A/N: Hi everyone, I hope you're all staying safe and healthy in this mad new world we're in! This chapter is severely late due to my essential job and all the stress that brings, so apologies! I'd also like to quickly mention that the things Fred thinks or what we see from his perspective might be a bit repetitive. I'm trying to keep this as real as possible, even though it is a work of fiction. Fred is human and humans tend to overthink certain things and under think others. With something as stressful as finding out he is Linked to someone - especially considering the current political climate he's finding himself in and after his father being attacked at Christmas - I can certainly see him trying to consider all possibilities to make the best possible choice in the end. If you don't agree, feel free to add some constructive criticism in the reviews or in my private messages!

"Can we still classify something as a 'practical joke' if the big finale ends up being murder?"

The half-filled Gryffindor common room went quiet at George's bold words. Usually there would be no need for alarm, but Fred guessed that his tone of voice paired with his harsh body language as he fell onto the sofa next to his made the students around them uneasy to be around him. Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Harry certainly looked taken aback. If it wasn't for George's mood he would've laughed at the spectrum of shock on their faces, with Ginny looking barely concerned to Harry looking like he wanted to go straight for his wand in defence.

"What did she do now?"

"Gave me detention with Filch for 'loitering excessively in deserted hallways', the absolute cow!"

"Umbridge?"

George looked at Ron with a murderous gaze. "Who else would give out detentions for waiting for a mate to finish pissing? I was right next to the bathroom door too, but she still didn't believe I was waiting for Lee."

"I think a few - no, all of the teachers would be suspicious of you hanging around in empty hallways," Ginny said with a smirk, "especially without that one in sight."

"I think I resent that." Fred said as he kept an eye on his twin. "When's the detention?"

George sank lower into his armchair as he stared at the detailed ceiling. "The first one is tomorrow night; apparently Filch already has a booking with a group of second year Hufflepuffs that were running around after hours playing Exploding Snap."

"But tomorrow night we were going to-"

"I know! Believe me, I know, and I'm fuming." George said with an apologetically forlorn look his way. They'd been planning on spending at least 10 hours of the next day and night on product development due to their tiny schedules. "If it helps my next detention is scheduled for Monday night."

"How does that help?" Fred asked.

"I have no idea how she did it, but I think she forgot for a mo' that she's already given me a lifelong Quidditch ban? Got no other ideas for why she'd smirk for a Monday night detention other than thinking I'd have to skip training. I think she's going delirious with power."

"Or she thinks that you're Polyjuicing yourselves into Kirke and Sloper," Harry added with an air of lingering resentment. "Would make sense to give you a detention for Monday if that's what she thinks you two are doing."

"Is that one of her theories?" Ron asked. "Doesn't make sense, does it? Hasn't she seen the lack of improvement from the team?"

"Oi! Katie's doing a great job, so are Ange and Alicia. S'the three of you that need work."

Ginny looked at George expectantly.

"Oh, you're alright Gin, not worried about you."

Ginny huffed as she moved loose hairs away from her eyes. "Gee, thanks, George! Good to know you believe in your only sister."

"I said you were alright, didn't I?" George reminded her as he sat up properly. "Besides, don't want to inflate your ego so much that you can't fit through the portrait hole for training."

"Mhmmm." Ginny nodded as she sunk further into the back of the sofa next to Ron, tilting her head back at a sharp angle to rest on the top of the sofa. "Wouldn't be a good idea for me and Harry to not be able to play, we'd have to watch Ron flail around miserably for even longer before my replacement caught the Snitch."

"Sod off, Ginny! I'm not that shite -"

"Ron, we all know you play perfectly well when you're not being sung at or taunted." Hermione said as she looked up from her textbook on the sofa next to Ron and Ginny's. "Don't put yourself down like that, you'll just make your nerves worse."

Fred had a perfectly good view of Hermione from his end of the wide curve the sofas made around the fire in the Common Room, and he could see how his youngest brother perked up slightly from her compliment. She was sitting with an elbow propped up on the arm of the two-person sofa as she read from her heavy-looking Arithmancy textbook. Her legs were tucked around her body, leaving her knees exposed to the homey comfort the fire was producing, and her hair was straining against the bun she'd made earlier in a vain attempt to keep it from blocking her view of her book.

