The next night, Fred muttered a sleeping spell under his breath. Hermione began to yawn, then finally fell asleep. Fred signaled to George, who stood up.
"A new bargain! Ten Knuts to get any question in the world answered- correctly!" He yelled. Heads snapped up.
"How?" Parvati Patil asked curiously, setting her nail polish down.
"Hermione Granger." Fred stood up as well.
"What?"
"When asleep, Hermione Granger will answer any question in the world correctly." George said.
The twins' little brother Ron half raised his hand. "Question." He said. "How is that any difference from when she's awake?"
Everyone laughed, and Fred and George looked at Ron in annoyance.
"Because," George told him, "She can answer any question. Even questions only one person knows the answer to. We've tested her. Last night. We asked her what the next day's homework was for Potions, summoned Snape's lesson plan, and she was right."
"So that was you." Ron said. "Harry was blamed for that, that's why he's not here. He got detention from Snape."
The twins looked at each other sheepishly. "I guess we forgot to send it back," George said.
"Anyway, prove that she can answer any question." Angelina Johnson, one of the Gryffindor Quidditch team Chasers, spoke up.
"We're glad you asked." Fred grinned. "A volunteer?"
Parvati stood up. "I'll volunteer." She said.
"Excellent. Does anyone besides you know the answer to your question?" Parvati shook her head. "Good, now ask."
"Which of Lavender's nail polishes did I use up last week?" Parvati said loudly.
"Purely Pretty Purple." Hermione said. Her voice was louder than it had been the previous night.
"How dare you! You knew it was my favourite!" Lavender shrieked.
"I've got another one coming by owl post! It should be here any day!"
"Oh, very well." Lavender leaned back and crossed her arms, sulking.
"Apparently the louder you ask your question, the louder Hermione will reply." Fred observed. "If you don't want anyone to hear the answer, then ask quietly. Do I have anyone who wants to ask questions?"
"We want more proof." Dennis Creevey, a second year, piped up.
"Another person to ask? Anyone?"
Lavender stood up angrily. "Which of Parvati's lip glosses did I accidentally lose?" she shouted.
"Pinkalicious."
"What!?" Parvati cried. "Pinkalicious was a special edition lip gloss! I only lent it to you because you promised you wouldn't let anything happen to it! Now it's gone forever! How am I supposed to get it back? Or get another one? They don't make it anymore!" she ranted.
"Accio." The reply came.
"Oh. Why didn't I think of that?" Lavender said shamefacedly.
"Because you're an airheaded idiot." Parvati said. "I'm summoning it- I won't risk anything else happening to it. Accio Pinkalicious special edition lip gloss from Witch Makeup Incorporated, 660 Warlock Lane, Surrey, witchmakeupinc.com, witchmakeupinc@-" she recited, cut off in the middle of the email.
"Oh, for goodness sake!" Alicia Spinnet said impatiently. "Accio lip gloss."
A small plastic pink can zoomed to Alicia, who caught it and handed it to Parvati.
"I was just being specific!" Parvati pouted, but when she caught sight of the lip gloss, she smiled. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! You're back!" She grasped the lip gloss and hugged it.
"Convinced?" Fred said with a smile. "Hermione has answered three questions correctly. Ten Knuts, a real bargain. Ask any question existing- even one you don't know the answer to. Any takers?"
"I'll take a question," Neville Longbottom offered.
"And me!"
"Me too!"
"Two questions!"
"Four questions!"
"I want a question!"
"Okay, form a two single file lines. Girls line on the stairs up to the girls' dormitory, boys line on the stairs to their dormitory. Go get your money, and make the lines. Any cutting and you'll have to pay quadruple per question, and go to the back of the line." George directed. There was a stampede to reach the dormitories.
"We are in business!" The twins chorused and high-fived each other.
Before long, there were two lines filled with buzzing people. Fred and George alternated from the boys' line to the girls' line. Fred peeked up the stairs and saw that there were people up as far as the last dormitory, and the line was going into it.
After several people had gone, Ron Weasley got his turn to ask questions. He gave Fred and George twenty Knuts and went over to the couch.
"Are you getting any money from this?" He asked.
"No."
"Do you actually know that you can do this?"
"No."
"Did Fred and Geor-"
"That's three questions. Pay up or leave." George held out his hand. Ron sighed and handed over ten more Knuts.
"Did Fred and George tell you anything whatsoever about this?" he asked.
"No."
Ron stood up and headed up to his dormitory, squeezing past the various people in the line. He sat on his bed and watched the line dwindle. He saw Seamus Finnigan go past in the line at least ten times. Gradually, Ron saw less people go past multiple times, and more people heading up to their dormitories. Neville, Dean, and finally Seamus came back to the room and went to sleep. When finally Ron saw Fred and George come up to go to bed, he arose and went out.
"Where's Hermione?" he asked.
Fred shrugged. "Still down there." He said.
"You left her there?" Ron asked incredulously.
"Well, yeah. What's the problem?" George asked.
" The problem is that you're using one of my best friends, and now you're just leaving her down in the cold common room while you go up to your nice warm beds." Ron crossed his arms.
"What, you want us to carry her up to her dormitory and put her in her bed?"
"No. I want you to take the spell off her and let her wake up. Then she can go up to her dormitory herself."
"How'd you know we put a spell on her?" Fred asked.
"Intuition. If you don't take the spell off her, she's going to miss classes and figure out that something's wrong. And you two better be on the next continent by the time she finds out, or she's going to kill you both."
"You aren't going to tell her, are you?" George asked, looking panicky.
"Give me one reason I shouldn't."
"We know who you like."
"Done."
Fred said an incantation and pointed his wand down the stairs. "Happy now?"
"Enough for the time being."
"Good." The twins turned and went up to their rooms. Ron stared after them for a minute, then walked down the stairs. He peeked around the corner and saw a shadowy shape going towards the entrance to the girls' dormitories. Satisfied, he turned and stole upstairs and into bed.