Disclaimer: I do not own anything regarding Harry Potter.
Summary: Hermione has failed all of her NEWTs and takes a job with Fred and George at their joke shop. She realizes that failing her NEWTs is not as bad as she thought it would be.
Written for a contest at the Third Floor Corridor. If you'd like to join the forum, go to my profile and check out the link.
Rules: Hermione has failed all her NEWTS for some reason and must take a job with Fred and George Weasley in their shop. Must be over 500 words.
It's Not the End of the World – Yet:
"Hey Harry!" shouted Ronald Weasley over the loud chattering of his classmates at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Harry Potter raised his emerald green eyes from the piece of parchment he was holding and beamed back at his best friend.
"Yeah, Ron?" Harry asked him, waiting expectantly for the question he knew he was going to receive.
"How'd you do on your NEWTs?" asked Ron, smiling at his best friend.
Harry pretended to breathe a sigh of relief, "I am so glad that I've finished with my Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests that I don't even care if I get Trolls on all of them."
"But you didn't did you?" asked Ron, looking anxious.
Harry shook his head, "I got an Outstanding in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Outstanding in Potions, Exceeds Expectations in Charms, and for the rest of my classes, I got E's as well. What about you?" he asked.
The tall red-haired boy laughed, "Same as you, except I didn't get an O in Potions; I got an E."
Ron shrugged, "At least that was the last test I ever had to take in Hogwarts. I am finished! And Mum will be so glad that I didn't fail any of my subjects!" he cried triumphantly.
The two boys looked over at their best friend, Hermione Granger, the Gryffindor Head Girl for the current year.
They walked on over to her, Ron on Hermione's right side, and Harry on Hermione's left.
"So, I bet you got all O's on your NEWTs, am I right?" asked Ron, laughing.
He continued on, "I mean, you are the Gryffindor Know-it-All and you're always so prepared! I'd be so surprised if I got better grades than you!"
Harry kicked Ron's foot and motioned for him to come over to Harry.
"What, Harry? You didn't have to kick me so hard!" said Ron harshly.
Harry used his chin to point at their best friend.
Hermione was clutching the results of her NEWTs so tightly, that her knuckles were turning white. On the parchment Hermione was holding, there were traces of wet marks –tears.
Ron fell silent and he walked back over to Hermione.
Harry did the same.
"Hermione?" asked Harry gently.
Hermione looked up into the eyes of her best friend, her eyes gleaming bright with tears.
"What's wrong?" Harry cried, immediately falling onto the floor so he could be eye level with her.
Hermione did not speak; she only held out the card for Harry to see. She brushed away her tears and placed her face into her hands.
As Harry read the results that Hermione had received on her test, his mouth dropped open.
Ron walked over to Harry and his eyes widened when they fell onto the parchment that Harry was holding.
Advanced Ancient Runes - Poor
Advanced Arithmancy - Poor
Charms - Dreadful
Defense Against the Dark Arts - Troll
History of Magic – Dreadful
Advanced Muggle Studies - Dreadful
Advanced Potions - Troll
Transfiguration – Troll
"Hermione," Ron couldn't help saying, "What happened?"
Hermione raised her head, and bravely faced her friend.
"I-I don't know," she said defensively, "All I know is that I studied so hard on those tests, but when they were actually sitting in front of me, my mind blanked! It never happened before."
"So what did you do?" asked Harry.
Hermione shrugged, tears coming into her eyes once again, "What else could I do? I winged almost all of my tests. I thought I did well in Potions, but I guess I thought wrong."
Harry patted Hermione's back awkwardly, "Maybe there's a mistake. I mean, maybe they gave you T's when they should have given you O's."
Ron nodded, "After all, you always got O's!"
Hermione shook her head, "Not this time. I studied the whole night on the tests, and I think I fell asleep doing my Arithmancy test. I don't know what's going to happen – to me, or my future!" she cried, burying her head back in her hands again.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Granger. With grades like yours on the NEWTs, I'm afraid that we can't hire you for a job here at the Wizarding World Headquarters," said the lady sadly.
Hermione's high hopes came crashing back down. She nodded her head sadly, and she looked away.