Harry shifted from his spot next to her on their two-seater, rearranging his bare feet to distribute the warmth radiating from the fire. The topic of Quidditch made him as bent out of shape as he and George - perhaps even more so considering how much drama and shite he had in his life compared to him and his brother - and he fought to change topics whenever the sport came up.

"Where is Lee, anyway?" Harry asked as he finally found a comfortable position on the sofa.

"No idea." George sighed as he too stretched out next to Fred. "I tried to speak loudly so he could hear me being sent away, so I hope he's hiding out in the lav's with the Baby Bludgers he had on him."

"He had the prototypes on him?" Fred asked, now much more alert than before and trying to convince himself that he wasn't staring at Hermione again.

George's eyes darkened again as he nodded and glanced towards the portrait hole disappointedly , as if it had swung open silently and Lee had come in without anyone noticing.

"If they get confiscated I'll wring his neck." Fred said with certainty as he looked towards the Common Room entrance as well.

"What's a Baby Bludger?" Ron asked uneasily.

Ginny looked towards Fred with the same hesitance as Ron. "You might want to stay away from Mum if you've made something that hits babies."

"Why in Merlin's beard would we make something that hits babies?" George asked his siblings incredulously. "What a stupid idea!"

"Baby Bludgers are the same as Quidditch Bludgers - obviously - but they're small and soft," Fred explained as he tried to remember the exact enchantments they'd placed on the prototypes. He was pretty sure they'd written them down in the Laugh's Log, but sometimes they got carried away and didn't remember to write things down until it was too late. "The best injury you could get is a sore eye or groin if it hits you in the right -wrong - spot."

"And it's had enough time and uninterrupted space to really charge at you." George tacked on helpfully.

Ron leaned forward on the sofa in interest. "What were you gonna do with them?"

"We were gonna look for Mrs. Norris and send them her way since she's small and quick, y'know, to test how long our charms would last." George said without hesitation.

Fred could tell that that was an incredibly stupid thing to say in present company as Hermione's eyes flickered over the both of them as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

"Please do not tell me that you were going to traumatise a poor, innocent animal to test some ill-conceived idea for a joke." Hermione said admonishingly.

"They weren't going to let it hit her," Fred added hastily as he chanced a look at Hermione, noting her grip on her book had grown a lot tighter in the past few seconds. "We've kept the safety charms on while it's in the testing phase, it would've bounced around her and let them see how it moved in the air with an unpredictable target is all."

"We don't want to get expelled for hurting anyone, and no, not because it would be bad for business, but because we're not heartless." George said.

"Well, good." Hermione said as she stretched her tense fingers, balancing her book between her thumb and pointer finger as she did.

"But it's Mrs. Norris!" Ron complained. "You know she's a nightmare and she's Filch's cat, who cares if a ball follows her around and taps her on the tail a few times."

Hermione looked at Ron with a dangerous stare for half a moment before closing her eyes and breathing deeply. "I don't care whose cat it is, Ron, an animal can't consent to anything."

"Could just run away though, couldn't it?" Harry asked innocently from her other side. Fred watched as Hermione's hair flopped dangerously in its bun as she turned to glare at Harry and felt sorry for the poor bloke. Learning what to do and say around women was always learnt the hard way, especially if what Ron had let slip about his kiss with Chang before Christmas was true. Ginny looked towards him with her lips pursed and eyes wide, waiting for Hermione's reaction.

"That's a brilliant idea!" Fred half-shouted in an attempt to stop the gnawing bubbles of irritation from popping inside of him. He chalked it up to Lee's unknown state of being as the group around the fire looked towards him expectantly.

"What's a good idea?" Ginny questioned.

He racked his brain for ideas so quickly that he was surprised his hair wasn't moving in the wind of his mind. "A, er, a pet collar."

"A pet collar?" Ron snorted.

Fred cocked his head towards Ron and repeated him in a mocking tone. His brother's shout of indignation gave him an extra two ticks to think. "It would be a bit shite if Mrs. Norris wasn't so clever, wouldn't it? For Filch anyway, not for us. He can't Summon her or use a spell to find her again, so what would he do if he lost her or needed to find her quickly?"

"A collar with a Summoning charm embedded into it?" George asked, stretching his legs out in front of him in jumpy movements as he joined Fred's train of thought. George would often pace as they came up with ideas, whereas Fred would rather tap the feathered end of a quill to expend energy.

