Chapter 2

Hermione arrived early at the Burrow, as per usual, for the weekly Sunday night dinner. Ever since her messy break up with Ron a few months ago, she hadn't felt as welcome but the Weasley's were the only family she had left so she felt obliged to go. Her parents were killed by Voldemort in the war, and their death had had a large emotional impact on her overall demeanour. Hermione counted herself lucky, the amount of casualties from the Battle of Hogwarts was surprisingly low, though there was a time in which everyone thought Fred was not going to survive. A wall had fallen on him, but luckily Hermione, George and Percy got there in time to lift off rubble and stop the excessive bleeding. This, she supposed was one of the reasons Ron broke up with her. After the war and after Fred had been released from St Mungos, he felt that he was in debt to her, and was by her side 24:7. Ron, with his short temper and impatience immediately jumped to the conclusion that obviously Hermione and Fred were having a secret relationship.

Hermione walked into the kitchen, evidently deep in thought, and walked straight into Mrs Weasley.

"Oh my I am sorry dear!" Mrs Weasley said, with motherly concern etched on her face.

"Oh no Mrs Weasley this was my fault, I was daydreaming! I came in to see if there was anything I could do to help" Hermione asked.

"Oh nothing in the kitchen, but if you would be a dear and go and fetch Fred and George from upstairs, that would be lovely" replied Mrs Weasley.

Hermione walked up the stairs, reminiscing about the memories that she held of this house, her second childhood home. She reached their door, and knocked, but there was no answer. She repeated the action with the same outcome. Eventually, Hermione impatiently opened the door to reveal Fred and George in deep conversation.

"BOYS! Dinner time! I knocked, didn't you hear me?" Inquired Hermione.

"Oh no we were just so busy talking about-"

"GEORGE" Fred shrieked, completely cutting him off.

"I mean we were busy talking about the new shop, and erm…and which of us were going to co-run it with you!" stuttered George.

"Riiiight…and which of you will it be?"

"We...erm...haven't deci-"

"Oh it's going to be me!" Fred said quickly, with a look of sheer unease plastered on his face.

"Right, yes, it's Fred. Congrats you guys! You're co-managers!" said George.

"That's great! Well you two better come down for dinner" and with that, Hermione walked out of the room and down the stairs."

"What the hell was that Gred?" yelped George, as soon as he heard Hermione's footsteps touch the stairs.

"I just want to run the new store that's all" replied Fred, obviously feigning composure.

"Well that isn't what it sounded like, it looks like you have the hots for our favourite bookworm!" concluded George, with a traditional Weasley grin plastered on his face.

"Of course I don't! I mean its Hermione, our little brother's best friend. I mean yeah okay she has turned into woman of the most beautiful witches I have ever seen, but of course I don't like her!" argued Fred.

"Freddy doth protest too much, methinks…" said George, who then leaped up and ran down the stairs, before he got throttled by his twin.

"NOT TRUE!" Fred called after him, but it was too late.

Dinner was a loud and dramatic affair, a common occurrence in the Weasley household. This was not helped by George's not so sly hints at Fred, who had gotten the last seat at the table, by Hermione. The constant winks and the passing comments from George had Fred on edge all evening.

Hermione got home from the Burrow and made herself a cup of tea. She played out the evening in her head, how Fred had sat next to her, was nervous around her. Did she like Fred? Of course you don't Hermione, what's wrong with you? Yes he's extremely handsome and funny and actually very smart, but he's a prankster and you're bookworm and nothing can change that.

She decided to stop thinking about the matter and picked up her latest book Trials and Tribulations of Magical Creatures.She found her spot and continued reading, absorbing up the facts and drifting off into her own magical world, a world of books and knowledge. This was abruptly interrupted by an owl pecking on her window, an owl she recognised as Adra, the twins' owl.

Mione,

Come to our branch in Diagon Alley tomorrow to collect your uniform and we'll go through your job specification. Just to tell you, you'll be in charge, with me of course, of restoring the shop in Hogsmeade. Sorry if we left that part out!

The better looking twin,

Fred

So much for not thinking about Fred.