6 YEARS LATER

It really was no surprise that George and his brother were so close; they'd spent their entire lives tighter. So it made complete sense for Fred to take refuge at his favoured brother's house after his wife had kicked him out of their home. Merlin, the couple were always arguing which was a little concerning considering that my brother-in-law had been married for less than a year now. I'd lost track of the number of times I'd come home to find Fred lying face down on our sofa.

"George," I called out from the doorway of the front room, eyeing my husband who was sitting and talking to his brother. Looking up at the sound of his name, George raised an eyebrow but made no move to leave his brother's side. Crossing my arms in annoyance, I tried my best not to roll my eyes; this was getting very old. "Fred, you've been here for days now. What exactly did she kick you out over now?"

Fred whined pitiful, grumbling some words against the pillow his face was buried in. George translated straightaway, "He'd rather not say what it was."

"Honestly," I grumbled under my breath. "If you don't sort this out soon then she'll go from being a Weasley, back to being Landry again."

Apparently, Fred hadn't thought of that. He straightened up suddenly, tossing the pillow away from him and looked to me for help. Salazar, what was he expecting me to do if he wasn't going to tell me what was going on?

"Help me," he pleaded, looking towards me with wide eyes before glancing desperately towards his twin brother. He shook George's leg. "Help me sort this out!"

"I can't help you if you don't tell me what was wrong," I insisted. "What did you do this time? And no, I'm not going to entertain the idea that she was somehow at fault here. If it wasn't your fault, both of you brothers wouldn't be refusing to speak a word of it to me."

The two brothers shared a look, engaging in a silent conversation as if they were wondering whether or not it was worth telling me. Fred, gathering his courage, looked to me but then he avoided my eyes again. Glancing away from me, he cleared his throat and mumbled something under his breath. Unfortunately for him, I managed to catch what he said.

My spine stiffened as I straightened up, eyes narrowed on the pair of them. An incredulous breath left me as I asked slowly, "I'm sorry, but it sounded like you just admitted that you flirted with someone else? But that's wrong, right? You're married. It took you over a year to convince her to marry you, Fred!"

"It didn't mean anything!" he insisted, his guilty conscience prickling as he shuffled uncomfortably where he was sat.

"It's just a business tactic," George defended his brother and I looked to my husband and arched a single eyebrow. He knew better than to say anything and mimed zipping his mouth shut.

"Business tactic," I repeated, unimpressed.

"You know we're trying to secure that shop in Hogsmeade," Fred hurried to defend himself and I tried not to demand what the two brothers were playing at. "And the real estate agent just happened to be a woman – and I just turned up the charm to get the place. That's it!"

Pursing my lips, I tried to wrap my head around his stupid excuse. "Did you manage to forget that you have a wife? And that you shouldn't be doing that?"

"It's not just me!" George suddenly burst into activity, scrambling to cover his brother's mouth. Fred batted his hands away as he continued his confession, "George does it too!"

Silence followed his declaration. George couldn't even seem to bring himself to look towards me. But when he did, he rose quickly to his feet as if to approach me. Turning swiftly on my feet, I retreated through our home and towards the bedroom. Of all the most ridiculous business tactics to use –

If he wanted to go around acting like he was single, then he shouldn't have asked me to marry him in the first place! Salazar, I could understand why Landry – Weasley, now – had kicked Fred out. I was tempted to do the very same.

"Love," George piped up quietly from the door frame. "What – what are you doing? At least say something? Why – are you packing?"

"Of course, I'm packing," I said with a scoff as I packed myself an overnight back. Throwing a glare over my shoulder, I scowled when my husband began to show me his puppy eyes. "You should be glad I'm not kicking the both of you out – you'd wind up with your mother again. And the moment she finds out she might just disown you."

"I know you want to cool off a little," he started hesitantly, walking into the room. George headed straight towards me as if to embrace me and I stopped him with a single hand on his chest. He held his hands up in surrender. "Cool off and we don't need to fight."

"Oh no we will fight over this," I assured him as I picked up my overnight bag. "You're not getting out of this so easily. I just don't want to argue with your brother in the other room."

Ducking out of the room, I headed back towards the front room and towards the fireplace. George dogged me step for step, reaching out to hold my arm just before I could step inside. Looking back at my husband, I tried to pull my arm back but he held on firm and stepped closer to me.

"At least tell me where you're going," he tried to placate, voice quiet as he brushed his thumb across the swell of my cheek. I frowned, knowing what he was trying to do. "I just want to know that you're safe."

Swatting his hand away from me, I grabbed a handful of floo powder. "I'm going to Fred's so I can have someone to complain to about how stupid my husband is."

Fred started to pay more attention to the sound of his name and rose to his feet. "Will you get her to let me back home?"

"Like hell," I scoffed as I stepped into the fireplace.

Just as the fireplace switched on, I watched the two brothers collapse onto the sofa. They sat side by side, clearly wondering how things had come to this point and I couldn't help but think vindictively that it served them right. I arrived at Fred's place in a matter of seconds and stepped out instantly, only to find myself facing a wand.

"What in Merlin's name?"

My sister-in-law lowered her wand to her side. "Sorry about that – I thought you were Fred."

"I thought you told him you warded the floo against him?" I asked as she gestured for me to follow after her.

"I only told him that," she admitted, leading me through the room, as she grumbled, "not that he ever thought to try it. Take a seat and I'll go grab a wine bottle. Something tells me we have a lot to talk about."