A/N: Hi, guys.
OK, so I don't know why, but this chapter feels really crap. Maybe because there wasn't that many reviews for chapter 3. Not as much as chapter 1. Or maybe because there is a lot of thinking in this chapter, and I guess I've never been good at writing thoughts. So yeah.
I finished this chapter on...Monday...I think? Two days ago. But I didn't post it because it was too early, and I was kinda holding out for more reviews.
I'll shut up about reviews now.
So, enjoy, tell me if it's crap.
CHAPTER 4
Oh look, a teddy bear! It's so cute. Hermione's hand reached out to catch the floating fluffy brown bear. The fur was soft to her touch. Hermione brought it closer. The eyes were tiny, the nose round and pink. Its paws were held forward, a small bag clutched in them.
Something was poking out of the small bag. Hermione pulled it out of the bag. It was a small piece of paper. Hermione's fingers fumbled with it for a moment. She opened it. There was writing inside. Hermione tried to read it, but the writing was too blurry.
Damn it, even her dream was annoying her on purpose. Can her dream mean to irritate her?
Something else floated into view. A flower. A rose. A brilliantly red rose. Hermione released the teddy bear, letting float through space, and reached for the rose. There were thorns, but they didn't prick her hand.
Hermione woke. A teddy bear and a rose. What?
Is she forgetting something? Hermione felt like she was forgetting something, but couldn't remember what it was. She needed a Remembrall. Except the Remembrall didn't tell you what you forgot. What was the inventor thinking? What's the point of telling someone they forgot something but not what they forgot?
Hermione got dressed and walked downstairs, deciding to get an early breakfast. She was just about to crawl through the portrait hole, when an ear-piercing squeal met her ears. Next thing she knew, she was in bone-crushing hug with Ginny. Funny, everything is damaging her somehow (ear-piercing, bone-crushing, get it?).
"Happy birthday!" Ginny squealed, hurting Hermione's ears again. So that's what she forgot. "Oh my god!"
The way she's squealing, you would think it's her birthday, not Hermione's.
"Oh Merlin! I totally forgot!" Hermione squealed back. "I'm sixteen!"
She's sweet sixteen! And never been kissed. How true the saying.
"Happy birthday! Again."
Hermione laughed. "Thank you."
"Oh! Here's your present." Ginny held out a small parcel wrapped in light pink paper. Hermione carefully opened the wrapping. It was a book. How typical. The title said, '101 Ways To Tame That Mane'.
Hermione raised an eyebrow at Ginny, who grinned sheepishly. Hermione smiled.
"Thank you. Merlin knows I need it." she said, blowing a stray strand of her bushy hair out of her face. Ginny giggled.
"Don't mention it."
"Hermione!" a male voice called, coming from the boys' dormitory staircase. Hermione and Ginny turned towards it and found Ron and Harry walking down the stairs, each with a parcel in their hand.
"Happy birthday!" Harry said, holding his present out.
"Thanks, Harry." Hermione said. Harry had gotten her an expensive-looking peacock feather quill.
"Happy birthday." Ron said, smiling strangely. Remembering the whispered conversation him and Harry had had two weeks ago, Hermione smiled wonderingly. She sat down on a couch, tired of standing around. She slowly opened the fair-sized box Ron had given her. She pulled the contents out.
It was a bear. A small, fluffy, brown bear. Its nose was small and pink, and its eyes were tiny. Around its neck was a big, red bow. It was just like the one in her dream. Its paws were poking out, a small bag clutched between them.
"Thank you, Ron." She looked up. Harry and Ginny were gone. Ron was sitting in front of her in another chair.
"No problems." His voice told her to open the note that was sticking out from the bag. She held the small bit poking out between her fingers, and pulled it out. She slowly flipped the note open, slightly wary of what was inside.
This time, she had no trouble reading the writing inside.
"Will you go out with me?"
