Chapter Seventeen
Hermione POV
The sixteen-year-old Gryffindor girl flipped through the large novel as she sat inside the window nook at the Weasley's flat. Hermione was momentarily writing down notes on the muggle post-it notes and placing them inside the textbook when something appeared of importance to her as she read through the information in the leather-bound book. "Anything good you reading, love?" A loud crack filled the room and George Weasley apparated at the other end of the reading nook and placed her feet over his lap.
She chuckled and held up the textbook. "Just reading about Ancient Runes currently."
George raised his eyebrows and leaned in. "Ooo, fascinating. What time are you meeting the others today?" He got up and walked over to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee into a Gryffindor glazed mug. "Coffee?"
She nodded her head and smiled. This had been her new normal for some weekends over the Summer that her parents let her spend her time here. Although, she did leave out the fact that George and Fred had moved into their own apartment, they assumed she was at the Burrow. George filled up another mug that had a moving logo advertising the joke shop that was downstairs. He put in a splash of cream and sugar just how Hermione liked it before bringing it over to the girl. "Thank you!" She smiled and wrapped her fingers around the arm mug, setting her book aside temporarily.
"Will you promise to come bother us for a bit today?" George asked with a smirk. "If you're lucky I'll give you the girlfriend discount…"
"Oh, yeah?" She asked. "What's that… 10% off?"
"I'm hurt you would think of me being that cheap. It's actually 15% off!" George winked at her and laughed before taking a long sip from his coffee. "Only joking… you know I would never charge you for anything."
Hermione smiled softly before giving him a small peck on his freckled cheek. "Thank you, George. You're the best."
The Weasley boy blushed at the touch of her lips and smiled at her. "I better get going. I promised Fred that I would help him face all the shelves before we opened. Just wanted to check in on you and make sure you were okay before I abandoned you for the day."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm a big kid, I can handle myself. Besides, you know that I can get lost in my reading. Don't worry about me."
"I'll always worry about you, Hermione. It's my job." He smiled at her before downing the rest of his black coffee from the bright mug and winked at her. "Well, I best be off. I hope to see you later today! We can get dinner tonight with Fred and Angelina or do something fun since I can't be with you today. Promise." He held out his pinky and they wrapped their fingers around each other before George leant down and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "Catch you later, Granger." His warm brown eyes seemed to dance with excitement before he disapparated with a loud crack filling the room.
The Gryffindor girl got changed into a pair of maroon wizarding robes over her muggle clothing and looked out the window to see Ginny, Ron, and Harry waving at her through the window on the street. She smiled and ran down to the courtyard to see them. "I'm so happy to see you all!" She attacked her two friends with a hug around their neck and then turned to Ginny and winked. "You better inform me of the last letter you got from Dean. You were very vague in your last letter about what was going on exactly between you two."
Ginny blushed and gave Hermione a hug. "Shh! I don't want Ron to hear."
The rumor going around was that Ginny had begun to date Dean Thomas over the Summer. Hermione knew that if she could pull her friend away from the boys that she would get more information about what has been going on. "Let's go get our supplies." Harry said as he glanced between Ginny and Hermione with a confused look on his face.
The group of Gryffindor's walked into the shops to grab their books for this term. Hermione shuddered at how dark and ominous it looked at Diagon Alley. The alley looked nothing as in her past years of school supply shopping. It was clearly being run by death eaters who were tormenting half of the shop owners on the street. Hermione was always worried about Fred and George when she read another article in the Prophet about the shops getting raided and destroyed.
"Let's go to the joke shop!" Ginny smiled. "I want a pigmy puff. They're so cute."
"How's George been, Hermione?" Harry asked with a kind smile while Ron just shoved his hands deep into his front pockets of his hand me down cloak.
"He's been great! The twins are working hard on creating new products, so they keep quite busy. It's been nice to get a lot of Summer reading done while they work during the days. We usually hangout at their flat at night, Diagon Alley has been quite dodgy lately." Hermione smiled as they walked towards the bright and bustling shop at the end of the street.
When the group of students stepped in through the door, the twins were standing up on a bright ladder and chanting at the crowd of laughing Hogwarts students. "Step up, step up! We've got puking pastilles, ton-tongue toffees! Anything you might need to get out of classes!"
When the twins caught a glimpse at the group of Gryffindors who just walked through the purple front door, they winked before apparating next to them. "Hello everyone." They said in unison before George stole a kiss on Hermione's cheek. Ron grunted something about privacy under his breath.
"Harry, whatever you want. Honestly." Fred beamed at the messy haired boy. "Without you our dreams would never come true of opening up this shop."
"What about me?" Ginny cried as Harry and Ron disappeared look at the products against that lined the wall on their left. "I'm your sister."
