The Second Wizarding War had been over for nearly five years. In that time, Hermione had become estranged from her best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. After Voldemort fell, Harry and Ginny had retreated somewhere deep in Wales, out of the eyes of the public. Ron had let his deep-rooted jealousy and feelings of inadequacy arise of being the least popular member of The Golden Trio rise to the surface, and he had basked in the media, eventually becoming keeper for the Chudley Cannons. His relationship with Hermione fell apart, and after his sell-out and Harry's self imposed isolation, Hermione had been left mostly on her own. Something had gone wrong with the spell she had cast on her parents and she had been unable to lift the block on the memories of her. The only thing she had now was her half kneazle Crookshanks, and even he acted like he had better uses for his time.

She had gotten a job as Head Potioneer for the Experimental Magic Department at the Ministry, and she was in Diagon Alley searching for the ingredients that would need replenishing from her stores. Chizpurfle fangs, Horklump, Billywig sting slime…

She opened the door to Slug and Jigger's and was surprised to see a familiar mop of fiery red hair arguing with the shopkeeper.

"Yes, he knew the side effects of the Euphoria Elixir… Verity just mixed it wrong and he's too euphoric. I told you I needed peppermint and you gave me spearmint. His gastrointestinal tract is doing great, but I could do without the singing. Tell me how to fix it."

"Mr. Weasley, I will not have you in here insinuating that I do not know the types of mint from one another. I'm afraid that you will have to leave if you are not here to purchase something."

"Tell me, Mr. Jigger, what types of mint my chewing gum would be then."

The Weasley that Hermione believed to be Fred exhaled sharply in Mr. Jigger's face. "Err… Fresh mint?"

Fred laughed sharply and rolled his eyes. "Winter mint. Now, I need to know how to fix my brother."

Mr. Jigger shook his large head slowly. "I'm sorry. There is nothing you can do to help Mr. Weasley."

Hermione stepped forward. "Fred, I think I can help you."

The tall man turned around. "Hermione! Hi! And it's George actually. Fred is tittering around the shop. Last I saw he was singing and waltzing with a rather alarmed looking Verity. But I digress. How do you think you can help the cur?"

Hermione thought up a way to help her old friend. She hadn't actually had an idea in the first place, so she was unsure of why she had spoken up.

"What about… a draught of peace? It could calm and relax him to about normal sorts."

George, although he now looked rather more like Fred, seemed to think for a second. "Alright, we'll try. But if you bugger it up and leave him asleep forever, I'll come after you myself."

She nodded once. "Okay. Lead the way."

George gave a sarcastic salute to Mr. Jigger and led her out of the store.

"George, if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your ear? It's…"

George looked down at her and smiled. She wasn't sure when the twins had grown into their long arms and legs, she definitely noticed how much taller than her George was. "Normal? Yeah. I don't really go out in public much anymore if I can help it, and when I do I usually take a polyjuice potion first. When I already look so much like Fred, people hardly notice anyway. Fooled even mum once."

Hermione thought about that for a moment. She supposed it did make sense after all. There was no reason that he should be self conscious about his ear, as everyone knew how he had received the curse, but it was understandable that it was a sore spot for him. "So that's why I thought you were Fred!"

George rolled his eyes and lifted her slightly by the waist to help her over a particularly large puddle. "Or, maybe, you just can't tell the difference between us without a glaring physical deformity."

Hermione gave a rather uncharacteristic laugh and looked him incredulously. "You may have everyone else fooled, but you and Fred are actually rather easy to tell apart. I'm sure that I could tell the difference between you two in the dark, even if you glamoured your ear back to normal."

He gave a dubious laugh and opened the door to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. "We'll test that later. Now, the ingredients cupboard is through that door. I think we have everything for the draught. I'm going to go check on Cheerful in there."

Fred Weasley was sitting on the floor in front of the open window of their apartment over the shop in nothing but his pants waving his arms as though conducting an invisible orchestra, wand in hand. "Georgie! Listen! The birds! They follow me!"

