Having raised his head as the door chimed to admit Angelina, Fred poked his tongue out and blew a raspberry at her.  "Got to find the next big prank idea somewhere, or in this case the spells to make it happen," he reasoned, stepping out from behind the counter to catch Angie up in a hug.  "Missed you, Legs!" he greeted.  "Didn't end up seeing what I hear was a completely brill performance on Halloween, regrettably.  I'll have to make it into Avalon for a proper show, though I see you've made your Wireless debut... congratulations!"  He gave her an extra squeeze before letting go, grinning broadly.

"Thanks, luv, it's all been a bit of a rush. Every thing's going so quickly, it could turn a girl's head. Soon I'll be a complete diva that you won't be able to stand being in the same room with," Angelina rolled her eyes at the likeliness of that scenario. She wouldn't mention her insomnia for the moment, it was hardly worth mentioning considering her hectic sleeping schedule. It would just pass naturally, Angelina was sure.  "And you? All right, Fred? I saw your sister's new practice in Hogsmeade, looks like little sis got some of her brothers' head for business."

"I guess so," Fred agreed, beaming.  "Gin's getting along fine for what I know; went to visit this weekend and she said it's been busy, but that's good.  I'm at least as proud as Mum and Dad are... she's starting to glare at me when I bring it up, now."  He snickered as the idea of Angie going diva caught up to him.  "Really, now, I don't think you could keep up being a diva if you tried.  You're too... normal.  You'd end up laughing at yourself, anyway, and ruin the whole effect."  His nose wrinkled then as he remembered what else she'd been up to last time they'd chatted.  "How're things with <i>Snape</i>?"

"We've taken to shagging in the back room, actually. You'd be amazed at the man's stamina," Angelina answered bluntly, only a slight twitch of her lips giving her away.

Fred grimaced for a second, returning, "Not so surprised; it's obviously all he's had or likely to get, you'd think he'd want it to last," though his stomach churned at the thought.  "You realize I may have to disown you now," he said seriously, knowing she'd been lying, but still appalled.

"As long as I have my regular shag, I don't care,"  Angelina mocked and laughed when Fred started to tinge green. "Oh, luv, everything is fine with Snape. It's steady work and maybe if things keep going well I won't even need that for much longer."

"Speaking of shagging," Angelina continued, "I seem to recall mention of you making a few new acquaintances. Care to share? My love life is a wash, I'm ready to live vicariously though you."

"I believe I said so at the time, too, but one new and one not," Fred clarified, flicking his wand in the direction of the shop's door, as he didn't want this particular conversation to be interrupted by a customer.  "And I'm not sure I'd wish parts of the past few weeks on an enemy, nevermind someone I like so well as I do you."  He sighed, the image of Greg, pale and unhappy, coming immediately to mind.

Angelina was immediately concerned, "What's wrong? You're not in trouble are you?" Angelina's overactive imagination was already well at work, filling in the blanks. A million ridiculous scenarios ran through Angelina's mind, each more distressing than the last. She'd nearly convinced herself that he was in debt to the goblin mafia and they wanted him to marry their princess as payment before Fred finally answered her.

Watching the panic unfold on Angelina's face, Fred shook his head quickly, reaching out to pat her arm.  "No, nothing... dire.  Not anymore."  He raked a hand through his hair, then hopped up to sit on the counter, sliding a stool towards Angie with his foot.  "You remember Greg Goyle?  Slytherin, Ron and Harry's year... was a beater while Malfoy was seeker."

"Yeah, I remember him. Hard to forget a face that tried to knock you off your broom on a regular basis," Angelina huffed before realizing where this conversation was going. "Oh, Fred, really?" Angelina pleaded with a pained look. "You know you've lost all right to complain about Snape to me, yeah?"

With a Gallic shrug that would do any Frenchman proud, Fred allowed, "Fair enough.  I'll stop pointing out that your boss is a greasy git, starting now."  He couldn't quite repress a smirk and the comparison, because he knew Angie would either laugh or hit him.  "Mine's much prettier, you'll have to admit that..."

Sitting down hard on the previously offered stool, Angelina gave her friend a skeptical look, "I don't know. When I knew him there was definite room for improvement, luv. He must have really grown into his looks since Hogwarts. I seem to recall he had a striking resemblance to a rather large boulder. "  Angelina shook her head in mild disbelief, "The biggest question is, of course, <i>how</i> did this all come about? Where did you even find him? Wasn't he one of those that left at the end of the war?"

"It's been improved, then," Fred assured, realizing with a start that Angie <i>wouldn't</i> have seen Greg since school.  "Didn't recognize him at first, when I bumped into him at Gringotts.  He's actually quite funny, and, at the time more importantly, dead gorgeous.  Had a rough time of it lately, though."  He shrugged again, not sure of the details of Greg's history beyond that he'd traveled.  "Before the end, I think... I know he was in America for a fair while."

"You attract the most interesting people, luv," Angelina stated, deciding to take the news in stride and just move along. She would wrap her head around it all properly later. "I'm almost afraid to ask about the other one, now. What could possibly trump Goyle?"

