Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters related. All the characters, names and items are property of J.K. Rowling.
s.s.harry – err.. ok? Linkin Park GOOD music yes, but.. eh.. *confused* ^_^
donkeycabbages – yay! I cant believe so many people like this!
FredandGeorge4eva – Nah, Ron and Hermy won't get together in this story. I think they're waaaaay too brother sister like anyway. OR ARE THEY? :D
princess310889 – Not just ANY Weasley, my dear, but the BEST Weasleys, hehe. I love George and Fred, haha. And I think that Bill (and Charlie) are such great, but unappreciated characters! Thank you thank you!
LuNa161 – Haha, I should count the votes for George Fred and Hermione. ;D But I'm really glad you liked it!
Sarah B. P – THANKS!
Gwen Potter – I am reading your fic right now! (Ok, so I took a quick brake because I need to update this, I doubt you'd mind ;)) You read my mind about the triangle thingy, Hermy definitely needs to end up with George, but.. WHO KNOWS? Blah, Fred's okay, I just realized he isn't even in this chapter o.o Expect big Fred stuff in the next one, can't leave him out! Thanks for your great reviews ^_^
KitSa Reviews – It seems EVERYONE has a soft spot for the Weasley twins, including me, haha. Glad you liked the Bill/Twin/Hermione idea ^_^
Catgrl52 – Well, I'm strange. But I'm glad you like this. AND BILL IS NICE! I think? I don't know really, he's a blank character, to be honest :D
Bookie – Heehee, I love using the word "BLOODY" and I'm not even british! I already have 3 votes for the love triangle thing, hurray! ;)
hP fAn Fo LyFe – Thank youuuu, I think they're the best too, to be honest!
Chapter 4 : How stupid are you?
Several days later, Hermione sat outside. She had been avoiding most of the Weasleys, simply because of the fact she was sure she brought bad luck on them. First Bill, then Fred. Who was next?
Hermione watched disinterestedly how Crookshanks chased one of the gnomes around. She had been watching her cat for the entire morning, so it wasn't particularly interesting. Still, when the large orange cat jumped right next to one of the gnomes – Hermione was sure it was the one Ginny had named Mr. Snuggles – she laughed softly.
"Oy, Hermione, what's this?" a familiar voice sounded. "You're having fun without me?"
"I've been having fun my entire life without you George." Hermione retorded, "So calm down."
"Ah, yes, but now that you have discovered the fun of being a Weasley prankster, you can't get enough of it, eh?" he sat down next to her and nudged her.
Hermione pushed his head away. "Honestly, George!" she sighed, but smiled anyway. "How is Fred?" she asked.
"Very busy helping Mom out." George grinned. "While pretending to be in horrible pain."
Hermione winced but George pulled a string of her hair, softly.
"Come on 'Mione, he's all right!"
"Define 'all right'"
"For one thing, he just passed out after he fell. We're a house full of wizards and witches, how could you even think there was something terrible going to happen?"
Hermione shrugged and stared at the gnomes again. Of course he was right. She should have realized that nothing bad had happened after Fred fell. Molly, Arthur or even Bill were experienced enough to heal any wound. And it was just a large bump on the head, and maybe a bruised ego. Besides, Fred was the one who had laughed the hardest. He had congratulated Hermione on her excellent reflexes, which only made her angrier. Not as angry as Molly Weasley, however. Unlike Hermione had feared she wasn't angry at Hermione at all. Rather at Fred for being "the most immature, irresponsible and stupidest twat alive!" Meanwhile, Hermione had been trembling next to George, who, after he realized Fred was going to be okay, found all of this extremely funny.
George observed Hermione from the corner of his eyes. She hadn't genuinely laughed for the last few days. He almost reckoned they were getting on her nerves. Ever since the Bill incident, she had been extremely tense and left the room at several occasions, just because she didn't trust the twins anymore.
"So," he said after having this thought, "Does this friendly conversation of ours mean you trust us again?"
Hermione looked at him, one brow raised. It made her look a lot older and wiser, at least to George.
"First of all, you can't exactly call this a conversation, second of all, I trust you, alone. And Fred, alone, though after the ghoul thing, less." she added thoughtfully. "But you two together?"
Hermione stuck her nose in the air and made a snobbish sound. George grinned and pulled her in a bear hug. "I knew you couldn't stay mad at me."
Hermione struggled to get out, pushed her hands against his chest and gave a fake tired expression.
"You.." she said accusingly, but the grin on George's face only grew larger.
"ME!" he said cheerfully. "And you," he jumped up and grabbed Hermione's hand, "Are going to annoy Harry and Ron. Maaaaybe even Bill!" he added with a wink. Hermione turned slightly red, but tried to ignore it. "All right, Weasley," she said in a surrendering tone, "Let's go already."
Harry and Ron were too busy to be annoyed, however. They were cleaning their brooms, and paid no attention to George or Hermione, when they barged into Rons room. It was obvious Ron was still pissed off at his brother.
Hermione looked over his shoulder as Ron polished his Cleansweep.
"Roon," she whined, "leave the broom, and come outside with us, will you?"
