"It's too hard!"
"Oh, honestly Ronald, it's a job application, not rocket science." Hermione huffed.
"Rocke- What?" Ron said, puzzled.
Hermione sighed, "Muggle thing, don't worry". Hermione shook her head impatiently, "Ron, all you have to do is write down your skills, job experience, and hour preference". Ron had been trying to write an application to work at Zonko's for over four hours, and Hermione, who was helping him, was getting frustrated.
"But I don't have any skills or previous work experience!" Ron exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air in an impatient manner.
"Then just write that!" Hermione followed suit and also threw her arms in the air, "Unbelievable! You've been sitting here for four hours and you've only written 'dear Sir/Madame'"
"Can't you just do it for me?" Ron asked, pathetically. Hermione, in turn, shot Ron a death glare.
"Look Ron-" Hermione said in a dangerously low voice, "-I never did a Hogwarts assignment for you, so I'm sure as heck not going to do this."
Ron sheepishly turned back to the basically empty parchment and stared at it while Hermione tried to regain her composure, just as Fred and George strolled into the living room of The Burrow where Hermione and Ron were seated.
"What's up Ickle-Ronnikins?" The twins chorused.
"Shut it. I'm busy." Ron snapped back, but the twins merely smirked.
"Yeah, we can tell, must have taken a lot of effort to write, how many words was it again George?" Fred started,
"Oh, I'm not sure, let me count, 1…2…3…" George continued,
"3! That's outrageous, my goodness George, we have a genius in our midst!"
"I know Fred, 3 words in four hours, quite the feat,"
"Indeed, George."
"Oh put a sock in it you two, Ron's busy…deliberating…and he doesn't need you mocking him" Hermione gave the boys a stern look and the twins laughed and sat down next to her and Ron on the floor. Hermione sighed,
"Ron, lets just do this tomorrow, think about what you want to put in the application, okay?" Hermione concluded.
"That sounds like a smart idea, seeing as these two-" Ron pointed at the twins, "-won't be allowing me to do anything productive anytime soon." Ron stood up, gathered his things and promptly left the room, but not before giving the twins one last cold glare.
Fred turned to George and winked at him, making George flush and look away. Hermione noticed this and decided to ask Ron if something was going on later. It was either something fishy or they were just planning a prank.
"So, Hermy." Fred started, emphasising her nickname, knowing how much she hated it. Ron had tried to call her it but he only ended up with an extremely large nose as a consequence. "How's life?" Fred smiled resting his chin in his hand, while his elbow was resting on his crossed leg.
Hermione quickly felt uncomfortable under Fred's intense gaze and shifted her seating position.
"Um, it's alright…" Hermione avoided Fred's eyes, instead finding great interest a tassel on the end of the rug.
"Oh come on Hermione, you're so uptight, you need to loosen up, be free," Hermione felt like giving Fred a bat-bogey hex for calling her 'uptight', but relented. "Hey! I have an idea, why don't you come with George and I to Diagon Alley tomorrow for lunch. What do you say? George and I would be ever so delighted," Fred winked at George again. What was with that winking?
"Yeah, delighted…" George shifted uncomfortably; Hermione noticed he had turned a nice shade of crimson. Strange. Hermione had never seen George so unpoised. Hermione was lost in her thoughts when she saw a hand wave in front of her face.
"Hello? Anyone home?" Fred looked at Hermione intently, expecting an answer, "Will you come with us? Will you will you will you? Oh please Hermione!" Fred begged.
"Um, I guess I could-"
"Excellent! Meet you in this exact spot at 12 o clock p.m. tomorrow, exactly 36 seconds past the hour." Fred said excitedly, standing up and checking his watch.
"Why so exact?" Hermione asked, puzzled.
"No reason, just testing you." Fred smiled before leaving the room, with a quiet George trailing behind. Hermione was left perplexed as to why Fred and George of all people would invite her to lunch. Oh well, Hermione thought, it's a free lunch. Hermione shrugged to herself before gathering her belongings and going upstairs to read.
