My date went pretty well, thanks for the encouragement, guys. I think I'm going to see him again :)
I seem to be celebrating something every chapter... as of last Friday, I am officially done with my Associate's Degree! Finally! :) :)
"Ba bada badabada, ba ba bada badabada!" Fred and George were both singing as they skipped through the store; Fred pretending to handle reins, while George followed, clapping his hands like a pair of coconuts to mimic the sound of a galloping horse. Just at that moment, Lee chose to come into the shop to visit them.
"Oi! What in the name of Godric Gryffindor are you two doing?" he called from the entrance to the store.
They stopped their trotting and turned toward their friend, grinning like fools. "The horse and coconuts routine from Monty Python!" Fred called over to him.
"It's this awesome comedy troupe that has nothing to do with snakes!" George added.
Lee just shook his head and smiled. "Sometimes, I wonder about the two of you..."
"Oh, Lee. Lee, Lee, Lee. You'll have to stay for dinner tonight, we'll show you what we're talking about," Fred replied.
"It'll be brilliant!" George continued. "And delicious, since it's Fred's night to cook!"
"Alright," Lee conceded, "it's close enough to closing time that I can just stay through dinner. Did you want me to help out in the store, or go try to work on some development?"
Fred and George exchanged a silent conversation with their eyes, and grinned impishly. "Go on into the lab for development. We actually have a surprise back there we've been waiting to show you; you'll know it when you see it."
Lee nodded, and headed towards the lab. As he opened the door, he heard the shattering of glass and hurried up his pace. "What happened? Who's in here?"
"Lee?" a disembodied voice called from beneath the work table. "Is that you?"
He knew he recognized that voice, but from where...? A few seconds later, Hermione's head appeared from behind the table, answering his question. "Hermione! What are you doing here?"
"Ssh, keep your voice down!" she hurriedly responded. "No one can know I'm back here, I'm in hiding!"
"Oops, sorry, Granger," he replied, making his way through the room and over to help her clean up the broken glass. "So if you're in hiding, what are you doing working at WWW?"
I'm hiding out with the twins, that's why. And I needed something other than reading to do all day, so I agreed to help them with development. They've warded the back so that no one can get back here unless they have good intentions, so it's pretty safe for me to leave the flat if I'm just coming down to the lab."
"Fair enough," he said. "Well, what are you working on? I'll see what I can do to help."
He pulled up a chair to the work table, and leaned over to take a look at her notes. They put their heads together and started discussing the latest idea, Language Licorice, and stayed there until the twins came in to drag them upstairs for dinner, when Lee remembered that he had to tell Hermione about what he encountered when he entered the shop. A wide grin broke out across her face, and she laughed as they all made their way upstairs to start dinner.
-oOo-
"What if something's happened to them?" Hermione asked, fretting as she paced back and forth in the sitting room of the flat.
"Hermione, I'm sure they're fine," Fred replied, watching her from the couch where he was sitting forward, his elbows resting on his thighs and his fists under his chin.
"How can you know that for sure? No one's heard from them!" She was stating to get frantic, but was saved from pulling her hair out by George's arrival.
"I've just spoken to Remus," he said, resting his umbrella by the door and pulling off his rain boots. "He's seen Ron and Harry, but swore not to tell anyone where they were. And before you ask, Hermione, they're fine. They said to tell you they figured out who R.A.B. was, and know where his you-know-what is; they're working out how to get their hands on it."
Hermione let out a huge sigh of relief and flopped down onto the couch next to Fred, who instinctively started rubbing her back in a show of support and understanding. "Thank you, George," she breathed out heavily, "that made things so much easier. Did Remus say why or how he saw them?"
He shook his head in reply. "No, I think he was too embarrassed by something that happened to admit anything about his reasoning," he responded thoughtfully.
"Alright," she replied, visibly calmer and less tense than she had been a few minutes prior. "I'll take what information I can get. That message from the boys is really good, I wonder who it turned out to be..." she trailed off, a distant look appearing in her eyes.
It got a bit uncomfortable in the room as the twins realized Hermione was keeping a rather big secret from them. "I'm gonna go make dinner, it's my turn tonight. How does meatloaf sound?" George announced and stood up, attempting to diffuse the tension.
The most he got out of Hermione was a noncommittal hum, but Fred got up and mumbled something about setting the table.
-oOo-
"Hey Hermione," Fred called, making his way into the flat during his lunch break one day.
"In here," she called back, from the direction of his bedroom.
He walked into his room to find her lounging on his bed, reading a book. "What's with you always being in my bed? With how often you're found in it, one might think we're shagging...I'm not too sure Angelina would like that."
"Well, I'd rather not hole up in my safe room all day, so my bed's out, and I just feel more at ease taking over your bed than George's, for some reason."
"I wonder why that might be..." Fred responded with an impish grin.
"Enough of that," Hermione shot back. "I've told you time and time again, I don't have feelings for George."
"I'll get you to admit it one of these days, Granger..."
"No, you won't, because there's nothing to admit," she said. "Now what did you need me for? Obviously, there's a reason, since you came up to find me in the middle of the day."
"Well, besides it being lunch, and offering for you to join us for takeaway from the Leaky, I was hoping I might be able to convince you to help me develop my latest product idea; I'd like to create some sort of colour-changing flowers to give Angie for Christmas."
"Colour-changing, you say? I think we can do that. Let's go talk about it over lunch, shall we?"
Hermione and Fred went downstairs to the lab to wait for George to return with their lunch. They had their heads bent over a sheet of paper together, brainstorming ideas for how to enchant the flowers, when they heard the door open. "Hey, George," they greeted together, not bothering to look up.
"Not George. Whatcha working on, Freddy?"
Both of their heads shot up and they turned around to see the newcomer. "Angie!" Fred cried, and elbowed Hermione in the side. Understanding his actions, she quickly shuffled the papers together and put them away in the worktable. "Nothing, just a new product idea."
"Then why'd you have Hermione put it away so quickly?" she asked suspiciously.
Fred got a panicked expression on his face. "Erm, well, we want it to be a surprise. It's one of our better ideas, if I do say so myself."
Hermione patted him on the shoulder as she stood up, and gave him a look that said 'good save,' before she walked out of the room to give the couple some privacy. Stepping through the door to the back of the shop, she nearly ran into George.
"Hermione!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing out here? I thought you'd be in the lab for lunch."
"I'm just giving Fred and Angelina a few minutes of privacy, she just showed up," she replied, putting out a hand to stop him from going into the lab.
"Oh, alright. Guess we'll have lunch in the kitchen, then; Fred can join us when he's ready." Hermione nodded, and followed George up the stairs. "So what were the two of you working on, then?"
"Fred wants to create some sort of colour-changing flowers, to give to Angelina for Christmas, and then eventually sell in the shop. I was helping him brainstorm ideas for it."
"Colour-changing flowers, eh? That should be pretty simple, I would think. A strong stasis charm ought to preserve the flower well enough, it's just the multiple colours that would be the tricky part."
"Of course! A stasis charm! Why didn't I think of that?" Hermione exclaimed, slapping her hand up to her forehead. "Good thinking, George, I'll add that to our notes after lunch."
"Hey, it's what I'm here for. You don't think our success is based solely on my dashing good looks, do you?" George asked with a wink.
Hermione just laughed. "Of course not, George. I just assumed Fred ended up with all the cleverness, since you seem to think you got all the looks."
"Oi!" George replied, then gave a light chuckle. "Well-played, Granger, you're learning quickly."
Posted: December 2011
Word Count: 1,608