Only You

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Disclaimer: None of the characters nor the settings belong to me but are all the property of J. K. Rowling. I make no money from them.

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The family’s return and hectic preparations for the annual return to Hogwarts distracted most of the Weasleys from George’s growing agitation and excitement about seeing Melody again. Added to the hubbub was his parents’ concern over the escape of Sirius Black. The family relocated to the Leaky Cauldon to buy school supplies and keep an eye on Harry. George tried to send a message to Melody to meet them there, but Errol was so unreliable he wasn’t sure if she’d gotten it. It took both twins to catch Errol in the first place as he’d taken to flying the other direction whenever George appeared.

When Molly got ready to go into Diagon Alley to buy their books and things, the twins stalled and put off and finally flat out refused to go, and Molly left with only Ginny in tow. Fred and George staked out the main room waiting for Melody to make an appearance. They reasoned that she had to buy supplies and the only way into Diagon Alley from Muggle London was the Cauldron. Finally, their vigil was rewarded.

“George? Fred?” a soft voice called from the door.

“There’s our girl!” yelled Fred as he jumped off the table and hurried to greet her. He gave her an enthusiastic hug, lifting her off her feet and twirling her in the air. “What the bloody hell did you do to your hair?” he asked when he’d set her down, reaching out and picking up a lock to observe more closely.

Melody swatted at his hand and rolled her eyes. “We spent a few weeks at the beach, and my hair has always gotten a little too excited about sunlight.”

“You mean you didn’t do it on purpose?” Fred asked, turning her around and looking at it from all angles. “Looks pretty good…”

Melody rolled her eyes again, laughing. “I’m so glad you approve…” she teased.

George, who’d held back at first feeling suddenly nervous, approached quietly. “Where’s my hug?” he asked wistfully.

“Oh, you…!” Melody laughed as she threw her arms around him.

“Bloody hell….” They heard from the tables, turning around to see Ron shaking his head in disgust and Harry laughing. The twins followed Melody to the table and watched while she hugged both boys, Harry first and then, to his total embarrassment, Ron. Hermione wandered down the stairs with her new cat, and Melody hugged them both, too. Crookshanks did not appreciate it.

“So have you gotten your supplies?” George asked Melody.

“No, that’s why I’m here. Seeing you when I walked in was a surprise.”

“Bloody owl!” George complained. “I sent you a message. Lord knows where it is right now. You’ll probably get it around Halloween…”

Melody laughed. “You know, I hate to say anything bad about your owl, especially considering I haven’t even got one, but he is rather a nightmare. He dropped one of your letters in my cereal, and I only barely got it dried before the ink started to run. The next one he delivered in the middle of the night. To my aunt. Landed right on her chest while she was sleeping. I’m not sure she’s recovered yet…” She giggled again. “But at least you’ve got one!” She looked at the twins. “So are you here shopping?”

George and Fred explained quietly about the escape of Sirius Black and the possibility that Harry was in danger. She nodded. “You know, it must really suck to be him…” she muttered. “Not able to live your life the way you want to or even the way normal people do…” George grinned and hugged her, quickly releasing her so it wouldn’t look odd. He’d almost forgotten how much empathy she had for others. She smiled up at him, murmuring, “Merlin, I’ve missed you!” She looked at Fred and lightly kicked him. “You, too!”

“Damn funny way you’ve got of showing it, wench!” he laughed. “So let’s go get that shopping done.”

Hermione frowned. “You just got through doing everything you could to avoid going shopping today,” she pointed out.

Fred rolled his eyes. “Don’t you have a book to read, Granger?” he drawled. Hermione narrowed her eyes and flounced off.

Melody giggled. “She can’t help it if she’s a rule follower, Fred,” she pointed out. “She was trying to help…”

Fred shrugged. “I know. She can just be such a git about it, you know?”

Melody smiled warmly at him, her eyes twinkling. “So make it up to her, Freddy…” she suggested wickedly.

Startled, Fred stared at her. Melody giggled again, linked arms with George, and added merrily, “I’ve got the whole day to spend with my favorite people and nary a piece of homework in sight!” Smiling at her, George put his hand over hers, and they started off to the entrance to Diagon Alley. Fred shrugged and quickly followed, sparing an uncertain glance at Hermione, who was glaring at a page in a book.

The trio wandered from store to store, purchasing the items Melody needed for her school year and discussing ideas for future scathingly brilliant pranks. Each new person they saw from Hogwarts brought a rash of new possibilities, the best of which were filed away in their minds for later contemplation. It wasn’t until they hit Flourish and Blotts, their last shop, that the boys noticed the quantity of purchases they were making.

“What the bloody hell….?”Fred said slowly as he saw the tower of books the clerk was piling onto the counter in front of them.

Melody shrugged. “Dumbledore arranged for me to do some advanced studies with a few professors this term,” she explained.

