Teach Me How To Smile – Hermione/Fred/George

A/N: This fanfiction is based on a fantastic video on YouTube. Please check it out (and no, I did not make it. It was made by somebody known as preciousxrayne, who I don't know in any way other than through the making of this video)

it's going to have a slightly different ending so watching the video isn't going to completely ruin the storyline of this fanfiction.

.com/watch?v=2rXyxwFSwBk

I picked up my bag, slung it over my shoulder and followed Harry and Ron out of the potions classroom. The list of homework was already building in my head and I knew I had to get it done as soon as possible. Harry and Ron pealed off towards the Great Hall, they hadn't noticed I had carried on walking until Harry turned in the doorway to spot Ginny approaching. Nevertheless he turned to me,

'are you not coming?' he asked, also attracting Ron's attention now. I shook my head

'I have too much work Harry, I'll catch up with you later. I'm going to-'

'The library...You work too much Hermione' Ron said, finishing my sentence, I ignored him of course

'see you later' I said bluntly, and turned off the corridor towards the library as he had predicted. As soon as I was around the corner of the corridor and was certain I was out of sight of the boys I sped up. I just had to get the work done. It took me barely any time to reach the library and I found a quiet table near the back of the room. I scanned the shelves and picked books that seemed useful out from the collections before sitting down to work, my piles of books surrounding the desk.

I worked into the later hours and the library slowly cleared, yet I stayed. Madam Pince had settled down to her own work at the desk because, as far as she was concerned I was the only person here and I was no threat to the library's calm. Yet I was even unsure if she was consciously aware that I was still here also as I was partially hidden behind the nearest set of book shelves. As I became buried in my charms extra-credit work I became aware of a smell coming from outside of the library, possibly in one of the nearby classrooms. This had aroused a certain amount of noise in the corridors as kids squealed and groaned at the putridity of the smell and ran up the staircases. This had also come to Madam Pince's attention and she left to calm down the masses outside, I stayed in my place, knowing only that the smell in here would only be half of what it was in the corridors, and I still had to work. Seconds after Madam Pince had left the room however there was another distraction in store for me, the doors slid open almost silently and two tall ginger boys darted inside. Ron's older twin brothers walked past me at their own usual leisurely pace. I looked up at them and Fred turned his head to look at me as he passed. They went directly to the place I had expected them to go – the restricted section. Not wasting any time I saw George cross the rope that distinguished the section from the rest of the library and make his way to the wooden doors that separated it further. Fred turned as George went inside, he was clearly look-out today.

'we were never here okay?' he said, I realised he must be talking to me, but I just stared blankly back to him 'that's my girl' he winked. I shook my head and carried on with my charms work, annoyed at the distraction. The next time I looked up the twins had both disappeared, Madam Pince was back at her desk and no questions had been asked. I packed up my things again and returned the books back to their place on the shelves. As I made my way back to the common room darkness tinted the walls around me and got stronger as it tried to swallow me into blackness. I thought about the twin's journey into the library, they were ordinary boys, nothing so special that would be appreciated so much by a girl like me but they were never seen to be working while they played their tricks and covered their tracks. I wondered how they did it so easily, and why I couldn't get the same level of ease in my own life to complete my school work.

As always from here my day resided in sitting by the fire while I listened to Harry and Ron talking, playing wizard chess and complaining about homework they had left until the last minute until finally we all decided it was a suitable time for bed. As I headed up to my dormitory, which I shared, I knocked on the door and as I entered saw the smiles of the other girls around me fade. I had that effect on people, my mother often said that my face could stop a clock, I was always so miserable. I however felt perfectly contented, trying to get through each day, however I could give them that I never felt that anything on a regular daily basis would make me unusually happy. Even if the boys often had a knack at getting us into trouble and dangerous situations this would often only cause the panicky effect that only a pile up of work would cause me.

The next thing I knew I was waking up the following morning, early as usual. I packed my bag while the others slept but left the room with only my wash things and school robes, I headed for the girl's bathroom and bathed as usual. Then I changed and headed into the corridors. Again I managed to run into the Weasley twins, this time lurking in the shadow caused by a one-eyed-witch statue which hid them from view of most passers-by, their smiles too faded as they spotted me.

'what are you doing?' I asked them, worried about what may have been ahead of me if I continued through the corridor. Fred shrugged

'hey it's Hermione!' he said overly jovial 'look George, Hermy's here'

'what?' I asked entirely unamused.

'Hermione' George said 'you need to loosen up a bit.' I said nothing and just stared at them blankly again.

'Take my hand and close your eyes' Fred suggested, offering his hand to me, I paused 'live while you still can' he suggested. I took his hand and closed my eyes nervously. Seconds later they asked me to follow them. As I opened my eyes I noticed that the one-eyed witch statue's hump had opened, and George was in a tunnel below us. Still holding onto my hand, urging me on, Fred climbed down the ladder that was immediately inside the statue and for the fear of falling down instead as he pulled me I followed unwillingly.

'wait!' I said 'where are we going? I need to take my things back to my room. Lessons start in less than two hours!' Fred let go of my hand, took the things out of my other, then threw them to the floor behind us.

