror.

Confident that she looked nice but not as if she’d gone to any effort, she needed to decide what to do while she waited for Oliver to arrive. Crossing the shop floor, Ginny turned on the wireless to keep her company. She was anxious to see him but didn’t want to appear so.

As Ginny thought about Oliver, she unconsciously started straighten the stock on the shelves. She’d not seen him since that day she ran into him on the street. Puddlemere had left a few days later, and they had corresponded via owl for the month the team was on the road.

In a way, she was glad he had been out of town. It had been easier, somehow, to discuss what had happened between her, Oliver, and her brothers on parchment rather than in person. She wasn’t confident that they ever would have discussed it if they had just started seeing each other in person, wasn’t sure that their relationship, such as it is, would have survived if they hadn’t worked out their feelings about it first.

Only a few minutes had passed when Ginny heard the front door open. She glanced up from the shelf she was working on to see Oliver walking in.

“Oliver! Welcome back to town,” she said, giving him a brilliant smile. “I’ve missed you,” she added, glancing at her feet before looking back up to meet his eyes.

“Hullo, Gin. You look lovely. I love that colour on you,” he replied as he stood in the middle of the shop, feeling a bit unsure of how to act after being gone so long. “Um, are you ready to go?”

Ginny paused for a minute. She missed the easy way they had been with each other when they’d left for the fishing trip. She didn’t want to spend the rest of the night feeling unsure of how to act.

“I’m almost done here, and then we can leave,” she said, deciding that maybe if they spent a few minutes chatting here that they would recapture some of the ease she’d felt with him before her brothers had mucked things up so badly.

Oliver walked over to the front counter and leaned against it casually as he watched Ginny finish straightening the shelves.

“From what I read in the Prophet, it sounds as if Puddlemere had an amazing set of matches.”

“Well, we all know how reliable the Prophet is,” he said, laughing. “But it was a good trip. I was thankful for all your owls. It made things less lonely.”

“If I’m to believe the Prophet, you are getting married soon. Anything you need to share with me?” she asked with a smirk as she winked at him.

Oliver crossed the room to where she was standing and gathered her in his arms. “Well, I’m not getting married, yet, but I did find someone I think is very special,” he added, feeling more confident.

Ginny found herself pulled close to Oliver’s firm body as he wrapped one arm around her waist and grasped her hand, placing it on his chest, close to his heart. As Oliver began to sway to the music coming from the wireless, Ginny slid her free arm around his shoulder, her fingers playing with the hair at the nape of his neck.

“You had better hope a photographer from the Prophet doesn’t wander by and see you dancing with someone in a joke shop. I’d hate to think that you were cheating on your fiancée already.”

“I’ve wanted to dance with you for months,” Oliver murmured gently, his voice so soft she could only just make out the words. “I walked by one evening and saw you dancing through the front window. I’ve been dreaming of dancing with you since.”

“You made me dance. You had stopped in the shop earlier that day and left a note for the twins. Unfortunately, or actually fortunately, I gave you one of the twins’ truth quills. It crossed out what you wrote and replaced it with what you meant. The note said you wanted to ask me out.”

“You knew,” he exclaimed, pulling away from Ginny enough to look her in the eyes.

Ginny just laughed softly in response, then snuggled back against Oliver’s chest and continued dancing.

“But after all the attempts of the twins, I didn’t think we’d ever go out. I love my brothers, but they always seem to make things worse.”

As Ginny and Oliver continued to dance, she noticed the song on the wireless change.

“This is just perfect,” Ginny stated with amusement. “My mother will think this is exactly what I deserve.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Celestina Warbeck—she’s her favourite singer. I think it started when she and Dad danced to ‘A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love.’ Every Christmas she would insist that we all gather in the living room and listen to her Christmas concert on the wireless,” Ginny said with a far away look in her eye as she continued to sway to the music. “We would all sit out of Mum’s sight and make fun of Ms. Warbeck’s singing. Mum would be sitting in her favourite chair with the biggest smile on her face. I always thought it was because of the music, but now I suspect it was because for one moment each year, she knew we were all united together.”

“It sounds nice, actually. I always wished I had siblings. Holidays were very quiet affairs at my house.”

As they danced, Oliver’s eyes were locked on Ginny. She looked up at him, smiling sweetly. Slowly, he lowered his head and captured her soft, pink lips with his own, kissing her gently. It was a simple, chaste kiss.

Ginny tightened her grip around Oliver’s neck to keep knees from buckling. Never in her life had she had a first kiss that had made her feel this way.

“Well, well, well…” Fred started.

“… what have we here,” George finished.

Ginny spun around and drew her wand. Looking up, Oliver saw it was the twins who had interrupted them and quickly wrapped his arms around Ginny, pinning her arms to her side to prevent her from hexing her interfering brothers.

“How… I mean what….” Ginny took a deep breath. “How did you get in here without me hearing you?”

Fred held up a glass jar filled with blue substance. “Haven’t we mentioned our newest discovery?”

“We’re thinking about calling it Squeekease. Put it on any hinges and you will never hear a door squeak. It even counteracts the extra loud squeaking spell you have recently started putting on every door… dear sister.”

“It seems we’ve been discovered,” Oliver said as he rested his chin on Ginny’s shoulder. “What gave us away?” he asked, looking at the twins with a lopsided grin on his face.

