DEV APPEARED IN THE FIREPLACE OF THE KIMURA HOUSEHOLD WITH A GIDDY SMILE. While May's parents had offered to drive and pick her up, Dev preferred the Floo Network to muggle transportation. After one ride with them, she learned she had what May called 'road sickness' and she was not keen on revisiting that illness anytime soon.

"May!" Devora clambered out of the fireplace excitedly, arms outstretched at the sight of her best friend. Considering they spent just about every waking moment together at Hogwarts, the few days apart were enough to have them running to one another.

"Dev!"

"It's good to see you, Dev," May's mother greeted warmly, pulling the girl into a hug once May had moved away.

"It's good to see you, too, Mrs. Kimura," Dev smiled at the woman upon pulling back. "Are Fred and George already—"

Dev was cut off by the sound of something crashing from the floor above them. All three women froze, Mrs. Kimura's face falling to one of worry instantly. While she most likely assumed that one of the boys had simply fallen or dropped something, Dev and May both knew better. May's face screwed into one of anger as she dashed off towards the stairs.

"BOYS!"

Dev offered the woman one last kind smile before tearing off after her best friend. The two flew up the stairs in no time, rounding on the guest bedroom and pushing the door open without bothering to knock. Fred and George stood side by side as the two entered, doing their best to mimic looks of innocence.

"What did you do?" May narrowed her eyes at the two.

"Now, why is it you would assume we've done something?" Fred cocked his head to the side, the mock innocence slowly dissipating as his familiar grin rose.

Before May could press the two any further, her attention was pulled to the familiar sound of Church's meowing. Her eyes widened as she tore past the twins, trying to figure out what they'd done. Out of the corner of Dev's eye, she noticed an upturned laundry basket move slowly, then heard another meow. Moving over to it, Dev lifted up the basket to reveal Church, who quickly scurried out of the room.

"Why did you have Church in a laundry basket!" May shrieked as she watched the furry cat disappear.

"We were only trying to catch him!" Fred threw his hands up.

"TO DO WHAT?"

"We want the little bugger to like us!" George exclaimed, as if the explanation was the most obvious answer in the world.

"I'm not sure if this," Dev lifted the basket again. "Is the right way to achieve that."

"He kept running away."

"We had to catch him somehow."

May huffed and rolled her eyes before marching back in front of the two boys. Closing the door so the four of them had some privacy, she pointed a finger to the queen sized bed Fred and George would be forced to be sharing.

"Sit." She ordered.

Judging by her tone, the twins were in no mood to mess with her. Despite not being sure if Dev was included in the 'sit' order, she hurried across the room and squeezed in between the two twins, eyes wide at her fuming best friend.

"Now, since you guys have refused to listen to me thus far, I will be going over the rules of this weekend, once again." May crossed her arms and stood before the three. "One, NO pranks. None of any kind. In fact, I want any and all products you brought, now."

"May—" Both the twins began to whine in unison, but as they saw the angry glint in her eye, George stood and went to their bags. After some digging, he turned over a few candies from their skeeving snack box as well as a small smoke bomb.

"Good," May took the items and placed them on the desk in the room. "There's nothing else?"

While both boys shook their heads 'no' as George returned to his seat, May simply narrowed her eyes at them. Crossing the room, she stood over their bags and raised her brows at them.

"So if I were to look through these, I wouldn't find anything?"

"Merlin, May, what is this? Azkaban?" Fred breathed out, eyebrows raised.

May went to bite back a response, but she seemed to decide against it and simply trust the twins. 

"Anyways," May regained her composure, taking her place back in front of the three. "Two. NO messing with Church. He's off limits. You see him, you look the other way, got it?"

"Yes ma'am." The three chorused with a nod.

"Well, not you, Dev," May rolled her eyes lightly. "Three. Please don't be too loud. My dad works, a lot, and he hates being distracted."

Asking the Weasley Twins not to prank anyone and to be quiet was like asking them not to breathe. But, still, the boys nodded. May could only hope this would mean they would attempt to behave.

"Good, now as far as plans for the day," May let a small smile creep onto her face. "Mum's making dinner, then we're going to a winter festival."

"Winter festival?" George repeated back, quirking a brow,

"I've gone every year since I was 6!" May nodded excitedly. "You'll love it, believe me. There's ice skating and games and rides and—"

"Rides?" Fred interjected, eyebrows raised.

"Yes! Like, a Ferris wheel, and roller coasters, you know?" May searched the three blank faces in front of her before sighing lightly. "Well, you'll see tonight. You'll love it, trust me."

"Kids!" A muffled shout from the floor below called out. "Dinner's ready!"

The three on the bed stood in unison, quickly making their way towards the door at the prospect of food. May was quicker, though, having already been on her feet. She crossed her way to the exit, effectively blocking her friends with a raised finger.

