Fred started with his brief tour of the shop while George was finishing off the last bits of Sophia's Polyjuice Potion. Despite her urge to stay resistant to the twins' idea, she couldn't help but be struck in awe from all the things she saw in the shop. From fireworks to enchanted sweets, the shop had anything you could ever think of and more! And for the whole tour, Fred had the biggest of smiles on his face and couldn't help the tone of excitement and pride that was laced through his voice. Sophia found herself turning to goo at the sight of him being so comfortable and experienced with what was his dream that has now become a reality. She had to remind herself that she was supposed to be looking at all the products and not the boy beside her.

"Well it's ready," George appeared from down the steps in front of the two. "We just need a hair now."

"Would you like us to pick the candidate?" Fred questioned as he turned to Sophia.

"As long as it's not some old dude then I'm good with anyone," Sophia shrugged. "But preferably a girl."

Opening time was near and Verity, the cashier, arrived through the front door. Fred had already ushered Sophia up to the flat to wait so they didn't have to worry about her being seen. They couldn't trust anyone to keep the secret so they found it better just to keep the two of them in on it for now. George turned the sign on the front door to 'Open' and people began to file in. Verity stayed on the cash register while George started to help customers when they came with inquiries and questions about products. Fred took a place on the stairs that lead up to the flat and began scouting out the crowd for a suitable hair for Sophia's potion. Most of today's customers were thankfully young people, ranging from thirteen to eighteen-year-olds. Some Magical schools hadn't quite gone back for term yet so they still ventured into the only shop open in Diagon Alley.

Fred spotted three girls who looked to be around eighteen lingering near the Self-Writing Quills. He played eeny, meeny, miny, moe and landed on the black-haired one who had porcelain skin and rather piercing green eyes. Fred tried to weave through the crowd while trying to not look too suspicious, but knew he wasn't succeeding when the three girls started to look in his direction while whispering among themselves. It didn't help that he was one of the two people who actually owned the shop, making him easy to spot and be recognised. What Fred didn't like was the giggling that was starting to erupt from the three and the fluttering of their eyelashes they started to send in his direction. He had half a mind to turn around and pick someone else, but he was reeled in before he could turn away.

"Mr Weasley!" the straight blonde haired one called out. Fred cursed under his breath but plastered on an award-winning smile, stopping in front of the three giggling witches.

"Hey ladies," he greeted and they giggled again, inwardly making his cringe. "Finding everything okay?"

"Oh yes sir," the black-haired candidate grinned up at him, attempting to shuffle closer. "It really is amazing in here. You and your brother really are talented."

"Oh e-er thank you," Fred scratched the back of his neck, now feeling extremely uncomfortable. The one with black hair was starting to cuddle up against his side and he had the urge to hold his hands above his head in order to show he was not going to touch her. But he realised his hand was at least a couple inches away from the tips of the girl's frizzy hair, making it a perfect chance to grab the last ingredient for the potion.

"Can you explain some of the Love Potions to us Mr Weasley?" the third girl bit her lip while staring at him.

"E-Er that's not really my expertise-"

"Oh please Mr Weasley!" the blonde whined. It was now becoming apparent that these girls were blocking off his exits and the black-haired one was now clutching his jacket in desperation. Fred started to splutter nervously and began to look over his shoulder frantically, feeling his entire being relax in relief when he spotted George nearby sorting through the last of the Headless Hats.

"Actually, if you'll look to my brother here-" Fred reached over and grabbed hold of George's arm, yanking him over to save himself from being smothered for any longer. "-he can tell you all about Love Potions!"

"Wait what-"

"Thanks Georgie!" Fred quickly slipped away into the crowd, leaving the three girls to pamper George who stood there puzzled and overwhelmed by the sudden unwanted attention.

Fred wiped at his forehead in relief before holding the scraggly thin hair that was clutched between his thumb and forefinger up to his face, making his way up the stairs and into the flat. He turned down the hallway where the bedrooms sat as well as the spare room, which he headed to hastily. Opening the door, he immediately spotted the steaming cauldron that sat in the middle of the floor with Sophia sitting beside it with a bored expression. She sat with her legs crossed with her fist against her cheek, but changed demeanour immediately when Fred entered the room.

"You got it?" she questioned as she jumped to her feet and looked expectantly at him.

"After nearly being smothered to death, yes, I got it," Fred held up the black hair with a grimace.

"Smothered?" Sophia repeated with a confused look.

"Nevermind."

Fred crouched down in front of the smoking cauldron and dropped the hair inside, watching it turn a dark violet colour within seconds. A bottle sat on the floor beside it, waiting to be filled with the potion, to which he did with a large spoon that he used to stir the liquid. Pouring all the violet concoction into the bottle, he held it out to Sophia who took it worryingly.

"I'm still not sure about this," she mumbled as she looked down into the thick potion.

"You'll be fine love," Fred shrugged. "Although, let me kiss you before you change. I don't want to be kissing the bird who was just trying to rape me."

"Wait so does that mean I have to act like I don't know you while in the shop?" Sophia stopped. "And what do you mean she tried to rape you?"

"Well I don't usually snog the customers," Fred said with a 'duh' tone, rolling his eyes. "And let's just say I picked the wrong girl to get the hair from."

Sophia sighed and looked down at the bottle in her hands, bracing herself for the change she knew she was about to feel. She shut her eyes and swigged down a sip, swallowing it with great difficulty. It tasted like black licorice and what you would imagine nail polish would taste like. Resisting the urge to let the potion come back up her throat, Sophia began to feel a tingly sensation spread from under her skin and seize her entire being. After at least six seconds of this feeling, she opened her eyes to see Fred staring back at her with a familiar cringe.

