Whispers in the dark
Chapter 35: Study hall
A/N: I own nothing except my mistakes
The schoolyear was creeping by eerily fast. It was already running into February, meaning that the O.W.L.s were getting closer and closer. Of course Hermione had been studying avidly for a while already, and yet she still felt remarkably unprepared. Granted, they still had a few months to study, however.
It was for that exact same reason that Hermione was more than relieved to have this weekly obligated study session in the Great Hall with all of the years. Many of the students were simply working on some assignments, especially the younger years, but everyone from Hermione's year, the fifth years, were all diligently scribbling away as they were working on the tons of new assignments the teacher had loaded them with to prepare them for their O.W.L.s.
To her relief, Ron and Harry were actually working on it as well. Mind you, not even close to the same pace as Hermione was, but at least they were working. That was a start.
Although, that could have just had to do with Professor Snape who had walked in just ten minutes ago, taking over Professor McGonagall's shift as she had been called away not too long ago. Apparently a stray student had been off causing some trouble in the castle, most likely a Gryffindor.
With Professor Snape's supervision, no one really dared to even so much as open their mouths. All that was heard was the constant dipping of quills in inkbottles, the occasionally clatter of the iron against glass, but also a frequent frustrated hush as someone dropped a single blob of ink onto their parchment, ruining all their hard work. Usually those sounds came from very stressed Fifth Years.
It worked quite therapeutic for Hermione as she, too, scribbled away on her parchment, hearing an occasional scratching as she would overdraw her g's in her determined enthusiasm.
The study hour was almost coming to an end, and Hermione had been very pleased with the work she had done so far. She had managed to complete a twelve foot essay for Study of Ancient Runes, and was halfway done with Arithmancy. Although she figured she would need an extra day for that one. There was a peculiar side issue that she would like to read more on first before she would finish it up.
The best thing about these study sessions with all the years, however, were that she finally had some actual silence. Yes, Fred was considerate whenever she was studying for her O.W.L.s; or well, at least tried to be most of the times, but even then, it was never truly quiet, wherever she would be.
But right now, the twins too, were lazily scribbling away on their parchments, and by the looks of it, for once they weren't working on their products.
Taking a moment to look up from her own work, she watched with a faint smile on her face as Fred was looking madly in concentration. His teeth were biting down so hard on his lip that a drop of blood was actually starting to form, and then not to even mention the deep line between his eyebrows that was growing more solid by the second.
His twin wasn't better off, either. George actually looked like he was on the edge of a mental breakdown as he stared soullessly at the book sprawled out in front of him. Hermione was certain that by this point he wasn't even taking in any information at all anymore. It made her wonder how long it had actually been since the boys had been properly sitting down for school since they had been so occupied with starting their own joke shop.
Before Hermione wanted to get to work, she shot a quick glance at her two best friends, and had to refrain from a chuckle as her eyes landed on Ron. Whereas Harry was scribbling away in a semi-normal tempo – albeit with a rather uncertain expression on his face – Ron would be constantly writing something down, only to cross it out a second later.
He too, carried a deep line between his eyebrows as his mouth opened slightly agape, his lips closing midway in rapid speed as if in disbelief over what he was reading and copying down.
Though she didn't chuckle, a low string of rapid breaths did escape her mouth before she focused back on her own paper, shaking her head a little at the despair of her friends.
It hadn't even been a minute since she had gotten back to work, when she felt the rush of wind going past her, and out of the corner of her eyes she saw a paper land on Ron's piece of parchment that contained more scribbles than words.
Turning her head curiously to Ron, she noticed he was as confused as she was intrigued, and followed his gaze as he looked straight up at someone. It wasn't hard to guess to whom he was looking at, and as she found Fred's sly face, she knew Ron was in some kind of trouble.
George, too, had come out of his despair as he was curiously looking between his two brothers, clearly not being informed on his twin's action, and had to rely on Ron's reaction to the note.
Squinting her eyes at Fred in suspicion, she watched as he gave her an innocent shrug, which didn't convince her all that much. Letting her eyes glide back to the boy next to her, she read along over his shoulder and could make out a couple of words that implied the answers to Ron's Charms assignment he had been hopelessly working on.
Upon straining her eyes a little harder to see better, she noticed that the answers that had been written down were actually right, and yet, Hermione knew there was a catch. Though the twins were actually quite brilliant when it came to Charms – after all, it was an important aspect for their products – they weren't the type to just help someone out, unless they'd get something out of it too.
Ron, however, was desperate enough to at least get something written on the paper, as today was the final due date for this assignment. Hermione had finished it two weeks ago already, of course, but as per usual, Ron liked to leave things for the last day.
And thus Ron wrote his own name at the top of the parchment, the handwritings looking eerily similar, though Hermione had a feeling Fred had tried to resemble Ron's handwriting. It didn't usually look like this.
Confident, Ron got up with a bit of a grin on his face, closing his books as he carried them along. Making his way over to Professor Snape to hand his assignment in – all finished assignments and essays would be handed in by the present teacher, who would then make sure it reached the designated teacher – Hermione couldn't help but keep her stare on Ron's back, unable to believe that Fred had helped his little brother out from the goodness of his heart.
Though Hermione knew Fred had a bit of a soft side from time to time, she also knew that it wasn't the case with his family. He was, as he had proven many times before, a ruthless prankster.
Everything, however, seemed to be all good and well as Ron handed Professor Snape the paper, and Hermione had almost begin to have faith in Fred's good intentions, until Professor Snape squinted at the two different handwritings, tapping his wand to the paper – presumably to check whether there were any falsifications. Those measures were only taken for Fifth Years as they were a part of their exams – and got himself an exploding paper as it lit fire and brought soot on his face.
