Tightly Knit ⟶ Fred Weasley

CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE

As soon as Fred sat down beside her, the twins were wished a "happy birthday" from all of them, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione came up with a quick excuse to leave, allowing only Eleanor to remain.

"Well, how does it feel to be seventeen, gentlemen?" she asked, pushing her plate away to give the two her undivided attention. "Did you two become dancing queens overnight? Having the time of your lives?"

Fred and George appeared absolutely lost, missing out on the reference that Eleanor had made. She waited for them to catch on, but after a minute, she realised that it was a lost cause.

"Never mind," she chuckled softly, "remind me to introduce you two to ABBA sometime over the summer. You two are missing out. Anyways, do the two of you want your gifts now?"

Fred sighed. "I really wish you hadn't gotten us anything, love," he admitted, "I was just fine with the idea of having your company for the day."

Eleanor smiled. "Well, I hope you weren't expecting something big," she told him, reaching into the pocket of her casual robes and pulling out an envelope, "to be honest, I wasn't sure what to get the two of you."

As Fred and George exchanged a curious glance with one another, Eleanor held out the envelope towards them, waving it playfully in the air until it was taken from her hand. Fred took it from her gently and after he was urged to open it, he tore off the top to reveal some sort of document inside. The two of them scanned it over, noting the name of their business " Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes" clear at the top, with plenty of heavy wording to follow.

"What is this?" George asked.

"It's the paperwork for your trademark, regarding your business," Eleanor said, " Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes has been registered under your names, meaning it properly belongs to you two now. No one can take that away from you."

"I-I don't understand," Fred said, "what do you mean?"

"It means, everything you two have been working for is now protected. This is the start of your brand. Of course, if you two decide that you don't want to go with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, well, then it's pretty much useless, but if you did, no scheming or scamming can take this from you. After what Ludo Bagman did to you two, I think your best bet is to be safe. Start off with the trademark and then, you two can patent your inventions once everything is set and clear."

For a few moments, nothing was said, Eleanor could only sit patiently as the two sat in front of her, reading the paperwork over. And after a couple of minutes when they looked up again, she seemed to wear an apologetic expression.

"I know it's not much of a gift per se," she said, "but I was talking to my grandfather about what Ludo did and he told me it was best that you two try to protect everything you've been working towards. He suggested the trademark and patents, so with his help, I thought this would be a good start."

"Not much of a gift," George repeated, "Ellie, sometimes, I think you're downright mad. This is amazing. Talk about a good start, we didn't even think about this far ahead. We've only been discussing products."

George's reassurance seemed to be enough to allow Eleanor's smile to return, but as she turned to Fred, waiting for his answer, she was more than surprised when he handed the paperwork over to George and stood up from the bench. He said nothing as he promptly left the Great Hall, leaving Eleanor and George to stare at each other in confusion. Thinking she had done or said something wrong, Eleanor excused herself from the table and told George she was going to go after him.

Just as she left through the doors of the Great Hall, she managed to spot Fred round the corner of the corridor, leaving her to hurry after him. But just as she came around the corner, she suddenly found herself in Fred's arms.