A New Beginning

Chapter Three.

When Layla woke the next morning she was determined to keep her eyes shut. "It must have been a wonderful dream," she thought. "If I open my eyes I'll still be in my room." It was only at that point that her senses began to wake properly and she heard the muffled snoring. "And that'll be my brother with his unbearable grunting like a pig. But hold on, I can't usually hear him that loud..."

With that thought she rolled over and opened her eyes, only to see in front of them a large amount of deep red velvety material hanging down all around the four-poster bed.

In the next few moments Layla sat there hugging herself with happiness. It hadn't been a dream and she was here at Hogwarts with Jack and Freddie and the rest.

That's a point where were Jack and the rest? She peered cautiously through the curtains and was relieved to find that all the boys were still fast asleep in bed. She looked blearily at the clock on her bedside table. Half past six. "Much too early," she thought, but heaved herself out of bed as she knew she would never get back to sleep now anyway.

As all the boys were asleep she thought she might as well take a shower in the bathroom she had spotted through a door last night, before they all woke up. She gathered up her towels, toiletries and clothes from her suitcase, which she had slung on the floor the night before and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

The first thought that went through her mind was, "Ah. This could be awkward." All the showers in the room were put into one communal shower, which, although it may work on this occasion, would be impossible to use any other time. However as she walked to the end of the long, thin room, she spotted a door right at the end with a small gold plaque on it saying, "Layla Potter."

As she entered the room she made a mental note to find out and thank the person who had thought of this. She had walked into a mini bathroom with a sink, toilet, mirror and most importantly, a shower.

After she had undressed she walked quickly into the shower and tried to turn it on. After looking for the handle for several minutes and becoming more and more frustrated she finally said loudly, "All I want is a god damn shower!"

Suddenly a sleepy voice seemed to come from inside the shower.

"Well really there's no need to shout dear."

Layla jumped at the sudden noise and said quietly, "Who are you? And what do you want?"

"My dear there's no need to take that tone of voice with me!" said the voice lightly. "I'm only your friendly neighbourhood shower after all. Now what temperature would you like?"

Layla considered whether she would even answer for a few seconds before saying, "Refreshing please, but not to cold." Immediately large quantities of water, which was exactly the right temperature, came from the ceiling of the shower. Marvelling at the usefulness of magic Layla stepped back into the water with a contented sigh, and began to sing quietly.

After she had stopped and thanked the shower, ("Well really dear there is no reason but you're very welcome all the same.") Layla stepped out into her rather large cubicle and dressed quickly, to reduce the coldness of the air outside the shower getting to her quite as much. She gathered her things and walked through the bathroom back into the dormitory.

As she looked around she smiled. The one advantage of being in the boys' dormitory, she noticed, was the mess. She had only been there less than a day and already noticed there were clothes and other things all over the room. It was a lot messier than her room at home ever was and she couldn't imagine the girls' dormitory being like that. She didn't think that her lack of tidiness would even be noticed, let alone punished, here.

The boys woke one by one and all said a cheerful good morning to Layla on the way to the bathroom where they showered and got dressed. When everyone but Jack was up and dressed Layla asked Freddie quietly, "Do you think we should wake him up?"

"Who Jack?" replied Freddie, also quietly. "Yeah it's probably about time."

He picked up his wand, opened the hangings around Jacks bed silently, and then muttered something so quietly that Layla couldn't hear it. However she did see a pool of water come out of his wand and place itself directly over Jacks head as Freddie moved quickly away from the bed and Con and Hen came to watch.

Layla suppressed a giggle as she realised what was about to happen and heard Freddie mutter something that sounded distinctly like;

"Go!"

The water dropped onto Jacks sleeping face with a resounding 'splat!' and Jack sat up yelling so loud probably the whole of Gryffindor tower could hear, "FREDERICK AARON KRUM YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE WHEN I CATCH YOU!"

The whole dormitory collapsed into hysterics as Freddie said in a scared voice, "Oh bugger!", and ran out of the dormitory, Jack running after him, still in his pyjamas.

Layla jumped off the bed that she had fallen onto with laughter and ran down to the common room. She didn't want things getting nasty between her two best friends.

The scene down in the common room was almost, if not more, funny than the one in the dormitory had been. Jack was standing there in his maroon too short pyjamas, his face almost as red as his hair, which clashed terribly while he yelled at Freddie, who was, by the looks of things, trying hard not to laugh at him. As most of Gryffindor tower was in the room Jack also had quite an audience, including some first year girls who weren't yet used to his tempers and were looking, quite frankly, absolutely terrified.

