"Hey, Hermione."
"What are you doing out here?"
Hermione looked up in surprise to address the two identical voices behind her. Two sets of bright blue eyes stared at her curiously. She took a deep breath, inhaling the cold night air and willing herself not to bite her friends' heads off for disturbing her peace.
"Just trying to relax," she said rather stiffly, hoping against hope that the notoriously mischievous Weasley twins would spare her whatever prank they probably had planned for her.
"You're missing the party," George informed her, holding out a hand to help her to her feet. She declined, instead lying on her back in the tall grass.
Fred and George simply glanced at each other and shrugged, lying down on either side of Hermione and stretching out their stocky limbs.
"It's really not easy for you, is it?" George asked, frowning slightly.
Hermione sighed heavily, fighting the strong urge to roll her eyes. Instead, she closed them and listened to the rustling of the grass as the twins settled next to her.
"It wasn't easy for any of us, George," she reminded him, her mind suddenly flooding with vivid memories of the Battle. The lifeless corpses of Tonks and Lupin, Voldemort's high, cold drawl summoning Harry to the Forbidden Forest to die, the explosion of the castle wall that nearly killed Fred.
Fred's voice cut off her thoughts. "Doesn't mean you have to mope. The party's to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle."
"Not to mope about it and count your losses," George finished, his lips turning up into a slight grin.
"Maybe I just feel like moping," Hermione countered, though she gave a soft laugh. "Besides, stargazing is much nicer than watching Ron and Harry drain the Firewhiskey stash."
George laughed. "Can't blame them."
She smiled slightly, wondering exactly how drunk her two best friends were at the moment. "True."
"Hey, George. Remember that time when we were kids-" Fred began, racking his brains for a funny story to cheer up the rather depressed Hermione.
"And we shaved Percy's head?" George exclaimed, his blue eyes growing wide and taking on a devious sparkle.
"No-"
"Or when we transfigured Ron's teddy bear into a giant spider?"
"Well, yes. But no. When we were twelve and we sat out here all night counting the stars-"
"OH! I remember that! Anyways, Hermione, Fred and I sat out here counting the stars-"
"And naming each one of them after a relative-" Fred interjected.
"Do you want to hear something scary?" George asked.
"Sure," Hermione replied, her eyes still fixed on the twinkling formation of the Big Dipper, shining against the nearly black expanse of the night sky.
"We were out here all night-" George started.
"And Mum was calling us in for breakfast before we even ran out of names."