A.N.: This chapter was kindly betad by my friend multilingualism.

Chapter 9: When you think it's bad

They had done it. They had convinced Hermione Granger to go on a date with them – both of them. Yes, she had only agreed because they had more or less blackmailed her to do it, but he and George had done it in a rather nice way, hadn't they? And it wasn't like they didn't plan to let her enjoy the day with them, quite the contrary actually. So it wasn't actual blackmail, right?

It was like he and George had just landed the jackpot. Hermione Granger was a difficult witch to romance or even spend time with, as she was mostly shadowed by Ron or Harry or so deeply engaged in a book that she simply didn't notice her surroundings any longer. But now he and George had her just for themselves, twice. Fred couldn't believe his luck and he was determined to grab it with both hands, or should he say her?

Hermione looked nervous, when she waited for them in front of the portrait hole, her potions kit and school bag tightly clutched in her arms. Once more Fred realized how small she actually was, as the top of her head barely reached his shoulders.

"Fred, George, right on time," she said as her hazel eyes flickered up to them and a shy smile tugged on her lips. Still, she looked like she was just about to bolt from the room.

" 'Course we are," George said with a grin and pried the potions kit from her hands to carry it for her. "I'll carry this for you. You ready to go?"

Hermione nodded hastily and clutched her back even tighter, like she was afraid, that it would be taken from her, too. Fred honestly considered it for the show of being a gentleman, too, but when he saw her reaction he quickly reconsidered. Better not to try too much too soon. "Today you'll learn one of our secrets," Fred told her while walking at her right side. "You'll have to forget your responsibilities as a Prefect for once because we trust you not to rat us out."

From the corner of his eyes, he saw her nod. "I wouldn't do that to you, not if you endangered your secret by agreeing to help me," she said in a serious but silent voice.

He smiled. "That's one more reason why you're our favourite Prefect." Fred winked at her and it didn't even take a moment until the pretty blush was back on her face. But Fred didn't comment on it and just enjoyed the view.

It wasn't long until they stopped in front of the statue of the three-eyed troll on the 6th floor. The statue was one of the ugliest ones in the castle and aside from the fact that the thing had three eyes, it was a very convincing replica of the mountain trolls Fred had seen in his school books. The secret passage behind it was one that they had only discovered last year but ever since it was one of their favourites.

"It's only a little bit further," George promised and after checking that no one else was around, he activated the secret mechanism by tickling the troll's left foot. Immediately, the statue hobbled to the side and revealed the door that was hidden behind it. George opened it with a fluid motion and invited Hermione inside with a bow and a proud grin. "Mylady? After you," he said and the girl cast him a questioning gaze before stepping inside. Fred knew of course what she would find there, but the surprised gasp from her was still music in his ears. He cast his brother a proud grin before he followed Hermione into their secret lab. There she stood and looked around with wide eyes and an open mouth. When he and George had found the place during their last year, the place had been full of cobwebs and dust but they had quickly cleaned everything out and arranged the heavy workbenches along the walls in a circle so that the middle of the room offered enough space for their more voluminous experiments. By now the whole room was filled with sparkling and whizzing products in development as well as with five cauldrons full of bubbling potions. Four of them would form the base of their new wonder witch beauty line, the last one was another special project for him.

"This looks like…is this your lab?" their favourite Prefect asked and looked at them like she had never seen them before.

Fred nodded with a grin. "Georgie and I found the place last year and ever since we use it for our little side projects." He winked at her and made a grand gesture with his hand. "We mostly use the place to develop new products for our shop. I'm experimenting on different potions over there," he pointed to several work-benches with various cauldrons in the back of the room "and George does his enchantments in this area." Hermione followed his explanations with glowing eyes and he could see that her fingers were itching to touch everything. He smiled. "Go on, take a look. As long as none of our secrets leaves the room, we are fine with a little curiosity. We already told you, that we don't consider it a bad character trait."

Hermione nodded mutely and after she had placed her school bag on one of the tables, she carefully trailed through the room. Her eyes seemed to take in and catalogue everything and Fred would feel bad or worried, if it was anybody but her. This was Hermione Granger, the cleverest and most loyal girl he had ever met and he was absolutely sure that she would never compromise one of their experiments or betray their trust. It was a strange thing to have such trust in her, considering the fact, that they hadn't talked that much to her in the past. But Fred had watched her over the years and he had the feeling that he knew her pretty well.

"What is this one?" the little witch asked after she had passed several work-benches without comment. He smiled when he saw what she was looking at. The project was one of his favourites at the moment after all. "It's my attempt to create a mild version of the Felix Felicis. The original potion is pretty hard and expensive to make," he started and from her agreeing nod he assumed that she knew the original potion. "The one I am attempting to make for the shop is far less potent but enough to swing the luck to your side for minor, every-day events. The thing won't save your life in a duel or make you win a game of Quidditch but it might still bring the smile to your face more often than without taking it."