George realized that the birds did in fact seem to be tweeting in harmony to the swings and flourishes of his brother's wand. There was a steady stream of magic poring from the tip of it, and he realized what exactly had the birds crowing.

"Forge, I brought you something." Fred smiled up at George from the floor with an excited smile of his lightly freckled face.

"Oh, Gred, what is it? I love it when you buy me presents! You're the best big brother I could hope for! Oh, I could kiss you!"

George rolled his eyes. "Do us a favor and don't. And don't let Bill and Charlie hear that little declaration of my fabulousness. They're like to get jealous. But I am rather grand, ain't I? I found a friend down the alley and she's here to see you."

Fred squealed from the floor and attempted to stand before falling over and giggling. "A friend? Is it Ron? Is it ickle Ronniekins?"

George tried his hardest not to laugh and brushed his hair off of his forehead. "No, Fred. I said she, didn't I?"

Fred smiled at him from t floor in a way that suggested that he didn't see George at all and was looking through him instead. "I heard you right as rain, brother. Is it Ronnie?"

George fell apart and laughed at his brother who still hard the wondrous look on his face as looked as though he was about to break out into song about bluebirds and sunshine at any moment. "No, it's not Ron! It's Hermione Granger."

Fred squealed again and clapped his hands, looking and sounding for all the world like a small child. "Oh, I missed her! Her meddling and stealing our wares I'd never miss, but other than that... She can be down right mean. But I miss her in the summer!"

George couldn't take it and had to get away from his overtly cheerful brother. "I'm going to go check on her, I'll be back. Stay, you crazy git."

Fred made a big show over freezing and not moving a muscle. That is, until he sneezed, fell over again, and began to laugh.

George slipped from the room and went to find Hermione.

Hermione had just finished the potion and was pouring it into a flask when she felt an arm around her shoulder. "How goes it, Granger?"

She smiled and screwed the lid on the container. "It's done."

George threw her a slightly wary look. "And you're positive that you did everything right? It won't hurt Fred? Twelve clockwise stirs and all that?"

She nodded before answering absentmindedly as she scourgified the cauldron and knife she'd been using. "Yes, and it's seven." She tucked her wand in her sleeve as she finished. "There. Now, are you sure you trust me?"

George looked into her eyes for any sign of doubt in herself. Seeing none, he nodded. "With my life. And Fred's too, as it would seem. On with it."

She followed him up to the apartment where she assumed Fred was. Walking up the stairs, she heard something that made her choke back a laugh.

"She held me spellbound in the night, dancing shadows and firelight, crazy laughter in another room and she drove herself to madness with a silver spoon wooo hooo witchy woman see how high she flies wooo hooo-"

"Fred! Here, trust me on this." George grabbed his brother by the hair and pulled his head back, his mouth hanging open, and poured the contents of the flask down Fred's throat and they waited. Fred's wide eyes slid shut and he slid from George's hand, sliding to the floor. George pulled his wand from his sleeve and spun to face Hermione.

"I'm going to kill you myself, you stupid little-"

"Oh, for Merlin's sake Gred, I'm fine. But down your wand you moron."

They both looked at the wizard lying on the ground. "If that's what it feeling like to be Looney Lovegood..."

"Fred!"

Fred smiled at Hermione from his spot on the floor. "What? She's bloody crazy. Quite pretty, but completely nutters."

Hearing Fred call Luna pretty sent a weird feeling through Hermione's stomach. She wasn't sure why she really cared, and after all, she hadn't seen Fred and George for years, but she had found the two of them attractive when they were at school, and had used every excuse to talk to them when they were in school together, including constantly getting on them for their Skiving Snackboxes, which she had actually thought were a great idea.

Looking at Fred's long legs stretched out in front of him, and that lazy smirk on his and George's face had Hermione finding herself feeling warm.