Layla burst out with laughter and slid down the walls holding her aching stomach. Jack glared at her and Freddie, who was also laughing by this point, took her hand and helped her up off the floor.

"Oh come on Jack," she said to him as her continued to glare at her. "You have to admit that it's pretty funny. I mean you're standing in the common room in your pyjamas and those girls over there are looking so petrified that when I came in I thought you'd murdered Freddie."

Jack immediately stopped glaring and burst out laughing. "I suppose it's a new way to wake me up," he spluttered. "But if you ever do that again Freddie I WILL make you pay. I suppose I should go and get ready for breakfast seeing as it's in ten minutes." And to Laylas surprise he turned round to the people in the common room, bowed and was given a standing ovation from the whole room as he ran up to the dorm.

A few minutes later he ran back down the steps, jumping the last two, and stopped in front of an amazed Layla and Freddie. "Well then, are you coming to breakfast or are you just going to sit there all day?" he asked with a grin.

Layla hit him over the head with the magazine she had been reading and the three of them set off out of the portrait and down to breakfast.

"Oh I forgot to tell you last night," said Freddie suddenly as they were walking down to breakfast. "The password for the fat lady this week is 'Barthezz' ok?"

"Oh and Layla?" said Jack. "If those girls were frightened of my temper how come you weren't? You've never seen it before either."

"No," agreed Layla, "but I have the same quick fiery temper as you do so I'm definitely used to it."

"Oh god help us!" said Freddie, sinking to his knees and holding his hands together, as Jack hit him on the head.

When they finally walked into the great hall for breakfast, Layla had to try very hard to keep her mouth from dropping open. There were four tables along the room, all of which could have easily seated a thousand people. Each table was decked out in their respective colours, red and gold for Gryffindor, blue and bronze for Ravenclaw, yellow and black for Hufflepuff and green and silver for Slytherin. As Layla let her feet walk over to the Gryffindor table she also noticed a table going across the hall at which the teachers were seated, Professor Dumbledore in the middle.

She stared at this table until she was sat down in between Jack and Freddie and then forced herself to focus on the table in front of her. She noticed that the group of girls in front of her were alternating between staring at Freddie and giving Layla some very jealous looks. As she reached over to take the bacon off Jack she whispered in his ear, "What's up with the mean, green team in front?"

"You mean you don't know about the FAF?" he asked with amusement.

"The what?" she whispered, placing large amounts of bacon onto her plate.

"The Freddie Anonymous Fan club," he answered with a grin. "They all fancy Freddie. Think he's really nice." Jack snorted.

"So where's the Jack Anonymous Fan club?" asked Layla with a giggle. "Are they hiding around the corner waiting to ambush you?"

Jack ears suddenly turned bright red, and his face slowly followed, "Erm.. Well there isn't actually one." he admitted, embarrassed.

"Really?" asked Layla with surprise. "Ah well plenty of time for the girls in our year to come to their senses."

"What are you two up to? I feel mischief vibes radiating off you Lay!" Freddie asked and Layla laughed, not only at the innocent face that Jack had put on quickly as he'd answered,

"Nothing at all. Honestly Freddie you are so suspicious!", but at the mutinous faces the girls opposite them had all put on when Freddie had used her nickname.

At this precise moment Laylas answer was interrupted by a girl with masses of long, thick bright red hair sitting in the seat on the other side of Freddie, singing loudly, and not completely in tune, but not caring much anyway. The girls also shot jealous looks at her as she sat down.

Layla knew right away that the girl must be Jack younger sister, a third year Gryffindor.

"Hey Lucy." greeted Jack mildly, "Lay this is my little sister Lucy. Lu this is Layla Potter."

Layla looked up and saw that Lucy was identical to her brother by every freckle except for her eyes which were blue, making her look like a miniature, female version of her dad, Ron.

"Hey Layla." Lucy smiled at her and Layla found herself liking her instantly. She wondered if all Weasleys had this instant, likeable, trusting nature. "How come I didn't see you in the girls dorms last night?"

"Oh I sleep in the boys dorms in a bed between your brothers and Freddies." she replied lightly, turning to see the effect this had on the girls. She almost giggled as she saw the looks of hatred go from Lucy to her and intensify about ten times

.