As soon as that happened Ron's grin faltered immediately, striking one of horror as Professor Snape looked furious. A wave of soft snickering went through the Great Hall as most of the people had been shaken out of their concentration by the low banging sound as it had exploded.
The snickering turned into soft murmurs, though two sets of voices toppled over them as they carried a deep laughter. The booming in her ears didn't need to confirm what she already knew: this was one of Fred's pranks.
"I hope you thought that was clever, Mr Weasley," Professor Snape's voice drawled icily as he kept a death glare at Ron, "because that just earned you a whole month of detention."
Ron's mouth dropped agape as he spluttered. "But Professor- ", he began, but was cut off immediately. "Tonight, eight o'clock. Now get out of my sight," Professor Snape ordered, his voice not raising, but definitely carrying a hint of urgency.
Before Ron could take a step away from Professor Snape, Hermione snapped her head furiously at the twins that were beginning to laugh even harder upon seeing the look on Ron's face.
"Are you bloody mad?" Hermione hissed, immediately catching Fred's attention as he lazily turned his head at her. He cocked an eyebrow at her, but his grin remained firmly in place. "Mad? No, I wouldn't say that. Wicked? Now that's more like it, don't you think, Georgie?"
"Right you are, Freddie. Wickedly mad, I would say," George said, then his eyes grew wider as he spoke in amazement before falling into another laugh.
"This is not funny!" Hermione exclaimed as she shut her books and threateningly advanced at them from the opposite side of the table. It wasn't very effective, especially when the twins leaned back a little to escape her reach. "You cannot do things like this," she scolded.
To her amazement, Fred's grin spread even wider. "Don't tell me what to do unless we're in bed together," he said, casually winking at her.
At this the bell rang, announcing their next class, and yet, Hermione did not consider them saved by the bell. Not at all.
Heavily frustrated, she slammed her books shut, threw them in her bag and grabbed the loose parchments of her finished Ancient Runes essay. With a quick step in her feet she was the first to reach a very agitated Professor Snape, who had tried to scrub off some root from his face with a napkin, but instead of having made it better, it only made it worse.
Hermione kept her mouth shut, knowing it was best for both parties. Both he and she were mad, and she didn't feel like earning herself a detention as well. This time Snape looked more suspicious as he checked her paper with his wand, but was relieved to find that it did not explode, and that it hadn't been plagiarized.
With that she took a hurry in her steps to follow the redheads out of the Great Hall. They weren't exactly making a run for it, but they did stick oddly close to Harry as they chatted him up. Now that was rather suspicious.
As soon as she was in their earshot, she called out for them. "Fred Weasley," Hermione hissed, and said-boy turned around with an air of carelessness, his twin and Harry joining him. "That would be me," he said, a smirk popping on his face as she was sure that he saw the vein popping on her forehead.
This was exactly the kind of pranking that Hermione did not understand. Where she could not see the fun in. It was also at these moments when she wondered why in Merlin's name she had ever said yes to a relationship with this boy.
"D'you even realise what you just did?" Hermione asked in exasperation as he popped his hands into his pockets, taking a lazy stance as if not at all faced by her fury. "Why, yes indeed I do."
"It was a good starter for what's to come, I'll have to give you that," George piped in, nodding his head in approval at his twin brother.
At this Hermione squinted her eyes, cocking her head a little to the side in inquiry. "What d'you mean, 'for what's to come'?" She asked.
"Oh, you know, I needed someone to set off an entire package of exploding snaps in Umbridge's office," Fred began, but George quickly intervened. "Yes, no doubt there's where Ickle Ronnie is going to end up," he said as he looked at his scarred hand with a bit of a smirk. "That woman sure does like her punishments." He confirmed.
Exasperated, she didn't know whether to remain calm and owl his mother – after all, that was the only person the twins were afraid of – or whether the charge at them and make them fear her.
Against better instincts, she kept their gaze a little while longer, Fred looking victorious at her, clearly under the assumption that she would not risk a public fight. Well, that's where he was very wrong.
"Fred, I swear to Merlin," Hermione gritted through her teeth as she charged at them. At this both of their grins fell, and Harry, who had previously remained quiet as he had been awkwardly kept in place by both the twins, was now pushed in front of them to serve as some kind of shield.
"Come on now," Fred said, this time a little bit less cocky as he looked a little uncertain, not knowing anymore how she would react or what she would do. "Wouldn't kill the chosen one, would you?" George tried to soothe her.
At this Harry spoke up, clearly not wishing to be in the middle of this. "Yes, I would appreciate that, too, Hermione."
Well, that was the wrong thing to say.
Hermione was about to charge at Harry too, but stopped last-minute as she looked at his horror-struck face. Heaving a frustrated sigh, she knew it would be unfair to drag Harry into this. After all, he didn't do anything wrong. He was just trying to save his own arse.
Jabbing her fingers into both Fred and George's chest, she gave them a furious glare. "I will write to your mother about this," Hermione warned, then turned on her heel. "No, you won't," Hermione heard Fred say, his voice following her wherever she went.
"Oh yes, and why's that?" Hermione spoke bitterly into the crowd, having disappeared from them in no-time. "Because it would break my heart if you did," Hermione could almost hear the teasing pout in his voice as he said that.
Growling, she almost shoved a poor Second Year out of the way as they didn't turn around the corner fast enough. "Remind me again why I said yes to you?" Hermione asked him, but was met with a loud laugh in return.
"Because without me, your life would have been too dull," he proposed.
He was right, and yet, she wondered if dull just wouldn't have been better sometimes. Those bloody Weasleys always had a way of getting under her nails.