A/N: I am so sorry I, like, died on you guys. It was so lame of me and I swear it won't happen again. I got a new inspiration for writing and this is a personal favorite of mine 3. Please keep reviewing, I love it!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is all J.K.R's. Plus, if you sue me, I don't have any money or material possessions except this computer, so it would be pointless.


"FRED! WHERE IS MY MADAME CERISE'S STRAIGHT HAIR SMOOTHING SOLUTION?" Hermione bellowed as she frantically searched through the bathroom drawer where she kept all of her things. It was 8:37 and she had to be into work by nine o'clock. Charging out of the room in nothing but a bathrobe, she slammed open the door to his room.

"Jesus, Hermione, is knocking a foreign concept?" He asked as he pulled a shirt over his head.

"No, it's just… I can't find my… and my first day… and I'm running late…" She was starting to hyperventilate.

Fred put his hands on her shoulder. How she could get so worked up over something as silly as work boggled his mind.

"Relax, girl, you're going to have coronary," he said as he tried to get her to take deep breaths, "You might want to call George though. I heard him saying how good of an adhesive it was for our new—"

"ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? I HAVE WORK IN LESS THAN A HALF HOUR AND THAT STUFF COSTS TEN GALLEONS A BOTTLE!"

She stormed out of the room. Sometimes guys could be so completely oblivious. She really liked living with them, because they really were fun, but it was times like this when she wanted to whack them upside the head.

She smoothed out her hair as best as she could and put it up. Not terrible. Just relax, Hermione, it's going to be fine, she thought, At least there's nothing wrong with your outfit.

Except when she went to put on a pair of pantyhose, she noticed a huge run from her ankle to her knee. Trying to avoid panic, she went to look for the backup pair she was holding in the back of her top drawer just for such emergencies. Only it wasn't there. Does the universe have something against me today?.

"Fred, did George also take my spare pair of pantyhose?"

Fred jogged into her room.

"Actually," he said with a boyish grin, "That was me. I have this fetish for women's clothing. Sad, really…"

"Seriously, Fred!"

"Okay, okay, I took them for another one of our experiments. I didn't think you'd miss them. They were hidden so well, really…"

"One, please don't go pawing around my underwear drawer. Two, it better be DAMN good experiment because I did a shoddy job shaving my legs and I don't have any pantyhose to hide my handiwork. So if I lose my job, it's all you!"

Fred smiled. She was really learning to deal well with their extremely immature behavior.

"Don't worry. Finish getting ready and I'll run across the street and grab you a new pair," he volunteered.

How chivalrous, Hermione thought.

It's a good thing her robes weren't too short. Maybe they wouldn't notice the fishnet stockings…


"Hi, I'm here for the medical researcher position?" Hermione said eagerly. She envisioned piles of books and microscopes and being surrounded by the best and the brightest witches and wizards in their fields.

"Ah yes," a tiny witch in a lab coat said, "Please follow me."

They walked through a long and twisted series of corridors. Everything was such a sterile white, and many of the walls were lined with chairs and dotted with doorways. Some had men and women crying outside of them, some had children playing marbles on the floor, but the worst ones were the ones where you could look through the window and watch someone talk to a non-responsive patient. It broke her heart.

As she walked, she wondered what it was like for the Weasleys when Percy was rushed here. They said he was dead on impact, but surely they would have taken him here for an attempted resuscitation. She thought of how she had gotten the owl, felt a brief period of sadness, and went back to her work. It never even occurred to her that Ron needed her here, while he was the one crying outside of a hospital room or talking over a motionless body. She wondered if Harry had gone. He probably had.

"Here we are," the cheery little witch said. Hermione snapped back into reality. They were in a windowless room lined wall to wall with filing cabinets, except for a desk in the corner with a tiny swivel chair.

"I'm sorry, I think you misheard me. I'm a medical researcher," Hermione said slowly. Maybe she was deaf in one ear or something.

"Yes, I know that," the witch said patronizingly, just as slow as Hermione had said it.

Inwardly, Hermione was groaning. The tiny witch went into great detail about how the filing system works and how St. Mungo's prides itself on keeping its cases in order. As soon as she was gone, Hermione felt herself slumping in her chair. This was their idea of being a medical researcher? She might as well have just applied to be a secretary.

She glared down at the imposing pile of manila folders beginning to tilt off the edge of the desk. Realizing that this daunting task was the only thing paying her rent, she began to go through each folder and place it in the appropriate cabinet. It wasn't amusing, not at all, but it passed the time.

