I was playing my tenth game of Exploding snap, and I was past bored with the game, but it was either that or Chess, and I never played Chess. Ron would beat me every time, he was uncannily good at it, especially when you thought about how smart you had to be to do well at it. We should pitch him against the Ravenclaws, we could probably make a lot of money off the brainy house. They'd think they could beat him for sure, I mean, let's face it, he's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.
I let my eyes scan the room again, hoping to see my missing twin. I saw him walk in through the portrait whole laden with boxes and I leap off the couch, causing my deck to explode.
"Oi!" I exclaimed, walking up behind my twin in annoyance.
"There you are!" he said, grinning excitedly, he dropped half his supply into my empty arms and turned around, walking back out the portrait hole.
"Where have you been?" I asked, my voice showing my annoyance as I followed him out of the hole. "I've been searching for hours."
"I was with Angie for a while, we missed lunch, so I snuck down to the kitchens. I just got a wonderful idea for an item though so I got a few supplies." he said, indicating the items in our hands. "Why? What's up?"
"I've been looking for you." I said again.
"Yes, I heard that part. Why?"
"Because I got cornered by Katie, and I have someone we need to test a product on." I said. We reached the passageway where we kept our laboratory of sorts and Fred nudged it open with his foot after giving the password.
"You got caught by Katie?" He asked, sounding sympathetic.
"Yes, and she somehow knew I hadn't asked anyone out to the ball publicly. Where are we going?"
"I figured we could work on the fever fudge and my new idea."
"Sure," I told him my eyes lighting up at the idea. "Is Lee coming?"
Fred shook his head, a grin quirking his lips up. "Nah, he's keeping the lovely Miss Alicia company right now."
"Lucky dog." I said with a grin, we had made it to the end of our corridor. We rounded the corner and rammed into Hermione, knocking her down. I twisted around, almost falling with her. I righted myself quickly and got a better grip on my boxes.
"Woah!" I yelped, juggling my boxes around until I could reach out a hand to help her. She blushed and grabbed onto my arm, letting me help pull her back up.
"Thanks, George." She said with a small smile.
"What are you doing?" I asked, realizing she was alone.
"Oh, I was finishing up Harry's present. I snuck away when he wasn't looking." She explained casually.
"Not a good idea, 'Mione. You should have gotten me, I'd have come with you. You're not supposed to be alone.
"I'm sorry." She said, sounding sincere. "I didn't even think about that. I'll look you up next time I'm sneaking out."
"Good, after all, that is what we do best." I said with a cheeky grin. She blushed again, and nodded her head again.
"Alright, see you at dinner." She said cheerily. I smiled back at her and nodded my head before turning and stepping into Fred. He hadn't moved since I'd knocked Hermione over. I smiled at him, unnerved when I looked at his face, he was frowning at me. His eyes shot to the portrait hole where Hermione disappeared and he stepped back from me, resuming our walk down the hall. I stood still for a moment before shaking myself and following him around the corner.
Fred was leaning against the wall and was giving me the same look he'd had a moment ago. I couldn't place it, and that was making me uneasy. It was as if he couldn't believe something I'd done but I couldn't think of anything I'd done to earn that sort of a look.
"Fred?" I asked, keeping my voice blank. He pushed himself off the wall and stepped next to me, and we started down the corridor again.
"Georgie," He said, keeping the face for a moment longer. "What was that?"
"What was what?" I asked, frowning in confusion. I couldn't remember the last time I had not understood something Fred said. It wasn't right.
"That!" He said, as though it should have explained everything. "You and Granger."
"Me and Hermione?" I asked, feeling uneasy. What was he talking about?
No, I wasn't in denial.
"See!" He exclaimed, a mischievous smile overtaking his face that made me feel better, and worse at the same time. Better because I understood that look, worse because I understood that look, I was in trouble. "You just called her Hermione instead of Granger!"
"So." I asked, my voice had become guarded when I wasn't looking.
"You like her!" He said, sounding as though he couldn't quite believe it himself.
"I do not." I said, probably a little too quickly. I wanted to nip that in the bud before it could get any ground. "Just because I asked her to the Yule Ball doesn't mean I like her."
Fred stopped dead in his tracks, his mouth dropping open and his eyes going wide. "You did what?"
How had he not known that? I know I told him at least once... He'd just been snogging Angelina though, so he probably hadn't been paying attention. Great, this would not help my case any. "Yeah, I asked her about a week and a half ago."
"What?" He asked stupidly. He was still blinking in shock.
"I asked Hermione Granger to the Yule Ball." I said each word slowly, making sure to carefully enunciate them all. Fred glared at me for a moment before responding.
"Why?" He questioned, his eyes still wide. I sighed and shook my head, this would be hard to explain.
"Remember when we were escaping from Katie?" I asked, he nodded his head, shuddering. "Yeah, I went back to the portrait hole and I ran into Hermione. She was crying so I took her with me as I made my escape. I just wanted to make her stop crying. Anyway, she told me Ron had pretty much told her she was ugly and it had really upset her. I was still panicked about Katie so I asked her to go with me. She accepted and we've been hanging out a bit more sense then." Fred's eyes had gone even wider, and he looked like he was in shock. "Mostly because of Krum." I quickly added.
"Bloody hell!" Fred spluttered.
"It's not that big of a deal." I said, walking again. Fred followed me quickly, his eyes back to their normal size, but his face still shocked.
