(Sorry! Missing post! Just imagine what he would say. :) (Will be filled in soon))
Hermione slowly slid Fred's hand off of her shoulder, not fully aware of why she was doing so. She smiled wryly and nodded. "Of course, off to the hospital wing. But I'm still worried sick that I'm going to be punished, that or the game will be cancelled tomorrow. That would be horrifying..."
Her brown eyes darted around once in a very odd way, and she held her broken hand in her well one. This was turning out all very wrong, and she didn't like any of what had happened one bit.
Maybe later she would look back and laugh at it.
Or maybe not.
(Sorry! Missing post! Just imagine what he would say. :) (Will be filled in soon))
Hermione nodded and started walking up the lawn. It was quite frustrating, everything that had happened, but strangely amusing inside all the same.
She had blown up a bludger.
– Not just that, but she had blown up a bludger because it was chasing her.
– She had been chased, by a bludger, down the Quidditch pitch, on a broom for her first time, then she had jumped OFF of the broom into the snow, gotten HIT by the bludger, and blown it into a thousand tiny pieces.
This brought a sudden realization to the pain throbbing through her right hand. It was in immense pain and looking very dark red and purple.
Hermione held it in her left hand gingerly and realized that she had left Fred in the snow.
"S-sorry," She said, turning to look at him. "Come on then..."
Fred sighed and shook his head, and soon was trumping after Hermione. He lowered his eyes to watch the snow and ice crunch under his shoes for a little while, thinking back on what had just happened, until he caught up with her.
"Well, Hermione," he began cautiously, eyeing her with a tentative smile. "I don't think you'll be forgetting your first ride on a broom any time soon."
He decided not to mention that she'd make a wicked beater, if only she had a club, and NOT a wand. All in all, he was still very impressed by that explosion. She looked very fine on that broom when she was flying for her life, and her quick thinking definitely served her well and saved her from even worse injuries. 'Course, he decided to leave these compliments for later, when she was more in the mood to hear them.
"I agree," Hermione breathed as they reached the stone steps that led up to the castle. She tried to move the fingers in her broken hand, but it was throbbing so badly - and so bruised up, that moving it would have been as easy as willingly letting herself be bashed off a broom in the middle of air.
But even though it was absurd, Hermione suddenly realized that if she could – without knowing the consequences – ... she would almost definitely go back up into the air, and get chased to the ground by a bludger all over again. It was one of the highlights of the day, and what made spending time with Fred so exciting.
In a horrifying, not- knowing-what- was-going-to- happen sort of way.
"So we'll go to the hospital wing, and after I get healed up go tell Madam Hooch about it, right..."
Her voice trailed off at the end, leaving it as a question of course, but still – Hermione was not looking forward to telling the teacher that she had blown up a bludger.
"You know, I think you should just leave Hooch to me," Fred suggested. "I could nab her when you're still in the healing wing, and tell her that George and I busted it by accident while we were practicing. I'm sure George'll go along with it."
He nodded to himself. Even if they weren't on best of terms at the moment, he felt confident that his brother'll be on his side in a moment. They could even claim that they were trying to bewitch it, and their spell backfired - at this point they'd get nothing more than a slap on the wrist, at best, if it didn't reach Umbridge's ears.
"And if Pomfrey asks what happened, you could just say it went after you when you were watching us."
A perfectly plausible excuse. He was sure he could pull it off without any hitches, as long as someone had not actually seen what happened between them - and he definitely had not seen anyone in that pitch except for Hermione and himself.
"I don't know," said Hermione skeptically, now feeling warmer once they had gone inside the halls of the castle. "To lie - like that?"
Truthfully, underneath – she was panicked. Maybe Fred would be suspicious that she didn't want to lie, because the real reason she didn't was that – someone may have seen what happened.
The person who she had seen and wondered why he was out there watching them may have stayed to watch, and that person might even squeal on her and Fred if they lied.
But Fred didn't know this, and wouldn't find it peculiar in the slightest that Hermione wouldn't want to lie – because she was, well. -- Hermione.
Or would he?
Hermione may be Hermione, but why would she turn down a perfectly good alibi? His brow furrowed perplexedly at her. She didn't want to be punished, did she? He knew very well that when it came to lying to professors Hermione was definitely sketchy about it at best, and probably would have given him a lecture about it otherwise, but this time hesitating to do so seemed even a little bit ridiculous.
"To lie – like that – would be purely self defense. Come on, Hermione. There's no proof that we did anything otherwise. Do you WANT to be suspended?"
He couldn't have asked a more absurd question even if he had asked a niffler if it wanted a fistful of gold. He stuffed his hands into his pockets, eyes set on Hermione as he waited for an answer. He, after all, had seen and heard nobody – he had no reason to believe that there had been anyone in the Pitch at all.
