Label Mistakes
A/N: Story entry for the TE February Challenge. Thanks to cr8vgrl for beta reading! Go check her awesome stories! And for the banner of the story, visit my profile.
Disclaimer: The characters and canon situations in the following story belong solely to JK Rowling. I am not making any money from the publishing or writing of this story.
Prompt: Amortentia
Pairing: Fred/Hermione
Quote: "How am I supposed to explain this?"
Theme: Valentine's Day.
He was supposed to hear people's thoughts so that he and George could play matchmaker this Valentine's Day, but why couldn't he hear a single one? Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. 'We probably mistook something in the potion.' Fred decided, but stopped abruptly when he collided with someone. Or something... by the looks of it.
"Oh, sorry Fred! Got to run, Susan Bones just told me this crazy rumour and I've got to tell Parvati! See you!" She didn't spare him another glance as she turned on the corner and headed to the Gryffindor Common Room.
But Fred stood rooted on the spot. That was Lavender Brown? He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but it was only her dirty blond hair and what she had said what clued him in. She was, in one word, unrecognizable. Disgusting boils covered great part of her face, her normal almond-shaped eyes were the size and shape of plates, you could almost see no nose on her face, her lips were so full you could think they'd explode any minute, and the mole... she had a horrible, hairy mole on her left cheek, almost as big as a sickle. Yes, his eyes were definitely playing tricks on him. There was no way Lavender Brown would be parading around the school looking like that, and George had never mentioned something about a prank on her.
He decided to forget about it and grab something to eat before morning classes started. He was heading to the Great Hall when he saw Malfoy with both his cronies and Parkinson? It was Pansy Parkinson, but there was something odd about her he couldn't quite place yet.
When they got closer he noticed it. She still had her pug-like face, but it was far more accentuated. He was really starting to think she had wanted to transform into one and the spell had come out wrong. Her eyes were larger, darker and more prominent, deep wrinkles accentuated her face, and she had a short, blunt, square shaped muzzle.
Fred Weasley was definitely seeing things.
He put both sightings on the back of his mind and continued to the Great Hall to tell George about the news of the failure of their potion. The Great Hall was mostly empty except for a few students and the teachers on the Head table. He began piling some eggs and bacon on his plate when Hermione sat across them.
"Pinch me brother of mine!" George said. "Hermione Granger has decided to grace us with her presence! To what do we owe the pleasure Granger? What do you need from us?"
"Don't flatter yourself, George. I need absolutely nothing from you. I just came to deliver a message. Two actually." Hermione said tapping her fingers on the table and munching from a muffin.
"And what would that be?"
"First, Harry asked me to tell you Quidditch practice has been cancelled because of Ron being in the Hospital Wing thanks to the stunt he tried to pull in Potions, and because Ginny refuses to set one foot out of her dormitory. Now tell me, George, would you happen to know why's that? Because let me warn you, she's hungry for revenge."
George gasped and clutched at his heart while playing innocent. "Are you insinuating we had something to do with her new shiny, curly, lime green hair? You're hurting us deeply, Granger. " He was about to ask Fred for support when he noticed he was frozen in place, incredibly quiet, his eyes intent on Hermione. "Now I would love to stay chatting, but my twin here is not feeling so good so I'm taking him away."
George grabbed Fred's arm and started to drag him, but he didn't budge an inch. Hermione noticed how his gaze was fixed on her, and thought something was a little bit weird about the way he was looking at her. "Are you okay, Fred?" She blushed under his intense stare, nervously biting her bottom lip.
"Oh, don't worry about it Granger. He's just feeling a little bit under the weather, that's all. You go on ahead to the Library."
That was strange. George and Fred never encouraged anyone, not even her to get to the Library or class. "Um, sure. I'll see you later then." She stood up and walked out of the hall, Fred's eyes following her. When she was finally out of sight, he snapped out of his trance. "What was that?" He asked George. "Why was she glowing?"
"'What was that?' you ask? I should be the one asking you that! You were the one who couldn't take his eyes off her! –Wait. Did you say glowing? She wasn't glowing Fred, are you really ok?"
