Whispers in the dark
Chapter 28: Closer
A/N: I own nothing except my mistakes
Letting out a soft yawn, she let her eyes lazily glance around the corridor. It was nearing curfew, and she was set out along with Ron on her Prefect Rounds to point the curfew out to people whom were still wandering astray, as well as putting people in detention once curfew would officially begin.
Most people had already gone up to their common rooms, and currently left her wandering on her own. She had passed another Prefect from Ravenclaw, but didn't pay him much mind as he was setting off for his own route.
Usually they didn't have a set out route for their rounds, but it was common to split up their ways per house. So at the moment Ron was starting from the ground up, and she was left going from the Gryffindor Tower to the dungeons.
At the moment she was situated on the fifth floor, and was making sure to be extra quiet right here. This is where Umbridge's office was located as well, and the last thing she wanted was to run into her. Though Hermione had the authority to be out even after curfew, she still did not fancy running into that woman at any time of day.
The torches on the wall were beginning to dim as well, and the people in their portraits were all starting to settle down comfortably for their good night's rest. Taking the pocket watch out of her robe, she noticed it was fifteen minutes before ten, which meant that curfew was almost commencing.
Right before she was about to put the pocket watch into her robe again, she came across a Second Year from Hufflepuff, who was scurrying past her down the stairs. She called out for him and tapped her watch, and he took the hint as he nodded and ran for it even faster. Poor bloke.
Walking two more floors down, she had attended three more students on her way that curfew would be setting in ten minutes. Luckily so far she hadn't come across a Slytherin yet. They were harder to handle.
"Newest edition, and finest as well if I may add," Hermione froze in her tracks, convinced that Fred was right behind her. Yet, as she twirled around in a heartbeat, she silently scolded herself for being so silly. Of course he wasn't next to her. Usually she would know when or not he would be around, but often when she was dozed out or not paying attention she was caught off guard and felt like he was right behind her.
The conversation struck her as curious, but she figured it would be useless to pay attention to. She had another duty to fulfil right now. "Just two sickles for the entire box," at this Hermione stopped walking once more.
Not just because it sounded like they were trying to sell one of their products – which she had scolded them about before – but also because the voice didn't just sound close anymore because of their charm, but also because she heard a soft echo going through the corridor right around the corner of where she was standing.
Squinting her eyes, she carefully stepped around it, thinking she was going mad, though was quite relieved to find that she wasn't as she saw both Fred and George sitting on a bench, the Second Year from Hufflepuff that she had attended only five minutes ago sitting between them.
Her relief was quite quick to vanish, however, as she quickened her pace and approached the three boys. Clearing her throat, she caught their attention right before the boy was about to put a piece of candy in his mouth that she was rather certain of that they had not tested yet.
"'Ello 'Mione, fancy seeing you here," Fred casually spoke, though the sparkle in his eyes vanished for a moment. He tried to play it off cool, but she was convinced that he knew that a scolding awaited him. Well, he wasn't wrong. "Nice night for a stroll, is it?" George added, a grin on his face. He, however, didn't look as worried as his twin brother. Perhaps because it was easier for him to escape her banter than it was for Fred.
"What in Merlin's beard are you doing?" Hermione spoke sternly, propping her hands on her hips to accentuate her authority. All she got in return was just a smirk from the two twins. The Second Year's boy, however, looked rather uncomfortable as he was desperately looking around, perhaps trying to find a way out of this.
"Just having a lovely chat with this boy, is all," Fred covered, but she was quick to shut him up with a glare in her eyes.
"You," she said to the Hufflepuff boy, who was doing anything in his might to avoid her eyes, "I thought I told you to go back to your House." The boy nodded vigorously in confirmation, though still didn't dare to meet her eyes.
Hermione looked incredulously as the boy still remained seated. "Well, what are you waiting for? Curfew is in five minutes," at this the boy hurried off the bench and bumped slightly into her side as he took a run for it.
"Now you've done it," George said grumpily, wishfully looking at the boy who was disappearing from sight. "Scaring away all our customers," he added, a solemn shake of his head going along with it.
Shooting him a raised eyebrow, she squinted her eyes at him. "Thought you were just chatting?" She challenged, to which George and Fred shared a quick glance with one another.
Fred was the one to have the guts to actually prop a grin at her. "Yeah, chatting about our newest product, of course."
Hermione looked incredulously at him. "You were testing on an innocent boy!" she scolded loudly, though winced a little as a portrait next to them scolded her in return, telling her that he was trying to get some sleep.
"Innocent?" George asked, then let out a laugh.
"We never test without permission," Fred said, though rolled his eyes slightly.
"Yeah, he was eager to get his hands on it." George added.
"And willing to pay us double for testing it as well," Fred spoke enthusiastically, though that enthusiasm vanished quick enough when he realised that they lost their customer thanks to her.
Taking a moment to look at the boys and shake her head, she let her hands drop off her hips. "Willingly or not, you do know that it has become forbidden for the two of you to sell any Weasley products since three days ago, right?"
Fred was the first to scoff, but George joined him half a second later as well. "That stupid little thing? It doesn't mean anything," he played it off cool.
Right now Hermione was getting mad. Not just because they were being so careless, but also because she was worried for them. "Are you mad? Of course it does. If it had been anyone else who had found you, you could have been reported to Umbridge and gotten expelled." Hermione hissed, having a bit of trouble keeping her voice down as she was hoping that the louder she said it, the better the message would sink in.
"You see," Fred said, standing up from the bench so he could stand a little closer. He was doing it to intimidate her, and it quite frankly worked. "We don't really care about getting expelled anymore," George finished for him, standing up as well, though kept a bit more of distance.
