Day 232
"Loch Lomond," Fred cried, strolling into the workroom on Monday morning.
"Linlithgow," Hermione replied.
"What?"
"I don't know, I thought we were naming places in Scotland," she shrugged.
"I was suggesting a vacation spot," Fred laughed, pulling a stool up to the counter beside her.
"Oh, that makes more sense. Loch Lomond is supposed to be nice."
"We could get a little cottage in the middle of nowhere," Fred mused. "Just hide out from the world."
"That sounds a little too rustic," Hermione frowned. "What about Dundee?"
"Too much water," Fred shook his head. "Aviemore?"
"There's so much snow there. And what do you mean, too much water? We live on an island."
"Dundee is right on the water, though. It's all docks and boats," he tried to explain. "You want to go somewhere hot, then?"
"No, I just don't want to go somewhere that's going to have more snow than we do," she explained.
"We here in London, or we in Britain as a whole?" Fred asked. "Because there's a pretty wide margin there."
"I don't want snow-shoeing to be a possible activity."
"Well at least we're getting somewhere," he chuckled. "What are you working on?"
"Ageing Chocolates."
"Gonna have them out by Christmas?"
"Well, seeing as Christmas is five days away, I don't think so," she shook her head.
"New Years?"
"Here's a thought, if you're so eager to get them on the shelves, why don't you help?"
"Obviously because he knows he's just here for his looks," George joined them. "If you're looking for the brains of the operation, I'd be happy to assist you."
"By doing what exactly, pointing at her?" Fred asked.
"Har, har," his twin laughed sarcastically. "If you're done failing to pick a vacation spot, we're getting slammed."
"Since when?"
"About ten seconds ago. I'd say the Hogwarts kids are getting ready to celebrate."
"Excellent," Fred rubbed his hands together in excitement.
"Have fun incriminating the youth of the world," Hermione kissed him quickly. "Try not to blow anything up, Verity says she's still finding remnants of last week's firecracker incident."
"Do my best, love," Fred promised. "See ya in a bit."
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"Galway," Hermione said as they ate lunch later that day.
"Cork," George frowned.
"Not naming cities in Ireland," Fred laughed. "Trying to pick somewhere for our vacation."
"In that case, Galway's rubbish. If you want to go to Ireland you should go to Dublin."
"We don't want to go to Dublin," Fred shook his head.
"Agreed," Hermione nodded. "What about Isle of Mann?"
"What about another country?" George scoffed. "Merlin, it's like the two of you are afraid to venture too far from the island!"
"George, this is Europe," Hermione rolled her eyes. "If we were committed enough we could get to Italy before the day was out."
"Hey, there's an idea!" Fred perked up. "We could go to Italy."
"You want to go to Italy?"
"I don't know, but we could," he shrugged. "Why, do you not want to go to Italy?"
"I'm sure it's a lovely place," Hermione shook her head. "But it's where we're sending your parents."
"And that means you can't go?" George frowned.
"I don't know, it just seems strange," she wrinkled her nose.
"Alright, no Italy," Fred agreed. "How about France?"
"France is lovely," Hermione sighed wistfully. "Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower."
"The bakeries," Fred echoed her tone.
"Those too," she laughed. "Alright, it appears that France will be going on the list of possible vacation spots."
She grabbed a notebook from the pile that always seemed to be within arms length and pulled a pencil from her hair to write with.
"There's an actual list?" George bit back a smile.
"Yes there is," she glared. "Do you have a problem with that?"
"Not at all," he sobered up.
"That's what I thought."
"I'm gonna head back out there," George pointed towards the shop floor and made a hasty retreat to the great amusement of Fred and Hermione.
"What else have you got on that list?" Fred asked, leaning across the table to get a look.
"Berlin, Amsterdam and Copenhagen," she listed.
"So you're thinking a city?"
"I think so," she nodded. "That way we could go out and do things, or just hunker down in a hotel room, what do you think?"
"Yeah, that sounds good," he nodded.
"I'll do a little more research and then we can decide."
"Oi, quit making goo-goo eyes at each other and get to work!" George called suddenly. "It's a blooming madhouse out here!"
"As if it isn't always that way," Hermione rolled her eyes. "You'd better go save the day."
"See you in a bit," Fred kissed her cheek and hurried out the door, leaving Hermione to clean up from lunch and get back to work on her chocolates, vacation plans set aside for the time being.
