Chapter 48
Hermione POV
Hermione woke before the sun the next morning. She yawned quietly, then rolled over to see if Ginny was in her cot, which she wasn't. Hermione stretched slowly, feeling a bit sore from her long walk with Ginny yesterday, and sat up. Crookshanks meowed at her from the bench beneath the bedroom window, and Hermione smiled.
"Well good morning to you too, Crookshanks. Getting a lay of the land before your next gnome altercation, are you?" she said scoldingly as she got out of bed and joined him on the bench, gently petting and smoothing his wild orange fur. As she looked out the window into the gradually lightening sky, she could just make out the outline of someone on a broom flying just above the tree line of the orchard – Ginny.
Hermione reflected on their conversation from when they'd stopped at the top of the hill during their walk. She'd told Ginny that she was in love with Juliette, and Ginny had told her that she hadn't noticed or looked at anyone else since her break-up with Demelza, and didn't have any plans to date in the near future. Even though she knew it shouldn't, because if she was in a relationship with someone else, why would she need it, the conversation felt almost like closure for her and her feelings for Ginny. Ginny wasn't interested in dating, she wanted to focus on Quidditch, and that was the perfect catalyst for Hermione to get over the feelings for Ginny that had suddenly come back since she'd been at the Burrow. While she had to actively fight the urge to want to change and head out to the orchard immediately to watch Ginny fly, she knew that her feelings were in fact waning because she was able to at least fight the urge instead of just giving in and going to see the girl.
Hermione did change into her clothes for the day, but instead of going out to the orchard, she headed to the chicken coop with some produce scraps from the kitchen as the sun slowly began to rise over the rolling hills. Last summer she found that the Weasley chickens were quite picky on who they allowed in their coop. Ginny, of course, was their favorite, and Hermione certainly was not, as they'd chased her out of the coop on more than one occasion. She walked along the rusted wire fencing, and a few of the chickens popped out of the coop into the large fenced-in chicken yard.
"Good morning," Hermione said in a sweet voice. "Do you remember me? The girl that you so kindly chased out of your coop last summer? We ended up being quite good friends though by the end, didn't we?"
Hermione dropped some of the produce scraps from the kitchen over the fence, and the chickens went mad for them, ripping them apart and trying to bump each other out of the way. Hermione laughed as she watched them interact with one another; they were so funny with their different personalities. She paused as the largest, most aggressive chicken that led the charge to chase her out of the coop last summer arrived, seemingly recognizing her through the fence and staring her down.
"Ma'am…" Hermione said cautiously, nodding her head in acknowledgment of the chicken.
"Did you just call one of our chickens 'Ma'am'?"
Hermione jumped and turned suddenly to face a very amused Ginny who was leaning up against her broom, watching her.
"I – Well, yes. I think it wise to make sure she knows that I respect her and that there's no need for her to chase me this summer. She's in charge of the coop, I understand and acknowledge that," Hermione said.
Ginny smiled with pursed lips as if she was trying to hold back a laugh.
"What?"
"No, it's great. I'm glad you're finally figuring out the hierarchy here at the Burrow. You're absolutely right, Gwendolyn here certainly is in charge. Well, she and my mum have it out every summer to see who in fact will be 'ruling the roost' for the year, so to speak," Ginny grinned with that crooked gin that Hermione adored, "Mum lost though, so it's good of you to be sucking up to the correct woman in charge."
Hermione laughed and shook her head as Ginny set her Comet 260 down on the grass. She walked over towards Hermione and helped dump the remaining scraps over the fence, causing the chickens to cluck excitedly as they jumped around and tore at the produce.
"Do you feel like you've earned enough respect to help me collect eggs?" Ginny asked as they walked towards the entrance to the dilapidated coop. "Or would you like a few more days of sucking up to ol' Gwendolyn? Do you maybe have a gift to give her, or some sort of sacrifice to offer?"
"Oh, shut up, Ginny," Hermione said, trying to not let her smile get too big.
