AN: For the Quidditch League Round 2.

We, the Cannons, chose: Nymphadora Tonks – Changing

Prompts:

4 – Friction

8 – "Hatred knows no bounds, huh."

14 – "You don't tell me to relax!"

"Thanks again for coming with us all to Diagon Alley, Tonks!" Harry said to her as they were walking away from Gringotts. Normally Molly or Hermione's parents would bring them, but they were both too busy today so Tonks had volunteered.

"Of course, Harry, I wouldn't miss spending quality time with my favourite celebrity!" She teased him, knowing how much Harry hated the fact he was looked upon as a celebrity, before turning to face everyone else, "Alright, gang, off you go doing whatever it is you're doing!"

As Tonks said this, Hermione immediately sped off. Ron was the only one who noticed this and thought it was odd as she wasn't headed towards Flourish and Botts. He dismissed the thought almost immediately though, assuming she just had something else to fetch before she spent time browsing for books, and strolled off in the same direction as her towards his bothers' shop.

Hermione hadn't noticed Ron following her, if she had she would have been more careful; she knew he liked her but she wasn't sure he'd realised that yet so hadn't told him she didn't. As it was she was giddy, almost skipping with happiness on the way to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. She spotted her boyfriend almost as soon as she stepped into the shop and went to browse the shelves while she waited for him to finish serving a customer. On her way she thought she saw a flash of bright blond hair, but thought nothing of it. Hermione was really pushing her luck seeing Fred out in the open like this, they hadn't told anyone they were dating yet apart from George. Fred couldn't keep anything from his twin and Hermione wouldn't want him to have to.

Hermione had been dating Fred in secret since just before the end of her fifth year. Fred had come to speak to her before him and George pulled their prank during their OWL exams.

"Hey, Fred," Hermione addressed the boy coming towards her. She'd spent a lot of time at The Burrow during the summer and had gotten a lot closer to the twins, so close she could now tell them apart just by their appearance. She did think it slightly odd that Fred was alone, even at home the twins barely spent any time apart, but it had been known to happen so she let it slide.

"Hey, Mione," he greeted her, "I, uh, I wanted to ask you something…" he added, sounding very nervous. Hermione was about to make a joke about never having seen a Weasley twin nervous before, but seeing the serious expression on his face she stopped herself.

"Okay, what is it Fred?" she asked cautiously, she had never seen someone this distressed. She wondered if something had happened to George, maybe one of their experiments had gone wrong and he'd gotten hurt. Oh Merlin, she really hoped nothing had happened to George.

"I, uh… I just…" This was very odd behaviour for Fred; Hermione had never seen him lost for words before. "I was uh, I was – please don't think this is a joke, Hermione, I swear it isn't – I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me. See I like you and…" Fred stopped when he looked at Hermione's face. Her expression was a mixture of happiness and confusion; it looked like he had a lot of explaining to do.

"Fred, I…"

"Listen, Hermione, I know what you must think 'why is Ron's older brother asking me this, I didn't think you were allowed to date your brother's crush, blah blah blah' but honestly I don't care. I know Ron likes you, I'm sure you do too even though he doesn't, but I just… I've really come to like you over the last year Mione and I think it's more than Just as a friend. So what do you say?"

Hermione was just about to jump up and say yes, although where the urge to do that had come from she never knew, before realising they were in the crowded common room. That and she wasn't sure she wanted to do anything that could potentially hurt her best friend, no matter how oblivious to his feelings he was.

"Fred, I… I'd love to," she replied, hurrying on when she saw the hopeful and relieved expression on his face, "but what about your family? I mean, what will George think? And Ron is my best friend, I don't feel anything for him romantically but I don't want to hurt him! Plus there's no way this could work while we're at Hogwarts, you know Ron would always be in the way on the off chance he actually accepted it." Hermione added, sounding and looking genuinely distressed at the thought.

"Mione, it will be fine. George already knows I like you, he was actually the one who convinced me to talk to you. Ron, I know he gets jealous but he'll get over it eventually, we just won't tell him straight away. How does that sound?" Fred asked, really trying to please Hermione.

"I don't know. It sounds alright, but how would be get around Ron at Hogwarts? We aren't going to be able to keep disappearing off without him or Harry noticing. And you know what those two are like; if one of them suspects something then they will tell the other without thinking. They're as bad as you and George!" Hermione responded. She really did want to make this work, but didn't know how.