"Well, I'm too pretty to do otherwise," Fred quipped, mouth quirking into a wry smile.  Greg was no surprise and probably less disbelief than the news he knew he needed to break, and he made sure he had Angie's gaze before he said simply, "Katie."

Angelina stared blankly at Fred. Her mind had completely halted in an attempt to process the new information. She'd never experienced this feeling before, like the entire world had just skipped a beat and that she had missed something vital in that moment. It was the most peculiar feeling of being left behind.

"Oh."

She wasn't even sure why it put her off so. It wasn't like Fred hadn't flirted with Katie or Alicia before, it shouldn't have been anything new. They'd all been friends for years. It was almost bound to happen. So, why hadn't anyone mentioned it? And why did Fred look like he'd been expecting this kind of reaction?

"Th-that's...well," Angelina's brow furrowed as she struggled to find the words, "Neither of you mentioned-um...Sorry, it's just a bit of a- how long?" 

Frowning slightly as Angelina blinked and stammered at him, the reaction completely unlike her, Fred called up the date and did brief maths in his head.  "About a month," he said carefully, having worried that it <i>would</i> be her first question.  He left her to figure out on her own that it was after the last time they'd been together, not that she'd ever had objection to any outside partners before.  "I'd have said something when I saw you last, but you ran off, and I don't know how much you've seen of Katie, but she's always been wary of what you and I had..."  That much was more true than he'd wanted to deal with for a long while; he didn't regret what he'd said to Katie, though, and meant it as much as he had at the time.  He paused to give Angie time to digest what he'd said.

Angelina nodded slowly, "A month. Lovely."
 
Angelina was suddenly gripped by the overwhelming urge to run away--to be anywhere but in that moment making an utter fool of herself. Giving in,  she  rose abruptly from her stool,  "I'm sorry, Fred. I'm acting mad. I haven't been sleeping properly and I think it just caught up with me. Maybe a bit of a lie down will help. Be seeing you."

She fled from the shop like Voldemort  himself had risen from his grave to chase after her. Angelina was nearly to the opposite end of Diagon Alley before she realized that she'd left her parcels at the shop. Snarling in frustration, Angelina lashed out at a helpless barrel of flobberworms, bruising her toes of her left foot in the process.

Now, clenching her jaw against the pain, Angelina paced in front of the apothecary, contemplating her situation. Go back and get the packages and look even more like a crazy bint? Or abandon them and hope he didn't decide to deliver them to her where then she could also act like a crazy bint? Not that she wasn't still, considering she was attacking barrels and pacing like a madwoman. Maybe the not sleeping really was beginning to get to her.

Fred sighed as Angie bolted from the shop, and slid off the counter, trying to decide whether to go after her now or leave her be a while.  His hand brushed a shopping bag as he moved, and the choice was made; he wasn't sure what was in the packages, but it might be important to Angie.  He gathered what she'd left and started down the street by way of dimension doors, popping up every few shops to check for her presence, then moving on.  He stopped as he saw her pacing in front of the apothecary, and reappeared beside her, holding out her belongings.  "I won't chase you right now, but you left these.  Owl me when you're willing to talk."

Angelina reached out, reclaiming the bags, "Thank you."

She held his gaze for a lingering moment, contemplating the wisdom of asking the question that was bouncing around her skull.

"Do you love her?" she finally snapped, the words coming out harsher than she'd expected.

Pausing as his brain stumbled briefly over the unexpected question, a tiny frown creasing his brow, Fred answered truthfully, easily able to do so.  "I love <i>you</i>, Angie.  I have for years.  And yes, I love Katie."  He didn't really like the direction her thoughts were heading, but wasn't planning to lie to her.

Angelina's eyebrows raised up, her expression unimpressed, "Oh, yeah? And <i>Greg</i>? Love him, as well?"

A slow shake of his head preceding his response, Fred explained, evenly, "I've known him barely a month.  I'm fond of him, want to see him pick himself back up, but it's not the same thing right now."

In the face of Fred's placidity, she deflated. There was no point in a fight. What did she have to be angry about? Except that she was angry, and sad too. Eight years that they'd been...whatever they were and now,..now there was Katie. For some reason, that changed things. It changed a hell of a lot.

Angelina looked up at the sky and sighed, "I'll owl you."

Then she simply Disapparated with a small pop.

Sighing, though he was glad it had not come to an outright fit in the street, Fred turned and plodded back along Diagon to his shop, hands tucked in his pockets.  There would have to be more talking with Angie later, but after she'd had a chance to process and react without him in the way.  He couldn't regret his choices, as he'd made them knowingly and with reason, but also couldn't help feeling like he'd just shut the door on a part of his life he hadn't been sure <i>had</i> an end.  It could be mulled later.  In the meantime there was work, and he threw himself into his tidying with a vengeance.


{SUMMARY: Angelina drops in on Fred to hear the latest gossip. She doesn't like what she hears.}