AN: I haven't wrote a Fred/George dynamic in a long while so I'll apologise in advance for it it sucks.
Fred stood in the back room of the shop looking over the recipe for his newest product – Galloping Gum. Something was wrong with it but he wasn't sure what it was. George wouldn't be of any help either – Fred had always been better at potions than George, plus George was working on the Frostbite Frisbees.
"How's that gum coming on, Freddie?" George asked, poking his head round the door.
"I don't know, George, there's something missing but I'm not sure what…" he told his twin, scratching his head with a pencil.
"Well give it here then, I'll test it out and then you'll know what's wrong with it!"
"But…" Fred started, but George just held out his hand and started tapping his foot impatiently until he gave in.
Fred reluctantly walked around the cauldron to the box near the wall and took a stick of gum out of the box labelled '8' before walking back to his twin and handing it over. He wasn't that worried, Fred knew it wasn't dangerous and he and George had tested out their products on each other countless times, but he couldn't help being a little bit worried since it was his twin after all.
George took the gum from Fred, put it in his mouth and began to chew. Fred stood there, unintentionally holding his breath while he waited for George to react. It took a minute, but react he did. George was just starting to relax, certain that nothing was going to happen to him, when all of a sudden he started moving around the room. It was slow at first, but got faster and faster until he was galloping around the room like a horse. Fred watched in amazement and then doubled over in laughter at the expression on George's face. It was clear he had no control over his legs, and while he was enjoying it and how fast he was going Fred could tell he was a little worried that he'd never have his legs back to himself. Eventually, though, George just gave in and started laughing with his brother.
"How long… d'you think… it'll take… to wear off?" George asked between bursts of laughter, "Only… the shop opens… in fifteen minutes…"
"No idea, Georgie, looks like I'll be manning the shop on my own this morning." Fred told his brother with a wink before walking out into the front of the shop.
Fred walked around the shop, picking up anything that had fallen over and making sure everything was fully stocked. He enjoyed times like this, he was so rarely on his own – even when he was working on his own product for the shop George was constantly popping his head in to see how he was getting on. As he was getting the shop ready he noticed George had left some of his Frostbit Frisbees out in the shop. He wasn't foolish enough to touch them, he didn't know exactly what they did, but he knew that the customers definitely would be that foolish so he levitated them to the back of the shop where George was still galloping at full speed.
"I think I'm starting to get control of my legs, Freddie! How long has it been?" George asked as Fred walked into the back room.
"Just over 20 minutes. Feel like you're going to stop galloping any time soon?"
"Not a chance, Freddie."
"It definitely needs some work then, it should only last for 15 minutes. Where d'you want your Frostbite Frisbees?" he asked levitating them through the door behind him.
"Somewhere I'm not going run into them, they keep giving me frostbite for a minute every time I touch them – it's meant to only be when you don't catch it."
"Got it!" Fred told his brother, levitating them through another door and putting them with the rest of the products that still needed work but they didn't have time for just yet.
"They're next to the Punching Pencils and in front of the Maps!" Fred told George as he made his way back to the front of the shop, "Don't destroy anything in here while I'm manning the shop!"
Fred looked at his watch; one minute to nine, time to open up. As he turned the sign round to the open side he heard a pop behind him. Spinning round so fast he nearly fell over, he turned to face Hermione.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, wondering why the goody two shoes wife of his youngest brother would be in his shop.
"George sent and owl to Ron saying you might need some help in the shop this morning since he was a little inconvenienced. He's got training but I said I'd be willing to help out. I told my boss I couldn't go in until 12 today," Hermione said, walking to the cloakroom to get one of the WWW aprons from it, "So where do you want me?"
Fred was dumbfounded, he knew Hermione was working in a muggle bookshop while she tried to get her way into the Ministry but he never thought she'd be willing to miss half a day of work to help out in their shop.
"Hermione, be honest with me – do you actually like your job?" Fred asked, an idea suddenly coming to him.
"I… why would you ask that?" she asked, somehow sounding confused, offended and happy all at the same time.
"It's just, I've never known you to have any time off before in your life – not from work or even at school – yet you're willing to take the morning off to come and help out a friend. Why?" Fred knew he was being quite blunt, but he knew the witch in front of him wouldn't mind since she was quite blunt herself.
"I… well… I suppose it is a little boring sometimes…" she murmured. Fred grinned; suddenly she had made this a lot easier for him.
"Well, little bookworm-in-law, how would you like to quit your job…"
"What?" Hermione interjected, horrified at the thought of being jobless. But Fred just ignored her and carried on talking.
"…and come and work here in our shop? We certainly could use your expertise in magic. You're meant to be the brightest witch or something like that, aren't you?"
"I… Fred, I couldn't… I mean…" Hermione stammered, but Fred shut her up again.
"Look, Hermione, you're no happy being stuck in that job – no matter how much you love books it just isn't what you want. So, you can come and work for George and me. I can promise you it's a lot more fun." Fred winked at her; he knew he was going to get his way.
"What about George? Shouldn't you ask him if it's okay first?" she asked. Fred could tell Hermione was trying not to smile at the thought of working here, but he didn't want to push his luck.
"Of course… GEORGE!" Fred called to the back room. A few seconds later, the door burst open and George came galloping towards them.
"Definitely got control of my legs now…" George told Fred as he made his way towards them, "Can't stop galloping yet though, have to keep moving at all times… oh, Hermione, what brings you here? Where's that idiot husband of yours?"
"Ronniekins has Auror training today," Fred told his twin, "so Hermione here has taken the morning off work to come in and help us, how kind…"
"Little Miss Bookworm has taken a day off from her job in a bookshop to come and help out her husband's idiot family? She must really hate her job…" George said to his brother, acting like she wasn't even in the room.
"She does indeed, Georgie. I've come up with the perfect solution to all of our problems, but she said I had to ask you first."
"Oh yes, and what was this perfect solution you speak of?"
"Well for her to work here, of course. She'd be able to help up with turning the muggle stuff into great products, plus I think her talent in potions may be useful to refine the recipe for the Galloping Gum, and we get her out of that boring job of hers."
"That does sound perfect…" George said before turning to Hermione, "Welcome to your new job, can you man the tills for today? We'll sort out a proper rota later and it shall begin from tomorrow!"
"But, I…" Hermione protested but George had already turned to go into the back room once more.
"Away, good stead!" he called to his legs before galloping away.
Fred laughed, the whole situation was ridiculous. It was only ten past nine in the morning and already they'd had a product gone wrong and hired their brother's wife. Fred could only imagine how strange the rest of the day was going to go.
Words: 1,483
This is for:
Quidditch League Practice round;
Fred Weasley, A Day at Work, Galloping, Pencil, Frostbite.
Harry Potter Carnival Competition;
I have never chewed gum, Fred Weasley.
A Variety of Prompts Challenge;
Relationships - Colleagues.
Favourite Character Challenge;
Fred & George.