"Final rule of your stay, compliment my mum's cooking, yeah?"

☽

DEV'S TEETH CHATTERED RELENTLESSLY FROM THE COLD. The festival certainly hadn't been what she was expecting. Of course, she had been to many gatherings in the Wizarding world, but this was quite different. Even without the prospect of magic, there was something remarkable about the event. Kids hurried around on a sugar high, dazzling green and red strung lights twinkled everywhere, and the warm inviting scents of hot chocolate and peppermint seemed to follow Dev wherever she turned.

"What d'ya say boys, wanna give it a shot?" A voice called out. This was one of many workers who had tried to entice the group into playing a game, and every time May had to drag the boys away, reminding them they had limited money to participate.

"What do you have to do?" Fred queried, taking a step closer to the man.

"Well, you take this hammer and swing it down here. Use enough force to ring this here bell, you get a grand prize," The eager worker paused to wet his lips. "But, of course, if you're not strong enough, we have a few kiddie prizes as well."

The prospect of a challenge of course reeled the boys in, causing May to roll her eyes. The Kimuras had been gracious enough to grant the group a lump of cash to share amongst them for the night, which May had divided up as twenty pounds each. At the entrance to the festival, they had each converted their pounds to little red tickets, which they could exchange to play games or ride rides. So far, May had steered them all away from spending any.

"Come on Fred, there's plenty of games and rides," May urged, using the same excuse she had every time the twins had been tempted to stop.

"Come on," The worker enticed, drawing out the last word. "Don't you boys wanna win your lovely girlfriends a teddy bear?" The man gestured back at the array of soft toy prizes behind him. Dev watched as Fred's eyes lit up instantly, having immediately fallen upon a stuffed bumble bee.

"How much?" Fred stepped forward. After the man answered, Fred immediately tore his tickets off and payed, stepping up and retrieving the heavy hammer the man offered him.

Dev was unable to tear her eyes away as Fred raised the hammer above his head. Merlin, he was attractive. Even clad in his thick winter wear, Dev couldn't help but nearly melt just at the sight of him. The heat that had rushed to her cheeks seemed to warm her entirely, and for the first time in the past hour, her teeth had ceased their chattering.

"Need a cool drink of water, Devie dear?" George teased quietly, nudging the girl's side. Dev snapped her eyes away from Fred, momentarily, to shoot George a glare and retrieve her hand from her puffy blue coat pocket to shove the boy.

"Bugger off, George." The boy only laughed in response.

Fred's hands came down quickly, the hammer clanging loudly against the weight below. To look at Fred, the worker probably wouldn't have suspected his strength. But, after years of being one of the best beaters Hogwarts had seen in years, he was able to hit with such a force that he achieved ringing the bell. He grinned triumphantly, bringing the hammer to rest on his shoulders.

"Wow, well, alrighty then," The worker scratched awkwardly at the back of his neck. "You can choose from one of the prizes on the top row."

"Nah, I'll just take the bee there." Fred pointed forward, handing the hammer back to the worker.

"Really? That's only a medium level prize," The man furrowed his brows. The prizes sitting on the top row were much larger, in fact if Fred were to pick one of them, they'd probably reach about as tall as Dev's shoulder. In response, Fred shook his head 'no,' signifying he still wanted the smaller bee, and the man just shrugged. "Well, alright then, you can pick another prize from the medium row as well."

Fred nodded his head towards a plush cat. The man retrieved the bee and the cat and handed them to Fred, who accepted them with a grin. Spinning on his heels, he took a few steps back towards his group of friends.

"For my lovely Bee," Fred offered out the plush bumble bee, which was about the size of a throw pillow. Dev felt the familiar blush wash over her cheeks, but she hoped she could simply play it off as a result of the cold nipping at her. Accepting the prize, Dev curled the bee into her chest, unable to stop herself from smiling.

"And, for my lovely, er, May," Fred shrugged, not coming up with a nickname for the other girl. "He can be Church the second."

"Thank you, Freddie," May chuckled, accepting the prize gratefully. "Let's get going, yeah? I wanna go ice skating!"

As the group began to walk away, the familiar chill crept its way back up Dev's spine. Her teeth began to chatter again and she felt herself involuntarily shaking from the cold. Fred seemed to notice this, throwing an arm around the girl and pulling her into his side. Dev basked in the boy's warmth, silently thanking the universe for making him a human heater, before blushing at their proximity.

"Cold, Bee?" Fred glanced down at the girl curled into his side. She simply nodded, finding it hard to form a coherent sentence as his familiar scent of cinnamon and fireworks enveloped her senses. "Well then, I don't think a frozen over lake is the best place for you to spend your time. Why don't we break off and get ya warmed up?"

