August 2004

Blast the damned thing, he would never make it work. If only he could figure out a dispersion mechanism, but everything he had thought of so far was utter rubbish. A spray? He would be bored to death squeezing the nozzle before covering a wide-enough space. Or a pouch with a release latch? That would make it clunky and latches were notorious for malfunctioning. It wasn't that he cared about the profit on this one, the shop was doing better than ever. Making this particular design work would make a huge difference to hospital wards and potion laboratories around the world, possibly even dragon reserves like Charlie's.

Looking at the board in front of him, he fondly remembered where this deep drive to create and invent came from. It all began when he was eight years old with a book, The Magical Inventions of all Times, 3rd Edition. His dad likely had no idea of the future consequences to this particular Christmas gift, but nonetheless it would become the one book in his life that he would reread fondly. While Hermione had a copy of every single edition of Hogwarts: A history ever made, he owned just the one battered copy of this book but it was the most precious piece in his extensive library collection.

Felix felicis, Rictor charm for bins that eat garbage, Bertie Bott's Beans, Nicholas Flamel's Philosopher's stone, and his personal favourite Alberic Grunnion and his dung bomb…they were all fascinating to his eight-year old mind. He shared the ideas and inventions he found out about with Freddie, and they would wait for mum to switch off the light and go to bed before pulling out their fairy light jar and hiding under the duvet with the book, discovering more of the inventions.

The hand-drawn illustrations were his favourite to this date, and he hoped the artist, Abernathy Gollier, would one day draw some of their products and inventions for the next edition…

"George?" her call snapped him out of his musings, as he flicked his wand for the door to open for her.

"In here," he called through and she appeared in the doorway shortly, a tea tray levitating with her.

"Hey, thought you might like some tea," she came in and the tray set itself down while she draped her jumper and handbag over a nearby chair.

"Thanks, though I'm not sure it will help with the headache," he sighed and sat down on the bar stool he used to perch on while in the creative process.

Hermione poured him a cuppa, making sure to dissolve the two sugars properly before stepping over, the drop in height due to his perch just ideal for her to reach his lips for a quick kiss. He hummed as her soft lips coaxed his shoulders to relax a bit, his hands sliding into the back pockets of her jeans to pull her warmth closer into his body.

"Hey, none of that, I'll spill your tea," she kissed him once more before handing over the cup, but did allow him to wrap an arm around her waist and perched on his thigh, leaning her shoulder against the steady rise of his chest. "How's it looking?" she asked, her curious gaze scouring the dirty blackboard, looking over his calculations before arriving to the right hand corner which remained blank for the seventh day running.

"Still stuck. I need to find an adequate form of dispersion. The potion has to be a liquid base but when it's dispersed, it needs to be almost dry foam/ash to soak up any spillage to nullify it," he explained, knowing that this may very well be a challenge to his skills.

All of their products had a basis in charms, most required an element of transfiguration and a many were potion-based. Freddie had always been the strong one with Transfiguration, and George had a natural knack for Charms. Brewing the potions was always a coin toss but they experimented on perfecting it together. A fond smile tugged on his lips at the memory of their hair turning a rather fetching shade of grass green after they blew up their first batch of toffee filling.

"What about utilising the Grunnion mechanism?" she asked. "It already disperses downwards rather than exploding in every direction like a regular bomb. I mean you would have to tinker with the filter for the right texture but-"

George landed a firm kiss on her cheek. "You. are. BRILLIANT!" he grinned and set the tea cup down, heading for the board. "Why haven't I thought of that? Of COURSE! He was a genius, the first ever fault proof dispersion mechanism that can be altered to react to a key word or a spell! I could look at making it spheric and introducing dispersion filters along the side to convert the liquid into dry foam, that way it can soak up spilled potions, blood or magical ingredients safely, because it disperses evenly in a thick consistency…" he rambled off as the right side of the board began filling up.

Hermione sipped on her tea with a smile before setting the cup down and leaving him to it. He would come up to the flat when he was ready to. If he didn't get in by 2am, she would bring him some tea and a blanket and they could camp out on the loveseat in the corner while he told he where he was stuck again. Thank Merlin tomorrow was a Saturday.

She wasn't a particularly easy person to live with herself, she knew that. Reading until 2am, her bouts of insomnia, her OCD, her bibliophilic desire to soak up all the knowledge… They were suited well, she liked to think. The inventor and the bookworm, as Harry liked to call them fondly. And she had no doubt her inventor would figure out his latest model. She knew it was important to him, as it would be the first ever WWW product not used for amusement or pranking, and she was immensely proud of him.

The sound of her even breathing and the weight of her warm body pressed into his side was a comfort George hadn't known he needed most after the war and loosing his twin. He looked up at the wall across from him and saw the grinning moving photo of his twin from the year when they left Hogwarts with a bang. Perhaps it was his imagination, but Freddie's grin was wider than usual as he looked at them from the frame.

"I miss being the court jesters, but we did it, Freddie," he whispered to the smiling photograph. "We became inventors like we always dreamed of. I wish you were here to share this with me, but I think I have some help now," he kissed Hermione's forehead, holding her closer as she nuzzled into his chest with an unintelligible mumble, her wild mane tickling his nose.

With a little help from Alberic Grunnion and his favourite bookworm, he settled down to take a nap, mind swirling with the potential for his latest invention.