A/N: Hey. I'm trying to write a story that's been stuck in my head since I read DH. I know, I haven't written in forever, but I'm gonna try it. It does take place in scenes from Goblet of Fire on to Deadly Hallows. It will contain spoilers, so don't read this if you haven't finished the series. Obviously. Should be good though. Let me know what you think. Let me know if it's confusing and I can edit it. Thanks!

A/N 2: I'm doing a little bit of editing right now. Just taking out some typos and making it better. Just in case anyone was curious.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the other characters, settings, or spells in this story.

Ask Me Before Someone Else Does

Chapter 1

"Why would I care about you enjoying time without homework when house-elves are slaving away in the kitchens right now?" Hermione yelled at Seamus. After ten minutes of him avoiding the subject of house-elves and being an ungrateful, selfish jerk, Hermione was furious. This was getting to be incredibly frustrating. S.P.E.W had only four members at the moment, and nothing could be done for house-elf rights without more members.

Seamus, at her explosion, turned back to his game of exploding snap, seeming set on ignoring her until she went away.

"Fine," Hermione muttered, turning away from him. She decided to just ask him later. He'd understand eventually. She'd learn how to explain it to him just right. And then he'd understand.

Hermione scanned the room for more potential members. It was about eleven o'clock at night and the common room was full of people studying and talking. There had to be someone in here who would want to help the helpless. Someone had to care.

She suddenly realized she hadn't asked the Weasley twins yet. Even though Hermione knew they would be a long shot, she decided to try. Fred and George, shockingly, were not being the nosiest people in the room. They were sitting with each other, talking quietly to each other. She decided to take advantage of their solitude by approaching them about S.P.E.W.

"Did you know that your food is cooked by creatures that are unpaid for their labor?" Though, this was not her best line for attracting new members of S.P.E.W., Hermione thought starting simply with the twins would be the best way to spark their interest. They aren't known for their attention span, after all.

"Yes," Fred responded, with an air of finality.

"We heard you say that to Seamus about ten seconds ago," George added. "And Alicia before him. And then that first year over there before her."

"Well, it's time to put a stop to this horrible treatment of elves. It's slave labor and it's not fair to the house-elves," she argued. Hermione had suspected that these two would be particularly hard to attract to her cause, but she knew she had to try. Honestly, the conditions of the elves at Hogwarts were despicable. Something had to be done. Even though it seemed that she was the only person interested in the idea.

"Hermione," George started again, with a deep breath. "While you are a fascinating woman with a fascinating topic, I have to mail a letter. So, if you would excuse me, I would find it... fascinating." Practically nice for a Weasley twin.

"Weak finish," Fred commented, as George smirked and left the common room. There was no point in telling him that it was after hours. Weasley twins rarely cared about hours. They found it more enjoyable to stroll through the halls whenever they felt like it, as opposed to when it was allowed. Not that Hermione could talk, she supposed, with all the wandering she did with Ron and Harry after hours.

George seemed so disinterested. Hermione was not to give up hope, however. As much as they dispute the fact, the twins were not one person. She turned her attention to Fred, hoping that he may have a different opinion than his brother. "Isn't the well-being of an intelligent creature worth a sickle to you?" Hermione asked, putting her collections jar on top of the table.

"I don't have a sickle, Hermione," Fred signed, looking very tired. "The house-elves are as happy as students in Honeydukes. They like what they do."

"Just because they've been brainwashed doesn't mean we should take away their rights. Besides, you won all that money from Bagman at the World Cup. I'm sure you have a sickle."

He looked up surprised. And, Hermione was shocked to see, angry. "Well, we don't have a sickle to spare on this rubbish. Next you'll be campaigning for the cockroaches to eat in the Great Room with us. Merlin, Hermione, can't you just leave it alone?" He was nearly shouting.

"Well, you don't have to bite my head off," she replied, still surprised that he was so upset.

"Apparently, I do," he muttered, before getting up from his chair. "It's the only way you ever listen to anyone."