Ginny turned to face Oliver and swatted at him as best she could with her arms still pinned by his. “Don’t encourage them.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll try to behave myself,” Oliver responded as he tried to look innocent. Ginny just shook her head in mock disappointment. She started to open her mouth, but before she could respond, Oliver captured her lips in a searing kiss.

Fred and George watched them kissing for a moment, then began looking at their feet, the ceiling of the shop, anywhere but the direction of their sister.

“Should we interrupt them?” Fred asked George.

“I’m not sure I’m ready to be hexed,” George responded.

“But if they don’t start talking to us soon, how will we confirm that I was the one who caused their lips to come in such close proximity and thereby winning our bet.”

“If you want to know so much, I recommend you interrupt them.”

“I think maybe I’ll ask them another time,” Fred said as he turned to walk to the back door of the shop. Before he could open the door, he promptly fell over, his body wrapped in magical ropes. George landed not far behind him, similarly bound.

“Ginny! Unbind us!”

“I’m telling Mum.”

“Actually, boys,” Ginny started, pride filling her voice, “it was Oliver.”

“Why?”

“Well, gentlemen, Ginny deserves to have dinner without interference.”

“Ginny,” George whinged, “you are coming back, aren’t you?”

“Maybe,” Ginny said with a shrug and a smirk.

“We’ll be kind enough to notify someone that you are temporarily detained in your shop,” Oliver added. “Most likely.”

Oliver grabbed Ginny’s hand and started walking towards the back door of the shop. When they reached the door, Oliver turned towards the twins.

“Oh, and I suppose I should warn you,” Oliver winked at Ginny, “we aren’t quite ready to tell anyone about us, so should you, um, accidentally tell anyone about us, you will break out in a very uncomfortable and probably noticeable rash.”

Oliver turned to exit the shop as Ginny waved goodbye to the twins before following him, closing the door silently behind them.

A few hours later, Lyra and Lily were standing outside the front door to the twins’ shop.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t go round to their flat?” Lyra asked as she peeked in the darkened windows.

“I don’t know,” Lily responded glancing at the note again. “Lyra and Lily, I hope you are enjoying an evening with your friends. I wanted to let you know that the twins are a little tied up at the shop and would love it if you stopped by before you go home. Ginny

“Well, let’s just go in and see what is going on. If they aren’t here, we can see if they are up in the flat,” Lyra said as she opened the door to the shop and turned on the light.

“Fred!” “George!” Lily and Lyra said simultaneously as they ran to the unconscious, bound bodies lying just out of sight of the front door.

Just as a concerned Lily kneeled down next to Fred to see if he was hurt, he let out a loud snore.

“Oh man, they are just asleep.” Lily said to Lyra as she gently shook Fred awake.

“Hey, George,” Lyra said, nudging him with her toe, “wake up.”

George looked up at Lyra and smiled at her with a sheepish grin. “Hi, luv. Nice to see you,” he said as he allowed his glance to glide down her body and stop on her shapely legs, made all the more shapely by the addition of the three inch strappy heels she was wearing. While he was sure he should have been thinking about how to apologize to Ginny and Oliver, all he could think about was what he wanted to do... no, first he had to convince Lyra to release him from these bindings and help him get the blood circulating in his body.

“Lyra,” George said tentatively before looking at the bindings holding his body still. “Would you mind?”

“Finite,” Lyra commanded, pointing her wand at George.

Lyra sat down on the floor to help George sit up. They both looked over to see Fred and Lily kissing as if they hadn’t seen each other for years, Fred still bound.

“Should we remind them that it’s alright to release Fred?” Lyra asked with a giggle.

“I think we should leave them here and…” George paused to kiss her. “… go upstairs to the flat.”

“I do believe,” Lyra said as she kissed George, “that first you need to tell me how you ended up tied up here.”

“I want to know that, too,” Lily suddenly added as she broke away from Fred, pointing her wand in order to free him from his bindings. “Finite.”

“Well,” George started while Fred rubbed his arms, trying to gain feeling in them, “we were outnumbered. There were six of them.”

“Wearing black robes, and their faces were covered,” Fred continued. “They said they wanted our stock.”

“Your stock,” Lyra said looking around at the perfectly stocked shelves. “Are you sure they were stealing stock?”

“Did we say stock?”

“We meant secrets.”

“Lyra,” Lily said as she helped Fred up off the floor, “what was it that note said? The one that we received while we were having drinks?”

“Oh, you mean the one we received from Ginny?” Lyra answered as George and Fred looked at each other with slightly sheepish grins on their faces, Fred’s ears turning just a bit pink as he looked at Lyra.

“And what did…”

“… our beautiful sister say?”

“Something about being sorry that she was interrupting our night out without you, but we might want to stop by the shop as she thought you might have become tied up.”

“So, is your previous story the one you’d like to stay with?”

“Well, we might modify it,” Fred started, taking Lily’s hand and leading her towards the back door.

“But first we recommend heading upstairs,” George finished, grasping Lyra’s hand as he followed them.

“And then you will tell us what happened?” Lyra asked.

“We would,” George said as he started to close the door of the shop, “but then we’d break out in a horrible rash.”

“Fine, don’t tell us,” Lyra said with a laugh, heading up the stairs to the twins’ flat as the door closed behind her.