FORTY ONE

AROUND NOON ON AUGUST THIRD, a familiar face entered The Gemini Cafe. Her last customer before she was to leave the bakery and finish the workday at the joke shop. Given the fact Cleo and Zane would be leaving for school at the end of the month, Madam Maryam was going easy on Rory since she was going to have to work a lot more in the fall with them being short staffed. However, since it was the McDowell twins' birthday, the cafe itself was closing a few hours early.

The boy walked in, looking rather flustered but still sharp as he always did. A woman the girl only assumed to be his mother accompanied him with a stern look on her face. They both shared the same pale complexion and platinum locks. Although Rory did not wish to see him in the cafe, she was being paid to be nice to people.

"Hello, Draco! What'll it be for today!" She said with a plastered on smile.

The boy sneered and raised an eyebrow, "Do I know you?"

Rory hesitated, "Yes we... we went to school together! I was Head Girl and you were prefect. Er... I was on the Gryffindor Quidditch team." It appeared she hadn't rang a bell for the boy yet, "I'm Rory Archer. I'm Fred Weasley's girlfriend."

"Hm," he grunted, "Didn't know that blood traitor got himself a girlfriend. Good for him, I suppose. Just two coffees."

Rory sighed and nodded, she knew Madam Maryam was in earshot and didn't wish to lose her job over fighting with a sixteen year old. She prepared the coffees and the woman paid and gave Rory a small nod which she could only translate to "Thank you". They left, and Rory was free to go to the joke shop. Before she did anything, she needed to switch uniforms. She went up to the flat and exchanged her pink and white for orange and purple, not even seeing the twins on her way up.

Entering the shop again, she still didn't see either of the Weasley twins, just Verity, the girl they had hired to help the shop when they needed an extra hand which was... most of the time. The shop was always packed. It seemed what people needed most in dark times was a bit of laughter.

Across the shop, Rory did see a few heads with flaming red hair. She smiled as she recognized Ginny and Ron immediately. Hermione was with them, but not Harry.

"Oh, hello, Rory!" Ginny beamed, her ginger hair flowing behind her as she turned her head.

"Hello! It's good to see all of you! Where's Harry?"

"Getting the tour from George and Fred, here they come —" Hermione jerked her head towards the twins and Harry who were coming up behind them.

"Oh hello, love. Haven't you girls found our special WonderWitch products yet?" asked Fred. "Follow me, ladies...."

Rory followed them towards the wall where the collection was, most of the items very pink.

"There you go," said Fred proudly. "Best range of love potions you'll find anywhere."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Do they work?" she asked.

"Certainly they work, for up to twenty-four hours at a time depending on the weight of the boy in question —" Fred nodded.

"— and the attractiveness of the girl," said George, "But we're not selling them to our sister," he added, becoming suddenly stern, "not when she's already got about five boys on the go from what we've —"

"Whatever you've heard from Ron is a big fat lie," said Ginny calmly, leaning forward to take a small pink pot off the shelf. "What's this?"

"Guaranteed ten-second pimple vanisher," said Fred. "Excellent on everything from boils to blackheads, but don't change the subject. Are you or are you not currently going out with a boy called Dean Thomas?"

"Oooh, go Ginny!" Rory smiled.

"Yes, I am," said Ginny. "And last time I looked, he was definitely one boy, not five. What are those?"

She was pointing at a number of fluffy purple and pink balls known as Pygmy Puffs.

"Pygmy Puffs," explained George. "Miniature puffskeins, we can't breed them fast enough. So what about Michael Corner?"

"I dumped him, he was a bad loser," said Ginny she put a finger through the bars of the cage and watching the Pygmy Puffs crowd around it. "They're really cute!"

"They're fairly cuddly, yes," nodded Fred. "But you're moving through boyfriends a bit fast, aren't you?"

"Fred!" Rory scolded.

Ginny turned to look at him, her hands on her hips. Something in her eye matched that of Mrs. Weasley when she was cross.

"It's none of your business. And I'll thank you," she added angrily to Ron, who had just appeared at George's side, carrying merchandise, "not to tell tales about me to these two!"

Rory rolled her eyes and gave Fred and George a sharp look. They had no right dogging on their sister like that. She understood they were protective given things that had happened to her in the past, as well as what Marina went through. They had good intentions, but Ginny was almost sixteen and Rory felt she could make decisions for herself.

That's three Galleons, nine Sickles, and a Knut," said Fred, examining the many boxes in Ron's arms. "Cough up."

"I'm your brother!"

"And that's our stuff you're nicking. Three Galleons, nine Sickles. I'll knock off the Knut."

"But I haven't got three Galleons, nine Sickles!"

"You'd better put it back then, and mind you put it on the right shelves."

As Ron walked away to put the boxes back, Rory handed him three Galloens from her pocket. Mrs. Weasley had now come over and the twins left to handle customers. Rory thought it would be best if she did the same as she saw Verity struggling to check out her line of customers alone.

The Weasley's and company had left and the line began growing. However as the day went on, it cleared up and everyone got a chance to breathe. George had gotten everyone dinner at the Leaky Cauldron to eat when they had the chance and they took breaks in shifts. First was Verity as it neared five o clock.

Rory was stocking up a shelf on a high ladder on the second floor when she heard a slight commotion from below her.

The girl stepped down and began heading down the steps to see if it was something she could help with. She was instead, extremely surprised at what she saw.

