Chapter Five

Proposals

Finally open my arms wide
Finally I let you inside
Finally made it past the end
To finally begin

Weigh the pros but the cons come first
I've got a black belt in doubt
I get claustrophobic
All these open doors around
Still the pros are the hardest to ignore
I've never felt this light before
I took off my sunglasses
And waited for the words

Hermione had started searching for a flat a week after she and Ginny shopped in Diagon Alley. Hermione had spoken to her parents about moving out. When she first decided to bring it up, she was insanely nervous. She didn't know if it was too soon to let them off on their own. Hermione almost laughed at the thought. She felt like their parent and knew she was being silly.

They had told her that she was in fact being silly and needed to live her life. They had lived in Australia for a year and were fine. Hermione agreed with them. Maybe she was the one who wasn't ready to leave them since she just got them back. But again, she was being silly. So she started conducting her search by looking in the Daily Prophet every day.

The flats she found were either not what she wanted, too expensive, or not in Diagon Alley at all. One day Harry, Ron, and Ginny asked how her search was going.

"Hm…not that great," she answered as she looked through the paper that day.

"I have an idea. I've been thinking about it since you said that you're looking for a flat," Ron spoke up.

Hermione put down the Prophet and looked at the redhead in front of her showing he had her attention.

"I was thinking that maybe you can move in with George," Ron paused waiting for someone to interject. When no one did, he continued. "He's got an extra room—not F-Fred's," Ron said quickly before Ginny could say anything, "and let's face it, we're all worried about him and he needs someone to look after him. And Hermione, you can do that. You're like family to us and out of everyone; I think he would let you in. And it would also give you a place to stay," Ron's blue eyes looked into her brown ones.

Hermione didn't know what to say. Staying with George—someone she knew well enough—it would be ideal and he lived in a centralized location. It was what she had been looking for. But she didn't want to intrude on his space. She knew that he was still grieving over Fred, they were all still grieving over Fred, but George was a special case. He had lost half of himself and no one could ever understand that, no one. And she didn't know if she was certified for the job to keep an eye on him.

The Weasleys were like family to her and George was like one of her older goofy brothers, but now he was broken, completely and irrevocably. And she knew that she didn't have all the tools to help George, but she was willing to try something, anything.

"I'll try my hardest, but talk to him first. I don't want to just drop in on him," he said looking at Ron.

Ron nodded. "I'll ask him tomorrow. Hopefully this time he comes out of the backroom. Actually, I'm surprised he came downstairs at all."

The four teenagers lapsed into silence after Ron's statement all thinking about George alone—the only surviving twin. The visual was almost too much to think about. The two mischievous smiling faces that always greeted them at a family event was now lost forever. There was only one face, but it would a long time (or if ever) when they would see that same smile grace his face again. It may not be the same smile they were used to, but they knew that one day he would smile again.

"I think I'm going to go talk to him now, at least get him used to the idea," Ron said standing up and walking to the fireplace.

They watched him disappear in the green glow of the floo and then turned back to the table. The quiet that continued after Ron's exit was thick and uneasy. Hermione was wondering and worry about what George would say to Ron's proposal. Ron had been so sure that he would agree to Hermione staying there, but she didn't think that he would want anyone to stay with him. She figured he would want to be alone.

Hermione stood suddenly. She didn't want to be there when Ron got back for some reason. Maybe she didn't want to hear the bad news and be disappointed thus making her search even more necessary. Harry and Ginny looked up at her.

"I have to head home now. I forgot I promised my parents we would go out tonight for dinner," Hermione said lamely.

Harry and Ginny looked at her skeptically, but didn't say anything more.

"I-I'll see you all later. Tell Ron said goodbye and to owl me when if he has an answer for George," she waved and walked out of the house so quickly that if Harry and Ginny had said anything she wouldn't have known.

She quickly walked to the end of the wards and apparated home.

~-O-~

The next day Hermione decided to try a different avenue, looking for a job. She had owled her application and resume to the few jobs she found in the Prophet. One was a secretary job for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the other was work at the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione would rather work in the Ministry and get some experience in the department before she decided to work there when she finished her NEWTs.

Now all she could do was wait. The waiting game was something Hermione never liked playing. She was one of those go-out-and-get-it girls, but she knew that she had to. She wanted the job honestly not just because she was the Hermione Granger, Heroine and Best Friend of the Boy-Who-Lived. She wanted everything on her own merits.

Yes, she worked hard during the war. Everyone who fought, either for the Light or the Dark, worked hard fighting for what they believed in, but Hermione always saw herself as one part in a whole. She never wanted to glory or the limelight. She could see why Harry wanted to lay low for a while and it didn't sound like a bad idea for her, but taking a break felt like wasting time. She could be doing so much more with her life and that's what she planned to do.

