Note from Snitch: Well Quaffle, it seems you have done quite a lot for our couple :-) . I do think they appreciated it. Let's see how our two lovers handle what you have done to them… :-P
Thanks for your sweet reviews readers, by the way.

Chaper 4
Meeting twins

The fog remained in Hermione's head for the rest of the day, sometimes briefly clearing up in places, giving away a glimpse of what had happened that morning, making Hermione feel as if she were taking in several mugs of Butterbeer at a time, filling her with warmth. The day slid past in haze of dimmed happiness.

When the fires in Hogwarts were lit and darkness crept up on the Gryffindor tower, Hermione wished Harry and Ron goodnight and went to bed early. The blankets of her four-poster lying over her finally lifted the fog and freed the way for dreams that Hermione had long kept away…

The next morning Hermione woke early and dressed quickly, throwing her robes over her head and impatiently prodding her brush with her wand, making the enchanted thing haste through her brown curls quicker and quicker, until in it's eagerness it had totally tied itself in the bushy hair. Silently swearing at the brush, not wanting to wake the others, she roughly ripped the knots loose. After that she hurried down the winding stairs, out of the portrait hole and down the halls. As Hermione neared the Room of Requirement she started walking slower. Disappointment filled her, when she rounded the last corner and saw the corridor before her empty. She realised Draco would of course not be there. Hermione herself might hurry out of the common room before breakfast, people expecting her wanting to check some fact or do some last minute homework revising, Hermione chuckled at the thought of the image she had created for herself. But for Draco things were different, he always moved in groups, with at least his two dumbest followers next to him. Hermione wondered why Draco had been alone that day, that day of their first kiss. Why had he gone to the Room? She heard Harry's voice in her head: "He's up to something!" Hermione hadn't paid much attention to it then, thinking Draco was up to something most of the time and that those somethings hardly ever involved anything more serious than finding the best way to humiliate others. But maybe this time things were different. Now Draco's father Lucius was locked up, maybe a more serious role was expected of him by his family, asking more of him than his usual fun making. Or was it expected by… no, she should not think of that. Things were quite difficult enough as they were. Of course Draco could walk alone sometimes, for god's sake, everyone walked alone sometimes! Perhaps he was just passing. And it was about time she passed too.

Hermione returned to the common room and settled herself in a chair with her Defence against the Dark Arts essay in front of her, rereading and correcting it until she was greeted by Harry and Ron.

Two hours later they found themselves looking into the small happy face of Professor Flitwick. He looked particularly enthusiastic, which made Ron look slightly scared thinking of what difficult magic they would have to learn to make Flitwick look like that. The Professor correctly guessed Ron's feelings and smiled to him.

"Yes, mister Weasley, I have some quite exciting magic for you and your fellow classmates today!" he beamed. "Students, students! Silence please! Would you wish for me to help you with a Silencing Charm, miss Brown?". Lavender was making suppressed giggling noises, looking rather red, having just turned her head away from Ron quickly when Professor Flitwick addressed her. Ron, of course, had noticed nothing of the latter and only made an irritated noise when Lavender managed a "No, sir" without giggling too much.

"All right," smiled Flitwick. "Today we will make our first attempt at Doubling Charms!" he continued. "Gemino!" he exclaimed while he made a circle in the air with his wand, following it with a jab in the middle of the circle. A second Professor Flitwick appeared next to him, exactly mirroring his movements. "This magical twin of mine is not solid," he moved his hand right through the body of his mirror image, as did the image with him, "but he will cause great confusion for your duelling partner!". For another moment, Flitwick looked at his twin with amusement and then made him disappear with a flick of his wand.

"Wow! Now that's what I call a handy charm," Ron said looking at Flitwick in admiration. The word wow caused a small jolt in Hermione's stomach and suddenly she felt very aware of Draco sitting behind her, at the right end of the classroom. Being only such a small distance away from each other and thinking of the secret they shared, made Hermione's heart beat faster and put a small smile on her face which made her feel kind of mischievous.

"Yes, I would say so, mister Weasley. Now let's start practicing, I can see miss Granger is eager to begin!". Hermione felt caught and quickly regained a normal look and nodded at Flitwick. He started repeating the charm.

"Okay, take your wands. Draw a nice circle in front of you," he slowly followed his own directions and looked at the students copying him, "and now pierce it in the middle! Yes, that's it! Now say after me: Gemino". "Gemino," echoed the class, willingly.

After an hour, most people produced images which look transparent like Nearly Headless Nick, with a pale version of the black of the robes they all wore. Hermione's already showed the deep brown of her hair and if you looked closely, you could see freckles upon her nose. It was a bizarre experience to look at yourself like that, but it was very funny too.

"Handy if you want to take a good look at a new outfit!" laughed Parvati, looking at Hermione, who was examining details of her new twin. Hermione laughed with her and acted as though she was checking whether her make-up was still in place. Hermione herself wasn't wearing any, but she winked at one of the girls of her dormitory who went through a lot of trouble with putting on all kinds of stuff on her face in the morning.

Hermione went smiling and laughing through the rest of the lessons, lunch and dinner, looking forward to the evening. During lunch she had slipped away and put a note on the shelf in the Room of Requirement, stating the time on which she would be there again: eight o'clock.

It now was eight o'clock, and after making an excuse about the library to Ron in the common room, Hermione floated through the halls to the Room. She saw the door handle had small hearts on it and she laughed at the room they had imagined for themselves, teenage love draping all of it. Opening the door she saw the tall blonde figure, his robe oddly black and his skin oddly pale against the sun-tanned witches and wizards in blue and pink robes on the posters. Hermione certainly knew what she preferred, and caressed the white hands, letting them enflame her another time…

So the rest of the week passed, in a wild whirl of attraction. All day Hermione would live towards the evening, her quill writing eagerly, her wand waving in the air and she herself actively chatting and laughing with others, working the seconds, minutes, hours that separated her from Draco out of the way. The days went by in a rush of anticipation, to come to a halt in time when his hands were around her. Hermione felt free now the looming darkness, the denied feelings deep inside her, had finally been released. All of it she could utter by simply laying her lips on those of Draco.

Only now she really understood why things had not worked out with Krum. She had been so flattered, when the famous Quidditch player with his black eyes had laid his gaze on her. At first she had almost thought she was in love, but she had been mistaken. She had mistaken his dark appearance and the dark school from whence he came, for an answer to the dark longing in her. In time she found out she was wrong, she found out they did not share these feelings within. In Draco Hermione found what Krum had shown on the outside, though the way Draco looked made you expect something different at first. His white skin glowed as snow in a winter's night, but it was warm and soft to the touch when she laid her head against it. As she did. Every night…