Yellow (George Weasley)

53 - Zonko's

The first three months of 1997 had surprisingly flown by after the previous year had ended with so much destruction. Our time had been poured into the joke shop and occasionally tasks for the Order of the Phoenix. I had not been giving anything too exciting to do, and I imagine it had something to do with Mrs. Weasley's influence. However, today all other things had been pushed from our minds. The focus being an important business meeting the two brothers had in Hogsmeade. George had been pacing our bedroom for the last ten minutes, rehearsing what he planned to say.

"George, love. I've made lunch. Come have a bite to eat before we go." I pleaded from where I was stood in the doorway. Fred was sat behind me at the kitchen table, sliding sandwich after sandwich onto his plate. "Oi! Save some for your brother!" I scolded.

"Let him have the lot." George groaned, flopping back onto the bed and throwing his hands over his face. "I can't eat." I padded across the room, crawling onto the bed beside his head. I carefully pressed the back of my hand against his forehead. One of his eyes popped open. "What are you doing?"

"You're clearly on the verge of St. Mungo's if you're turning down food." I mumbled, pressing a sweet kiss to his forehead. He opened both eyes now, tapping to his puckered lips. A smile spread across my face as I bent down to oblige. "Come now. Let's go." I stood, grabbing a hold of his hands and leaning all of my weight against them in an attempt to pull him off the bed.

He finally stood, letting me think I had lifted him, and followed me into the kitchen. Fred and George were wearing the dress wear they wore during a typical day at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. It was professional and showed the two meant business.

While they ate, I dashed back into our bedroom to change into something a bit nicer myself. I wouldn't be attending the meeting with them, but today was a scheduled Hogsmeade day for Hogwart's students. Plus, it had the added bonus of being Ron's birthday. I slipped into a pair of skinny jeans and a nicer blouse, in case the meeting went well and George decided he wanted to introduce me on a whim. See the meeting today was with Mr. Zonko. The boys had always wanted to get into Hogsmeade one day, for the crowd of Hogwarts students on weekends, and now that the man had shown an interest in stepping down that was a possibility.

I brushed through my hair, slightly shorter since Mrs. Weasley had given me a trim the last Sunday dinner, and walked back into the kitchen after pulling on a pair of boots. I was relieved to see George had finally gotten his appetite back as the brothers joked around over lunch like they normally did. The plate of sandwiches was completely cleared. I snatched George's briefcase off the armchair and handed it to him as they both prepared to apparate.

"Ah!" I shrieked just before lifting my own wand.

"What!?" Fred and George spoke in unison.

"Ron's present...I almost forgot." I laughed, trotting across the room to lift the large gift.

"Godric forbid we forgot that." Fred teased. "Instead let's just splinch ourselves...scaring us like that just before apparating."

I rolled my eyes, ignoring his taunts and instead choosing to apparate just outside of Hogsmeade. They appeared only a second after me, both looking a little nervous as they took a deep breath.

"Alright. This meetings a turning point in our business, Georgie." Fred clapped his brother on the back with a grin. "No pressure."

George rolled his eyes and just followed him out into the street. However, instead of teeming with students like it was supposed to have been, it was empty. I'm not sure why we expected it to look any different than Diagon Alley. Ministry posters flitted through the wind, dragging against the dirty cobblestone. Some shops were already boarded up, their occupants either leaving on their own accord or dragged out forcefully.