Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or anything. All credit goes to JKR for the most magical world to ever exist.
Yes, I'm back with the second chapter of this Fremione fic :)
A very special thanks to Abii, the person who requested this fic, or, known as Weasleytwinlove-95 :)
Chapter 2
Reunited At Last
Hermione was still pacing the room. Ron and Ginny had given up their sulkiness long ago. There was silence in the room, apart from the occasional hoot from Hedwig and an excited shriek from Pigwidgeon. Finally, Ginny broke the silence.
"When do you think he'll get here?"
"I don't know, but I sure hope it's soon." Ron replied. "This waiting is killing me."
"You just need to learn some patience Ronald." Hermione replied, her own patience growing thin.
Ginny abruptly stood up.
"I'm going to see if they've started the meeting. I might listen in on them."
"Ginny!" Hermione cried out in protest and indignation.
"Oh, come off it Hermione, it's not like you've never wanted to know what they're talking about." Ron said in exasperation.
"Well, I have, but I would never suggest eavesdropping."
"It's not like you've never done it before." Ron replied, raising his brows.
Hermione flushed and glared at him. By this time, Ginny had sneaked out quietly. Another moment of silence passed, in which Ron and Hermione could hear the stairs creaking. Hermione stopped her pacing and stared at Ron nervously, who had stood up.
"Could that be...?"
"I don't know." Ron whispered.
"He's sure to be angry at us." Hermione whispered fearfully.
The doorknob turned and the door opened. They only had to take one glance at the doorway to know it was their best friend. Hedwig twittered loudly and Pigwidgeon let out a loud shriek and started to fly around their heads in a fit of excitement. Hermione flung herself at Harry, hugging him tightly, almost knocking him to the floor. She couldn't help but give out a little cry of excitement and joy.
When she finally let go, Harry just blinked at her, as if deciding if he was happy to see them, or angry at them for not updating him about what had been going on. As they were trying to explain to their best friend about their absence, Hermione could see that he was ready to explode.
And explode he did.
Hermione couldn't help the sting in her eyes that signalled that she was going to start crying. She really loathed it when people were mad at her for the things she had no control over. But she loved her best friends dearly, they were like brothers to her, brothers she'd never had. That was why, when Harry had finally cooled down enough, Hermione quickly apologised for their absymal letters and they quickly started answering his questions, scared that he'll blow off again. Whilst Hermione was explaining what her and Ron had been doing to the house, there was a loud crack, like a gun shot, and two identical redheads appeared in the middle of the room.
Fred and George Weasley. The legendary prankers. The Beaters on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. The identical twins.
It had to be admitted that Hermione's heart did a little jump in her chest, and it was not because of the fright they had given her, though it was partly that.
One twin. One in particular. The taller one. The older one. The one who was currently grinning at her, a twinkle in his eyes. Fred.
Hermione quickly looked away. Why was it that she had been looking at him as of late? And why was it that she kept catching him look at her? Something was off, and she hoped he was not planning to play a prank on her. After all, the Weasley twins were notorious for their pranks.
Avoiding Fred's eyes, she told them off weakly for Apparating into the room when they could've just walked down the stairs. After they conversed with Harry for a few minutes, the door creaked open and Ginny slipped in.
Ginny told them how Mrs Weasley had put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door, where they were having an 'important' meeting, so they couldn't listen in with the Weasley twins' Extendable Ears. They all looked crestfallen at the news, including Hermione. She really did want to hear what they were talking about.
The tension in the room seemed to drop a bit as Harry finally got the news he had been deprived of all summer. Hermione really did feel sorry for him. Having to live with his horrible relatives every summer, when they don't even look after him right, never mind treat him right. Harry seemed shocked by the news of Percy, though.
Percy Weasley. The third eldest of the Weasley children. The most ambitious. Probably the smartest out of the Weasleys, but also the stupidest. The most annoying. The most boring. The Weasley who had practically disowned his family for his job, just because he had been promoted.
Hermione knew Harry had disliked Percy the least out of the Weasleys, but she had always been able to get along with him. She supposed that she was still shocked by what Percy had said. It was just horrible. She would never have thought of saying that to her own father, never mind Mr Weasley.
