Chapter Twenty-Two

Hermione POV

Homework was filling up almost every second of Hermione's day. She was grateful for evenings in the quite library with Harry. She wished that Ron would study more but he was a bit preoccupied with his new relationship with Lavender, which quickly began and accelerated after their kiss in the common room. Hermione didn't think it was appropriate for her to chide him about his study habits whenever he was with Lavender.

Today, she did need to warn her friend about a conversation she overheard that pertained his safety. "You need to be careful. I went into the girls' bathroom just before I came in here and there were about a dozen girls in there, including that Romilda Vane, trying to decide how to slip you a love potion. They all want you to ask them to go to Slughorn's Christmas party. I helped Fred and George work on that love potion so I know for a fact they will work."

"You're a prefect, why didn't you take them away?"

"They didn't have them on them otherwise I would have. They were just planning. You are really popular among the ladies because you're the Chosen One." She said the last part with her hands in the air acting like it was a big deal.

"But I am the Chosen One." Harry smiled and glanced up as Romilda gave him a wave.

Hermione took his beat-up copy of Advanced Potions off of the oak table and smacked him against the head. "Knock that off."

"Right… sorry. I deserved that. Well anyways, I'm not going to invite anyone to the Slug Club party." Harry went back to working on writing his essay.

"Well, still, just be careful on what you drink." She thought grimly of all the different ways the girls were coming up with. "Some of the girls were coming up with really sneaky ideas before they realized I was in the bathroom."

"How is Romilda even having access to one of their products? I thought Filch had banned all of them?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

Hermione blushed. "George came up with a brilliant way to disguise them of course. It's making my life more difficult as a Prefect of course. They're disguising them as perfumes and cough potions in their Owl Order service."

He laughed. "I just still find it funny that you ended up with one of the twins."

She frowned. "Is it really that weird? George and I?" Hermione did not talk about her relationship very often with others, but she saw Harry as a brother she never had. His opinion meant a lot to her.

The messy-haired teen shook his head. "No… no… It's not like that. I think it's funny that your own boyfriend is driving you mad with enforcing rules even when he's not at Hogwarts anymore."

She smiled softly and thought about how secretly it made her think of George every time she had to confiscate a Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes product and how she wished they would never stop selling them to students.

The librarian appeared suddenly and informed them that the library was closed. The two returned to the Gryffindor common room with their halfway completed work. Romilda Vane was next to the portrait opening and she jumped up when she saw the Gryffindor seeker. "Harry! Would you fancy a gilly water?"

"No thanks!" Harry said quickly, he looked at the water as if it would explode in the girl's hand.

Hermione gave him a knowing look. Romilda looked defeated temporarily before smiling at him. "Well… here take some Chocolate Cauldrons, they've got fire whisky in them. My gran sent them to me, but I don't like them."

Harry took the Cauldrons into his hand and smiled awkwardly as a blush spread up from his neck to his cheeks. "Oh… thanks…" He hurried behind Hermione as she stepped over to the corner of the room.

"I told you so. Sooner you ask someone, sooner they'll leave you alone!"

The next day it seemed that Harry had taken her advice. "I asked Luna Lovegood to go with me as friends to Slughorns party."

Ron looked like he was in disbelief and forgot to continue eating the pasta that was on his plate. "Honestly… you could have taken any girl at the school and you decided to take Looney Lovegood?"

Ginny snapped at her brother and stuffed a piece of bread down the front of his knit jumper. "Don't call her that! I think it's nice that Harry asked her. She's rather excited. No one ever asks her to anything."

Hermione noticed that Harry's face lightened as Ginny praised his decision. He was so obvious into her that it was a good thing that Ron was so thick. He would never notice and have time to get upset. "You and Luna will have to save me from McLaggen. He keeps trying to say he's going to be glued to me at the party despite me telling him that I have a boyfriend that I am very much happy with."

Hermione and Harry checked the time and said goodbye to Ron as they had to begin getting ready for the party. Lavender took his opportunity to swoop in and sit where Harry was next to Ron. He didn't seem to mind finally that they were going to the party without him. Hermione was glad for Lavender to provide that distraction so Ron wouldn't get upset with them.

When Luna, Hermione, and Harry walked through the opening of the party, Slughorn called out for Harry only. "Harry, my boy! Come in, come in, so many people I would like you to meet!"

Hermione and Luna walked over to one of the crowded drink trays to grab a bubbly, yellow drink that smelled like chamomile and sunshine. "McLaggen is walking this way with a rather odd look on his face. I don't think he's very nice, do you?"

The Gryffindor girl turned around to see him waltzing over to the girls. "No, I don't think he's very nice at all. Luna… I'm not trying to ditch you, but I can't be around him. He's trying to make passes at me when I've told him I'm dating George."