Right now she could only feel Fred's breath on her face, the warmth of his body radiating towards her. He kept an intense look in his eyes, a faint smile quirking on his lips as he watched her intently.
"When did you ever care?" Was the first thing Hermione could mumble under her breath. It was too soft for George to hear, but Fred heard it just fine, and let out a soft chuckle. "We're ready to start our own joke shop," he began, and naturally George finished for him. "And let's just say that school isn't our top priority anymore."
Upon bringing this news she could only look at Fred, instinctively stepping a bit closer as her mouth was dropped agape. She couldn't believe that she heard about this just now. "A joke shop?" Hermione stammered, all her previous anger gone.
She had to crane her neck up to look him properly in his eyes, but he just patiently returned the gaze as he gave her some time to process it after he nodded in confirmation. "But where would you even get the money from?"
At this Fred smirked, but George was the one to answer for him. "Let's just say that someone has given us a generous donation," he said, but Hermione still couldn't be bothered to turn her head to the other twin.
Keeping her gaze at Fred, she had a moment of silence as she thought this over. This meant that at any given moment they could be out of school, and she wouldn't see them again besides the holidays whenever she'd visit the Burrow.
The thought saddened her for some reason, and so she furrowed her eyebrows as she lowered her gaze, swallowing away whatever she was feeling.
"You two should head to the common room," Hermione spoke, though her voice came out only as a soft whisper. "It's well past curfew by now," she added as an afterthought.
The two boys remained rooted to their spot, and thus she slowly lifted her gaze up again. Fred was looking at her curiously, his eyebrows softly pressed together and his mouth lightly agape.
"You should go, I'll be there in a few," Fred said to George, having a hard time taking his eyes off her but managed anyway.
Hermione didn't need to turn around to know that George would be both confused and curious, as well as to know that he was leaving with a grin on his face as she heard some rustling behind her – she had turned her entire body towards Fred when conversing – indicating that he was taking off.
Fred kept his eyes on the back of his twin brother for a second longer before letting them rest once more on Hermione. Softly licking his lips, he propped the smallest of a grin as he lifted his hand so he could remove a stray hair from her face, his finger softly grazing against her cheek before he dropped his hand down again.
Hermione let out an almost inaudible gasp – though she was certain Fred could hear it as his grin broadened – and wondered why he was putting on a show when they had no spectators. He would usually do things like this whenever others were around, just to keep up their little show, but not when it was just the two of them.
"You're not sad to see us leave, are you?" Fred asked knowingly, his voice deepening as he lowered it so they wouldn't get any unwanted scoldings from the paintings. A grin laid firmly on his lips, though he did have a curious look behind his eyes.
"Of course not. I would finally be able to rest peacefully," Hermione lied in a breathed voice. At this Fred let out a hearty chuckle as he shook his head.
"That's the first convincing lie that I've heard coming out of your mouth," he said, but all Hermione could do was swallow away the adrenaline that she was beginning to feel in her body.
A curious tension was beginning to rise between them. Perhaps it was because they were standing so close to one another – one had simply needed to take one small step and they would be mouth to mouth – or perhaps it was because it was well past curfew and she didn't want Fred to get into any trouble; he really needed to head back to the common room.
Or maybe it's because he knew exactly what was going on inside of her without her needing to say a word. It was almost as if he wasn't just able to hear everything she said, but also everything she thought. It was quite an intimate setting if you looked at it that way.
"You still haven't told me what Ron and you were talking about the other day," Fred spoke softly, using her lack of speech as his advantage. Wetting her lips, she furrowed her eyebrows slightly together in question. "Why does it matter?"
Fred looked her up and down, and Hermione subconsciously dug her fingernails into her palms to refrain him from seeing her shaking hands. The adrenaline was building up the longer they stayed in such close proximity.
"It was the first time that Ron didn't sound mad, I wonder why," Fred clarified, though his grin turned into a bit of a smirk as he had obviously seen what she had done to her hands.
Biting back a breath, she willed her heart to calm down a bit before she would speak. Why was she reacting this way? It isn't like she hadn't been so close to him before. It happened often enough in one of their charades.
Perhaps it was because at this moment it wasn't a charade. At the moment it was very real.
Hermione had to lightly shake her head to get rid of that thought. She was being absolutely ridiculous.
"Ron thinks you have a thing for me," Hermione tried to keep her voice stable as she was rather nervous to confront him about this. What if he would get mad at her for saying something like that? It was only Ron's speculations anyway.
She had also expected Fred to burst out laughing and therefore waking up all the portraits so they would get a chore of scolding, but it never came. He didn't even let out so much of chuckle.
In fact, his smirk fell all-together as it made place for a relaxed grin, only tucking on one corner of his lips. "Maybe I do," he breathed, and closed the gap between them with that one small step, his lips coming almost in contact with hers before they withdrew again, not getting the chance to rest against hers.
"What in the world are you two doing?" A voice boomed from behind them, and one of the paintings gave a nasty grumble at the source.
Whipping around to find Ron staring at them in shock – though no sign of anger was present – Hermione felt her cheeks heat up as she looked back at Fred.
The latter, on the other hand, was casually resting his hands in his pockets as he had made some space between him and Hermione, a neutral expression on his face as he stared at his little brother, though knowing him better, she could see he was lightly agitated by the sudden disruption by the way he was carrying his eyebrows. They were ever so slightly dipped in.
"You ought to go back to the common room, I need to finish my rounds," Hermione addressed at Fred, though quickly walked past both boys as she hurried down the corridor, needing a moment to process it all.
Fred had just been about to kiss her. It was a surreal thought to her, and it left her feeling more confused than she could have ever imagined. Not because she was bothered by the action, but more because she was almost angry at Ron for interrupting and not letting Fred finish. And that right there, confused her even more.