"Maybe you'll get lucky next time," the lady said again, before looking back down at her work.
Hermione walked out of the building and into the busy streets of Diagon Alley.
With grades like hers, she had no way getting a job. Sure, Harry and Ron offered to lend her money, but why would she want to borrow money from her friends? If she did, she would feel obligated to return the money back at once.
Hermione sat down in a chair at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor to rest her tired and sore legs.
She was wearing high heels and a business outfit for the job interview that she just came from. Once again, she had no luck.
Hermione's head rushed with thoughts. She was the smartest girl in Hogwarts! She couldn't understand why she had failed all her NEWTs. She talked to the Headmaster, Dumbledore about it and he just looked at her sadly, but offered her no words of advice. Professor Minerva McGonagall, the Head of House of Gryffindors had done the same. Both had tried to condole the crying girl, but neither had anything helpful to say.
Facts were facts. Hermione Granger had studied too hard, and on the day of her tests, she had forgotten everything she had studied the night before. She had worn herself out.
Hermione had sat out on her graduation day. She did not invite her parents to come to Hogwarts to watch her graduate. Yes, she did graduate, but she was not valedictorian like she thought she would be. She had spent the day sleeping in her room.
Words were spoken about her, glances were given to her, and rumors were spread about the poor Gryffindor girl.
Hermione never told her parents that she had failed all her NEWTs. She barely visited them anymore. A birthday card on either one of their birthday and a telephone call for Christmas.
Suddenly, somebody plopped into the chair across from Hermione's and gave a big sigh of relief.
"Ice cream!" he cried.
Hermione was torn out of her thoughts and she now concentrated on the man sitting in front of her.
"Fred Weasley," she mused to herself.
The redheaded man nodded, as if pleased that Hermione had remember his name. After all, he had graduated two years before she had. Actually, he never did graduate. George (his twin) and Fred both left school because the Headmistress at the time, Dolores Umbridge, was mean and snotty. They had opened up their own shop – 93 Diagon Alley, London – called the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Inside, all kinds of pranks, jokes, and laughs were sold.
Fred was Ron's brother and he was also a twin. Ron had come from a big family- nine people. Ron had five older brothers and one younger sister.
"How are you doing, Hermione? I haven't seen you for a while. It's been quite long, hasn't it?" he asked his fellow friend.
Hermione shrugged, "Has it? I haven't really noticed."
Fred frowned, but dismissed her behavior, blaming the weather.
"So, what are you up to now? Jobs, husband, children?" he asked her, grinning widely.
Hermione sighed, "No job, no husband, and no children."
Fred looked taken aback, "You're kidding me!"
Hermione glanced at Fred wearily, "What do you mean?" she asked him.
Fred looked confused.
"Didn't Ron ever tell you? Weren't you there at his graduation?" she asked.
Fred shook his head, "Business," he stated simply.
Hermione nodded, "Oh. Well, to make a long story short, I did really badly on my NEWTs and now, nobody will hire me. They said that even if I did help Harry and Ron defeat Voldemort in our seventh year, they wouldn't hire me because of my poor grades."
Fred's eyes widened, "You failed all of your NEWTs?" he asked her incredulously.
Hermione nodded, "I guess defeating Voldemort and studying and everything all caught up to me. I fell asleep in one of my tests and I drew a blank in all the other ones that I took," she said.
Fred whistled a low and long whistle, "Dang! So what have you been doing?" he asked her.
"Trying to find a job. I mean, I have money and an apartment, but I really need to get a job. My money's running low and … my parents have no clue," she said miserably, a tear running down her cheek.
"Haven't Ron and Harry tried to help you?" asked Fred.
"They've done more than enough. They were the ones who helped me get an apartment. Both tried to help me find jobs, but nobody will accept me because of my results on my NEWTs," said Hermione.
Fred's eyes brightened, "Why don't you come and work for George and me?" he said.
Hermione's heart stopped and she started to laugh, "You want me to work in a joke shop?" she asked him, "You have got to be kidding!"
Fred frowned, "What's wrong with that? You need a job, don't you? And George and I will pay you pretty high. After all, there's no other employee working in our shop."
