"I don't think Snape would go so far as to put your name in the Goblet, Harry." Hermione says with a sigh as she sits in the Gryffindor Common Room in front of the fireplace with Ron and Harry. For over an hour now, they had been discussing the night before, Harry's encounter with Moaning Myrtle and then Snape and Moody as the Common Room had slowly emptied to nearly nothing. Now here it was, just the three of them sitting in front of the last of the burning embers as Hermione once again caught herself in repitition.
"Why not?" Ron asks, a hint of accusation in his voice as he said the words. "He hates Harry." He said as Harry nodded his head in agreement.
"He doesn't HATE Harry, Ron." Hermione replies with a huff. "They just don't get along. Honestly Harry, it's a bit extreme to say that just because the two of you don't see eye to eye that he would risk your life by putting your name in the Goblet."
"If he didn't, then who did?" Harry asks, at yet another dead end on ideas of who it could have been.
"I don't know," Hermione answers, "but we have bigger things to worry about at the moment like how you are going to stay underwater for an hour." Quickly she searched through a Transfiguration book. "There is nothing here on turning into a fish." She groans.
Ron looks at the cover of the book suspiciously. "That's not a fourth year book." He answers, raising an eyebrow.
Hermione felt as the skin on the back of her neck turned bright red, hoping the boys couldn't see it. Ron was right, it wasn't a fourth year book. It was Advanced Transfiguration, a sixth year book that she had gotten from Fred, but surely she couldn't tell them that. Ron would have a fit if he knew that she was secretly meeting up with his brother.
"I...Professor McGonagall gave this to me." She lied, hoping Ron wouldn't dig any deeper into it. "O.W.L's."
"We don't have O.W.L's until next year." Ron answers, still suspicious.
"I know that Ronald!" Hermione bit back. "But I want to be prepared."
"Fine." Ron answers, holding his hands up as a sign of surrender before stretching and turning to Harry. "I'm going to bed mate. Good luck."
"Thanks," Harry answers, not feeling any confidence in his best mate's response but knowing that his two friends were in fact trying.
"So, did you put any thought into what Moody said?" Hermione asks as Ron disappears to the boys sleeping quarters.
"About what?" Harry asks, looking over at Hermione.
"Becoming an Auror of course." Hermione answers, as if Harry were to know what she was referencing to.
"Oh yea, that." Harry replies distantly. "I don't know. I mean, it is what I want to do but.." He stops, running his fingers through his hair in thought. "I'm already marked as the Chosen One and now the youngest Triwizard competitor, I just don't know if Auror is another title I want to hold. Yes, it's what I want to do but-"
"It's a great idea Harry." Hermione answers, not letting Harry finish. "You just said it's what you want to do. You should."
"It's not that easy Hermione." Harry answers, imagining the articles Rita Skeeter would write on him then, being an orphan who survived Voldermort and was now capturing his followers.
"It is that easy if it's what you want to do." Hermione answers before feeling like a hypocrite. If it's that easy, why don't you just do what you want to? She asked herself before blocking off the voice in the back of her head.
"I know," Harry sighs in defeat. "Just give me time to think about it, okay?" He says before standing up and stretching. "I'm going to bed Hermione, I'll see you tomorrow. Keep looking?"
"I will," Hermione promises, "Good night Harry."
"Good night." He answers, walking to the stairs and disappearing.
Returning to the Advanced Transfiguration book, Hermione doesn't see the words that seem to blur together with her thoughts. Thoughts of how she was going to help Harry with the Second Task and the horrible rumours Rita Skeeter had spread about her. Hermione thought of Ron's questioning on where she had gotten the Advanced Transfiguration book and how she was going to, if they ever decided to, break the news to Ron that she had kissed Fred. She thought of Fred's kiss, of his smile, and how he made her day brighter with a simple joke. She thought of the chills it sent down her back when he flicked her hair in the Great Hall and she acted annoyed, although she merely wanted to feel it again and how she could now see drastic differences between him and George that she couldn't see before, such as Fred's willingness to listen to her problems or how his lip curled slightly to the left when he smiled, while George's curled to the right. It was the little things about him that she was noticing more and more made him different than his twin.
Rubbing her face, Hermione tried to steer her thoughts away from the carefree twin as she straightened up on the couch and tried to focus once again on her reading. Turning a cat into a hat, no that wouldn' t work. Turning a snail into a thumb tack, once again no.
"Reading again?" A familiar voice called out, causing a smile to creep across Hermione's face.
"As a matter of fact-" Hermione answers, turning around on the couch to see Fred in a pair of plaid pajamas.
"Will rot your brain, that will." Fred answers with a laugh, jumping over the back of the couch to sit next to her. "What is it?" He asks, grabbing the book from her hands.
"Excuse me." Hermione answers, trying to stiffle back a laugh as she reaches for her book, only causing Fred to hold it out away from her.
"I think not, Granger." He answers with a laugh. "Let me see," He says, looking at the words on the page Hermione had currently been reading. "To get the best results out of transfiguration, the caster must have concentration." He read, "Hmm...guess I am ruining that, ay?"
"Yes," Hermione answers, grabbing the book back from him. "You are. Now if you don't mind, I have work to do."
"Ahhh so Harry figured out what the egg was about, huh? Horrid, that was, listening to the squeel. Here I was thinking we were throwing a mighty fine party and he lets that thing loose. Sure knows how to stop a party dead in it's tracks."
"It had to be underwater." Hermione answers, trying to find her spot back on the page.
"I see," Fred answers, "Yes, that makes perfect sense. Harry's party had to be underwater for it to be good."
"Not Harry's party!" Hermione answers, looking up with artificial frustration only to see a wide smile on Fred's face before laughing herself. "That's not funny." She says with a chuckle. "No, the egg had to be underwater and now Harry will and if I don't find a way for that to happen-"
"This is going to be great for the betting field."
"You are still placing bets? Fred, I told you-"
"I know what you told me Hermione." Fred answers, wrapping his arm around her on the couch. "An honest living, you said."
"Be responsible, she said." A matching voice calls out from the stairway, causing both Hermione and Fred to jump as Fred jerked his arm away from Hermione's shoulder.
"It's fine brother, it's just me." George laughs, walking over and sitting on the floor in front of them and Fred puts his arm back around Hermione.
"And I did put thought into that." Fred says honestly.
"He put a lot of thought into it," George adds.
"And I decided"
"With much discussion," George includes.
"That we are going to let the betters know their odds." Both twins answer with matching smiles, causing Hermione to shake her head.
"That wasn't what I meant." Hermione says with exasperation. "I meant that betting on someone's failure was-"
"Immoral" Fred answers.
"Distastful" George includes.
"Immature," Hermione says sternly.
"Exactly." The twins answer in unison causing Hermione to slam her book shut.
"Don't be like that." Fred says, seeing Hermione was getting frustrated. "It's not like that, Hermione. It's all harmless fun. That's all it is. No one is going to get hurt."
"Yet." Hermione answers, glaring at him. "No one has gotten hurt yet but you continue on with this carelessness and someone is going to get hurt."
"No one will get hurt." Fred answers, his face sincere.
"Honestly." George pipes in as Hermione looks from one of them to the other, unsure whether to believe them.
"I will make sure of it." Fred promises.
"They had better not." She says sternly before stomping up the stairs, trying to hide the smile she felt creeping across her face.