Disclaimer: I do not, of course, own any of the characters. They belong to the maginificent JK Rowling. I only own the plot. Enjoy(:
"Is it rude for me to refuse?"
Hermione Granger sat, perplexed and cross-legged, in one of the large, red chairs that donned the Gryffindor Common Room. Her lower lip was tucked beneath her top row of teeth; her confused eyes were set on Ginny Weasley, who sat across from her, fiddling with her thumbs. Quietly, but impatiently, Hermione awaited Ginny's answer. When many moments passed and there was still no response from the little red-headed girl, Hermione sprang up in an attempt to keep from snapping at her.
"Calm down, Hermione," Ginny demanded, knowing all too well that the girl was agitated. "I'm trying to think of the right answer."
"There's a right answer?" Hermione cried, incredulous. "There shouldn't be a right answer; and if there is, it shouldn't take this long to figure out! It's yes... or it's no."
Ginny scowled. "If it's so simple, why don't you figure it out for yourself?"
"For myself?" Hermione repeated. She groaned, stalking over to Ginny's high-armed chair. Plunking down on her knees, lacing her fingers together, she pleaded, "Ginny, I may be top of our class, but that hardly means I've got any experience in the... well, in the men department."
"And I suppose you think I do?"
"You've been going around snogging Dean for quite some time now... haven't you?" Hermione questioned. "Aren't you two some sort of... item?"
"Snogging Dean has nothing to do with it. It doesn't mean I have experience in the 'men department'." Her fingers curled around the last two words.
Hermione smirked, just the tiniest bit, unable to resist. "Are you saying that Dean's not a man?"
"Hermione!" Ginny screeched. "If you keep making witty remarks like that, perhaps I won't tell you if you'd be rude to turn him down." She stood, knocking Hermione off balance, sending her sprawling onto the rug. With a flip of her flaming auburn hair, Ginny added hotly, "I don't even see why you care about being rude to him or not. It's not as if he actually likes you." Without another word, she stormed out.
Perhaps more perplexed than ever now, Hermione sat exactly where Ginny had knocked her down, legs spread, arms back, contemplating. It's not as if he actually likes you. The words tossed and turned in her head, stinging more and more each time they repeated themselves. It's not as if he actually likes you. That was impossible, she decided. He had to like her, in order to ask her out, to risk becoming the social outcast of his House - perhaps of the school. It just wasn't protocal for him to ask her, for any one of them to ask her, practically for anyone - with the small exception of the dazzling Quidditch star, Viktor Krum - to ask her. The only time that anyone had really asked her anything romantic was on a dare, and that one time that Ronald finally realized she was a girl. (That particular moment of Weasley stupidity would forever be etched in her mind.)
So he had to like her... at least a little.
"You look glum, Granger."
"Yeah, Granger, what's got you down?"
The familar yet unrecognizable voices floated from the stairs. Hermione stood, looking around for those infamous tufts of ginger hair.
"Aw, keep sitting like that Granger."
"Yeah, we like it like that, Granger."
Heat rose in Hermione's already-warm cheeks. They shouldn't be talking to her like that, she knew, and yet the attention always felt good. There was something about their teasing, similar voices that simply made her insecurities slip away. "Oh, nothing," she cooed, "just thinking."
"About what?" One of them - Fred, she thought - popped up next to her.
"She's thinking about a boy, mate, I can see it in those eyes of hers," George said, appearing at her other side.
"I never - wait a minute," Hermione said, "how did you two get here?" It looked as if they'd Apparated, but there was no Apparition allowed inside the Hogwarts grounds...
"We're just testing out one of our new products," Fred told her. "It's a momentary invisibility chew."
"A momentary what?"
"Invisibility chew," George supplied. "For as long as you're chewing on the thing, you're invisible. Want to give it a try?"
Hermione shook her head. She'd seen the testing stages of the Weasley twin's products before; to put it kindly, it wasn't always pleasant. And by the looks of the enormous blue splotch spreading across George's left cheek, this one was no different.
"Alright," Fred shrugged. He, too, noticed the blue on his twin's face, but decided to keep it quiet. It was funnier that way.
"Fine by us," George chimed.
"So why don't you tell us what boy has got you so... blue?" Fred grinned boyishly. When George shot him a curious look, he wiped the smile off his face almost immediatly.
Hermione took a moment to debate telling them. On the upside, they could tell her whether or not to refuse. On the downside, they'd probably tell Harry or Ron about the predicament, sending both of them into a tailspin. There was a reason she'd kept this a secret from them. "It's just someone in another House, that's all."
"Oh," George said. "We can help you if you want. 'Cept our knowledge of the bloke might be a bit skewed... the Extendable Ears don't work too well outside the Common Rooms, we figured out."
This came as no shock to her. "It's alright," Hermione said. "Thanks, though."
"Anytime. Have we mentioned you're like a sister to us lately?"
Hermione smiled. "I don't think you've ever mentioned that."
"Well, you are. And we're glad it's not Ron, because if our sister started snogging our brother... well, that'd just be odd," Fred decided.
"Beyond odd," George agreed.
"But not odder than if it was a Slytherin she's snogging. Then it would be downright insane, right George?"
"Right."
"So it best not be a Slytherin you're snogging, alright, 'Mione?" Fred demanded. "Because that'd just give us all the more reason to kick his arse."
"Okay?" George demanded.
Hermione just nodded, glad that she hadn't confided too much in them. The twins patted her twice on the back - once each - before turning and heading back towards the boys dormitories. Hermione watched them go. George's face had become almost completely blue by now.
"Um... George..." she called out.
Fred turned before his twin, running a finger across his neck. "Don't tell him," he mouthed.
"Yeah?" the other twin asked.
Hermione shook his head. "Nevermind."