"Really?" Lucy said in surprise, her eyebrows shooting up underneath her long, thick fringe, "That must make you one of the least popular girls in school with the Freddies Anonymous Fan club."

At the mention of their club all the girls stopped trying to eavesdrop and looked as nonchalant as possible under the circumstances.

"Well I don't think I've been a huge success with the one's I've met so far!" remarked Layla with a grin.

Lucy grinned at Laylas answer and then yawned loudly. "Damn me for not being able to go back to sleep. I could have used it," she said aggressively. "What are you three up to today anyway?" Layla noticed that Lucy directed this question at Freddie and grinned. Lucy may not have been as obvious as joining the FAF but Layla knew a crush when she saw one.

"Well I thought that we could teach Lay some simple spells this morning before we go to Hogsmeade this afternoon," Jack answered, much to the disappointment of Lucy. "Is that alright Lay?"

"That sounds fine," answered Layla, hoping the relief from actually learning some magic didn't show in her voice. She couldn't get over how complicated the spell Freddie had used that morning had seemed. "But what's Hogsmeade?"

"Wizarding town near here. Anyone in third year and over can visit it as long as they've got permission," said Lucy, distracted by the letter that a large grey owl had just delivered to her plate.

"Permission?!" squeaked Layla. "But what if I haven't..."

"Your mother sent me your permission slip this morning," came a stern voice from behind her. "Very efficient woman your mother I must say."

Layla turned in her seat to see an elderly looking woman whom, judging by the large quantities of grey hair she had and the look of distrust she gave Jack, must have been Professor McGonagall. She then turned on her heel and left, just as Jack hailed someone over to their table.

"Layla, this is my brother Jake," explained Jack as Layla turned round. "He never normally gets up early so that explains his appearance."

"Oh haha little bro, hilarious." Layla turned to the person that the sarcastic comment had come from. She found herself facing what was definitely a Weasley. He had some major changes in appearance but he was still just about identifiable as one. Layla guessed that if she had stood up he would have been barely an inch shorter than her, he had his brothers deep, rich brown eyes, but the main differences were the lack of freckles and the colour hair. He only had a small smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose, and his hair, although swept back off his face and untidy like his brothers, was definitely not the normal fiery Weasley red. It was red, granted, but a deep, dark red, almost auburn in fact. The combined effect of these minor alterations was to make his skin seem olive colour and to make him seem unlike any Weasley she had ever met.

"Hello Lay." He smiled and again it was different to the normal Weasley smile. Jacks, and Lucys, she had noticed, were always cheeky, uncaring even sometimes, but Jakes was warm and friendly, and it had real depth to it.

"So your Jacks newest girlfriend?" he joked. "Well I have to admit his taste has got considerably better over time. You're a lot sexier than the last one."

Layla sat there, blushing, torn between amusement at Jakes joke, laughter at Jacks reaction, and pride that a seventh year, a reasonable good looking seventh year at that (not that she would ever mention that to Jack on fear of disembowelment.) had called her sexy.

Jack on the other hand seemed to have regained the use of speech a lot quicker than Layla however as he managed to croak out, in an appalled voice, "She's NOT my girlfriend!"

"Dunno what your missing there then Jack," quipped Jake as he grabbed a bit of toast, strode quickly to catch up with another seventh year boy, presumably his friend, and disappeared out of the Great Hall.

As Layla watch a group of sixth and seventh year girls follow him quickly out of the hall, giggling noisily, a sudden thought occurred to her.

"Jack?" she asked quietly. "There isn't a Jake Fan Club as well is there?"

"Yes. The Jake Anonymous Gigglers, JAG," he said sadly and then Layla caught him mutter, "Unfortunately." She felt quite sorry for him in that moment. After all, she though as they crossed the great hall to get practising charms, it must be hard to cope that your best friend and your brother are a lot better looking than you are.

**********

Half an hour later, after going back up to Gryffindor tower to get Freddie's books, (Jacks were to old and battered to use.) and an extensive search for an empty classroom, the three of them stood in a disused Muggle Studies classroom.

"Well, this should do quite well," muttered Freddie, looking around the room. "It's quite big and we're miles away from anyone, they won't be able to hear us."

Shall we start with charms then Jack?" he asked, louder. "You're better at them than me. You do charms and I'll do transfiguration, your rubbish at that."