"Of course I don't want to be suspended, Fred. But like you said, it was just self defense. –– Why can't we just ––..." Hermione bit her lip and avoided Fred's gaze. "Why can't we just... tell them the truth? You went out to go practice for the game tomorrow, and I was flying too – and the bludger chased me, and since I didn't know what to do, never having been on a broom before – I did whatever I could to not get my head broken off? It would work, wouldn't it??"
She tried with all her might to keep her voice steady, as if this were the easiest option in the world – but if Fred disagreed then there would be a few problems.
The Weasley twin blinked at her several times, trying to put some sense to what he was hearing.
The... truth. Hermione wanted him to tell...
The truth.
He blinked again, scowled, and scratched his head as if he just couldn't understand the concept or use of such a thing. Not only did she want him to tell the truth – but she wanted him to tell the truth when it could get them into trouble, if Hooch was in a particularly sour mood about what happened.
"Er... well – I – well... I suppose we could, but..."
He shook his head with a sigh. He ran his fingers through his hair and cast a look about him at the hall, wondering if there would be anyone to overhear them.
"It would be a mistake, Hermione," he mumbled at last – morally, of course they were obligated to tell the truth, but he had never before hesitated to use a lie when it could cover their arses. "But why are so against it? What harm could a single lie do?"
"Someone might have seen us," Hermione said quickly, eyes wide as they walked. She would never tell Fred what she saw until her dying day, but it might have shone through her face, (being awful at lying) so she looked away and tried to focus on a statue down the hall.
"You never know. And if that certain someone saw us, then that someone could tell on us and we'd be in even worse rubbish than before." She knew she had spoken too fast. Why was she so terrible at lying? She'd prefer some other curse other than this one, for it was really getting on her nerves.
At this, Fred finally stopped short. If he were not carrying both brooms, he probably would have crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her – instead he just settled on narrowing his eyes. If there wasn't something fishy about this whole situation, then he was Neville's toad.
"Is there something about this that you're not telling me?" he asked bluntly. "Was someone watching us just before, Hermione?"
Okay, it was a bit unsettling to think that there could have been someone there, watching them – but if Hermione knew about it and didn't tell him – well, that would just be a lot creepier. He lifted his eyebrows slightly as he waited for an answer, and would have even tapped his foot if he wanted to make her chuckle, but he was very serious at the moment. Everything she was saying thus far was suspicious, and even if Hermione was a bit distracted by pain right now, her arguments were ridiculous and unfounded.
Hermione turned to Fred and her worried look dropped at once. There he was – standing in front of her with brooms by his side and his eyes positively hawklike.
How dare he get irritated with her! She just didn't want them to get in trouble!
"Fred!" She said angrily, brown eyes narrowing as well. "I just don't want us to get in trouble for telling a lie – when we could get off easily by telling the truth? What's wrong with that?"
She herself knew perfectly well that she was avoiding the question Fred had asked her – but if you were in her position, wouldn't you want to avoid it too?
"I don't know Hermione!" he very nearly shouted. "What is wrong with that!?"
His heart was beating very quickly, and he was steadily becoming more and more annoyed, to the point where his mood could be justified as downright angry. This thing had been blown way out of proportion, and he believed that Hermione could not have POSSIBLY picked any less appropriate words for her defense. He didn't even think of lowering his voice or trying to settle this quietly - it was mere animal instinct to return sharp words with some of his own.
"If you would just tell ME the truth, we wouldn't have this problem in the first place now, would we?"
Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing. It sent an odd nasty pang through her stomach when Fred yelled at her, so, beginning to panic she shouted right back, "FINE Fred – if you /really/ must know –– yes." She was breathing quickly now, and her heart was racing. Anger was not something she liked, but at Fred's actions, she most certainly was.
There. She had said it. She had told him.
"YES there was someone there whom I saw, YES someone was out there, and YES that someone may have seen!" Like Fred, she didn't trouble to lower her voice.
Fred was going to snap back with something along the lines of: "Well WHO the bloody hell WAS it?" But the reality, apparently, hit him, and all he got out was:
"Well wh--"
He realized that this probably wasn't the very best thing to ask, no matter how the question burned in him. He did get what he wanted, after all. Was it right of him to simply go with the momentum and possibly push her over the edge? Flabbergasted, he simply gaped at Hermione for several seconds. For once, he was completely speechless. He realized now that he was supposed to confess to Hooch, whether it would mean eating crow or not. And he didn't like it. Especially since it was all thanks to Hermione's nameless stalker.
Hermione didn't know why Fred stopped talking, and frankly, didn't care.
She was extremely irritated at the moment, and also confused as to why she actually was.
