(sorry for the long wait - I have a minor start of carpal tunnel in my left arm and I'm trying to relax on the use of it... - plus writer's block...lots and lots of writers block)

dedicated to Kookee_ for the beautiful cover on the side! 

Ch. 25: It's Official

 Song for this Chapter: Our Song - Matchbox Twenty (Lovely song for Elle & Fred - check it out)

    Loving someone else is easy. Loving who you are when you look in the mirror is not. Perhaps that is why I couldn't bare to glance at the windows as I walked past them on my way towards Weasley & Weasley. 

    The rain had started early this morning, and I wanted to catch a nice walk before the weather came back down from it's break. When I'd woken up today, Fred and George were gone. Molly reassured me that they were more than likely back at work - they didn't often stay at the Burrow for long these days. 

    I was glad they had adjusted into adult life so well, it suited them. 

    I reached the outside of Diagon Alley from my walk on London streets when the rain began to trickle once again, matting down my hair that I had messily tossed up in the early hours of the morning, dreamless anxiety making me careless about appearances. 

    There was a pit in my stomach, eating me alive. But, I wasn't sure what was causing it. Maybe it was the fact that the Hogwarts school year was quickly approaching, but there was something else, something in the back of my mind that I couldn't quite understand yet - or didn't want to understand. It almost felt like... fear.

    "Elle? What are you doing out here without an umbrella?" A light, airy voice called to me and I turned to glance behind me where Luna Lovegood was standing in the rain with what looked like a cucumber designed umbrella. "You'll catch Snifflebacks," Her brow crumpled in worry.

    "Snifflebacks," I nodded, a smile pulling at the corners of my cheeks, "Right," I walked under a nearby canopy and spared her a small smile, tugging at the cuffs of my jacket sleeves, "What are you doing out, Luna?" 

    "Oh, I was looking for some radish solution, a mysterious mold seems to have taken to my roots," Her blue eyes flickered with her far away gaze; I figured that instead of seeing the gloomy streets, Luna was seeing her garden at home and anxiously worrying about it.

    I watched her in admiration. Luna had always sparked a sense of... motherly nature, or whatever else it could have been, inside of me. She was someone that I couldn't help but love to bits. "Oh, well, good luck with them," I offered, not sure what to say since I didn't know the first thing about agriculture. "So, have you seen other people outside of school? Like, Neville, perhaps?" I changed the subject, prying a bit into Luna's business.

    The corner of Luna's lip pulled down into a lop-sided frown and she shook her head, "No, actually. I haven't seen anyone yet - but, I imagine that we will eventually." 

    The sound of a bell tinkling beside us caught my attention and I watched as a small group of children giggled and joked as they happily rushed out of the Twins's store. Their excitement practically coming off their bodies in waves. 

    "Well, I'll see you around, Elle," Luna waved briefly at me and turned on her heel, walking across the street towards a Herbologist shop.

    Taking a deep breath, I steadied myself as I walked through the front door of the Twins's shop, the bell ringing softly in my ear. As I looked around, a grin spread on my lips. The shop was busy with customers of all ages, sifting through the different assortments of products, chattering happily. 

    "There you are, L," Fred's voice called down to me from the staircase, "Want to take the private tour?" 

    "If you'll be the one providing it," I rose my voice, "Then, yes."

    We climbed the stairs and he gave me the 'bird's-eye' view of the whole lay out. I had to admit, it did look a lot better than it had when they were still renovating. In the corner of the store was a bright pink section filled with girly products. 

    "Ay, ladies!" George caught Hermione and Ginny's attentions as they pondered over little vials of potions, "Looking at love potions, are we?"

    Fred threw George a 'shut-up' gesture behind my shoulder, but I saw him do it as I turned to glare at the two of them. 

    "Love potions?!" 

    Fred glanced from me to George, then back again with a frustrated huff, "Yeah, love potions - they are some of our best sellers..." He trailed off as I continued to fume at him. 

    "Love potions? Really?" I crossed my arms over my chest and shot him a disappointed brow, "Even after I warned you about them."

    George let a small bark of laughter out as he took in my glare, clapping Fred on the shoulder, "Blimey, she looks just like Hermione with that face," He snickered a little and turned to walk away, "I'll let you two fight it out."

    Fred merely glared daggers at the back of George's head as he made his way over to Hermione and Ginny, dodging the bobbing heads of happy children as they raced across the store. "Look, Elle, I'm sorry about the love potions, but, we are working on making 'em temporary, like you suggested." 

    I took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of my nose, deciding to let this thing slide. "It's fine, Fred - I don't really want to fight about it."

