InsaneJournal

Leanne was glad to be leaving the Ministry that afternoon. It was another day similar to all the days previous. Nothing had changed and she didn't expect it to. There wasn't anything that anyone could do, now, to change anything. If only someone who so believed in the Ministry could change their mind! The influx of new employees acted the same, at least from her perspective, as the employees that had gotten to know her prior to this mess of things. The day had been extremely frustrating for her in that respect and needed a change of plans. Normally, she would just pop home and listen to her mother go on about her father's situation and how Leanne should be more supportive in getting his name cleared and 'claiming' he was innocent. Leanne didn't buy that. So instead, Leanne found herself in Diagon Alley and not too far from the twins' shop. It had been about a year since she had gone to visit last, right after she had finished school. She thought now would be a good time to visit, if they weren't busy.

Upon entering the shop, Leanne took a look around. All she saw were younger students towards the back and no sight of red hair. "You here, Fred?" Leanne asked.

"Depends on who's asking!" Fred called out, coming out from the back room. His arms were loaded with Daydream Charms and he was headed to restock when he'd heard his name being called. He saw a familiar mane of red hair and grinned. So they wouldn't be repopulating the world with gingers any time soon. After all, he was a committed man now and all. But that didn't mean he couldn't still be friends with Leanne, and she was looking a bit like she needed one just then. "Oh, it's you," he teased, dropping the boxes on a counter. "I don't know, I'll have to see if I can scrounge Fred up."

"It'd be Leanne!" Leanne called back, not that it was really needed because just a few seconds later one of the twins came out. She never could tell the difference between them as far as appearance, but she did know the difference when they spoke to her. "I'm not going to be very pleasant with that kind of attitude, Fred," Leanne teased back. She looked over at the boxes he put on the counter. "Maybe I should stock up on some of those." Leanne looked back at Fred, quite certain that it was indeed him. "How's business for you and George?"

Fred nodded to the crowd that still mingled around the store, despite the fact that it was early evening and he'd be closing up soon. "Really good, actually. Kids stocking up for the summer holiday. And soon, they'll be back for things to take back to school. We can't complain. Even these little babies are getting snatched up, and they're usually only in demand during the school year." He held up a Charm with a grin. "Take one of these back to the Ministry with you. From what I hear, you could use them around there."

"I wouldn't complain if I were a successful business owner like yourself," Leanne told him. "I guess a lot more people are wanting to get away from something during the summer. Or maybe they are testing their limits before they stock up on more before the school year?" Maybe either of those might explain how well they were doing. She really didn't know either way. Leanne reached for the charm. "Yes, I could use them. It'd be nice to see something nice break from the normal goings on at work."

Oh, there was a reason he was a businessman and she was a Ministry employee. Business statistics weren't her thing. He was suddenly grateful it had been Michael Corner who'd taken an interest in the shop and not Leanne Yaxley. "No, no... Just... Yeah, don't. Good effort, though, really. How about you work on reforming those Ministry gits and I'll just sell stuff." His voice dropped considerably at that last sentence. Not for his own sake. He'd happily tell old Kingsley to his face what he thought about the new regime. But Leanne had to work there, and things had to be hard for her as it was.

She laughed. "Thanks, I appreciate that bit of positive reinforcement." Leanne nodded her head. "I guess I'd be pretty useless selling stuff. I could work on reforming it if they'd at least let me..." Leanne didn't know what to say. There was so many different ways that that sentence could end and they were always on her mind. She felt odd saying it over and over again. "Try," she finally added. It was partly the truth. No one was letting her try anything. If memos didn't fly themselves, she was sure that she'd have to deliver them all day long. "But its not very much fun there at the moment."

"No," Fred agreed with a small shake of his head. "Dad seems completely miserable. What they're doing is just..." Sighing, he glanced at the students again. "All right, you lot, I'm closing up in a minute, get moving." Business wouldn't suffer irreparably for closing half an hour early, and Verity had already left for the day, so he could do as he liked. And, quite honestly, he wasn't willing to go running his mouth and putting his dad's job on the line when any one of those kids could be the son or daughter of the Head of Something Very Important.

