Transfiguration Assignment 1: WC: 2,736
Task: you must write about a character jumping to the wrong conclusion or being deceived by something or someone's appearance
Prompts used: ALL OF THEM! :D (Animagus, Laughter, Twins, Fireplace, "I know what I did... it doesn't mean I wanted to.", Naive, Horcrux, "I never loved you!", "You cannot be serious.", Revenge, Prank, Sharp, Metamorphagus, Speechless, "Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden." - Phaedrus) Yea, I know I didn't have to, but... I really liked them all and I wanted to.
OTHER PROMPTS: SO... Being a Gryffindor, I kinda have to break the rules. So I broke Gryffindor Rule #9: Hogwarts does not have a Student Council. (NOW WE DO! Or at least Hermione seems to think so!)
"Forge, I've a predicament."
"Oh, really, Gred? Care to let me guess what this 'predicament' is?"
"Sure, Forge, go ahead."
"Hmmm... let's see. Does it have something to do with the increase of boredom in Hogwarts?"
"Why, yes, Forge, it does!"
"I know what you need, Gred!"
"And what is that, Forge?"
"A girl!"
"A girl? What's that, Forge? I've never heard of a 'girl' before!"
"Well, this girl is in love with you, Gred! In fact, she's a Gryffindor, and she's in this room. Would you like to go talk to her?"
"Why, Forge, I-"
"Would both of you just shut the bloody hell up?!" Hermione hissed from her armchair. Her face was beet red as Harry and Ron shook with laughter beside her.
"Shhh... Forge... the girl might be feeling a bit jealous of me at the moment. You know how females are whenever they can't be with the loves of their lives!"
Fred turned to Hermione with a wink, grinning at her shocked face. "Ah, Hermione, darling, why'd you have to fall in love with me? You know we could never be," he moaned, clasping his hands over his heart and falling on his knees.
"I-I-I never loved you!" she half-shrieked, slamming her book shut and bolting from her armchair. She ran towards the dormitory steps, almost in tears.
"I know what I did, Fred... it doesn't mean I wanted to," she said angrily, and with that, she turned and bolted up the steps towards the girl's fifth year dormitories.
Harry and Ron were speechless. Even Fred and George looked shocked.
"Uh... would someone like to expand on that outburst?" Harry finally asked the group at large.
Fred cleared his throat. "Well, it all started with a prank..."
"Oi! George! Look what McGonagall's put on the Announcement board today!" Fred hollered at his twin brother, causing everyone in the common room, including Hermione Granger, to look up. "She's put an application up for a Student Council! A Student Council!" He began to laugh uproariously, and was soon joined by George.
"Well, what's wrong with a Student Council, Fred? I think it's a wonderful idea." The boys stared incredulously at Hermione, who had thoughtfully put down her book and ambled over to the board.
"Are you that naive, Granger? A Student Council would tear this castle to pieces," Fred said, raising an eyebrow. "Imagine. It'd have to have members from all four Houses on it, and no one would be able to agree on anything."
"Yea, the President would have to be really, really strong in order to keep the council in line," George reasoned, looking at her skeptically. "I don't think anyone could handle a student council."
"I could!" she argued, placing her hands on her hips. "What are the requirements for the application?"
"Five feet of parchment on the differences between Animagus and Metamorphmagi," Fred popped out promptly, barely glancing at the scroll. But Hermione was too intrigued with her dreams of being the President of the Student Council to be suspicious.
"Alright, so you made Hermione write five lengths of parchment about some stupid topic for a fake Student Council. If it were anyone else, I would say it was a cruel and unusual punishment, but it was Hermione. She likes doing those things!" Ron interrupted, and Fred and George glared.
"If our beautiful-"
"-Wonderful-"
"-Darling-"
"-Pompous-"
"-Prat of a brother would stop interrupting..."
"...we would be able to finish." Ron had the decency to blush slightly at their sharp words.
"Wait. You mean to say that wasn't all? What else did you do?" Harry asked, his eyes widening. Knowing the Weasley boys, it was going to be horrendous.
"Well. We planned to just let her write the essay and turn it in to Professor McGonagall and find out that way, but then she left it on the table in the Common Room the next night, and, well..."
"We couldn't exactly help ourselves."
"George, look what I found!" Fred whispered excitedly as he tiptoed through the empty common room.
His twin brother stuffed a donut in his mouth. "Wha' 'i 'oo' i'd?"
Fred picked up Hermione's Student Council essay. "It's her essay. She finished it. And it's ten feet long."
George swallowed, then snorted. "What an overachiever. She should've been a Claw."
Fred nodded his agreement, scanning over the essay. "You know what? I don't think she did a good job. I think it needs some improvement."
"Yea? Should we replace a few words?"
Fred grinned. "Aye. We could do something with the word 'Animagus'. Maybe replace it with 'Sirius Black'?"