Ron shook his head and pretended to be very interested in his broom. Ok, so maybe he was.
George kneeled next to him. "Oh please Ron, lets make up." he begged, but Ron placed his hand on Georges face and pushed him away.
"Sorry, not interested." he muttered. Hermione looked at Harry, for help, but he only shrugged and gave her a warning head-shake. She stepped back and sighed. But then, she suddenly realized she wasn't going to give in that easily. It was Ron, after all.
"Come on you lazy bum!" she yelled angrily at him. George and Harry looked up at her saying 'bum', then stared at each other with a grin, but Ron didn't flinch and started humming a rather annoying tune.
"Ron, shut up already!" Hermione ordered. "I mean, I just want to do something with you and Harry and you ignore us!"
For the first time, Ron acknowledged her existence and turned around. His face looked quite.. amused. Or angry, or bored. It was odd, for the first time Hermione couldn't read his face.
"What?" she asked.
"You obviously don't need me or Harry to entertain you." he said slowly. "Harry and I are quite busy so, if you don't mind, why don't you go and play outside with the twins?" he said nodding over to George. George frowned slightly.
"Come on now Ron, is this still about the hair?" he asked, but the thought alone made him smile again. The smile never seemed to disappear off his face.
Ron narrowed his eyes. "This is not about the hair; this is about Harry and I being busy and you two spending a lot of time with Hermione!"
Hermione gaped at him, then at Harry, who sighed and rolled his eyes.
"What? Harry, do you agree with him?" she asked him. Harry raised his hands in denial.
"Ron's being awful, not me!" he said. "But.. 'Hermione," he added, "You have been neglecting us a bit for the past few days."
Ron snorted. Hermione looked at both of them and couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Well you, why .. I .." This was ridiculous and not true at all! All right, she did spent little time with them, but wasn't she the one who fixed his hair? And she had spent maybe HALF a day with the twins, and it had been a complete disaster."
She glared at George, who seemed rather curious about Rons behaviour and then grabbed his arm.
"Fine." she spat at Ron. "I'll go play with the twins, then."
"Hermiooone!" George kidded, but Hermione could drink his blood – ANYONE'S blood – by that point and silenced him with a killer glare.
Ron watched how Hermione dragged his older brother outside and sighed.
"Honestly, when will she realize she actually likes him?" he said as he put his Cleansweep away and started staring at Harry.
Harry put his broom away as well, and continued what he had done before Hermione barged in. Being horribly bored.
"I don't know Ron, I sure hope this whole thing was worth it."
"We made no sense, did we?" Ron grinned.
Harry shook his head with a grin, as well. "No. I especially liked the part where you blamed George and Fred of stealing Hermione from us."
Ron smiled proudly. "Made that one up myself, I did. Hope it gets through her thick head soon, though."
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "Now that we scared our best friend and your brother away, what can we do?"
Ron shrugged. "Beats me." And the two friends continued to stare blankly at each other.
"You didn't try to fix any of it, did you?" Hermione accused George seconds later.
"Hermione, honestly, you think I could?"
"Well, it was complete rubbish that Ron blamed me for spending time with you two. Which I'm not!"
George smiled at her. "Come on, you are. And Ron's just jealous, is all."
"Of what?!" Hermione shook her head. "There's nothing to be jealous at. You two just mislead me and used me for this stupid out of place joke, and then I accidentally pushed Fred down the stairs because HE scared me. So yeah, I've been checking on him, but.."
A sigh of frustration ended the rant and Hermione gave up trying to reason with anyone.
"I'm going to Ginny's room and you are going to make sure she, or anyone else, will stay away from it."
George stared at the girl in front of him and nodded slowly.
"Whatever you say 'Mione." he said, stepping out of her way as she rushed to Ginny's tiny room.
"Men."
George chuckled.
Hours later, Hermione realized Ginny hadn't come to check on her. This could mean only one thing; George actually listened to her. She looked down at her book again – she had snatched one of the twins' study books – and smiled. Reading up on magic always managed to cheer her up. But her smile turned into a frown as it also reminded her of Ron and Harry, looking over her shoulder, taking her notes and simply hate reading. Suddenly, she heard something tapping on the window. She frowned. An owl?
Hey muggle born,
When are you going to come out? I'm bored. You're fun!
George
Hermione stared at the letter, then at the owl.
"You're George's owl?" she wondered out loud, not expecting an answer from the fair barn owl. Hermione figured that George bought himself an owl after their success with that stupid joke shop. The bird stared at her, and she knew it was waiting for a reply.
I'll give you your bloody reply, she thought, after she had read the short note once again, then ripped an empty page from the book and scribbled a note.
Dear Frecklehead,
How about : NO? You're never bored and I'm not coming out.
Hermione
"Here, take it." she said to the owl and sent it away. Turning back to her book, she almost forgot about the whole thing, when suddenly the owl flew back into Ginny's room and delivered another letter.
But dearest 'Mione,
I have been guarding your door for 3 hours now, scaring away the likes of Bill, Ginny and even my father. Surely, you understand this is DULL?
