Some Things I'll Never Understand
A/N: I do not own, nor will I profit from, anything that you recognised from the world of Harry Potter.
This fic was written as a gift for Queen Rayne from the Diagon Alley II forum. Her pairing request was either Harry/ Hermione or Fred/Hermione, so I decided to experiment with the latter. I hope I did it justice and that I did not make the feelings too obvious or unoriginal. My endings have also been a little weak as of late, but I will endeavour to fix this story as soon as I can.
I hope you enjoy and please review if you can. Thank you! :)
"You take Ron, I'll take Hermione."
"No, you take Ron and I'll take Hermione."
"Why do you get the easy one?"
"Hermione's not the easy one, Ron is. I'm being nice-"
"-well then I'll be nice and let you take him."
"How about you both flip a coin?" Lee Jordan interjected, shaking his head exasperatedly at his two best friends.
In turn, Fred and George turned to him, identical grins upon their freckled faces.
"Brilliant!"
Fred watched as Lee proceeded to take out a shiny silver sickle from his pocket, expertly placing it on his thumb. Ensuring that both he and George were watching, the boy counted to three and flicked it into the air.
"Dragon!" the twins chorused at the same time.
Lee groaned, catching the sickle as it spun in the air. As Fred glared at George, Lee spoke, "let's try that again, shall we? Alright, on three, pick your choice. Pick different this time, ok? Ready? One, two, three!"
"Wizard!"
Lee clapped his hand to his forehead in frustration. Fred huffed, hitting his brother in the forearm. He couldn't believe that his brother had chosen the same side as him, again. Although he would rather eat stink-sap than be apart from his brother for more than an hour, sometimes he thought it would be nice if he and George weren't exactly alike.
He breathed heavily as Lee continued to flip the coin and the two boys continued to choose the same outcome. It wasn't until the last flip that they finally chose differently.
"Wizard!"
"Dragon!"
"Its… dragon! Well done Fred!"
He smirked at George, who was scowling. "No fair, I'm the oldest-"
"Only by a minute."
"Fine. I'll take the little git who calls himself our brother. But, I get to light the first firework tomorrow."
"Deal."
Instantly, he felt better as he and his brother were once again in harmony. Shaking hands with his twin and clapping a now exhausted Lee on the back, he strode out of the common room door, whistling.
He walked down a few corridors, chatting with the friendlier portraits and sticking his tongue out at Mrs Norris, who was patrolling the corridors with her tail high in the air. As he passed the cat she turned her yellow orbs on him, watching suspiciously. She apparently deemed him not a threat, for she stuck her nose up and strutted away in the opposite direction.
Making a mental note to harass Filch later on, he continued to whistle until he finally made his way to the library. It had taken him a shorter time than he expected, and he was mildly surprised that he had remembered the way to the wing. Still, it was better than being late- he didn't want his target to leave before he could talk to her.
Earlier that morning, Harry had cornered him and George as they sat in a chair by the fire. He thought he had wanted to place an order for their latest creation, nougat nosebleeds, when he saw that the boy was by himself. However, it was not what the younger student had had in mind.
Harry had come to the twins for a favour- one they easily accepted, remembering the donation of his Triwizard Tournament's earnings the year before. The boy had been at a loss on what to do, for Ron and Hermione were once again at odds with each other. He had hoped that the twins would add their comic relief to the situation and bring the two fifth years together again.
As soon as the raven-haired boy had left, the twins had commenced their discussion on who they would work on. They had originally hoped to work together, but found that in doing so, they would be running out of time to work on their latest prank. As such, they decided to take on the pair of them at the same time- unfortunately, both boys had wanted to deal with Hermione. Although she was the most serious of the pair, neither of them wanted to engage in another argument with Ron, knowing that he would probably inform their mother of the numerous detentions that had already received that term.
Fred began walking down the bookshelves, trying to locate the afore-mentioned bushy haired girl. He stopped his whistling as Madame Pince pinned a fierce glare on him, a bony finger pressed to her thin lips. Blowing her a mock kiss as she turned her back, he strode to the section containing Charms books and found Hermione, balancing almost as many books in her arms as the shelves held.
