AN: Disclaimer, ect, not my characters. I don't know if I'll continue this or not. Reviews will change my mind, though... Hint hint, wink wink. Constructive criticism is always lovely.
"Fred, it's because you forgot to add in the essence of murtlap! You always forget it and then you both always come out in boils. If that's all you hired me for was to remind you to add components you should remember, I'm wasting my time."
He grinned nonrepentantly at her. "I hired you, Miss Brains, to help me develop new products while George is concentrating on getting the Hogsmeade branch up and running," he reminded her. "That means I bounce ideas off you, you record things we've already tried, you use your extensive knowledge of Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration to aid my experiments, and, yes, you remind me about things I've forgotten. If you really want to earn your pay, you can help me with those boils, too." He winked.
"Hmph. Not likely," Hermione snorted. Two days into her short-term stint at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, and she was having the time of her life. Sure, Fred was maddening at times, but the job itself was far more intricate and fascinating than she ever thought it would be, and she'd be sorry to go in a month or two when the new shop was up and running and George could return to the main branch. Ron would take over the reins of the Hogsmeade shop so he could be closer to Lavender (who had taken over the Divination position at Hogwarts) and Hermione would return to the Ministry, likely much the better for her break.
Working in the Department for the Regulation of Magical Creatures had seemed like a dream come true-fight for the better treatment of house elves, werewolves, centaurs, and any other non-human species-but the realities of the job were far more tedious than she thought, and got fewer results than she could have hoped. Occasionally she wondered if she'd have more luck outside the Ministry as a lobbyist. Certainly her fame would then add weight to her words.
"Oy, Hermione! Give me a hand!" Shaken from her thoughts, she hurried to go help her wayward employer with the large stack of ingredients for the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder they'd be making after lunch. She hadn't realized everything in the shop was made by hand, either by the twins themselves or one of their employees. When they had them, that is. Currently, Fred and Hermione were the entire staff of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes on Diagon Alley, with George and Ron away and Fred's other two employees on maternity leave and in St. Mungo's, respectively.
After rescuing half of the jars from Fred and setting them down in their workroom (it was in the basement to muffle the sounds of the explosions) Hermione stopped and took a deep breath. So far today she had captured six runaway Pygmy Puffs, made a batch of Canary Creams, whipped up some essence of murtlap for Fred's boils, stocked the shelves with Extendable Ears, one of which had gone rogue and tried to strangle her, and done it all while manning the register. Not that she could blame Fred-he'd done everything she had and a dozen other tasks to boot.
"What say we grab some lunch now, Granger? I think you deserve a treat after all the hard work you've put in the last couple days." Fred grinned at her again, eyes twinkling. Forgetting her exasperated act, Hermione pushed her hair from her face and grinned back. "I'd love to, Weasley, but you're buying."