"Nooooo," May whined, halting in her steps. Dev shot her a look, one that said 'please don't ruin this moment of alone time for me,' which May promptly ignored. "You can't leave me alone with George, you know as soon as we get our skates on he'll pull me down on the ice!"

"Ouch, Kimura, I'll have you know I'm actually quite graceful, thank you." George pretended to be actually hurt by her words.

"I didn't say you'd do it on accident." May rolled her eyes. George simply hummed an agreement, knowing he probably would continuously make the girl fall for a good laugh.

"I'm sorry May," Dev stuttered through her chattering teeth. "I think Freddie's right, though."

May narrowed her eyes at the girl knowingly, before eventually conceding. With a light huff, one that Dev knew meant she understood, she gripped George's forearm and tugged him in the direction of the ice skating.

"So what should we do?" Dev stuttered out, tilting her head up to look at Fred.

The boy glanced around the festival, able to see quite a bit considering his height gave him an advantage over the crowd. A grin etched itself on his face as his eyes continued to trail upwards, directly in front of them. Dev followed his gaze to the largest ride in the whole festival, the one May had told them was a Ferris wheel. The booths were enclosed, which would give Dev an escape from the slight wind. It also meant a whole lot of alone time with Fred, romantically peering out at the whole of the festival as they basked in one another's company. Dev's heart fluttered at the thought alone.

"You wanna?" Fred nodded ahead towards the ride. Dev nodded in response, her lips curving upwards ever so slightly as she tried to conceal her anticipation.

Dev let Fred guide her to the ride, each of them paying two tickets to get on once they made it to the front of the line. Once they got into the enclosed booth, much to Dev's displeasure, Fred sat across from her, rather than at her side. No matter, she cuddled her plush bee into her chest as an attempt to conceal her disappointment. The worker enclosed them in, and after a few moments, they were lurching back. Every little way up, the ride would stop to let another group into another booth. Dev and Fred sat in a comfortable silence, slowly watching the festival get smaller and smaller.

"Dad would love this," Fred noted in awe, breaking the silence. His eyes were trained out the window, and despite not being at the peak of the ride quite yet, they could still see almost the entirety of the festival below them. It was strange, how Dev and Fred could experience the exact same heights from a simple broom ride, yet the lack of magic in the ride somehow made it even more wondrous.

"You'll have to tell him about all of it."

"Oh trust me, he already warned me and George that he expects at least two letters each about everything we see while with the Kimuras." Fred laughed warmly, finally returning his eyes to the girl across from him. Nodding his eyes towards the bee curled into her chest, he grinned. "What're you gonna name him?"

"Why's it gotta be a 'him?'" Dev raised her brows at the boy, cocking her head to the side.

"I'm thinking you should name him after me, since I won him and all," Fred ignored the girl's question, a teasing smile on his lips.

"Alright, what should I call him then? Arsehole?" Dev teased back, holding the bee out in front of her so she could get a look at it properly.

"If you're going to be like that, I could easily take the gift back." Fred leaned forward and snatched the plush toy from Dev's grip, curling it into his side out of her reach. "Yeah, I think I'll keep him actually."

"Freddie!" Dev whined, lurching out of her seat towards him to retrieve the toy she had already become attached to. The cart rocked slightly, causing Dev to tumble into Fred's lap clumsily.

Dev steadied herself by grasping Fred's shoulders. One of her knees was digging into his thigh while her other leg rested on the seat beside him, so she was nearly straddling his leg. Fred grunted from the pain of her knee before gripping her waist and adjusting her position. Now, at the hands of Fred himself, Dev was seated comfortably sideways in the boy's lap. Of course, the group had been friends for years, cuddling up wasn't a foreign concept. But this? This was an entirely new territory for them. Dev's eyes locked themselves on Fred's, who was already eyeing her cautiously, almost like he expected her to slap him and jump away.

While maintaining eye contact, as if constantly asking for permission or any sign of discomfort, Fred let one arm snake further around Dev's waist to keep her in place. His other hand rested itself tentatively on her knee. Dev let one of her hands trail from his shoulder to rest against his chest. Her other hand moved on top of his on her knee, where one (or both) of them instantly intertwined their fingers.

"Merlin, you're freezing." Fred noted at the contact of their bare hands. Raising her hand slowly, he brought it up to his lips and placed a kiss to her knuckles. While it most likely didn't actually do anything to treat her cold hands, the burst of warmth that shot through her was undeniable.

Dev began to wonder if she were dreaming.

author's note !

ah!

something concrete is actually happening between fred and dev :')

this chapter is basically just a ton of fluff, but I thought you guys deserved that, because the last two chapters (and the next one, oof, be prepared) have been angsty pain for dev

I'd love to know your thoughts! hope you're all doing well

rose <3