"Right then," Jack nodded, clearly thinking hard for an easy charm. "Ah! I've got it. The first charm anyone learns. A levitating spell. You point your wand at whatever you want to levitate and say: Wingardium Leviosa! Well go on then have a go."

Pointing her wand at a large and heavy looking charms book of Freddie's, she said loudly,

"Wingardium Leviosa!" The book suddenly shot about three feet into the air and then hovered there until she had the sense of mind to let it down heavily on the table.

"Well you seemed to get that incredible fast." Jack seemed surprised. "Let's try a more difficult charm. Let me think... Oh I know! You can try the silencing charm. The incantation is 'Silencio!' ok?"

"But Jack," began Freddie, indignantly, "the silencing charm is very tricky and I don't know if Lay will be able to do it yet because even you had tro..."

At this point it seemed as though Freddie had stopped talking but in fact he was still mouthing words, just not making any sound.

Jack suddenly laughed as he heard Layla giggling and realised what had happened. "Lay you really need to improve your aim," he spluttered.

"What do you mean?" giggled Layla loudly. "My aim was perfect!"

**********

Two hours later and Layla was knackered. She was surrounded by various objects which she had either charmed or transfigured, and also by a complaining Jack, who had been wincing ever since he had loss the coin-flip for whom Layla was to practice stunning charms on.

"Well I think that's everything we can teach you," said Freddie smugly. "The rest you'll have to learn through lessons. Oh quit complaining Jack! You lost that toss fair and square."

"Yeah," muttered Jack darkly. "Still that doesn't compensate for the majorly huge pain in my ar..."

"Well," interrupted Freddie quickly. "I think it's about time we went to line up for the Hogsmeade trip."

Jacks dark look quickly disappeared as he began to explain the brilliance of Hogsmeade to Layla whilst they made their way quickly to the entrance hall.

"Oh Lay you're gunna love it there! There's The Three Broomsticks and the Shrieking Shack and best of all Honeydukes! All the kinds of magical sweet ever made in that shop. Ever! Oh and Fred and George have got a branch of 'Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes' in there now as well," he added as an afterthought.

"Who are Fred and George?" asked Layla, curious.

"They're my uncles," explained Jack. "But they don't like to be called 'Uncle' Fred and George 'coz they say it makes 'em sound old. 'Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes' is a magical joke shop. Run Zonkos right outta business they did," he said with a hint of pride in his voice.

By this time they had arrived in the Entrance Hall along with about four hundred other pupils. Layla soon saw Lucy trying to fight her way through the hubbub of noise and confusion which you generally get if you put four hundred over excited teenagers in a small enclosed space for any length of time.

"Heya guys!" announced Lucy, slightly out of breath. "Mad isn't it? There's not usually this many people on the trips. Must be because it's so near Halloween. Yes Professor."

Professor McGonagall, Layla noticed, had begun to take a register of all the pupils, beginning with the third years, as they were the youngest year there. Now she realised why they had to meet half an hour before the trip was scheduled to leave. It was absolute pandemonium and it would take at least half an hour to call the register and get organised.

"So it's not usually this busy then?" Layla asked Lucy, speaking loudly as to be heard.

"No, not unless it's the last one before Christmas or Easter. Although this is the last one before the Halloween Ball."

Layla was about to ask about the Halloween Ball when Professor McGonagall called out a name she recognised.

"Frederick Krum?"

The harassed and flustered looking woman had already been calling the fifth years register for five minutes and she was only on the letter K. It seemed that more of Laylas year had turned up than any other.

"Yes Professor!" Freddie yelled over the noise.

A few more names called out in the crisp Scottish accent and then, inevitably,

"Layla Potter?"

"Yes Professor," called Layla as loudly as possible. It was only then that she heard a curious murmur, starting quietly and then gradually louder, magnifying as more people began talking in hushed whispers.

"Potter?" she heard a small fourth year close by whisper. "Not THE Potter surely? You know as in Harry Potter?"

"Oh dear," whispered Layla in Jacks ear. "I didn't realise I was that popular!"

Jack laughed and eventually the noise died down, running out of steam as these things tend to do. It was just after that that the Professor called;

"Jack Weasley?"

"Yo!" yelled Jack, sticking his hand up so fast that he nearly knocked the timid third year standing in front of him out with his wand.

"Mr Weasley if you would mind answering me in the regular and polite way," said Professor McGonagall dangerously. "Because if you don't, me being in the annoyed mood I am in, I will either kill you with my bare hands or give you enough detentions to last you until the end of your days at Hogwarts!"