When they explained how the Daily Prophet was trying to make him into someone nobody could believe, Hermione was sure Harry was ready to explode again. She saw the warning signals and hastily changed the subject, which so happened to lead to his Ministry hearing. He seemed to deflate a bit after that and started to look around uncomfortably.
When they heard the footsteps coming up, Fred pulled on his string of Extendable Ears and him and George Apparated back to their room. Hermione had to admit that her heart dropped a little, even though she would most likely see them at dinner. When Ginny had been sent down to wash her hands, and Mrs Weasley following her soon after, Hermione explained to Harry one last time about Dumbledore, but he cut her short, not unkindly, but firmly, as if to say that the conversation was over.
Ron stopped them at the landing, hoping they would overhear a tidbit of information from the witches and wizards below, and Hermione saw a flesh coloured string come down slowly in front of her. She saw that Harry was staring at it too. They both blinked and looked up to see Fred and George both cautiously lowering their Extendable Ears. Hermione once again caught Fred's eye and he winked at her. She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks and she quickly turned her attention back to the floor below. But when they started filing out the door, the Extendable Ears disappeared, and she heard one of the twins curse.
Hermione warned Harry to keep his voice down low in the hall and just when they were about to walk into the kitchen for dinner, there was a crash.
"Tonks!" Mrs Weasley cried out.
"I'm sorry!" Tonks cried out. "It's that stupid umbrella stand, that's the second time I've tripped over-"
Before the she could finish, there was a blood-curdling scream. Hermione winced and covered her ears, trying to drown out the screaming of Mrs Black's portrait. It was absolutely horrible, the portrait. Whenever someone made a noise that was even slightly loud, the curtains to it would fly open, and Mrs Black would scream out obscenities about how her house was getting put to use. Harry's eyes widened at the screaming, not expecting it.
Before anyone could do anything, two wizards came bursting out of a room; Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. Hermione, with her hands clasped tightly over her ears, could see that Sirius was shouting at the portrait, and the portrait was screaming back. Then, suddenly and without any warning, the screaming stopped. Sirius and Lupin, with a great effort, had managed to force the curtains back over Mrs Black. Hermione slowly uncovered her ears. A slight ringing was in her head. She blinked a few times and saw Harry and Sirius talking, so she decided to let them have a little time together and went through to the kitchen.
She slightly stumbled through to the kitchen, faint spots threatening to consume her vision, and a light but painful thumping within her head. She felt a hand grab her upper arm, steady her and set her into a chair. Once her vision had properly cleared, she saw Fred Weasley sitting in the chair beside her, leaning in her direction.
"You okay?" he asked quietly.
She nodded slightly. There was still a thumping in her head.
"You don't look okay." he commented.
"I-" she stuttered as she finally registered just how close he was. She pushed him back slightly and frowned at him sternly. "I was just feeling a headache coming on."
"Hopefully not from your favourite Weasley twin?"
"Actually, I'm starting to feel that it is." she answered without thinking.
She saw him flash a grin. She didn't like the look on his face at all.
"So, you're starting to feel that I'm getting annoying, or you're starting to feel that I am your favourite Weasley twin?"
"I-" she cut off again as she realised what she had said. She flushed. "No, I-" she stammered to a stop again as she realised he was giving that Cheshire Cat grin of his. Now this is just getting out of hand, she thought to herself. "What I meant was, I am starting to feel that you are getting annoying." she said.
"Okay, but your headache had originally started when Mrs Black started screaming, yes?"
Hermione nodded.
"So, Hermione, I was thinking... How 'bout we start being, well, friends, huh?" he asked casually.
Hermione blinked a few times.
"I-what?"
He flashed that devilish smile of his for only a second, but it was enough to unsettle her. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, trying to look for someone who would rescue her, but Mrs Weasley and Ginny were both getting dinner ready, Mr Weasley and Bill had disappeared some where for a bit, and Harry and Sirius must still be in the hall, probably with Ron and Lupin.
"C'mon Gred, stop harassing Granger over there." a voice sounded from the other side of Fred.
Hermione let out a breath of relief as Fred leaned back in his chair.
"It's not like you haven't wanted to harass her, Forge." Fred replied easily.