"Get. Out." She heard George say fiercely. At the bottom of the steps was Graham Montague with a smug look on his face.

"You can't just kick me out for no reason, Weasley. I'm a paying customer." He sneered.

"I beat Malfoy to a pulp once and I'm not afraid to give you the same treatment. Now leave." George had his wand out, but was rolling up the sleeves of his purple button down. She knew he wasn't joking about fighting Graham. If Rory had the stature of the twins, she'd have already punched him.

Fred was with other customers, attempting to lead them away from the drama and distract them while shooting looks of approval at his brother.

"You know I always knew you had a thing for her," Graham began, "You're welcome by the way. You know, for loosening her up for you," George had had enough. He grabbed Graham and pulled him outside the shop by the fabric of his shirt and the door shut behind them. She watched as they disappeared past the shop window, out of sight.

Rory didn't see what had happened past the shop window. But, it involved George telling Graham if he said one more thing about Marina he'd knock him out until Christmas. Then Graham tested the Weasley boy once again and ended up getting slammed against the wall of the building and a broken nose courtesy of George's fist.

What Rory did see was George coming back into the shop with blood on his hands and a scowl on his face.

Fred and Rory looked at each other and he gave her a small nod which told her to take care of the customers. He then took George into the office. Rory rang the remaining customers out and soon, Verity came back. The two girls ran the shop as the brothers spoke upstairs.

Rory didn't wish to intrude, but it had been nearly an hour and she hadn't eaten. She wasn't going to leave Verity to run the shop by herself and although there were not many customers coming and going, at any moment a rush of people could appear.

The Archer girl went to the second floor of the shop and knocked on the door softly.

The door slowly opened and the girl poked her head into the office. Fred was sitting in the chair behind the desk and George was standing in front. It looked like a business meeting, despite the fact that it was just two brothers in conversation.

"Sorry," she said a bit nervously, "I don't want to leave the shop to Verity but... I'm hungry."

Fred flipped his wrist to look at his watch and cursed to himself, "I'm so sorry love, I didn't realize the time. We're just going to close early. We made enough sales today with all the Hogwarts kids and book lists coming out. The rest of the month is sure to be the same. We can afford to close shop a couple hours early."

Rory nodded, "I'll go tell Verity and we'll start closing up —"

"Don't worry about it," George said, "I'll help her." He left the office and shut the door leaving Fred and Rory alone. She sat down on the chair in front of the desk and placed her hands in her lap. She looked down at them and back up and Fred. He had his chin rested in his hand with his elbow on the arm of the chair. He looked stoic, which was normally not his expression when he saw Rory.

"Is everything alright?" Rory asked.

Fred shrugged and leaned back in the chair, his hands now in his lap, "Yeah. George and I just needed to have a talk..."

"Oh. 'Course." Rory said.

"Aren't you going to ask what we talked about?"

"I just assumed it was the fact he threatened someone in the shop and came back with bloody hands during his shift," Rory said.

Fred sighed, "To be honest, it wasn't all about that. Graham deserved much worse and the customers couldn't really see what happened. I'd do the same if anyone who disrespected you came along."

"So then what did you talk about?" The girl asked, now curious.

Fred smirked, "Oh I'm not telling you. Now go eat your dinner. I haven't had mine either so we can eat together."

Rory nodded. She knew whatever the brothers talked about wasn't her business, she could easily guess the topic of conversation though. She was glad someone finally beat the shit out of Graham after what he put Marina through. He got his comeuppance as he should.

So, she and Fred ate in the office together, telling stories about their least favorite and favorite customers of the day. He seemed to find her encounter with the Malfoy boy quite amusing, as did she.

George closed up, sent Verity home and the three of them decided to unwind in the flat with Rory's radio. The girl tuned it to a station she enjoyed and let it play throughout the flat.

"Who's this?" George asked, holding a towel filled with ice on his raw knuckles.

"Queen." Rory replied simply.

"It's quite boring," Fred stated. Rory gasped.

"Fred Weasley this is one of the best songs ever made!"

Fred rolled his eyes, "Please, Ror. You say that about every song."

Rory shook her head and stood up, Fred pouted that she had left her spot wrapped around his arms. She turned up the radio and they boys groaned.

"Andrew used to play this song when I was little after my mother left for work because she absolutely despised it. Don't be like my mother. I know you're both going to love it once we get past the operatic section."

"Fucking hell, Rory... the what?" George asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Mama! Oooh! I don't wanna die!" Rory sang, ignoring them, "I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all!"

The wail of the guitar rang out and Rory swayed with her eyes shut, then the pace of the song changed. A staccato piano sound began playing and Rory bounced on her heels excitedly. The twins seemed to like the new direction the song had taken.

It reminded her of being a child again. Foggy were the memories of days with her father before they were separated for years. Music was something that helped her remember.

"I admit defeat, Archer," Fred said, putting his hands up in surrender, "You were right!"

The slow began drawing back to the melancholy piano and Rory sat down next to Fred.

"Well, as fun as this is, I fancy a shower," Fred said getting up.

Rory stood back up and nodded, "Me too. Let me know when you're done."

Fred tilted his head and smirked, "Or..."

The girl smirked back, "You make a convincing argument, Freddie. Alright, let's go. No funny business this time, I actually want to get clean. Last time I forgot to wash my hair."

George groaned, "Whatever you do just make sure Rory casts the silencing charm, okay? Yours are shit, Fred."