No one dared laugh at this statement, least of all Jack who gulped loudly, because in the last few years the old Professor had become more and more unpredictable and may actually carry out either threat.

"Yes Professor," he squeaked loudly.

"Right now then listen everyone!" bellowed Professor McGonagall. "Third, fourth and fifth years follow Professor Flitwick that way to Hogsmeade. Sixth and seventh years stay here to get registered. And if any sixth or seventh years try and get to Hogsmeade without being registered I will know and I will Accio your sorry carcass back here until you are registered. Even then you may not get to go, depending upon whether you've recently dropped and dung bombs in my classes recently. Is that clear?" As she said this she stared pointedly at Jake who smiled cheerfully back and then turned to his friend David and muttered,

"Cow, she did that on purpose. Never mind I think it's about time we paid a trip to Fred and George, see what's new.

"

The walk to Hogsmeade, although relatively short, was bitterly cold and Layla was glad when the small but quaint town was in sight.

"So where do you lot want to go first?" asked Lucy.

"Honeydukes definitely," replied Freddie with a small smile. "I'm starving!"

"Honeydukes it is then!" Lucy said with a huge grin, no doubt as the result of who had answered and the smile, thought Layla with a chuckle of her own.

"Well let's get a bloody move on then, I'm bloody freezing," said Jack, his teeth chattering.

Laylas first impression of Honeydukes was that it was busy. If Freddie, Jack and Lucy didn't have such vivid and unusual hair colours and she wasn't so tall Layla would have been petrified of losing everyone or herself in the sheer amount of people in the fairly small shop.

However once she had regained her sense of balanced she noticed the large amount of sweets lining every available wall space in the room. Everywhere she looked there were stalls advertising new sweets with such signs sitting above them as, "Blood Lollies! Every Vampires Favourite Sweet!" and "Sugar Quills, the tastiest writing implement on the market!"

"Mental isn't it?" said a quiet voice in her ear that made her jump with shock. She turned around just in time to see a cheeky grin place itself on Jakes face.

"Never, ever creep up on me like that again Jake Weasley!" she reprimanded, wagging her finger, suddenly very aware that the amount of people in the shop meant Jake had to stand very close to her.

"Aww did I scare 'ickle Layla?" mocked Jake, grinning. "I promise I'll never do it again. Oops sorry!"

Someone behind Jake had shoved him harder than normal, causing him to fly forward and have to put his arms around Laylas waist, and causing Layla to, incidentally, start hyperventilating.

"Are you ok?" he whispered in Laylas ear, his hands still placed gently on her hips, moving his feet back occasionally, trying to find a space to put them back into.

"I... I'm fine," Layla stuttered, very aware that the fact that people had immediately taken Jakes space meant he had to hold onto her a lot longer than normal. However at this point her attention was diverted to a very angry looking red-head storming across the shop towards them, shoving third years out the way and ignoring their cries of protest.

"Oh no," she whispered, dreading what was about to come out of Jacks mouth.

"JAKE CHARLES WEALEY! Get your hands off my best friend!"

"What?" replied Jake, completely nonplussed. "What in the name of Merlin are you on about now?"

By this time, Layla noticed, Jack was already in full rant mode.

"Layla has only been here two days and you're already making passes! TWO DAYS! I'm used to you attracting the attention of the girls I like but not my friends! I saw her first so BACK OFF! SHE'S MINE!"

Jack was standing roughly two inches away from Layla and Jake, breathing heavily, his cheeks flushed from all the yelling, and basically looking like he'd like to kill Jake with his bare hands. It was only after about twenty seconds of silence had passed when he finally realised what he had said and his entire face went crimson.

"Oh my god," he spluttered, looking shell-shocked. "I didn't mean... that was supposed... that came out wrong," he finally finished. "I meant that you're my FRIEND not that, well, you know."

"I know what you meant you idiot," said Layla fondly. "But for your information someone very rude just shoved Jake into me and then took his place so he had to stay here that's all."

Both Layla and Jack were then interrupted in their replies by what sounded like a small explosion. Alarmed, they both swivelled round sharply to find... Jake laughing.

"You thought... you thought," Jake spluttered, pointing at Jack. "You thought I was making a pass at Layla? That's a good one Jack! I'll see you guys later." And with that he promptly walked out of the shop.

"Well," said Jack, indignant. "That was unnecessary. Completely unjustified."