Fred cocked a finger at her in the 'come hither' motion, and she crouched down on the floor and sat down cross-legged beside pushed himself up onto his elbows and put his index finger under her chin and tipped her face up. "Thank you for saving me Hermione. Do you know how terrifying it is to be so… insanely cheerful?"

Hermione laughed and he smiled at her. "You're positively beautiful when you do that. You didn't do that much when you were with Ron."

Ah, Ron. Hermione and Ron had had a relationship lasting about 2 years, in which time he had changed significantly. He was no longer the shy, loving guy that she had thought she had fallen for years earlier. With his fame, came notions of his importance, and a slightly anger at Hermione for wanting to stay out of the public. Unfortunately, even after the war, she was still Hermione Granger, the mudblood. When her relationship with Ron had started to wear on, she had little reason to smile, especially when the news came out that he had been getting reacquainted with his Hogwarts era girlfriend, Lavender Brown. And while she had spent a great many months mourning the loss of her relationship, she eventually realized that she was much better off without him.

She felt, rather than saw, George sit down behind her. "He didn't deserve you. He was always coming home and whining about all these things he claimed you did to ruin him. 'Hermione says that I shouldn't talk to reporters about our sex life. It doesn't make sense, I can do as I please!"

She grimaced at the memory of Mrs. Weasley flooing her the next day to ask her exactly where she thought she got off telling her Ron what to do. Mrs. Weasley had been way too quick to detest Hermione when Rita Skeeter's articles came out, and she had seemed to grasp for any excuse to tell the young witch how she was lacking in quality since then.

The brothers seemed to realize exactly where her mind had gone, and tried to do something to distract her. However her thoughts remained on how Mrs. Weasley had quite publicly made comments about how Lavender was the girl for her youngest son, and how all other relationships he'd had previously were just fun little trysts for him to get out of his system before settling down.

She let her eyes drift down to her hands which she nervously clasped in her lap. The sudden movement uncovered her watch and she gasped at the time. "Oh! I have to get going! I've got to go in early to work tomorrow so I can give a presentation on the benefits of Gillyweed instead of enchanted SCUBA gear. It was good to see you two."

She stood and they stood with her, first Fred then George pulling her into a hug. Fred lightly ruffled her hair. "You need to stop acting like you won't see us for ages. You can come back anytime, we'd be happy to have you."

She nodded and stepped towards their floo before heading to her home. Once at home, she barely had time to pull off her potion stained robes before there came a knock on her door. She quickly crossed the floor and stood on tiptoe to look out of the eyepiece, and drawing her wand before opening the door when she saw no one there.

On her door was a red slip of paper that she recognized from stories she'd heard her parents tell her of their younger days.

NOTICE:

Due to the inability for management to enter your apartment on the 15 of this month for the monthly inspection, you have 3 days to secure another place of residence and vacate the premises. Your residence will be leased to another at the end of the 3 days.

Management.

Hermione groaned at hit her head against the door. If only she hadn't seen Fred and George, she would've been able to be there for the monthly inspection. Due to all of the protection, charms, and wards she had placed on her home since the war, it was impossible for anyone except her to get in without her accompanying them. Ron had tried once after their break up, and that had led to an uncomfortable splinching accident.

Frowning, she immediately sent all of her things to pack themselves into some conjured boxes, before going down to street level to buy a Muggle newspaper. She quickly ran back up the stairs to her apartment before flooing to Diagon Alley to quickly buy a few Wizarding papers as well. When she got back home, she used her wand to circle places she felt would be habitable for her and Crookshanks. Unfortunately, all of the places in the Muggle newspaper had a no pets policy or they weren't big enough to house her makeshift potions lab. A quick glance at the Wizarding paper told her much the same story. When she thought she had found the perfect place, a byline to article caught her eye and caused her to sigh. Muggle-Borns need not apply.

With the majority of her belongings packed, Hermione shrunk all of the large boxes to fit in one smaller one. She crawled into bed, but sleep did not come easily to the young witch that night, with thoughts of where she was going to live and the Weasley twins running rampant in her mind.

TBC

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