The girl glanced at him warily, her eyebrow raised in disbelief at his presence in such an academic environment.
"What? Can't a guy spend some time studying?"
"Hmmm," she continued lifting the heavy tomes onto the shelves, double checking that each was placed into its correct numbered position.
"Sooo…" he drew out the word, waiting for her to give him her attention. When she finally sighed and turned to face him, he continued, "I heard you and Ron had another fight."
"Yes. Ronald and I are currently not on speaking terms."
"Well, I came to cheer you up! I know he's a bit of a prat, but he's not that bad of a prat. Maybe you could tell old Feorge what happened?" he gave her his best grin- one that stretched across his face.
"I'm not interested, Fred," she didn't look at him, shoving a particularly large book roughly into the shelf.
Fred sighed but continued to fix his smiling gaze at her. He watched as she continued to place the books into their correct positions. His smile widened as he spotted her glance at him sideways several times, finally sighing in defeat.
"Fine. Just let me finish this first."
"Allow me, milady," he swept into a low bow, taking the pile of books off her.
Placing them on the nearby table, he took out his wand and waved it around. The books lifted off of the table, creating a mini cyclone as they spiralled around in the air. Closing his eyes, he flicked his wand again and sent them soaring randomly across the room, slotting in shelves haphazardly.
Hermione tapped her foot impatiently, groaning in disapproval. "Was that really necessary? Now I have to spend time re-organising them and putting them back properly!"
"Nonsense, use the time telling Gred here why Ron's annoying you… this time."
"I thought your name was Feorge- oh, never mind. I suppose Harry told you then?"
"A gentleman never spills his clients' names, not even Potter's," he mimed zipping his lips shut, winking.
He was relieved when the tiniest of smiles graced her face, feeling his heart quicken at the sight. He assumed it came because he must have eaten one of the draft versions of their products, having experienced the feeling only once before. It had been at the Yule Ball the year before, when Angelina had accepted his proposal to take her to the dance. He had been excited at the prospect but inside had been nervous. He put his current feelings down to that- shrugging off the sensation as nervousness that he may have sold more test products than he had thought. He certainly didn't want to spend tomorrow night in detention because he accidentally gave another student a heart attack.
Hermione sighed, evidently realising that he wasn't going to leave.
"Oh alright, I'll tell you," sighing again, she leant against a shelf, crossing her arms, "I'm just sick of the way that he is so inconsiderate. He's supposed to be a prefect yet he never acts mature, and so I'm left to be the 'bad guy' and yet he spends all his time encouraging the younger years to play pranks. I just thought he would have grown out of it by now."
Fred felt his cheeks redden in embarrassment, recognising that he was exactly like his brother, if not worse. He wasn't sure why he felt that way- many people had said worse to his face and it had never bothered him before. Still, he kept the smile plastered on his face.
"What, you mean mature like me?" he wiggled his eyebrows, causing another smile to appear on her face.
She seemed to consider him for a while, staring into his eyes. As though something snapped inside of her, she began to laugh, "Well, you do share the same DNA."
"Merlin forbid anyone else does- the whole wizarding world would then be poor and stupid. Out of my way Granger, I need to get that book."
Fred turned as he recognised the voice, cracking his fists by his side. Adrian Pucey, a chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team, stood sneering down at Hermione as she glared at him.
"You could at least say please," Fred smiled as he saw her stand up for herself.
Pucey pushed past her, reaching for a thick leather bound book above her head. As he lifted it off and dusted its cover, he took care to knock into her. Doing the same to Fred as he continued towards the front desk, he turned to face her.
"You see, I would Granger. However, using manners is usually reserved for use in the company of witches and wizards, not mudbloods."
Before he realised what he was doing, Fred withdrew his wand and cast the first spell that came to his mind, "Taratallegra!"
He watched in satisfaction as the boys feet began to tap of their own free will, twisting and kicking out in different directions. Pucey had dropped his book in the process and was now waving his arms at his legs, attempting to stop their uncontrollable dancing.
