Hello, reader :) This fic takes place during fifth year, I had always wanted to write a little friendly exchange between Hermione and the twins because I love the three of them and they would be very entertaining together. There are no pairings here, just friendship.

Without further ado, here it is.

Enjoy!

Hermione didn't normally like her prefect rounds. She usually dreaded seeing her name on the schedule, even though she had practically jumped all around the house, squealing uncharacteristically when she found out she was selected as one of the prefects for her fifth year at Hogwarts (her muggle neighbors did not share her excitement).

The reason behind this is that she had to spend a few extra hours alone with Ron at least twice a week. He was her best friend and a real sweetheart. She even had a crush on him for crying out loud! But he could be infuriating sometimes, and arguing with him never ended, as if a moment of peace between them would effectively disrupt their friendship dynamic.

So, when he blew her off for an impromptu Quidditch practice with Harry, she yelled at him for ten minutes straight, but on the inside, she heaved a sigh of relief.

She already had too much on her plate, and she definitely could not spare the time and energy for yet another exhausting screaming match with him. She had Voldemort's return to think about, in addition to Harry's never-ending problems (the poor boy carried the world on his shoulders), and her confusing relationship with Ron, not to mention homework and her upcoming OWLS. She would not take less than Outstanding on every single subject, but now she was starting to question the possibility of that. She sighed heavily. All of this while trying to stop troublemaking, all alone in the middle of the night. Life could be so frustrating sometimes. She thought darkly.

As she walked down the hallway, she started daydreaming of a world where she and Ron would passionately confess their feelings for each other at the end of a heated argument, falling into each other's arms like characters in a Jane Austen book. She chuckled at the mental image, the sound of her echoing steps breaking the silence enveloping her. All of a sudden, she heard a noise behind one of the suits of armor, followed by the sound of evil mischievous laughter that was all too familiar.

She stomped angrily but soundlessly towards the source of the sound, and when she was two steps away from the troublemakers, she recognized the place; it was right outside Umbridge's office. She cursed under her breath and whispered a lumos, pointing her wand to the two faces of the Weasley twins. She was NOT surprised.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" the two gingers screamed girlishly for no less than a minute while Hermione tried desperately to shut them up. She frantically hoped everyone would just brush off the screams as the Fat Lady's operatic rehearsals, or all three of them would be in a lot of trouble. When they opened their tightly shut eyes enough to recognize the holder of the wand, they sighed in relief and tried to compose their horrified faces with the shred of dignity they had left.

"Hermione," began George with a pant, "don't you ever,"

"Do this to us again." continued Fred, holding his throbbing chest with a suspiciously sticky, goo-covered hand. He realized his mistake immediately and switched the hand. Luckily, Hermione didn't notice.

"You almost,"

"Gave us,"

"A heart attack,"

"You mad, crazy woman!"

"Fred, the last part was totally unnecessary."

The twins shifted under Hermione's angry glare. George cleared his throat, "ummm, soooo," he regained his composure. "Fancy seeing you here, 'Mione!" he flashed her a charming, yet nervous smirk, throwing an arm around her shoulder.

Fred caught up with his brother rapidly, he wrapped an arm around her other shoulder. "Yeah! What's a gorgeous little girl like you doing outside her dorm at two in the morning?" he gave her an exaggerated smirk, and threw in a wink for good measure.

Her eyes widened in anger "I am not little," Fred winced in regret, he very much knew exactly what she was capable of, and felt a sudden pang of fear only reserved for his mother. "Also, don't play dumb, Weasley," she added threateningly, whipping around to face the other twin "and Weasley", she huffed. She shrugged their arms off of her and turned to glare at them. "Look, I don't know what you're doing, but it's definitely illegal, or at least it will break thirty-something school rules, and I won't let you get away with it," she set her jaw.

"If you don't know," began Fred.

"What we're doing," George piped up.

"Then you can't do anything to us," they said in unison.

Hermione felt tears of frustration prickling her eyes; she suddenly felt like everything -even her prefect duties- was impossible. You will NOT cry, Hermione, she commanded herself. Miraculously, she held back. It was too late though; her sadness and frustration turned into fury, all her pent up anger bubbling up and exploding, all at once. She had enough reasonableness within her to cast a silencing charm before she went off, taking a deep breath first. "Merlin's beard, you are the most infuriating, obnoxious, annoying, selfish wizards I have ever met!" she shouted, but lowered her voice afterward "Gryffindor is already lagging behind the other houses, and even worse, we're being targeted by that blasted inquisitorial squad. We can't afford to lose any more points on our own freaking accord! Besides, if you were caught by Umbridge or a Slytherin, we would be doomed. And now, because of you, I will have to tell McGonagall to take points off our own house and give you detention so you could stop being such irresponsible children and grow up for God's sake!" She gasped for breath as she felt electricity frizz up her hair.