Hermione blinked at him in surprise. "That is actually a really brilliant idea," she said and smiled. "I can't believe you are inventing all this stuff, without even taking your NEWT in Potions. But I can see that you are doing pretty well on your own."

Fred snorted. " 'm not though. There's always Georgie, I'm rarely working alone in here." At that, George was at his side and he could feel his twin's arm around his shoulder. He smiled. "It takes two mad geniuses to come up with all of this stuff."

"Probably," Hermione agreed with a nod. "And even then it's hard to believe, you two came up with all this stuff on your own." She shook her head with a smile before she turned around and went back to the table she had chosen for herself. "Can I set up my stuff here?"

He shrugged. "Absolutely. Make yourself at home. If you need anything, I'm over there." Fred pointed to his simmering cauldron and Hermione nodded with a smile.

"Alright, thank you, boys. I'll be careful not to disturb you with whatever you are working at."

George snorted from the other side of the room. "Nonsense, Hermione. If you need help or have a question, just ask. This isn't Snape's lesson. We're here to have fun, okay?"

Hermione looked at both of them with glowing eyes and a shy smile. "Okay." And Fred couldn't help but think that they had just won her over a bit more.

sssssssss

Hermione went through her next school day like in trance. It wasn't a new thing to her any longer, as it had happened to her a couple of times now since the holidays, but she couldn't help but think that her old self would have been appalled by her lack of participation in the lessons. But today, Hermione didn't care.

Yesterday had been odd. She hadn't known what to expect when the Weasley twins had promised her a room where she could finish Harry's potion in peace. She had maybe pictured an empty classroom or something like that but surely not a secret laboratory full of their own, halfway-finished inventions.

Her mind ran in circles over the question, if Fred and George were really interested in any kind of romance with her. While working with them neither Fred nor George had said anything that could be considered flirty or less than proper. They had treated her like a research partner, or a good friend, but definitely not like a love interest. So why had they asked her on a date? Well, they hadn't asked her for a date explicitly, just for her to accompany them to Hogsmeade, hadn't they? The date was what she had been implying but they also hadn't disagreed with her statement when she confronted them with it. So what should she even expect, when she went to Hogsmeade with both of them? Would they try to romance her, to make it a proper date? She seriously doubted that they planned to share her in a relationship, right? Or was sharing a love-interest some kind of wizard-thing she hadn't heard about until today? Arrrgh, it was just so frustrating to not know the answers to any of these questions. But as it appeared, she would have to accept the uneasiness for now.

"Hermione? Are you alright?" Harry's voice pulled her out of her thoughts when she strolled down the corridor after she had finished her lessons for the day. "You seemed strangely absent today." It was true. She hadn't even realized that he had caught up with her, because she had been that absorbed by her never-ending train of thoughts.

"Yeah, I've been a bit distracted today. Sorry, if I've been ignoring you. It really wasn't on purpose."

Her friend shrugged and cast her a good-natured smile. "It's fine Hermione. We all have a lot on our plate lately. Did you… did you manage to brew the potion yesterday?"

"Yeah," she said and smiled. The evening in Fred's and George's lab had been really successful. The potion came along quite nicely and apart from the phial she intended for Harry she managed to bottle another one that she would keep for herself. "I put the phial under a stasis charm, so it will be ready for you, whenever you choose to take it." She told her friend proudly.

"Good," Harry said and flashed her a grim smile. "Do you have them with you?"

She looked at him with wide eyes. "You want to take them now?"

Harry nodded determinedly. "Absolutely. Let's look for an empty classroom or something. I think there are some of those on the 5th floor."

At that, her friend turned into the direction that led them to the main staircases and started walking with even more determination. 'He's really desperate,' Hermione realized, as she recognized his stiff posture and the strange magical tension that seemed to radiate from him in waves. Harry was right. They all had a lot on their plates, at the moment, but somehow the realization that she wasn't the only one having problems made her feel better and a little less alien.

It really didn't take them long to find an empty classroom on the 5th floor. Luckily the hallway was already deserted as all students had hurried back into their dorms, common rooms or outside after finishing their last lesson for the day and therefore it wasn't difficult to slip into the empty room without anyone noticing. They had barely stepped inside when Harry closed the door behind them with a determined face and even cast one of the charms Professor Flitwick had recently taught them for warding the room. "Alright, this should be enough to not get disturbed within the next minutes," he said and walked towards them with a tired sigh. "Alright, Hermione. Do you have the potion? I'd really like to get this over with."

Ron snorted. "I get it, mate, believe me. Remember? Some days ago I was the one begging Hermione to give her potion to me."

Harry nodded with a sigh. "I know. I really just want to know what's wrong with me. All these strange dreams I have at night and then the pain is this damn scar. It's slowly driving me mad."

