Branching Out by Luvscharlie
Ultimatums were not his thing. Fred wasn't sure who she thought she was telling him to choose. This shop meant the world to him, or so he had thought until she up and accepted that teaching position at Hogwarts and left him. He and George had worked hard to build this shop twice. It had been destroyed during the final days of the war, and they had once more built it up to become a flourishing success.
He was supposed to be happy. Voldemort was dead, his family members were putting their lives back together, and the wizarding world was once more returning to a normal state. The rebuilding and reopening of Hogwarts had been one of the final stages of the resumption of daily life.
Then they'd gone and asked her to teach there and she had accepted. The shop felt empty without her around, and he missed her terribly.
"Man, snap out of it!" George said. "You're scaring off all our customers with that long face of yours. We run a joke shop for Merlin's sake. Look happy."
For the next week, he tried. Smiles were a bit harder to form these days. His lips simply didn't want to turn upward in their customary manner.
The next Saturday, he was startled when George closed up the shop early. That was something they never did, particularly on their busiest day of the week. He was even more shocked when George grabbed him by the arm, touched a quill that was apparently a Portkey and landed him face first in the middle of the Hogsmeade high street. A group of teenage girls, apparently out for a Hogsmeade Weekend, giggled madly as he tried to untangle himself from the heap in which he had landed, looking up to glare at George who had managed a slightly more graceful landing.
"What the bloody hell has gotten into you?" Fred asked, seething in anger.
"I can't stand to see you moping about my shop any longer," George replied.
"Your shop? Last I checked, it was our shop."
"Well, things change, brother dear." George looked thoughtfully around. "Now, when Hermione gets here we can—"
"What? Hermione's coming?" Fred began to brush the dust from his trousers and smooth down his hair.
"Pathetic," George said with a sad shake of his head. "Simply pathetic."
Hermione walked up a few moments later. He had missed her. Seeing her again sent a jolt through him, not unlike the electric current he'd felt when he had once visited her parents' home and decided to stick a fork in that toaster thing. He respected candles a bit more after that incident. He was at a bit of a loss for words, but they weren't needed. Hermione took the lead.
"Exactly what did you call me here for, George? Your owl said it was a matter of life or death."
"It is," said George. "If I have to look at those sad puppy dog eyes of his for another week, I might have to kill him. Now, I've brought you both here to show you the new branch of our shop. Welcome to the Hogsmeade Branch of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, which shall be run by my ingenious twin brother." Fred stared blankly and George smacked him on the back. "You, ya moron."
"What if I don't want to run this branch of the shop?"
George whirled on him. "Look, I've watched you mope around the shop until I can't take it any more. I know you love working in Diagon Alley. I know you love the shop we run together… or you did… when Hermione was around." He threw out his hands in frustration. "The choice is yours, of course. You can come back to the shop you love and be miserable, or you can stay here, where the girl you love is close by and have a chance at building a life of happiness."
***
A year later, the shop in Hogsmeade was bustling with activity, and the flat above it had become a home… for both he and his new wife. He missed his twin and the shop they had run together, grant it. But, George had been right. Things did change, and this time, for the better.
Fin.
A/N: Originally written for Round 2, Challenge 8 of the FWHG_LDWS (Fred Weasley-Hermione Granger Last Drabble Writer Standing) Competition on Live Journal. Our prompt was a quote by Mark Twain and the drabble had to be under 750 words. This one made it through to the next round and we are now down to the final 4 contestants.