The two entered the coop, and Ginny started pulling eggs from the nesting boxes. She handed two to Hermione, placing one in each hand, and then pulled the bottom of her shirt up to create a pocket and loaded the remaining eggs into it. Hermione looked away quickly as Ginny's skin was exposed, but not quick enough, as she immediately noted the light outline of muscles etched across the skin of her stomach, lighter, but very similar to the defined lines Juliette had on her stomach. Hermione could feel the heat flushing her cheeks, and hoped it was dark enough in the chicken coop for Ginny not to notice.
Of course Ginny has muscles, she's been working extremely hard all summer so she would have them for Quidditch. Juliette has them too, get a grip for goodness' sake.
They carried the eggs into the kitchen and placed them on the table for Mrs. Weasley.
"So, off to your workout?" Hermione asked, trying to sound casual.
"No. Today is actually one of my rest days from working out, which is probably a good thing seeing as I added the walk with you yesterday. I might end up doing some de-gnoming in a bit, that is if Crookshanks hasn't already taken care of it for me," Ginny chuckled lightly. "But that's about all I've got going on today. Why?"
Suddenly, a large grey owl swooped in and sat on the window sill of the open kitchen window. Ginny delicately untied the stack of letters it carried, and the owl flew off.
"Looks like our Hogwarts letters," Ginny said as she sorted through the envelopes, "Yours and Harry's are here as well," she handed Hermione her letter before opening her own as they sat down at the kitchen table.
As Hermione opened her letter, she noticed another piece of parchment tucked behind the one that contained her 5th year book list. She gasped as she pulled it out enough to read the top, excitement building in her chest.
"What?" Ginny asked, looking up from her letter.
"I've been selected as a Prefect!" Hermione exclaimed, beaming as she showed the letter to Ginny.
"Congratulations Hermione," Ginny smiled back at her. "Do you think either of the boys were selected?" Ginny asked, nodding her head towards the stairs.
Hermione frowned slightly; she honestly had no idea who her male counter-part would be for her duties as Gryffindor Prefect. Neither Ron nor Harry had too much academic prowess (though they would if they tried harder), but they were both well-liked and respected by their peers, at least in Gryffindor. Hermione considered the other 5th year Gryffindor boys. Neville surely didn't have the respect needed to be an effective Prefect, and Seamus screwed around more than even Ron did, so it likely wouldn't be him either. Maybe Dean? Hermione shrugged, figuring she'd find out soon enough who the other 5th year Gryffindor Prefect would be.
"I guess we'll find out once they wake up."
Ginny was looking over her book list apprehensively.
"What do you think the odds are that my mum lets me buy my own books this year? My 4th year books alone seems like they'll be expensive."
Hermione shook her head, "If I thought they'd take it, I would've offered the rest of Viktor's winnings to them the moment I got here."
"Excuse me?" Fred said suddenly as he and George entered the kitchen.
"Winnings? Viktor's winnings? As in Viktor Krum's 1,000 galleon winnings?" George added.
"What are you doing with Krum's winnings, Miss Granger?" Fred asked, plopping down next to Hermione.
Hermione looked at Ginny then back to Fred, "He gave them to me before he left Hogwarts. He had no need for them, so he gave them to me, figuring I'd find a good use for them."
"That certainly explains how Ginny here has been able to afford the numerous Quidditch magazine subscriptions she's been getting," George said ruffling Ginny's hair. Ginny glared at him and ran a hand through her hair, smoothing it somewhat.
"I did give Ginny some of the winnings, yes… To invest in Quidditch…" Hermione said hesitantly.
"Well, if you're in the business of helping make dreams come true, we've got quite a proposition for you," Fred said, grinning at Hermione.
Both girls stared at the boys, a bit confused.
"We've been creating a number of joke products in our room, and have been selling them through the owl post. At the rate we're going, we're thinking we'll be popular enough to eventually sell our items in our own shop," George explained.
"Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes," Fred stated proudly.
"That obviously costs money though, more than what we've earned and saved. Seeing as this is our last year at Hogwarts, we're planning on bringing our products to school to really build the excitement, then launching our store once we're done at Hogwarts, if we've earned enough money."
"You, Miss Granger, can be our very first investor, if you play your cards right," Fred said, wrapping an arm around Hermione.
Hermione looked at Fred then stared across at George, finally settling on Ginny.
"Did you know about this?"
