Hermione caught the beer, surprisingly enough, but didn't yet open it. Back in school, it seemed that George was always able to brush off her talking to him about his ridiculous pranks or jokes that he always pulled. He had gotten really good at it, as had Fred, and they normally just laughed her off, irritatingly enough. The number of times that she’d tried to stop them from doing something ridiculous were endless, and they had never learned then. But as the years have gone on, Hermione had realized that he was more prone to get agitated at her than he used to be. It was understandable, for obvious reasons, and it wasn’t as though she had wanted to come into a conversation to have it be laughed off like it used to be. This route just wasn’t exactly enjoyable either; as far as she was concerned, she was allowed to talk to her friend about the products he was giving her children that were getting them into trouble. However, the switch had flipped earlier in the conversation than she was used to, and the moment he’d begun cursing she’d realized that they’d gotten to that point. It had taken him a hell of a lot to get pissed back in the day, but time could obviously change a lot.

“Thank you,” she said, tersely, hardly believing him. She would believe it when she saw it, and this certainly hadn’t been the first time he’d made grand statements about not sending them any more products. It hadn’t happened yet, and Hermione greatly doubted that this time would be any different. Asking her to leave was a bit of a new one, and she did wonder what was putting him into such a pissy mood this time. They’d had plenty of heated conversations like this in the past, and he always ended up irritated, so she supposed she shouldn’t be surprised. “Fine,” Hermione stated, before setting her unopened beer back onto the counter. She had said what she’d needed to say, after all, and it was unsurprising that he was too stubborn to give a damn about anything other than his ridiculous products. “Have a good night,” she added, as she headed toward the door.

George was just tired. His carefree days were numbered those days. It felt like everyday he was on edge wondering if that would be the day they would get a summons to be questioned again. His father’s continued love of everything muggle related concerned him as they might take that as his father just wanting to know everything he could in order to do something horrible to them. That couldn’t be any farther from the truth but purebloods were under attack and even though the Weasleys were known for their positive involvement in the war, the war his brother was killed in trying to protect the innocents and return order. He still kept most of his fun loving personality, but the stress was driving him mad.

He loved his friend dearly, but he just wasn’t in the mood to be talked to the way she was doing. He had bigger things to worry about and her coming into his family’s home, a place he looked to as a sanctuary outside of everything crazy, was not okay with him. She could have waited to come to the shop if she was going to be so aggressive with him. He gave her a nod as she turned to head out of the door before taking another drink of his beer. He turned away and walked towards the floo. He was too wound up now to sit still. At least working on a few new products would help him unwind again.

-END OF THREAD-