George leaned across Fred to study Hermione. Unable to keep his gaze (he looked too much like Fred), she averted her eyes to the table, desperately trying to recall the twelve uses of dragon blood. When that didn't work, she recited the ingredients needed to make Polyjuice Potion.
1. Twelve lacewing flies, has to be stewed for twenty-one days.
2. One ounce of-
Her thoughts got cut off as she realised George was talking to her. She noticed he was giving her a questioning look, so she came to the conclusion that he had asked a question and was waiting for an answer.
"Yes." she answered, not really bothering to ask what the question was. She thought that if she would just answer their questions, they would leave her alone.
Was she wrong...
"Gred, you're in luck! She said yes!"
"Since you said 'yes', do you want to come next Saturday?"
Hermione blinked. Once. Twice. Then she noticed the way George was grinning at her and gulped. What had she answered 'yes' to?
"Wait, what was the question?" she demanded.
"Forge asked you if you would ever go on a date with me." Fred replied.
"I... He... What?" she spluttered.
"I asked you if you would ever go on a date with Gred." George said, still grinning.
Hermione groaned.
"I didn't even hear the question when I answered!"
"You still said yes anyway." George replied.
Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm her frenzied heart.
"You do know we're only joking, right?" a voice said, and somehow, she could tell that it was Fred.
"Fred, the thing is, it's hard to tell if you're joking or not. You two are like the master of pranks." she replied, eyes still closed.
There was a silence. Hermione opened her eyes to see what had happened. Fred and George were staring at her with wide, surprised eyes.
"What?" she said self consciously.
"You were able to tell us apart-" Fred started.
"-with your eyes closed." George finished.
"And if we didn't know it already,"
"We'd say you are a witch."
"Because nobody else-"
"-could do that-"
"-with their eyes closed!" they both chorused.
Hermione blinked blankly at them. She couldn't really think; she could definitely feel the headache coming on, but the way the twins always finish each other sentences really got her muddled up.
"I... I guess you're right." she said slowly, trying to gather her temporarily scattered thoughts.
Fred and George both looked up at the same time as Sirius and Harry both walked into the kitchen. Hermione turned around in her seat and watched as Mr Weasley greeted Harry, then Bill greeted him and Vanished a pile of scrolls.
"Think we should help Mum set out the table?" Fred asked.
"Oh, sure, like the perfect sons we are." George snorted.
"She knows we are."
"Of course. After all, we weren't the ones who chose our career over family."
"Right you are, dear brother, right you are."
Hermione smiled slightly at them both. She had to admit, she liked their banter, and wished she had a sibling with whom she could've had jokes with. Fred and George both stood up, startling her out of her thoughts.
"Well Granger, our teasing was nice while it lasted." Fred said, grinning down at her.
"Yeah Granger, but enjoy our silence while it lasts." George added, holding the same grin on his face.
"When are you twins ever silent?" she asked, raising a brow.
"She got us there, George." Fred said, turning to his twin.
"Yeah, stuck in a sticky situation." George pretended to frown.
The twins both shared a look. Hermione shook her head at them both, still smiling and a brow raised.
"Well Granger," George finally turned to her. "I'd say we're silent-"
"-when we want to be."
"And when are you's ever wanting to be silent?"
Fred and George both tilted their heads at the same time. It gave Hermione a little thrill to watch them do things simultaneously.
"When we're sleeping!" they both replied.
"I wouldn't be surprised if you's both talked in your sleep."
"That's our point, Granger." Fred said.
"We don't talk in our sleep." George ended triumphantly.
Hermione was stumped. What they had said didn't even make any sense! Well, not to her at least. She stared at them helplessly.
"Huh?" was her smart reply.
They both laughed at her expression.
"We have to go help Mum." they both said before she could unravel their confusing replies.
"Now wait a minute...!" she raised her voice slightly.
But the twins were already through the door, still chuckling. Hermione huffed and crossed her arms across her chest and frowned at the table.
Author's Notes
Okay, sorry for not updating this sooner! I was originally meant to have this chapter up on Monday night, but life kept me busy for the past week, and I was busy revising for an important exam! And I know I missed out a lot of dialogue from the book, but this is a fanfic, not to mention a Fremione fic. So, I won't be surprised if this chapter was less than satisfying to you readers, but even a review containing a flame would be nice :)
Thank you for your reviews on the first chapter!