"No, a Summoning charm would be too painful for the animal if it went wrong." Fred pondered, now actually somewhat invested in his thought devised to distract the blowout between the little Golden Trio.

"Then I don't have a solution at the mo', but I'll write it down for later. Anyone got a parchment and quill?"

Ginny lazily pointed to her discarded homework lying on the floor next to her crossed ankles as she kept her eyes shut and enjoyed the heat of the fire. George pointed his wand towards the pile and Accioed a blank piece of parchment and a quill set towards him, dipping the quill into the ink as soon as it met his hand. Fred watched as he wrote 'animal collar' in his messy-yet-legible handwriting near the top left corner of the page, circling it and writing 'Summoning charm?' above it, connecting the two phrases with a line.

"Muggles just use phone numbers on their pet collars," Harry commented idly as Hermione returned to her book. "One phone call and you've basically used a Summoning charm on the human instead."

"Those things are rubbish though!" Ron said, obviously thinking about his singular use of the telephone years prior.

Ginny smirked as she looked at Ron. "Only when you're an idiot."

Ron reached out with a fist and attacked Ginny with a fist, letting years of experience dealing with sibling quarrels determine an adequate amount of force for the insult delivered. Ginny didn't hesitate to kick him in the shin from her advantageous position next to him, and once Ron had another swing at Ginny they went back to normal, minus an unfriendly glare each.

"They're not too bad," Harry commented as if the mini scuffle had never happened, showing his obvious understanding of the finer aspects of sibling relationships without true participation. "Not that I've ever got to use one properly with the Dursley's."

George's body nearly leapt of its chair next to Fred, almost giving him a heart attack. He leant the parchment against his knee, furiously writing in now-unreadable penmanship. "Hermione, you're a genius!"

Hermione looked up from her book again with a vaguely confused expression on her face. "What have I done now, exactly?"

"You made the Galleons, for the D.A!" George cried out while beaming, then looking down and continuing to scribble over what Fred considered to be a fine bit of parchment before George got a hold of it.

"I did, but I don't understand how that helps make a phone call." she answered with a furrowed brow and looking over George with a concerned expression.

Her eyes met his with a question of his brothers' sanity within them, and he could only shrug and shake his head back at her. Hermione's eyes stayed on his for a moment longer before she looked back to George.

"Harry, sorry to say it mate, but your cat's gone missing." George said suddenly, finishing his notes and looking at Harry.

"S'alright, George. I don't have a cat."

"Prick." George said, then turned to his sister. "Right. Gin, Tibbles is missing - you're distraught, you haven't seen him in two days. Haven't slept a wink."

"I've been crying for hours." Ginny added solemnly.

"Suck's, doesn't it? Not knowing where he is, when he'll be home, if he's been eating. But, hang on, what's that sound? It's coming from your bedroom, but no one else is home! What is it, Fred?"

"Surely not Tibbles?" Fred asked, no idea where George was going.

"Sadly not. But, wait a minute, that's not the Feline Finder buzzing on your dresser, is it Gin?"

Ginny - apparently getting into character as an aristocratic woman from the early 1900's - flung a hand to her heart and cried, "Surely not!"

"Madame, it is!" George cried, holding up a parchment of what now looked like a maze a child decided to try and complete without lifting their quill and got lost many times on the way. "Someone has found Tibbles! And better yet, this mysterious stranger can recognise magical symbols and has tapped their wand to his tag dangling from his collar. Now you have his exact location within your Feline Finder, ready to Apparate to at a moment's notice!"

"But sir!" Ginny said with trepidation, "I cannot Apparate! I am but a humble and young woman!"

"Who cares! Get an adult! Fred, I think this could work really well if we get some proper testing done." George said, snapping out of the fantasy and turning to Fred.

"Sounds like a hell of a lot of work to get it right." Fred said warily. It was a good idea, he could acknowledge that. The problem he had was that it was time taken away from humorous products, and had they not signed a lease to a building in Diagon Alley for a joke shop? Yes, it was his idea to start with, but that was to change conversation and stop Hermione from getting upset. If nothing had come from it, then so be it.

"We'll chuck it in the Log and keep it on the backburner then." George nodded, rolling the parchment carefully. "Maybe it'll stop Mum from losing her mind if we had a range that was a bit more tasteful than tricks and deceit."

