Chapter 11

Life continued, as normal for most people, but for me, I was in heaven. It seemed, now that George and I had started dating, I spent less time alone in the library, and more time in the common room. Don't get me wrong, I still studied the same amount, and the boys teased me good naturedly about it, but I was no longer alone. George would sit beside me at a table in the corner, with his arm swung across my shoulders r on my knee, and he, Fred, and Lee would talk or study like normal. On some occasions they would play a game or work on products and I would join in, or offer an opinion every now and again.

It became a sort of game to try and surprise them with ideas that would upset Umbridge. Most of the time they weren't too good, but every so often I would shock the three, Fred would clutch his heart dramatically, Lee would say that I was on the right track and George would add some flirting comment or another.

Fred and Lee took the news well when we finally announced it. In retrospect it really wasn't the way I would have told them, and I was extremely anger when it did come out.

"George, no, not tonight." I hissed to him, and he just grinned down at me. "I'm serious."

"Oh come on, Love. What's wrong with tonight? Now seems like a good time, besides, I'm almost certain Fred's got people betting about us, and I don't want to disappoint." He winked at me, and I placed my face in my palms.

"Does it have to be so public?" I asked and he sighed. He shook his head sadly and then smiled.

"Fine I won't do it tonight, besides there's a game tomorrow, don't want to throw everyone off their game." He finally said, smiling at me in a way I knew he wasn't angry, and I sagged against him. I threw a quick glance around the room before going up on tiptoes and kissing the edge of his jaw, the only thing I could really reach due to his height. He beamed at me, and bent his head so I could actually kiss him. He hummed a bit against my lips and I drew back a bit to look at him.

"What?" I asked, blushing a bit, and he wound his arm around my waist.

"Despite the furtive glance around the room, I think that's the first time you've actually instigated a snog." He said, with a cheeky grin, and I elbowed him lightly in the side, before going to our normal table. Happy that nothing was going to happen.

The night passed by like every other, and as I was leaving George passed me a bit of parchment. In the safety of my room I read it and smiled.

I haven't told the world yet, but I will soon,

in the meantime, I am going to tell Fred and Lee.

Hope you don't mind too terribly.

Fondly Yours,

GW

I was surprised that he hadn't told yet, but didn't mind in the slightest that he told the tw, it wouldn't cause too much trouble. Or so I thought.

At the game the next day, between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, Lee was announcing as per his usual. There were flirty comments to the female players, which McGonagall got angry over, the "accidently" saying the players name wrong, which McGonagall also got angry over, and his normal jokes and exuberance.

It wasn't until halfway through the game that George hit a bludger and it sailed across the field and through a goalpost, rather spectacularly, and Lee commented along the lines of, "and there goes a twin, with an amazing shot through the hufflepuff goal, too bad it doesn't count as points. Not sure which twin, mind you, but hopefully its the single one!" his attention was then diverted to Cho, the Hufflepuff seeker, who was darting around, though the snitch was nowhere in sight. I played his comment off and went back to the game.

Only about ten minutes later Fred managed a spectacular dodge from a bludger, and managed to hit it back to the hufflepuff beater. Lee piped up again, "and there, another spectacular move by one of the Weasley Twins, must not be George though, because Granger doesn't seem overly worried." I gasped, knowing those closest to us would put two and two together and get it, and tried not to murder Lee with my eyes.

It was close to forty minutes later when I finally left, mortified. Fred again dodged a bludger, but didn't manage to hit it back and it caused him to lose temporary control of his broom. He dropped a good fifty feet before swing back up. Lee cried loudly into his magical mega phone, "and He's back up! Good thing too! Fred's got no one to play nurse for him, if you know what I mean, and I doubt Granger has time to nurse her George back to health." McGonagall smacked the back of his head for this, and almost everyone near me turned to stare finally putting all of Lee's comments together. I sent what I hoped was a terrifying glare at Lee before standing up and rushing off.

The cat was officially out of the bag.

I shook my head at the memories, smiling at how sweetly George kissed me that night, and how angry he was to his longtime friend. The blow up was spectacular. When the team finally made it back for their party I was safely hiding in my room. It took George coming up and banging on the door for me to finally leave my room, after sending two of my roommates back with a firm no.