She was just getting the bottom of the stack when there was a knock on her door. It made her jump a little, actually. It was surprisingly easy to get absorbed in stories about creature bites and botched botanical potions.

"Well, hello", said a man as she opened the door, "You're Hermione Granger, right?"

She surveyed him. He was tall, about six feet, with medium length black hair that fell softly around his striking blue eyes. He was wearing a white lab coat and had a Super Softie Fizz and envelope in his hand.

She nodded.

"I'm Putnam Berkley," he said, "And these are for you."

"Me? Why?"

"Well, I used to be stuck in here. Before a spot on the research team opened up. This is like an initiation of sorts, I guess. When I heard we had a new girl in here, I thought I'd do something nice and bring her a picker-upper. And they also asked me to give you this… it was owled to you, but there aren't any windows in here so…" Hermione couldn't help but think his rambling was sort of cute.

"Well, thanks a lot, Putnam, and I'll be seeing you around?" she asked, sounding just a little too hopeful.

"Oh Merlin, call me Berk. Everyone does. And if you get some free time in this place, come visit me downstairs."

"Definitely," Hermione said cheerfully. Maybe this job wouldn't be so terrible after all.


Ginny had owled Hermione a note asking her to meet up at Tabletops, a new pub opening up in Diagon Alley, for drinks after work. She was eager to see how Hermione's first day was. Knowing Hermione, she probably found a cure to some major disease in the eight hours she spent in there.

Now Ginny was waiting at a table for Hermione to arrive. She had already downed a shot of Firewhiskey to loosen her up. She touched her wrist tenderly. It had been healing really slowly and she was starting to get nervous. If the national team was going to pick her up, she was going to need to put in a lot more time on the field.

Hermione caused a little stir when she walked in the door. All the guys picked their heads up from the table. Her hair was up with tendrils framing her face and she was wearing… fishnet stockings? Was Ginny going blind?

"Nice hosiery there, 'Mione," Ginny said with a grin.

"Thank your darling brother Fred. I ask him to run out and grab pantyhose and this is what I get," Hermione said giggling.

They ordered another three rounds of firewhiskeys (Hermione was SO glad she had started work on a Friday), and soon enough everything was becoming hilarious.

"So how is everything going with Harry?" Hermione managed to get out between hiccups.

"Oh, it's fine. I never seem to &see& the bloke, but when we got together its so amazing," Ginny said dreamily.

"So are you going to get, you know, married?"

"How should I know? I haven't seen him in a month!" Ginny said, "But here's a better question. How are things with my brother?"

"Oh God, don't get like Lav, I wouldn't shag Ron…"

"Not Ron, dolt, FRED! I see you looking at him with goooogly eyes," Ginny said laughing.

Hermione, even with all the Firewhiskey in her blood, wanted to change the subject. Fred wasn't into her, they were just flatmates. He was a party boy who liked lots of supermodel women. She was not a supermodel.

"You know what Gin? It's getting late and I'm exhausted. Meet you for dinner tomorrow?" Hermione asked gathering her things and stumbling out the door. She decided to walk home, hoping that maybe the cold air would sober her up a little.


She was still intoxicated beyond recognition when she traipsed in the door to the apartment. She heard Lavender giggling inside of Ron's room and Fred was sitting on the couch watching TV.

Fred Weasley, in on a Friday night? I must be really drunk, she thought.

"Hey, Hermione," Fred said looking up. She looked so unbearably hot. Her hair was falling out of the ponytail she had put her hair in and her cheeks were flushed from the alcohol and the cold night air. She was taking off her sweater so she had nothing but a tiny lacy blank tank top underneath.

"Hey there," she said, plopping onto the couch beside him, "Whatcha watching?"

"I'm not watching it. I was just thinking about something," he said, looking into her eyes.

"Oh yeah? Like what," she said. She felt a case of the giggles coming on, and she knew it wasn't a good time to just burst out into a laughing fit.

"I'm not sure how to say this, so I'll put it bluntly. I like you," Fred said earnestly.

"Well, cool! I like you too, Fred. You're really funny and SO cute," she said, "But it's not like anything can happen. It would ruin us living together, not to mention we have nothing in common."

His face screwed up. This wasn't what he was expecting. He never got turned down.

"Okay, well, I'm dog tired. Goodnight Freddy!" she said as she erupted into giggles again.

Fred didn't even look at as she bounced out of the room.


A/N: You may think Hermione was a bit OOC towards the end of the chapter, but I can promise I'll snap her right back in the next chapter. I've always thought Hermione had a bit of a wild streak in her ;-).