A/N- Oh laptop, sweet laptop… How I've missed you. XD Sorry for the wait, but here's the chapter! Enjoy!

Chapter 26: Morning, Wood!

Oh Merlin, my head hurt. The pain had spread out to my entire head and it was agonizing. My eyes were watering and I was pacing the dorm, willing the throbbing to go away. Fred was sitting on his bed, watching me. He had discarded his wet shirt and didn't bother putting on another one since neither of us planned on going to Charms.

"I can't wait until the holiday, then we'll have two weeks of not having to deal with this," I said through gritted teeth. Fred nodded. We only had two weeks until the Holidays, then we could go home for two weeks. I didn't say anything else, I just rubbed the back of my head in hopes of making it stop hurting. My eyes fell on Fred. He was looking at me with an odd expression on his face, like he was deciding something. He motioned for me to go over to him. I obliged, and sat down next to him on his bed. He smiled at me and began playing with my hair. I chuckled. "What are you doing?" I inquired. He shook his head, pursed his lips, and began playing with my tie next. I knit my eyebrows, an amused smile on my face. He moved to my shoulder, and gripped the fabric of my sleeve. Then, he pulled me toward him.

And he kissed me. And I kissed him back. And when we pulled back, he hugged me. And that hug contained too much raw emotion for me to even begin to comprehend. And I just about died.

"I love you," he mouthed. I like to think he just whispered it really quietly.

"I love you too," I replied. I didn't ask any of the questions burning in the back of my mind. I knew it would ruin this God-given moment. He just looked at me, amused.

O*O*O*O*O*O*

Fast forward to the next day, day four. My head no longer hurt, but there was a decent sized lump on the back of my head. Damn floor, being all hard and whatnot. Anyway, that morning at breakfast when the mail came swooping in, as per usual, a large tawny owl settled itself between Fred and I, a scroll tied to its leg.

"Well hello there," I said to the owl as I untied the scroll. "You're too big to be Pig, and too smart to be Errol… Who could you be?" Once the owl was free of its burden, it took off. I unrolled the scroll. It was addressed to both Fred and I, and written in freakishly neat writing. I held it between us so we could both read it.

Dear Fred and George,

I haven't seen the two of you since Quidditch finals last year, so I figured I'd drop in to see you. Angelina told me that tomorrow is a Hogsmeade weekend, so why don't we meet up at the Three Broomsticks at one o'clock? Tell Angelina, Katie, Alicia and Harry too. Hope to see you lot there.

Sincerely,

Oliver Wood

I raised my eyebrows upon reading the letter. Wood had some scary neat handwriting for a bloke.

I was skeptical about accepting his invitation. He had been off doing professional Quidditch training (not that he needed it) and Merlin only knows that he would be back and big-headed as ever. Then again, it would probably be a good time. Wood was of age, which meant he could buy firewhiskey, and that would, of course, lead to a good afternoon. I'd seen Wood when he was drunk. I don't quite remember too many of the instances, since I was just as drunk as he was each of those times, but I remember he's ten times cooler when he's Plastered. I looked to Fred for his input. He shrugged and gave me a look that said "why not?" With that, I relayed the information to Harry, who was across from me, and shouted it to Angelina, Alicia, and Katie, who were at the other end of the table.

First lesson of the day was Charms. We entered the classroom and were immediately put to doing "Avifors" non-verbally. Fred of course was the first to do it correctly, his thread spools successfully becoming small yellow finches. Once done, he immediately used "Finite Incantatum" to return the finches to spools before repeating the process. It seemed effortless on his part. A good half of the class had come to class prepared with Spell-O-Tape over their mouths to keep themselves from talking. I didn't really see why people were so tempted to talk. Doing spells non-verbally was easier because you didn't have to bother opening your mouth, and it gave you a split-second advantage in combat.

Eventually Flitwick told Fred he could take a break because he was doing so well, and muttered something about Hermione becoming contagious... I took the liberty of telling myself I could stop as well since I was able to do it most times I tried. We looked around the room. There were several people who were doing fairly well (Angelina and some Ravenclaws), and some who were doing… well, piss poor (Lee and Jilani).I was tempted to go tease Lee, but Jilani was too close to him for me to want to risk it. So I just sat back and watched.

History of Magic held no interest, as usual, and we had a quiet day in Potions, studying the properties of moonstone. Of course we had a twelve inch essay to do over the weekend. Soon enough, the day threw us into the last lesson of the day, Transfiguration.

