Inspiration (Serenity)

For once Fred Weasley was alone. It was a very random occurrance but it wasn't as if Fred couldn't handle it, he was Fred for goodness sake. He smirked to himself as he wandered along the sixth floor. George was doing something which required a lot of stealth something which Fred didn't have a lot of so he'd volunteered to think of some new ideas for practical joke products. This was something he was very good at, things just seemed to come to him from out of the ether and this just goaded him into thinking that he was even more of a genius than he actually was. However today wasn't one of his bright spark days. For some reason he was finding it very hard to think of well...anything. Maybe it was because he hadn't slept too well the night before. He'd had a tonne of weird nightmares about Percy covering him in tar and throwing him to the Giant Squid. He shrugged to himself and continued along the corridor until he stopped at the door to the storage room.

'May as well,' he thought as he reached for the handle to the room. This was a room which always seemed to give him a couple of good ideas so hopefully it would do the same for him today. As he walked in the smell of stale dusty shelves filled with crap filled his nostrils which caused him to smile. Maybe he could find something that could be improved on like some sort of quill or a piece of parchment that did...something. He sat on a dusty stool, his feet flat on the floor and his hands on his knees. He probably looked like a fool but he didn't care, he was Fred, nothing made him think any less of himself except for maybe a woman, or George when he was in a strange mood.

'Right brain show me what you've got,' he thought with an underwhelming sense of optimism.

10 minutes passed and nothing came to him except for a fleeting thought of what he wanted for dinner and a pondering notion about what George was getting up to on his stealth mission. He let a sigh escape his lips and he hung his head in slight shame. He just wasn't on form today. No he couldn't think like that, genius took time, nothing ever came quickly so he'd just have to try harder than that. Sitting up straight he cleared him mind and screwed his face together in concentration and he ended up concentrating so hard that he didn't hear the door softly open and footsteps stop dead in the place where the door was.

Fred

Serenity had not been having a good day at all. Her father was pissing her off, Miles was acting like a total douche towards her, and whenever she needed Harry he always had something or other calling him away. She just did not know what more she could do to keep herself properly entertained. So it was in a last forced effort that she began making her way to the storage room. She often hid there when she needed to get away from the other students and her father. Of course there were often times when he would find her anyway, but she was sure that he was busy enough at the moment to not notice that she was gone. Pulling the door open to the storage room she jumped when she realized that someone was already in there.

"Oh..." she sighed.

It was a Weasley twin, but he didn't seem to be as hyper as what the usual ones were. Otherwise he would have slimed her, charmed her hair to turn blue, or something else that caused her great embarrassment.

"Don't mind me, Weasley," she sighed. "I won't bother you."

Moving past him she went and barricaded herself behind several boxes of junk and old desks.

Fred only opened his eyes when he heard the smooth tone of a girl that sounded all too familiar to him. He turned in his place just in time to see the girl dive behind some boxes. Arching an eyebrow and scratching his head he pondered for a moment. That couldn't have been Serenity Snape could it? Everyone knew her because she was the Headmaster's daughter and Fred knew of her even more because she was the girlfriend of Harry Potter. Several long minutes passed before he decided to turn on the charm.

"Potter getting too much for you that you have to hide in here with me Snape?" he asked smoothly as he got up and walked casually over to the boxes where she had concealed herself from him.

"I don't blame you, Harry's a real handful, sometimes he just can't keep his hands off me," he said with a chuckle as he tried to make a slightly disturbed sexual joke. Fred was comfortable with his sexuality and found that making these sorts of jokes was a breeze and did make people laugh and cringe at the same time. Oh how he and George got a laugh out of it all. He thought of his twin brother for a moment, the guy was never usually far from his mind and now he wondered how he was getting on in his mission. Hopefully he could come back with the goods and wouldn't get caught by anyone.

"What's the matter Snape? Not want to talk to a good looking guy such as myself?"

Serenity sighed, why couldn't people just leave her alone? Wasn't it bad enough that she had to deal with the mindless fucking abuse she got from other students...couldn't one or more of them just so pity on her and leave her to wallow in her own annoyance and irritation? No, of course not, because she was a Snape and they had no right in the wizarding world when it came to tranquility and peacefulness. Looking up at Fred she sighed, didn't these Weasley twins know when they were in way over her head? Yes Serenity was a fourth year, but she was the daughter of Severus Snape! Did they honestly think that she would just take crap from anyone?!

