Susan finished preparing the last invoice for the day and slipped the patient's file back into the drawer. She could've left twenty minutes ago, but there were things to do at the clinic that were preferable to sitting home alone and moping. When you couldn't stand your own company anymore, things were not good. And Susan had long since gotten tired of herself, tired of the words and scenes that kept replaying in her mind: Pansy's voice saying "You're vanilla. Bland. Completely without intrigue. I don't dislike you. I... nothing you," and Michael's face as he dismissed her, the lack of emotion he displayed proving Pansy's assertion correct. With a sigh, she started collecting the charts for the next day's appointments.

"Why is it," Fred asked as the clinic's bell announced his presence with a merry jingle, his eyes going immediately to Susan, "that whenever I come in here, you seem to be in dire need of ice cream? Is there some sort of cloud that precedes me and puts you in a bad mood, or do I just have amazing timing?" He strolled over to the counter and propped his elbows on the edge, gazing down at her. "It won't do to have you looking so mopey, I'm afraid. It's bordering on nice outside, it's the end of the workday, and you're too pretty to frown, no matter the other factors."

Offering a warm, if small, smile, Susan ceased her busywork. Fred was a nice distraction. She hoped he'd come for one of the promised abductions. That would be very welcome at the moment. "I think you must have a sense for when I could use a pick-me-up. Maybe a bit of Seer blood in you, Mr. Weasley?"

Fred shook his head, grinning. "Nah, I had better things to do during Divination... I can just tell at first sight when pretty girls are due for cheering. The office closed half an hour ago; lock all your files somewhere and we can go stuff you full of sugar. I'll catch Gin some other time." He needed to thank his sister properly for the neat quill she'd sent for his birthday, but one more day wouldn't hurt things overly, and he'd enjoyed spending time with Susan when he'd kidnapped her previously.

"You know, Ginny's going to get put out with me for monopolizing her brother each time he comes to visit," she said, gathering her things. "I suppose I can live with that, though. Since I don't have any brothers of my own, I'm stuck borrowing them from other people." She crossed the lobby and stepped out onto the street with Fred right behind her. "How've you been since I last saw you?"

"Not terrible," Fred allowed, "though it's been a rough part of the year lately. Thank you, by the way, for my birthday gift. You didn't need to get me anything." He glanced along the street, contemplating their options. "What sort of sugar are you in the mood for? There's Honeyduke's, Fortescue's, or Puddifoot's, here, or we can head somewhere else if you'd rather. How about you? Besides obviously upset about something, I mean."

Susan patted his arm affectionately. It would be difficult to be properly happy about a birthday you should be sharing with someone else. Considering for a moment, Susan gestured in the direction of the candy store. "Honeydukes? I haven't had a sugar quill in awhile." At Fred's nod, they strolled down the street together. "And you're welcome. I hope you're not shocking yourself silly with it. As for me, I suppose you could say I'm well in body, but considerably rumpled in spirit."

Guiding them both around the various other foot traffic on the pavement of the small village, Fred nodded sagely as they walked. "I'd noticed, and I can't say I've ever tried pressing a spirit, as I'm usually much better at causing wrinkles than removing them, but for you I shall certainly try, and we'll begin with sugar quills." He winked down at her. "In fact, I insist that you satisfy your sweet tooth as thoroughly as you can stand, my treat. In the meantime, I'd not mind knowing what caused all this unfortunate rumpling, if you'd care to tell me."

"I think you're probably better at smoothing the wrinkles than you give yourself credit for. I'll allow you to spoil me with sugar, although I should warn you that hyperactive Hufflepuffs can be frightening." Susan hooked her arm in Fred's. It was nice to have a man's company. Especially one who was as good-natured as Fred. He really did have a knack for popping by when she needed a lift. "My mopey attitude is caused by something terribly cliche. I caught my now ex-boyfriend kissing his secretary. You'd think he could come up with something a little more original, wouldn't you?"

"I grew up with Ginny," Fred pointed out. "I can't seem to make myself overly worried about one sugar-high Hufflepuff. Maybe if there were a whole gaggle of you, as then I'd be outnumbered, but as is, we're set." He frowned slightly at her explanation, wracking his brain to decide whether he'd known there were boyfriend issues. "I seem to remember you being a bit blue the last time I showed up unannounced as well. Was that his fault, too, or something different?" Catching the door of Honeyduke's, he held it open, following Susan inside. "And really, you're well clear of him in that case, pet... you deserve better."