Fred followed George into the Great Hall, presents, joke and real, in each of their hand. He frowned at the murmuring towards the Gryffindor table. What had happened?
"What's all this about?" he asked George.
"Who knows?" he replied.
"They do." Fred jerked his head at two girls he believed to be Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, the rumoured rumour queens of Hogwarts. The two, as if hearing him, looked towards him, and approached him excitedly. Fred and George raised their eyebrows simultaneously.
"Is it true?" the blonde one, Lavender asked.
"Is what true?" Fred asked back, his eyebrows frowning and raised at the same time (is that possible?).
"Ron asked Hermione out." the other one said.
"And she said yes." Lavender finished.
Fred and George glanced at each other. He did, and she did?
"To be honest, even we didn't know." George said. "They must have done in private, if even you guys don't know for sure." His eyebrows went even further up.
"Well, I think they did in the common room, before..." Parvati started ranting.
"Well, OK, we're about to find out." Fred cut her off, having no desire to listen.
"Tell us when you find out, won't you?" Lavender asked hopefully.
"No." Fred said bluntly. "It's their business, not ours to spread, and not yours, either."
It was Lavender and Parvati's turn to glance at each other. They shrugged, before clearing off. Fred and George started to walk towards Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny, who were having breakfast at one end of the Gryffindor table.
"That was harsh." George commented, as they walked.
"I just don't want our brother's and friend's business being spread around the school." Fred said. He wasn't feeling good.
"Are you alright?" George asked. "You seem...grumpy."
Fred heaved a sigh, trying to get rid of his ill-temperedness. "I'm alright."
As they got to where the four were sitting, Fred tried to put a smile on his face. He partly succeeded when they got there. He got his scowl off, realising that he was scowling, but hadn't managed to put his smirk on.
"Happy birthday, Hermione!" he said with George, throwing the present he was holding to George, who threw it to Hermione. Hermione opened it, took a look at the small, bright pink cylindrical container, and raised her eyes questioningly.
"It's love potion." Fred explained, piling a few pancakes onto his plate.
"Quite strong." George continued, doing the same.
"Our own invention." Fred finished. At this, Hermione eyed the box warily.
"Although, from what we've been hearing, you're getting along fine without it." George commented. Hermione blushed. Ron was too busy stuffing his face with food to notice what was going on.
"Well, that confirms it, then." Fred said, trying to keep the smirk on his face and not replace it with a scowl.
"So, you're going out with our dear brother." George said. Fred tried to push away the strong feeling that had suddenly erupted in his chest.
"Good luck." Fred said.
Harry, Ginny and Hermione snorted.
"Oi!" Ron yelled at them through a mouth full of food.
"But you know what," George started, "can you just slip him that potion anyway? Just to if our product works?"
Hermione looked at the twins with wide eyes.
"Oh, look at her face." Fred smirked. "Don't worry, we won't stoop to that level to test our products out."
"And that's not your real present, either." George said. "This is."
He pulled out another cylindrical container, similar to the love potion one, only purple instead of pink.
"It's a magic hair gel." Fred started.
"Rub some on your hair," George continued.
"Point your wand at your head..."
"...with whatever you want your hair to look like in mind..."
"...and your the gel will transform your hair into that."
"Wow." Hermione seemed, slightly, impressed. "Thanks. I think. Wait, are you saying my hair needs help?"
"No, not at all!" George hastened to say, not wanting to be on the receiving end of one of Hermione's spells.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Fred followed, not particularly desiring the same thing, either.
"Well, then, thank you." Hermione smirked, proud at her ability to scare the wits out of Hogwarts' biggest pair of troublemakers since James Potter and Sirius Black.
That night, Hermione lay in bed, unable to sleep.
Had she done the right thing, agreeing to be Ron's girlfriend? She had been waiting for this since third year, but now that it had come, it doesn't feel as satisfying. She likes Ron. Or rather, liked. She knew her feelings for Ron had been faltering, in light of recent events, but she still had something left. Surely she still does. A two-year-long crush doesn't end that quickly.
