Relations, Revelations

As poromised, the update before 11am pacific on tuesday :-D

Carmen - I do, of course, take a bit of liberty with JK\'s characters. But George was cute before! And as for Snape, feel free to kidnap him, just dont wear him out too much if ya get what i\'m sayin *wink wink nudge nudge ey?* save some for me!
BacardiBob - without further ado (except maybe a snog), here\'s what they\'re looking at!

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*Chapter 22 – Villain*

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The front window of Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes was completely smashed beyond recognition. Ron slowly walked forward and pushed the door of the shop open. The lock had been completely smashed off. The group slowly followed, shards of glass crunching beneath their feet. Fred picked up an empty box of smoking candy pipes that had been strewn across the ground and crushed. Ginny just stood in the doorway with her hand across her mouth. Sephera raced over to the till to make sure no money was missing. Everything appeared to be in tact. George leaned against a wall, tilted his head back, and squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that when he opened them, it would all be a bad dream. When he opened them, everything looked the same. He sank to the floor, knees to his chest, and put his head in his arms. Hermione placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Tossing the empty box into the nearest dustbin, Fred approached one of the sales counters. Graffiti had been scrawled across it in red letters. It read: ‘MUDBLOOD LOVER.’ Fred’s jaw dropped. Sephera peered at it over his shoulder and had the same reaction. She looked at her feet, noticing the Dark Mark scrawled on the floor in what appeared to be wand-induced scorch marks. Soon, the entire group was crowded around, all six jaws dragging on the floor. Hermione grabbed George and didn’t let go for five full minutes. She was too shocked to sob into his shoulder. George didn’t say a word, he just held onto her for all his worth.

Ten minutes later, the group donned rubber gloves, filled buckets of soapy water, and brought out brooms and dustpans. Sephera and Fred were scrubbing away at the graffiti, Hermione picked the shards of glass out of the window frame, George swept the glass from the sidewalk, and Ron and Ginny were throwing the destroyed merchandise into large black trash bags.

“Oh George! I’m so terribly sorry! I tried flooing you at home, but nobody was there!”

“It’s alright, Madam Malkin. We were at Snape Estates celebrating.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss, dear.” Madam Malkin pulled George into a tight maternal hug. “Charlie was a dear, dear boy. I read about it in the Prophet this morning. It’s absolutely dreadful.”

“Thank you. You didn’t happen to see whoever did this, did you?”

“No, unfortunately I didn’t. It was like this when I got here. A few passers by noticed it too, but fortunately it hasn’t attracted too much attention. I wanted to wait until you got back before contacting any authorities.”

“Thanks. I’ll talk to dad about it tonight. No sense in getting too worked up about it. What’s done is done.”

“And who’s this lovely young lady?” Madam Malkin stretched her hand out to Hermione.

“I’m Hermione Granger.” She stuck her hand through the broken window and shook with Madam Malkin.

“She’s one of Ron’s friends. Sixth year Gryffindor prefect, and probably head girl next year.”

“Oh, yes, I’ve heard about you. Seeing you here now, you seem like such a lovely girl.” Hermione gave her a questioning look. “I mean to say that what the Prophet’s been printing about you can’t be true.”

Hermione was about to open her mouth in defense, but George beat her to it.

“Well, the Prophet’s not exactly known for accuracy in relaying the news, is it? They said Harry Potter was mad, but now he’s defeated You-Know-Who.”

“That’s true. Well, I’ll leave you two to your cleaning. I need to go chon Don Dora. She’s been hemming robes for the Cunninghams all morning. Ciao, George. Good luck at Hogwarts, Hermione.”

“Such a lovely woman. A bit of an airhead, buing ing next door to her beats the hell out of being next to Borgin and Burkes.”

“I can imagine.”

The window frame was soon cleared of all remnants of broken glass, and the sidewalk was once again passable. Ron and Sephera headed out to Hassan’s Home, Hut & Hardware to pick up new panes of glass for the front window, a new lock for the front door, a few buckets of paint, and replacements for a few other items that had been destroyed. Ginny hoisted a sack of garbage over her shoulder and headed out the back door to take it into the alley. Fred followed her with the bucket of now-dirty water and dumped it into the gutter behind the shop.