“But you’re buying all the third year and fourth year books!” George said, looking at the titles. “How are you going to do all this? You can’t sit double the classes…there’s not enough time in the day!”

Another shrug got them, “Dumbledore worked out the scheduling. I don’t know how, but he says it will be no problem.”

Fred protested, “But all the work will kill you! You’ll have to spend every waking moment on homework!” He looked at George wildly, not knowing what to say or how to stop this horrible plan.

Melody laughed and patted him on the shoulder. “Why? It’s not like this is all new stuff to me. For the last two years, you both have taught me everything in your classes. I’ve been through all your textbooks. I’ve even helped you research your papers. I could probably write them now from memory except it would be plagiarizing….” She looked at the mirrored shock on their faces. “Oh come on!” she exclaimed. “It can’t possibly be as bad as you’re making out! The only things on the list that you haven’t taken are Ancient Runes, and I’m only taking the third year for that, and Muggle Studies, and it’s not like that will be hard with my history.”

“But that’s already two electives when most third years only take one. The only subjects you’ve left out are Divination and Arithmancy. Why don’t you just throw those in, too, since you’ve decided to try to do it all!” Fred exclaimed, running his hands through his hair.

Melody looked at him curiously and shook her head. Turning to George, she asked softly, “What do you think, George?”

Fred jumped in. “Yeah, George…tell her she’s completely mental to want to do this!”

George looked at Melody’s shining eyes and inwardly sighed. He went over the options quickly in his head. Finally he shrugged and said, “How much extra time can it take…with the two of us to help?” The flash of happiness in Melody’s face was almost enough reward for the thought of the hours of homework he had just volunteered for. He reached out and gently chucked Melody on the chin, grinning at her sudden flush of color.

Melody blushed and looked away. Fred sputtered wordlessly for a moment as his mind grasped the fact that he had now been volunteered to basically redo homework he’d already done once. “But…” he started, glaring at his brother.

“Shut up, Fred…” George said without his eyes leaving Melody’s face.

Melody looked over at Fred, her eyes beseeching him to go along with it. Finally, Fred rolled his eyes. “You are a git, Melody Langford. I love you to death, but you are a git for wanting to do twice the work you have to,” he told her. “And so are you, George Weasley. A complete and total git for encouraging her and keeping her too busy to have fun with us!” All the work they’d done over the summer, planning for this year, out the window because of this crackpot idea. He shook his head. How could his twin go along with it? He just didn’t understand. He felt a gentle hand on his arm.

“I promise I’ll make time to have fun with you both,” Melody solemnly promised, patting his cheek. “Just try and stop me!”

George clapped him on the back. “Come on, Fred. Let’s collect this stuff and go grab some ice cream before we go back.” He started gathering up bundles of books. Still shaking his head, Fred helped.

The group headed to Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor and gratefully dropped their packages. Melody regaled George with tale of her summer adventures in the States while Fred half listened and stared sullenly at the table. All that homework. And he’d been volunteered to help with it. As if the first time wasn’t bad enough. Keep that up and he was going to end up with respectable owls. And then where would he be? In some stupid Ministry job thought up by his mother, that’s where. He shook his head in disgust from time to time. “Owww!” he cried, looking up. He reached down to his shin and rubbed it.

“Stop sulking, you git!” hissed George.

Fred noticed that Melody was no longer at the table. He looked questioningly at George.

“She’s gone inside,” said George tersely. “Now what gives?”

Fred scowled. “How could you go along with it? Two full years of work in one? We’ll never see her…You’ll never see her! How are you going to get her to be your girlfriend if she never gets her nose out of a book?”

George sighed. “And what would have happened if I’d said I didn’t think she should do it? She would have thought I didn’t think she could handle it. That I doubted her abilities. How could I let her think that? What kind of relationship would we have if she thought from the start that I didn’t believe in her? Hunh?”

Fred’s head snapped back. He thought for a moment and said slowly, “I didn’t think of that…”

George rolled his eyes and refrained from pointing out the obvious. “So can we count on you?” he asked. “I know school work is anathema to you, and all, but will you help me get her through it?”

Sighing, Fred leaned forward and stuck out his hand. “Yeah, I’ll help.” Sitting back, he added morosely, “But you do realize that just getting it done won’t be good enough, don’t you? That she’s going to insist that it be bloody perfect…” He sighed again, heavily.

George nodded. “And that’s one of the things we love about her, isn’t it, brother mine?”

“Not this brother, mate. You can love her perfectionism and attention to detail in homework. I’ll just appreciate her lovely ass…” He yelped as George’s foot connected again with his shin.

Across the Alley, Molly Weasley caught sight of two lanky red-heads talking at a table on the patio of the ice cream parlor. “I thought they couldn’t be bothered with coming into Diagon Alley!” she exclaimed. “And where did they get the money for ice cream?” she added. She raised her arm, starting to call for their attention. Just then a pretty blonde appeared in the doorway of the parlor carrying a tray of ice cream. The twins nearly knocked their chairs over leaping up to help. Shocked, Molly Weasley watched the uncharacteristic chivalry of her sons. She whispered to her daughter, “Who is that?”