"Yeah, might stop Mum from shitting kittens when she walks in to your shop and sees some kids playing with chapstick that glues your lips stuck." Ginny added thoughtfully.

"Chapstick that…George -"

Fred hadn't needed to call on his brother to write the idea down as he was already unfurling the parchment and readying his quill. Ginny looked more than pleased with herself and sat back with a content grin. With a warning she added, "I expect to be paid handsomely for that if I ever see it for sale!"

"Or we use it on you first so you can't demand it?" George quipped as he dipped the quill into the ink pot.

"Or I practice my Bat Bogey Hex nonverbally on two willing participants?" Ginny retorted with a sickly-sweet voice. Fred threw his hands up in defeat on behalf of both of them as George finished his writing and waved a hand over the ink to get it to dry.

Hermione's head snapped up from her book and looked between him and George. "That would be great for the D.A, at least when we get into the harder stuff."

"What, are you planning on teaching us nonverbal magic already?" Ron asked, bewildered. "That's serious stuff, Hermione, even if you can already do a bit of it. I doubt the younger kids could wrap their heads around it."

"I know that," Hermione replied, sounding as if she was repressing a sigh in his general direction. "But if we're stuck with that horrible excuse for a professor past September I think we might have to consider it for students our age. That is of course, if you can make it?"

Hermione had direct the last question to him and George, and they both nodded with certainty. The cogs in Fred's head were already churning out different ideas for how they could make a salve or a paste that would wear off after a time, or a separate product that was an antidote like their Skiving Snackboxes.

Harry spluttered next to Hermione, leaving him coughing with a disgusted look on his face. Hermione quickly Accioed a cup from the tray near the fireplace and filled it with water from her wand before passing it to Harry. Ginny and George had joined Fred in mild alarm while Ron while Ron simply looked confused.

"The hell are you doing, mate?" Ron asked as Harry calmed down enough to take a large gulp of the water offered to him. Although it stopped him from coughing, the disgusted looked remained etched on his face.

He turned to Hermione, who also looked concerned (rightfully so, in Fred's mind. The boy was acting bonkers). "Might not be a good idea to introduce them to that glue from primary school."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Hermione asked, perplexed. She looked at Harry as though she was about to lean over and check his temperature with the back of her hand.

"Well you probably never did it, but were you ever forced to sit next to the kid that would wipe the glue all over his hand and-"

"Harry!" Hermione moaned with revolution as her face mirrored his expression. "That's disgusting!"

Ginny was the one to break the Muggle talk. "One of you is going to have to explain to us what you're on about."

"In Muggle schools, just primary schools I think, there's this glue -"

"Imagine it on your lips!" Harry said, cutting Hermione off effectively as she looked as if she wanted to chuck up herself. Hermione Summoned another glass from the tray and filled it with water for herself, gesturing for Harry to continue.

He turned to face the four Weasley's sitting around the fire. "There's this glue the teachers give you at primary school for your arts and crafts, yeah? But you, and it's really disgusting if you think about it, but you can put it all over your hands and then when it dries you try and peel off as much of it as you can without it breaking, or they'd stick their hands together really tightly and try and get it off without another kid having to get scissors to help them cut it off. At the end of some lessons there'd be piles of dried glue that kids had peeled from themselves, and then Ginny and Hermione were talking about sticking lips shut, and it made me think of putting it on your lips to stop you from doing nonverbal spells."

The four Weasley siblings sat on their respective couches looking stunned at Harry's recollections of his childhood. Hermione, however, was next to him, Arithmancy book now forgotten on her lap as she tried to get her emotions back in check but not failing to fall back into a look of horrid loathing.

"You really didn't have the best childhood, did you?" Fred asked to break the silence that had fallen. Harry grinned sheepishly back at Fred, a sight that was becoming rarer as the year dragged on.

Hermione didn't hesitate to refill her small cup with more water. "That's disgusting, Harry. I can't think of anything worse! And it's true, you know." she said as an afterthought, turning to look at Fred and his siblings. The constant movement had forced Hermione's bun to fall to the right side of her head, and she put her cup down on the table as she reached up with both hands to untie it and started to rewrap it on the top of her head.

"There was always one person who'd be banned from using the glue because they'd used it all the lesson before sticking their knees together. I remember sitting next to one boy who was putting it on the back of his hand in layers and when the teacher finally caught him he started to cry because he couldn't finish making his volcano on his hand." Hermione recounted, scrunching up her nose in distaste.