"Good afternoon, students," McGonagall addressed us formally. "It has finally come to the point in the curriculum where it's time to teach the more serious transfigurations. As much as it pains me to say," McGonagall looked pointedly at me and Fred, "It's time to learn about Animangus Transformations." An audible gasp arose from the room. I glanced at Fred, who was grinning madly. "We will not be attempting any actual transformations in this class, but we will be heavily studying how to do so." My face fell when she said we wouldn't be transforming in class, but hey, she never said we couldn't do it outside of class.

The first thing McGonagall had to say on the matter was that an Animangus is not related to a Metamorphmangus. She said a Metamorphmangus can morph single features, but Animangi morph completely, not to mention that no one is born an Animangus (Metamorphmangi are born into it), you study up and learn to become one. Apparently it's quite difficult to do, which I believe, otherwise everyone would be one. At the end of class, McGonagall gave us all little hand-outs about Animangus transformation. I folded mine up and put it in my back pocket.

"What are you thinking?" Lee asked as he fitted himself in between Fred and I after we left the class. I smiled. Well… I think 'smirked', would be a better description. I unintentionally smirked. "I know that look, c'mon, whatcha thinking?"

"Exactly what you think I'm thinking," I said merrily.

"I take it you'll be in the library then?"

"Yes, my dear sir. Yes we will," I said, sharing a devious look with Fred.

"Have fun with that then," Lee laughed.

"Oh I intend to," I said, giving him the widest grin I could manage. Lee shook his head, chuckling, and headed up the stairs to the fourth floor.

We entered the library and began walking back toward the bookshelves when something, or rather, someone, caught my eye; A head of bushy brown hair, indicating that Hermione was present. Hmmm… She was early today. Interesting. She was sitting by herself at a table. She didn't have any homework or books to read. She was just sitting there. Temptation overcame me and I pulled Fred along as I approached the table. I plopped down across from Hermione, Fred following suit. I know we startled her because she jumped, and her eyes bugged out.

"George! Fred! What are you doing here? In a library? Are you following me?" she asked manically. Er, can you say 'paranoid'?

I noticed that she switched our names. People always call us 'Fred and George', in that order. It's alphabetical I suppose, but Hermione switched it. It sounded strange. I'm guessing she did it because I've been doing all the talking, but even so, I didn't like it. I felt like I was stealing something from Fred, even though I wasn't even the one to say it. It was unintentional, I'm sure, but it kind of hurt.

"Oh Granger, why do you always assume we're up to something?" I asked, innocently.

"Because you're always up to something," she replied flatly.

"Well not today, my dear girl. Today, we're here to study."

"I highly doubt that."

"I know, I know, it's hard to believe. Fred and I willingly stepping foot in a library, to study, of all things. But it's true, I assure you. We are here to study Animangus transformation," I said smartly.

"Oh, really?" Hermione raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Are you planning to become one?"

"Dunno. Depends on what we read, I suppose," I shrugged.

"Well have fun then," Hermione said. Before I could tell her I planned to have lots of fun, Krum and that Finnick bloke sauntered up to the table. I will admit, Finnick is better looking up close.

"Well hello there," I said in a deep manly American accent. "How are you on this fine afternoon?"

After looking at me strangely for about seven seconds, Finnick said, "Hermi-no-ny, who is this ginger?"

"That's just George," Hermione said in a tired voice, rubbing her forehead.

"Oh Merlin, there's another one…" Krum eyed us suspiciously.

"That's Fred, George's twin," Hermione explained. "They were just leaving to study up on something," she added through gritted teeth.

I smirked. "Oh no, no. I'd much rather stay and talk with you three," I said, grinning widely at Hermione, who looked ready to punch me.

"And I would much rather you fell off the Astronomy tower," she whispered viciously. "Go!"

"Just out of curiosity, is this why you haven't been showing up to dinner?" I asked, feigning sincerity. Hermione's cheeks flamed red and she gave me the ultimate death glare.

"Go. Away. Now!" Her eye was now twitching. I ignored her and turned my attention to Finn.

"Finnick, is it?" I asked, knowing full well it was. Finnick nodded slowly. "Right, well, I'm not sure Hermione likes you much. Seems to me she's enthralled with Viktor over here. But she's easily persuadable, so you should have no trouble," I said, and patted him on the shoulder. Fred and I made to get on with our studying, but Hermione's death glare told me she didn't even want to be on the same floor as me, so we left her to whatever she was doing.