"For our favorite sister, 50% off." Fred winked. "Don't tell, Ron. He's not going to get the same discount. He still owes me money from betting against Angelina in a game of Wizard's Snap."
"Don't worry, Hermione. You and Angelina are getting the same discount that I told you about before." George winked at her before being pulled away by a customer who had a question about a potion that made you glow.
Fred looked at the girls and smiled. "We will see you guys in a bit, have to go talk to customers. Feel free to grab a basket!" With a flash of red hair, he disappeared behind his twin.
The two girls began to wonder around the crowded shop looking at all of the crazy inventions that the twins had come up with that seemed to pile from the floor to the tall ceiling. "Isn't it crazy that this time last year, they were just barely working on a few products?" Ginny asked as she picked up a pink bottle. "Love potion? This can't honestly work."
Hermione eyed it suspiciously. "I smelled it when it was the stronger formula last year. It really did work then. I would be too nervous to try it out now."
"Did George slip you one? Is that how you know?" Ginny giggled to her friend and wiggled her eyebrows, just how the twins did when they were teasing someone. It must have been a learned behavior.
Hermione rolled her eyes and playfully shoved her friend's shoulder. "Oh, come off it. He wouldn't do that. It smells like the person you desire. Or, now, it smells like the person who bought the potion. It's kind of a play on the original potion."
"Love potions…" The twins sang on either side of the girls.
Fred winked mischievously at his sister. "From what we hear, you don't need any help in the love department, Gin."
Ginny crossed her arms across her Gryffindor Quidditch jumper. Her eyes narrowed and her tone became accusing, "What exactly does that mean?"
George laughed and wiggled his eyebrows, just like Ginny just did to Hermione. "From what we hear, you're dating Dean Thomas."
"I don't see how that's any of your business." Ginny sniffed and shot a glare to Hermione. "I wonder where you got your information."
Fred let out a loud and boisterous laugh. "Hermione didn't tell us anything but with that look, it makes me think that the rumors are true."
"We hear a lot of things from around the shop. Apparently, a Hufflepuff girl is jealous of you and wants to slip Dean a love potion. Thought you would want a heads up." George slipped the love potion into Ginny's empty basket. "You can have that one on the house in case you have to start a love potion war."
"Just make sure if you do slip anyone that potion, you tell all the girls where you got it from! Let them know we take mail orders, too." Fred slipped a blank mail order form on top of the potion. "Thanks, Gin."
Ginny laughed and rolled her eyes. "Where are the pygmy puffs? That's what I really wanted to check out."
Fred wrapped his arms around his sister's shoulder and began to tell her about the wonders of pygmy puffs with a sweeping hand as he led her to a large display in the back of the room. "Business seems to be really good! I'm so proud of you and Fred." Hermione smiled at George who beamed at the compliment. She stood up on her tippy toes and gave him a peck on his cheek.
"Huh, you've got an admirer." George glared at a boy who was standing behind Hermione's back. "Hopefully he doesn't get his hands on a love potion. I'll let him know they're not for sale to him."
The girl rolled her brown eyes. "You don't have to worry about me going back to school, George. Everything will be fine. I'll send you the dates for the Hogsmeade trips so that I can see you during the year and I'll stay at the Burrow for every holiday. Besides, I'm not interested in anyone but you, silly."
This seemed to calm George and he smiled down at her. The boys returned over to Hermione and George as well as Ginny and Fred joining them. "Okay Ron, that'll be five Galleons," Fred said after examining the merchandise in his hands.
"But I'm your brother!"
The twins looked at each other and shrugged. "Okay, ten Galleons!"
Ron swore under his breath and dropped the merchandise back onto one of the shelves. As he walked back from the shelf, the Golden trio got a clear look at the window. They spotted none other than Draco Malfoy who was walking through the streets looking rather suspicious in billowing, black robes. Harry nudged Hermione. "Why does Draco look like he doesn't want to be followed?" He turned his attention to George who was still standing next to them, behind Hermione. "Can you make sure no one is looking?"
George glanced nervously at the boy and his girlfriend before cracking into a large smile as if he didn't have a care in the world. "Come one, come all for a demonstrating of our no light fireworks that kickstarted Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!" He ran back up half of the looping stairs and pulled a firework out of his pocket to begin a show that attracted all of the eyes of the customers in the shop, giving the trio their opportunity.
Hermione gave him a small smile before diving under Harry's invisibility cloak with the two other boys. They quickly followed Malfoy down Knockturn Alley. "I don't like this, Harry." she whimpered slightly, "You know that nothing good ever happens down at these shops."
