You & I (George Weasley)

The One where Business is Slow.

With my lack of visions and the fact that George didn't let me go anywhere without someone accompanying me, I had very little to do with my time except helping out at the shop.

Of course, we weren't very busy.

No, over a period of a few months, more and more shops in Diagon Alley had closed down and I gave it a mere couple of weeks more before we were the last one open.

Anna had been determined that she would keep the bakery open but that was until there was a break in and the place was trashed - luckily she had been spending the night at ours. I couldn't bear to think what would have happened had she been there.

As of then, she and Melanie were conducting business from her house; sending deliveries out to local houses by owl since people were too scared to venture out.

"Look at it," George sighed, arms crossed over his chest as he peered out of the store window, "Not one person in sight."

"You can't really blame people though, can you?" Addilyn asked, not looking up from the game of Exploding Snap that she was playing with Fred, "Let's just say that I'm glad you let me apparate in here."

I moved to stand beside George, resting my head on his shoulder as the rain that had been forecast, began splattering against the glass, "I just can't believe that this is happening again. That he's out there, right now...plotting something."

"Yeah, plotting to take you out," Fred muttered, "You and Potter."

George tensed, his arm wrapping around my shoulder and he subconsciously tugged me closer to his body, "Fred, stop it."

"I can't believe he's after you." Addilyn shuddered.

We knew that she wasn't behind my sudden loss of visions. Without her knowledge - or anyone else's, Remus and Moody had slipped some Veritaserum into her tea and interrogated her in the storeroom through the back.

So afterwards, when she was so ready to pack the job in and rightly so, we sat her down and explained both the reason for the men doing what they did and what else was going on.

"Can we stop talking about this?" I whined, rubbing my temples, "You know how tense the whole topic conversation makes me."

"Ah Silver," Fred sighed, "You'll be fine! Oh, and speaking of fine..."

The door to the shop opened, the small bell on the top ringing as Anna and Melanie came in from the rain.

"Oh, it's chilly out there!" Anna shivered, "Definitely not April weather, that's for sure!"

"Come on," Fred said quietly, taking the box she was carrying, "Come upstairs and you can hang your coats up."

"Thanks, Fred." Melanie sighed, following the young couple the stairs, "I can't believe how cold it is!"

The conversation faded and George sighed, turning to Addy, "You may as well go home."

"Really?"

He nodded, "Yeah, we're not exactly busy, are we?"

"Thanks!" she grinned, "My boyfriend's coming to visit today and this means I can go find something nice to wear. I haven't seen him in ages! I'll see you tomorrow!" 

"Bye!" The two of us chorused and I watched him turn the open sign to close.

"There's no point in staying open," he mumbled. 

"Come on," I held my hand out for his, "Anna's brought a box of cakes. Let's go have one."

"You and those cakes," he laughed, slipping his hand into mine, You're like a bloodhound."

**

The rest of the afternoon was spent up in our flat, everyone spread out across the living room as we enjoyed countless cups of tea and the cakes that Anna had brought with her. 

There was still a couple left, two being one of the cream buns I liked so much and I silently leant forward to take it. 

"There she goes," Fred snickered. 

George also laughed and leant over to swipe some of the cream out from the side, grimacing when he stuck his finger in his mouth, "Merlin, forgotten how bitter this stuff is."

"What?" Anna asked, frowning, "What do you mean bitter?" 

"Oh yeah," Fred mumbled, "I forgot to ask you about this. Have you changed the recipe for the cream? It doesn't taste the same as it used to."

"Guys, there's nothing wrong with it!" I tried to say -again- but they weren't having it and Anna took the other one from the table, tasting a little bit and she too grimaced. 

"Oh...Melanie, have you changed this?" 

"Of course not!" she looked shocked that Anna would even ask that, "I stick to your recipe. Why would I change something that doesn't need to be changed?" 

"Wait," I murmured, "You mean it is different? Why can't I taste it?" 

"Do you even have taste buds?" Fred joked and I grabbed the cushion that was behind me to throw at him. 

"You're an idiot," I muttered. 

Anna handed it to Melanie, who also tasted it and she frowned, looking at her, "Do you think that maybe it's a bad batch of one of the ingredients? Like maybe the sugar is poor quality or something."

"Maybe," Anna nodded, "I'll need to look into it."

There was a thud at the window, making all of us turn around and the twins let out a sigh when they saw it was their family owl, Errol. 

"Stupid bird," George muttered and I got up to go let the poor creature in, grabbing a couple of treats for him and I let him in. 

"Why don't they just retire him?" Anna asked, "Look at him, he's struggling." 

I took the envelope from his beak and handed it to George.

"Oh," he murmured, "It's from mum. She wants us all to go to the Burrow. Bill's visiting." 

"He is?" Fred asked and he nodded. 

"Yeah, she says that we've to go for dinner." 

His brother stood up, "Come on then. She wouldn't call us back for no reason. Melanie-" 

"Say no more," she grinned, also standing up, "Have a good night." 

"You too." 

"I better be going too," Anna said quietly, reaching to grab her coat, "I'll go talk to my suppliers. Try and get to the bottom of this bitterness." 

Fred grabbed his coat off the back of the couch, "I'll take you. Amy, George, you two go ahead and tell mum I'll be there in a bit." 

George saluted him and without any warning, he grabbed hold of my hand and apparated us to his childhood home, letting out a loud laugh when I gave his arm a smack. 

"You know I hate it when you do that!" I snapped and he took my hand to lead me to the front door. 

Just as we reached it, there was a crack from behind us and Fred threw his arms around our shoulders, "Let's go see what our big brother is here for, hmm?"