With that, Fred quickly turned and walked up the stairs to the dormitories. It took her a few moments to stop gaping up the stairs after him. Hermione had never seen either of the twins that angry before. He had been so rude. What did he mean "only way I listen to anyone?" She listened to people all the time who aren't rude. In fact, she decided she wouldn't listen to him from then on, precisely because he was rude. How inappropriate could you be?

Though they were different in personality, Hermione had always gotten along with the twins, for the most part. However, that was just an uncalled for attack on her cause. How dare he belittle what she was trying to do for these poor creatures?

A few deep breaths and Hermione decided that Weasley twins would definitely not be in S.P.E.W. She decided to work on her homework for a while. While house-elf rights needed immediate attention, but so did her Arithmancy homework.

......

Fred stormed up to his room, furiously. George was being an idiot. He didn't seem to realize that Ludo Bagman did not accidentally give them Leprechaun Gold. He did it on purpose. They had just gambled all their savings on a man who was a complete scum bag. A scum Bagman, in fact.

Fuming, he collapsed onto his bed. It was too early to go to sleep, but Fred couldn't be down in the common room anymore. After all, he had just seriously overreacted at Hermione Granger.

Granted, she was being pretty irritating. More irritating than usual, in fact. Why couldn't she just be quiet for one minute? Couldn't she see Fred was talking to his brother? And then asking for money. Didn't she know better than to do that? She's been to their house for Merlin's sake. She should know they don't have money to waste on nothing.

Fred took a deep breath. Hermione, after all, didn't know that Bagman was being a prick. She didn't know that they had gambled everything they had. She thought they had all their winnings from the Quidditch World Cup. It wasn't her fault she wasn't a mind reader.

So, why couldn't he calm down?

George came bursting through the door, looking at Fred curiously. "You're so mad at me that you felt the need to take a nap?" he asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"You are being pretty daft," he muttered. "Being unconscious may be the best way to deal with you."

"You could knock me unconscious," George suggested. "That might help too."

Fred sat up, feeling less upset than he had been a moment ago. It was hard to stay mad at George for too long. Something about sharing the same genes. "Well, it would be useless now. Letter's already been sent. We'll find out soon enough how much of an arse Bagman really is."

"Let's hope it was just an honest mistake, eh?" George suggested. "We'll get our money back on way or another. It's not the end of the world."

Fred snorted. "I know. I'm about to sound like Mum, but our futures rest on this."

George laughed. "You're right, you do sound like Mum." He took a seat at the foot of his bed, and opened his charms book. He scowled at t he text, rolling his eyes as he contemplated reading it.

Fred watched him for a moment, feeling his anger dissipate. Now, he just mostly felt guilty. "I just yelled at Hermione Granger," Fred confessed.

"D'you mean full on screaming, or just getting a little cross? Did you call her a bossy know-it-all? She is, but you know that our dearest little brother will have to defend his loved one if you hurt her feelings."

Smirking, Fred remembered how Ron had been so excited for Hermione to arrive this summer. It was almost cute. Everyone but him knew that he was desperately fancying Hermione. Well, Hermione didn't know yet either. But, she was a know it all. She'd figure it out. "It wasn't that bad," Fred replied. "Just harsher than I needed to be about this house-elf stuff. I mean honestly, who cares?"

"Well, I really wouldn't worry about it. If it's really bothering you, you could apologize. But how often do we do that, mate? You want to play exploding snap? I'd rather not work on my Charms right now."

.....

Two days later, Hermione and Ron were sitting in the common room, anxiously waiting for Harry to come back from talking with Dumbledore and the other Judges. His name had just been pulled out of the Goblet of Fire. Though everyone else in the common room seemed to think this was cause for celebration, Hermione was incredibly worried. After all, why would his name be in there? And how much trouble would he be in. Would he be expelled? Surely not. Ron looked just as upset. He was probably thinking the same things that she was.

While she was worrying about Harry's expulsion, Fred and George came over to them and collapsed into a nearby sofa. "Pretty exciting, isn't it?" Fred said. "Little Harry being the Hogwarts Champion."

