Insert the usual disclaimer... Enjoy!
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Chapter 3
Hermione ended up ditching Lavender and Parvati when they planted themselves down in the quidditch stands to watch a quick scrimmage between some older boys, showing no intent to move anytime soon. She wandered off through the castle, the unfamiliar feel of a wand wrapped in her fingers. Before long, though, she felt as though she was very lost. She'd somehow come to the end of a corridor, but when she turned back around, the way behind her seemed rather unfamiliar. To make it worse, the paintings on the wall seemed to be laughing at her every time she turned away.
"Hermione, love, what are you doing all the way out here?".
Hermione whipped around to see Fred and George appear behind her with matching grins.
"Don't tell me you've already found one of our secrets", Fred joked.
Hermione just looked at him with confusion. There didn't seem to be much of a secret in the hallway she'd found. "I don't think I've really found anything", she said in confusion.
"Well then prepare to be amazed, darling", George said, stepping around her. He reached out to a painting on the wall, and… starting running his fingers over it? He seemed to be tickling the pear in the painting. Hermione knew they had to be messing with her.
"Any second now", Fred said patiently. Hermione blinked, and suddenly the wall opened up into another room. She followed the twins through and walked straight into a massive kitchen with small beings running around everywhere. She almost screamed.
"Guys, what are they?", she said, trying to keep her cool, without offending the creatures staring up at her with floppy ears and big eyes.
"Hello, miss! We's are house-elves!", one said, offering her a plate of cookies. "We run the kitchen down here and make sure all of you's have plenty of food".
The others rushed around, pulling out a table and chairs from nowhere, and before long, there was a small dining area with cookies and milk, just waiting for the three of them to sit down.
"We come here all the time, Mione", George added. "They've always got heaps of food". The boys sat down and started devouring the milk and cookies, not forgetting to thank the house-elves. "We've got tons of secrets in the castle, you were lucky to stumble on one this good though".
"We were just heading down to stock up on snacks for our room. Being the first day here and all, it's a bit bland up there", Fred said.
Hermione found herself wondering what their room was like, and if it was anything like hers. Shaking away the thought of the boys' room, she grabbed a cookie. "My roommates were watching a game in the quidditch stands, do you think you could take me back there?".
"If you're talking about the friendly Ravenclaw v. Hufflepuff match, that ended a while ago. Your friends have probably left by now", George said. "However, we could show you a bit of quidditch, if you'd like".
"Since we're second years now, we're eligible for the quidditch team, and we'll be trying out. Mum and dad even bought us some second-hand brooms", Fred said, grinning. They'd just finished their last cookies, so Hermione rushed to finish the one she was holding. Stuffing their pockets with assorted snacks from the elves, the boys started heading towards the door, and Hermione was quick to follow.
"I don't really know anything about quidditch", Hermione admitted. "I was mostly focusing on the academic textbooks over summer".
"Well, darling, we'll teach you everything you need to know", the twins said in unison. Hermione was still rather unsettled with the ease that they could do that with.
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After a thorough and exhausting run-down on the rules of quidditch, Hermione felt like her brain might just explode. The twins seemed to see that she was tiring quickly, though, and led the conversation back towards more familiar topics.
"Have you thought about the classes you'll be taking yet, Mione?", Fred inquired. "We'll be getting our timetables tomorrow at breakfast".
"Yes, there were so many classes for first-year I wasn't sure what to think", she replied.
"Ok, list them off. We'll give you our insider tips", George said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Well, there's transfiguration-", she started.
"You'll be with McGonagall of course. She's tough but fair. Do your homework, and you'll do great", Fred cut in.
"... then charms-".
"Flitwick. Decent guy, you'll sail right through with any luck", George continued.
"... next is potions-".
"Snape. Favours the Slytherins. Don't be upset if he doesn't like you, Mione", Fred said, grimacing.
"... and there were a few more, I'm forgetting it right now", she said, deep in thought.