Ginny shook her head, "No idea. Although…"
The youngest Weasley took off upstairs, then quickly returned carrying the box she got from them for her birthday.
"Is this one of your products?" she asked the boys.
They smiled proudly at her, "It sure is – The Skiving Snackbox! One end of every sweet makes you sick enough to get out of class, then the other end remedies the ailment, leaving you perfectly healthy to go off and do something actually worthwhile while you've got a free pass from whatever boring class you were supposed to be in," Fred explained.
Hermione glowered at them, which made Ginny laugh.
"You just explained that to Gryffindor's newest Prefect…" Ginny grinned as the boys paled a bit.
"Look Hermione, it's all in good fun! Would you like to try – "
"No, I certainly would not!" Hermione huffed.
"We've got other products as well, ones that don't interfere with the education of our future's greatest minds," George said, making Ginny laugh again as Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Look, while I don't believe that I'll approve of most of your products… I do find the two of you to be… Uniquely intelligent and entrepreneurial…"
The boys looked at each other and then Fred spoke up, "How much would you be willing to put towards our worthy cause, Miss Granger?"
Hermione looked at Ginny, then said "750 galleons."
Both Fred and George stuck out their hands to Hermione, and she shook them.
"So, Hermione, where would you like your name printed on the Skiving Snackboxes? I'm thinking: 'Proceeds that enabled the creation of this stellar product were provided by Miss Hermione Granger, Gryffindor Prefect'," Ginny and George roared with laughter as Hermione glared at Fred. "You know I'm only joking, we'll be sure to make you proud!" Fred and George got up from the table and headed back up to their room, likely to get back to their creations.
Hermione shook her head as she watched them walk away and sighed, "Was this a bad idea?"
"Maybe. But what else were you going to spend the money on? They are brilliant, in their own special way, that's for sure," Ginny admitted. "What did you already spend the other 150 galleons on?"
"Nothing. I figured I'd hold onto some of the winnings, just in case something else comes up."
"Smart," Ginny nodded, impressed by Hermione's quick thinking.
"Well, maybe once the boys finally get up, we'll go to Diagon Alley to grab our school things? I can transfer the money to Fred and George when I'm there as well."
"I'd talk to them about that first, I have a feeling they're stashing their funds somewhere other than Gringotts."
"Why would they do that?"
"Because they're Fred and George," Ginny shrugged.
"Good point. Well, can we at least grab what we need for school?"
"Sounds good, I'm going to go change out of these sweaty clothes and rinse off before breakfast. I'll meet you down here in a bit?" Ginny asked.
Hermione nodded and smiled as Ginny bounded up the staircase.
Hermione shook her head in disbelief that she'd just agreed to become Fred and George's main investor in their prank product company. She really didn't know anyone else who would need the money besides the Weasleys, and she knew better than to approach either Mr. or Mrs. Weasley with the subject, so maybe it wouldn't be a total waste? The twins were extremely bright, maybe their business would actually take off? She shrugged, then smiled as Mrs. Weasley walked into the kitchen and the two began preparing breakfast.
Ginny POV
Ginny took the stairs two at a time as she made her way to her room. She grabbed her toiletries and some clean clothes and climbed a few more floors to the bathroom. As she rinsed off, she thought about the morning and the evening prior, and smiled sadly. Since their conversation up at Stoatshead Hill, Ginny felt as if she'd gotten some closure with the whole Hermione situation. Hermione was in love with Juliette, and that was that. Thankfully, it seemed to have worked, as Ginny felt as if she could be around Hermione now without struggling to stop her feelings for her from bubbling up. But it was still hard, as she could feel the window of possibility closing on her. Hermione was incredibly happy with Juliette, and who knows how long they'd be together? Was forever a possibility? She shrugged sadly, at least she'd be able to move on now and stop fancying her best friend.
Ginny got dressed then jogged down the stairs into the kitchen. Ron and Harry were up, both with incredibly messy bedhead, and Hermione was working with her mum in the kitchen. Ginny smiled at this, appreciating how good of a relationship her mum and Hermione had. Ginny grabbed the remaining letters that the owl had dropped off and forced them into the boys' hands.
"Come on you two, open them," she instructed.
"It's too early!" Ron whined, laying his head down on the kitchen table.