George
Hermione rolled her eyes and hesitated. Why did she even bother to write back? It was obvious he was kidding. But there was no harm in having fun. Ron and Harry were having fun too. She snorted, and wrote back.
I'm glad you have taken my request seriously. I'm sure scaring away Bill and Ginny was quite difficult. Now, would you please stop sending your cute owl, I'm sure he has better things to do. And so have you.
She grinned when she gave the note to the owl, which hooted softly and took off again. This time, she didn't bother to return to her book, and waited patiently for a reply, which came quite soon.
Daft girl, since my brother is constantly being watched by my mother dear, my brothers both ignore me because of a certain stunt WE pulled, I HAVE nothing better to do! Like the owl? I named him Zeus, but it doesn't suit him. But give the mighty Zeus a break, he likes you 'Mione!
"Zeus?" she frowned and looked at the owl. He didn't look like a Zeus to her.
George, you set me up, I did not pull any stunt, you have my permission to leave, now sod off!!
To be honest, Hermione wasn't that annoyed. She sure wasn't angry anymore. But what else was she supposed to do? This owling thing was useless!! And even though she knew he was going to leave her alone now, she was still expecting – or hoping – for a reply. Mighty Zeus flew inside once again, carrying a tiny note.
You okay?
Hermione smiled.
Just swell. Thanks.
"There, now don't come back, right?" she told the owl, but was sure it would only listen to George. She pushed the large book – which she had ignored – from her lap and lay down on her chest. She studied Ginny's room without actually looking at it well, and rested her chin on her hands.
"Bugger." she muttered when Zeus landed next to her.
That's it, I'm sending him in. Have to dash, will talk to you later, 'Mione.
CHEER UP
Those last words were written in big font, and George had underlined the word 'him' several times. She suddenly shook up. Him? Who on earth was he talking about? Her eyes flashed to the door, as the knob turned and the 'him' walked inside.
Oh bloody hell.
Bill's eyes made contact with hers, and with a swift move he grabbed a chair and seated himself in front of the bed.
"Hello Hermione."
Hermione dropped the head on the pillow before she replied a soft: "Hi Bill."
A silence followed, until Bill coughed softly and gained her attention.
"May I ask why you are here?" she asked. Her own voice startled her, as it left her mouth in a high pitched tone, sounding very un Hermione-like.
"George?" he replied, in a questioning voice. He saw her confused expression and smiled. It brightened his face, Hermione noticed.
"I happened to walk past him and he said you could use a good BBT."
"B..BT?"
"Brotherly Bill Talk."
"Please tell me you didn't come up with that name."
"Of course not, it was Ginny's idea." he retorted seriously, but grinned as he noticed Hermione's expression.
"Ok, so I made that up. But I did ran into George, sitting on the ground. He had to leave, though, and told me you had taken over Ginny's room."
Hermione grinned.
"I needed some alone time, it's really hard to get that around here, you know!"
Bill laughed, now. A genuine laugh, and a rather loud one too. She smiled happily, because it was her who made him smile.
Bill confused her. She never paid attention to him before, but after what happened a few days ago, she couldn't help but notice him. She caught herself looking at him quite often. And she was still somewhat uncomfortable around him, because she never knew if he was kidding or not. And what he wanted from her. Bill had told her on that dreadful morning that he barely knew her. So why on earth was he alone with her in a room, offering a 'brotherly talk'?
Brother, her ass. Damn fine looking guy, he was!
"So," Bill broke the silence again, and chuckled softly, "The Weasleys are finally getting on your nerves?"
Hermione shook her head. "No, not that! Oh no, you are like my second family. It's just.." she hesitated, but Bills friendly eyes looked genuine enough, "I never asked for two living jokes following me around."
Bill immediately understood and forced back another chuckle. Merlin, this girl had no idea. She was just as bad as Ginny. Ginny had grown up, an unpleasant surprise to him, but was still as innocent as always. He saw those guys looking at her, when they visited Diagon Alley last time. She barely noticed.
Same thing with Granger here, he reasoned. She obviously had changed – not that he had noticed, but he never really did notice the girl – and his jackass brothers fancied that change. He could see why, because the girl in front of him was pretty enough. A bit young, but even he wasn't that dense not to notice she was all grown up as they say. He liked her face most of all, however. It was full of emotions; you could read it, like a book. Right now, it was slightly red, she had quirked a brow and her mouth stood slightly open, as if she wanted to say something.
Hermione had no idea what this conversation was about. She just confessed how much the twins annoyed her, and all Bill did was smile and watch her. It made her feel funny inside. He was so close, and so cute. Hermione blinked. She punished herself for thinking like a silly teenager.
Wake up Hermione, you ARE a teenager.
Bill got up and leaned over, his face was now very close to hers. He had a friendly smile on his face, which turned into a happy grin when he whispered:
"I think you have to figure this one out yourself, Hermione. Do you really hate Fred and George that much?"
She shook her head slowly, staring right in his eyes.
"No..I don't hate them, I .. just.."
She couldn't quite figure out what she was trying to say, as the 'brotherly' Bill made her very nervous. He was so close she could easily kiss him.
