"The Order needs the two of you to go back to Hogwarts. Since Dumbledore is gone, we need more people to watch out for Harry," Headmistress McGonagall informs us from behind her desk.

The room looks very much the same as when it belonged to Dumbledore; he had a knack for pulling us in here after we made some of our more devious pranks on Filch, but he would often just laugh with us and offer us some kind of candy. The Headmistress looks like she has aged ten years since Bellatrix murdered Dumbledore. Snape stands brooding in the corner; I guess some things never change.

"I don't wanna," Fred whines next to me.

"Me neither," I respond confidently.

"I think it is unanimous. We refuse," Fred concludes with a wink to me.

Headmistress McGonagall's nose flares and her eyes widen; we've gotten this look many times before. McGonagall stands gracefully and walks slowly from behind her golden desk. Her floor length robes look like Deputy Headmaster Snape picked them out for her.

Her glare intensifies as she closes the distance between us and says, "I didn't ask if you wanted to come back to Hogwarts or not. I told you that the Order, which you both wanted to be members of, needs you to return in order to protect Harry Potter. If I wanted to know your opinions, I would have asked."

"We're too old to be in Hogwarts; we're nineteen now," I inform the Headmistress.

"We've thought of that, Mr. Weasley. After looking deep into the Ministry's archives, we found a law that states that all witches and wizards that own magically inclined shops must have graduated from a wizarding school. You two have neither graduated nor taken your N.E.W.T.s," Snape spoke up from his position near the wall.

"You can't be serious," Fred groans.

"I am," Snape pauses for dramatic effect, "deadly serious. The Order needs you here. We need students here to listen for signs of The Dark Lord's influence. We also need people to make sure Potter doesn't do anything incredibly stupid."

My mouth falls open in rebut, but McGonagall interrupts, "If you two want to keep your joke shop, you need to come back to school to finish up your final year. The Ministry will close and seize your shop if you refuse."

I grab Fred's shoulder and pull him into a huddle across the room. Our matching suits rustle as we lean in close to whisper. They probably hear us anyway, but it is all for show.

"I don't think we have a whole lot of choices here, Georgie," Fred hurriedly whispers into my ear.

"I agree, Freddie. If we don't come back, we lose everything we've worked so hard for."

Fred goes silent, and I can see the gears churning in his head, "All we can do is agree to come back."

"Come back," I grin wickedly, "and stir up some trouble. We could test out some our of newest products like we did in the old days,"

Fred's grin matches mine, ear to ear. This might not be such a bad thing after all. After a quick nod to confirm our plans, we turn around and walk back to the waiting professors in step.

Fred, always the wonderful salesman begins, "We acknowledge that we need to come back, but you must agree to some of our terms in a legal and binding contract."

Snape groans and quips, "You have no room to make terms. You lose your shop if you don't come back."

"No," I return, "we could always transfer technical ownership of the shop to a relative of ours. We don't have to lose anything. Now, back to our terms. Freddie," I gesture to my twin to begin.

Fred steps forward and removes a quill and parchment from his jacket pocket. He sits the parchment on the table, and the quill hovers over it waiting for Fred to begin speaking. We may not have graduated from Hogwarts, but that doesn't mean that we don't know how to legally cover our asses.

"First, we want the seventh year status that we had when we left," McGonagall nods her consent to that one easily. "Secondly, we will take the classes we want to take regardless of our O.W.L.s," McGonagall passes and purses her lips but nods to that one as well. "Thirdly, we want to graduate after this year regardless of how we do in our classes."

"That is absurd," Snape breaks in.

"It is one of our stipulations," I tell Snape.

"This is life and death, you fool. You are doing this for the Order. You are doing it to protect all those you love. This isn't a game, Mr. Weasley."

"It is fine, Severus. Do you really want them here longer than absolutely necessary," the Headmistress cuts him off from more of his speech.

It appears that Snape weighs the free-ride against the prolonged stay of us. He pales probably thinking of spending years with us roaming the halls of Hogwarts. He angrily nods for Fred to continue.

"We do not in any way want to take potions class," Snape visible sighs at that one. "Lastly, we want to prank and test our products here."

Snape lunges from the wall to stand mere feet from where Fred is standing. Anger radiates off of the Potions professor. Fred doesn't even bat an eyelash at the pissed off potions master.

He spits, "That will not happen. We will not allow you to roam the halls as if you are kings testing your horrible products on those poor students. What if something goes wrong with one of your products? The only reason that you got away with it before was that Albus thought it was funny; I do not think that it is funny at all."

"Then we don't have a deal," Fred says nonchalantly as he rolls up the parchment and puts the quill away.

"Hold on, Mr. Weasley. This is what I am willing to give you. You can take any other classes you want, but you must take Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Lupin. Defense Against the Dark Arts is the only class in which you have to maintain your grades; you must be ready in case of an attack. I agree that you cannot test things on the smaller students, but the older ones are more than capable of making their own decisions. Sixth and seventh years only. If a single child gets hurt in your pranks, though, you will have to answer to me. Does that sound reasonable?

Fred mulls it over for a moment before turning his head to me. His brown eyes seek the answer in mine. I give him a sly half-smile and a nod. Fred replaces the objects on the desk. The quill writes down the agreement faster than any human hand could. Fred signs, and I do the same. I hand the parchment to the Headmistress to sign her agreement and Severus to sign as a witness.

Severus sneers as he grudgingly hands the parchment and quill back to Fred. Fred looks it over. Fred uses his wand to vanish the items to where they came from.

Fred gives the two professors his most winning smile before he adds, "We need to be getting back to our shop soon. Unless there is something else to discuss-"

"We must be one our way," I continue. "See you in a week."

Fred and I walk to the door in step without waiting to see if they had anything else to say. We leave the office and the Hogwarts ground without any trouble. I grab hold of Fred's hand and Apparate us back to the shop. We have some packing to do.