Chapter Twenty-Five

Author's Note: YIKES! So I completely forgot how hectic the holidays can be. Was out of town visiting family throughout and didn't get an opportunity to do any writing. I'm sure you've all assumed that I've stopped updating, but I haven't. Just been horribly lazy. But I to have something exciting coming up soon! Back now and no excuses. Will hopefully be back to posting regularly. Thanks for reading! So, so, so appreciated! And a very, very special thanks to everyone who sent me PMs in my absence to make sure I was ok. Happy Belated Holidays to all! As always, not mine.

"You're up already?" Hermione yawned and glanced up from her prone position, her head still lying heavily into George's pillow, her vision slowly flickering into focus. George was already up: bumbling around his bedroom and fumbling through his strewn clothes to get dressed in his Quidditch gear.

"'fraid so," George smiled, sitting down on his bed next to Hermione. "Early flying practice today before this afternoon's game…but you're more than welcomed to stay."

"Mmm…" Hermione sighed, burrowing even deeper into George's bright orange duvet.

"Did you sleep well, Mione?" George asked, reaching over to stroke Hermione's hair; the only part of her that was visible from her orange cocoon.

"Ermm…yup," Hermione replied groggily with a silly grin decorating her face as she peeked out from under the cover at George. Even with George waking her ever several hours to check on her well-being following her flying accident, she had still received a decent night's sleep curled up next to George. "I feel bad though….I didn't know you had to get up so early for Quidditch. I hope I won't affect your play later today."

"Oh no, I'll be fine," George laughed self-confidently. "Are you coming to my game? I'll definitely be at my best if you're there."

"I'll come," Hermione replied. She hadn't intended attending George's game – planning, instead to do work – but was certain that she wouldn't be at her best anyway, given her accident the day before. "I think it would be better to watch you play than to spend the day cooped up in the library yet again."

"Do you have to go back to the library? I thought you already had everything under control for your speech."

"There's always more work to do," Hermione grinned knowingly and resolutely. "But I could use an afternoon off. I deserve it after the significant strides I made yesterday."

"Brilliant," George leaned down and kissed Hermione's forehead before springing off his bed with an extra enthusiasm in his step. "A ticket will be waiting for you in the box office. See you after the game, sweetie."

"Sweetie?" Hermione smiled, appreciating his use of a pet name despite her inquisition.

"Would you prefer sweetums?"

"Hmmm…not sure…"

"How about doll face?" George laughed, running his hand through his shaggy hair in his frustratingly appealing way.

"Definitely not that one," Hermione chuckled, sitting up on George's bed with his duvet still wrapped snugly around her.

"Hmm…dearie…princess…bobbet…angel…honeycakes?"

"Each of those is more atrocious than the last," Hermione giggled impishly. "Perhaps you should stick to Quidditch and leave the nicknames to others."

"Well…I'll think about it," George responded, bending over to kiss Hermione tenderly on the lips, to which she eagerly reciprocated.

"I won't wait with bated breath," Hermione teased, kissing George on his chin before he could straighten his posture.

"I'll see you at the game, my beautiful unicorn," George chuckled, pointing at Hermione as he left his room.

"I don't even think that is a compliment!" Hermione called to his disappearing back, contently reclining into George's back, gratefully for additional sleep before she'd return to her flat to get ready to go cheer on George's Quittitch team.

-o-O-o-

The next day Hermione walked into her office several minutes prior to nine.

"Hey Hermione,"

"Sweet merlin!" Hermione exclaimed in shock as she was unexpectedly greeted upon entering her own office. "Holly, what are you doing in here?"

"Thought I'd have a chat with you before getting to work," Holly grinned, leaning back into Hermione's wooden chair.

"You're in my chair," Hermione pointed out, succinctly yet amicably.

"Hmm…" Holly shrugged, rising from Hermione's chair. She pulled her chic, leather mini skirt around her legs before perching carefully on the stool that stood next to Hermione's desk. "Good game yesterday, eh,"

"It was," Hermione chuckled, sinking into her chair and tossing her beaded bag onto her desk. "But didn't we already discuss that? When we – you know – watched the game together." She grinned, tucking her ballet flat clad feet underneath her chair. She and Holly had, once again, watched the game from the reserved section of the stadium. This time, however, it was in the visitor's section of the Montrose Magpies home stadium. Nevertheless, they had done their best to make the game seem like a home one for Puddlemore United. Even though the players wouldn't have been able to hear their cheers from the lofty heights of the top floor of the stadium, the two girls had cheered their loudest and sported their matching Puddlemore United tops nonetheless.

