A few days later, Hermione found herself outside Weasley's Wizard Wheezes as the clock stroke seven. Oliver had been reluctant to let her go out to dinner with Fred but had ended up accepting it, stating several times that he trusted her. Hermione had kept saying that he had no reason not to. She had absolutely no intentions of shaging - or even kissing - Fred again. She just wanted to hash things out between them to avoid things getting awkward. She wanted to be proper friends again.
With anticipation, she opened the door to the shop and found the inside packed with people. Tiny little explosions could be heard everywhere and she waved to Verity behind the counter.
She saw George restocking a shelf of colourful boxes. He had his hair pulled back and she got a rare sight of his non-existant ear. It was a sight she would never get used to as the skin around the gaping hole still was black even though it had been cursed off over seven years ago.
"Hi, Hermione," George smiled at her as she approached him, "what are you doing here? Well, apart from obviously gawking at my ear," he smirked.
Hermione blushed, "I have plans with Fred. Have you seen him?"
"Yeah, he's in the back. I'll take you."
She followed him to the back of the store where he pushed open a door disguised as a shelf.
"FREDDY?" he called, "Hermione's here to see you."
"Hermione?" Fred said and peeked his head out from behind a shelf, "what are you doing here?"
"I thought we had plans?"
"No, that's not until Thursday," he smiled at her.
"That's today, genious" George said, clearly amused by the entire situation.
Fred smacked his forehead, "Bugger - it's Thursday? I'm so sorry Hermione - busy week! I completely forgot.."
"This is a new low - even for you, Freddy," George laughed at his brother.
Fred turned to Hermione with a guilty look on his face, "I'm so sorry but I need to stay here and work. I have a tricky potion brewing in the back and I need to get it working before all the students go back to Hogwarts."
Hermione could feel herself growing disappointed. She had been looking forward to spending a night alone with him.
"It's okay.. I'll stop by some other time," she croaked.
"Or.." George muttered, "you could help us out with the potion? I mean, you're quite good at - well everything - and we can't get this one to work quite right.."
"Yeah, yeah... I could do that," Hermione agreed. Maybe actually spending time together while doing something productive would limit the amount of potential awkwardness, she thought to herself.
"You honestly don't have to," Fred said, "The stuff I'm brewing has quite a nasty smell to it."
"I've spent 8 months on the run with two boys. Do you really think of me as a delicate princess?" she raised her eyebrows at him.
"Good point," he laughed and waved her inside, "you're probably a lot more sturdy than I am."
Hermione took a few steps inside the room before a revolting wave hit her nose. Her eyes started tearing up and her salivary glands started over-producing spit to make her ready to vomit. "Wow, I feel like you really underestimated the smell," she said in a strained voice, concentrating hard on not throwing up.
"And here you had me believe that you weren't a delicate princess," Fred laughed, earning himself an elbow to the ribs.
"Shut it," she smiled at him, "but honestly. No potion whatsoever should smell like this! What's it for?" she asked him.
"We want to update one of our bestsellers: the Pantented Daydream Charms. Right now they only work for about thirty minutes but it would be great if we could extend it to at least an hour. That way the Hogwarts students would never have to endure another one of professor Binn's classes again," he winked at her.
Even Hermione had to admit that History of Magic had been the most boring class at Hogwarts.
"But as you can see," Fred sighed, "it always turns out like this," he pointed to the cauldron in front of him. Big bubbles broke the surface of the grey mass every other second, sending gas waves of rotten eggs and old sewer into the room.
"Can I see the recipe?" Hermione asked him, "I think there's a mistake in it. This can't be right."
He handed her an old piece of parchment on which he had scribbled so many notes that Hermione was unable to read most of it.
"I cannot understand a single word on this slip," she laughed at him.
"Are you saying that my handwriting is rubbish?" He asked in mock offense.
"No, but it's definitely a mess," she laughed, "look: does this say 12 or 13?"
Fred looked at the piece of parchment over her shoulder "definitely 13 - I think...or is it 12? Hold op...Have I been adding 13 drops when I should have been adding 12?" Fred scratched the stubble on his chin.
"And here: does this say 1 or 7 counter-clockwise stirs?"
"Merlin's beard," Fred muttered, "I have absolutely no idea."
"Can I take back what I said before and agree with you that your handwriting actually is rubbish?" she laughed at him.
"Hey, wait a minute! That's George's handwriting!!" Fred tried.
"Nice try," Hermione laughed, "but I know for a fact that George has a very neat handwriting."
"yeah, and he has small dainty hands too," Fred muttered under his breath, "If this works, I'm going to castrate myself."
He emptied the cauldron with a whip of his wand, clearing the air around them of smells aswell. He let Hermione read from the recipe and correct him where she thought he was messing up.
They ended up brewing the potion for a few hours until it had a perfect lilac colour.
"This is perfect!" Fred exclaimed, "and it doesn't even smell anymore! I can't believe that I have wasted two months worth of work because my handwriting is worse than a first year's."
Hermione laughed at his remark and helped him store the potion and putting it on tiny flasks.
"What's the next step?" Hermione asked him as they had emptied the cauldron, "I mean, how do you even know that it works the way you want it to?"