Hermione bit her lip. She really needed the money…
She looked up at her long-time friend, "Well, I guess I can work in the shop. But only for a short while until I find another job. I really want to become a Mediwitch after I graduated. Now, I'll have to enroll in the Wizarding University, take all those classes again, and take my NEWTs once more before I can accomplish my dream."
Fred grinned, "Trust me. Once you start working at the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, you won't want to quit."
"So, all you do is type in the amount that the item costs, collect their money, and give them back their change," instructed George, who was still overcome with shock that Hermione Granger was now working with them because she had failed all her NEWTs.
Hermione nodded.
"You've memorized the price of each item right?" he asked her.
She nodded again.
George sighed, "Hey, cheer up! It's going to be fun working here."
It was a month since Fred had hired Hermione to work for him. For a month, she had been memorizing how much a canary cream or a ton-tongue toffee cost. She despised working at the shop. No offense to Fred and George, but Hermione wanted a real job. A job where she could actually have fun and do something she liked doing.
Fred and George knew that Hermione was a bit reluctant to take the job at their shop, but it was the most they could do to help a friend.
"Welcome to Weasley' Wizard Wheezes," she said, a bit dully as customers poured in once the shop opened up.
Hermione had to admit, there were many people willing to buy a laugh. Children to adults of all ages entered the shop.
Hermione was found one afternoon, sitting in her chair ready to snap at the next customer that talked to her.
People treated her with no respect! The comments she had gotten were all from persistent customers.
"Hey you! Get that box down for me."
"I want that toy, now!"
"I don't care. You're not the owner of this shop."
When all the customers had cleared the shop – partly due to Hermione sending death glares at each one of them until he or she left – she settled down on a chair with a book.
"Excuse me, miss," said a young boy dressed in shabby clothes.
The boy's clothes had holes and were black from dirt and soot. His hair was disheveled and he had a front tooth missing.
Hermione angrily looked up from the book she was reading. She hated to be disturbed once she was in the middle of a book.
When her eyes rested on the small child about six or seven, her eyes softened.
"What can I do for you?" she asked him in a much kinder tone of voice.
She hadn't seen him enter the shop. She must have been quite absorbed into her book.
The boy visibly relaxed and he smiled, "I was wondering if you could help me get a fake wand. I want one that can turn into a dragon, but all the ones on the shelf only turn into turkeys."
Hermione put her book down on her desk and walked out of her little desk, and took the child's hand.
"Why don't you show me where the fake wands are?" she suggested to him.
The boy beamed up at Hermione and nodded his head enthusiastically, grateful that Hermione was going to help him.
"It's right over there, miss," he said, pointing to an aisle right next to both of them.
Hermione walked over to it and said, "All these wands turn only into turkeys?" she asked him.
The boy nodded.
Hermione smiled, "Well, I'll see what I can do!"
She stood on her tiptoes to try to get the box off of the highest shelf.
She was still lacking a few inches before her fingertips could touch the box, so she dragged a chair up to the shelf.
Standing on the chair helped her reach the box, and she pulled it down, looking inside at the many fake wands.
"You want one that turns into a … dragon, was it?" she asked the boy.
The boy nodded his head again, and Hermione reached her hand into the box, pulling out a wand.
"Try this one," she suggested to the boy.
The boy took it and smiled widely when he saw that the wand did indeed turn into a dragon.
"This is the one, miss! This is the one!" he cried, jumping up and down.
Hermione placed the other wands back onto the shelf, and she got down from her chair.
"What's your name?" she asked him, looking down at the boy who had little flecks of dirt on his face.
"My name is Henry, miss. Henry Jones."
Hermione laughed, "Why Henry, what a nice name. I'm Hermione. You don't have to keep on calling me miss."
The boy smiled, "Thank you H-Hermione."
Hermione walked back behind the cashier box and said, "Well, that'll be two galleons," she said to the child.
The boy reached into his pockets and pulled out only one galleon.
His face fell and he said sadly, "Darn, I forgot I only had one galleon. Maybe I'll buy it next time I come."
Hermione couldn't help but feel sorry for the young boy.