"But wasn't it a good game!" Holly replied earnestly clasping her hands in front of her heart.

"Yup, it was actually quite entertaining," Hermione smiled. She knew that she was underselling just how enthralling the game had actually been. It had been a tough match between two of the top teams in the league. Reid – the Puddlemore United seeker – had finally located the Golden Snitch well over five hours after the game had commenced, securing a victory for Puddlemore following a markedly intense battle between two fierce rivals. Hermione and Holly had stood on their tip toes all game, alternating between enthusiastic cheers and stunned silence. By the time the match had ended, Hermione's voice had completely evaporated. That, however, didn't prevent her from wearing a wide grin the rest of the day, unnecessarily overjoyed at having witnessed the vicious and hard fought win.

"How's George doing?" Holly questioned. Several hours into the match, George had taken a pounding blow from a Bludger and had to leave the pitch momentarily to have his dislocated shoulder repaired. Hermione's breathing had been labored at the sight of him leaving the pitch with his useless arm hanging at an entirely unnatural angle from his obviously damaged shoulder. She had stood with her hands clasped, mumbling feverously to herself for the several moments before George had fortunately returned to the field, having been mended by the team healer.

"He's fine," Hermione grinned with admiration. "Didn't even complain about it after the game,"

"What a champ…you tended to him appropriately, I assume," Holly winked.

"None of that, Hol. None of that," Hermione chided good-naturedly.

"Ok, babe, well I'm going to get to work…see you around," Holly chuckled, rising from her perch on the stool.

"See you later, Hol," Hermione replied friendly as her coworker left her office. Resolutely, Hermione pulled the increasingly marked-up legislation from her desk drawer. She was close to finished with editing An Amendment to the Act for the Proper use of "Electronic" Muggle Artifact, and was determined that it would be the last day that she worked on the tedious document. Opening the file folder, she flipped to the penultimate section. Preemptively, she dipped the tip of her trusty feather quill into the scarlet ink, knowing that she'd still be using it extensively throughout the day, and began reading the proposed legislation carefully.

After only several minutes of working, Hermione was welcomingly interrupted by a scroll flying into her office on bright red wings. Hermione grinned as she plucked the hovering scroll from the air: bright red wings indicated that the correspondence was from an outside person. The correspondence was personal and Hermione knew exactly whom she hoped had sent it. The instance she unrolled the tightly wound parchment, Hermione smiled brightly; she easily recognized the scrawling printing.

"Mione, I'm baby-sitting Ethan and Sophie tonight. Was hoping you'd be willing to help out – George" George had written. His printing was a tad messier than usual, even for him. Hermione wondered if he was still feeling the effects of his Quidditch injury and didn't have proper control of his right arm. Pushing aside her worry, Hermione bit her bottom lip contently and dug a small pot of black ink from her top drawer.

"Of course" – She scribbled on the back of the parchment – "Fred and Ang wouldn't mind if I came over though?" She thought it best to ensure that the parents of the youngest set of Weasley twins were alright with her assisting George in babysitting their children. After all, since they didn't know about her and George's relationship, they would have no reason to expect that she would also be there. Hermione quickly rerolled the parchment into a cylinder and tapped it several times with her wand. Delicate golden wings grew from its centre. Flapping rapidly, the wings lifted the scroll from her desk and carried it out of the office. The scroll would first go to the owlry, from where it would be delivered promptly to George's. Hermione, once again, hunched her shoulders and focused on the page in front of her. It didn't take long, however, until she was distracted again by a scroll entering her office. Eagerly, Hermione read the contents of her newest letter:

"Do you think they'd trust me with the twins without you there?" George had simply written. Hermione grinned. She could perfectly imagine the nonchalant way that George would deliver the flippant comment. She easily conjured how he'd shrug good-naturedly, smile crookedly, carelessly run his hand through his hair, his brilliant blue eyes focusing intently the entire time as he said such a remark.