Harry rubbed his eyes and slowly opened his letter to appease the anxious girl in front of him. Hermione stopped what she was doing and watched Harry as well. He opened the envelope to reveal only one piece of parchment. Ginny glanced over at Hermione, who seemed a bit shocked.
"What?" Harry asked, confused.
"Nothing. Ron? Ron!" Ginny shouted, shoving her brother lightly as he'd fallen back asleep.
"Leave him alone Ginny, he's tired, he's a growing boy!" Mrs. Weasley scolded, pointing her wooden spatula at Ginny.
"Don't you want to know if your son's been made a Prefect or not?" Ginny asked, reaching for the letter herself.
"Oi, it's my letter, I'll open it! It's bad enough I've got Hermione bossing me around when I'm at school, but now I've got you doing it when I'm at home too? Can't a man get some peace?" Ron grumbled, swatting Ginny's hand away and tearing open his letter. "Not a Prefect, sorry to disappoint," he mumbled, putting his head back down on the table.
Ginny and Hermione exchanged looks, wordlessly wondering who the other Gryffindor 5th year Prefect would be.
Breakfast came and went, and the boys went upstairs to get ready to go to Diagon Alley.
"Ginny?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she, Ginny, and Hermione were finishing up drying the dishes.
"Hmm?" Ginny responded absent-mindedly.
"Do you still have some of those winnings left over?"
Ginny looked at her mum, curiously. "Yes, I do. Why?"
"Your father and I were talking about it, and we were thinking that with Ron wanting to try and make the Quidditch team this year, he'd be needing a new broom. Since you got one last year and so many other Quidditch accessories for your birthday this year, we were wondering if we could borrow just a few galleons from you to help fund Ron's broom?"
Ginny opened her mouth to respond, but Hermione spoke up and interrupted her.
"Molly, would you be willing to let me chip in? After all, Ron is my best friend, and he certainly didn't enjoy the birthday present I got him in March," she laughed lightly.
Mrs. Weasley stared at Hermione, "Oh no dear, we couldn't possibly ask you to – "
"You didn't ask, I'm offering. Viktor gave the winnings to me, and I would like to put some of them towards this," she insisted.
Ginny looked at Hermione, smiling softly at her generosity with her family, even if it was for her stubborn older brother.
"Hermione, I don't think – "
"Molly, please," Hermione insisted firmly, yet kindly.
Mrs. Weasley turned a bit red, then nodded. "We'll pay you back."
"Molly, that's not – "
"Hermione, please," the older witch insisted, giving Hermione a look. Hermione tipped her head, then nodded. "I'll send you with the money. We've got a Cleansweep 11 on reserve for him. Percy, Charlie, and Bill chipped in as well, as they did for Ginny's gift. They'll just need what's left of the balance now at the shop, and you should be able to take it. Thank you, Hermione."
"You're very welcome, Molly." Hermione beamed at Mrs. Weasley, who then left to tend to other chores.
"You didn't have to do that, I would've given up the money I had, if I had to," Ginny said as they finished up the last dish.
"And now you don't have to. I want that money to stay yours, for whatever you need," Hermione smiled at Ginny. "So, whenever the boys are ready, we'll go?"
"Yep, just waiting on them. Hopefully Ron hasn't fallen back asleep…"
The two girls shared a look, then headed for the stairs. "Couldn't hurt to make sure he's still up…" Ginny muttered as they climbed to the top of the staircase. Ginny banged on the door as they arrived at the final landing.
"We're almost ready, keep your pants on!" Ron shouted through the door.
Harry opened the door slightly, poking just his face out, "Yes? Did I hear a gentle knocking at the door?" he asked, grinning.
"Shut up Harry, let's get going!" Ginny laughed, opening the door wider and giving Ron a look, "You're taking forever, come on!" she whined.
Ron rolled his eyes and swore before stumbling out of his bright orange room, one shoe still in his hand, as he followed Ginny, Harry, and Hermione down the stairs. "You're rubbing off on her, Hermione," he muttered under his breath to Hermione.
"I heard that!" Ginny snapped as Hermione rolled her eyes at him.
One by one the foursome stepped into the Weasley fireplace, off to Diagon Alley.