"Look, in Borgin and Burkes." Harry whispered to the other two Gryffindors.
"If only we could hear what he was saying to the others in there…" Hermione trailed off in thought of how to get closer to the scenario.
Ron lit up next to Harry. "We can! Extendable Ears! I got one in my pocket!"
"Brilliant!" Hermione smiled at him as he unraveled the joke shop product. The trio put their heads together so that they could all fit around the ear and listened to the conversation inside the Knockturn Alley shop.
Malfoy's annoyed and arrogant drawl filled their ears. "I can't bring it into the shop to be fixed. It has to stay put. I need you to instruct me on how to fix it myself, Borgin."
"Well, without seeing it… I must say it will be a very difficult job, perhaps impossible. I couldn't guarantee anything." Borgin was wringing his fingers as he looked nervously at the rich wizard in his shop.
Malfoy cocked his head to the side. "Perhaps this will make you more confident." The Slytherin teenager moved towards the man and blocked the view with his back. Hermione couldn't see what was going on but Borgin looked terrified. "Freyir Greyback is a family friend and will be checking in on time to time to make sure that you are being… discrete."
Borgin nodded and looked severely shaken up when Malfoy stormed out of the store with a smirk across his face. "Let's go back." Hermione said to the others. "I don't want to be in Knockturn Alley any longer than I have to be."
They hurriedly walked back to the bustling and lively joke shop that was such a strange site on the otherwise dead and dark street. Hermione thought to herself that this year would be darker than any other year at Hogwarts with the death eaters on the run…
George POV
When the Golden Trio had returned, his parents had joined them at the joke shop. Ginny was accusing them of leaving her out of whatever plan they had gone through with and Hermione smiled sheepishly at her friend and just shook her head, telling her to drop the subject.
George grabbed her hands and raised his eyebrows to her as if to see if she was okay. She smiled softly and shrugged. "Lot on my mind." Hermione replied while looking around the shop.
The Weasley family decided it was time to return to the Burrow. "I need to talk to the boys. Will you and Fred meet us for dinner at the Burrow?" Hermione looked rather worried and George figured it was better to wait until they were in private to ask her what was going on. He knew that when she was ready to talk about what was on her mind, she would.
He nodded. "Sure, sure. We got loads to do here anyways. You would probably be stuck at the flat for a while. We will go to the Burrow as soon as possible. Promise." George held out his pinky in the gesture of a pinky promise that Hermione had taught him from the muggle world. She giggled at the gesture and returned the pinky promise.
The curly-haired girl ran off with his family and they apparated out of sight. George hardly had any time to worry about her throughout the rest of the day. Before they knew it, it was time to their employees' home and put the protective wards onto the shop. "Tell Angelina that we are going to the Burrow for dinner."
Fred nodded and sent a Patronus charm of a magpie to Angelina telling her where to go. Together they nodded and with a loud crack, apparated to the Burrow. Their mother wrapped them in tight hugs as they walked through the entrance. "The others are in the living room! Angelina arrived a few moments before you."
The twins went into the lively living room where everyone seemed to be talking over one another. Fred went to sit behind Angelina on the floor by the crackling fire as she was in a heated conversation with Ginny over Quidditch. George glanced to Hermione who was biting her fingernails and looking at the ground as Ron and Harry talked with their heads close together beside her.
They were never able to find a quite time to talk about what was making her so upset throughout the night at the Burrow between all the talking with everyone in the family. After everyone began to retire for the night, the twins and their girlfriends decided it was a good time to apparate back to the flat. Their parents gave them big hugs before they left.
George and Hermione sunk onto his quilted bed. He looked at her as she stared at the ceiling waiting for her to tell him what was wrong. "Malfoy is up to something." She finally said as a crease formed in between her eyebrows. "We followed him today down Knockturn Alley."
"What was he doing there?"
She shook her head. "That's the thing… I don't know. He was threatening the shop owner. I'm just worried about everything going on."
George tucked her head over his arms so that she could rest her head on his shoulder. "It'll be alright, Hermione. You, Harry, and Ron will figure it all out and save the day like usual."
Hermione closed her eyes and sighed. "That's the problem. What if our luck is running out soon?" Her voice hitched and the panic was clear on her face.
"Hey, hey, hey…" He smiled at her and brushed her hair in a comforting manner. "It'll be alright. I promise. I'll make sure that you're safe and everything is fine. I just want you to worry about your N.E.W.T's which I'm sure you'll have no issue doing."
She giggled and looked at him with a soft smile on her face. "Thank you, George."
He kissed the tip of her nose. "No need to thank me. Come on. Let's go to sleep." He pulled her into his arms and gently rubbed her back until her breath calmed down and she drifted to sleep into her arms.