Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.

Mah first one-shot! Yea!

Also, the third chapter to The Vigilant is almost done! Gimme five!

*complete and utter silence*

Well then. On with it.

Out of Us

It was a slightly normal day at breakfast. Harry Potter was eating bacon with his best friend Hermione Granger, both trying to avoid the debris insinuating from their other best friend, Ronald Weasley. Normal by any means.

Then the Twins showed up.

With devilish grins.

"Hello, children!" said Fred.

The surrounding Gryffindors, consisting of Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville, and Lavender, looked at him extraordinarily skeptically.

"Would you children like to play a game with us?" asked George.

However skeptically the children were looking at him, it doubled.

Silence.

"…..sure?" squeaked Neville.

"Heh…. Excellent." Fred and George spoke in unison at this until finally –

"Okay, Fred? Truth or dare?"

Lavender practically jumped out of her seat in excitement. She loved this game!

Same couldn't be said for any of the others. Hermione's head was in her cereal. Ron's wasn't, but what was once his cereal was certainly visible due to the 'O' his mouth was shaped like currently.

Lavender asked, "Are we playing Classic or Elimination?"

"Elimination," said Fred, who was contemplating his choice. "George, I choose Dare."

"Walk up to the staff table and tell Professor McGonagall you are in love with her."

Immediately, Fred got up to a man's job. George and pretty much everyone at the table now was laughing. Hermione was serious though.

"So, how does elimination work?" she asked.

"Basically, if you either won't do a dare or can't tell the truth, you're out. Last one standing gets…"

He seemed lost.

"At the very least, something?" asked Neville, afraid.

"Yes. Oh wait – there he is!"

They all looked up. Fred had said the words to McGonagall. She subsequently clobbered him with her copy of the Daily Prophet, and he returned with a giant red mark on his face. Everyone was laughing.

"So, Fred… how did it go?"

Fred was in mock-tears. "She rebuffed my affections."

They were all laughing.

"Okay…" said Fred. "Now I get to ask someone…"

His eyes landed on Ron.

"My little brother!"

"Bloody hell…"

"Truth or dare?"

Silence.

"Damn it… Truth."

"All right…" Fred considered for a long while. "If you could snog any person at Hogwarts, who?"

Ron groaned. Harry laughed. Hermione prayed it wasn't her. Lavender prayed it was her.

"Well…"

"We know you have an answer, Ronald. Spill."

He muttered something, though he could not be distinguished by mortal ears.

"Speak up Ron!"

"…I forfeit."

"Nope. You can't forfeit." Fred and George were grinning.

"But I thought it was Elimination –", protested Lavender.

"It is. But we're eliminating this rule. You must answer on a Truth question."

It occurred to Lavender she might not win.

Ron appeared to be hyperventilating.

Harry said, "If you don't answer, we'll all assume that it's Luna."

The Twins laughed with Harry at the inside joke, until they realized that Ron's face was as red as his hair, and he was slowly sliding down the edge of the table in order to attempt to disappear.

"Wait – it actually is her?" asked George.

Ron ran for it. The consequence for this action was a tackling by the Twins, a withdrawal from the game, and a seat in the Ravenclaw table next to the aforementioned dreamy-eyed girl. And the Twins jinxed it to make sure he didn't leave.

They returned triumphant.

"Well, now that that is over with, I assume that Fred chooses the next person to ask as well, considering he's on a roll."

"Alright! Let's see… Lavender!"

There was an audible gulp.

"Truth or dare?" said Fred with a wicked grin.

Silence. Then she sealed her own fate with a –

"Truth."

"How long have you been using Engorgement Charms on your female anatomy?"

Lavender Brown was dead silent.

She also attempted to run, and the Twins chased her, while Neville, Harry, and Hermione were all wondering how on earth Fred knew.

Eventually, the troubling twosome returned, albeit Lavender-less.

"Well, she's out," said George.

"Okay, one, how did you know, and two, what did you do?" asked Hermione, pointing a finger at Fred.

"Well, actually, it wasn't meant to be a true statement, I just wanted to tease her. If she didn't, she would have answered, 'I don't use any' but she ran, confirming my suspicions."

George spoke as well: "We merely took the Charms off – and she did admittedly look quite better without them."

"Yes she did," agreed Fred.

"So, Fred, you're 2 and 0, my brother. Who shall be your next victim?"

"Wait!" spoke Neville. "Why does he choose again?"

"Because I'm good, sir, and for your question I shall spare you. Leaving me with the two lovebirds over here!"

He turned, with his twin corresponding, to smirk devilishly at Harry and Hermione, who both went into a fit of blushing.

"We're not…" said Harry.

"…no…" said Hermione.

"Alright then – Hermione," said Fred.

"I know if I choose Dare, you'll make me kiss him. I know if I choose Truth, you'll trick me into confessing my love for him or something" –

"What love for him?" asked George. Both Weasley Twin eyes are on Hermione.

"T-t-the conjectural one you have… toiled onto me… no, projected! Onto me!"

"Truth or Dare, Hermione?"

She had lost. She was dead. Very dead.

….

"I just realized something, Fred!" exclaimed George, giving Hermione a slight heart attack.

"What is it brother?" asked Fred.

"It's the same principle with Lavender and Ron! They wouldn't be so scared to say the truth if the truth wasn't so incriminating!"

As they had made this great point, Harry had asked Hermione to go back to the Gryffindor common room with him, to avoid this big scene. She complied, and the Twins didn't notice they were gone until they finally concluded the two were in love.

~0~

They made it back to the Gryffindor common room laughing.

"As much as I hate to admit it, that was fun until we were asked," said Hermione.

"Indeed so," said Harry. "Would you like to play our own private game in here?"

"Sure!"

And they sat on the sofa next to the fireplace, exchanging questions for a long while.

Then Harry asked the one question. Hermione had said "Truth".

"Okay Hermione – truth. Out of us – me, Ron, Fred, George, and Neville, is all of us asked you out at the same time, and you had to say yes to one of us, which would it be?"

Hermione turned red.

"It's okay Hermione. We're alone. You can say it, and I won't judge you."

Hermione stuttered, then said – "Okay. He's a Gryffindor."

"Duh."

They laughed.

"He is in our year."

"Yes…"

"He has black hair."

"It's Neville, isn't it!?" He wondered out loud, trying to mask the fact that he was crushed.

"….No, it's not Neville."

Silence. Hermione had a small grin on her face and she laughed again, her face completely read. Harry soon turned red too, as it registered with him –

Me! She means me!

He started laughing with her.

"So… you like me?" he asked.

"Yeah." She covered her mouth with her hands to keep from laughing too loud.

Harry's grin was big, and his face red. "I think I like you too."

She was in a happy state of shock. "What?"

"The feeling is mutual! I think I like you too!"

They were smiling at each other, both blushing the hardest they have in their whole lives, then Hermione broke the tension.

"Truth or dare?" He laughed.

"Truth!" he said.

"Would you like to go with me to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

He chuckled. "Yes. Truth or dare?"

"Truth!"

"Would you like to be my girlfriend, Hermione?"

Her dreams were no longer dreams.

"Yes."

~the end~

A/N: Mah first one-shot is finished!

Expect update to "The Vigilant" quickly and a few more one-shots in varying categories. Kudos!