Pure hurt immediately flashed upon their identical faces and they both became very quiet. As if she had cast an immobulus on them; they were completely motionless, their usually luminous eyes subdued and cast down in shame.

She felt immediate guilt overtake her, and she sighed in defeat. How did it get to this, she thought to herself as her heart grew heavier. It was horribly irresponsible but they did not deserve to be scolded so harshly. "Look, guys," she said as she bent her head in shame. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to say that, I really don't think of you as children, I.." she paused for a moment and her face crumpled in pain "It's just so overwhelming," she let out a broken half-sob. "Ever since V-Voldemort came back, nothing has been going right. Everybody's panicking, including me, because no one feels safe, not even inside Hogwarts. I know you love pulling pranks and causing mischief; that's who you are and I respect that, but it's just too much for me to deal with right now." A single tear traitorously rolled down her face, and she wiped away at it furiously.

Fred and George shared a solemn look.

" 'Mione," Began Fred, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We're doing this because nothing's going right. I mean, have you seen what everyone looks like these days? They've grown years older in just a matter of months." His voice was serious and strained; it had a sense of urgency that was bordering on painful. Hermione never expected to hear that tone from him or his twin.

"We just want to cheer people up, we have to let them know that laughter can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to pull a wicked prank," said George, the serious look on his face slowly turning into a small grin.

"Wait a second, that sounds familiar," She paused thoughtfully, a look of realization, almost relief dawning on her. "Ha..you're quoting Dumbledore," she said quietly with a small smile on her exhausted face.

"Yeah, but as always, we add our little twist," Fred added with a grin similar to his brother's.

She smiled earnestly. She really did admire those two, even if she tried to hide it behind a mask of disapproval. She almost envied them for how carefree and unapologetically weird they were. Her heart ached a little, and she made up her mind.

"Let me ask you this; are you going to pull the prank on anyone outside the inquisitorial squad?" she asked, eyes darting between the two in a strange mix of wariness and excitement.

There was an immediate answer.

"Rest assured. We're only gonna hit their core," they said in unison, both grinning wickedly. She fought the urge to mirror their expression. Too soon, Hermione, she thought.

She sighed and seemed to be thinking for a moment. There was a heartbeat, then two, and the twins were shocked beyond belief when she raised her head up again, as they saw an evil smirk on her lips & a mischievous twinkle in her brown eyes.

"I want you to kick her arse," her smirk turned into a frightening grin.

The twins let out a small laugh of shock and relief before they returned her evil grin.

"Aye Aye, Captain!" they said at the same time, making an exaggerated mock salute.

"Hey, Granger!"

The eyes of the three Gryffindors widened, Hermione gave them a warning glance and a small wave before the twins performed the disillusionment charm on themselves.

She ran towards her fellow prefect. "Hello, Terry!" She greeted him too brightly, and stood a little too close to the Ravenclaw.

His dark brows furrowed for a moment and then he shrugged slightly. "Any trouble in the Gryffindor tower tonight?" he asked in a business-like manner.

"Nope," she said innocently and shook her head for emphasis, "it's been very quiet, really," she shrugged casually, fighting the eerie smile off her face.

The next morning, Hermione was sitting at the breakfast table, chatting with Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Neville, when suddenly she heard a loud, ear-piercing shriek coming from the direction of the door of the great hall.

A very, very disgusted, scared and flustered professor/toad stumbled into the great hall, her face looking like Seamus Finnigan's after performing a tricky spell, and with goo all over her overly-pinkish outfit. She was followed by a very angry Filch fussing over his precious toad and a hissing Mrs. Norris. The students couldn't suppress their laughter, and soon, the great hall was filled with smiles, giggles, chuckles, and roaring laughter. Hermione quickly glanced at the professors' table to see Dumbledore's eyes twinkling beneath his half-moon glasses, and McGonagall giggling, a jarring sight in an of itself. In what universe would Professor McGonagall giggle? Hermione thought in amazement. She smiled to herself as she answered her own question; in a universe where Fred and George spread their infectious, uncontained joy with those who need it.

Hermione searched for the culprits, and she found them a few seats away, grinning proudly and triumphantly. As if on cue, they turned around to meet her gaze & the three of them shared a mischievous smile, Hermione gave them a thumbs up.

Everyone was too occupied to notice the little exchange between the two troublemakers and the prefect, or they simply chose to ignore it.

A/N: Update March 2019: This is one of my favorite fics that I've ever written. Decided to give it some love and update it since the writing was a little wonky. Hope you've enjoyed it!