A/N. Sorry about the delay! I've been preoccupied with The Trick of Time, as most of you know :)

The PolyPuzzle game in this chapter was, regrettably, not my idea. ALL credit for this wonderful little game is a very special reader and reviewer Mrs. Regulus Arcturus Black. So if you like that tidbit, send her a BIG thank-you messages and plenty of kudos!

I've decided to forgive March for every stupid thing he's ever done, because tonight I said, "I've been craving mint chocolate chip ice cream lately, isn't that weird?" And the first thing he did was pick up his keys and run to the store. The great thing is that he HATES mint choc. chip ice cream, so he did it JUST FOR ME! *squeals with happiness and shoves face with ice cream*

For every review, I am beyond grateful! Every word each of you have to say makes me smile and makes me even more eager to get writing.

...~oOo~...

Chapter Eight: Mix-Matched Madness

Fred saw that Hermione looked tired - exhausted, even. He wondered if maybe she'd stayed up late reading one of her books. Or perhaps she was still nervous about embarrassing herself again.

"Do you think Hermione is alright?" Fred asked his twin. "I mean, look at her. She looks like she's about to fall over."

George, who was never a morning person, and was exceptionally sleepy as well stirred his coffee thoughtfully. "I'm sure she's fine."

"Maybe a little light snogging with wake her up?"

George seemed very distracted, looking around. Fred assumed he was searching for Amy, who'd gone to get breakfast on her out. "Sure, sure," George murmured.

"Should I go talk to her?" Fred asked, sounding very conflicted.

"Well, considering she is your fake girlfriend, I don't see why not," George answered. "But then again, she's probably just... tired. Not everyone's a bloody ball of sunshine in the morning like your crazy arse."

"The early bird catches the world, my friend," Fred said with a grin. "Or perhaps its worm?"

"I dunno," George yawned. "But I know I'd rather have the world than a worm."

"Fair point, Georgie," Fred said, smacking his brother on the should twice before strolling towards Hermione. He said, "Hermione, I'm curious about a Muggle saying that George and I were discussing and -"

"Here's your tea," a voice smoothly cut in, setting a mug into Hermione's hands. "Mum said to make sure you got the first cup."

"Thanks, Bill," Hermione said with a grateful grin before the oldest Weasley boy then winked and walked away.

With furrowed brows, Fred inquired, "What was that?"

"What was what?"

"Bill doesn't wink... ever," Fred said. "Especially lately."

"Don't be silly, Fred," Hermione said with a roll of her eyes. "I'm sure Bill winks often. Anyway, he and I are becoming friends, I think."

"Okay," Fred said slowly. "But remember... you're my fake girlfriend." He slid his arms around her waist and kiss her cheek. "And I refuse to be in a fake triad with my brother. That's just weird."

Hermione couldn't help but laugh and pat Fred's arms twined around her affectionately. "I promise I won't make you perform fake incest."

"That doesn't mean I'll share you either."

Rolling her eyes. "You're quite passionate about our non-existant relationship."

"Well, I need practice for when it's a real relationship, love," he said, wagging his eyebrows and parting with a kiss to her forehead. "Now, excuse me while I stuff my face with bacon and crepes." And he pranced away dramatically like a gazelle.

"What was that supposed to mean?"

Hermione gave a little jump and turned to the source of the question. Harry was right behind her, bleary-eyed and messy-haired.

Hermione shrugged in response. "Just Fred being his usual flirtatious self."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked, raising one black brow. "Because he doesn't just flirt with you. He sounds more serious than that."

"Trust me," Hermione replied. "Fred still sees me as his little brother's wacky friend. No big deal."

...~oOo~...

It was around noon when there was a loud bell-ringing that filled the grounds of the Burrow. Flooding from the house came most of the family and the ones already outside strolled over to a tent set up in the yard. Under it was a table and lining this table were vials of a substance Hermione was very familiar with.

Why on earth were they going to do with Polyjuice Potion?

It was Bilius's turn to do the name-pulling and announcing. Apparently he and Mr. Weasley took turns hosting the games.

"Alright, kiddies," Bilius said with a broad grin. "This is called PolyPuzzle Palooza. It's very simple. There are two rounds. In the first round, each girl will drink one of the vials of Polyjuice and morph into one of the other girls. During which time the boys, of course, will be temporarily blinded and only be able to see once again when the girls have shuffled themselves and made their identities almost impossible.

"Then, you men, you will be able to ask a maximum of three questions over all, directed at a specific girl. To make this easy, the girls will wear numbers. The boy who figures out which bird is his first will receive a lovely ten points on the board. Then we will repeat the process in the second round, with the boys morphing and the girls guessing. The girl who picks out her bloke will also get ten points.

"Second place gets five for each round, third place will get one," Bilius concluded. "Understood?"

All the couples nodded, though Hermione got a tense feeling in her belly. Granted, she knew Bill, but not well enough to know who he was when he was in a different body. Then again, all she had to do was look for the sniggering fool making jokes at everything.

Amy looked at Hermione. "Can Muggles drink potions?"

"There's some debate about it in the potioneering world," Hermione said. "Certain potions are definitely intolerable for Muggles, but Polyjuice is supposed to be safe. Although, the effects are unpredictable and it won't last as long. But don't worry, Amy, I have everything you'd need in my bag if anything went wrong."

Amy visibly blanched, but nodded and put on a brave face before turning back to George and resting her head on his chest.