"Henry, are your parents here?" she asked him.
Henry shook his head, "No. I'm an orphan. My parents both died when I was really young, and they left me in the Wizarding Orphanage when I was one years old."
Hermione bit her lip as she heard the sad story, "Oh, I'm sorry, dear."
Henry smiled bravely, "The orphanage only visits Diagon Alley about once or twice a year. The teachers go shopping for clothes that are going to be given to the new or old orphans, and us children get to shop. We get allowances sort of, and I've been saving up my money. I've been in this shop a lot, but never have I had enough money to buy anything."
He added, "That wand that turns into a dragon, my little sister wants it. She couldn't come with me today because she got sick," he broke off sadly.
Hermione nodded, "What's wrong?" she asked him.
Henry shrugged, "I don't know. The teachers won't tell me. That's why I wanted to buy her the wand. In case anything happens to her."
Hermione's heart reached out for the boy and his generosity towards his younger sister.
"Your sister likes dragons?" she asked him.
The boy looked up at Hermione with a gleam in his eye, "Oh yes, miss! Bianca loves dragons. She says that they aren't scary. People just need to understand them before they judge them."
Hermione nodded, thinking about Hagrid, a friend of hers that would get along real well with Bianca.
Hermione spoke up, "Well, how about this Henry? Since you love your sister so much, why don't I chip in one galleon towards that wand for your sister?"
"You mean it, miss? Really?" he asked her, his eyes growing wide.
Hermione nodded her head again, "Of course! And maybe one day you could come in with your sister and introduce me to the both of you."
Henry nodded his head, "I will miss! She'll never forget you."
Hermione laughed and rang up his order. She handed him the fake rubber wand and gave him a sticker.
"Here Henry, this sticker is for you."
Hermione handed Henry an animated sticker of Harry Potter, who was waving at the boy.
"Oh boy, it's Harry Potter!" he said joyously.
Hermione nodded, "He's one of my best friends."
Henry gasped, "Really? Really? Oh, wow! Do you think," he stopped, feeling shy.
"Yes? What is it?" she asked him.
"Do you think you can take me to meet him one day? I've always wanted to talk to him," Henry said, looking down at his shoes, which had holes in them.
Hermione nodded, "Sure! I'll come by to visit your orphanage center and bring Harry along with me."
Henry's eyes brightened up and he ran around the counter and gave Hermione a big hug.
Hermione laughed, "Well thanks!"
Henry waved at her, "Thank you Hermione!" and he ran out the door.
Hermione sat back down in her chair a few moments after Henry had left.
She felt happier than she had ever felt since seventh year. Her heart now burst with joy, glad that she had helped another, especially a young child.
The door to Fred and George's office – or rather, the room where the two invented new items – opened, and out walked Fred, smirking at an elated Hermione.
"So, helping out poor children, were we?" he asked her, raising up an eyebrow.
Hermione paled for a second before shrugging, "So what?"
Fred smiled and said, "Oh nothing. No reason at all. Except…" he trailed off.
Hermione frowned, "Except what?" she asked him.
"You can't help every poor customer that comes into our shop. How are we to do business, Hermione? What if one customer saw you helping another out? The customer would feel jealous. You can't play favorites. How else are we supposed to gain business?" asked Fred.
Hermione let out an exasperated sigh, "But I'm still going to give the cash register that one galleon that Henry didn't have!"
Fred shook his head, "But nothing! This is business Hermione! You have to learn how to deal with customers that don't have enough money."
Hermione let out a huff, "Well if this is business, then I don't want to have anything to do with it!" she hissed, getting her purse and leaving the counter.
Things didn't quite go as planned, and the dramatic exit that Hermione had wanted surely did not work as well as she thought it would have.
Hermione's heel caught onto the side door and she tripped, falling forward and finding herself face to face with the floor.
Except, no part of her body hurt. She realized that Fred had pushed himself up from his leaning position against the door, and had caught Hermione right before she fell to the ground.
Hermione let out a relieved sigh, and then found herself screaming when she felt herself being dropped.
Hermione landed on the carpeted floor in a heap.
