[1] Lemons into Lemonade ✓ | FRED WEASLEY

Chapter Sixty

"Is this is a scheme against me?" Kenny asked, "Aubrey, is this a scheme against me?"

"I don't know," Aubrey replied truthfully, raising her eyebrows in an expectant manner, "I really don't know ... Fred, is it?"

"Not against you, with you," He grinned, "I've found that breaking the rules, planning pranks and schemes really are the best ways to get to know a person."

"Fred, hon ... what?!" She turned to him.

I was thinking about duplicating the flask from Moody and the fact we need to switch it later at the task. We could only do it once without arousing suspicion ... so I decided to improve on the plan there and then. If Kenny does it whilst we distract him, it could work

Even though their mental conversation was meant to be secret, Aubrey's evident confusion was written across her face, contorting her features so much that Kenny picked up on it.

"Aubrey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing..." She replied, before adding to Fred, "No, the last thing I want is to involve one more person into the plan, what if he gets hurt too?"

We haven't seen him for the past year, Mad-Eye's never seen us together as far except maybe at meals and even then, we weren't on his radar. This could help us in the long run

"No," She replied, "You are not involving Kenny - "

"So, the plan, which I can't disclose yet, is that we need to create a replica of Mad-Eye's flask but he's already suspicious as we pranked him before. So we'll create a diversion whilst you use the Gemino spell," Fred grinned.

"Is this why you apologised then?" Kenny asked.

"Maybe but I genuinely think it could make things alright between us," Fred replied, "Besides, for the diversion, I was thinking I would fall down the stairs or bump into a wall or something..."

Despite looking mildly bemused moments before, Kenny's head was now slightly nodding, "... okay, okay, that sounds funny. What? And all you want is for me to duplicate Mad-Eye's flask? That pisses easy."

"He has all those eye things so it's a lot harder than you think," Aubrey murmured, folding her arms as she glanced between the two grinning boys, "Fred, why did you do that?!"

It's called seizing the moment, Aubrey...

• • •

When the two returned to the library, after a surprisingly nice conversation with Kenny, Fred was dismayed to see that Aubrey actually wanted to work, propping the book up like a wall so it covered her face. At first, he thought nothing of it until a shiver of irritation passed through him.

"Aubrey, are you annoyed at me?"

"Yes."

"Oh ... I didn't think you'd be so direct about it," He admitted, poking at the book to get her attention which led to it toppling over. Now the book was flat on the table, the frustration was so clearly written on her face, he felt foolish for not having seen it before.

"I was reading that," She replied, "It may have slipped our minds, but we have an entire year's worth of content to learn."

"This is about Kenny isn't it? Your mood, I mean, the work's just unfortunate..."

She sighed, "Yes, it is."

"I'm sorry for involving him but I saw a chance and I took it. What's Mad-Eye going to do to him anyway? He's hardly spent any time with us all year, if Angela noticed anything wrong with him she'd bring her Ministry Mummy in and Mad-Eye can't exactly hex him with no reason, if he didn't have to. Kenny's stubborn, he'd probably just pretend he wanted it for a fashion accessory or something and stand up to the old man," Fred replied, "We can't risk doing it ourselves, he'd get suspicious. If we simply distract him with 'imperius humour', he's less likely to catch on."

She sighed, "I see where you're coming from ... why am I like this? I should be wallowing, throwing books around not being all understanding! Maybe give me a few minutes, let me get some angriness in?"

"Honestly, it's better that you're not."

"I know that too," She replied, "I just don't want more people to get hurt for us. George and Lexy are already ... you know."

"I know," He replied, gripping her hand across the table, "But we're - "

The two suddenly jumped in time as a strange sound came from a few meters away: a bizarre rustle of fabric and an odd pop followed by several books falling off the shelf. Fred leapt up, refusing to let go of Aubrey's hand as they turned to look.

"What was that?" She whispered, "Mad-Eye? Do ... do you think he was listening?"

"No, I would have seen him. It sounded like somebody apparated in but I didn't see anyone," He replied.

"But you can't apparate on Hogwarts..."

"I know," He replied, rubbing his head, "But you also shouldn't swap bodies and you know what happened there. Maybe the old rules don't apply anymore..."

For a moment, they paused before Aubrey shivered, "Okay, I say we just go with the plan then. The sooner we get rid of 'this old magic' the better."

• • •

Aubrey's 'hon' is no accident. I have my reasons for her using that and 'girl' a lot, they're dotted throughout the book. Also, I'm going to miss studying Communist Russia so much, it's ridiculously interesting - E x