'hey! They were clean clothes!' I told him indignantly. After this he practically dragged me down the tunnel by the hand again. He refused to have a word said about whether I wanted to be there or not as apparently "the weasley twins always get what they're looking for"

'what are you looking for?' I asked, with no reply.

As we reached the end of the tunnel George told me to keep watch, and keep quiet unless they were being followed, then I could scream the place down to let them know. They climbed up a ladder identical to the one at the beginning of the tunnel and lifted a trapdoor above our heads, I looked up into the light, I thought I recognised the place we were, but we couldn't be in Hogsmeade, could we? I contemplated sitting on the ground while I waited for the twins to return before noticing how dirty it was in here. I hovered looking down into the darkness of the tunnel, I wondered if I could go back, but if anything I found myself wanting to go on, to follow the twins. I had never thought of breaking rules and disagreed with what they had got me involved with, but that was it, I was involved now. I climbed the ladder that the twins had just left and opened the trapdoor myself. I was certain I knew where I was now. I climbed out of the tunnel into the basement of honeydukes sweet shop. There were sweets of all kind around me, but no twins. I found the staircase and climbed up a few steps, nobody seemed to be around and as long as I stayed close, there wouldn't be any need to stand in the tunnel to keep watch, I could see if anybody followed us out from here. I went into the main shop and looked around the sweets. Usually when I was here the shelves were surrounded by other students, visiting from Hogwarts, Ron would be ogling some blue-burst-gumdrops or bubblegum candyfloss and the crowds would deter me from all perimeters of the shop completely. I noticed some of the common toffees and biscuits the twins would often supply at post-quidditch match parties in the common room. The smells of them all made my lips twitch at the corners, the smell would remind anyone of the fun of the parties. I went to the window and peered out at the empty streets, Fred and George were darting around inside the zonko's joke shop window dead opposite.

'Hey you!' said a voice behind me, I span on my heel to see the shop keeper 'what are you doing in Hogsmeade? School visits aren't for another fortnight! I should contact Dumbledore.'

'please don't' I begged, 'my friends forced me to come with them, I didn't mean to be here, I had no idea where I was going. I'll be back in school before lessons start.'

'friends?' he questioned. I stopped in my tracks, should I mention the twins, or point them out, or leave them? I couldn't get back to the tunnel if the shop keeper was watching me, he'd think I was trying to steal things. Suddenly the shop door opened, the twins came inside, a box under one arm each.

'got our usual order Bert?' George asked, Fred turned to look where he had been looking and spotted me, his expression changed to a huge grin.

'yeah... is she with you two?'

'Afraid so,' Fred said, still grinning and laughed slightly as he continued 'we needed an extra pair of hands and you just can't get the help nowadays. She'll have to do.'

'hmm.' the shopkeeper said. 'your order is downstairs, I'll go get it'

'No need, we'll go. Fred, pay the man!' George joked, bounding off towards the door down the stairs to the basement, I followed him, we found our way back down the stairs and George passed me the box he had been holding, it was surprisingly light, and he picked up another off of the floor.

'put that box in the tunnel, and wait down there' he told me, I didn't feel like disobeying this time as I had no idea how I'd get back to school otherwise. I climbed into the tunnel and before closing the trapdoor George passed me the other box to put in the tunnel too. He kicked the trapdoor closed as the door on top of the stairs opened again. I could only hear the muffled voices continuing above me.

'and twenty, twenty-five, thirty knuts. That's the lot. Thanks boys. How are you doing finding that box down here?' The shopkeeper said

'oh I can't seem to find it again Bert' George's voice echoed, as he was obviously closest, 'I was never very good at finding these things. Give me a hand? I'm thinking it could be one of the ones in the pile in the corner?' There was a lot of shuffling but otherwise silence above me, the trapdoor opened again and the twins jumped down beside me. I noticed that the shop keeper had his back to us quickly before George pulled the door closed again.

'now where did they go?' I heard the voice coming from above us within seconds of it closing. We heard the shop keeper go back up the stairs before Fred turned to me,

'knew you wouldn't be able to resist a good look around.' he laughed 'here take a box and lets get back to school before we're missed, Snape will be on his morning prowl soon.' I took a box as instructed and followed the twins back.

As we reached the end of the tunnel I found my things again, untouched and unharmed, but slightly dusty now. George climbed out of the tunnel first, having Fred to pass up the boxes one by one. I used the time to pick up my things before being helped out of the awkward exit of the tunnel by the twins. As soon as I was out I took the opportunity to express myself.

'how could you take me there?' I whispered angrily, hitting Fred's upper arm 'he was about to call Dumbledore! You could have ruined my perfect record! And you didn't even tell me where we were going, where we were! And you made my robes dirty!'

'why don't you join us again at lunch Hermy?' George asked, ignoring my rant as I dusted off my robes. 'we'll meet you outside the library once we've returned the books to the restricted section that we borrowed yesterday.'

'I don't know, I've got loads of work to do' I told them 'and don't call me Hermy'