despondency - George Weasley

{seven}

Chapter Seven

Astrid felt uneasy at work the next day. Not only was she having to process what everyone had said about George, the memory of that night just before the Yule Ball was now constantly on her mind. She had no reason to feel embarrassed and she knew that, George didn't have the slightest clue on what she had planned to ask him that night years ago. Nonetheless, she felt as if she were 16 again and dealing with the humiliation for the first time. 

Astrid typically started her day at the joke shop by speaking with George about what he wanted from her for the day, but she decided to just head straight to the sales floor, that is after all, what he usually sent her to do. Soon her nerves and embarrassment faded as she was able to interact with various young witches and wizards who were in awe of the colorful and magnificent products that lined the tall, orange shelves of the joke shop. 

After helping a large family who was visiting the store for the first time, Astrid made her way over to a pair of young boys, they couldn't be more than 3rd years at Hogwarts. 

"First time?" She asked as she crept over, the boys seemed startled by her sudden appearance, which took them out of their daze as they stared at the rows of shelves. 

"No," said one, he was much taller than the other and extremely lanky, "we've been coming here since they opened." 

Astrid gave them an encouraging smile, "I don't blame you, this place is incredible, and I promise they're not just paying me to say that. It looked like you guys were looking for something, can I help you find it?" 

The shorter boy gave a nervous smile, shifting his weight between his feet before asking "we were just trying to see where the new products are. It's been a while since we've seen something new, the displays have stayed the same for ages and we figured there might be some new stuff hidden on the shelves." 

Astrid's smile faltered, this was by far her least favorite part of the work day. It happened everyday, and everyday it killed her to disappoint the kids when she told them there was nothing new to see. 

"Actually..." Astrid began, the look of disappointment in their eyes as they knew were she was going with this made her heart hurt, "we haven't put anything new out since April, but I'm sure that will change soon." 

"Oh... well thanks anyway," said the tall one, staring down at his shoes gloomily. 

"Well, I guess we'll just be off," said the other, a slight frown forming, "thank you, miss."

Astrid watched the pair as they exited the shop, not able to help her eyebrows knitting together as she rested her back against the wall. She couldn't help the feeling of worry that was taking over her, she knew the products they had were spectacular, but how much could the business really grow if they didn't have anything new to sell? 

"Those punks giving you a hard time?" Gwen said, as she approached the shelf to the left of Astrid to stock the Extendable Ears.

"What? No," Astrid said, shaking her head, "they were actually really nice."

"Then what's got you so grumpy?" Gwen asked, standing on her tip toes to reach a high shelf.

"I'm just worried about the store," she replied, biting her lip nervously, "we haven't released a new product since before the war and it feels like Zonko's has something new every month!"

"Yeah... it's not a great situation" Gwen muttered as she continued her work, "but I we still have really unique stuff, stuff Zonko's can't even compare to." 

"But once everyone buys the stuff we have that they don't... what's stopping them from getting everything else from Zonko's?" Astrid implored, now Gwen was the one who looked concerned, "I'm not trying to make you nervous, it's just that we have competition we need to look out for and right now we not matching what they're putting out and sooner or later they are going to sneak ahead of us and steal all our customers."

"You're right," Gwen admitted, letting out a sigh, "but we both know there is no way George is going to work on any of the ideas he had."

"There's a book - in his office," Astrid said, an idea suddenly popping into her mind, "it's all his and Fred's ideas. They may not be completed or she fool proof since they never got past the planning stage, but it's a start, we could use that and we could us the blue prints to try and make them!"

"Astrid," Gwen replied, her eyes were wide and mouth slightly agape in astonishment, "that's absolutely brilliant!" 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"So what to you think?" Astrid asked breathlessly, she was so excited to tell Felix about her idea she forgot to breathe between sentences. 

"I think it's a great idea but," Felix said, though he looked hesitant.

"But?" Gwen cut in, wondering what flaw he could see in their plan. 

"But," he continued, shooting Gwen a look, "I don't know how George would react to it. I think he might just shoot it down."

"Why?" Astrid blurted out, unable to fathom how George could see this as a bad idea "to keep the store running we're going to need to put new products out sooner or later."

"That's the thing, I don't think he cares about keeping the store running." 

The truth of Felix's words left the three in silence. It really didn't matter how badly they wanted Weasley's Wizard Wheezes to succeed, because no matter how little responsibility he tried to have, the future of the store was in his hands. If he had given up, there was no hope. 

A/N

Hehe I know I disappear all the time but I'm obsessed with writing again so here I am