Grinning, Ginny replied, “That’s Melody Langford. She’s in Ron’s year. George has been writing her all summer.”

Molly looked at her daughter and back at the girl. “George writes?” she asked in disbelief.

Ginny giggled. “I told you! He’s in love!” She pulled oh her mother’s arm, drawing her down the Alley towards the pub. “Come on, Mum, this stuff is heavy!”

Molly allowed herself to be pulled along as she asked, “What do you know about this girl?”

Rolling her eyes, Ginny said, “She’s a third year at Hogwarts, she’s in Gryffindor, she’s known Fred and George for two years, she’s been conning them into doing their homework the whole time, and they both think she’s the greatest thing since the invention of the racing broom. George fancies her but is too chicken to say anything, Fred would fancy her if George didn’t, and neither of them thinks anyone else knows.”

“They do homework?” she said, shocked. “Fred and George? Homework?” She stopped and stared at Ginny. “She gets them to do homework?”

Ginny threw her hands up, laughing, “Don’t ask me! I don’t know how she does it!”

Molly shook her head and started walking again. “She gets them to do homework and write letters…” she muttered to herself.

Back at the ice cream shop, Melody was relieved to see Fred was in a better mood. She would have hated to cause dissension between the twins and besides, while George’s immediate agreement had buoyed her and made her feel like she could handle anything, having the support of both of them meant a lot to her. She visibly relaxed, and Fred felt guilty for causing her grief. He apologized profusely for being a git, surprising himself by offering to help her with all her potions work. As soon as he realized what he’d said, his mouth dropped open.

“Better take him up on it, Mel,” George laughed. “He’s better at potions than I am, not that either of us want that greasy bat to know or get the credit for it!”

“George…” Melody chided softly. He rolled his eyes at her, laughing. She never liked to speak ill of anyone, something that the boys teased her about constantly.

After finishing their ice cream, the three reluctantly gathered Melody’s school things and walked back to the Leaky Cauldron. The boys had hoped to be able to sneak into the pub without too much ado. However, they were waylaid almost immediately by their mother. Really, it seemed to George that she’d almost been lying in wait or something. They’d barely gotten through the door when they heard, “There you are, Fred and George. Set that stuff down and introduce your friend to us!”

Harry and Ron stepped up to help with packages, taking them from the boys and setting them on the table. Ron muttered, “Sorry, mates. Wasn’t me…”

Arthur and Molly looked expectantly at the twins, noticing that they had both stepped in front of the girl to block her from view. Molly scolded, “Well, really, it’s not like we’re a danger to her, you know!”

Fred drawled, “Are you sure, Mum? Because you have been known to terrify the innocent…”

Molly snapped, “That’s because you have never been innocent, Fred Weasley!”

Fred clasped his hands to his chest, miming a wound to his heart. “You’re on your own, Mel! I’ve done all I could…” He proceeded to dramatically ‘die’ onto a nearby bench.

“Thanks so much, brother,” George said dryly. He turned to Melody, pulling her forward. “Mum. Dad. This is Melody Langford, a friend of ours from school,” he announced. “Mel, these are our parents, Arthur and Molly Weasley.”

Arthur reached forward and enthusiastically shook Melody’s hand. “Pleasure to meet you, my dear,” he said. “Percy tells us you were raised as a Muggle, like our Hermione.”

Melody was given no time to answer for Molly had pulled her into a big hug, admonishing, “Not now, Arthur. Now, my dear, the children have told us all about you.”

Ron looked at George in a panic and said, “It wasn’t me! I swear I didn’t tell her a thing!”

Molly looked at her sons and snapped, “Honestly! You’d think I was going to eat the girl for dinner, or something!” She linked arms with Melody and pulled her toward the fireplace. “We’ll just have a nice little chat by the fire. Someone bring us some tea,” she directed.

Fred leapt to his feet and almost fell over George as they both tried to get to Melody’s side. Molly glared at them and said, “Be off with you! The two of you can find something else to do for awhile. You’ve had her all afternoon to yourselves…” She sat down in a chair and waved Melody into the other.

Fred and George morosely moved away, their eyes still on the two. Arthur looked at his sons and then over to his wife. Then he looked back at his sons. His eyes twinkling, he said, “So the stories I’ve been hearing about your friend, Mel . . . I take it that Mel is short for Melody?” He sat down at a table and invited the boys to sit with him. The twins mostly watched their mother until it became obvious that Melody had won her over. Relaxing slightly, they answered Arthur’s questions about Melody. As soon as he heard that Melody was staying in a Muggle hotel, they broached the idea of escorting her back at the end of the evening. Arthur immediately agreed it was for the best, his hands almost rubbing together with excitement.