Gunpowder & Cinnamon {Fred Weasley}

Chapter Twelve

When the twins arrived back to the shop, Eleanor and Verity were behind the counter closing everything down for the evening.

"How did it go today, ladies?" Fred asked walking over and kissing Eleanor on the cheek.

"It went well. " Eleanor said. "We are completely sold out of spell checking and self inking quills though."

"Well, I will get right on that..." Fred said. " Right after a shower. Lee thought it was cute to sneeze on me."

"In his defense, you were in the way." George said. "Rather it be you than me."

Eleanor made a face. "You just kissed me after Lee sneezed on you?!"

"That's my cue to leave." Fred said as he ran off upstairs.

Verity laughed as she grabbed her cardigan from the backroom, ready to head home.

"I'll see you all in the morning." She called to them as she went to leave.

"Bye Verity." Eleanor and George said together.

Once the shop was empty, George walked over and locked the door behind Verity. When he turned around he caught Eleanor watching him. Her arms were folded over her chest.

"Uh...why are you looking at me like that?"

"Oh no reason." Eleanor said grabbing some of her yarn off the counter. George watched her cautiously knowing something was up, but he wasn't sure what direction Eleanor was going in.

Eleanor began folding some of the scarves she had knitted and walked over to where her knitted garments were displayed.

"Is there something you want to talk about?" George asked.

"No. Is there something you want to talk about?" Eleanor countered.

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Okay." Eleanor smiled before heading in the direction of the stairs. George stood puzzled before heading upstairs himself.

He walked into the flat to see Eleanor making herself a cup of tea using her wand, a small smile still on her face as she hummed to herself.

"Alright, I'm not really sure what's going on, but I feel like something is going on." George said.

Eleanor sat on the kitchen counter and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know what you're talking about." she said. "I'm just making myself a cup of tea."

George stared at her, but remained quiet. He watched as she pulled out the tea bags, and he squinted to read the flavor of tea bags she was using. He pressed his lips together as he noticed that wasn't a box that he had purchased from Rosa Lee's.

"I uh...did you buy those?" he asked.

"What?" Eleanor glanced over at him casually.

"Did you buy those tea bags?"

"Oh no. Actually..funny story." she held her teacup in her hands. "Earlier, I had a customer come in looking for hand warmers to go under their quidditch gloves. Nice woman, we went to school with her, she played for the Ravenclaw quidditch team. I'm sure you know her a little bit...Renna Washburn."

George swallowed hard. "Oh yeah, I remember her."

"Yeah apparently her quidditch gloves were rubbing against her wrists. I can only imagine that's a pain. So I gave her a pair of my hand warmers, for free. I thought it would be the nice thing to do since I gave pairs to the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs back in school. "

"Right, that was nice of you."

"Yes, but they wouldn't allow me to give it to them for nothing. Well, Renna has this lovely, lovely friend...Judith Wagner, she was also in Ravenclaw. Same year as us. Crazy isn't it?"

"Very." George answered.

"She was so sweet, she ended bringing me some tea from the shop. Recommended this one...and goodness, it's so good. You should try some. Oh and did you know that Judith works at the Rosa Lee tea shop? Wait...of course you do! Small world, huh? It's funny, you learn something new everyday."

Eleanor shook her head and set her teacup to the side as she jumped down from the counter.

"Ellie-" George went to call after her as she walked towards her bedroom.

She turned around and faced him. "You know George, Hufflepuff is known for it's loyalty, but we're also particularly good finders."

Before she could go in to the room, George called to her again.

"Don't worry, Georgia. I won't tell anyone, your secret is safe with me."

George smiled. "Maybe you were supposed to be in Ravenclaw too." he said.

"Or you better do a better job covering up your tracks."

George raised his hand for a high five, making Eleanor chuckle as she walked over and slapped him five.

"You're the best Ellie."

"I know..."