Chapter Two

The Pink Goo Fiasco

Steam rose up from Hermione's cup of tea. The tea was much too hot for Hermione drink. At least not yet. Instead she just put her tea down on the bistro table and looked at the door of the coffee shop, waiting for the twins to arrive. Hermione needed to tell them about her terribly long and arduous day. And it all had to do with pink goo.

One of Hermione's duties as the Twin's employee was to go around and talk to suppliers about orders. This involved placing orders for various products and ingredients, and of course trying and to get them to lower their prices. Today had been a particularly rough day. One of the ingredient suppliers, Roland Edgecomb, had gotten it into his head that he was an inventor. Which would be fine except that Roland was not the quickest snitch in the lot. Roland had been attempting to create a type of magical bubblegum that cemented the chewers mouth shut. Not only was it an ill-conceived and dangerous idea, but it had not been properly executed. So, when Roland was showing Hermione the brew, she ended up doused in a sticky pink gunk. Roland was properly ashamed. So much so that Hermione was fairly positive he would not be "inventing" any time soon.

Thankfully, the damage was not bad, and Hermione was able to clear off all the gunk from her clothes using a relatively simple spell. However, the combination of the stickiness of the gum and the bushiness of her hair seemed to make it impossible for the pink stuff to get off her head. At least not without great effort. But fate seemed to be on her side, because Ginny had just gotten Hermione a bottle of Sleakeazy's Hair Potion as a gift. Hermione had made an off hand comment about how nice her hair had been at the Yule ball 6 years ago. The Golden Trio had been reminiscing about their escapades at Hogwarts while going through a photo album. They came across a few photos of the Yule Ball which prompted the comment about the hair. And then laughed with each other as only the friends of Harry Potter would call defeating numerous dark forms of magic escapades.

The potion made it very easy to get the goo out. And it also had the pleasant side effect of smooth hair. Hermione had grown to love her wild untamed hair. But she had to admit that having sleek hair was quite nice. Not being used to straight hair, she found her self absent-mindly playing with her hair. It was so smooth. The sensation of running her fingers through the glossy hair was a pleasant one. One that she wouldn't mind being able to experience daily. If only the it was not so difficult to do. Maybe, she would do it every once in a while though. Her hair was much tamer than her days at Hogwarts. So it would last much longer than a day, which made the work much more worth it.

While Hermione contemplated her hair, the Twins arrived. The place was so crowded, that Fred went straight in line to order their drinks, while George searched for Hermione. George could not seem to spot her until she realized that they had arrived and waved him over.

George couldn't believe his eyes, "Hermione! What's with the new hair? You know you don't have to impress me anymore!"

"Oh please George! You know that this couldn't possibly be for you! You know that Percy holds the key to my heart," teased Hermione.

"Can't blame a bloke for hoping!" laughed George, "Listen, it's crowded in here. You think we could get on the move for this 'business' meeting?"

Hermione didn't have a problem with that, so they started to maneuver their way through the crowd. George used the coin from the DA to let Fred know what the plan was. "Too crowded. Meeting Hermione outside." The coin was the Twin's favorite gadget. Fred often said that if they could produce a product that was half as useful, they would be so rich that they would never have to even think again. They didn't just want to take all of Hermione's hard work, because they wanted to figure out how to do the spell themselves. Hermione told them that she would tell it to them. But they refused. It was a challenge that they wanted to overcome. They said that when they did, she would be getting 50% of the profit from it.

"But what did prompt this sudden change? Is there a chap who needs a talking to?" asked George as they got outside.

Hermione laughed, "Unfortunately not at the moment. I've given up temporarily since Chris. No, this sudden development is because good old Roland decided to try his hand at inventing."

"Oh Merlin! What was it this time?"

"WAIT," exclaimed Hermione, "You knew about his ideas of grandeur? Why didn't you warn me?"

"Well, we thought that he was finally done with all of this. Last time he tried inventing, he burned off his eyebrows."

"I can assure you that this was much worse. At least for me it was. He was trying to make some kind of bubble gum. And he was trying to convince me to buy it by demonstrating how he made it. And it exploded. Sleakeazy's was the only way to get it out of my hair."

George winced, "Well at least it looks great? I'm sorry about all that. I know it mustn't have been fun cleaning all that out."

"No, but I do like the outcome," replied Hermione, "Really, George you don't have to worry about this. It isn't your fault at all."

"You sure?"

"Yes! I'm positive!"

That was something that Hermione liked about the Twins. Though they were pranksters and they enjoyed teasing everyone to death, they really did care. They were both very protective of Hermione. Something she appreciated. Even though it was evident that she could take care of herself, it was still nice having someone look out for her. The Twins would both rather die than let something bad happen to Hermione. So when George didn't look convinced, Hermione added,

"Really! I'm even considering using Sleakeazy's more often. I really like the way my hair looks and feels. Plus it's longer!"

"Okay. I believe you!" replied a satisfied George, "You think you'll use that everyday?"

"Nah. Too much work for everyday. But once in a while, I think I will."

"Well, let me tell you! You're making me want to find out who has your heart even more! It's been a week! Surely you've mad your decision."

Hermione laughed remembering the past week. It had been filled with chocolates suddenly appearing out of nowhere and cheesy love poems being recited by enchanted books. Fred had even conjured up little cupids that followed Hermione around all day saying things like, "Pick Fred!" "Fred is much more handsome than George!" "George has bad morning breath!" It had been a very distracting and eventful week. The past few days did quiet down though, because the Hermione had been out doing meetings. She hadn't really been able to give it much thought.

"You must realize, George, that my heart is not easily won. Chocolates and dancing cupids don't do much!"

"Yes. You're definitely a challenge, Granger. But a challenge I shall overcome." laughed George, "You couldn't possible choose my brother. Not when there is this perfection before you!"

"Speaking of your brother where is he? It's been forever!"

"I'm sure he'll be here soon."

"Really? I think he'll be much longer," said Fred. Then he noticed that the bird he thought that George was talking up was Hermione. "Blimey Hermione! I didn't know it was you."

Hermione squinted her eyes, giving Fred a suspicious look, "Well who did you think I was then? Some random chick your brother was picking up?"

"Something along those lines, yes. In fact now I'm a bit disappointed. I was hoping if he did pick up a new bird, then you'd be mine for the taking. After all this competition has gone on far too long. And I am clearly the winner!"

"I don't know..."

Fred looked at her in awe, "It took me ages to to charm that cupid doll to do all that! That was a tricky bit of magic!"

"That is true. It was quite impressive," agreed Hermione. But only because she knew how George would react.

"Now hang on a moment! I enchanted those books to follow you about! You love books Hermione!"

Hermione laughed at George's reaction. "That's also true. Fred have a rebuttal?"

"Well, I think we should take you out proper? Huh? See who is better dating material?"

Hermione couldn't believe it. She hadn't expected that at all. But before she could say anything, the twins had already shaken hands on the matter and were planning the rules out.

"Nothing sexual," started Fred, "I wouldn't want to completely ruin your chances, Forge."

"Very funny, Gred. Besides we wouldn't want to ruin the friendship."

"Right. Okay. Travel limited to Britain?"

"Seems fair. This also should be treated seriously? Like a real date? Nothing fruity or over the top like the past week?"

"Yeah that seems fair. Hermione are you all right with this?"

"I suppose... I just have one question?"

Both twins said, "Yeah"

"Who's up first?"