Chapter 1

Fred Weasley glanced over at his twin brother, George, hoping to catch his eye. They were at the Burrow, listening to the familiar sounds that often came from having a family as large as the Weasleys. He saw George nod ever so slightly and took that to be his cue.

"Care for a drink, Ron?" he asked, holding up the bottle of firewhiskey for his younger brother to see.

"No, thank you! I know better than to accept anything from you lot."

Fred feigned surprise. "And I was trying to be nice!" he said, clutching his hands to his chest and putting on his best innocent expression. "Eh, have it your way. George?"

"Don't mind if I do," George said, standing up to take the glass from his twin and draining its contents in one gulp.

"Harry?" Fred asked.

"Um, okay," he said, accepting the drink with a small amount of hesitation.

"Oh, c'mon, Harry. You just saw George drink it and he's fine."

Harry cast a weary glance at the twins, but took a small sip. "Well, what's the verdict, Gin?" he asked his girlfriend. "Purple spots, antlers, what?"

Ginny leaned in for a closer inspection, but seemed satisfied after a few moments that her brothers hadn't turned her boyfriend into a canary or anything else equally ridiculous.

Ron seemed to take this as affirmation that the firewhiskey was safe to drink after all and stood to pour himself a glass. Emptying the contents, he looked relieved to be still standing in his own human form. "Well, that wasn't-" he began to say when a look of shock crossed his face. His voice was high-pitched and closely resembled that of a young girl. "I'm going to kill you!" he cried before covering his mouth with his hands in horror.

"Every time," Fred said between fits of laughter. "He falls for it every time."

"Don't worry, Ronniekins," said George. "Or should we say VeRONica? It only lasts twenty-four hours."

Ron's eyes grew wide at this revelation, but he refused to speak. Instead, the looks of rage he was shooting at the twins suggested that he didn't think twenty-four hours was an acceptable timeframe at all.

"Don't worry, Ron," said Ginny, who was clearly fighting laughter, "I'm sure no one will notice." Unable to control it any longer, she broke out in a fit of giggles, followed quickly by Harry as Ron stormed out of the room, likely to spent the next day camped out in his room, hidden from the general public.

"It is just too easy," said Fred as he collapsed onto the couch next to a previously silent Hermione Granger who had been engrossed in her latest paperback. "He just walks right into it."

Hermione sighed and placed her book down. "Why do you do it? Why do you antagonize him? Aren't you getting too old for all the silly pranks?"

"I own a joke shop, Granger. It's what we do."

"Yes, but some of the magic you use is absolutely extraordinary. Why not channel that into something worthwhile?"

"Making people laugh and improving the overall morale of the entire wizarding community after a war isn't worthwhile to you, is it?" he asked. "The only worthwhile things in life are found in books, I suppose?"

"Well, it certainly can't hurt to read more," she said. "but what if you could find a cure for some terrible disease with one of your inventions? Or help someone less fortunate? Why the house elves-"

Fred interrupted her with a loud groan. He was not about to sit through another of Hermione's long spills about house elf rights. If he had a galleon, or even a sickle, for every time he had to listen to her carry on about that spew nonsense he could open new branches of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes around the world.

She sighed deeply in response, apparently tired of arguing. "You have to grow up sometime," she said. "What if you want to get married? Have kids? Or are you planning to propose to your potential wife by sending her a toilet seat?"

He just snorted. Honestly the idea of marriage had never even entered his mind. Sure, he had always assumed that one day he would settle down, but not any time soon and certainly not to someone who was going to expect him to give up his prankster ways.

"The Weasley twins are perpetual bachelors, Granger. There's not a woman alive that can tame us."

"Well, not if you continue to date the daft bimbos you usually parade through," she said.

"Oooh, catty," he smirked. "But you wound me. I have only been on one date this month."

"And what was her name? Do you even know?" She turned toward him her hand on her hip, clearly challenging him.

"Yes, it was Holly." At least he was pretty sure it was Holly. It hadn't been a particularly memorable evening, but there was no way he was going to admit that to Hermione.

"I'm impressed. And this Holly was a real Einstein I bet." She rolled her eyes as she picked her book back up and turned to where she left off.

"Einstein?"

"Smart muggle," she said. "Never mind. The point is that you are nearly twenty-four years old with the maturity level of a child."

"And you are 22-years old with the fun level of my Auntie Muriel. C'mon, Hermione. Loosen up. Do you even date? And that little thing with Ron at the end of the war doesn't count."

"I go out occasionally," she said, but he could see the pink creeping into her cheeks. He grinned. Of all the people that he and George teased she was his favorite target. Nobody could put up a fight the way Hermione did, but then get so flustered over such a simple thing as a question about her love life.

"Do you want me to set you up?" he asked, winking at her which caused her blush to deepen.

"Oh, I could probably help with that, Hermione," Ginny offered, laughing as her friend turned to glare at her.

"You will do nothing of the sort. Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to bed!"

Fred chuckled as he watched her storm off. Nothing gave him greater pleasure than getting the little bookworm all bothered.

"She had a point about the girls, Freddie," said George after she was out of earshot.

He shrugged, and leaned back in to the couch, propping his feet up on the table. "Yeah, well so did I. She is way too uptight."

"Maybe the two of you should date each other then," Harry said.

Fred jumped up and looked at him horrified. "You know, Harry," he said, "for the Boy Who Lived Twice you can be pathetically dim-witted."

"Oh, I don't know," said Ginny. "It might not be a bad idea. You can balance each other out."

He pointed a warning finger at the others as they laughed at his expense. "That," he said, "will never happen."

Please review! I would love to hear what you think of my changes as well. Thanks for reading.