Life, Love, and an Acute Caffeine Dependency
By: QDT
Disclaimer: I am the Queen of Duct Tape, not the Queen of Harry Potter.
Chapter One
"Hey, Fred, do you mind opening the shop in the morning tomorrow? Alicia and I are moving in, so I can't do it." George had let himself into the flat above the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, even though he hadn't lived there since he got married two months ago. Actually, he hadn't really lived there for a few months before that, either, but he wasn't telling his mother that.
"Sure," said Fred, walking out of the kitchen. "What time d'ya normally open up?"
"About seven, but unlock the door a few minutes before that, Hermione usually drops by before her shift starts at Gringott's."
"Am I supposed to be able to remember this at seven o'clock in the morning?"
"I could write it down and tell you to have some coffee ready for her as well, but then you'd probably make some stupid comment about how it seemed I like I were leaving directions for you to watch over a cat."
"You usually have coffee for her?"
"Yeah. Sometimes she brings a mug from some café, but usually she just has some here."
"And you remember this every morning?"
"I, dear brother, am not the one who lost fifty points for falling asleep in Potions at eight."
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
Hermione slapped the snooze button before groaning and turning to glare at her alarm clock. Six o'clock. Same as every other morning, but it never got any easier.
She quietly padded from her bedroom to the bathroom without turning on any lights, and started the shower. Emerging from the bathroom twenty minutes later, she began feeling around on the counter for her wand. She never turned on any lights because they were far too bright and caused her to keep her eyes shut anyway, which rendered them obsolete.
Finally finding her wand, she spelled her hair dry and presentable. At least, she thought it was presentable. It usually was, even though she never saw it until about noon. She grabbed her uniform from a hanger and put it on quickly before exiting her flat to buy a bagel from the café across the street from the WWW.
Fred woke at a quarter after six. He glared at his alarm clock before beginning a morning eerily similar to Hermione's. He climbed into the shower in the dark, and five minutes later he was pulling on a pair of navy robes with their shop logo on it. At six thirty he put on a pot of coffee and left for a few minutes to buy breakfast from the café across the street.
Not really paying attention to where she was going, Hermione ran straight into someone as she tried to enter the café.
"Hermione?" a vaguely familiar voice mumbled as though confused. Of course, everything was only vaguely familiar this early in the morning. She squinted at the person in front of her.
"Fred?" she asked.
"Mm-hmm," he said. "Wanna come to the flat and have some coffee? I think I may have something to eat."
"Sure," said Hermione. "Where's George?" She was quite proud of this last question. It indicated that she was capable of thought processes advanced enough to tell her who she usually talked to this early in the morning. In truth, however, the only real hint that she could remember was that she was usually talking to someone who was actually awake, as opposed to both herself and, it seemed, Fred.
"He's…uh…moving? Yeah. He and Alicia are moving into their new house today." Fred thought himself quite accomplished to come up with such an informed answer at this hour.
Hermione nodded, sort of remembering George telling her something of the sort the day before. Then she yawned. This caused Fred to yawn too. He almost dropped the keys as he attempted to put one (probably the wrong one) in the lock, but Hermione caught them and handed them back.
"Thanks," he said, opening the door. He led Hermione into the backroom where there was a set of stairs. "After you," he said, bowing, although the effect was slightly ruined as he yawned again. Hermione also yawned again, but she smiled at him anyway as she walked up the stairs into a nice looking living room. She looked around the neat room skeptically.
"You live here all by yourself?" she asked. Fred grinned.
"Yep," he said. "I have coffee in the kitchen."
"Lead me to the caffeine," said Hermione, yawning once again. And again, Fred yawned as well.
Upon reaching the kitchen, they noticed that the coffeepot had overflowed in Fred's absence. Fred made a very wise observation on this happening.
"Shit," he said.
"Oh, my," said Hermione. "Where do you keep dishtowels?"
"In that drawer under the coffeepot."
"The one that is drenched in steaming hot liquid that will probably burn us before we get it open?"
"Yep."
"Lovely." Hermione thought about this. The solution may seem fairly obvious to you, dear reader, but I am assuming that you are not reading this at six forty-five a.m. It took Hermione a minute or so to come up with a plan.
"Could you get a regular towel?"
"Mm-hm," said Fred, walking out of the kitchen. Several seconds later, he walked back in, carrying a towel. Hermione took it from him and used it to pick up the coffeepot.
Fred was slightly confused by this. "Shouldn't you be mopping up the mess with that?" he asked.
"Do you want coffee or not? We can clean that up when we're awake." Fred walked over to a cabinet and pulled out two mugs, setting them on the table. Hermione poured them both coffee, and they sat at the table in silence until they woke up properly.
So that's it for the first chapter. Review and I'll return the favor!
Until next time!
Ab