Chuckling softly at the thought of a horde of little Hufflegirls vibrating with sugar rush, Susan looked around the store feeling a bit nostalgic for her Hogwarts days. She paused for a moment, trying to recall what had been on her mind the last time she'd seen Fred. "I think Michael and I had had a bit of a misunderstanding the last time I saw you. His jealousy over finding me at lunch with another ex-boyfriend, ironically enough. And yes, I agree. I do deserve better than that." Looking up at him, she gave a wry grin. "Knowing that doesn't stop a girl from wondering why she wasn't enough, though. Or other, equally pointless, self-doubting questions."

Sighing, Fred spun Susan to face him with a light grip at her elbow, carefully in a side aisle of the shop where they would not be stepped on. "He's a man, Susan. I hate every time I have to say so, as it's terribly disheartening to have to admit about my gender as a whole, but we do tend to do incredibly stupid things now and again, some of us more obviously than others. He'll either pull his head out of his arse or he won't, but it's not your doing." Fred tugged a lock of her hair gently, a reassuring smile on his lips. "Know that. And go choose your sugar; I have an idea of where I ought to kidnap you to, now."

A bit of a blush rose in Susan's cheeks, and she nodded, grateful for his comforting words. "You're not taking me to punch him, are you? Because I've already done that. Her too, actually." Grinning sheepishly, she added, "I'm a bit more proud of that than I ought to be, I think, but people don't expect that sort of thing from me and it's satisfying to be able to surprise people when it counts." Pansy Parkinson can kiss my completely un-intriguing arse. Making her way over to the sugar quills, she picked up several, as well as a small container of 'Dragon Kisses' - chocolates with a cinnamon filling that made the eater breathe fire briefly afterward - and turned to Fred in question. "Is this alright?" she asked, showing him her collection of sweets.

Laughing in delight, Fred shook his head. "No, though I'm impressed with your temper if you actually boxed the both of them. My plans are less likely to get you arrested, oddly enough, but usually fairly satisfying despite." He gave her selections a cursory glance, nodding at her question. "Honestly, short of wrapping up the whole store, I meant it when I offered 'whatever you want'. I've been told chocolate is good for this sort of thing."

"That's true. There's not much that can't be made at least marginally better with chocolate." Fred paid for their selections, having picked up a few things for himself as well, and Susan sucked idly on a sugar quill as they left the shop. "Well, I'm intrigued now. Someplace satisfying, but not illegal. Can't wait to see what you have in mind." She linked an arm through his, assuming that, wherever they were going, Apparation would be required. "Fair warning, I sometimes get dizzy when I'm the passenger in Apparation. Might take me a moment to pull myself together once we get to our destination."

"See, I knew it was a brilliant idea. If there's anything I've learned from the females in my life, it's that chocolate is nearly always a good idea," Fred said solemnly, completely ruining the effect with a grin. "Fair enough, I'll not drop you over any edges without giving time to get your footing," he teased. Moving out of the path of the foot traffic, he steadied Susan on his arm and Apparated them to one of his favorite spots along the cliffs at Dover, sheltered somewhat from the wind by an overhang. "I'd thought a healthy bit of destruction might be in order, but if you'd rather just sit and eat your sweets, that's fine as well," he offered.

Susan was still for a moment as she recovered from Apparation. Opening her eyes, she squeaked as she realized where she was standing. It wasn't that she was scared of heights, really. She just hadn't expected to be quite so close to the drop off. "I think I can safely say you are the only person who's ever taken me out to destroy things. That sounds like quite a lot of fun, actually. What will we be blowing up?"

"Well, how's your aim?" Fred asked, setting Susan closer to the rock wall and snagging a fist-sized chunk of stone from the debris littering the edge of the path. He lobbed it out over the water, drawing his wand in a practiced motion and shattering the stone into pebbles and dust with a well-placed hex. Turning to smile at Susan, he gestured at the edge of the cliff. "Want to try?"

