Chapter Two

"What the bloody hell do you mean you think you're going to marry Granger!" Fred exclaimed as he stormed into the storage room.

"Just what I said," George replied while shifting through some boxes of files. "I'm going to marry Granger. Hey, where is the receipt for that Stoneworth couple?"

"Did you ask her to marry you?" Fred asked, completely ignoring his twin's question.

"No."

"How long have you two been dating?" he asked in a strained voice. Fred would be the first to admit he had been rather preoccupied lately, what with Angelina being pregnant and Freddie Jr being a toddler, but there was no way he had been distracted enough to not notice his twin had been seriously dating Hermione Granger of all people.

"Oh, we haven't been," George said, pulling out a file and reading over it for a moment. It wasn't the one he was looking for so he shoved it back in its box and reached for another.

"So you go to her office to beg for a legal consultation and you walk away hearing wedding bells? Am I getting that right?"

"Yeah pretty much," George shrugged. "By the way we need to fill out the papers in my pocket there. I'd rather we do them soon so I can return them quickly. If I'm going to convince Granger to marry me, I can't have her thinking I'm a slacker."

"Have you gone mental?" Fred asked, feeling his brother's forehead.

"Just thought she'd make a good wife is all," George said, batting his brother's hand away unfazed.

"I was unaware you were even in the market for a wife," Fred replied.

"Well I wasn't till about an hour ago."

Fred stared at his brother in shock. This couldn't possibly be happening! "How does one come by translating 'We need representation' into 'Hey, we should get married'?" he asked, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

"Quite easily it would seem."

"Do you have any idea how barking mad all this sounds."

"I've decided on a lot more life altering things then this before, Mate, and in a lot less time too. Like when we tried to blow Umbridge up. That only took thirty-eight seconds to decide."

"That was different!" Fred exclaimed with a wild hand gesture.

"How? It was just as life altering," George argued. "Old toad face could have had us arrested. At least this plan involves a lot less fireworks… well unless she likes fireworks of course. I'll have to find out if she does or not. Never thought to ask about that one until now."

Fred blinked, "What brought all this on?"

"Oh, absolutely nothing," George smiled up at his twin's gobsmacked expression. "Just sort of thought it up on the way back from her office."

"Are you telling me that in the fifteen seconds it took you to get back here, you decided you were going to spend the rest of your life with your baby brother's best friend slash ex-girlfriend?" Fred asked.

"Yep."

"You're serious..."

"No, I'm George."

"That's not even funny anymore."

"That will always be funny."

"You're mad."

"I'm right though," George said, finally finding what he was looking for. "Ron was out of his mind to break up with her, I mean have you seen Granger's legs recently? Blimey… Oh well, Ronnie's lose will be my gain. He's plenty happy with Lavender now so it won't even be like I'm stealing her from him. You'd think she'd want a small family wedding, or a big one like Bill had?"

"Alright that's it I'm taking you to St. Mungo's," Fred grabbed his brother by the arm and tried to drag him out of the stock room. "The stress of all this suing business has clearly caused you to loose your mind. Come on, Georgie, off we go. I bet there are some nice people there with candy for you."

"Fred, get off," George yanked his arm away and took a few steps back. "I'm not sick, I'm just having an apostrophe of sorts."

"You mean an epiphany?" Fred frowned and crossed his arms.

"Yeah, that," George smiled. "Look, we'll both be thirty this next year, and I always figured I'd be married with a few little gingers of my own under foot by now. With as much seriousness as I'm capable of, I really do think it's time I found a girl and settled down."

Fred raised an eyebrow, still looking unconvinced, "And you think that Granger is that girl?"

George shrugged but nodded, "Yeah, why not? Think about it, Freddie. She's smart, dependable, loyal, has a good solid career so she's not some freeloader, and she looks damn good in a pencil skirt. All things I would value in a wife. Also we've known her since we were kids and the whole family already loves her. This practically has marriage written all over it."

"Except for the fact that outside of her yelling at us for testing on first years, I can count on a single hand the one on one conversations you and she have had."

"Ah, now that is where our little predicament here comes in," George said as he wrapped his arm around his brother's shoulders. "We'll be spending a lot of time with our little resident know-it-all in the foreseeable future because of the case. If you'll hold down the fort here then I can go to the meetings and the hearing with her. If I play my cards right I'll have more than enough opportunities to show Granger how brilliant of a husband I'd make."

Fred stood staring in disbelief at his other half for a long time, trying to sniff out whether or not George was serious, having a laugh or had just gone completely around the bend. George stared back, starting to worry maybe he had finally given his twin a stroke. Finally Fred just sighed and threw his hands up in the air in defeat.

"Alright, so you're going to marry Granger," he said casually. "You know, granted she doesn't maim and or murder you first for even thinking this, let alone attempting it."

"Well you know me, if I decide I want something I do everything I know of to get it," George's face split into a giant grin. "No matter how ridiculously insane or highly hazardous to my health that something might be."

Fred snorted and gave a chuckle, "Wouldn't be a Weasley if you didn't, Georgie."

"So you'll help me then?"