"That is an excellent point, George," Hermione wrote, cramping her words into the corner of the already crowded page.

The flirtatious back-and-forth correspondence continued throughout the day. All of George's notes made Hermione smile, both because they were from him and because what he had written was humorous. At precisely five-o-clock Hermione returned her legislation to her desk drawer. She'd finished the editing of the legislation several hours prior and had spent the remainder of the day reworking through some troublesome areas.

"Time to go," Hermione thought gleefully to herself. She figured she'd race home and change out of her structured grey skirt and starched pink blouse and into comfortable wear and head immediately over to George's lend her much needed assistance in taking care of his young niece and nephew.

-o-O-o-

"Hi George," Hermione yelled into George's seemingly empty flat, emerging from his fireplace and into his living room. "You here George?" She questioned again, a bit louder than before.

"Oi, kitchen," George's muffled voice echoed from the other room.

"George…Are you in there?" Hermione asked, wandering into the kitchen and surveying the room. Initially, she saw no sign of George. Glancing towards the ground, however, revealed the lower half of George protruding out of one of his many cupboards. "Erm, George, what are you doing?" Hermione chuckled in amusement at the sight of the tall Weasley twin digging through the ground-level cupboard. The sight of his lanky legs sticking out of small cupboard was comical while the view of his well-formed backside in his dark, fitted jeans was nothing if appealing.

"I have to get my place ready for the twins," George's voice replied from the inside of the lower cupboard.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione grinned good-naturedly as George extracted himself from the cramped nook.

"My place isn't ready for children…I don't want them to get hurt," George stated matter-of-factly, reaching to his top shelf and placing a collection of delicate glassware up high. "And I don't particularly fancy seeing any of my things ruined…I did purchase them quite recently."

"Ah, George…" Hermione gently reminded. "You do recall that Ethan and Sophie are still infants. They can't walk or crawl, let alone get into any trouble in your flat."

"I know," George sighed. "But this is the first time I've ever taken care of them…I'd like to return them to Fred and Ang in one piece."

"It will be fine…we'll be alright. I've taken care of Teddy before…and you have lots of nieces and nephews."

"I hope so," George shrugged. "At least you're here…" He added, wandering across the kitchen to scoop Hermione into a large bear hug. "That way if anything goes wrong I can just blame it on you,"

"That's horrible, George," Hermione replied in mock aghast, rocking onto her tip toes in order to kiss George's chin despite his teasing. "Besides, they'd never believe that."

"Sure they will…Fred has to believe me…it comes with the twin territory."

"No it doesn't…" Hermione's giggles chimed as George leaned over to plant a sloppy, wet kiss on her nose. "You're insufferable," She concluded lightheartedly, not believing her words in the least.

"I really am, aren't I," George grinned broadly, ruffling Hermione's hair and messing up her careful plait. "So are you as nervous as I am? Trust me when I say twins can be quite a handful."

"I'm concerned that you're speaking from experience," Hermione replied. "Or at least all the horror stories you heard from your mum about raising you and Fred."

"I've heard them all," George laughed, squeezing Hermione again before releasing his grasp. "And they're pretty scary. So we might be in for a hectic night."

"I can handle it," Hermione grinned confidently. Having managed Death Eaters, trolls, giants, time travel, Draco Malfoy, and dragons, she was certain that infant twins wouldn't prove much of a challenge.

"Well…I'm glad you're here, then…because I'm more than a little intimidated." George's chuckle was nothing but self-assured as he reached over to tenderly nudge Hermione's shoulder.

"George?"

"Georgie!"

Hermione heard a bustle and shouts from the living room and realized that Fred and Angelina had arrived with the twins. "Well…ready for this?" She grinned at George, hoping her smile didn't demonstrate any of the nervousness that she felt over the prospect of minding the young twins for the evening.

"I suppose so," George replied, placing his hand on Hermione's lower back to lead her into the other room.

Author's note: Sorry again about the absence. I know this is a rather short chapter, but I'm going to try to add the next one very soon! I suppose it's rather crude of me to ask for comments after such a long break, but leave a comment or review if you'd like to make my day! I love hearing from people and it's a great encouragement to know that people are actually reading [and possibly enjoying] what I'm writing!