Nodding with a broad grin, Susan grabbed her own bit of rubble and threw it. When she only managed to catch the edge with her hex, she gave a soft 'hmph' and immediately sought another rock to throw. A look of deep concentration was on her face as she hurled the second piece, blasting it to bits a moment later. With a happy laugh, she bounced on her toes. "Oh, that's excellent. I think I like this game, Fred."

A soft snort escaping at Susan's glee, Fred started creating a pile of suitably-sized blocks of the crumbly chalk. "How about I throw, for a while, and you can just blast? I haven't got anything to take out on the poor defenseless bits of cliff, for once." Catching up another few stones, he juggled them experimentally for a moment, then launched one high over the edge, smiling as it rained fragments into the sea after Susan managed a direct hit.

They continued their game - Fred throwing the stones and Susan firing hexes at them - with little conversation save the odd comment on a particularly good shot or a groan on the rare occasion that Susan missed her mark. When the gathered supply was gone, Susan sheathed her wand and sighed happily. Fred was a good distraction, and unlike any of her other friends. She had a good assortment of friends these days, and it was occasions like this that made her especially thankful for them. Walking over to her ginger-haired companion, she hugged him tightly. She'd been very huggy lately. "Thank you for that. It was very cathartic."

Slightly surprised as Susan flung her arms around his middle, Fred patted her hair lightly before returning the hug, a proper big-brother squeeze. "You're very welcome, and that was the idea," he said as she pulled away, a bit of smile appearing. "It's useful, sometimes, to be angry for a while. Other times it's useful to think and be full of sugar." He glanced above them, the sun fading into the sea in the distance, and released Susan to scramble up the rock wall onto the overhang. Leaning down, he held his hands out. "A lift to the viewing platform, my lady hostage?"

Allowing Fred to help her up to his level, Susan curtsied. "Thank you ever so, kind abductor." She sat on the edge of the cliff, dangling her feet over the edge. The horizon glowed in shades of pink and orange, reflecting on the rippling water in a way that made Susan wish she was an artist so she could capture its loveliness. Pulling out her package of Dragon Kisses, she offered one to Fred. "A little fire breathing while the sea douses the sunlight?"

"Why not?" Fred accepted the candy, popping it in his mouth and letting the hot cinnamon filling spread over his tongue, a small gout of flame flickering from his mouth as he laughed. "I'll have to show those to Charlie... he'd think they're a right lark." Dropping down to sit beside Susan, he tilted his head to the side and leaned back on his hands. "Feeling a bit better?"

"I am. It's nice to do something fun. I've been a champion moper this week; it's high time I did something else." Chewing on a chocolate, she blew a ring of fire before turning to Fred with a grin. "These candies have been a favorite of mine since school. I've perfected a few little tricks over the years."

"Oh? Do show off, then... I plan on keeping you captive a while longer, and you might as well entertain me in the bargain, don't you think?" Fred winked as he presented the suggestion, trying to think up what else Susan might be able to do with the effects of the candy before she actually showed him.

Giggling, she nodded. "Alright, but keep in mind I said little tricks. Don't expect anything earth shattering." Tossing another sweet into her mouth, she blew a ring like the first, but with a second, more forceful, gust of breath she shot a tiny fireball through the center of the ring. Next was a shower of sparks, rather than a single flame. For her grand finale, Susan concentrated very hard, making very precise movements with her mouth and finally producing a crude, but recognizable bird, which held its shape for a few seconds before the flames dissipated. Smiling broadly, she turned her attention back to Fred. "Are you thoroughly awed? I think of the last one as a phoenix, although it's not really precise enough to look like one. Took me forever to get an identifiable shape."

"Most impressive!" Fred praised, genuinely amused by Susan's odd talent. "How'd you get it in your head to learn all that? Or is that what Hufflepuffs do instead of studying? We were generally raiding the kitchens and keeping Filch hopping, but I can see the use in this, too." A thought occurred to him and he raised an eyebrow in consternation. "I shudder to think of how many of those candies you went through trying to get that phoenix to work. How did you not burn a hole in your tongue?"

"There were a few scorches from time to time. It's really just about pacing yourself, and I had five years of Hogsmeade visits to work on it." Her expression went a bit wistful as she remembered her early visits to the little wizarding community. "It started out as a competition between me and Zacharias Smith. He figured out how to do the ring and crowed so loudly about it that I had to top him just to shut him up about it. There were some other little things we could do, and some that he could do that I couldn't, but the phoenix was the crowning glory. He never topped that one."