    "Good, because I want to give you the tour," Fred motioned around us at the whirlwind he called a shop, and I nodded in excitement. They had really taken off despite a lot of the surrounding shops around them shutting down. "Follow me, yeah?" 

    I didn't respond as I let him lead me up the flight of stairs and into George and his flat, quietly shutting the door behind the two of us. "You've already showed me your flat, Weasley. You're not trying to seduce me, are you?" I teased, brushing past him to take a gander at all the furniture they had managed to stuff inside the place. 

    "That depends," He merely replied, slipping a warm hand into my own cold one, "Would you like me to try?"

    "Ha! No, I think I'll pass -" The way Fred's face fell into a hurt expression made a chuckle come from me, and I stepped into his arms, wrapping him in a surprise hug. "Besides, we still need to talk about some thing."

    "Right," He nodded, pulling out a chair at a secondhand table and taking a seat. The table was small, only fit two people, and was riddled with stains and holes from the previous owners; however, I couldn't help but find that it was a perfect table for Fred and George. "Let's talk."

    I sat down across from him, folding my hands under my chin so I could comfortably stare at Fred in this uncomfortable situation. "We need to talk about... well," My eyes darted from his to the table top, "Well, us." 

    "What about us?" His brown eyes warmed up as if I was telling him a familiar joke, but when I paused to think of the right words to say, he lowered his gaze from mine and pushed away from the table. "You don't want to get back together." 

    "That's not what I'm talking about -," I began, but he cut off my train of thought by stepping away from his chair, making a bee line for the door. "Don't go, Fred," I clasped my hand against his wrist, catching him before he got to far, and peered up at him from where I was seated. 

    "Elle," His voice was barely over a murmur, quiet and rough as if he was holding back a rush of emotion. Knowing him as well as I did now, I knew that was the case. "If you didn't want to get back with me, why didn't you just tell me days ago?" 

    I rolled my eyes and stood up from my folding chair, entangling my fingers with Fred's. "Calm your hormones, ginger!" A soft, crooked quirk lifted the left side of my lips as I smoothed my palm against Fred's calloused one. "I've already told you how I feel," I whispered out, feeling a blush creep up my neck.

    Sure, I had told him that I was in love with him, but that didn't change the way that my heart churned apprehensively in my chest. I was scared of something. It had only just fully taken root inside me this morning, but my brain told me it had been there all along. 

    I brushed some hair, that had fallen into my eyes, away and spared him a half smile, fearing that it seemed more like a grimace. "But...," I trailed off.

    "But?"

    "But, we did break up for a reason. We broke up because we thought our relationship couldn't last the distance," I reminded him, pulling away from our embrace and running nervous fingers through the ends of my frayed hair, "We may feel in love now - but what about next month? What about when I, Hermione, Harry, and Ron all head back to Hogwarts?"

    Fred watched my face with his soft gaze for a while, unsure of how to respond to my question. It was a good one, and it put a damper on our summer fling that we seemed to be having at the moment. 

    Finally, he let out a breath of loaded silence. "You're right."

    "I know I am," I grinned, sending him a snarky wink, but he brushed it off, taking a step closer to me and continuing his sentence. 

    "You're right, but -"

    "-But?"

    Fred smirked at our looping conversation, "But, we did just tell each other how we really feel, so, that's got to count for something. Right?" He grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers, eyes watching our palms instead of my eyes. "So, maybe we should make it official."

    "What do you mean?" I furrowed my brow, a confused smile slipping onto my face. Happiness was taking root deep inside my stomach; Fred wanted to try.

    "Elle," He gripped my hand tighter and glanced up into my eyes, tearing his gaze away from my hands, "Let's be together officially - exclusively and solely - for as long as we can..." He glanced back down, a nervous blush marring his neck, "Forever, if possible," He coughed, showing me that he was feeling uncomfortable by his words. 

    Blinking a few times, I almost couldn't believe that Fred had said those things. They were almost too romantic to be from a Weasley, and, I knew better than practically everyone how Fred felt about expressing his inner thoughts.

    "You're serious?" 

    "Are you saying no?" He rose a brow at me, teasing in his eyes. " 'Cause then, this is awkward."

    I snorted unattractively and bit my bottom lip, shaking my head at him. I opened my mouth to respond with an obnoxious retort along the lines of 'Don't be stupid, Fred', but I realized that this was a more appropriate time for something serious since he was so somber. 

    "Of course I want to be 'official'. I love you, you know?" 

    "I know."

        There was a moment's pause of me just staring at him, waiting for a better reaction, until finally my favorite grin broke across his face and he lay a calloused hand on my cheek. "I love you too, Letter."