George laughed, then brightened as an idea popped into his head. "No no no... We should do 'Death Eater'. Because everyone thinks Sirius is one!"
Fred thought it was hilarious, but soon he had another idea. "Hey! Why don't we do the worst of all? I mean, this essay isn't for an actual class, so Hermione can't take points away if we mess with her work. What say ye, Forge?"
George whipped out his wand as Fred pulled out his own. "I love the idea, Gred. Horcrux it is."
They grinned evilly as they changed each 'Animagus' into 'Horcrux'.
"Wait, hold on, guys. What's a Horcrux?"
"Harry, you don't know what a Horcrux is?"
"Hello, raised by Muggles."
Fred frowned. "Well, we're not actually sure what it is. No one is. But it's extremely Dark Magic. All the books that have mention of it just refer to it as a 'dark and terrible evil that is not to be spoken of'. We think someone had the rest of them removed. I mean, they must exist, and they must have books about how to make them, but there aren't any in Hogwarts. But anyways, Harry, that's not the end of the story."
"Alright, sorry. Go on."
"So she turned the essay into McGonagall..."
"Professor McGonagall!" Hermione hurried down the steps towards the Professor, and Fred and George followed behind, pulling out a set of Extendable Ears as they went.
"Professor, I have the Student Council Essay all ready for you!"
McGonagall turned. "Student Council Essay?" She asked bemusedly as the stack of parchment was thrust into her hands. Then she gasped. "Hermione! You wrote a ten foot essay on Horcruxes?!"
Hermione looked appalled. "I-what? No, I wrote my essay about the comparison of Animagi and Metamorphmagi; just like you said. I followed the prompt. I even wrote a little bit extra!"
McGonagall sighed. "Hermione, I believe you, I do, but look. This is an essay comparing Horcruxes and Metamorphmagi. Even if I had assigned an essay for the Student Council, I wouldn't accept this one. As it is, the Student Council doesn't exist. It never has. Do you know how difficult it would be to make members of all four Houses cooperate?"
"But-I thought... There was a notice on the Announcements board," she finally whispered faintly. McGonagall looked upon her with sympathy.
"I'm afraid, my dear, that you have been duped. Tell me, who told you of this Student Council?"
"Well, no one told me directly, but Fr-" she stopped, her eyes filling with anger. "Those damn Weasleys!" she shouted, and then she turned and ran the way she came.
"I am going to get revenge..." she muttered, stalking down corridors. The Weasley twins looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"So... Did Hermione actually get her revenge?" Harry asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose wearily. As hysterical as Fred and George's pranks were, he was desperately worried about his best friend. She had enough going on at the moment to have to deal with this, too.
"Oh, well, um, she tried. But it sort of backfired."
Ron perked up. "Sounds interesting! Go on."
"Hey, Fred!" Hermione called brightly across the corridor. She smiled and waved at him, beckoning him over. Bemusedly, he followed, curious to see what she was up to.
"Hey, Granger, what's up?" She leaned against the wall, next to some sort of tapestry.
"I needed your help on something. But you have to promise me to keep it a secret, all right? And don't tell Ron or Harry."
"Well, what sort of something is it?"
She sighed, reluctant to tell him. "Well... Harry's been moody recently, and Ron's been a bit of a prat, so I was hoping you could help me figure out a way to cheer Harry up and get back at Ron at the same time? You and George are just so amazing at pranks and all... But I had an idea, and I wanted to ask you if it would work." She beckoned for him to lean down so she could whisper it in his ear.
As soon as he did, however, she shoved him roughly, causing him to stumble into the tapestry. He grabbed her wrist to try and steady himself, but both of them ended up crashing...
Right through it.
"Dammit, Granger, did you have to do that right next to the annoying broom cupboard? I'm assuming we're in the one that likes to disguise itself and trap people inside it?"
"Of course I did! I was trying to trap you in it, but you just had to grab my wrist and drag me in, too!" she wailed.
He paused. "Wait... were you trying to prank me?"
"Ummm... sort of? I was trying to get revenge for the Student Council thing," she muttered sheepishly.
Fred burst out laughing at that. "This is what you came up with? Locking me in a broom closet? You had to know I would automatically grab onto the closest thing to me when I started to fall!"
"Of course I did! I just didn't think that closest thing would be me! I thought you'd grab the tapestry or something!" He could practically hear her blush in her defensive tones.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry, Granger. Even though your prank was a miserable failure, I'm surprised you tried. I actually... That's pretty hot, too be honest," he joked, and even though he couldn't see it, he knew she was blushing deeper. It gave him an odd satisfaction that he could make Hermione blush so easily.
"I...thanks? And I'm sorry for trying to lock you in a broom cupboard," she added. The two of them sat in silence for a moment, eyes adjusting to the dim light inside the cupboard.