Ron and Ginny burst into laughter at the thought of Hermione trapped to a crying boy covered in glue and asked her more questions about the obviously jarring experience while Harry listened with boyish delight at her discomfort.

"Maybe we should talk to Harry and Hermione more about Muggle stuff for idea, y'know?" George asked as he leaned over to Fred.

Fred made a noise of approval as George turned back to the parchment and wrote a few more words. He would've joined in if he wasn't so enraptured in watching Hermione try and corral her hair into a neat pile on her head. Strands were falling out on one side as her fingers tried to comb through the other, her hands obviously too small for the thick and wild curls that didn't want to play nicely. He wondered if it felt as soft as it looked.

"Keep staring and you're going to have to spit more bullshit from the top of your head to explain yourself." George muttered in warning as he leaned over again.

Fred's eyes unconsciously looked towards Ron, using him as a way to get Hermione out of his head as he had for the past few months. Nothing killed wisps of daydreams like thinking about his brother's place in their predicament.

"You lot got any other Muggle things we could experiment with?" George asked the two non-siblings of the group. Harry shook his head but Hermione eyes drifted towards the staircase of the girl's dormitory.

"I can have a look upstairs if you want? I doubt I'd have much that I don't need but I can check." Hermione offered.

"S'alright." Fred said, flashing a quick smile of appreciation her way before looking (again) at Ron when she gave a small smile back. "What's your favourite thing in the world, Ron?"

Ron let out a prolonged sigh as he considered the question. "I dunno, Quidditch? Chocolate?"

"You're so boring," Ginny snickered from next to him on the couch. "Give you a Chocolate Frog and you'll grin for an hour."

"'Least I'm easy to buy for," Ron conceded. "A pyramid of Chocolate Frogs and I'm yours for the taking."

Ginny scrunched up her face. "Remind me never to give you a pyramid of Chocolate Frogs then."

"Sod off, Ginevra."

"Make me, Ronald."

"What if," Fred called out over their rising voices, "we did something with the wrapper? Chocolate Frogs already have a card in them, but if we enchant the wrapper on something else -"

"-not the Skiving Snacks though -" George interrupted quickly.

"- no, we don't wanna mess up the Snacks, but we could Charm the wrappers on other things, couldn't we?"

"Could make them rip themselves into little pieces? That would be annoying to clean up, especially if they can't use magic at home."

'Yeah, like your tie during the D.A. meeting!" Ginny said happily in agreement. "I'd actually give Ron a pyramid of Chocolate Frogs for his birthday if I could wrap it in paper that rips after you open it, it'd be brilliant!"

Fred reached out for George's mess of parchment and added in one of the few blank spaces left, 'Ripping Paper - wrapping that shreds itself.'. No-one spoke as he wrote, and the air had become slightly thicker with tension as Ginny's first comment sunk in.

Their duel had taken on the properties of legend over the past two months. Since it wasn't something students in the group could discuss openly thanks to Umbridge and the Inquisitorial Squad, members of the D.A. could only discuss it quietly amongst themselves. And, as things tended to do at Hogwarts, the story had become convoluted with seemingly innocent additions that made the story extra thrilling than it already was. Spells ricocheting off each other were rare, but he and Hermione had met spells several times. He'd had one of the Creevy brothers ask him if it was planned - much more thoroughly than Harry had asked on the night in question - and he knew from Lee and George that others considered it a teaching ploy. Eyes flashed between the two of them whenever Harry had asked people to partner up in subsequent lessons, but George never attempted to pair him and Granger up again, mostly because of Ron.

He heard that after the three of them went up to bed that Ron accused Hermione of a range of different and, quite frankly, mad things. Most of the information was from Neville the next day over breakfast when he too had asked about the authenticity of the duel, and he'd recapped that Ron had accused her of trying to embarrass him (not true), working with Harry secretly without telling him (probably not true), meeting with Fred in secret to practice dueling (definitely not true), and most absurd of all, was now working with him and George to take over running the D.A. (quite frankly, ridiculously untrue).

Neville's recount of the argument included Hermione's increasingly confused responses to his allegations until the final one, which at that point had commented that the meeting had left her drained and that she hoped he had calmed down by the morning before bidding him and Harry goodnight. The subject of the D.A. meeting that almost become taboo between the six of them around the fireplace to avoid any more awkwardness and arguments.

