Stuck in Place

by KemAjiana


A/n: Have a 3rd chapter because I'm working a 12 hour shift on a 3-Monsters-in energy rush. I'd say blame my shenanigans on that, but, as Insert Clever Potter Name Here and LesbianRavenclaw can attest: I'm always shenanigans. (Also: thanks for letting me bounce ideas off your guys' deranged brains. Like cat toys.)


Chapter Three

Whatever Hermione had been expecting, she was relatively sure that this wasn't it.

As a human, the push of bodies in the store had been most uncomfortable; as a fox, it was a suicide mission. Not two minutes in, and she'd been stepped on, kicked, and nearly trampled by a teenager that she had promptly turned her sizeable canines on. So, now, she had resorted to climbing the store shelves, waltzing daintily across the long, Weasley-orange boards that housed Sugar Hexes and Canary Creams, careful to avoid the grabby hands of the store's younger patrons. Like the eight year old following her as she made her way to the back of the building. She sniffed, eyeing his strangely green hands with disdain, knowing that that was going to be quite a pain to get out of her fur if he got his hands on her. She leaped gracefully from the sweets shelf to the Skiving Snackbox shelf, making sure the isle was (relatively) clear as to avoid colliding with a patron.

Fred had asked her to come down to the shop whenever she felt up to it, and had left the flat door just a tiny bit propped so she could squeeze out without assistance, so there she was.

The back room was closed off with a big, red sign that read 'EMPLOYEES ONLY. DO NOT ENTER." and figured it must be the backroom. She quickly crossed the rest of the shelves, leaping down and trotting to the door, raising a paw to scratch at it, when two small, but strong, hands grabbed at her fur, yanking her up into a small chest in a bone-crushing hug. She yelped, forelegs trapped against her body, and she kicked wildly with her back feet, trying to break free as she tossed about. She couldn't breathe as the small child giggled, racing across the store to find its mother, bouncing her wildly as she slipped further, and further into the child's arms.

"Mummy! Mummy look!" the child cried. "I found a kitty cat! She even has a pretty bow!"

The mother, who appeared to have been distracted while searching through the Weasley's Wonder Witch collection, murmured a quick, "That's nice dearest," before turning back. Her eyes went comically round as she did a double-take, snatching up her child and freeing Hermione from his crushing hold. "That's not a cat! Fox!"

While Hermione had been collecting herself, she hadn't realized the mother had brandished her wand and was preparing to hex her, when suddenly she was snatched up again. "It's quite alright! Just Hermi! Our resident mascot!"

Oh, George, thank Merlin! She relaxed against him, heaving a sigh of relief, as the mother lowered her wand slightly.

"That beast could have bitten my son!" she screeched. "What kind of store allows a wild animal to run about without supervision? It should be in a cage!"

And then Fred was there. "Well, if I do say so myself, ma'am," he smiled coldly. "if you'd kept a better eye on your child -"

"- we wouldn't be having this issue -"

"- now would we?"

Somewhat confused by the twins' strange pattern of speech, the woman tucked away her wand, replaced her bottle of Ten-Second Pimple Vanisher, and stormed away with her son dragging behind her.

"But mummy! Kitty!"

Hermione gave a derisive snort in George's arms as the pretentious woman walked away, and he chucked a bit at her. "Having fun already, and it's only day one, Hermi!" She lifted her lip in a sort of smirking snarl, which only made George laugh louder as he passed her easily to Fred, who cradled her as one would hold a pup. "I'll watch the floor. You finish those Tempting Treacles. Maybe add one quarter less unicorn hair and an extra bit of fairy wing?"

Fred nodded and grinned. "Maybe that'll do the trick." He bounced Hermione a bit, much to her annoyance. "I've got Hermi to help me out, now. So I'm sure we'll get it sooner rather than later!"

George waved as he made to walk away, waving his wand at a nearly-bare shelf and watching as several small boxes flew in from somewhere in the back to refill it.

Fred set her down on the workstation table, where three small cauldrons were set upon their burners, bubbling slightly, as soon as they entered the relatively dimly-lit back room. He went to stir one, a small grin lighting up his face as he studied his handiwork. He waved absent-mindedly. "We're trying to make a sort of caramel that helps turn you into what your lover wants to see," he gave her a lopsided grin and a playful wink. "Helpful in the bedroom when things get boring. Seventeen and up product only, of course."

Hermione thought for a moment. While Amortentia followed a somewhat similar guideline, it only infatuated the drinker to the person who administered the drink. This was...a bit more difficult. She trotted to Fred's cauldron, peeking in and sniffing befobefore peering at him quizzically.

"All that we have in this are the ingredients for the treacle. I haven't added anything else, yet," he informed her. "The potions book is there, if you want to have at it."

She opened the book (Sixth Year Standard Potions Guidebook), sitting back on her haunches as she examined the pages, eagerly drinking in the information as she flipped through delicately with her small paws; she was thankful one didn't need thumbs to turn a page. While she examined the ingredients that the Twins had named, she was struck with an idea, flipping frantically to another page and gesturing wildly to catch Fred's attention. "Metamorphagi Hair, huh?" He smacked his forehead. "Of course. Why didn't I think of that?"

He rummaged through his ingredient cupboard, pulling down a small vial with strands of vibrant hairs, dumping a few into his open hand and eyeing them critically before selecting one. When he'd returned to the table, Hermione had separated two fairy wings and a unicorn hair into a small, neat pile on his cutting board, and sat back to watch him work.

While at school, she had never paid much attention to the way the twins had tended to their schoolwork, focused more on stopping their wild antics before they got too far out of hand and protecting the "wee firsties" that had been eager to do almost anything to skive off potions class. But, now, as she watched his long, slim fingers work, she realized how studious and intelligent they must have been to achieve what they had at such a young age. They were brilliant, if she was honest with herself.

When Fred went to add the second fairy wing, she stopped him, shaking her head. "Should I not add it?" he asked, trusting her judgement. She nodded, and he quirked an eyebrow. "Less, then?" Another nod. "Half?" A third nod, and he set to work slicing the small wing in half before adding it to the now boiling cauldron. The rest of the ingredients he added slowly, rhythmically, humming lightly to himself as Hermione watched intensely.

She wondered to herself if they'd consider taking up teaching potions when they became older - a thinker and a doer; master potions makers alone, unstoppable when thrown together - but shook the thought away with an inward smile. No. Fred and George would never leave their business. They'd probably go together in some wild, unexplainable, fiery ball of glory. That's just who they were. They were FredandGeorge; the Twins.

Hermione frowned a bit. No. That wasn't really true.

There was a fine difference between them. Subtle, but there. Fred was a doer; outgoing, jubilant, adventurous. George was a thinker; slightly calmer than his twin, a man ready to comfort.

And, for the first time since meeting them, Hermione began to think of them not as FredandGeorge, but as Fred and George. Two separate men.

"Hey, Hermione? Why do you have green paint in your fur?"

She groaned.