"Don't play with me George, she was glowing! She looked so... beautiful. Her eyes were shining, her cheeks had that really nice rosy hue when she blushed, and the way she bit her lip was—"
"Stop right there Gred." George interrupted. "You're going to sit here and you'll tell me if maybe you saw anyone suspicious slipping some Amortentia on your glass, because this is not funny."
"You're being silly, Forge. There's not even a drop of Amortentia in my system. The only unusual thing I drank today was the 'Speak your Mind' potion we finished last night so we could matchmake tomorrow! The one you labelled red, remember?"
"The one I labelled red? Sweet Merlin, Fred! You were supposed to take the green one! Now, how am I supposed to explain this?" George almost yelled, grabbing his hair and drawing the attention of the students in the Great Hall. "Argh! Just wait for me in the dormitory after lunch and I'll explain!" He said stomping out of the Great Hall, but stopped and came back to Fred. "And don't you dare get distracted on the way by hideous girls or glowing Hermiones!"
-o-
The Library was the perfect place for her right now. She couldn't read or organize her thoughts on her favourite armchair by the fire in the Common Room, because Ginny, Lavender, Parvati and other Gryffindor girls were busy decorating for Valentine's Day. Not only were the hearts and all that pink making her sick, but she already hated this year's Valentine's for an entire different reason.
She had noticed her feelings for Fred one night when she had woken up late because of a nightmare while staying at the Burrow that summer. He didn't ask her why she couldn't sleep; he just sat there beside her and started telling her stories of the pranks he and George pulled in their childhood.
Ever since then, she started paying more attention to the twins; she had learned how to tell them apart even with her eyes closed. George once confronted her about it, asking her how come she was able to tell them apart, when even their own family made mistakes once in a while. She shrugged then and told him she just could. She couldn't tell him how much she watched them that summer, especially Fred.
They were identical, down to the very last freckle. She just couldn't tell George she'd noticed how Fred lifted his left eyebrow and got this strange gleam in his eyes when planning something, while George lifted the corners of his mouth. She would never admit she'd noticed how Fred played with his hair and ears when he was acting innocent, or how his spirits lifted when his entire family was with him.
Hermione sighed and closed her book. She hadn't read a single word since she got to the library. His gaze had been so intense back in the Great Hall... he had never looked at her that way before. There were stolen glances sometimes, but never something like that. She just wished she could spend this Valentine's Day with Fred, wished he would notice her.
On her usual spot she drifted off, her book falling off her lap just as Fred entered the library and spotted her. He stayed there watching the gentle rise of her chest, the soft smile that formed her lips. He didn't know how he hadn't noticed before. It had taken that silly potion he drank to realize she was everything he had been looking for, and now he remembered what that potion was for.
Girls would look different depending on your reactions and feelings towards them, but there would be one girl that would look different. The only one that would glow and look stunning in your eyes. And he would be plain stupid if he let Hermione go now.
So he came to a decision. He stood up and shook Hermione lightly to wake her up. "Uhn, Fred? What are you doing here?" She said sleepily.
"Be my Valentine."
"I—you—wait, you want be me to be your Valentine?"
"Yes, unless there's another Hermione Granger right behind you, I'm asking you."
"I'm not dreaming right?" Hermione asked uncertainly. "Because, if this is a joke Fred, I swear I'll—"
When his lips descended over hers, and after she got over the shock of whose lips they were, Hermione happily responded. It was the sheer simplicity of the kiss what had her stomach tingling after it ended. "So, been dreaming about me lately?" Fred asked expecting to receive a light punch.
"Yes." She answered bravely, she would bet her Hogwarts: A History 'Special Edition' that he wasn't expecting such a blunt answer from her.
"Well, I'm taking you out on our first date before Valentine's Day then."
"Really? What are we going to do?"
"Oh, nothing much." Fred answered innocently, lifting his hand to play with his ear and hair, having absolutely no idea that Hermione knew exactly what that meant.
"We're washing and dying Snape's hair pink for tomorrow right?"
He gasped and tried to feign ignorance, but Hermione saw right through it. "Don't even try to deny it Fred. Let's go, right now Snape should be in Hogsmeade. I know for a fact on Saturdays he goes there."
She grabbed his hand, and for the first time, Fred was happy to have mistaken a green label with a red one.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this! Please review and tell me what you think!