"I would love to talk to a good-looking guy," she sneered. "But Harry is not available at the present moment."

Her light eyes pierced into his own as she tried to find a way of escape from his toxic, happy-go-lucky presence.

"Don't you have a part of the school to deface?" she hissed. "Isn't there some place you would rather be than harassing the Headmaster's daughter?"

Fred held his hands up in defence and chuckled at her harsh reaction to his all around cheeky, charming nature. This girl was in a serious mood and heck he couldn't blame her one little bit. Serenity was the daughter of the headmaster, a title like that was bound to come with some stick and Fred knew that he was part of that mob which did give her said stick.

"I'm by no means harassing, what gave you that impression? I'm Fred Weasley I never harass, I merely jest is that such a crime? As for defacing the school I'm working on it. George is on a secret mission to try and obtain something for one of our new infamous products which is why you have come upon a lone Weasley twin on this fine day. It is my mission to come up with a new product idea before we deface this wonderful school and really it's not so much defacing as creating wonderful havoc on a daily basis which makes the student population happy and the stupid caretaker bust a vein in his head."

Fred smiled in a charming fashion at the clearly annoyed girl as he rubbed his nails on his jacket, pretending to shine them up in a way which emitted the confindence he felt. He then arched an eyebrow at her and chuckled in a deep, almost alurring way. What could he say, he was an insatiable flirt especially when George wasn't around.

"Harry may not be available at this precise moment in time but I'm sure you could settle for a dashing, suave and rather cute Weasley twin," he said in a tone he commonly used when he was chatting up a beautiful girl, but he was by no means chatting her up and expecting it to go somewhere, he was just playing and it kept him happy. He knew something was bothering this girl and because she was involved with Harry he felt a need to help her in her time of need but her apparently icy exterior would be hard to penetrate.

"You know if you told me what was getting your goat today, so to speak, then maybe I might just go away and sit at the far end of the storage room and continue on with my product brain storming session."

Serenity sighed, was it her, or were people extremely nosy today?! She turned to Fred and tried to determine what to say. She knew that she could always try the truth, but the fear of her father finding out would always linger. Her dad was never mad at her if she had a problem, he just wanted to help. And sometimes that just made it worse. She could not always let him help, there were times where it was just way out of his hands and she had to take matters into her own, delicate, palms.

"Weasley," she sighed. "What business is it of yours if I am having a bad day? None of your other brothers seem to care, why should you?"

She knew that she would probably get a smart ass comment in a moment, but Serenity did not care. She was very much used to people being horrible towards her. She was the Headmaster's daughter, it was bound to happen. People had actually hated her more when her father had been a teacher. The torment had almost been unbearable. And she knew that because of it, Harry and her had become distanced. Now they were dating...but she supposed that was just a wonderful irony.

"Have you seen Harry?" she whispered. "I haven't been able to find him...I...I think he's avoiding me."

Inwardly Fred chuckled to himself. None of his brothers cared, well that was the understatement of the century. All those guys could see was the Headmasters daughter and no one else, Ron was particularly bad when it came to this. He would rather put a giant slug in her bed than talk to her, even if she was his best friends girlfriend. Fred guessed that Ron had always had a hunch that Harry would have ended up with their Ginny, but Fred was smarter than that. Sure Ginny may have had a cruse on Harry but that was all it was, nothing more, nothing less. George was also one to over look Serenity and sometimes Fred had to remind him that she was just like everyone else, but in a worse off position.

"Why should I care? I think I have every right to care really. A beautiful girl like you shouldn't be feeling so down because what have you got feel so down about, other than the fact that your dad runs this place. By right you should have everyone eating out of the palm of your hand but you're not really like that are you? No you're different, you're not that conceted. You're not power obsessed with a mad tendancy to be overtly egotistical like some people we all know," at this Fred coughed the name 'Malfoy' and then continued on as if nothing had happened.

At her last statement Fred felt his heart melt slightly. So Harry was the one she was potentially having trouble with. Well that did concern Fred as Harry was his little brother's best friend, a big frequenter of their humble abode and not to mention a very very good friend of Fred's.

I've been meditating in a storage room for the past several hours so no I haven't seen him about any where. The last I heard was he was going to the Library with Hermione this morning, but I'm sure that didn't last long." Fred ran his fingers through his flaming red hair again and then leaned in a little closer to the infamous Slytherin.

"Harry's not the reason you're having a bad day is he?"