"Hermione, please! Just come out." He shouted through the wood, his fist stopping its frantic banging for a moment before continuing. I stalked to the door and wrenched it open, careful to avoid a knocking fist to the face, before crossing my arms and staring at my impossibly tall boyfriend. He looked shocked for just a minute before he brushed tears off my check and stepping closer.

"What?" I attempted to snarl, but it came out quiet.

"I punched him. Pretty hard too." He replied and I gazed at him confused. He ran his hand through his hair, even though it looked like he had already done so repeatedly. "I told the two last night, that we agreed to go out, and then I told them we weren't ready to tell everyone yet, and that it was our decision. They agreed and so I thought that was that. I really didn't know he would say those things. So when we got back to the room Fred stared at Lee a little flabbergasted and, well, I punched him." He recounted and I just stared a bit.

"You punched Lee? For me?" I asked, a bit incredulously. He again ran his hand though his already crazy hair, a gesture I was starting to understand meant he was either upset or confused.

"Of course, Lee's my best mate, but well, you're my… girlfriend." He said, his last word almost whisper quiet, and his ears turning a brilliant scarlet. I smiled at him then, glad we finally had a label, and hugged him. I kissed his jaw, still the only thing I would reach, and then buried my face in his chest. He cleared his throat and then held out his arm. "So, will you join me in the victory celebration?" he asked, and I nodded.

"Hermione!" Lee cried when I finally made it down. His jaw had a nice sized egg on it and was already bruising something nasty. I held up a hand, stopping Lee from continuing and stared at him for a minute. He closed his mouth and waited.

"That was mean, what you did. It wasn't yours to tell, and you did so anyway, to make people laugh no less. It hurt. I wanted to be able to tell the people close to me first, before the school found out, and I didn't get that. And it might not be a big deal for you, but it was for me. We trusted you with our secret, I trusted you Lee! And you went and told the school." I cried, frustrated at him. His shoulders slumped, and his frown got bigger.

"I am so sorry. Merlin, I am sorry. I didn't, well I did, I just didn't realize it was such a big deal. You've gotta know I wouldn't have said anything if I would have realized how much it would hurt you. 'Mione, I really didn't mean to upset you or hurt your feelings, honest." He said in a rush and gave him a small smile.

"I know," I sighed, reaching out to grab his arm, "just think next time, yeah?"

"Wait," he said, his head shooting up, "you aren't gonna hex me or punch me or tell me to leave you alone?" he asked.

"Uh," I paused, to look at the twins before turning my attention back to the dark skinned boy in front of me. "Am I supposed to do any of those things, because I can. I have punched Malfoy before, pretty hard, but uh, I wasn't planning to do any of those things." I added, quite confused, and Lee just stared at me a second before rushing forward to hug me. I hugged him back, surprised, and grinned back at him once he released me.

"You are, by far, the nicest person on the face of the planet." Fred grumbled and I just grinned. "You couldn't punch him, or slap him or something?" he asked, a slight whine to his voice and I laughed at him.

"He apologized, he meant it, and he didn't say anything maliciously. I have no reason to do anything. But just know," I said, narrowing my eyes a bit, "that I could, if I was so inclined. You best not actually piss me off." George laughed as his twin and best friend paled a bit, before kissing my temple.

"Thanks Hermione," Lee said and I reached out to squeeze his arm again. He threw me an odd look, opened his mouth a few times, gulped and then seemed to make up his mind. "So, you actually punched the ferret?" I laughed at him before accepting a butterbeer and joining the party with the three boys."

Surprisingly, Lee had become a close friend, and if I couldn't find George to talk to, Lee seemed happy to put up with my company. He'd taken to calling me kitten, something I didn't like at first, but couldn't fault his logic, and really didn't mind it now. He argued, when I told him to stop, that I was a little spitfire, looking all cute and harmless, but then I pounce. I pointed out his extreme dislike towards cats and he laughed, pointing out that it had taken five years to get to where we were now.

We were sitting down together, the twins off to mail out some letters, arguing good naturedly over little things, content to sit and enjoy our new found friendship. It was a rare moment of calm in the storm that the year had become, and we were more than happy to spend it in friendship.

AN: Not much going on in this chapter, some fluff, some friendship, some angst. I feel a bit guilty over the lack of posts and I'm trying hard to post more frequently, especially since I start class again in a week.

Hope you enjoy! please review, favorite, and follow.

Much Love!