The girls all gathered under the tent as Bilius instructed. He said as the girls all collected, "Now, the questions you ask, boys, will be 'yes' or 'no' answers. And nothing as bloody idiotic as 'are you my girlfriend?', you got it?"

And then, with a snap of Bilius's fingers, the curtains dropped around the tent, masking the girls from all the boys' view.

...

Inside the red tent, Bilius told them all to pluck some hair and sprinkle it into one vial and then he scrambled them with a flick of his wand. Each girl picked one of the flasks and drank.

Of course, Hermione was prepared for the sour, rotten taste of the brew, but a few of the girls obviously weren't. Crystal Quimby and Percy's girlfriend Audrey both gagged and complained. Amy looked thoroughly shocked and greenish, but held it together while her features bubbled and changed into Pansy. Real Pansy drank the potion like she was used to gulping down foul-tasting liquids and changed into Crystal. Audrey changed into Hermione. And Hermione changed into Amy. Crystal morphed into Luna, who strangely enough, morphed into her.

It was all very confusing. But it came down to this:

Crystal was Luna.

Luna was Crystal.

Amy was Pansy.

Pansy was Crystal.

Audrey was Hermione.

Hermione was Amy.

As Hermione gnawed her lip, the curtains drew upward and the girls were all in different standing points than when they started.

The boys all looked at the girls, perplexed and nervous.

"Well... this is disconcerting," George said, causing a few girls and crowd members to giggles.

Fred nodded in agreement. To see your girlfriend only a few feet away but know it isn't her was, indeed... disconcerting.

Bilius's hand dug around in the old dusty top hat before drawing out a piece of paper. "Harry, my boy. You're up!"

Harry scanned the crowd of girls, each of which were holding up a little card with a number. He was looking for Luna's signature dreamy gaze in the cluster of women, but each of the girls looked a little confused and off-kilter and, knowing Luna, she was probably purposely acting out of the ordinary to throw him off.

He looked closely at the girl who looked like Hermione and asked, "Number Three... what is the origin of the Crumple-Horned Snorcack?"

Blinking, the woman said, "Excuse me?"

"Not you, I guess," Harry said. "Number Five -" the one who looked like Pansy "- what creature is known for stealing Luna's shoes?"

The girl giggled. "Um... gremlins?"

Harry's grin broadened. "Not you either. Can I save my last question?"

Bilius said, "Sure, just have to come back to you. Next up is... Auggie!"

Auggie, and then Ron, both wasted all three of their questions. The girls all had to remind themselves to act completely neutral, to not give any hints and make it fair. But Hermione could practically feel the heat coming off of Real Crystal, who must have been furious with her husband for being so stupid.

But much to Hermione's pleasant surprise, when George's name was called, all he did was smile and say, "Darling, I apologize you have to share the face of the pug-faced Slytherin. Number Five is my girl."

Fake Pansy's jaw dropped and then she laughed, "How'd you know?"

Bilius laughed and the crowd applauded. "Looks like we have our First Place!"

Ten points appeared on the board next to Amy and George's initials.

Amy, who still looked like Pansy, ran up to her boyfriend and squeezed him around the stomach tightly as the disguise melted off of her. Hermione had been right about the time flaws of Muggles taking Polyjuice Potion, but George looked relieved to not have Pansy wrapped around him like a pretzel and instead to have his real girl.

The next name pulled was Percy, who examined each girl critically before asking one question, to the girl who was really Crystal before requesting that they return to him later, like Harry.

"Next up..." Bilius said, pausing for effect. "Fred!"

Fred guffawed and said, "Please! The bird who looks like Percy's prude is Hermione. This game could not be any easier." He and his twin shared a high five.

"Hold on!" Real Hermione said, raising a hand. "I want to know, out of everyone, how the twins knew who their girls were!"

The rest of the crowd and contestants all joined in with choruses of, "Yeah!" and "Are you cheating?" or "Bloody hell?!"

The twins shrugged in unison. "Simple really," George said.

"Hermione has this terrible habit of biting her lower lip," Fred explained. "She'd been chewing at it since the start of the game."

"And Amy," George said, "looked incredibly uncomfortable and really intrigued by the shape of her body. Typical of a Muggle - she was fascinated."

Everyone made noises of understanding and what sounded like approval. Hermione, who was still looking like Audrey walked over to Fred and held his hand, squeezing it.

But Hermione couldn't help but secretly blush. Had he really noticed such little details about her? Or was it just that she bit her lip so often that it was obvious? But it was certainly nice, making a warm feeling in her chest, to be... noticed.

Unsurprisingly, the third place winner was Harry, because "Crystal" began swatting at her neighboring girl's head, muttering something about buzzing creatures. The Wrackspurt gave it away. So Harry and Luna, having won the Gnome Flinging, was now up a total of eleven points. George and Amy had ten. Hermione and Fred had five.

Next up to drink the Polyjuice were... the boys!

As Hermione's disguise disintegrated and the boys took their positions in the tent, Hermione's heart was stuttering. She may be good at puzzles... but she wasn't sure if she was good at Person Puzzles.

...~oOo~...

A/N. I know this chapter is a bit short, and I'm sorry. But I have a lot of fun planned for the next one!

Challenge: 1. Favorite part and line? 2. Who do you think will win round two? 3. How do you like the Polyjuice Puzzle game? 4. Any good questions the girls can ask?

~ So Long And Thanks For All The Fish ~