Hermione nodded understandingly. "We understand, Harry. Here's the potion." She handed him the potion that she had stored in an unbreakable vial in one of the inner pockets of her robes. Her friend took it with a smile of gratitude.

"Thanks, Hermione. I don't know what I'd do without you." Harry looked at his friends with a determined expression, before he took off the stopper and eyed the silvery potion within the vial. Then he took a deep breath and said: "Alright, let's do this." He locked his eyes with them and drowned the potion. The reaction was instant. Where the students, Hermione had seen taking the potion in Snape's class, had just fallen in some sort of trance, Harry gasped before his knees buckled and he slid to the floor. There he fell to his side and crumpled into a ball by grabbing his knees with his arms. Ron was at his side in an instant.

"Harry, Merlin! Is that supposed to be happening?" he shouted in a panicked voice and looked at her with wide eyes. "Hermione, do something!"

Hermione kneeled down next to Harry with her heart beating heavily in her chest. Merlin, what had she done? Had the potion gone wrong without her noticing it? With shaking hands she felt Harry's pulse point and just when she realized that his heart was beating frantically, his eyes fluttered open with a gasp. For a moment he just stared at them from the floor with frightened, wild eyes, before he grasped Hermione's and Ron's hands and pulled himself up in a sitting position. "Harry? Are you alright?" Ron asked with his eyes full of concern.

Harry shook his head and looked at them with his green eyes full of panic and hopelessness, while his breath came out in laboured pants.

"Harry?" Hermione tried carefully and gently pressed his hand. "Please Harry, talk to us. You're really scaring us right now."

Ron nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, mate. Whatever it is, you know we won't judge you. Just talk to us."

The boy on the floor blinked. "Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure the answer I've gotten will scare you as least as much as it is scaring me. And I'm just about to lose it right now."

Ron stared at his friend with wide eyes. "What is it? Are you the Open Link?"

But the other boy just snorted, before a humourless laugh escaped him. "I wish it was that easy. Merlin… being the Open Link would definitely be considered good news compared to… this." He seemed to struggle for words. Finally, he let go of their hands and started pulling at his hair. Then he sighed again and closed his eyes for a long moment. When he opened them again, he shook his head and said: "Merlin, there is really no easy way of saying this. The reason I have these nightmares… I…" He closed his eyes with a pained expression on his face and without opening them he continued: "There's a part of Voldemort's soul living inside of me. It must have kind of awakened or something when he resurrected himself on this damned graveyard."

For a moment their friend just sat there, waiting for their reaction with closed eyes and Hermione couldn't help but wonder, if he didn't want to see the expressions on their faces. But the gasp of shock that left her mouth still betrayed her feelings anyway. She could feel her hand starting to tremble and for a moment she had to fight the urge to pull it out of Harry's grasp, but she willed herself to stay calm as she asked: "Are you sure? What exactly is it that the potion told you?"

A that, Harry opened his green eyes and looked at her with something resembling tiredness and resignation. "There is a part of Voldemort's soul that somehow got attached to me. The potion didn't say how only that it is there and pretty much alive. But that's all I got from it."

Hermione took a deep breath before she sought out his eyes. They are still the same, she reminded herself, even though she could have sworn to catch a red shimmer behind them for a second. And the realisation that it probably wasn't just her imagination playing a trick on her freaked her out beyond measure. Merlin, if this was really true, then they were in big trouble.

"You have to talk to Professor Dumbledore, Harry. You need to tell him what we just found out," she urged her friend and she could feel the determination return to her voice. "We are not sure if… this" she motioned helplessly towards his scar "affects you in any other way than by giving you strange dreams. It can very well be that the anger you feel isn't your anger at all…" She let the statement hang in the room for a minute and by the widening of the boy's eyes they had gotten what she wanted to imply. Good. Because this really wasn't the moment to back out and hide below one's blanket. "If anyone knows what all of this means, or how it happened or hell… how to get rid of it, then it's Professor Dumbledore, Harry."

Her black-haired friend nodded, but he still stared at her with his shoulders sagged in defeat. "Yeah, I know. But… he's been kind of avoiding me ever since the summer holidays, I think. I'm not even sure if he'd be willing to talk to me now."

But Hermione just shook her head in determination. "He has to talk to you, Harry. This is important, really important." With that, she pulled herself to her feet and flattened the wrinkles in her robe. Then she looked at the boys with a raised chin and a determined expression in her eyes. "I'll come with you, Harry. I am a Prefect after all. I know we can't go and talk to the Headmaster directly, but we can always go to Professor McGonagall. She's also a member of the Order, so it should be safe to talk to her about your… problem."

Ron was on his feet next to her just a moment later. "Good idea, Hermione. I'll be right behind you, mate. Don't worry Harry. We'll fix this somehow. You're not alone in this, right Mione?"

Hermione nodded with a smile. "No, we're in this together. Whatever happens Harry, we'll be right behind you."