He rang up the purchases of the two who were actually buying things, and closed the door behind them, charming the sign in the window to a more muted 'closed' instead of the sparkling 'open' it had read only moments ago. "There," he said with a sigh of relief, leaning against the door. "Sorry about that. Just don't want the wrong words in the wrong ears. It's pathetic we have to live like that right now but... Well. You know better than I do what it's like over there."

Leanne understood perfectly well. You couldn't trust saying anything in the open, something her own mother didn't take care to do, in regards to the laws. She waited until the store was closed before she made any comments. "I'd visit your dad, but I fear I'd cause more trouble for him and the rest of you if I did." Of course, she didn't really leave her department much and she'd have no plausible reason to visit Mr. Weasley during the work day. "It's completely understandable. I talked with Tonks the other day and we ate in the muggle world just so we could talk." Leanne grimaced. "I do know. Some days I have the feeling that its going to get worse, like someone from the Ministry is going to physically track my every move or listen in on every conversation."


"I wouldn't be surprised," Fred added with a scoffing glare towards the door, as if the Minister himself were out there. "What's next, tracking devices? Dad says they can in the muggle world, and if they can, you know we could. Isn't it bad enough they make you ask permission before going anywhere? Are you going to have to ask to go ten feet from the house soon?" He was angry, he was bitter, and it wasn't even for him. For someone as classically selfish as Fred, that was saying something.

"It's ridiculous. My job lost half of its appeal with needing to ask permission to travel. I was told that I was done traveling to other countries because I'm too much of a hassle to get the permission," Leanne vented. "If it ever came to having to ask permission to go short distances I'd need to fake my death, get a new identity and get out of the country." Leanne was not joking, she meant what she said. If the restrictions got worse she was going to do all that she could to get out of the country and away from it all.

Fred, ordinarily so vibrant, only leaned heavily on the counter with a sigh. "I'm sorry, you deal with this all day, this is probably the last thing you want to talk about, huh? So, how's the love life, who do I have to beat up, I'll bet it's not a Ministry member!" For him, it was a lame attempt at a joke. But he needed something. Anything.

Leanne only shrugged. "It's okay. I can only vocalize it once I'm outside the Ministry and with friends or family. Unfortunately, no love life, so no one for you to beat up. If I did, you might have to sit him down and tell him the importance of populating the world with redheads."

Nodding solemnly, Fred attempted to look completely serious. "There's some thing about genetics... Brunettes and redheads less likely, blondes and redheads a little bit more likely, but redheads plus redheads... I mean, look at Mum and Dad. Throw those two gingers together and look how well they did at repopulating! Redheads abound, seriously. Even two at once and it doesn't get better than that. So you see, Leanne, I'm going to have to make sure you go off and marry a redhead. Otherwise you'll be stuck with me and I'm afraid we can no longer reproduce in the traditional manner, it tends to upset the girlfriend." He winked, then, a lazy grin on his face. There, that was a bit better.

"Well, mum and dad were a redhead and brunette and got me just fine," Leanne laughed. "Unless mum is secretly a redhead and prefers being brunette. You're going to have make sure its not a trick. But yes, your parents certainly produced a lot of you, especially one of my favorite people." Leanne gasped at the mention of a girlfriend. "Fred Weasley has a girlfriend? Oh, who is it? And I guess I'll have to settle with George if that's the case."

"He's still single!" Fred piped up, eager to get his brother out of the flat once in a while. But his cheeks were flushing pink as she teased him about having a girlfriend. "Well... Let's say Alicia and I got our acts together and decided to try this official thing. Snogging on the side was great, but damn that girl has a jealous streak when you let her loose!" Not that he didn't. Being taunted with mentions of fit blokes in Quidditch locker rooms hadn't helped Fred's jealousy, especially since a part of him had wanted to attempt that committed thing for quite some time.