Hermione was actually present at dinner. That's probably why she was in the library early. She didn't sit with Fred, Ron, Harry, Ginny, and I as usual though. She pointedly gave me the stink eye, then sat at the end of the table with Neville, Dean, and Seamus.

Draco was sitting with us today too. On Harry's lap. Pointedly wiggling around. It was a lovely sight to have right in front of me while I was eating.

"So, Harry, the second task is coming up in less than a week. You ready, mate?" I asked. Harry shrugged indifferently.

"C'mon mate, you got this," Ron patted his shoulder. "You're gonna get first place, then just one task left after that."

"You're making it sould like the easiest thing in the world, Ron," Harry sighed. Ron shrugged.

"Just trying to give you some support," he said.

"Which I appreciate," Harry said, and smiled weakly. Draco slid his arm around Harry's shoulders and gave him a reassuring squeeze.

After dinner, we all ambled out of the Great Hall, doing our best not to be trampled by everyone.

"You coming Harry?" I asked, referring to going up to the common room.

"Nah, I'm gonna spend a few hours with Draco," he said.

"He owes me, since he's going to be off with you two tomorrow at Hogsmeade," Draco pointed out.

"Fair enough," I said. "See you later, Harry, Draco." I was hoping that I would be able to harass Hermione, but of course she was headed back to the library. I'll get her… Later.

O*O*O*O*O*O*

"Where the bloody hell is my left shoe?"

I searched around the entire dorm, twice, but I couldn't find my shoe. We had ten minutes until everyone left for Hogsmeade, and Fred and I were dangerously close to missing because I couldn't find my ever elusive shoe. Sure, we could just go through one of the passages if we were late, but of course, it would seem we were up to something, and if we were lucky, Snape would catch us. After a few more minutes of searching, with the help of Fred, I found it wedged between two books on the dusty bookshelf that no one ever uses. Clever, clever shoe, hiding where I wouldn't think to look. "How the hell did it get there?" I asked myself. I shook my head and put the shoe on. After booking it to the Entrance Hall, we left with the rest of the students to Hogsmeade.

We had some time to kill before one, so we browsed Zonko's for a bit.

When one o'clock came, we headed to the Three Broomsticks, meeting up with Harry, Angelina, Katie, and Alicia. We all entered, and immediately saw Wood. He was sitting at a big square table waiting for us. He had even ordered us butterbeers already. What a guy. Fred and I sat across from him, Harry and Alicia sat next to him, and Angelina and Katie sat of the two empty sides of the table.

"Morning, Wood," I greeted once we were all settled in.

"It's afternoon, actually," Wood corrected me.

"I know," I smirked. He rolled his eyes at my innuendo, along with the females of our little group. Harry and Fred grinned.

"Immature as ever I see," Wood said, but smiled nonetheless.

"But of course. What kind of Weasley would I be if I was mah-too-er?" Everyone laughed, though I think it was more of a snort coming from the girls.\

"Touché," Wood laughed, "How've you all been?" A chorus of good's and great's arose from us, minus Fred. Angelina launched into telling him about her academic achievements and how she might be head girl next year. I stifled my yawn. Katie and Alicia talked about the Yule Ball, using words like "Glamorous", "Beautiful", and "Magical", but slyly leaving out the part about Fred and I. Harry talked briefly about the Tri-Wizard Tournament and the result of the first task, and the clue for the second task. I, of course, told the story of how Fred and I tried to enter, and talked about our trick wands. We ate up about two hours talking about all this, and each of us had drunk three more butterbeers, courtesy of our former Quidditch captain. I find it pretty wicked that you can drink for of those and end up only slightly tipsy.

Ginny approached us with a butterbeer in hand about five minutes after I finished telling my story.

"Hey," she said, and nodded her greeting to everyone. "What are you up to?"

"Just talking, sis," I said. "Come and sit with us." She obliged and pulled over a chair to sit next to Harry.

"So how's it going in Puddlemere?" Harry asked Wood.

"Pretty good so far," he replied happily.

"You play for Puddlemere United?" Ginny asked in awe. "They're really good."

"I'm only training with them right now, but if I'm lucky, I'll be their new Keeper starting next season," Wood explained.

"You must be really great," Ginny smiled. Oh, Merlin.

"No, Ginny, he's absolute rubbish," I deadpanned. "Of course he's great! He's bloody fantastic!"