And if she doesn't like Ron, who does she like? Or maybe she just doesn't like anyone. Maybe her feelings for Ron had been left alone for too long, and is fading to leave her with no feelings for no one.
She couldn't fool herself. She knew who she could be falling for. But she won't admit she's falling for him.
Ron had looked so hopeful when she looked up from the note, she couldn't bear to take the look of his face. It would crush him. He had obviously been planning this. So that's what they were talking about the night she found them whispering in the common room. And the gesture was so sweet, she couldn't reject him. The cute bear was sitting on her bedside table. It was exactly like the one in her dreams.
How strange is it, that her dreams are coming true? First the one with her falling, and being caught by Fred, now this one. Well, part of this one. If she had other dreams, would they come true as well?
So if the bear was a present from Ron, what about the rose? Could that be a present as well? If it was, then from who? And why hadn't it come yet?
Hermione realised she was longing for the rose.
And if the only thing that stopped her from rejecting Ron was his hopeful expression, does that mean she only said yes out of pity for him? No. It couldn't be. Because she did like him, even if only partly now. She won't let herself admit that she is getting feelings for someone else.
Particularly if that 'someone else' was her now boyfriend's brother.
Fred lay in bed, it being too early for him to sleep. He had, in a fit of bad temper, gone to bed at 8 o'clock, without even doing his homework (but then again, how often do you see Fred Weasley doing his homework?).
He knew why he was grumpy. Or rather, he knew when he started being grumpy. This morning, when he found out that Hermione and Ron are dating. He wondered why it had left him in such a bad mood. He remembered the feeling he had felt when George had confirmed the fact. Just then, it came again.
It felt familiar. Not familiar, exactly, but like he had felt it before. It had felt like that time on the Hogwarts Express, when he was thinking about what it would be like if Ron did ask Hermione out, and if they got caught kissing. This time, though, the feeling was stronger, much stronger. It was clutching at his chest, twisting and untwisting and knotting and unknotting his insides. He didn't like it.
What was it? And why did it only appear when he thought Ron and Hermione together?
Thinking about his reactions to things today, he realised he would have acted much like Ron did when he found out Krum and Hermione-
OH.
Crap.
Really? Could it be? It couldn't be. He couldn't be...jealous.
And if he was jealous, does that mean-that he liked Hermione?
Sure, she was cute and pretty, and smart and funny, but she was his brother's best friend, not to mention girlfriend. He couldn't do that to Ron. Or Hermione. She had liked Ron for a long time, it's so obvious everyone knew, except for Ron, the thick-head. Maybe he was just being...brotherly...protective...?
Oh Merlin. He couldn't fool himself. He knew what he was feeling was more than protectiveness.
But does he really like Hermione?
It would explain a lot, that's for sure. Like why he always felt that feeling when he thought about Ron and Hermione together. Why he was not like himself a few weeks ago, saying he cared for her in a soft voice. Why that thing that had urged him to say those things was there.
But he couldn't like Hermione. She was like a little sister to him.
He's getting annoyed at thinking about this. He settled for something else. Subconsciously, without his permission, Hermione came to his mind.
He thought about her. The shape of her face, the soft up-curve of her nose, the rosy colour in her cheeks. Her round, chocolate brown eyes, that were deadly in a glare and beautiful when she smiled. Her body, thin but not too thin, full but not fat. Just tall enough that he could rest his chin on her head. Curvy in just the right way without being sexy in a slutty way. And her lips, her full, luscious lips. Just thinking about them made Fred ache with desire to have those lips on his.
Fred snapped out of his daydream. Well, that just proved it.
He liked Hermione Granger.
Crap.
A/N: Ta-da! How was it? Crap, right? I don't know. I feel like it is.
So, you know what to do ;) Reviews are HP merch, of which I have none and desperately wants. Go go go!
Bye!
