Well, third chapter. House is pretty much taken care of, and I've pretty much gotten over the departure of my love, so I'm writing. I'm really trying to keep it from turning depressing, but I still feel a little sad over some things. But anyway, if it seems a little 'odd' to you, its just cuz im trying to keep it happy. This isn't a sad fic. Not yet anyway. Even then its not all that sad. At least it shouldn't be.
Prologue 3 (last one, I promise!)_*_*_*_*_*_
Hermione walked over to the door, trying to avoid the mass of people who suddenly all wanted to see an item on the shelf and were crushing towards her. She opened the door and poked her head through.
She had thought the shop was messy, but behind it was even worse. It was a very small space, cramped and made even worse by the untidy pilings of boxes.
Every corner of the room was filled with crates of all shapes and sizes, all with the same writing she recognized from the front. She noticed a couch in the corner, as well as some quills and parchment that were left scattered on it's ink-stained cushions.
She carefully stepped over a large pile of fake wands to get over to over to them, picked up one from the top, and started reading. It turned out to be every complex budgeting, whoever had written it had very carefully collected and totaled every expense and the amount of every purchase. This went on for five more documents, Hermione picked up he bottom one and glanced at the total. The twins were barely making any profit, she wondered if they had subtracted the amount of the store rental and housing. A quick look through the rest told her that they hadn't.
She wondered whether they were making any money at all. Putting them back, she glanced again around the small room. She noticed a worn picture hanging from a free space on the wall. She looked at it and smiled. It was all the Weasleys except Bill; her, and Harry all together and laughing.
In the portrait Ron had just erupted into spots from one of their pranks, Harry was cleaning his glasses and squinting, Fred and George were laughing hysterically, while Mrs. Weasly and Ginny looked scandalized. Hermione herself was just staring off at one of the Weasleys, either Fred or Ron, both were in basically the same area in the picture. Percy was just smiling slightly, though every few minutes he'd roll his eyes; and Charlie had just walked out of the picture to attend to some unseen business.
Suddenly there was a loud pop, and Hermione jumped back from the picture startled and just a little embarrassed at being caught snooping around. Fred had landed on his butt on the ground and he smacked his head against a stack of boxes. Hermione lunged at the top one, just saving it from falling, and she placed it on a different stack. He was just standing up and brushing himself off when he noticed Hermione.
"Oh! Hey I didn't know you were here… I, uh didn't hit you did I? I'm not that great at apparating. Always miss my mark by a foot or so." He said grinning, though his face was slightly red. Whether from his embarrassing landing or from whatever he had been doing before, she didn't know. Or really care.
"No, I'm fine. And it must run in your family, Ron can't apparate worth beans either. Anyway, George told me you wanted to see me about something, but he was kinda busy, so I was sent here to find you." She paused and looked at him.
"How come you're not doing anything? Its crazy out there!"
"I'm the lazy twin, obviously. No, actually it's my brake. George just started tonight; I had to work double because he had a date with Angelina. I just finished working, and I'm beat. Here, sit down. It's not much of a couch, but its a lot more comfortable than it looks. Some rich guys had it charmed so it felt like an overstuffed armchair or something. Unfortunately, I can't do anything about the way it looks." He waved his hand towards the pathetic looking sofa and she politely sat down.
"George and me have been thinking about hiring some new staff. I'm sure you saw how busy it is and we need all the help we can get, but I don't mean to look after tills, I mean to help us create our jokes. It's costing us a lot to make them, and we thought maybe, because you're really good at potions and figuring things, you might help us. Of course we'd pay you, but-"
"Fred! You want me to help you?" She asked excitedly.
"Yeah, I didn't think you'd like the idea that much…" He looked crestfallen, and she supposed he remembered how she was so opposed to it before.
"No, I mean, I'd love to! It would give me a good excuse to come out here more often and be with… be near the wizarding community. I do love experimenting with things too. And I can make sure you don't go hurting any people that way too." She looked pointedly at him before continuing.
"It sounds like fun, I'd be happy to. And about paying me, I don't want much money or anything, I mean I know you're kind of strapped for cash and all, but-"
"Hermione, I wouldn't dream of just paying you." He interrupted.
"If you're going to help us create new jokes and such, you'd just have to become a partner. Maybe a secondary one, but still, you'd be a lot more important to the company than any sales clerk!" She looked stunned. A partner? Merlin!
- "So is it a deal?" he asked.
"Like I said, I'd love to. So when do I start?" She was practically bursting.
"Well, probably sometime next week. It's really busy right now because of our sale, but by next Tuesday I'm sure we'll have enough time to get some stuff done… I'll just have to find George and confirm it…"
"Yeah, I'm here with Ron, he's probably wondering where I went. I better get back too. It's my first day here, I'm supposed to send my mother an owl to tell her I'm all right. She doesn't like it much when I just suddenly disappear into thin air." They laughed, then Fred held the door open for her.
"So I'll be in touch, or George. Anyway, thanks a lot Hermione… hopefully now we can cut down on some of the damages payments we have to keep making." Laughing she left. Fred went back inside and fell onto the couch, determined to get some sleep before helping George again. There was still four more hours of work left.
We seriously have to rethink the times we're open… He thought before he fell asleep.
_*_*_*_*_*_
Hermione spotted Ron in a few seconds, he was at the register trying to get a discount on one of the posters.
"I'm serious, I'm his brother! Get him over here!! What do you mean he said no discounts to anyone? Those bloody cheapskates…" He grudgingly handed over the money. He turned around and spotted Hermione trying to get towards him, but unfortunately, there were too many people in the way to go very fast. He caught up with her and they went back outside. The cool air was a relief after the stuffy cramped joke shop.
He showed her his poster, and she laughed. She opened her mouth and yawned. He suggested they go home and she readily agreed.
- She headed into her room, changed into some boxer shorts and a large shirt that she always slept in. Ron knocked on her door, and she answered it with a grin.
- "Hey. Nice pajamas… Haha. Anyway, I just came to say good night." He said.
- "Night, Ron. And I had lots of fun tonight. Even if you did apparate us into a pond." She grinned.
- "Of course you would bring that up. I knew you wouldn't just let it lie. Honestly Hermione, you're probably just as terrible. You couldn't apparate two people, could you?" He said jokingly, though she sensed a small bit of accusation behind his words.
- "Fine! I couldn't, I'll admit it. Now, Good Night, Ron! Go before I fall over." Still both smiling, he nodded, and leaned over to her. He kissed her on the cheek, then said,
- "Seeya in the morning, then." and went into his room. Hermione just stood there. She was vaguely aware she was grinning like a moron, but she didn't care. She touched her cheek, then dropped her hand and chastised herself for acting like a stupid kid. She climbed into the lower bed of the Twin's bunk bed.
- Everything was turning out good. Ron was her boyfriend, she had a new, exciting job, and she hoped to go apartment hunting some time soon.
- Things hadn't been this good in a while, she decided.
- _*_*_*_*_
- Sorry about the shortness!! Anyway, that's it for the prologue. We'll go into the present next chapter, and the main conflict shall take place probably one after that. So please read, review, and listen to =W=eezer. Thank you, goodnight!
