Chapter 4: A time to do a little work

Hermione had always considered herself an early riser. She did not like to be overly rushed in the mornings; it made her forget things. However, this morning, there was nothing she wanted to do more than to stay curled up under her covers and sleep.

Last night, she and George had sat up talking until nearly 3:00 in the morning. She could not remember the last time she had sat up into the wee hours of the morning talking with someone. By the time she apparated back to her flat, she had been awake almost 22 hours, and she was exhausted. Now, only 4 hours after she had gone to bed, her alarm clock destroyed her peaceful resting. And while all she wanted to do was sleep, she had many other things that she had to get done. Hermione slammed her hand on the clock, ending its incessant nagging, and grudgingly threw off her blankets. She grabbed her wand from under her pillow, an old habit from the War days, and headed to the kitchen to start her coffee pot. Hermione knew that it was strange that she preferred coffee to tea. She grew up drinking tea, as did most of the children in Europe. However, once she was introduced to the strong, rich taste of coffee, it was never the same.

After setting her pot to brew, Hermione headed to the bathroom to get ready for her day. She had to work this morning, and then this afternoon, she was going to WWW to finish the bookcase project she had been working on the night before. That night, she would be going to the Burrow for Sunday dinner.

Once she had brushed her teeth, she finally decided to tackle her hair. It was particularly bushy today, and honestly, she had no patience for it. Thank Merlin she had picked up a few hairstyling tricks since her Hogwarts days. She quickly braided her bangs to the back of her head, where she pulled up the rest of her hair into a ponytail. Deciding that was as good as she was going to get, she quickly applied her minimal makeup and went into her room to put on her uniform for the bookstore.

Twenty minutes and two cups of coffee later, Hermione apparated to work. She got there right on time, which was unusual as she usually arrived everywhere early. She flipped the front sign to 'open' and took her place on her stool behind the register. She picked up the book she had been reading at work over the past week, flipping it open, and waited for the first customers. Since it was mid-February, and bitterly cold, she had a feeling she might have a while to wait.

Four hours later, Hermione locked the door to the bookstore and began the walk down Diagon Alley to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. As she wrapped her coat tightly around her, she hoped that George had more business than she had today. She had only two customers. It was not a good time of year for Flourish and Blotts, but Hermione didn't mind too much. It gave her plenty of time to do her own reading.

She reached the bright colored shop and opened the door. As soon as she walked in, she was met with the strong smell of smoke. She looked around and did not see any customers. She didn't see George either.

"George?" she called, heading towards the back workshop.

Her answer came in the form of a very loud boom, like the sound of a cannon going off. The shelves shook and smoke began to billow from the workshop.

Reacting on instinct, Hermione pulled out her wand and began to run toward the back.

"George?!" she shouted again. "Where are you?"

She threw open the workshop door, holding her wand at the ready.

Once more she called out for George. She was trying to search the room, but the heavy cloud of smoke was making it difficult.

"Hermione? I'm back here!" a deep voice called from the very back of the workshop. Hermione immediately felt a wave of relief and pocketed her wand.

"George," she sighed as she reached the back work table and a soot covered Weasley. "What did you do?"

George laughed and flicked his wand casually toward the room. The smoke disappeared. "Just an experiment that did not go like I planned. It happens more than I would like to admit. Fortunately, there weren't any paying customers her this time."

Hermione chuckled and rolled her eyes. "How would you know if there were? You are all the way back here. You couldn't possibly hear the front bell."

With a smirk, George held up a long piece of parchment. "I would have seen it on the map." Hermione looked puzzled. "Fred and I designed it based on the Marauder's map. It shows every person that is in the shop, and where they are. But it goes further than that. If you touch the person's name with your wand, it will show you all of their past purchases from the store, as well as other little bits of information, like how many kids they have or if they have had a bad experience with a certain type of prank. It is a great resource when recommending products."

She couldn't help it. Her eyebrows shot up and her jaw dropped.

"That is amazing, George! Really, absolutely brilliant!"

Time and time again, the man in front of her continued to surprise her. She started to suspect that shocking people was one of his favorite hobbies.

George grinned widely. He really enjoyed impressing her. It went beyond wanting her to accept his career as a legitimate life path. He knew she approved. But he wanted to truly impress her. He supposed it was from all the years that she had disapproved of him and Fred. He wanted her to see, now, that they were always more than just troublemakers. Yes, that was why he loved impressing her. I mean, what other reason could there be?

He shook his head, coming back to the present, having gotten lost in his thoughts for a moment. Fortunately, Hermione didn't notice, as she was examining the map which she had taken from him at some point.

"The amount of magical knowledge this would have taken is incredible. I have no doubt that you and Fred could have easily rivaled my scores at school if you had wanted to," she said, looking from George to the map and back.

"Now, Hermione. You are giving us far too much credit. You are known as the brightest witch of the age. Map or no map, you are far more brilliant than we ever were. You just weren't putting your smarts towards things that matter."

Hermione scoffed and hit George lightly on the arm. "Things that matter? Honestly." They both laughed at the thought. Both momentarily pictured how differently things would have been if Hermione had focused on mischief rather than her studies. He very much doubted that Voldemort would have been defeated if that had been the case. Come to think of it, he was very glad that Hermione studied in school.

"So, not that my day is not significantly brighter now, but what brought you here anyway? I figured I wouldn't see you until dinner tonight."

"Oh. I was just coming to work on the bookshelf project for you. I barely got a third of it finished last night. I thought I would put in a few hours on it before dinner. If that is ok with you, that is." Hermione hadn't even thought to ask George if she could come in and work today. She didn't know where her brain was lately.

"Of course! I really appreciate what you are doing for me and for the store. Feel free to come here whenever. In fact, before we leave I will show you the unlocking charms, that way you can come and go as you please, regardless of the store hours. Although fair warning, if you hang around too much, I am likely to keep putting you to work," he said, throwing his arm over her shoulder.

Hermione laughed. "I think I can live with that."

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for all of your support. I have loved getting your reviews, as well as your favorites! This chapter is actually part one of two. It was a very very long chapter and I wanted to go ahead and get this up for you guys! Let me know what you think and hopefully I will have the next part up soon! Thanks again and don't forget to review!

Always,

Kay

P.S. Nothing is mine. Nor will it ever be.