"Merlin that's creepy," he mumbled as he looked over the girl that he was just trying to get away from downstairs. The black hair that frizzed wildly began to fall into the girl's eyes, making her wince in irritation and grab the hair tie from her wrist to tie it into a bun on the top of her head.

"Geez how can this girl live with this sort of hair..." Sophia's voice didn't match her appearance and it baffled Fred. She definitely looked unrecognisable and it weirded him out to hear her voice, yet only see someone he didn't know or liked at all.

"I didn't get to kiss you before!" Fred suddenly remembered.

"You can still do it now if you want," Sophia shrugged and took off the jumper she was wearing that displayed the obvious 'S'. It was best to not wear something that hinted towards the Weasley family, and the jumpers made by Molly Weasley every Christmas definitely gave that away.

"No thanks," Fred's curled his lips into an uncomfortable look, eyeing all the different features she now had. This girl's eyes were green and not Sophia's light grey ones, and no freckles littered this person's nose like Sophia's did. Fred found himself instantly missing her light brown hair and brown freckles, only finding frizzy blackness and pale spotless skin.

"Well if you need to talk to me at all today, call me Penny," Sophia exclaimed and started to make her way to the door with the bottle of potion still clamped in her hand. Fred followed after her wordlessly, noticing how much 'Penny' walked like Sophia did. He thought that he would maybe not be able to control his kisses and cuddles while working today even with Sophia looking so different, but he suddenly felt like he wouldn't have the same urges now. His previous run-in with the girl who originally looked like this was not so tasteful, completely putting him off the idea.

"This is it then," Sophia broke Fred out of his thoughts and he realised that they were standing in front of the door that lead into the shop downstairs. He glanced at the door before looking down at the girl, again being thrown off by the different appearance. He tried his best to hide his cringe by smiling lightly and showing a supportive look.

"You ready?"

Sophia breathed in a deep breath and nodded, ignoring the anxiety and nervousness that was overpowering her thoughts. She hadn't been around so many people at once since her return and this would be the first time 'socialising' with people outside of The Burrow and the Order of the Phoenix. It was like walking into a new school and having to sit next to someone you didn't know at all. She wasn't even sure if she was ready, but forced herself to walk forward once Fred pulled open the door.

George had just fake-waved goodbye to the three girls who Fred had left him with. He let out the loudest sighs of relief and turned around only again to see the same clingy black frizzy haired girl making her way down the stairs from the flat with Fred in toe. George had to rub his eyes reassuringly and look back up in hopes that it wasn't some trick, but only came up with a slightly blurrier picture of the girl. It was only the fact that this girl was wearing a long sleeved t-shirt and jeans instead of the coat and skirt the other girl was wearing that made him realise who it really was. He also noticed the slightly uncomfortable and awkward posture that the girl displayed that the girl before definitely didn't have.

"Really Freddie? You couldn't of picked someone else?" George hissed quietly once his brother and Sophia had stopped in front of him.

"Hey, I didn't know she was going be such a clinging-Koala when I randomly chose her," Fred fought back. "Besides, it did what we wanted it to do. She's unrecognisable!"

"How do you feel Soph?" George asked while turning to the squirming figure that looked over her shoulders frequently.

"Nervous. Claustrophobic. Like I'm going to faint..." she murmured through loud intakes of air.

"Hey calm down," Fred placed a hand on her shoulder, glancing around the shop for any suspiciously staring eyes. "You're fine. No one's going to come in here to hurt you. No one knows it's you... Penny."

"Penny? Oh come on, you couldn't have done better than-"

"Hey Weasleys," Lee Jordan suddenly appeared out of nowhere with a lazy grin on his face, immediately turning to Sophia who stood there with her arms now cradling herself to appear smaller and unnoticed. "Oooh who's this? A new girlie of one of yours?"

"Lee, it's me," Sophia's voice rang out and he jumped back, eyes wide from the instant recognition of the voice.

"W-What the hell! You sound just like-"

Fred whacked a hand over Lee's mouth to stop him from yelling out the name that will definitely give away their secret. Both he and George looked around frantically to see only a few eyes turning to look at the origin of the obnoxious exclamation. They soon turned away with odd looks once Lee's lips had been sealed, letting the two sigh and remove Fred's hand from Lee's gaping mouth. The dark-skinned boy continued to stare at the unrecognisable girl who looked back at him awkwardly and nervously. He couldn't believe that he had even for moment feel slightly attracted to the person, only to realise that it was actually his once close friend that had gone missing so suddenly. He looked at Fred and George with raised eyebrows, expecting an immediate answer for the surrealism.

"I-Is that... A-Are you really Sophia?" Lee voice lowered considerably, relieving all three of the listeners.

"Yeah," George whispered back, still wary of eavesdroppers. "We made a Polyjuice Potion to make sure she stays hidden from the Ministry. You can NOT tell anyone you saw her Lee. She's not even supposed to be here right now."

"I-I can't believe you're alive," Lee commented and looked utterly amazed. "Everyone thinks you're dead!"

"Well we need to keep it that way," Fred spoke up and intently glared at Lee. "Don't blabber mate. We'll have your head if you do."

"I won't, I promise," Lee nodded seriously but smiled weakly at who he knew was Sophia. "It's just good to see you Soph."

"It's good to see you too Lee," Sophia nodded back and smiled warmly. She hadn't taken into consideration what the people who she once knew thought about what had happened to her in these past months. She didn't blame them for thinking she was dead, but it warmed her heart to hear that Lee was happy to see her.