She quickly picked herself up and stood, so that she was eye level with Fred.
With her eyes blazing and a few strands of her busy brown hair escaping from her ponytail, she looked quite frightening.
Fred, however, gave no sign as to being scared and he looked at her with cool eyes.
"Yes?" he asked her.
Hermione shrieked, "Why did you drop me? You had a hold on me and yet you dropped me?" she asked him, growing angrier and angrier by the second.
Fred laughed, "You gave a sigh of relief! I thought you wanted to be dropped."
"What kind of idiot would want to be dropped?" demanded Hermione.
Fred gave a shrug, "An idiot like … you, perhaps?" he said with a teasing smile.
"Why …you!" she exclaimed, getting fed up with him.
She dropped her purse to the ground and pushed Fred with all her might into the wall that was blocked with boxes and boxes of new items.
"You … jerk!" she protested.
Fred fell down and into the boxes. All of the brown boxes fell down on top of the poor man, and from inside, fire cracker paintballs, gleaming heart fire candies, pink and purple fire busters, and white teddy bear miniatures all fell out of the box and landed on top of Fred.
Hermione forgot all about her anger and she began to giggle when she saw that the Fred she knew could no longer be seen. All she saw was his red hair, and pink, purple, white, red, green, and blue … stuff! He looked so silly and ridiculous lying on the floor right there in front of her.
Hermione felt a bit bad for him, and she gave him a hand, which he took, only to pull her down into the mess with him.
Hermione rolled her eyes, but laughed when she saw a pink pair of shorts fall onto Fred's hair, covering his eyes.
She managed to get out, "You know, you really suck sometimes."
Fred shrugged, "Hey, that's who I am!"
Hermione sighed and she nodded, before getting up and pulling Fred up.
"So, you still want to quit?" he asked her, looking her straight in the eye.
Hermione shrugged, "I've only worked here for a month or so. I guess I could stay a bit longer," she said.
"Or at least until I find a better job," she added hastily.
Fred's eye twinkled at Hermione, "Oh, you won't! I assure you, there is no better job than working in here!"
And five years later, Hermione found herself agreeing with what Fred had said.
With a grinning eleven-year-old Henry found at her side and a sleeping ten-year-old Bianca next to him, Hermione felt that life wasn't too rough.
Of course, she no longer had to work as a cashier at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Nope, she was now the wife of the boss who owned that particular store.
Hermione had married Fred. The goody-two-shoes had fallen for the class clown and had gotten married. When Hermione and Fred visited the Wizarding Orphanage, both had fallen in love with Henry and Bianca, which resulted in the two adults adopting the two children.
It had taken Henry to convince Hermione that not all customers were mean, and failing her NEWTs were not the end of the world. After all, she met Henry while working at the Weasleys' Joke Shop. She and Fred both adored their two children.
After meeting Henry, Hermione found herself enjoying her job at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. If she could handle one bad customer, she could handle them all, right?
Hermione stood up from inside her husband's office and opened the door an inch wide. She laughed when she found her husband being pecked apart by the loud and dangerous customers who wanted discounts, offers, and free items.
She still remembered when that had happened to her. Of course, Fred had rescued her then. Now, it was time for Hermione to go rescue her husband.
She pushed up the sleeves of her sweatshirt, told Henry to watch over his sister, and walked out into the store.
Placing a reassuring hand on Fred's shoulder, she smiled at him warmly before turning to the customers.
Fred turned his anxious blue eyes and saw his wife. He wrapped an arm around her and a word of 'thanks' was seen in his eyes.
Fred and Hermione both turned to the customers and prepared themselves for the attack of Harry, Ron, Lavender, Ginny, Parvati, Seamus, Dean, Padma, and some of their children. All of whom demanded free items because they had done so much for the twins back in their days during Hogwarts.
Yikes, maybe inviting their friends over for a look at the new items wasn't such a good idea.
Author's Note: I hope you all liked this one-shot. I was really into writing it, and this is the first time I wrote a Fred and Hermione story, though there wasn't much interaction between the two.
Thanks to my awesome friend Sharon, for giving me the title to this fanfiction.
Hope you all read and review!