"Hermione, how did you manage to fall for the Student Council thing? I mean, honestly, I thought you might fall for it for a little while, but I didn't think you would actually write the essay."
"I guess I just got really excited about the idea of a Student Council. It sounded like I would finally have an activity where I would really be accepted, you know?"
He remained silent. "But... it was me and George. How do you still trust anything we say?"
She smiled. "Hope, I guess. Even though I know you prank everyone all the time, I always hope the two of you will find something to be serious about."
"You usually see through our pranks, though."
"I guess even intelligence can fail to perceive every once and a while," she mused, and Fred grinned as he recognized her allusion.
"Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden? I like that Phaedrus quote."
She inhaled sharply. "You know Phaedrus? By Plato? You're full of surprises, aren't you, Fred Weasley?"
He shrugged. "Every man has to have something he's serious about. Mine just happens to be old philosophers."
They sat in silence a moment longer.
"Um, Hermione, you do know how to get out of this broom cupboard, don't you?" Fred finally mustered up the courage to ask.
"Well, I think so...Don't you have to solve your differences?"
He chuckled weakly. "Uh, no. You've got to solve your differences and seal it with a kiss."
She bolted upright. Now that his eyes had adjusted, he could see the shock in her eyes. "What?!"
"Yep. You've gotta kiss me, Hermione Granger." He thought she would freak out, but she took it surprisingly well.
"Al-alright. If it gets us out of here." She scooted closer to him, trying not to meet his eyes.
They both leaned in a bit, and then Fred stopped. "Hermione, have you ever been kissed before?"
"Not exactly..."
"Not exactly?"
"No. I mean, I almost was... Viktor Krum almost did at the Yule Ball, but I got scared and sent him off for drinks. And then Ron ruined the evening and I left after that... We didn't really talk much after that disaster."
Fred surprised himself by standing and pulling her to her feet. "Hermione Granger, you deserve a better first kiss than me. I'm sorry. But since it has to be me, I promise to make it good."
She smiled. "Thanks, Fred. You know, you're really sweet when you wipe the evil grin off your face. Cute, too. Maybe even handsome." She smirked at him.
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, shut up, Hermione, and let me kiss you." He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and stroked a cheek. "Did you know you have pretty eyes?"
"Now who's stalling?"
"I'm just trying to make it romantic, you know!"
She laughed, and he automatically drew her closer. He could get drunk on that laugh. He bent his head lower, his lips almost brushing hers, and then-
"You called me Hermione," she whispered, her eyes opening to meet his.
"So I did. Do you mind?"
"No. I like the way you say it."
"Good. Hermione," he whispered, and she closed her eyes and smiled as he kissed her sweetly.
The door behind them opened, but neither of them noticed as the kiss deepened and-
"You cannot be serious!"
"What?"
"I can't believe that you kissed Hermione. You! Fred! My brother Fred! Kissed- kissed Hermione!" Ron was flabbergasted. Harry just looked confused.
"Well, it's the only way out of that cupboard! I sort of had to! It was her own fault!" Fred cut in sharply. His voice rose defensively.
"You know, Ickle Ronnikins, you may find that broom cupboard useful one day. Pass by a hot girl, accidentally trip, fall into the broom cupboard... Whoops! Looks like you need a snog session before you can get out!" George grinned as his brother turned beet red.
"Ew! I'm not listening to this anymore. I'm going off to bed. Coming Harry?" Harry nodded, and the two of them left the room, leaving behind only the twins.
They collapsed by the fireplace.
"Now, Fred, why'd you really kiss her? You and I both know there are other ways out of that closet besides a kiss. A good joke will do."
His brother blushed. "I-"
"You didn't have to kiss me to get out of that cupboard?" The two boys glanced up to see a very angry Hermione Granger standing at the bottom of the steps.
"Uh... I'll be upstairs if you need me, Fred!" George bolted, casting a nervous look at his brother.
"Hey, Hermione."
She narrowed her eyes. "So, was that some other prank? To humiliate me or something? Did it give you pleasure to be able to say you kissed Hermione Granger in a broom closet?"
"Yes! But not in the way you think," he stated, and grinned when she was taken aback. "Hermione, come sit down. I promise I'll tell you everything, alright?"
She sat down, scowling. "You have two minutes."
"I... I knew there were other ways out of that broom cupboard. But it was the first chance I'd gotten to speak to you alone, and have an honest conversation with you, and when it ended I realized that it was more than me thinking you were pretty and I wanted to kiss you," he rushed out, blushing. He couldn't meet her eyes.
"Fred... you weren't pranking me?"
"No, Hermione. I like you too much to prank you. You're... well... A guy's got to be serious about something, right?"
She grinned, and scooted closer. "You called me Hermione again."
"So I did. You know what I've got to do now, right?"
"And what's that?"
"Kiss you."