George hopped up on one of the sales counters and looked down at the now-clean hardwood floor.

“I hope Ron remembers to pick up some wax. This thing could do with a polish.”

Hermione recognized the sadness in his voice and walked over to him. She stood between his legs, wrapped her arms around his waist, and tucked her chin under his.

“There’s only one person I can think of who would do something like this.”

“Don’t say it. I know who you mean, what with the Dark Mark and all. There’s only one known Death Eater who wasn’t imprisoned.”

“I thought Dumbledore recovered his wand?”

“He didn’t need a wand to ransack thisce.”ce.”

“The Mark was burned into the floor, and some of this other stuff looks like it was destroyed by magic. There are some burn marks on the walls. I think some jars were blasted from that shelf up there.”

George sighed. “I really don’t want to think about it right now.”

Hermione tilted her head up and kissed the spot where his neck met his chin. George faintly smiled, but bent down to kiss her. Ginny and Fred walked back into the shop.

“We’ll, uh, we’ll just be… downstairs checking the storage room,” Fred stuttered, trying to avert his eyes.

“Yeah, make sure nothing’s damaged or missing,” Ginny grinned and followed Fred to the basement.

“I’m sorry you had to go through this.” George looked Hermione in the eye.

“What? Being called a mudblood by a Malfoy again? It’s nothing new.” She tucked her head back under his chin.

“Thanks for helping us out with the cleanup.”

“It was therapeutic. I didn’t mind at all. Are you okay with… you know. Being called a mudblood lover?”

“Of course. No sense in denying it.” Hermione was about to glare at him, but he caught her with another one of his inane grins.

A few hours later, Ron and Sephera returned from their errands. Ron was covered in bags, packages, and paint cans from Hassan’s, barely maintaining his balance under the weight. Sephera carried a takeaway bag from The Leaky Cauldron and levitated a package of tightly wrapped glass panes in front of her.

“Looks like she’s got him whipped already,” Ginny giggled. Fred made a whipping motion with his hand and the appropriate sound with his mouth, sounding something like “wha-tsh.” Ginny elbowed him in the ribs and smirked.

Hermione threw one of their dropcloths over a sales counter and Sephera put out the sandwiches she’d picked up from The Leaky Cauldron. Ginny gathered a few crates and buckets and everyone took a seat on one around the counter.

“So what next?” Ron asked, nibbling on a french fry.

“Well, I’d like to get started repainting the walls. We could probably wax the floor while the walls dry. Then there’s the matter of replacing the windows and repairing the lock.” Fred counted off tasks on his fingers.

“I could replace the lock,” said Ginny, adding mustard to a sandwich.

“Phera and I can do the windows.”

Sephera turned to Ron with a slightly worried look on her face. “I’ve never done a window before.”

“It’s easy. Slide the glass in, bit of putty, some glaze, little paint, and voila. New window.” Sephera just nodded with a blank expression on her face. “I’ve had to replace a few at the Burrow, what with all the stray bludgers and quaffles…”

Hermione poured herself some Crazy Cauldron Cola. “I’ll wax the floor.” (Feeling the need to keep up with the new generation’s love for all things muggle, the makers of pumpkin juice decided to come up with a wizarding brand of soda. It tasted good, but the older generation put put off by its freakishly green color.)

“Great, that leaves George and me to do the painting.”

They finished off their lunches and set to their appointed tasks. Just after sunset, the walls were covered in a fresh coat of baby blue, the mahogany floor sparkled, and the new window was in place with the conjoined WWW logo on it. Boxes and boxes of merchandise were stacked along the walls and counters, waiting to be unpacked.

“I’ll take care of it, guys. You all head back to the Burrow. I’ll be okay,” Fred grasped his brother’s shoulder. “Thanks a lot for all the help. We would have been cleaning all week without you.”

“You’re sure? We can stick around and help you restock. It’s really no problem,” Hermione shrugged.

“Naw, I can manage. Tell mum I’ll be home by midnight.”

“You want me to bring you back some dinner?” George asked.

“No. I’ve got the rest of the sandwiches from lunch. Don’t worry about me.”

George, Ginny, Ron, Sephera, and Hermione went downstairs to the storeroom where the central heating fireplace was located, grabbed floo powder, and stepped into the flames.

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