"Course I'll help you," Fred shrugged. "What kind of twin would I be if I didn't help you with this? It's too crazy for me NOT to help you."

"Brilliant!"

"Also, I want to be around to see what the little Gryffindor princess does to you after she finds out you up and decided on a complete whim that you're going to marry her whether she likes it or not."

"Granger'll come around. I'm the charming one remember?" George grinned and ducked out of the back room.

"And yet I'm the first one of us to land a woman," Fred smirked to himself. He poked his head out of the curtain separating the back room and the front of the store and shouted "If you're going to marry her, you might want to start calling her something other than Granger!"

"Noted!"

…~…~…

Hermione had never been so relieved to be home in her entire life. And after having been on the run for a year when she was seventeen, that's saying something.

The impromptu appointment with George had set the tone for her day and it'd just gone down hill from there. One of her top clients was divorcing his wife and they had been in a meeting with the ex-wife and her lawyer for three and a half hours arguing about absolutely everything. They argued about everything from who got the kids and when, to who'd keep the house, right on down to who would continue paying for their subscription to Quidditch Monthly. It was awful. She ended up staying four hours late at work just to get caught up on paper work for the other six cases she was defending because her day had been completely taken over by just those two meetings. Sally offered to stay and help but Hermione wouldn't let her. She knew Sally's sister had recently given birth and that the young woman would much rather be snuggling her new niece than shifting through law books and case files.

The twenty-eight year old witch stomped down that familiar feeling of envy she seemed to get when thinking about babies and families.

Hermione climbed the last of the stairs to her flat and nearly kissed her front door in relief as she pulled out her keys. The exhausted woman unlocked her front door and entered her flat, not even getting three feet inside the door way before she dropped her briefcase and kicked off her shoes. Her stomach growled loudly, suddenly reminding Hermione that she hadn't actually eaten a real meal that day. The meeting with George took so long that she hadn't had any time to finish her lunch. Hermione only ended up having twenty minutes to eat a few bites of her sandwich and get to the Ministry for the divorce council. So to add to her already less then cheery mood, the bushy haired witch was now starving. Grumpy and starving did not sit well with Hermione. Thankfully there was some left over cottage pie in the refrigerator, and a bottle of white wine on the rack next to it.

"Crookie, I'm home," Hermione called into the dark flat as she took off her jacket. An undignified meow greeted her in response. "I know, I'm home late. I'll make sure there in an extra treat in your bowl tonight. I just couldn't get- AAHHHH!"

Hermione suddenly went flying forward as her feet got caught on something solid. She landed on the carpet against something else, also very solid. As she fell Hermione had reached out in the darkness hoping to grab something to keep her upright. It was a vain attempt, because even though she did grab some square shaped object, it gave way and came toppling down on top of her with several other square shaped objects. Hermione tried to clear away whatever it was that fallen on her but nothing seemed to move very far.

"Oh for Merlin sake! LUMOS!"

The living room of her flat sudden lit up and Hermione's jaw dropped open. Her flat was covered in boxes!

In the light Hermione was able to move the boxes that had fallen on top of her and stand up. Crookshanks was curled up on top of some of them and was staring at her lazily.

"Where in Merlin's name did all this come from?" Hermione asked the ginger cat.

Crookshanks looked up at Hermione as if to say 'You're kidding right?'

Hermione took another look around her flat before suddenly spotting a neatly folded letter sitting at her eye level on top another stack of boxes on the opposite side of her living room. The already annoyed witch waded through the sea of cardboard to try and reach the note. It took her several moments of careful maneuvering before Hermione finally made it across her living area. Which was absurd considering the room was only about thirteen feet across. She finally snatched up the letter and unfolded it. Hermione groaned loudly as she read.

Dear Miss Granger,

I was delighted to hear that you have taken on Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes as clients in my stead. While Misters Weasley and Weasley have brought me great profit in the past, I fear that I am just getting too old to keep up with the work load that comes with defending their store. I have heard wonderful things about you in the legal circuit and am confident that you will be able to do a far better job than I ever could with them. I have taken the liberty of sending you every note, file and memo I have ever had to make on those two. I do apologize if they are inconveniently placed. I had my house elves deliver them. Do feel free to send me any questions or concerns you may have. I look forward to meeting you in the future should our paths cross. Good luck, and Merlin Bless you!

Sincerely,

Mr. Felix W. Franklin

Hermione frowned at the letter and tossed it aside as she flopped down on her sofa. Crookshanks abandoned his spot on the pile of boxes to jump onto the sofa and curl up next to his owner.

"That may have been the most flatteringly written 'See you around, Sucker' I have ever read," Hermione muttered as she absentmindedly started petting Crookshanks' soft fur. "I'm really in for it aren't I, Crookshanks?"

With the look her familiar was giving her, Hermione could almost hear the ginger cat saying 'Duh.'.

"That's what I thought," Hermione said as she stood up. She decided to skip the food and just head straight for her wine rack.

TBC

A/N: Poor Hermione… she just doesn't know when to say no. And George apparently was never taught you don't beat bee hives with sticks. Oh well I guess we'll see what happens… especially now that Fred is on board. R&R!

~Chupip