I love reading Shakespeare and I decided to combine it with one of my stories and this is what I came up with.

Don't expect it to turn into one of Shakespeare's tragedies or so… it's still a normal Fred/Hermione interaction like in all my other stories.

Chapter 1: when to the sessions of sweet silent thought

THE SHAKESPEARE CODE

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight:
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restor'd and sorrows end.

(William Shakespeare, sonnet 30)

Hermione was sitting in the common room, comfortable installed in one of the many sofa's and holding a book on her lap. It wasn't a school book or even a book about a magical subject although it felt magical to her… she couldn't remember when she fell in love with Shakespeare's work.

It was her father who introduced her to his work… by reading it to her and explaining the more difficult pieces to her.

It weren't the themes or the stories that made her love it so much, it were the words… they just sounded so beautiful, so perfect.

Sometimes it felt as if they could be more powerful than any spell that she was thought here.

She turned the page and came across one of her favourite sonnets… sonnet 18.

She looked at the page, it was more damaged than the other ones and she practically knew the sonnet by heart but she still wasn't bored by it.

"Hah, you own me another five knuts!"

Hermione looked up from her book and saw Harry handing over a handful of knuts after losing another game of chess against Ron.

Hermione knew Harry didn't care about that; he just loved playing chess with a friend no matter how many times he lost.

The door opened and a red haired girl entered walking towards Harry whispering something to him so her brother wouldn't hear it and with that the chess-marathon came to an end as Harry stood up from his chair.

"Where are you going? Why are you two whispering?"

"I just asked him if he wanted to fly a few laps with me Ron, no big deal!"

Ginny hated it when Ron interfered with her and Harry and Hermione couldn't blame her.

"Then why were the two of you whispering?"

"Because you don't need to know everything about me Ron!"

Ron was about to reply but Hermione interfered him, while turning a page from her book, not even bothering to look up.

"Leave it Ron!"

Ron shut his mouth again and Harry and Ginny walked to the portrait hole, Harry turned around one last time to throw his friend an apologizing look.

Not that he thought playing chess was more interesting then 'flying a few laps'.

Ron stood alone, staring at the now closed portrait hole he then turned towards Hermione who could already feel she wouldn't be able to enjoy Shakespeare much longer unless…

"Hermione? Would you like to play a game of chess with me?"

She went to sit up and placed her book marker on the right page before closing her book.

"Sorry Ron, I just remembered that I still have things to do in the library. Why don't you ask Dean or Seamus? Maybe even Neville. I heard he must be pretty good at it as well."

And with that said she left the common room through the portrait hole.

In the library she noticed that there were still a few tables available near the fire place, she took her book and walked towards one of them when one particular disturbing sight caught her attention.

Fred or George Weasley sitting behind one of the tables, surrounded by books, deeply trying to focus on the one that was opened before him.

She couldn't resist to walk over to him and smiled down at him.

"Is the world coming to an end or are you doing research for one of your new inventions?"

Fred looked up and smiled at her.

"What a surprise… Hermione in a library."

Hermione pretended she didn't hear his response and looked at the title of one of the books.

Muggle literature, a history.

This definitely wouldn't help him with one of his products.

Fred looked up, annoyed with her presence.

"Look, I'm having an assignment for muggle studies, I need to talk about a muggle writer … Lee already took Oscar Wilde, Katie took Jane Austen, George took Charles Dickens and I really need to find one so I can start working on it but I don't know any and from what I read here there aren't many interesting writers out there."

"Fine, I'll leave you here, continue your reading."

She walked away from the table and was about to sit down when Fred called her back.

"You're muggle-born right?"

"Indeed I am, you're making progress, last week you couldn't even remember my name was Hermione, not bookworm."

"Very funny, don't you know any interesting writers?"

Hermione stared at Fred, was he being serious? Did he actually ask her for help?

"Look, I know I'm not the most kind person to you but I'm really stuck here and I really need help… please don't make me beg."

Hermione smiled and went to sit down before him.

"You're already begging but it's okay, I'll help you."

She placed the book containing Shakespeare's sonnets in front of him.

"William Shakespeare."

Fred took the book out of her hand and started to read it.

"He can't even speak proper English!"

Hermione took the book out of his hand again, insulted.

"That is written in the 16th century, people spoke like that back then. Shakespeare was an artist with words!"

"Sorry." Fred mumbled, barely controlling his laughter as he took the book back out of her hands and looking through it until he found the badly damaged page holding sonnet 18.

"You're quite found of this poem I see."

"It's a sonnet."

Hermione answered irritated, already regretting the fact that she was helping him.

"Whatever." Fred answered as he began to read it.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

"I like this one."

Fred spoke as soon as he had finished it.

"Are they all like this?"

Hermione became enthusiastic again.

"Well there are a lot of them, 154 to be exact so you might come across one that's a bit less but mostly they are. He also wrote poems and plays like Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet,…"

Fred looked up.

"Romeo and Juliet? I know that one. Isn't it about that girl and that bloke from two families who fight against each other and they fall in love?"

"Yes! That's the one!"

"Well then Miss. Granger, I think I found my writer. Would you mind helping me with the assignment because if he really wrote as much as you say…"

Hermione thought about it for a few seconds before she smiled again.

"I have time."

So this was the first chapter. A tad short but I hope you liked it.

So… tell me what you think about it.