Serenity felt her lips purse. She hated the thought of Harry being with that Granger girl, but she supposed that it was nothing. Harry was always assuring her that there was nothing between the know it all and himself, so she was trying her best to believe him. Sighing she shook her head. Harry was never the problem, it was always her that had the problem. No...no, Harry was her solution. He was the one that saw her for what she truly was. The one person that would hold her when she cried and not threaten to tell the Headmaster. The one that did not judge her for her parentage. Not that Serenity was ashamed to be a Snape. She loved her father with all her heart. She would forever and always be a daddy's girl.

"Harry isn't the reason," she said gently. "He's the one I usually go to when I need to talk...or cry."

The last part she had muffled. Most people thought that her tear ducts were completely dry. That as a Snape she had no emotions and was not able to feel. Basically everyone at Hogwarts thought she was a little robot. But that wasn't true at all. Serenity was actually quite sensitive. Her father said that she got it from her, unnamed, mother. Serenity didn't mean to be, and for the most part the front she put up to protect herself was bullet proof. However Harry broke those walls down, and he had access to her heart and she can do as he so chooses with it.

"If you do see him," she continued softly. "Can...can you tell him I was looking for him?"

Fred chewed his lip. He didn't get uncomfortable often, he was a Weasley twin he helped to create the uncomfortable situations with some imaginative creativity. If she would only tell him what the heck the problem was then he could help her and be done with it, he didn't want to feel uncomfortable any more. It wasn't good for a creative mind.

"I'll tell him but I was planning to stay in this storage room until I came up with a brilliant new product idea," he said in a tonne which neither implied that he was being sensative or sarcastic. He scratched his chin and then looked around the room. A huge array of items filled his vision but still no ideas came to him. He then glanced at Serenity and an idea formed, not one that was in any way creative but it was one that could help him in that department. It was also an idea which could potentially get the little Snape to trust him a bit more.

"You know what you need?" he started playfully as he leaned a little closer to the petite Slytherin.

"You need something to take your mind off your troubles. How would you like to help me come up with a new practical joke product? If you help me to come up with something good I'll give you a third of the credit and royalties if it's sucessful." Fred paused for a moment and then bounded off to where he'd been sitting and grabbed some parchment and a quill that he'd left sitting there in case he'd thought of a brilliant, beyond fantastic idea while he was meditating. He slapped the parchment down on top of one of the boxes and held his quill at the ready.

"What do you say little Snape?"

Why did everyone insist on calling her that? Little Snape? It made her blush...she didn't know whether people called her that to ridicule her or if they legitamately thought it was a cute nickname. But even her teachers would call her that! So she assumed that it couldn't be that bad. In all reality Serenity knew more of the teachers than most of the students did. Mostly because she had grown up, living at Hogwarts. With a small sigh she watched as Fred pulled out a piece of parchment.

"I can't..." she said softly. "My dad would go bonkers...and he always knows when I do something wrong."

Her father was an Occlumens, he knew when someone lied before that person themselves knew it. She hated it, but in all reality it was a good skill. She knew because he was teaching her how to practice...that and meditation.

"I...I guess I could help..." Serenity pondered. "So long as you promise to not rat me out to the old man...he'll make me break up with Harry if I act up."

"Fred Weasley? Rat somebody out? To the headmaster of all people? What do you take me for some sort of nasty weasle? Don't worry your pretty little self about it, I would rather die than rat you out to anyone, let alone your big bad dad." Fred gave Serenity a reasuring wink and put his quill to the parchment. Having someone helping him would make his job a whole lot easier. George would be pleased and who knew Serenity Snape could potentially be very good at prank product brain storming.

"I was thinking of making another sweet product but then I thought that we've already done something like that. The Skiving Snack box is brilliant but should we make something that could potentially harm the selling of that?" Fred hoped he wasn't talking too quickly for the cute little Slytherin but he doubted it, she was intelligent, very intelligent.

"What do you think the girls of the school would like? How about a love potion of some kind?" Maybe he was being stereotypical, but Fred wasn't as good with the Female products as George was. George had Rozie and so could run thing past her to make sure that they didn't sound stupid. But if Fred was able to go to George with a really decent female product then maybe he could really impress his twin which would win him back a lot of brother points from the time he'd put a dozen chocolate frogs in George's bed. Mentally he chuckled as he remembered the incident.

"If I'm honest with you little Snape I'm really bad at coming up with good idea's for girls. Does that make me a bad inventor?"