So working and completing her NEWTs was the plan. And whatever happens after that happens. She wanted to take things one step at a time. If she couldn't let herself take a break, she would let herself slow down. She had constantly been on the go helping others as well as herself, but this time she was going to help herself.

And it sounded selfish, but she realized that it wasn't. She was just living her own life. She never regretted helping Harry, not at all, but she was glad that it was over now. Hermione could finally live a normal life.

Her parents were proud of her that she wanted to keep going despite everything she had been through over the years. But they knew their daughter well enough that she wouldn't stop going after what she wanted even when she should take a well-deserved break.

Hermione heard from Ron the next day. Pig came twittering to her window that afternoon. It took Hermione five minutes to get the tiny feathered baseball to calm down enough to take the missive from his tiny leg. When she did, the tiny owl flew around her head several times until he found something else to fly around. Crookshanks sat in the corner and watched with his yellow eyes not daring to go after the hyperactive owl.

Hermione unrolled the parchment and read over the short letter:

Hermione,

I spoke to George and he didn't seem to be opposed to the idea. I'll talk to him more about it tomorrow when I go to work at the shop. Maybe you can come in as well just to say hello and to just speak to him about the whole thing. Well, hope to see you tomorrow.

-Ron

Hermione felt a bit better about the situation with George. He didn't downright disagree with the idea, so there was still hope, but she couldn't help but to feel strange about talking to him tomorrow. What would she even say? He was still a human being, but he wasn't the George she had grown to know and love. He was almost like a shadow of that man.

But Hermione wasn't going to give up on him just because he wasn't the same. That was one of the main purposes for her to live with George, to help him as much as she could.

Hermione flipped the parchment over that Ron had used to write to her and said:

I'll be there around noon and maybe we can all go to lunch together.

-H

She tied it to Pig after chasing him around her room and watched the owl do a few dizzying loops in the air before he zipped away.

~-O-~

The clock chimed at the top of the hour when Hermione arrived at the shop. Ron was sitting at the counter reading a magazine when he heard the bells over the door tinkle. His head snapped up and smiled at her when he spotted her.

"Hey Mione," he greeted.

"Hey. Ready to go to lunch?"

"Well George said that he rather cook and we could eat upstairs in the apartment."

"That's fine with me."

Ron stood from his stool and walked over to the door and flipped the sign to Closed for lunch, be back in an hour and locked it before walking back over to Hermione. She followed him up the narrow stairs that led to the twins' flat.

Hermione had only been inside of the flat once all the years that the shop had been open. And from what she remembered it was lovely. When Ron opened the door, the flat was a complete disaster. There were papers strewn all over the floor, the dishes were piled up in the sink, and there were bags of garbage sitting next to the bin that needed to be taken out.

Ron turned his head to give her a grim look. "I know that it's a sty, but…"

"I know, Ron. No need to explain."

Ron walked over to a door, that Hermione figured was George's room, and knocked. A moment later, the door cracks open.

"George, its Hermione and I, we're here for lunch."

George didn't say anything, but simply opened the door and stepped out. Hermione had no idea what to expect when she saw him, but she wasn't expecting this. His face was gaunt. She had never seen anyone's cheeks so hollow. Fred and George had always been thin, but George was thinner than normal. It was hard to see him like this.

He turned his blue eyes to Hermione. They were bloodshot and dead-looking. Hermione wanted to run over to him that instant and hug him.

"Hello Geroge," her voice was a little shaky.

"Hi Hermione," he said in a monotone voice.

Hermione cringed at the sound of his voice. She had never heard it so lifeless.

"Hermione and I can cook if you want, George," Ron piped up.

"Yeah, it's definitely not a problem," Hermione said giving him a small smile.

George nodded and sat down in one of the chairs at the table.

Ron busied himself by starting on the dishes whilst Hermione looked around in the fridge and cupboards to cook something. She didn't find much, so she turned to Ron.

"I'm going to head to the store and pick up a few things to cook," she said quietly.

Ron nodded and continued on his task.

Hermione left the flat and grabbed ground beef, buns, cheese, and condiments before heading back to George's.

When she got there, Ron was done with the dishes and was starting on bagging up the parchment on the floor. The whole time Ron was doing this, George sat in the chair oblivious to everything. Ron gave Hermione a smile as she started cooking them burgers.

Hermione had all the food plated and brought to the table by the time Ron cleaned the apartment. It looked almost normal.

Hermione shoved a burger over to George and one to Ron before she sat down in her own chair. It felt awkward sitting there munching away on a burger whilst George sat in a chair with a blank look on his face. Hermione felt pity and sadness well inside of her.