They had been right to avoid it apparently. Fred continued to look down at the parchment while using his peripheral vision to watch Ron switch between glaring at him and at Hermione. The lady in question had returned to her Arithmancy tome and appeared to be reading intently, but her tense body and clenched fingers suggested she wasn't paying attention to everything within its pages. Harry and Ginny had quietly taken up fiddling with whatever bits of fabric were nearby, and George had leaned over to examine his mess of writing with him.

The air lay thick between the groups for moments that felt like eternity. Fred was desperate to break the tension with some smartass comment, but he knew how Ron would react. He knew George already felt a tad guilty for causing all the commotion in the first place by partnering them up, so he couldn't rely on him to ease the pressure. He could only guess how Hermione felt as she turned a page of her book and mentally prayed to whoever was Above that she could remember the fun she'd had during the duel rather than the reaction of a jealous git.

The noises of the Common Room around them began to fill his ears as he begged for distraction, but the light murmurings of younger students studying together and the portrait hole swinging open gave him nothing to comment on wittily and save them from discomfort. The best he could hope for was -

"Jordan!" George called heartily as Lee made his way towards the ring of couches around the fireplace. The entire group watched him plop himself on the arm of George's armchair and shake George's hand with a grin before repeating with Fred.

"Where the hell have you been? You've been gone ages!" George asked in amazement.

Lee only gave a knowing grin in response to George's question. "Why don't we start with the million Galleon question, lads?"

"You've got them, then?" Fred asked, correctly reading Lee's exuberance. Lee opened his robe to reveal the drawstring bag hiding beneath and pulled the opening apart, revealing all four Baby Bludgers he and George had set out to test.

George cried out his joy as he punched Lee lovingly while Fred pulled one out of the bag to inspect. The ball, about four inches in diameter and coloured exactly like their iron counterparts, was in pristine condition. He squeezed it tightly within his fingers before pulling his wand out of his pocket and deactivating it before it went flying around the room. He clapped Lee on the back from where he was sitting and muttered his thanks to him for keeping them safe from Umbridge.

'Let me tell you both, she is an absolute nightmare. She was outside the door for at least ten minutes before I heard footsteps moving away, and when I went to open the door I thought I heard something right outside and I could hear breathing!"

"She pretended to walk away from the bathroom door?" Harry asked with disgust.

Lee shot a look towards Fred and George, asking permission to share his adventures and potentially confidential business ideas. They both nodded for him to continue - they knew no-one there would blab to anyone.

"She did! I was stuck in the bathroom for twenty minutes before I could escape, and even then I went the long way round in case she'd sent a Squad member after me."

Harry scowled from his spot on the sofa next to Hermione, who Fred noted dropped all pretense of reading her book to watch and listen to the conversation. "I can't believe she just stood there for twenty minutes."

"Neither can I, mate," Lee agreed. "But she did, and the temptation of opening the door and sending one of these after her was nearly too much, but this lot -" he gestured to both twins with his thumbs, "- would kill me."

"Kill is a strong word." said George.

"Maybe slightly dismember would be better." Fred added.

"But they're here and they're safe." Lee said with an air of pride. "Untested but intact and waiting for their first victims."

Ginny looked at the Baby Bludger in Fred's hand for a moment. "Give me a few Galleons and I'll jump on a broom for you."

"They're not that fast, Gin. We'd probably end up killing someone if they hit them on the side of the head at that speed." Fred replied.

Ginny shrugged. "I'll go down to the Quidditch Pitch with you anyway and try and run from them if you want?"

Fred looked over to George who had a slight smirk on his face. Watching Ginny try to outrun something trying to barrel into her?

"I'll give you an extra Galleon if I can take pictures." George offered.

"Deal." Ginny said without hesitation. "Just not tonight, I have to finish six more inches on my Potions essay."

"Good idea," Lee said with a grateful sigh. "I don't think my heart can take having these out in the open for a few more days."

"Too right." George murmured in agreement as he took the bag from Lee and inspected a Baby Bludger himself.

Lee turned to say something to Fred but noticed the parchment on his lap. He raised his eyebrow in question and Fred consented, handing him the parchment.

'Woah…" Lee said as he looked at the flurry of writing. "Been brainstorming while I've been hiding out in the loo's?"