"Well, they can't let him compete anyway," Ron grumbled.

Hermione felt bad for adding to his worry, but felt compelled to say anyway. "Actually, Ron, he'll have to. It's a legal contract. He has to compete. I'm worried about whether or not they'll let him stay in school after this. After all, they must think he put his own name in-"

"What do you mean, think?" Ron interrupted. "Of course he put his own name in there. How bloody else would he get chosen?" Ron was clearly not as astute as Hermione was, or else he would have noticed how shocked Harry looked when he was called. Or how even Harry was not that stupid.

She shook her head, incredulously. "Well, either way, this can't be good for Harry. The tournament is dangerous. Besides, it's not like Harry needs any more recognition."

Ron stood up, abruptly, and turned bright red. "I'm going to bed." He stormed upstairs.

Hermione was worried. It wasn't really like Ron to throw hissy fits like that. She couldn't imagine what was wrong.

"Could you have been any less tactful, Hermione?" Fred commented, sounding rather bitter.

"I don't know what you mean," Hermione sniffed. She had not forgotten about Fred's abrasive comments earlier that week and was not in the mood to forgive him, nor to forget about it. "I merely said a fact."

"But can't you tell that he's upset?" Fred shouted back. He paused for a moment, as if trying to control himself. "He's doesn't like being constantly shunted to the side whenever Harry is about," he continued, gritting his teeth. "Harry Potter is just so damn famous.

"Personally, I think we should turn him into a canary," George interrupted. "If Ron's a canary, he'd be the center of attention."

Hermione had no idea what George was talking about, but it seemed to be an ill-attempt to bring Fred back to Earth. However, she had had enough of it. "Well, since you know Ron so well-"

"If you weren't so bloody blind, you'd know all this. For such a know-it-all, you really are rather useless," Fred interrupted. There was a moment of awkward silence, where even George didn't know what to say.

"Fine," Hermione said after a minute. "Fine. If you really want to sit there and judge me on how useless I am, then fine. Like you too really help the situation. Why don't you make another toffee that will make my ears explode? Or make a stupid joke? Or, better yet, why don't you shut the hell up?" She angrily stormed out of the room, much in the same way that Ron had just done.

Just as she was reaching the stairs to the girl dormitories, she vaguely heard George's voice behind her say, "That is not what apologizing looks like."

...

Fred was wandering down the dark, deserted corridors of Hogwarts, waving his arms in front of him like an idiot. And it was all Hermione Granger's fault.

Fred was not used to feeling guilty. That was his only excuse. If he said something offensive one day, he'd forget about it and usually the other person would by the next day too. However, he felt, well, bad about what he had said to Hermione. So bad he hadn't found the nerve to apologize. He knew it wasn't like he called her a dirty slag or anything, but he knew he had insulted her.

When Hermione had asked about the kitchens at the party, Fred had answered without thinking why she was asking. Then he realized she was planning on visiting the house-elves, he hatched a plan. Tonight he was actually going to make it up to her. Since Fred figured that Hermione was going to sneak into the kitchens, Fred decided to try to get her to not be caught by Filch in the process. He saw her leaving the common room with the silvery thing that he could only guess was the Invisibility Cloak that Ron and Harry talked about sometimes. And he decided to follow her.

However, if he had been thinking more clearly, he would have realized that this would be difficult because she was invisible.

Fred was sneaking down the corridor to the kitchen, trying hard to listen for Filch and for Hermione, but feeling the air in front of him, in case Hermione was right there. So far, no luck with that.

Just then, he heard a soft gasp from around the corner. He slowly peeked around the corner to see Mrs. Norris staring intently at a spot on the wall. Luckily, the cat did not see him. Quick as a flash, she turned around, presumably to report back to Filch.

Fred had to act quickly. He did not have an invisibility cloak, and it seemed that Hermione may not be too safe even with it. After all, that cat had been staring at something. He spotted a closet in the same hallway, and wondered if Hermione would figure out to hide in it. But he didn't have time to see if she would.

