Refills!

St. Vals gone and past, business has slowed down a smidge. The Valentines Hogsmeade Weekend was a blast, o’ course, and we were full up! Now we’re just plannin’ for the next major event. Our birthday.

It being Thursday, I’d usually be at the Maison, working in the lafeteria, but Fred and I switched, seein’ as my usual helper’s got lessons. So instead I’m working the Wheezes, putting up a new display.

I hear the bell over the door, announce in its usual raucous tone that we have a customer coming in and look over to see our very own Kiggs.

She grins when she sees me, "Fred or George? Or should I not bother asking because you won't tell me anyway?"

“Right you are, m’dear,” I say with a grin. “And judgin’ by the shiny on your finger there, I’d say you’re the future Mrs. Olive Branch.”

She snorts at this, "You knew that already, which ever one you are...unless you're Fred and George forgot to tell you and you're just being hyper observant. Anyway, I was wondering if you're selling your special stock yet or if that's still top secret friends-club membership only?"

“That all depends what sorta special stock you’re talkin’ about,” I answer, batting my eyes. “’Cause any customer here’d know that all our stock is special stock.”

Kiggles raises an eyebrow at me and takes out the silver cigarette case used to house our emergency brooms. "I need a top up before I leave for my next rune seek on Saturday..."

“Ah-hah! She shows the top secret friends-club membership card,” I say and wink at her. “Right this way into the club house, friend.”

She pockets the cigarette case and follows me into the 'club house' with a grin, "Good to know my membership's still valid...went to the gym last week to find out my card was out of date...for a life time membership, want to explain to me how that works? Cheeky money grubbing fit-freaks."

“Oi,” I say, stopping by a shelf and looking back at her. “Gotta turn a profit somehow, eh? Lessee, how many do ya need?”

"Well I still have 2 left...but there's three of us on the team and we wouldn't have got out of the last one alive without them..." she shrugs, starting to lean back then stopping herself, checking what she's about to lean against before deciding whether it's safe or not.

I can’t help frowning at this. A team. She let somebody else use the brooms. Now, granted, they did save lives, but there’s a reason they’re secret. “They don’t know where ya got these, do they?”

"I work with the wizard who helped you make them remember? Don't worry, no secret code violations that you didn't violate yourself in asking for assistance...since when did you ask for assistance with your creations anyway?" she retorts, rolling her eyes at this. "Besides, It's my job to keep them alive...sort of...but I don't want to be the soul survivor having to explain to the Professor why his first born son and star pupil got minced."

I relax a bit at this. “Ah, alright then. Didn’t realize. And ya know, Fredgie and I can’t be brilliant in everything. Have to be some flaws to us, dontcha know. Polly is a proper broom maker and we needed the consultation so’s the broom didn’t go all wobbly when we were tryin’ to save our necks.”

"Fair enough, I'll let you off then," she grins wrapping both arms around my neck in a hug. "Nicolas is good...nice guy too when he lets people see it and isn't hiding it with being an asshole."

“Never been in the position to see either,” I confess. “Only really talkin’ business, and a bloke what acts the asshole in business is really bad. Unless their business is bein’ an asshole, that is.”

"True, I guess...so anyway, top ups. How much?" she asks, looking around the shelves of stock.

“Whatever ya want,” I say with a shrug. “We never put a price on ‘em. Does get a might costly, though. Quality wood and all that.”

I see her grimace at this, "You don't make it easy do you? I was never good at maths and I'm not a retailer..."

“Easy’s no fun,” I scoff. “Besides, the other one usually takes care o’ the pricing. Um…s’pose a couple galleons each.”

Kigs nods at this and takes out her money, handing the case over for me to refill while she counts out the galleons. "Can I ask you something? When you met Zabini, how did you know he wasn't just another Slytherin snake? How did you work out there was more to it..."

“Well…” I pause a mo. “First time, Clone and I were just us. Had fun buggin’ the stuffin’ out of ‘im. But sorta figured when he came round, wantin’ our help with helpin’ Luna-moth’s business. If Luna trusted ‘im, and he made the trip from Portugal or Mali or Kazakhstan, or wherever, to help ‘er out? There’s gotta be more to a bloke than what all them Slythies were painted by us to be.”

She frowns at this, biting her bottom lip, deep in thought, "So Luna already knew him...you had more than just his word...thanks, George."

I salute to ‘er. “Why do you ask, anyway?”

"I ran into Flint a while back...I just...wondered I guess. I mean Ginny making friends with Malfoy, you and Zabini...I mean he tried to knock me off my broom half a dozen times but I think I know why now..."

“Flint, eh?” I tilt my head back and tap my chin. “Haven’t heard from any kooky inventor ravenclaws what have any ties with Flint, so couldn’t rightly say one way or the other.”

"I guess you're right...I mean I know what Oliver would say, he's trouble...I just...I don't know...but I don't want to find out for sure by getting knocked off my broom when he finally remembers he hates me."

“Mmm, yeah. Play it cautious ‘til ya know for sure,” I agree. “House prejudice aside, you two do got that past with the broom bludgeoning.”

"I think that's only because he fancies me..." she says and I almost snort until I see the expression on her face. "Well he never went after Angie or Alicia like that...and he was Slytherin, I was a Gryffindor Mudblood...he couldn't admit it without getting himself beaten half to death by his housemates."

She sighs and starts to pace, "You should have seen it George...he was sorta charming in a creepy way."

“Well, you know how blokes are when they fancy a witch. Dip their hair in the inkpots, flip up their robes, pick on ‘em mercilessly,” I grin, thinking of the stories Pip told me how Trudes used to treat her.