    The weeks before school passed as quickly as the time I'd spent worrying about OWLs. I spent almost everyday at Weasley's & Weasley's experimenting on the love potions they had in stock to help make them more temporary, but in reality the time was just spent being with Fred and George.

    Blake would visit a lot, chirping to me daily about her internship at St. Mungo's and how she is training hard to become a Healer. She mentioned that she'd recently gotten in trouble for yelling at a grubby patient by the name of Gilderoy Lockhart, but they let her go on the account that he didn't remember it an hour later.

    Currently, I was in the middle of the Burrow's living room, curled up next to the fireplace and reading a book that Hermione had let me borrow from her. It was getting rather late, almost around midnight or so, when I managed to glance towards the odd clock that Mrs. Weasley kept on her wall in the dining room.

    It was an interesting clock, I guess. It had nine hands on it that each held a different picture of a Weasley family member. There were different sections for different scenarios, such as: Traveling, Working, School; however, all nine of the hands were collected at the very left, bottom corner which read 'Mortal Peril', and every time I glanced up at it, it scared me even more. 

    The vibrations of the ground shaking caught me off guard and I perked up on the couch, setting the book aside. I glanced towards the fireplace, but there was nothing uncommon about it, no green flames to say that someone was using the Floo Network to get to the Burrow.

    Suddenly, I could hear a loud popping noise from outside the house, I couldn't tell how far. I snatched my wand from the table and lightly padded my way towards the front door of the house, leaning against the wall to remain hidden while it slowly creaked open.

    "Move another muscle and I'll jinx your head off!" I whispered harshly, eyes straining against the low lighting cast by the fireplace.

    The silhouette paused and lifted it's hands slightly, speaking in a calm voice, "Woah - calm down Elle, it's just me," I took a step closer to the boy and lowered my wand, nervous grin slipping over my face. 

    "Sorry about that, Harry," I clapped him on the shoulder, "Can never be too sure anymore, you know?" A sinking feeling attacked my mind, but I quickly covered it up with a wave of my hand, "Do you want something warm to drink?" I pointed towards his wet jeans, it looked like he'd walked through a deep puddle, "You're probably cold."

    Ginny's voice floated down from the staircase, "Mum, is Harry Potter here?" 

    "Harry? No, why do you ask, dear?" Molly's confused, and slightly tired, voice rung out. 

    "I thought I'd heard an owl," Ginny murmured, the sound of footsteps coming down the wooden staircase filled my ears. I glanced towards the living room to find that Ginny had been right. Standing in the middle of the room was Harry's school trunk and Hedwig, his bird. 

    "Did someone say Harry?" Hermione's voice pipped up from the third floor. I walked towards the staircase and glanced up at her with a grin.

    "Yes," I told them, motioning behind my head, "He's somewhere roaming around the grounds of the Burrow, apparently," I hinted as Ginny rushed past me and into Harry's arms, hugging him tightly. 

    Molly rose a brow and laughed, reaching the bottom floor of her house and rounding the corner, "Oh, no. I think I'd know if Harry was -" She stopped and a motherly smile broke out on her lips, "Harry dear! Why on earth didn't you tell us you were coming?" 

    "Well, I honestly didn't know," Harry pulled away from Ginny to accept Molly's open arms as Hermione and Ron made their way down stairs as well. "Dumbledore just sent me."

    "Oh, that man!" She chuckled and placed her hands on her wide hips, about to say something, but I was busy watching Ron as he slowly reached out a thumb brushing it against Hermione's mouth. Hermione jumped slightly, and spared Ron a confused glance.

    "You.. had a bit of toothpaste.." He opened his mouth to try and explain some more, but I cut him off, saving his butt in the process. 

    "Well, it's good to see you again, and, just in time for school. Aren't you lucky?" I teased a little, but immediately felt bad about it as Harry's eyes darkened with an air of depression. 

    He nodded and slid his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "Yeah," He took a slow breath, "Yeah, I guess I am." 

    A frown etched onto my lips and I really wished I could take back what I'd stupidly said. Of course it was too soon to talk about it, but I knew that Sirius was on Harry's mind. The guy was practically a father to him. 

    "Come on, mate," Ron smiled, clapping Harry on the back and leading him upstairs, "You can share a room with me. Since Fred and George are gone, we have a few beds."

    Hermione made a move to follow the trio, but turned back to me when she realized I wasn't coming along. "You alright, Elle?"

    "I guess," I sighed wrapping my arms around myself, "I am just a bit worried for school. I mean, after the fake Moody and Umbridge, who else are we going to get?"  