"George Weasley… what an interesting person. Kind but also very troublesome—"

Hermione didn't wait to hear the rest of Luna's assessment on her boyfriend. She darted behind a waiter and hid behind a curtain to confuse him on where she was. McLaggen seemed to ask Luna a question. In response, the Ravenclaw girl cocked her head to the side and began to whack at the air around his head. McLaggen looked at her in a very disturbed way before he walked away in the opposite direction.

Hermione snuck out of her hiding spot when Harry met back with Luna. "Harry thank goodness! I had to hide from Cormac McLaggen."

"His head is terribly filled with Nargles." Luna shuddered slightly before regaining her dreamy composure. As they were walking, they ended up next to the opening of the room. Soon, Filch came storming through the door, clutching Draco Malfoy's dark robes. "Professor Slughorn!" Filch called out into the party. "I discovered this young man lurking in an upstairs corridor. He claims to be coming to this party."

"All right, I wasn't invited! I was party crashing, happy?" Malfoy sneered at Filch.

Snape stepped forward from the shadows of the party. "I'd like a word with, Mr. Malfoy. I can take his punishment from here, Argus." The head of Slytherin looked at Draco with slight anger in his normally masked expression.

Before Hermione could stop Harry, he slipped after the two Slytherin's making a lame excuse to have to go to the restroom. Luna looked at the other girl. "You are terribly worried about your friend. I can tell by your aura"

"Yes. He's always finding danger every turn he goes." Hermione was shocked with the honesty that was coming out of her mouth to the Ravenclaw girl.

Luna nodded in an understanding manner. "I seemed to notice that in D.A. Especially when we were in the Hall of Prophecies."

Hermione closed her eyes and hoped that her friend wasn't getting too caught up in his idea that Draco was a death eater. He had been obsessing over Katie Bell and insisting that Draco was the one who cursed her. Hopefully, him listening in on Snape and Draco would prove that this was not the case. She could only hope…

George POV

It finally happened…

As the twins were setting up the protective guards to keep the building secure over the long night, two dark cloaked figures came up to the shop doors and waltzed in. "We are closed." Fred grunted at them with his hands wrapped tightly around his wand.

George steadied his stance and eyed them down trying to see if he recognized either of them. The one cloaked figure walked up to one of the shelves and acted as if he was interested in the light blue Pygmy Puff in front of him. "You see… we don't care that it's closed. We came here to get a bounty on your heads… We have suspicion to belief that you are a way that we can get some answers about—"

Before he could finish the twins began to shoot curses and jinxes at the two cloaked men. Shelves and products were getting damaged left and right, months of hard work gone in an instant. George didn't even have time to think of all the money that was being lost. He was too concerned with getting out of the shop safely with his twin. George knocked out the first one with a stupefy. The dark figure flew back into a bright pink shelf of bubbling love potions, now stunned from the effects of the potion that was washing around him and the spell blast that hit him in the chest.

The other death eater cursed out his partners name and ran to him before disapparating out of the shop. "That was too close." Fred sighed with exhaustion from the work. "We have to close the shop."

George nodded in agreement. "Hurry let's put up the rest of the wards and then go home. We will bring home all the product we can and continue to do mail orders, but we can't keep coming here. It's too dangerous."

Fred nodded in agreement and the two worked in anxious silence for a couple hours before going to the Burrow. "Where have you two been?" Their parents ran up to them and gave them big hugs. "The clock hands were pointed to danger! Explain what happened, immediately." Tears were flowing down their mother's face and she looked much older.

"Death eaters." Fred said grimly.

"We are closing down the shop and doing mail orders only." George added.

"They entered the shop?" Arthur Weasley asked with pain on his face. He looked at Fred, then at George and let out a breath he was holding. "I'm glad you boys are okay." He clasped a hand on both of the twins' shoulders.

"It's a good thing we have each other." Fred said with a fierce look on his face.

"I have to go write to Hermione. Tell her we closed down the shop." George said. "I won't tell her all the details, but I need to let her know something is wrong."

He stormed past the now cold food that was sitting on the kitchen table waiting for them. George took the stairs three at a time to get to his and Fred's room. He yanked the wooden chair back from the old desk and sank into it.

Hermione,

It finally happened. We had to close the shop.

Fred and I are fine.

Diagon Alley is now all closed down.

I hope Hogwarts is more peaceful than here right now. I want you to promise me that you are staying safe and I will make the same promise to you in return. I love you, Hermione and I don't want anything happening to you.

Please stay with us over Christmas. I want to make sure that you are protected and the only way I can do that is if you are near me. I'm sure Harry, Ron, and Gin will appreciate having you around too.

Sent with concern and love.

Yours,

George