"Hermione, what I'm about to tell you is in the strictest confidence. You cannot tell anyone, and I mean anyone! This stays between us. I promise it will sort out the Hogwarts issue though. Deal?"

"Um, okay, fine. Deal" Hermione agreed, after lots of contemplation. Fred then proceeded to tell her all about his and George's plans to leave Hogwarts and start their shop. Hermione put up a lot of fights, insisting that they needed to finish their education, but eventually she realised she was going to get nowhere so decided to just keep quiet about it.

"…so you see, we're only going to be around for another week and then we won't have to worry about keeping it from Ron. So what do you say, will you be my girlfriend?" Fred asked a hopeful look in his eye.

"Yes," Hermione whispered, "but I think Ron may be a problem sooner rather than later" she added, spotting Ron and Harry step through the portrait hole. Fred also noticed this, so put back on his famous Weasley Twin persona.

"Aw c'mon, Hermione, why do you have to be such a buzzkill? You hate Umbridge as much as we do. Please help us with this prank!" He teased, loudly enough for Ron to hear what he was saying. Knowing Fred he was probably getting somewhere so she agreed to play along.

"Yes, Fred, I know I do, but I have all my OWLs to study for! I'll think about it."

"If that's the best I'll get, then I'll take it. I'll meet you at the lake after dinner tonight, m'lady!" Fred replied with a fake bow, before bouncing off to no doubt gloat to his twin. Hermione wasn't aware before this conversation that she'd had any feeling towards to older boy at all, but she knew this would remain one of her best memories for a long time to come.

Thinking about her relationship, Hermione was glad she and Fred had started dating. He was the kind of boy that she'd want to take camping to sit around a fire and drinking hot tea out of flasks to keep warm. It was the dream scenario for her, one she'd imagined with many boys but it had only felt right with Fred.

Hermione had so wrapped up in examining the shelves while she waited for her boyfriend that she was startled when a pair of long, freckly arms looped round her waist and puller her into the owner's chest.

"M'lady, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" Fred's voice asked from behind her.

"Oh, I was just coming to look at your supply of love potions actually. You see, there's this boy…" Hermione teased, being cut short by a soft punch from her boyfriend. "I'm teasing, of course. I can to see you silly." Hermione added with a smile in her voice.

"Well that was very humble of you, taking time out of your busy day to come and see the likes of me." Fred replied, before turning her around and pulling her into a kiss. Not too long after though, Hermione heard an unpleasant and familiar voice.

"Well, well, well, what have we here? It seems your little bookworm has found herself a new Weasel to play with!" the taunting voice of none other than Draco Malfoy drifted across the shop from near the door. This couldn't be good news. Looking towards the door, Hermione could see Malfoy and his two bodyguards cornering a red faced Ron who was glaring in her direction. Oh Merlin, Hermione thought, what have I gotten myself into this time?

Ron lost sight of Hermione's bushy hair almost as soon as he started walking. It didn't matter though; it wasn't like he was actually following her, they were just headed in the same direction. He found himself wondering again where she was headed, there wasn't much this side of Diagon Alley other than his brothers' shop and she wouldn't go there without him – they were his brothers after all. Maybe there's a new shop up here and she wants to check it out, Ron thought to himself as it seemed like the most likely option.

As Ron entered his brothers' shop he had to stop, the place was full. It had only been open a few weeks but it seemed like everyone already knew and loved the shop. He stood for a minute, taking in the surroundings, before immediately going over to their selection of Skiving Snackboxes. He was just trying to decide which version to buy when he saw a blond head followed by two lumps coming his way. Great, he thought, how does that git always know where to find me?

"So, Weasel, what are you doing? Seeing which one you can actually afford? Surely your overgrown orang-utans of brothers would give you one cheap? Or can you family not even afford to give discounts to their relatives?" Malfoy sneered, earing some laughs from the boys behind him.

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Ron retorted before putting one box down and going to find someone to pay. Unfortunately Malfoy decided to follow him. Ron noticed Malfoy's face light up ad they rounded a corner, and wondered what he'd seen now to make him this happy.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Malfoy smirked with a raised voice making Ron turn round to face the scene he had just witnessed. "It seems like your little bookworm has found a new Weasel to play with!"