He reached out to where the cat had been staring. Unsurprisingly, he touched something warm and soft. Grabbing the material of the cloak, he pulled Hermione into a broom closet.

"Oh!" he heard her gasp in surprise.

He put his hand over her mouth, but it probably didn't do much good, seeing as she was still wearing the cloak. "Shh..." he whispered. "It's me, Hermione." He removed the hand after he put an imperturbable charm on the door.

"George? Fred?" she asked, clearly not sure which twin had pulled her into a closet.

"It's Fred," he replied. "Sorry about that. Filch was coming."

"I'm invisible. I don't think he would have been able to find me," she sniffed. "This is probably just you planning on screaming at me for no reason again."

"Yeah, I really sit around and plot reasons to scream at you. Like I have nothing better to do." He was starting to lose his temper again. This was getting ridiculous.

"Right. Why would you waste your time with someone so useless?" she replied, hissing the last word.

Deep breath, Fred, he told himself. Changing the subject. "Even if Filch didn't see you coming in, he could probably hear you once you were in the kitchen starting a house-elf revolution. Those aren't exactly quiet."

"I wasn't going to start a revolution. I was just going to explain to them-"

"They don't want to be explained to, Hermione. They just want to do their jobs."

"They don't have jobs! They're slaves!"

Fred was very glad he put an imperturbable charm on the door, because Hermione was definitely shouting at him now. This was not going according to his plan. Fred shook his head. "I really didn't come in here for this. I just wanted to – OW!" Fred screamed. A loud clatter followed. "Something just fell on my head."

"Are you hurt?" Hermione asked, sounding genuinely worried.

"Lumos," Fred murmured, lighting his wand. At the same moment, Hermione pulled off the invisibility cloak. With the light from his wand, Fred could clearly see her in the small closet. The static from the cloak made her already bushy hair stand on end and fluff out around her face. He caught a glimpse of an inch of creamy white skin between her pants and her shirt when she lifted her arms to remove the cloak. Her eyes glimmered with slight worry, but mostly agitation as she looked to see if he was bleeding from his head.

And then Fred realized why he had been acting so funny in front of Hermione. She was beautiful. Her eyes made Fred wonder how anyone can be so irritated, but still worry about him at the same time. One strand of hair fell across her cheek. She was, in fact, nothing short of drop-dead gorgeous. How had he never noticed before?

Without thinking, he slowly reached out to brush the hair away. When he touched her, he felt a spark between them.

"Ow," Hermione murmured. "Watch out for the static in here."

Fred, stunned for a moment, finally recovered enough to mumble, "Sorry. I just wanted to say I was sorry."

Hermione seemed a little taken aback. "Oh. Well, okay."

"And that Filch is never anywhere near here during the day if you really want to see the house-elves. I'd come back tomorrow afternoon or something," he muttered.

Hermione furrowed her brow. "Are you alright, Fred? You sure you don't have a concussion or something?"

"Why, because I'm not acting like a lunatic," Fred said quickly, grinning to break the tension. "No, I'm fine. Why don't you get out of here? Try to be quiet though. And I'd avoid the cat, if I were you."

"Alright," she said, pulling the cloak back on. Fred got another quick glance of the skin of her midsection and felt a funny feeling come over him. "You'll be alright though?" she asked once properly invisible again.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I sneak around all the time."

"Goodnight then," Hermione said, and left the broom closet.

Fred slammed the back of his head against the wall. What was he thinking? He couldn't fancy Hermione? She was young, and bossy, and motherly! How could he fancy someone who held so many of the same opinions as his mother?

He tried comparing Hermione to his mum for a bit, but to no avail. He couldn't help but imagine how her skin and felt under his hand for that split second. He thought of her lips for a moment, and then about kissing her, before he slammed his head against the wall again.

She was, perhaps the worst girl in Hogwarts to fancy. Sensible Hermione Granger and Fred Weasley? Ridiculous. And the worst part was that Ron would most definitely kill him.