Summary
It's nearing the end of summer, and Harry, Ron and Hermione have gone to stay at Diagon Alley with Fred and George for a few weeks. But after one of the twin's joke shop experiments is accidentally 'ingested' relationships are turned upside down...
Disclaimer: No I don't own Harry and Co, though I would give much to borrow the Weasley wins for a weekend!
Chapter one: Greetings in the Leaky CauldronA girl with bushy, uncontrollable hair stepped out of a nonchalant black London cab, with suitcase in hand and the first smile that had crossed her face for quite some months. The scene was nothing out of the ordinary: that is until the girl stepped into the space between an abandoned house and an old bookshop and seemingly disappeared into thin air.
Hermione Granger drank in the atmosphere of The Leaky Cauldron, filling the gap that seemed to have been missing ever since she'd left platform 9 ¾ at the end of her fifth year at Hogwarts. Despite the danger; the pain of watching her closest friends hurt; the ominous threat of what was to come. Despite all of that being somewhat left behind, sitting in her plain bedroom, in her house that reflected the same image of suburbia that could be seen for miles, with parents who, despite their attempts, could not begin to empathise with what had happened to her over the last five years, Hermione couldn't find any enjoyment in the normality of plain muggle living. As she looked round the wizarding pub with its eclectic range of customers, robes of all different colours and occasional small explosions emitting from wands, she knew that, with the good and the bad, this was the world she needed: the one in which she now belonged.
She was supposed to be meeting Ron and Harry here, but she was rather early and decided to find the innkeeper, Tom, and get settled in to her room for the next couple of weeks. Remarkably, after weeks of owls from Harry complaining about being stuck with the Dursleys and from Ron, who whined about his boredom at the Burrow now the twins were gone, she had been informed that they could have something of a holiday, staying with the twins in Diagon Alley. She couldn't help but think that Dumbledore would have some serious protection spells, as well as members of the order, around them – Harry particularly: they had barely moved an inch last summer without a ten-wizard guard. But she wasn't going to question their fortune – this freedom was exactly what she needed before getting back to her studies.
After unpacking she skipped back down to the bar and sat at a table in the corner, butterbeer in one hand and a favourite book in the other. She was soon lost amongst plot complexities and didn't notice the redhead who had just entered.
He stared at her for a moment, a grin at the corners of his mouth as he marvelled at her complete ignorance of all except the pages in front of her. Her eyes darted across the pages with ease: he was rather sure the Weird Sisters themselves could walk into the pub right now, start a riot and those eyes wouldn't lift. She looked different to what he remembered. Well, not different - just older, taller, more slender. Hermione had always been Hermione: his kid brothers annoying, though at times endearing, best friend, who was more courageous and outspoken then one might expect, but who also had what he, George, viewed as a rather unhealthy interest in lessons and rules. But something had certainly changed. You could tell by the brief appraising looks she would get by any man who happened to glance at her table. She had become rather alarmingly attractive.
He walked over to her table and she didn't look up. He coughed slightly to try to get her attention and still she seemed a little far away. Not wanting to disturb her from her obvious state of calm he stared for a further few moments, knowing only in the depths of his mind that he was rather enjoying it.
Without warning those almond shaped eyes suddenly moved upwards and were staring straight back into his own.
'Well, are you going to stand their all day or are you going to say hello?' she said with a smirk.
George blushed a little beneath his freckles at being caught out and quickly grinned.
'You're early aren't you? Thought we weren't meant to be meeting you, Harry and Ron for a couple of hours – did you miss me that much?'
'Likely! I just had to get away from the total boredom of my town before I turned the next kid who said my hair was bushy into a canary, purely for a little entertainment!'
George's mouth dropped at Hermione's rather uncharacteristic outburst, before he proceeded to list several things he and Fred had in stock that would have done the job. She chided him, although she looked amused, and only a touch alarmed, at the prospect of subjecting her neighbourhood to one of the Weasley's creations.
'Talking of Fred, where is your better looking mirror image?' she joked.
His face filled with mock hurt before he punched her lightly on her arm.
'Excuse me but every one knows that I'm the superior twin in every way! As far my cheap imitation, he went to pick up Harry and Ron from their respective places of residence. Borrowed a car from the ministry…you know they've been a lot more inclined to help us out recently…'
Hermione smiled and listened to his tales of how Lord Voldemort's appearance in the Ministry for Magic had prompted much of the wizarding community to treat the Weasleys – who had been some of the only to stand by Dumbledore when he tried to tell the truth – with a new found respect. She hadn't failed to notice just how much she was enjoying George's company. She had spotted him out the corner of her eye earlier and chosen to keep quiet whilst he stared at her. She wasn't completely sure why. It could, perhaps, be blamed on her hormones, that had become rather more active recently. On the fact that she hadn't really had close contact with anyone besides her family for a while. More likely, she knew, was the fact that George had seemingly turned into a man since leaving Hogwarts, and she could not ignore the draw of his defined upper arms in his polo shirt.
Right at that moment two boys, one with scruffy jet black hair and another who seemed to have grown at least several more inches and had distinctive red hair, entered, accompanied by someone who, to the untrained eye, resembled the exact same person currently sat at the table with Hermione. She shrieked and attacked the group within seconds of them stepping over the threshold of the door. Still sat at the table, George marvelled at the way his younger brother and Harry seemed entirely ignorant of Hermione's new found 'womanlyness', as he was now describing it to himself, whilst hugs were exchanged all round. He supposed that their long and complex friendship made them view each other in a similar to way to which he would look at Ginny. He shuddered at the thought of Ginny growing to be anything other than his sweet little sister, before getting up to join the excited party.
A/N: Well there you have it, chapter one! Can't be sure of how much I will update – very much dependant on the level of effort I decide to put into AS Levels revision – but I will do my best! Review, review, review! If it's life changing, if it's acceptable or if it is quite frankly rather shit, I want to know:-p
Shellxx