"You asked Hermione to the ball!" He exclaimed. I looked at him out of the corner of my eyes and shook my head.
"You know, we've been spending too much time with the trio-you're starting to sound like Ron." His eyes narrowed at that and he poked my arm.
"That was low. I'm allowed to be shocked, you just asked Hermione Granger out on a date!" That made me stop. Who had said anything about a date? We were just going to the ball as friends. It was really more of a business arrangement.
Just thinking that made me feel upset.
Oh Godric, this was not good.
"You do realize that Ron has had a crush on her since second year, right?" Fred asked. I shrugged, feeling only a little guilty. I could still see her teary eyes after he had made her cry, twice. "He isn't going to be happy with you."
"I don't like her!" I exclaimed, walking again. I was now officially in denial. I couldn't very well admit I liked (even though I didn't) my little brother's crush. That was the first rule of brotherhood, never, ever, look at your brother's girl. Still, I couldn't help but defend myself, I kept seeing her crying face. "I'm not sure he even does, plus, he keeps making her cry. I just asked her to be nice. I don't like her."
"You do too, I know you. I saw that sparkle in your eyes when you helped her up. She even got you to go the library. The library, George. Merlin, George, why her?"
"I don't like her, but she is funny, smart, and not bad on the eyes. She's also really nice, and a brilliant witch." I said, my voice taking on a protective quality that I wasn't crazy about.
"I'm sorry, it's just funny. You falling for 'Mione, the resident bookworm. I never saw it coming."
"It hasn't come." I said, my voice getting slightly wistful despite my efforts. "She's just a friend. I asked her because Ron was being a git to her and I needed some one so Katie would leave me alone- that backfired though. She's now determined to find out who I'm going with…"
I sighed and shook my head. We'd reached the passageway now."Just drop it Fred. I don't like her. Now let's make those sweets."
"Whatever you say, Georgie." Fred said, frowning as he opened the secret passageway. I know my twin better than anyone else on the planet, better than he knows himself, I should have known that wasn't going to be the end of it.
-o-O-o-
Another day passed inconsequentially (doesn't that make me sound smart?), and before I knew it, it was the night before the ball. I was sitting in a quiet corner of the common room working on, wait for it, my homework (in my defense, I just couldn't play another game of exploding snap, and we couldn't work on our products because the cauldron had blown up and we were having to wait for the toxic fumes to dissipate.) Unsurprisingly I was sitting alone. Fred was playing a checkers with Lee, a game that I was truly dismal at.
"George, can I ask you a personal question?" Hermione asked, stepping up beside me as I finished my essay on the use of a patronus charm.
I looked up from the paper and nodded my head, patting the spot on the couch next to me to indicate that she could sit down. She did, perching on the edge of the seat and folding her hands up on her lap. Her eyes found mine and they were wide and nervous, making me uneasy.
"George," She started, her eyes dropping from mine and looking at my paper in my hands. "Where are you picking me up for the thing?" I relaxed and smiled. That wasn't nearly as bad as what I had been thinking. She merely wanted to know what we were doing. For some reason we'd come to a sort of agreement that we wouldn't mention the fact that we were going to the ball together. I was glad because that meant that Katie wouldn't find out and possibly do something to Hermione. I didn't think she'd go that far, but the girl was kind of crazy.
"I was thinking I'd meet you in the common room. That's where a lot of blokes are meeting their dates. It was kind of just agreed upon, I'm not really sure why. Is that okay with you?" She let out a breath and gave me a big smile, one that was far happier than I'd seen her give recently.
"That's fine!" She said, her eyes sparkling in the fire light. "I'll be ready then." She stood up and smoothed her skirt down absentmindedly, bringing my attention to her wonderful legs once again. I forced myself to keep my gaze on her eyes though, repressing the urge to ogle her. "It's a date then." She finished. Her eyes grew wide and a blush lit her cheeks at her choice of words she mumbled something about goodbye before turning around and racing up the stairs to her dormitory.
A date with Hermione Granger. I didn't mind that idea at all.
Not that I liked her.
"Hey, Georgie." Fred's voice said behind my shoulder. I turned my head towards him and smiled up at Lee and Fred, "we need to see you in the dorm, new idea for a product."
"Sure." I said, closing my book and gathering up my papers.
"Were you just doing homework?" Lee asked. His eyes wide as he looked at me. I nodded my head.
"What else was there to do I've played a thousand games of exploding snap, I hate checkers and chess, and our cauldrons blew up."
"Yeah, but, homework?" I rolled my eyes and shouldered my bag. It wasn't that unusual. I did almost all of my homework. I like Charms, Arithmacy, and Potions. They were my three owls, and I needed them for the shop. Fred had Charms, Transfiguration, and Potions as well.
We went up to the bedroom and I dropped my bag on my bed, noting with a sense of annoyance, that Lee and Fred had gotten extremely quiet, never, ever, ever, a good sign with them-well, me either, but that's beside the point. I turned around slowly, dreading what I was about to see, and found Fred and Lee standing right behind me, arms crossed and equally mischievous smiles on their faces.
"Guys?" I asked slowly, no doubt sounding suspicious. They stepped towards me together, and both grabbed one of my arms, pushing me till I was sitting down on my bed.
"We need to talk, Georgie."
Bullocks.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Now, don't forget to review. If you've taken the time to alert, or especially favorite, this story, please take a little extra time to review it. I love hearing from you guys!