"Great...so my secret admirer tries to kill me every time I go flying..." she mutters sarcastically. "Now just to keep him and Oliver from meeting and getting all macho on me."

“Does sound like a chore to me,” I agree.

She starts to grin and I'd bet the wheezes she's thinking of Oliver, especially when she snaps out of it and starts to blush. "Um, anyway, here's your money..."

I gesture for her to follow me into the office. Lucky today is both the Patils’ day off. “Sit yer seat down there, Kigs, while I get the gubbins.”

She sits down to wait for me as I head to find the store of mini-brooms.

After my secret routine, I pull out the stores of our backup brooms. “When’d you get your last armour?”

"Um...only ever had one lot from you...on my birthday two years ago," she says, watching me curiously.

I jolt up. “Oi! You’re not takin’ the mickey, are you? It’s really been two years?”

"Well...one and three...four months. Two years this November...why?" she asks, frowning slightly.

I roll my eyes at my absentmindedness and reach in for a vest, too. “Thing is, Kigs, you remember when I lost that ear?”

"Yeh, you and the other prat decided to get all tough and try and take down Fenrir with just the two of you when countless numbers of fully trained Auror's have failed..." The look she gives me makes me wince and I realise how lucky we were not to have her and Mum team up on us in the hospital.

“Yeah, that,” I agree and plug on ahead. “Anyhoodles, seems that the vests have an expiration date of a year. Start to wear, ya see, and quicker when seeing heavy use. So,” I toss over her new vest and reach back in for the brooms.

"Thanks," she grins, automatically stripping off to change her vest. "After all I complained about you and Fred and here you are saving my life over and over..."

“Course!” I say, counting out four of the brooms and setting ‘em on the desk while she changes. “We wouldn’t let you get away that easy. You’re stuck with us whether you like it or not.”

"But why me? There were other Gryffindor's sorted that year...why did I get hijacked?" she demands, though I can tell from her tone she doesn't really mind. Her 'complaints' were never serious.

“Because your lovely mug had ‘gullible’ written in nice bold italics,” I tease.

"Rat!" she retorts, throwing her now expired vest at me.

“I think you mean niffler,” I return, catching the vest.

She opens her mouth to argue back, then pauses to think about this. "Considering a niffler's skill at digging out gold...and your almost obsessive interest in tormenting me...was that a compliment?"

“Nah. If you were gold, woulda been a Seeker what caught you, not a Keeper. But nifflers have been known for their mayhem, too. Remember when Lee set them things loose in Umbritches’ office?”

"Like magical racoons," she laughs, absentmindedly rubbing the back of her hand. "Good times...considering what was to come..."

“Yeah. She was something vile, wasn’t she?” I ask. “Was a pity not bein’ around longer to help you lot laugh it off.”

"Yeh...I missed you after you left," she says quietly, scuffing her foot on the floor and looking down. "Then at the end of that year Angie and Alicia left too..."

“Well, the world needed a good laugh,” I say apologetically. “Umbritches was one thing, but Moldy-warts on the rise, he’s only won if you can’t laugh at ‘im.”

"I think you're the only one that could laugh at him," she sighs then smiles, "Still at least with the store open there's no more restricted twinly access now I'm out of school."

“I dunno, Kigs,” I say. “You shoulda seen the sales for You No Poo. I tell ya, it was proper! And…ya know, laugh at ‘im in private counts. I’m not sayin’ laugh at ‘im in ‘is face. The clone and I were determined to make ‘im look ridiculous enough the world took ‘im a little less serious. And can you imagine anything a bad guy likes less than not to be taken serious?”

"I'd expect getting his ass kicked by a teenaged boy," she chuckles dryly. "And it wasn't just Umbridge...school was horrible in my last year without you guys."

“Aww Kigs,” I capture her head with one arm and ruffle her hair with the other. “You woulda been without us anyhow. But you do have a point there. Did you ever get our Final Battle Action Figure set?”

"You actually made-..." she gapes at me in disbelief, "Next you'll start setting up the RPG...thank goodness you haven't become so Muggle-adjusted to descover the internet yet."

“HAH! Pity the bloke what takes me on,” I chuckle.

She sighs and shakes her head at this, "Right so...supplies wise how am I set? I need to get back and start cooking dinner for Oliver for the next couple of nights else he'll go back to living on beans on toast." She pulls a face at this, shuddering slightly.

“No shit on a shingle for ol’ Wood?” I ask and ruffle her hair again. “Right. Supplies. Walk this way, my Kigs. We’ll get you airborne. Four you said you needed?”

"Yeh, that's how many I used before what with Greyback and then the runeseeks," she confirms then gives me a smile, "Thanks for this...y'know, just keeping me alive."

“Well, what would the world be like without our Kippary Chimes?” I ask over my shoulder as I open the drawer and then the special, secret compartment. “One, two, three, four! Here y’are.”

She takes them off me, setting the little case back in her bag safely and hands over a handful of coins, "True, you'd be lost without me."

“Well, maybe not lost,” I say. “Just severely misdirected. There’s a difference.”

She laughs at this, swatting my arm before pulling me into a tight hug, "Alright, well you stay out of trouble, or at least make sure you don't get caught! I'll seeya soon!"

“Kigs, we’d go out of business if we stayed out of trouble,” I remind her, squeezing her back. “And you wouldn’t wanna be responsible for that. Besides,” I say, pulling back and winking at her. “Fredgie and I wouldn’t be alive and free clones if we got caught half the time.”

"True enough...well just take care of yourselves and of each other..." she adds, waving as she heads towards the main shop to leave.

I wave after her and then lean against a nearby shelf as the door closes. Ah Kigs. Always good to see her.