Part 5:
Fred had been wrong. There was no sleepless night, in fact, he had spent the rest of the evening so wound up in his mind around Hermione that by the time he crawled into his bed he fell asleep without question. In fact, by the time he awoke–bleary eyed, and stiff–the sun was already shining bright, obtrusive rays through the window. He rolled over, forgetting in those moments stuck halfway between sleep and waking, his task that day. It wasn't until his eyes fell to the cardboard box sitting on the tufted chair that he sat up with a start. He was going to see Hermione. He couldn't quite identify the feeling that rushed into him, it felt like cold water had replaced all the blood in his veins. With it, came fear and joy and something else, something sweet and deep. He dressed quickly, glad he had set out an outfit the night before. He walked straight out the front door, leaving the cardboard box in the chair. He returned to it, ten minutes later and carrying two brightly colored paper cups of steaming coffee from the café across the street. Careful not to spill the coffee, he tucked the lidded box under his arm and walked back out into the living room. George was asleep, arm thrown over his face, on the couch.
"Oi!" Fred called, kicking the emerald green cushion. "Up you go!" George grunted, but opened his eyes. He blinked for a moment, and then cracked a smile.
"Off to see Hermione are you?" He said, sitting up.
"Yeah, will you toss some floo powder into the fire for me? My hands are a little full."
"You woke me" he said, pausing for an exaggerated yawn "at Merlin knows what time it is, so that you wouldn't have to set down a precious coffee on the mantel for ten seconds?" Fred opened his mouth to respond but didn't get a sound out before George cut him off, rising to his feet. "And you didn't even bother to bring me any! Some brother you are!" He was struggling to make his fake annoyance any shade of believable, as his voice was still thick with sleep.
"I thought you might want to have a look at me before I left." Fred said, "And besides, if you don't want to be woken up, sleep in your own bed."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." George said, dipping his hand into the bowl of floo powder. "You know the couch is comfier than my mattress. And it stays darker in here so much longer than my room. All those windows." He shuddered, tossing the handful of powder into the fire. Fred laughed,
"You could always by curtains, you know."
"Curtains. Ha!" George said, flopping back down onto the sofa. "Tell Hermione I say hello, and don't go professing your love or any stupid shit like that!" He said, turning is face towards the back of the couch. Fred didn't respond. He only stepped into the fire and called, louder than necessary just to annoy George,
"The Ministry of Magic!" Just as his fire place began to whiz away he heard George yell
"Shut up!" and then he was gone, fireplaces dancing past at dizzying speeds until he stumbled out into the ministry, trying not to run into the back of the rather rotund wizard that had stepped out just before him.
Hermione's office was on the fourth floor. It lay at the end of a hallway with carpeting the color of blood, dark and brown. Fred followed behind a young witch, several years younger than Hermione, most likely fresh out of school. Her blonde hair was pinned up atop her head, he could see just the faintest shades of a soft brown at the roots. She had been on the elevator with him and, apparently they were headed to the same place. When the reached the large open room, lines of desk all filled with witches and wizards working steadily on paperwork of various forms, the woman turned to him.
"Can I help you find someone?" She asked, her eyes-an unsettling pale blue- watched him.
"Oh no, I'm here to see Hermione Granger." He said, taking a side step in the direction of her office.
"I can walk you there." She, he noticed the way her eyes raked up and down his form, almost hungrily. That wasn't how he looked at Hermione was it? He hoped not.
"I'm fine, I know the way." He said, but she followed after him.
"I'm walking this way too." She said with a laugh. "My name's Emberly." She gave him a soft smile. "This is my second week here."
"I'm Fred." He replied, coming to a stop outside of the door to Hermione's office.
"Are you" The girl began, but paused for a moment "Are you Ms. Granger's boyfriend?" A blush colored her cheeks at the statement, and Fred felt his own face heating.
"No." He said "Just friends." Her eyes seemed to sparkle.
"Oh well, um." She giggled again. Fred really distrusted people who giggled, it seemed so disingenuous. "If you ever want to get lunch or something," She never got to finish the sentence. The door to Hermione's office opened, and there she stood.
"I thought I heard voices." She said, looking at Emberly. "Oh Fred!" She exclaimed when he caught her eye. "I wasn't expecting you. Come in!" And with that, Emberly was left on the other side of the closed door. Fred sighed.
"Thank you." He breathed, handing over the blue cup to Hermione.
"For what?" She asked, moving around to sit on the edge of her desk.
"For saving me from," He paused searching his memory for the blonde girl's name.
"Emberly?" Hermione asked, blowing a bit of steam away from the lip of her cup.
"Yes! Emberly. She was," he suddenly wished he hadn't brought it up, but now he had to finish the sentence. "At least I think she was in the process of asking me on a date." He let out a tight, nervous laugh. "And I hate telling people no." Hermione smiled, not a real smile, she too must have felt uncomfortable.
"Emberly's far too young for you." She said, "Besides, she never shuts that mouth of hers. If she was my secretary instead of Nicoloi's I would have fired her by now. But that man loves anything young with legs." She shook her head, "Thank you for the coffee."
"It's the least I could do for the woman who agreed to save our business." She laughed, for real this time.
"Oh come on Fred, one faulty product isn't going to drown your shop. People love it. You could have just sent it by post you know?" She said, gesturing towards the box. "Although I will never turn down a good cup of coffee. You can bring me folders full of faulty ideas every day if it means you bring coffee with you that isn't from the horrible place down the street."
"I might just take you up on that." Fred said with a smile, leaning forward so his arms rested on the chair across from her. He was sure she assumed he meant on bringing her the faulty ideas, but he could care less on her problem solving ability. He would bring her empty notebooks if it meant a few moments every day spent with her. But he knew that would never do.
"I couldn't send them because of these." He said pulling out a few of the vials. "They aren't really needed but George said you should have everything, just in case." He left out the part where it required him to visit her and thus was the only reason George included the items. She was already engrossed in the set of journals he gave her, but she did nod to acknowledge she had heard. And after a moment she answered,
"Well yes, it is always better to have everything just in case." She pulled herself from the pages, eyes a little out of focus. "Honestly, just from glancing at it this is incredible and very advanced stuff." Fred couldn't feel embarrassed at her words because he was to enwrapped in the way she flipped through the pages. He imagined this is what she had meant that Friday night when he talked about his work. Watching her get lost in problem solving for a few minutes, was like watching a work of art. After a minute she pulled back again and shut the book with a sheepish grin. "I'll have to wait until home until I look at these, I love problems like this. I wouldn't get any work done all day." It was as if with the mention of work she felt the invisible pull of all that lay undone behind her on the desk. She let out a deep sigh, "Speaking of work."
Fred, as much as he wished he didn't, knew that was his cue to leave.
"I'll let you get back to it." He said, wishing they could have had just a moment or two of conversation. She nodded, lifting the partially empty cup of coffee towards him
"Thank you again for the coffee. I will repay the favor." She promised. "And I'll drop this by the shop once I'm finished that way you can have the vials back."
"Oh, I can come and get it!" Fred said, his hand resting on the doorknob. He hadn't meant to inconvenience her.
"No trouble." She assured, "besides, I haven't been to the shop in ages. I'd love to see it."
"Well alright then!" He said with a smile. "Have a great day, 'Mione." She smiled again at him and right as he was closing the door behind him he heard her say
"You too Fred." And just like the last time, his heart leapt at the sound of his name from her lips. He was so in a daze, he didn't even notice the poor, too young for him Emberly watching with freshly painted lips from her desk.