"Good to know that he is or else I don't know what I'd do." Leanne couldn't laughing at Fred because he was blushing. "Aww. Congratulations, Fred!" She was happy for him. Besides, hearing such happy news meant a lot to her seeing as their didn't seem to be much happiness left in her life. "I hope I don't end up keeping you from seeing her tonight. I wouldn't want her to be angry with you for something that I did."

She had no idea just how many times Alicia had gotten angry with him over Leanne. But it had more to do with the fact that he'd planned on colonizing a British wizarding island full of redhaired children with her than any way Leanne herself had actually offended the Quidditch player. "You won't," he reassured her, stretching a little. "She's got practise anyway and that can run late, and she knows it takes me a while closing up here, anyway. We're not joined at the hip forever, you know!"

Leanne smiled. She really didn't know how Alicia felt about her. "I know, but I did not know if you had plans or anything now that I know you have a girlfriend. Wouldn't want you to break those plans. If you didn't have a girlfriend, well, I wouldn't feel so bad if you had plans."

Fred rolled his eyes playfully. "Yeah, we definitely need to get you set up with someone, George preferably, you know I still plan to fill the planet with redheads and all. But it's always good to know your priorities are in order! If those plans are with my mum or something, too bad! But if it's Alicia? Oh, no, can't be breaking those any time soon."

"If you find anyone who wouldn't mind being with the sweetheart who couldn't possibly be the daughter of a Death Eater, send him my way. Although, I think we should get George's input on his being set up with me before we set him up with me." Leanne agreed, "Must have those priorities in order because its that important. If its your mum, I'd rather crash those plans and see your mum myself. Exactly right."

Bursting out laughing, Fred grinned and shrugged. "She'd be happy to see you. Probably happier than she is to see me, half the time." Before that could sound as completely down and out as it felt, he smirked. "With only one daughter, and that one being part boy, it gets tough around the Weasley house, see. Stop by any time, seriously. Let's just say if you and George, or Charlie or hell, even Ron for that matter, ever did get together, you'd probably make her whole life."

Leanne rolled her eyes. "I'm sure she's quite happy to see her successful son when you go visit. I forgot about those two other brothers that I have to choose from. I think I'd pick George out of the bunch because he is the one that I know as much as you. Which is more than I can say about the other two. But don't you have a brother that is married? Or did he marry someone like your sister?"

At that, Fred couldn't help but burst out laughing all over again. "My only sister isn't even seventeen just yet and I swear to Merlin she's half boy, I doubt she's ever--well, she's had a few blokes, even has one now, I don't know, maybe someday? Anyway, no, no, Bill, the oldest. Married--oh, you remember her, Fleur Delacour? The champion from Beauxbatons? Yeah, she's French. And part-Veela. Makes every woman who ever comes to a family gathering practically green, the way we all fawn over her, but it's not our fault, I swear! We've finally stopped now, Bill's threatened our lives enough, honestly. She's not so bad, just... French." Ordinarily he'd have added that that meant she couldn't have Bill despite him being 'the good-looking one', but...well, Bill wasn't anymore. Through no fault of his own. It was because of his bravery, really, but Fred rarely talked about it just the same.

She joined in the laughing this time around. "Makes sense. She had how many brothers growing up?" Leanne knew the answer already, it just didn't stop her from counting on her hands. "I'm sure having only brothers for siblings made her that way." The name didn't sound familiar at first. Knowing that she was the champion from Beauxbatons made the connection in her mind. "Really? I honestly can't picture her married to a Weasley. That's interesting. I'd definitely act that same way if she were around me. I'd prefer the attention to be on me sometimes and it is no fun when everyone is acting stupid over one person. So your mum doesn't like her very much?"