He was still breathing heavily as Pucey continued to dancing, his face growing red from trying to keep up with his flailing limbs. Hermione had stepped aside and was now also waving her arms in an attempt to get his attention.
"Fred. Fred! Stop! I think he's had enough."
"He insulted you."
"It's ok, honestly. Quick, stop, Madame Pince could come over."
Fred looked into the girl's worried brown eyes before relenting. He muttered the counter curse and allowed the Slytherin to fall to the floor in a heap.
As Pucey hurriedly fixed his clothes and grabbed his book, he glared up at him. "You'll regret that Weasley," he spat, scampering off to the library's exit.
Fred returned the boy's comment with a rather rude hand gesture. He slumped into a chair at the desk, trying to control his shaking. He was still angry about the insults Pucey had thrown at him. Normally, he could handle people making fun of his family and their poor status- he would simply make sure to add them to the top of his and George's prank list. However, it was the fact that the boy had dared to use that word in front of the smartest girl he knew that had him so riled up.
He shifted slightly as he felt Hermione sit down next to him. He stiffened slightly as she placed a hand on his shoulder, "you didn't have to do that, you know? You could've gotten yourself into trouble. Besides, I'm used to it."
He turned to look into her face as she offered him a small smile. "You shouldn't have to be though- he had no right saying that. Blimey, you're smarter than all the purebloods at this school put together!"
She didn't say anything for a while, allowing a faint pink tinge cloud her cheeks. She shook her head slowly, a smile re-appearing until she laughed shakily.
"You know, you remind me of Ron a little," she laughed a little louder as he pulled a face, "no, no, in a good way. I was just remembering the time he tried to curse Malfoy in my second year and he ended up throwing up worms for a week."
He chuckled, bringing up his own memories of that event. It was one of the rare moments that he was actually proud of his younger brother- that was until the boy chugged up a slug on his Quidditch boots. Unfortunately, the mention of his sibling reminded him of the purpose of his visit to the library, and he sighed.
"You know, the kid's not that bad."
"Yeah, I suppose you are right. He is kind of brave."
He tried to smile encouragingly, but something made him feel uncomfortable about what she had said. He perked up however, as she continued.
"He can be an idiot, but I guess he does look after me. He kind of reminds me of you a little, only…saner."
He grinned cheekily, "Why thank you."
"You know what I mean."
His heart gave another funny little beat as he replied, "really, it means a lot."
Hermione looked at him a little oddly before smiling softly. They sat in silence for a few moments before she gave another sigh.
"I suppose I better go find him and let him apologise," she stood up, tucking in her chair.
Fred couldn't work out why he wasn't happy at her decision- after all, he had accomplished his task. George was probably still trying to convince Ron to come around, or at the very least trying to come up with the counter-curse to whatever jinx he had set on the boy for not cooperating. It meant that he now had some extra time to meet up with Lee and go over a few plans; with Umbridge around, they needed to sort out as many fine details as possible. However, a large part of him seemed to only want to stay where he was- with her.
He shook his head, trying to overcome this weird feeling, "yeah, I guess you better."
"Are you coming?"
"No, I think I might just stay here for a while," when she looked questioningly at him, he realised he must have sounded odd. "You know, research some pranks and bask in my awesomness."
"Oh, ok. I'll see you around- thanks again."
"Yea, no worries," he watched forlornly as she picked up her satchel and left the room.
It wasn't for another hour that George and Lee finally found him, interrupting his strange thoughts. He was having a hard time trying to explain his still rapidly drumming heart when they bounded into the room.
"Boy, those crazy kids sure are tense- I bet seven sickles that they kiss by Christmas," George plonked down, grinning.
"I'll take in on that, twelve knuts that it's before the end of term. Fred?"
"What? Oh, uh, yea, a galleon that they won't until next year," he absentmindedly replied.
A part of him had wanted to bet that Ronald Hermione wouldn't get together ever, at least not whilst he was alive. Still, he stopped concentrating on that weird idea and grinned as George dumped his bag of products noisily onto the table, causing Madame Pince to stick her around the shelf and hush them. He sat up a little straighter, happy that at least he could understand how to plan pranks.