"Come on Jack," said Layla wearily, before he got started again. "Let's go and find Freddie and Lu and go to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Before you explode," she added under her breath.

**********

"Well, well 'lil nephew dearest, what can we do for you? Jake was just in here a minute ago, said something about you being slightly red in the face? So much like our Ron you are."

Trying to tell the twin speaking apart from the other was about as easy as finding a microwave in the middle of space. They were identical in every way. They were slightly shorter and stockier than Ron was, Layla noticed, and had brown eyes as Jake did. Although they were well over forty they both still had a full head of the Weasley trademark hair. Layla thought at first this must have been through some sort of spell but once she remembered that Ron was the same she changed her thoughts to think it must be a certain Weasley gene. They also had a certain mischievous glint in their eyes that Layla had learnt from Jack in just two days never to trust.

"Hey Fred," greeted Jack. Layla reminded herself to ask him how to tell the twins apart. "Have you met Layla? She's new at Hogwarts, just transferred over from New York."

"Well hello Miss Potter," said the other twin cheerfully. "I'm George and this is Fred. Pleased to meet you. I hear Jack has told you about us? All good I hope?"

"Hardly any of it," Layla said with a grin.

"Ah all true then!" exclaimed what she thought was Fred.

"Well you lot, what are you in here for? Your usual Canary Creams, Jack?"

"Actually I was hoping you had something new?" said Jack cautiously. "The Canary Creams are beginning to become old."

"Surely not?" said Fred in mock surprise. "George make a note that it took twenty seven years for the Canary Creams to become out of date, will you?"

"Well my dear boy," continued Fred in an uncanny impression of Dumbledore, "you're in luck. Me and George just invented the very thing. Imploding Snap."

"What's the difference between that and exploding snap?" asked Jack with caution.

"Well an implosion is much stronger than an explosion. We also added an invisibility spell so that you can't actually see them when they explode. We made it too strong at first. Actually burnt the whole of Ron's hair instead of just singing his eyebrows. Had to spend an evening in St Mungos for that. We got chucked out at about eleven though for arguing. Actually it was Ron yelling so loud he woke the patients up. Always did have a temper, your dad."

"Isn't there anything else? You know something we could play on Malfoy?"

"You mean Imploding snap isn't brilliant enough for you? Well, as it's for Malfoy I'll show you this."

He pulled out a small bottle of what everyone thought was completely clear liquid. However if you looked closely you could see random colours appearing and disappearing throughout the liquid. Layla thought that it really was quite beautiful.

"What's that?" asked Jack, enraptured with the swirling colours before him.

"Well we haven't had time to think of a name but I like to call it the Kaleidoscopic Concoction."

"What does it do?" asked Freddie, interested.

"Well," said Fred with a grin forming on his face, "It turns all your bodily fluids Rainbow Coloured for a week and then for another week they turn out a different colour each time, chosen at random."

"All your bodily fluids?" asked Jack, his eyes wide.

"All your bodily fluids," confirmed Fred, the grin now definitely on his face.

"And there's no counter curse?"

"None that we can find so I'm sure a fifth year won't be able to," said George with a shrug.

"How much?" asked Jack cautiously.

"Well seeing as you're using it on Malfoy and you've brought us a new customer who I'm sure will but lots of contraptions," Here he pointed to Layla, "then you can have it for free!"

"Erm, George?" asked Lucy. "Can we go have a look around now?"

"Of course Lulu, feel free!"

At this Layla, Freddie and Lucy rushed over to different displays to take a look at the ingenious potions and powders that the twins had come up with over the total twenty-five years. When Jack tried to move however, he found a hand planted firmly on his shoulder and turned around to find Fred looking at him with an amused expression.

"What now?" he asked in resignation.

"We want to talk to you about Layla."

"Pretty girl, Layla, isn't she? Are you two going out?"

"What?" asked Jack in shock. "No, we're just friends."

"Not even friends that, you know... hop on the good foot and do the bad thing?"

"No, no and no!" said Jack his eyes wide once more. "We are just friends."

"Shame, you dunno what you're missing."

Jack laughed at this. "Says the forty-something single guy who lives with his brother! Any way as I think this lot are ready," At this Layla, Freddie and Lucy nodded and smiled, "we had best be off. See ya later!"

As the sound of the shop bell tinkled Fred turned to George.

"George?"

"Yes Fred?"

"Why do I feel that another 'Ron-and-Hermione' situation is in the making?"