"I'll test it some other day," Fred smiled, "It might have some weird side effects. One time, I had leaks sprouting out of my temples."
"You test it on yourself?" Hermione looked at him with a horrified expression.
Fred nodded with a laugh, "don't look at me like that! You can actually blame yourself for that; after all those times at Hogwarts where you berated us for trying out our inventions on first years."
"Because they were first years! They had no idea what they were saying yes to."
"Yeah, but I know what I am saying yes to now," he winked at her, "and it isn't as if I have died yet...Well, technically I have died, but if an exploding wall can't make me kick the bucket, I don't think an awry potion will either," he winked at her once more.
"That one would have!" Hermione said, thinking of the grey mass from before.
"But not this perfect purple bugger," Fred said while looking at one of the tiny flasks with a manic look in his eyes.
"Just be careful, okay?"
"Aww, you care about me?" he lifted his gaze from the flask and slung his arm around her shoulders, "that's so sweet, Hermione. You move me!" He dried an imaginary tear away from the corner of his eye.
Hermione laughed at him while shaking her head.
Fred let go of her and said, "Well, I don't know about you but I'm getting hungry. Should we get something to eat? Maybe some takeaway?"
Hermione agreed, "yeah. I've been craving pizza all day. I can go to muggle London and get us one if you're up for it?"
Fred looked at her with a puzzled expression, "pit-sa? What is that?"
"You've never had pizza before?"
"Did Hogwarts serve it?"
"No, but.."
"Does The Leaky Cauldron?"
"No?"
"Does my mum make it?"
"Well, no."
"Then I have never had it," he shook his head, "what is it?"
"Oh, you have to try it! But if I'm about to introduce you to the wonderful world of pizza, then we're making it ourselves."
"Errr, okay? You know how to do that?"
"Yes of course I do! I'll go to muggle London and get us the ingredients if you turn on the oven, okay?"
"Right," Fred said, and started heading up the stairs to his flat above the shop. As Hermione was putting on her coat, Fred stopped dead in his tracks, "wait - turn on the oven? How do I do that?"
"You're joking?"
"I never cook," Fred shrugged.
"You're 26 and you've never cooked? Do you even have an oven?"
Fred rolled his eyes at her, "Yes, Hermione, I have an oven."
"But you order takeaway every night?"
"Yeah. From The Leaky Cauldron or Paddington's Pies," he laughed at how ridiculous he felt.
"So you have never had pizza or pasta or curry?"
"Let me make this really easy for you Hermione," he grinned, "if neither Hogwarts, The Leaky Cauldron, nor my mum serves it, I have no idea what it is," he smiled at her like a prize idiot.
"You seriously order takeaway every night?" Hermione asked him, still perplex.
"Yes!" Fred laughed, "I can tell you're wondering how I manage to stay fit."
"Yes!!" Hermione laughed with him, "I mean.. when was the last time you ate a carrot?"
"Well, it's my least favourite type of cake, so rarely. If I absolutely have to, I'll just eat the frosting."
"God you're insufferable!" She laughed before apparating to Muggle London.
-
"How did it go?" Oliver asked as soon as Hermione stepped out of the fireplace and in to his flat.
"It went well," Hermione smiled at him and dusted off some soot from her trousers, "shouldn't you be lying in bed right now? You have practice tomorrow."
"I decided to stay up and wait for you. Didn't realise that you'd be in this late.."
"Sorry, we just had fun," she smiled at him.
"Soooo...he didn't try anything?"
"No, Oliver," Hermione sighed, "he did not because as I've told you a million times before: it was a one-time thing."
"Weasley just doesn't seem to be under the same impression.."
"Maybe not, but I am and you have to get over it, okay? Because I'll be seeing a lot more of him."
"You will?"
"Yes I will. I have agreed to help out with some potions for their shop. Every Thursday from now on."
Oliver grunted disapprovingly but didn't say more about the matter.
-
Thursday, as Hermione was eating her lunch at work, she received an owl carrying a letter in Fred's horrible handwriting. Hermione could tell that he had been concentrating on writing it neatly but somehow it had come out worse than usually.
"Hey Hermione,
Looking forward to tonight!
Been dreaming of your peetsa all week; If you scribble down the ingredients, I'll go to muggle London and get everything we need to make one tonight.
You can send the note back with Peter.
- Fred."
Hermione laughed loudly as she read the note. Only Fred would get a beautiful owl and call it something as mundane as Peter. Quickly, she scribbled down everything that Fred needed to buy and sent Peter on his way back to Fred.
For the rest of the day, Hermione kept looking at the clock on her desk, hoping that the hours would rush by so she could see Fred as soon as possible. As soon as the clock stroke 5.00 , she almost ran out of the building so she could apparate to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
Fred was in a chirping mood and kept telling stories that Hermione had heard hundreds of times before, but somehow couldn't get enough of. She pretended that she had never heard any of them before and laughed genuinely at each and everyone of them. While telling the stories, Fred was working faster than she had ever seen and she could tell that he was definitely in his right element. Hermione had never seen anybody be as energetic as Fred was around his pranks, and she found that she actually enjoyed the passion that he showered each invention with. She couldn't remember the last time she had had so much fun with anybody and it was starting to worry her.