Snickering at the memory of that peacock of a lad, Fred mimicked doffing an invisible cap to Susan. "I salute you, madam, for a feat of sheer brilliance. George and I... managed to give him a Puking Pastille once. That was fun. We somehow forgot to mention there was an antidote, silly us, which was even more fun," he added with a hint of viciousness. Smith had been a complete wanker in school, and Fred didn't regret the little slights they'd paid him.

"And you wonder why I was intimidated by you!" Susan said, laughing. "That's terrible. Oh well, Zach probably deserved it. He could be a terrible pain in the bum when he wanted to, which was fairly often." Still chuckling, she didn't mention that Zach wasn't all that bad. No one ever believed her when she said that anyway. "What other devilish tricks did you play on people you didn't like, then?"

A smirk twisting his lips, Fred shook his head. "No need, I still insist... we'd never have plotted anything so unfriendly for a pretty little thing like you." Levering himself into a cross-legged position and stretching his arms, he considered her question. "We had a grand time with the Skiving Snackboxes, of course, and fireworks were a bit ridiculous, when we were still testing them. More often than not, we just needed someone, usually Filch, out of the way, more than having an agenda against someone, though Snape got his share of pranks, the old bat." It had been ages since he'd recalled his school exploits so easily, and the pang of not having George present to share with was still there, but muted. "Seemed like we never ran out of ideas, though."

Tucking a strand of hair that the wind was blowing about behind her ear, she shook her head with a grin. "Poor Professor Snape. He was an ogre as a teacher, but outside of school he's a pretty decent fellow. I got along with him quite well while I lived at the apothecary." Lips twitching, she imagined the furious expression he must have worn when Fred and George targeted him. "I'll bet he was fun to watch when you got him, though. Although the best reaction I've ever seen from Professor Snape was the utterly scandalized look he had when I hugged him. That was priceless."

Fred blinked, tried to imagine Snape being hugged by anyone, let alone the slip of a girl beside him, and blinked again. "Yeah, I can see that being quite the photo-worthy expression. His head didn't explode? I think there was a running bet on that for a while, back in school, or maybe that was if anyone actually shagged him." Pausing for an only slightly-exaggerated shudder, Fred pulled a face and moved on. "I didn't know you'd worked for him though. I had a patent agreement with him, for a very promising project, but last I heard he'd hared of to parts unknown with no forwarding address."

Susan nodded. "He's out of the country on personal business. I know he was very pleased with the progress he's been making, so I'm sure he'll be anxious to get back to that as soon as he can." A frown flickered across Susan's face. Professor Snape said Narcissa Malfoy would know how to reach him. I should check in with her and see if she knows how he's doing. Bringing her attention back to Fred, she raised an eyebrow. "Thankfully, Professor Snape's sex life, if he had one, was never a topic of conversation during my tenure."

"Eugh, that's a scary thought, that is. You're never allowed to say that again," Fred ordered, making a horrified face. "Let me know if you hear from him though, yeah? I'd like to know if he's been getting any research done during all this foreign personal business." He nudged Susan with his shoulder, smiling down at her. "Now that I've ruined your dinner, want to go for a walk? The view along the cliffs is great, especially after you've exercised all your anger out."

Climbing to her feet, she looked out at the sea. The sky had turned darker, deeper oranges and a bit of red. It really was a pretty view. "Sure. We're here, we may as well enjoy it before the sun sets." She waited for Fred to stand and they started off along the ledge. "How's Katie doing? I keep thinking I should owl her for lunch or something, but I haven't gotten to it."

Grinning at the mention of Katie, Fred nodded as they walked. "Katie's brilliant, and you should catch her if you get a chance, I'm sure she'd like the company. She's not had much time to see anyone lately, since the end of the season's coming up." His smile stuck with him as they wandered, chatting back and forth, and he made mental note to check up on Susan regularly. This is fun.


Summary: Fred kidnaps Susan again for a round of cheering and a bit of gossip. They manage not to fall off any cliffs.

The 'Dragon Kisses' candies came from the D/G fic of the same name by Davesmom.