Ron felt his face reddening as he turned to face Malfoy. He wasn't sure what to make of Malfoy's statement, but for some reason it angered him anyway. His face was bright red by the time he had fully faced Malfoy, but he was still confused by the smirk of the blond boy's face. All too soon Ron's gaze rose over Malfoy's shoulder and his eyes widened at the sight in front of him. Hermione was kissing Fred – his brother Fred. Hermione turned his way just after he spotted her and her eyes reflected the horror he felt.

"What…?" Ron spluttered, unable to get a full sentence out, before turning to storm out of the shop with Malfoy hot on his heels and still making fun of him.

Tonks spotted Ron as he ran out of the shop; she'd been sitting outside Florean Fortescue's eating ice cream with Harry. She'd turned her mouth to that of a dog to see whether it was better like that – it wasn't. Leaving Harry where he was she took off after him as she saw who was following him and the rotten things he was saying.

She eventually caught up with Ron and lost Malfoy around Gringotts, his bodyguards had fallen back long before this though. Tonks tried to call after him but having a dogs mouth made it a little difficult. She had gotten so used to her ability to change she hardly noticed when she was no longer fully human, it was quite interesting to see reactions when she was in the muggle world. As much as she liked being part animal, she realised that for this problem she would have to be fully human again so changed her mouth back – her lips now matching the colour of her hair.

"Slow down kiddo! Why don't you relax?" She called after the still running Ron.

"You don't tell me to relax!" He shouted back at her. Although he did slow down to meet her. This made Tonks chuckle, he was trying his hardest to stay angry but he was unknowingly calming down. She could see why he hadn't been sorted into Slytherin – they held grudges and stayed angry like there was no tomorrow.

"Hatred knows no bounds, huh" Tonks replied, in a light tone to try and cheer him up. After she saw Malfoy chasing him she figured it was something to do with him.

"It's not that," he replied, visibly upset, "it's just… Hermione always tells us that it's our secrets that cause conflict, and I always agreed, but now… now she's been keeping secrets from us!"

"Wait, hold up. What's this about? I thought it was about Malfoy!"

"No, I mean, Malfoy is an idiot but I could deal with him. No it's…" Ron trailed off, he wasn't sure he was ready to put this into words just yet. Tonks kept silent, sensing this was something he needed for himself.

"I…" Ron gulped, "I just saw Hermione kissing Fred…"

Tonks had to listen really hard to be able to hear what he said, he was whispering by the end of his sentence. This news shocked Tonks, she knew that Fred and Hermione liked each other – she'd been able to tell after watching them together last summer – but she wasn't sure they knew themselves. Hermione was almost as oblivious as Ron when it came to her feelings.

"So they're dating then?" Tonks asked; she was genuinely interested and not just because of the bet she had with her husband after watching them during summer.

"I don't know; I didn't stop around to ask what they were doing, did I? I just saw them kissing and left."

Tonks could tell Ron was getting worked up again so she decided it was up to her to solve the situation.

"Okay, I'm sure we'll find out sometime anyway. They probably just weren't ready to tell us yet. You know Hermione wouldn't keep something this big from you for too long!" She said nonchalantly.

"Hmph, fine, I don't want to talk about it!" Ron replied, looking dejected.

"Come on, Ron, cheer up! There's no use in you getting jealous over Fred and Hermione. It's a lovely sunny day and I for one could do with some more ice cream!" With a smile she started heading back to the ice cream parlour.

"I… I'm not jealous!" Ron yelled at her, suddenly filled with rage again.

"Whatever you say, Ron!" Tonks replied, fed up of oblivious boys – she had enough to deal with living with Remus. With this she turned back around and went to get more ice cream. I think I'll try it as a cat this time, she thought to herself before changing her face once more.

AN: Words: 2,633

Also for;

-Disney Character Competition

Scar; Write about family jealousy

-The Animal Challenge

Crane: Write about Hermione.

-The Wand Wood Challenge

Willow:Write about Ron Weasley. Alt: write about an instance where a character is jealous or insecure.

-Divergent Competition

Erudite 5; "It is our secrets that cause conflict"

-War of the Elemental Song Quotes Challenge

FIRE: A fire in a flask to keep us warm. –Panic! at the Disco, "Hurricane"