"You've still got defence against the dark arts. New professor this year, just like every year", George said, thoughtfully. "Wonder if he'll be any good".
"Don't forget herbology", Fred added. "That'll be with Sprout. Stick around the plant kids, they'll get you through without any missing limbs".
"And History", George said with a groan. "Bring a pillow".
"Lastly, astronomy", Fred said. "Every Wednesday night. Usually good to take a quick nap beforehand, if you don't want your eyes blurring out".
"Gred, you idiot. You've forgotten the most important one", George said with a joking look of horror. "You'll be getting some flying lessons too".
"Flying lessons?!", Hermione said with wide eyes. She wasn't sure if she'd be comfortable getting on a broomstick in front of her whole class. "Can I opt-out?".
"No opting-out. Especially since we'd be forced to disown you as our prankster in training if you did that", Fred said with a fake look of horror.
"Your what in training?", Hermione laughed.
"Why our little prankster in training, of course. Why else would we be showing you our most guarded castle secrets?", Fred said.
Hermione still couldn't tell when the twins were joking or not, but Fred seemed perfectly serious in her new status as a prankster. Hermione wasn't sure how to break the news that she'd never even pulled the tiniest of pranks. She was saved from this daunting task when they returned to the common room, and the twins pulled her through the Fat Lady's portrait.
"Good luck with your classes tomorrow, Mione! Come find us if we need to beat anyone up for you", George said, also seeming perfectly serious. The twins then disappeared up the winding staircase to the boys' dormitories, and Hermione was left alone in the crowded common room.
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The next morning, Hermione woke bright and early… To Lavender's shrieking wand alarm. She wasn't sure how Lavender had learned a spell already, but as she'd only ever cast the one on Harry's glasses, it made her nervous. She rolled out of bed and put on the school robes that were already becoming familiar to her, with a pair of plain black trainers. Glancing up at the clock on the wall, she saw, with a groan, that it was just past seven. "Lavender, why do you need to be up so early?", she complained.
"I have to get dressed! It's the first day of classes and all, so I need to look my best", Lavender replied, looking Hermione up and down. "I could help you clean up if you'd like".
Hermione wasn't quite sure what to do. On one hand, she had never cared too much about her looks, but on the other, Lavender's point about the first day of school really had made some sense. "Okay, nothing crazy though… Could you maybe just help me with my hair?", Hermione asked.
Lavender took one look at the bird's nest laying above Hermione's forehead and dragged her into the washroom.
Hermione emerged, 20 minutes later, looking slightly frazzled, but distinctly polished. "Thank you, Lavender. I'm sorry that I snapped about the alarm thing", she said.
"It's all good, Hermione. Now go away so I can finish my makeup", Lavender said with an over-dramatic eye roll.
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Hermione got through the day's classes, earning her house 10 points for 2 questions well answered, feeling rather proud of herself. Sure, she didn't know as much about the wizarding world as everyone else seemed to, but she'd been able to answer questions about the textbook material. That meant that studying counted for something at Hogwarts, after all.
She wasn't quite sure what to do with her newfound free time before curfew, as she was already sufficiently ahead with her textbooks, so she decided to wander around and try to find the twins.
She'd been scared initially that the boys wouldn't want to hang out with her once they got to school, being a year older and all, but they hadn't seemed to have drifted off quite yet. Between classes, they had pulled her into nooks behind tapestries twice earlier in the day, just to check-up and make sure she was doing alright. She was grateful to have friends who already knew what was going on in the school. Harry and Ron were nice and all, but they were constantly lost, and didn't seem to know anything in class.
She padded down to the common room with the intent of asking around to see where the twins might be, but she found them sprawled out on the couches surrounded by a group of older boys, with Harry and Ron sitting nervously in front of the fire. She joined Harry and Ron, with a quick wave at the twins. The twins left after a few hours, but Hermione enjoyed the night chatting away with Harry, Ron, and a few other first-years who joined them.
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