Chapter 3: After all, we need sweets every now and then.
That night, Hermione had trouble sleeping. She had a feeling something was about to happen, but she could not tell if it was going to be good or not – divination was never her thing, anyway. She did not have class this morning but she went out of the girls' dorm as soon as she saw the smaller clock hand hit seven. Downstairs, the common room was empty and the fires in the chimneys were all growing weak, leaving a light smell of burnt wood and just a little bit of warmth all around the place.
Hermione sat in a big and comfortable chair next to a window and stared at the park outside for a few minutes. It was raining – again – but a few rays of sunlight were piercing through the thick grey clouds filling up the sky. It was not as beautiful as in the spring, but the young girl had to admit the view was not so bad.
Suddenly, the sound of a little bell interrupted her thoughts. Crookshanks was under one of the big wooden desks, playing – more like juggling, really – with a little purple bag. Hermione decided to let her cat play around with it but quickly changed her mind when her pet managed to open the bag which appeared to be full of wrapped candies.
"Crookshanks, don't touch that!" she said, rushing toward the little bag. "You'll start vomiting again if you eat those things!"
Once she had the candies in hands, the young witch stared at them for a moment. They did not look like the ones that got her cat ill a few months ago – a first year bought them from the Weasley twins and forgot them on a chair when he went to sleep, which lead to Crookshanks eating all of them out of curiosity and gluttony. In fact, those wrapped candies looked completely innocent, you could even say they looked mouth-watering. Digging deeper into the purple, velvety bag, Hermione found a folded piece of paper.
"What is th—"
The note was addressed to her.
"Hermione," she started reading out loud, "I had a feeling you would be here before anybody else (it is probably 7am right now haha), so I thought I'd leave you something to fill your stomach until breakfast." She paused for a second or two and lightly giggled. "Don't worry, they're just peppermint patties."
-0-
"What's that?" Ron asked.
"What's what, Ronald?" Hermione sighed as she closed her book.
"That." Her friend said, pointing at the purple velvety thing coming out of Hermione's bag. "It looks like one of those bags my mom uses when she sends us gifts."
The young girl choked, but Ron did not look like he noticed.
"I— I found it in the common room earlier this morning. It was— it was empty so I thought I'd keep it to put candies or cat treats in it."
"Mh, maybe Ginny dropped it or something like that."
Hermione quietly nodded and opened another book, mostly to hide the blush on her cheeks. As Ron went quiet again, lost in his Potion homework, the young witch started to wonder how he would react if he knew Fred offered her candies. It was nothing really big, really, but somehow Hermione thought that Ron should not know about it. Not yet anyway.
"You smell like peppermint." Ron muttered without looking up from his paper.
"Do— do I?"
"Yes." He simply replied. "It's nice."
There goes the blush again.
-0-
Fifteen minutes. That is exactly how long Angelina's rant was. Fred and her were sitting in the library, a couple of tables behind his younger brother and Hermione, but the young man did not want to bother them – more especially her – and it got Angelina upset. Fred did not really know why she acted this way, why she even helped him, but it would have felt rude to ask her to stop talking. After all, she was right:
"If you never dare to 'bother' her, then you'll just never get her, Fred. That's how it works. Now if you don't get up and go talk to her, I'll go for you."
"You wouldn't."
"Clearly you don't know me enough, Weasley." She replied with a daring tone that made Fred quiver.
Without a word, the young guy stood up and headed toward Hermione and Ron. He was now a few steps behind them and he could hear what they were saying.
"You smell like peppermint."
Fred could not help but smile when he heard that. This morning, he checked everywhere in the common room and did not find his purple bag full of candies, nor his note, but he was not sure she was the one who found it.
"It's nice." Ron added, making Hermione blush behind her big book.
Fred took a step back, realizing Angelina was right this morning during breakfast. "Your brother seems to have a thing for her, Fred, and I doubt you'd like to see them together together." she said. And as usual, she was right.
"Hi there." Fred said quickly, bending over to be closer to Hermione and Ron. "How's work going?"
The young girl jumped and raised her book as if it was some kind of shield, making both Ron and Fred laugh. The latter softly patted her shoulder, repeating "It's okay" between two giggles.
"I think it's the first time I've ever seen you in the library, Fred." Ron said when he finally calmed down.
"I'm here with Angelina. She didn't want to come alone, I guess." Fred shrugged.
Discretely – but not discretely enough apparently – Hermione started looking for Angelina in the room, and when she finally saw her she gasped. Angelina was staring at her with a large grin on her face.
"I— I think I've got to go." Hermione suddenly stuttered.
She stuffed her books and quills in her bag and stood up so quickly she almost bump Fred's chin with her shoulder (he somehow managed to dodge the hit).
"I'll walk with you." Fred laughed. "Tis a dangerous world out there."
The witch did not say anything and simply waited for him to get his bag. They both waved Ron goodbye and left the library together. As the big doors closed behind them, Angelina could swear she saw Fred catching Hermione's free hand.