Wood smiled. "I'm not really that fantastic," he said modestly. "Just because I was a great captain doesn't-"

"Woah woah woah, lets not push it…" I laughed. Wood rolled his eyes but laughed along.

"Fred, you haven't said a word," Wood pointed out. Ginny's face fell and I stopped laughing. "Are you alright?" he asked. Fred and I looked at each other.

"It's a long story," I said quietly.

"I've got time," he said, sitting back.

"Well we don't," Angelina mentioned. "Look, everyone is heading back." She was right; all the Hogwarsts students were filing back to the castle.

"Well go then, goody-two-shoes," I teased. "We'll be back later."

"You're going to get in trouble…" Katie said. I waved the notion away. She shrugged, and stood up and left with Angelina and Alicia. Once they were gone, Wood sat up.

"Right, now that they've gone, how about some Firewhiskey?" he asked, grinning. "The butterbeer isn't really doing it for me." Fred and I nodded, grinning madly. Wood called for Madame Rosemerta. She approached our table.

"What can I get you boys? And girl?" she added upon seeing Ginny.

"Three rounds of Firewhiskey shots, please," he requested. Rosemerta raised her eyebrows, and looked around the table.

"For each of you?" she inquired.

"Yes ma'am, on me," he assured her.

After a moment she said, "You lot are lucky he is of age," with a bemused smile. With that, she went off to get our shots. She returned momentarily and placed three shots in front of each of us. We each downed a shot as soon as we all had them. The liquid seared my throat, but I liked it.

"Ugh, that's disgusting," Ginny said, her face bunched up in disgust. She gulped the last of her butterbeer to get the taste out of her mouth.

"Good, give them to me," I said. She passed them to me and I gave one to Fred. We drank the extra shots and placed our empty glasses together.

"Now tell me what's going on," Wood said. I sighed before launching into the story from the beginning. I told him what happened over summer, and a few details of school before the ball. Harry and Ginny added in some things here and there, and then, I told him about the Yule Ball. I paused in my storytelling so Wood could order us more shots. My words were beginning to slur together but it didn't bother me. I continued telling him about how Fred and I were dancing and we kissed at the end in front of everyone. A total of seven shots later, I think I was talking about Fred getting beat up. Ten shots later, I think I said something about the four kids ganging up on us. Twelve shots later, I don't know what the hell I was talking about. All I know is I was drunk and so was everyone else at the table, save for Ginny. I remember Wood saying something about a bed and some Ravenclaw girl from two years ago before it's a blank. I don't remember anything else.

The next thing I remember is waking up in the common room on the couch. Fred was nowhere to be seen, and Ginny was sitting on the floor next to the couch reading a book. There were several other people buzzing about, so I assumed it was the next morning. I sat up, and my head immediately began throbbing. I groaned and my stomach churned. I broke into a cold sweat and my breathing became shallow.

"Shit…" I muttered before leaning over the back of the couch and throwing up. A bystander vanished the mess, but it was pointless because I threw up two more times. Gasping for breath, I sat back down. Ginny looked up at me sympathetically.

"Some hangover you've got there," she said.

"Please, Ginny, no need to shout," I groaned.

"I wasn't shouting," Ginny said more quietly, and laughed.

"Ugh, I feel like rubbish," I said and rubbed my eyes.

"Why?" Ginny asked incredulously. I glared at her. "Well yeah, I know you're hurting, but you should be happy! Fred was talking last night!"

I stopped breathing for a minute. What? Fred was talking? When? I couldn't remember!

"What?" I nearly screamed.

"You don't remember?" Ginny asked.

"No! I don't fucking remember! I was fucking plastered last night, I don't remember anything!" I yelled. My hands tangled in my own hair. "I can't believe I can't remember him talking again… What did he say?"

"He said a lot of things…" Ginny tapped her chin. I smacked my forehead with my palm. Great. "He talked about how much he hated the Hufflepuffs, and about wishing there was Quidditch this year, and about you two having sex, and a million other things. But mostly about the two of you having sex. Poor Oliver. He didn't know what to say."

"I cant believe I cant remember…"

"And that's not all. You two started making out all over the table, and when Madame Rosmerta told you you'd had enough to drink, you threw an empty shot glass across the room, and Fred started singing some muggle song to the people at the table next to us. It was quite a scene."

I didn't know what to say. My face was blank, and I couldn't think clearly. Fred was talking last night, we made out last night, and I couldn't remember any of it.

Not a thing.

A/N- Please, please, please, review this chapter. I think I did a really good job on this one, and I wanna know what you think.