A/N: The plot is from WeasleyForMe, the characters belong to J.K. Rowling, so I pretty much own nothing! Hope you enjoy though. This is sort of the "testing-the-waters" chapter.

"Watch Out!"

Instinctively, Hermione looked up from her worn copy of Howarts: A History and saw an object hurtling towards her. Her hand shot out and grabbed the Quaffle before it came too close to her face. Her eyes widened for a moment after the Quaffle thunked into her hand, and then she turned her attention to the people coming close to her.

Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Ginny, Bill, and Charlie all came flying up on their brooms, looking from a startled Hermione to the Quaffle in her hand, and back again. It was the twins that spoke first. "Wicked catch, Hermione!" they chorused, grinning broadly. However, Fred's face darkened after a moment and he added, "You shouldn't have done that, though."

Hermione blinked, finally coming out of her shock. "What?" she managed to ask.

Fred's eyes showed nothing but concern as he said, "It could've been a Bludger. It could've cost you your hand."

Hermione, thinking he was making fun of her, felt her anger begin to warm her blood and she tossed her hair defiantly. "I'm not so ignorant of quidditch that I don't know the difference between a Quaffle and a Bludger, Fred Weasley." Her eyes narrowed and her fingers dug into the leather covering of the Quaffle, making crescent shapes.

"Perhaps," Fred conceded, "but you didn't look like you thought much before you stuck your hand out. It looked more like you just reacted."

"It was a brilliant catch, Hermione," Harry interjected before Hermione could retort. "We're just looking out for you." He held out his hand and smiled at his friend. "Can we have our Quaffle now?"

Hermione felt tension drain out of her at her friend's careful words and she tossed the Quaffle to Harry, ignoring everyone else as she turned back to her book. "Come on, guys," Ginny said, gripping her broom tightly.

"Hermione-" Fred started, but George shook his head.

"Let it go, Gred," George told him, and soon, they were taking to the sky again.

Hermione tried to ignore the happy shouts above her as her friends continued their game, and soon, she was engrossed in her book. It seemed only a few moments later that Molly Weasley called everyone in for dinner, but when Hermione looked up from her beloved pages, the sky was close to setting. She realized then that she had been reading much longer than she had anticipated. Annoyed that she was being interrupted in her chapter, Hermione stuck her bookmark between the pages and trudged inside.

Dinner was loud, obnoxious, and full of fun. Everyone was gathered around the table in the kitchen, squished in tightly next to their neighbors. Hermione sucked in a breath as Ron's elbow caught her ribs, but she didn't even have enough energy to snap at him. "Ow," she muttered, but above the din of the chatter, she could barely even hear her own voice.

"Pass the potatoes," Harry requested, and Hermione had half a mind to levitate the vegetable right into his face. With great restraint, she dutifully passed the bowl to him and watched as he scooped out some of the fluffy potatoes onto his plate.

When she looked up from Harry's activities, she found George watching her silently from across the table. When she raised an eyebrow testily, he only smiled and shook his head. "Good choice," she thought, and turned back to her own dinner.

When Ron started shoveling food into his mouth and talking at the same time, Hermione pushed her chair back and left the table, brushing crumbs off her lap from Ron's full-mouth chattering. She accio'd her book and left through the front door.

"Hey, Hermione," someone said later, again interrupting her in her reading time. She looked up from where she was seated on the bottom step of the porch and saw George leaning against the wall, smiling at her.

"Hi," she responded.

George looked slightly uncomfortable as he eyed the stairs that Hermione sat on. "Can I talk to you?" he asked her.

Hermione looked around, expecting George to be drawing her attention while Fred snuck up on her with a prank. "Where's Fred?" she asked distrustfully.

George actually grinned and looked a little relieved. "He's not here, Granger," he told her. "And I'm not playing a prank on you. I just want to sit and talk to you for a moment." He shrugged and said, "Fred and I actually have a bit of a business proposition for you."

Hermione looked up, startled. "Me?" she asked.

George grinned. "Yeah, you," he said with a nod.

Hermione patted the spot on the porch step next to her. "I'm listening," she said carefully.

George sat down next to her, his legs stretching out much further than hers, and he leaned back to look up at the sky. "We need some help," he began.

Hermione snorted. "Well spotted," she teased him.

He sat up, stunned for a moment, and then he laughed. "Good grief!" he exclaimed. "Hermione Granger actually teased me!" He feigned shock and clutched at his chest while she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Seriously," she told him, tapping her fingers against her knee curiously.

He nodded, and continued on with his train of thought. "What I meant was that Fred and I need some help around the shop. Verity's been a brilliant helper, but she's getting married and moving away, and we really need some help." He held up a hand when he noticed that she wanted to speak. "We know that you've never liked our products very much, but we hoped that you would help us because you're so brilliant."

The tone in his voice, the way he let the sentence hang, made Hermione prompt, "And?"

George shrugged. "And we were hoping to help you out since the war's over and work's rather difficult to find." He quickly added, "It's not charity! It's just that we love you like a sister, and we want to help you in return for you helping us."

Hermione sat for a while, weighing all the details of the offer and examining every aspect before she nodded slowly. "Against my better judgment," she told him, watching his face light up, "I'll do it."

"Great! Thanks, Hermione!" George said, leaping up and scrambling up the stairs, no doubt to go tell Fred. "Oh!" he said as he seemed to remember something and turned around. "Two things," he said.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "You're pushing your luck, George," she teased him threateningly.

He grinned at her and said, "One, we have a spare room for you to use at our flat, so you don't have to go home all the time." He smiled kindly at her, not patronizing or condescending her as he said, "It might cut down on your expenses."

Hermione nodded, acknowledging the truth and practicality in his statement.

"Second," George added as he opened the door to the Burrow, "Fred wasn't meaning to make fun of you earlier. We were both pretty worried about you."

Hermione nodded, feeling silly for holding a stupid grudge all through dinner. "I know," she told him truthfully.

George then made a face and said, "We'll see you Monday morning. Now, I have to get back to the flat and listen to Fred and his girlfriend."

His statement startled Hermione for a moment. She hadn't known that Fred had a girlfriend. "Oh," she said, feeling awkward. Why did George not like Fred's girlfriend? Did Fred not take into consideration the fact that his own twin did not approve of the match?

"Yeah, oh," George said, making another face and then winking at her. "See you later, Hermione." And then he was gone, apparating back to the flat.

The flat with Fred and Fred's girlfriend.