CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
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April 19th 2006
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When Hermione sighed the contract to manage the new branch of Flourish and Blotts, she had been assured that Hogsmeade was a thriving and popular destination at all times, even during the holidays at Hogwarts. This was not the case. Instead of the challenging and rewarding role she had been promised, what she had instead been stuck with was the near constant regime of ordering stock, checking stock deliveries, calling the distributors every time she got a delivery half of it was missing. Oh, and not to forget the constant stream of customer complaints that headed her way because the books that they had put on special order were almost always among the missing items. It was torture and she absolutely hated it.
She wondered, quite often, why the company had even bothered to open a shop here when the only really busy periods they ever had were Hogsmeade weekends and, even then, most students preferred Tomes and Scrolls to them anyway. It was on one such weekend, when the shop assistant who was supposed to have been working had sent an owl at the last minute saying that he was 'too sick to work', leaving Hermione to deal with the customers as well with running the shop, that her brain literally imploded. Unfortunately, it just happened that it happened when surrounded by students.
"I ordered this book six weeks ago, Miss," snapped an understandably irritated and fed up middle aged man as students queued up behind him, muttering about having to wait, "just what kind of bookshop are you running, here?"
"The kind of bookshop that has to rely on outside sources to supply their stock, Sir," she gritted out as she forced herself to nod sympathetically, "I can assure you that, as soon as we receive the order, I will owl it directly to you."
"Well!" The man snapped, now raising his voice as the children began to fell silent, "that's no use when I need the book now, is it!"
"Sir, I can only apolo-"
"I am disgusted at the way you run this store," the man growled and Hermione swallowed as she felt her temper begin to rise, "I knew they were wrong to entrust the running of this place to someone such as yourself-"
"Excuse me?!" Hermione shrieked, slamming her hand down on the counter and making everyone, including the now slightly shocked looking man, jump with surprise, "just what are you trying to imply, exactly?"
"I mean, Miss," the man spat, regaining his icy demeanour, "that a mu-, muggleborn witch has no place in managing a wizarding esta-"
Hermione glared as she pulled her wand from under the cash register and pointed it at the man, whose eyes went wide as the students gasped and dropped their books on the nearest shelves, hurriedly exiting the store.
"I am just as much of a witch as you are a wizard, Sir," she spat, glaring at him as he backed away, "if you are so dreadfully unhappy with my management then I suggest you take your custom elsewhere. I can assure you, your disgusting face will not be missed here."
"How dare you-"
"Oh I dare," she spat, pointing at the door, her hand shaking with rage and frustration, "Go on, fuck off before I show you just how much I do dare."
As the man, quite literally, ran from the store, Hermione quickly checked for other customers and checked the time, finding it to be lunchtime. She sighed, hearing for the front door and locking it, charming the sign to read 'closed' as she walked into her office, snatching her bag from the desk and stepping into the floo, only to reappear in Charlie's office at the reserve. He gasped as she flew out and, without so much as a hello, spelled the door to stay locked, threw her wand and bag without care for where they landed and leaped upon him, immediately ripping open his shirt and groaning as he, probably quite confusedly, wrapped his arms around her.
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Charlie panted as he took in the utter destruction Hermione's apparently very urgent desire had caused to his office, frowning as he pulled away, buttoning his trousers and repairing his shirt as Hermione removed herself from where she had been spread out on his desk and moved to collapse into one of the leather chairs facing it. Once his shirt was, at the very least, in one piece again, he sat heavily in his desk chair and gawped at her.
"What the bloody hell was that about?" He asked and Hermione groaned, dropping her head into her hands before he saw her shoulders begin to shake and he gasped, leaping from his chair and hurrying to crouch down in front of her, "hey, Hermione, come on, look at me."
"I'm sorry," she whimpered, sighing as she swept tears from her face, "I needed to burn some anger and it was either come here to you or go and destroy something and I thought that maybe-"
"It's ok," he said gently, wiping his thumb over her cheek and pulling her hand down to hold, "just start from the beginning, yeah? I'm a bit confused, here."
"I can imagine," she snorted sadly, shaking her head, "a customer at the shop… Well his order didn't come in and I tried to explain that the distributors always mess up our deliveries, right? But he wouldn't listen, he got quite aggressive. I understand, I do, but then he almost called me a mudblood and said that I had no right to run a wizarding business, so I pulled my wand on him."
"Hermione," Charlie sighed, pulling her down and into his arms as he sat back on the floor and she sobbed, "what else happened?"
"I threatened him," she whimpered, sighing shakily as she clutched at his shirt, "in front of a bunch of Hogsmeade students! Children, Charlie!!"
"You had every right to pull your wand on him, Hermione," he reassured, rubbing her back gently and kissing her forehead, "for him to even consider you any less able because of your blood status is as laughable as it is disgusting."
"I wouldn't have minded, you know?" She sighed, pulling away from him and sliding from his lap, though leaving her legs over his as she looked at him, "But I could see it in his eyes, he really wanted to call me mudblood and that word makes me sick."
"I know, sweetheart," Charlie nodded, stroking her left arm as he said it, "so that's the reason I will never be able to look at my desk without risking at least a semi?"
"Something like that," she snorted, smiling slightly and shaking her head, "sorry about that."
"Woah now, never apologise for mind blowing sex!" He exclaimed and Hermione chuckled, smacking him on the chest as he grabbed her wrist, sighing as he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her palm, "you ok now?"
"I think so," she nodded, smiling still, "thank you, for the mind blowing sex and for making me feel better. I'm just going to go home and take a bath, maybe a nap."
"What about the shop?" Charlie frowned as he stood up, offering her a hand and pulling her up when she took it.
"I don't have the energy to run it today, the guy who was supposed to be working owled in sick and I really can't be bothered," She shrugged, sighing, "I'll owl my boss and tell him I'm sick or something."
"Take it easy, ok?" He asked and Hermione nodded as he pulled her in so that her head rested on his shoulder, held there by his hand, "I'll pick Arty up from mum's on my way home, so don't worry about anything. Just take some time for yourself, ok?"
"I think I need it." She yawned and Charlie nodded as she stepped into the floo, disappearing and leaving him to wonder what he could do to make her happy.