Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(161) Aid

The air had grown chillier as the days went by, the leaves on the trees transitioning from green to bright orange, descending one by one slowly and covering the streets. Fall looked different outside Hogwarts, Florence noticed. Diagon alley was kind of slow in putting up decorations for the fall, as they were too busy attending to their businesses to get in to the festivities. Even Fred and George had put off decorating, seeing as a load of shipment had just come in, and restocking was the one thing they hated the most.

"You know we could put up a stack of pumpkins by the entrance," Florence quipped in as she cradled a pile of Fizzing Whizbees in her arms, stepping over boxes to get to the shelf to restock. She was wearing the sweater Molly had given her two weeks ago, one similar to the one Fred had gotten her one Christmas, but now this one was a dark red color.

"We'll get to decorating eventually, love," Fred promised, grunting as he lifted a heavy box on to the counter, "After restock days,"

"But Halloween is a week away," she pouted.

"Restock days are a pain in my behind." George grumbled, "Soon it will be for you too, Flo."

"Yeah, its starting to be," she chuckled, placing the merchandise in a neat and arranged order, "Say, you think I could swing by the Manor for a bit this afternoon? I haven't seen Sloan and Sirius in awhile, I'm sure they'd love if I visited."

"Go ahead, it's your day off, anyway." Fred smiled, "Wouldn't want you stuck doing work you're not getting paid for."

"Hey," she smacked him on the shoulder lightly, "You know I'm always happy to help, its not a big deal."

"Well soon you'll be part of the family business anyway, so might as well learn the trade early." George quipped in, making Florence chuckle, "Right you are. Will I be on the payroll then?"

George shot her a ponderous look, "Maybe."

"Go on, get out of here," Fred said, moving to take over her restocking, "Go have a bath. I'm sure Sirius and the rest would love if you stopped by for Lunch."

"No, it's too early," Florence protested, motioning at the mess around the shop, "And there's still so much to do. I can't leave you two alone like this."

"Well we're not going to be alone. Verity will help, right Verity?" he called out to there assistant, who groaned in response, Florence's brows drawing together, "That poor girl's done so much already. I'll leave in the afternoon, don't worry."

"Well she's getting paid to do her work," Fred, making Verity groan again, "No, Miss Florence, please stay, I do need help. I'm so overworked." she said in the most exaggerated way possible, whilst sat on the chair, doodling flowers in the margins of the delivery list.

"You've been on that chair for an hour." George pointed out, making her shrug, "What? Its hard work."

"Yeah, I'll go," Florence chuckled, planting a kiss on Fred's cheek, "I'll come back by dinner, is that fine?"

"Stay for as long as you want. George and I can feed ourselves."

"No we can't."

"Yeah no we can't," Fred agreed, "If you can be back by dinner, that would be amazing. If not, that's fine too."

"I'll see what I can do." she said, before running up the stairs to the apartment so she can freshen up. She had gotten quite used to living with the twins, as well as sharing a room with Fred. All her life, she had grown up in a large home with just her mother. She thought moving in to an exponentially smaller space with two other people was going to be a huge adjustment, but somehow they were making it work.