"With the help of this lot." Fred said as he gestured to the two pairs around the fire. "Their fully-Muggle upbringing might come in handy."

"I'm guessing you came up with a 'glue volcano', Potter?"

Ron snorted before laughing quietly next to Ginny who was grinning madly. Fred was relieved to see that he'd worked himself out of his funk with the duel being brought up, for now at least.

"That was me, actually." Hermione offered with a resounding lack of enthusiasm. "I was telling them about a boy I was forced to sit next to in my Muggle school."

"That explains nothing and I love it already." Lee laughed. "I bet you didn't sit next to him for much longer!"

Fred watched as Hermione's cheeks lit up gently with a blush. "I may have asked to move my permanent seat at the end of the lesson."

"And ever since you've been around amazingly classy boys like those two!" Ginny said with obvious joy at her own wit. Harry volunteered a slightly embarrassed grin while Ron shot Ginny a dirty look.

George stood from where he was sitting and retrieved the last Bludger from Fred before shutting the bag carefully. "Now that Lee's safe and sound I'm going to head up and add those notes to the Log. You staying or coming up?"

"Coming!" Lee said as he stood from the armchair. "Thought of a few modifications to the Baby Bludgers while I was hiding out. Fred?"

"I'll come up unless anyone else has an amazing idea?" Fred said to the remainder of the group still sitting. As he looked between his two younger siblings he was suddenly hit with an odd feeling of upcoming nostalgia. It was already mid-March, and by the time July came about they'd be out of Hogwarts for good, whether graduating with three top marks each or with a passing grade between them. Sure, they'd see each other outside of Hogwarts being family and all, but it wouldn't be exactly the same, would it?

Ron and Ginny were shaking their heads as he snapped out of his introspective thoughts. He quickly swiveled around to where Hermione and Harry were sitting, and if he wasn't mistaken he'd caught Hermione staring at him. Startled, she looked towards her book and shook her head, letting her hair bounce around on the top of her head in her already-loose-again bun. He looked at her for a moment longer to see if she'd explain, but she stubbornly refused to look away from her text. A growing feeling of being caught was taking over him, but he wasn't the one that had been caught, was he?

He vaguely saw Harry shaking his head next to her and quickly bade the group goodnight before following George and Lee towards the dormitory staircase. If Lee wasn't there he'd be demanding George rehash every single conversation they'd already had about the pros and cons of telling Hermione about their Link, because he was starting to get caught up in his own head again. As it were, Lee was with them, so he could only have the debate in his head. To tell her or not to tell her, that is the question.

The debate was already raging on within his mind before he'd even made it to the staircase, and the temptation to invite her up to his bed, shut the curtains around his bed and seal them with magic before telling her everything was enough to make him stop walking up the stairs for a moment altogether. Curiously, the shot of adrenaline and thrilling anxiety grew within him again as if he was caught doing…something…but he was only walking up the stairs, right?

Managing to make it the entire way up the staircase without bolting back down to talk to Hermione, he crashed onto his bed as Lee and George spoke amongst themselves on Lee's bed. The Laughs Log was between them as George transferred the notes on the parchment into it, and Fred prayed that it was neater now that George could write down the ideas without losing them in his mind.

Maybe he could use Hermione's Muggle upbringing to gather some more ideas for the shop as an excuse to spend more time with her. Maybe he'd have to spend more time with Ron to work out exactly how he felt about Hermione. Maybe he'd have to talk to his Dad like he promised Hermione he would just to have another outside opinion of the matter guide him into the right direction. Maybe he could even ask Dumbledore for advice?

Dumbledore might be a bit far, he reflected. A need-to-know basis was probably for the best, considering Hermione herself didn't know. He realised very quickly that thinking like that only repeated the cycle of doubt and guilt he was already in, so he sat up and joined Lee and George on the bed to add to the Laughs Log and explain the 'glue volcano' Hermione had described.

Nothing could go wrong by not telling her for now, right?

A/N: Thank you all for submitting ideas! The ones I didn't use have been put on the backburner - my future chapters need ideas too! I hope being in Fred's mind is fresh for everyone - I always seem to find things from Hermione's P.O.V and Fred (and George) have such potential to be explored!

Again, sorry for the late chapter, and they're probably going to be spread apart by a month or so from now on - teaching is hard!