With someone else, Fred might have been offended by the idea that Fleur couldn't be married to a Weasley. But Leanne knew him and knew he was okay with certain things. That and she had no way of knowing just how charming Bill could be. "She's learning to like her," Fred said quietly, as if Fleur might somehow overhear. She was strong, he knew, but she was still just human. Well, human and a little bit Veela. "Fleur--well, Bill went through some rough times and Fleur stuck by him as loyal as a damned Hufflepuff, really. That goes a long way where Mum's concerned, sticking by her babies. So see? She'd love you, you tolerate George and me even when we're total idiots."

"Seeing as they are married, I don't think she'd have any choice now. Besides, she might get her first grandchild from them." Leanne did see. "She'd be lucky to have anyone who could put up with the two of you. I don't think the two of you are total idiots, your interests are just in the joking department."

Fred only wished he could agree with her there. "You go home and tell your mum you want to be a salesgirl your whole life and see how proud she is. Especially when you've a brother in who's a curse breaker, a brother who works with dragons, and one who's in the Ministry." He paused, then, the thought of Percy even less appealing than usual. "I don't know, it's not bad I guess. She's used to it, mostly. Maybe Ron and Ginny will go be brilliant things and she'll be happy, then. There's only one of you?"

Leanne shook her head. "I'm sure your mum is very proud of you. You and your brother own this place. You've done fantastically well. How could she not be proud? Besides, being the owner is different from being a salesperson the rest of your life. It's also rather tame compared to curse breaking, or working with dragons, or working at the Ministry right now. She won't have to worry every minute that something horrible could happen while at work. You and George are brilliant! Just like your other brothers and your sister." She nodded her head. "Yep. I'm the only one. Rather lonely and difficult sometimes."

Lazily, Fred traced an idle circle around on the counter with the tip of his finger. "I can't imagine it, really. I mean, I got to Hogwarts already knowing what it was like sharing a room and a bath and meals and everything. Does it get terribly lonely? It's pathetic, I'm sure, but I even miss George now that we're working the different stores separately. I can't imagine being without him all the time."

"Sometimes. Growing up, I never had anyone to share my secrets with," Leanne told him, using air quotes for secrets. She was sure he'd know what she meant by that. "I never had to share anything though and I always had my parents attention. My grandparents attention too, since I was their one and only on both sides. Though, I would have liked to have had a sibling. I think it's understandable that you miss your brother. You've been a twin all your life and that's what you've known."

Fred smiled up at her, reassured. It really might have been nice if she were the one George chose. They both liked her, after all, and she wasn't nearly as headstrong as some of the girls Fred had gone after, thereby making her perfect for his twin. "Well, if you ever go getting too lonely, don't hesitate to come bother me and my rather huge crowd. I've got enough to share, really. There's no being spoiled, but there's always Mum's biscuits and treacle tart. Can't go wrong with that, I'd say."

Leanne smiled too. "I'll probably take you up on that. It'll give me a chance to bug George. Haven't seen him in a while and it will give me a chance to convince him of the importance of redheads. I don't mind not being spoiled. The treacle tart would more than make up for not being spoiled."


Oh, and she was already talking about her joy at getting to bug George. Brilliant. Little sparks were going off in Fred's head, and it had the potential to be dangerous. He straightened up, grinning at her. "He's a good sharer, not like me. Which is why I'm kicking you out. Not that I don't adore you and all, but I do need to see that woman of mine sometime tonight. Quidditch players, they'll kick your arse if you let them, you know. It's dangerous!"

"Glad to hear he can share, unlike you," Leanne laughed. "Fine, kick me out. I won't keep you from your girlfriend. Wouldn't want you to encounter any danger." She waved goodbye and headed for the door. "I'll see you sometime when I really need it, okay, Fred?"

Giving her a hopeful look, Fred nodded. "I hope so. You're not alone in all this, just remember that, okay? And don't stay away for a whole year this time!"


"I'll try and remember that. And I won't. See you later," Leanne said as she walked out the door and deciding it was time to head home.