    Hermione offered me a half-smile and shrugged, "Sometimes we've just got to trust that Dumbledore knows what he's doing, you know?" 

    "I know, I know," I waved her off. Why did she always have to be the one full of things to say? Why couldn't I be the one giving her advice every once and a while. "You go ahead and talk with your boys, I'll be down here... Reading..." I waved the book in the air and she rolled her eyes at me.

    "They're not my boys - but, you have fun with that."

     When she turned her back, I mocked her as she went. Who was Hermione Jean to sarcastically tell me to have fun while reading?

    The next day we all went to Diagon Alley, for what seemed to me like the four hundredth time I'd been this summer, but, hey, how could I complain when all I did was be with Fred and George?

    This time, I brought my leather bound journal filled with potion recipes and charms to experiment around with. Fred and I were attempting to make candies that would change your hair color temporarily. I thought it would be a great idea for the girl section, and I was currently working on the color blonde.

    So far, however, it had only managed to turn a few mice from white to a spotty, lemon color. It wasn't very nice and progress was slow, but I wanted to get it done before school started. So, that basically gave me until tomorrow morning. 

    I walked directly into the back room while Harry was getting a tour from the Twins and Ron, tossing my bag onto the floor and taking my usual seat at the desk. By the time that Fred found me, I was buried nose deep into the pages of three different books, jotting down notes for directions I could take the experiment. 

    "Oh, Hermione - have you seen my incredibly attractive, super amazing girlfriend any where?" Fred asked, leaning against the door, arms crossed over his chest as he watched me glance up from my books, frizzed out hair pulled back in a ponytail so it wouldn't get in my eyes. 

    "She's about five three, brown hair and eyes," He trailed off, waving his hand below his shoulder, "She looks like you, actually."

    "Hardy har-har," I replied, sticking my tongue out at him, "Actually, I am working on the hair toffees, what are you doing?" 

    "I'm just here, talking to my girlfriend."

    I rose a brow at him, setting my quill to the side so I could focus all my attention on the brooding ginger demanding all of it. "Oh? And I thought you mistook me for Hermione." 

    "I would never," Fred winked, stepping up to the table, setting a stapled stack of papers on top of my notes, "Besides, if I gave this to Hermione she'd probably hex me for making trouble."

    My brow furrowed at his words, but I grabbed the stack, quickly scanning over the words, leaning more and more over my desk as I did. Finally, I quietly lay the papers to the side and looked up at him in amazement. "You did it. You solved the missing ingredient?" 

    "You sound surprised."

    "I am," I smirked, crossing my arms over my chest, but offering him a wide-eyed appreciation. "How did you do it, exactly?" 

    Fred chuckled and shrugged, "I have my ways. You do realize that Georgie and I are not completely helpless without you?" 

    I got up from the desk and wrapped my arms around Fred's shoulders, "But, you do like having me here, don't you?" 

    "Well, that's completely circumstantial," He teased, pressing his cold nose against mine. I took in his red rimmed nose and patched cheeks.

    "You've been outside," I deduced, pulling away from him as I kissed his cheek playfully, "Did you pick up a delivery for me, or what?" 

    "Not really," He sighed, placing his hands into his jumper pockets, "I was actually seeing Hermione, Ron, and Harry off as they made their way out. I think they went to check out Ollivander's," A frown weaved it's way onto his lips, "Things haven't really been the same around here since that bloke was taken, you know?" 

    "I understand," I nodded, sitting down on the desk top, "Hermione, Neville, and I were probably his last customers, now that I think about it," I glanced up at the ceiling. The familiar feeling of fear erupting inside of me. Now, I could pinpoint where the feeling was coming from. "The whole world is practically up in flames right now," I whispered.

    There was a few minutes of tense silence as Fred sat down beside me on the desk, hand placed lightly over my own. After a little while, I let out a shaky breath, biting down on my lip before I finally broke the stillness of the air.    

    "W-would it be terrible if I told you I'm terrified?" My voice broke as I ducked my head, not wanting him to see the wetness welling up in my eyes. I pressed my lips tightly together to keep them from trembling.

    Fred watched me for what seemed like an eternity before taking a deep breath and tightening his grip around my twitching hand, "Would it be even worse if I told you I am as well?" 

    Swallowing a lump in my throat, I took a shaky breath.

    We'd be okay. We'd been okay up until this point, and, we'll be okay when this war was over.

        We'll be just fine.

And, I wanted nothing more than to believe those words.

[if you wanted to submit a one-shot but didn't meet the deadline, you still can. It won't win, but I'd love to read it]