"What? What Fred –– does that /bother/ you?" She asked sharply, staring at him. "That someone was watching and I didn't inform you of it? You seemed like you feel betrayed enough!"
"What, Hermione, do you WANT me to feel betrayed!?" he demanded, his anger kindled once more. "Is that what you want? Fine, well, FINE! You have it!"
He took a step closer to her, his eyes blazing furiously.
"WHO was out there?" he was beyond the point of shouting, and spoke in a low, growling tone. He flung his free hand behind him to point accusingly down the direction they came. "WHY was he watching us? WHY do you think he would snitch on us? And WHY the bloody hell didn't you tell me?"
He let out a frustrated snarl and backed away. He was getting sick and tired of being lied to; even Hermione was only lying by omission. How could their day turn out like this?
"You can distrust me all you want, Hermione, but I want a reason for it, damn it!"
"It's not YOU I distrust!" Hermione shouted back, very well near tears, but not quite yet. Anger was more at the moment. "I distrust /me/!"
Yelling at Fred made an unpleasant feeling settle in her stomach that she didn't like one bit. She raised her hand once and let it flop back down by her side. "You're the ONLY person I trust more than Ron and Harry, Fred – but there are some things you just /can't know/! Do you HAVE to know everything? NO! I can keep certain things to myself if I want, thank you very much! And it doesn't really /matter/ if Draco Malfoy was dow—"
Hermione stopped suddenly and her eyes widened. She had just said something that she terribly did not want to say.
Her hand flew to her mouth and she took a step backward, horrified.
What would Fred think now?
"DRACO!?"
He could not help it - he shouted it before he could think twice about it, and afterwards he gaped at Hermione with a wildly incredulous look. He thought this all was very unfair. He would have liked to point out the fact that it was she who made him go on at the first place, and it wasn't right for her to accuse him of sticking his nose where it didn't belong, but this whole new development stopped him in his tracks.
Malfoy. Fred couldn't believe it, and yet, oddly enough, part of him could. Fred grit his teeth to keep from shouting something further, smoldering as he stared at the very shocked girl in front of him.
"How am I supposed to respond to THAT, then?" he asked in an undertone. "Turn my back and pretend I didn't hear it? I mean, it's not my right to know these things, after all, though I WOULD like to know why the slimy little bag of --"
He scowled, and trailed off, deciding it probably was best not to finish that sentence.
Hermione sighed and knew it was over. She could never keep going like this without telling Fred.
Breathing quickly, she looked at him with her narrowed yet still angrily sparking eyes. "Remember the letter I hid from you awhile back?" She said slowly, trying hard not to blink. It would be difficult telling Fred this.
And wait! –– Right before the Quidditch game? Was that entirely wise for her to do?
Maybe she would promise to tell Fred Sunday, after the Quidditch match so he could focus on playing and not about the letter she had received from Draco. Yes – that would be best.
"It was from Draco Fred –– and now I know you'll be dying to know what it is and probably hate me for this – but if I promise to my very grave to tell you Sunday what it is, will you not be angry with me and focus on winning the game tomorrow? Because I know it'll distract you..."
After that answer, Fred was absolutely sure that he would have preferred Hermione not telling him anything at all. He groaned and turned his eyes upwards, as if turning to heaven for patience, but he did not find much inspiration from the ceiling. Then he tried closing his eyes and counting to ten. He heard someone say once that it was a good way to keep your temper. He noticed vaguely that he was not very angry anymore, just about as exasperated as a person can be. But it was all no use. He was still just as astonished and flabbergasted as before.
"Hermione..." he said calmly, patiently, lowering his eyes to set an even gaze on her. "You do realize that there is absolutely nothing that can distract me more than /not/ knowing what is in that letter?"
"Fred," Hermione said sternly, realizing the same thing Fred had at that moment – that she was not angry any more. "– knowing what was in the letter will do nothing but distract you so much that seeing Draco would make you /fall off your broom/. I assure you."
She was not exaggerating. – She was Hermione, of course she wouldn't exaggerate. What was in the letter was really /that/ confusing and distracting. "You'll find out on Sunday, when there are no classes – and just a relaxing day where we can talk the entire time and catch up on essays we've missed..."
Well, the last part of the sentence really wouldn't make Fred happier, so she quickly added, "– Or just laze about the lake and forget about studies for a few hours. Really. I'll tell you everything then."
(Sorry! Missing post! Just imagine what he would say. :) (Will be filled in soon))
Hermione nodded slowly. She didn't like fighting with Fred – and officially decided it at that moment.
Who would like fighting with someone you care about?
She smiled wryly at him, said, "Okay. I'll see you later I guess..." With one last glance, she turned and began down the hall, feeling somber and ashamed with herself for thinking she could yell at him.