"So, George, have you thought about what I asked you yesterday?"

George looked over at his little brother. He shrugged.

"Would you mind if Mione stayed here with you? You have an extra bedroom other than…" Ron didn't finish the end of his sentence, but they all knew what he had meant.

"I don't mind," George said in the same monotonous voice.

"Thank you George," Hermione said whole-heartedly.

He nodded and took a bite from his burger.

"I don't have a job yet, but I'm working on getting one. So I hope you don't mind that since I won't be able to pay you rent."

"You don't need to pay rent," he said quietly.

"But I don't want to loaf about either."

"Well, you can make dinner every other night. This burger is good by the way."

"I can do that or any work around the flat."

George nodded and continued eating. The three of them lapsed into silence, eating and thinking about who knows what.

When they were done, Hermione took all of their plates and started washing them up.

"Hermione," George called.

She turned around and looked at him.

"You can move in whenever you want," he said before disappearing back into his room.

Hermione felt herself smile and then she looked at Ron. "I promise to take good care of him."

"Thanks. Mum will feel a bit better now that he won't be alone."

Hermione nodded. It was going to be hard work, but Hermione was always up for a challenge.

Draco finally had an idea what he wanted his father's, no his, company to focus on, Quidditch. It was genius. Draco was an avid fan as well as an appreciator of the game. He would be the one to get sponsors for any team that needed one.

He was good at charming and getting what he needed from people, so this would be a piece of pumpkin pasty. He would speak to his solicitor about this to see if this could actually work. Then he would start to weed out the people who had sided with his father over the years. He didn't need the negativity and influence that his father surrounded himself with, not anymore. He would hire new people that would give the company a fresh start.

Draco was actually excited to run this company. Before he had completely dreaded it, but that was before he knew that what he could possibly do. It would hopefully help show the Wizarding world that the Malfoys weren't what they thought they were anymore. He could help clear their name and disentangle it from its affiliation with Voldermort.

"Have you figured out what you're going to do with the company yet?" Narcissa asked over dinner one night.

"Actually I have mother."

"Oh? What are you going to do?"

"I still have to speak with our lawyers, but I think I'm going to be an advocate for quidditch teams to get sponsors or whatever else they may need."

Narcissa put her spoon down on the table and gave her only son a smile. "That sounds like something you will do very well."

"Thank you, mother. I hope so. And I hope that it will work out."

"I'm sure it will, Draco. You're intelligent and you're a natural when it comes to business."

Draco nodded his head. "I just don't want to run this business like father did. I'm going to start new and fresh and hire new people. I don't want to the same people that influenced father to do the same for me. I want this company to be my own."

Narcissa nodded and remained quiet. "I know that you don't want to be like him Draco and you don't have to prove to me or anyone else that you aren't. I've known that about you for years and I'm proud of you. You know what you want and you're going after it."

Hearing his mother speak of him as so made his heart beat frantically in his chest. His mother actually believed in him and saw him as something more than a younger version of his father. If his own mother didn't see him as such, did the rest of the world? He supposed he would find out when he came out in the Wizarding world as an entrepreneur.

After dinner, Draco walked into his study and wrote to his solicitor and they agreed to meet the next day at the Manor to discuss everything. Draco felt good about this. He felt that he was doing something right for the first time in a long time.

~-O-~

Draco sat at his desk when his solicitor, Philip Andrews came through his floo.

"Mr. Malfoy," the squat man said as he brushed himself off and walked to the seat in from of the massive desk.

"Mr. Andrews. How are you this morning?" Draco asked, his hands folded upon the desk and a smile graced his face.

"I'm well and you?"

"Quite fine."

"Good, good. Now, what did you want to discuss today?"

"The nature of my business. I want to start anew."

"Very well, Mr. Malfoy. Let me grab the papers and then we can begin."

Draco nodded and watched as the man looked through his briefcase for the correct papers. He took out a quill and an inkwell.

"What were you thinking about changing your business over to?"

"I want to handle the sponsors that often offer themselves to the teams. Basically, I want to be the go between because let's face it, some teams don't know how to handle business and no need for either party to get ripped off," Draco said bridging his fingers.

The man stroked his chin with the end of the quill. "Very effective, Mr. Malfoy. It is needed and you'd be the perfect man to do it. I'll just draw up a proposal and then talk to each party and then get back to you."

"Very good. How long will that take?"

"No more than a week."

"Brilliant," Draco said holding out his hand to Philip.

"I'll be in touch," he said as he shook Draco's hand before putting the paper back in his briefcase and flooed away.

One part down, on to the next—firing those he didn't need and hiring new people.

Author's Note: Hello! I know, not a very exciting chapter, but I promise the next chapter will be! Feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks!