Hermione opened her eyes and stretched underneath her covers.
Crookshanks jumped on top of the bed and meowed at her. She smiled and
rubbed his chin. It felt so good to be back. That was the first night
of real rest she'd gotten in a long time. She was back in her own bed,
at her Hogwarts, where her friends were only a staircase away. She'd
been able to sleep peacefully, knowing that Tom Riddle wouldn't be
sneaking into her dormitory. Never had there been a moment where she'd
felt such joy at being a Gryffindor. She'd gotten tired of the
dreariness of the Slytherin halls and they'd had a strange effect on
her mood. She pulled her maroon blanket up over her and snuggled deeper
into her warm bed. She didn't know what time it was and she didn't
care. Hermione was free to be herself again, and that's what she was
going to do. She was drifting back off into sleep when there was a
knock on the door.
"Come in." she yawned.
"Good morning. Sleep well?" Fred asked and sat down on the bed next to her, handing her a tray of food.
"Yeah. Say how did you get in here? Boys can't get into the girl's dormitory."
"You forget that I know every secret passage this school has. There are ways." he winked.
"So what's with the breakfast in bed?"
"Mum told Ginny to bring you up something, but I asked Ginny if I could do it. That girl is acting very peculiar. She kept giggling."
"She knows. I think Harry does too, I'm going to have to talk to him and ask that he not tell Ron. One of us is going to have to break it to him eventually though, you know that right?"
"I'll have George do it."
"Fred!"
"All right, I won't have George do it. You should do it. He won't hex you."
"No you're not getting out of this one. He's your brother, talk to him. If I tell him, he's just going to be even more angry with you."
"I can deal with that, so you tell him."
"Fred!"
"All right! I'll tell him. Now that it's settled, eat." he smiled. She sat down the piece of toast she was about to take a bite out of and looked at him questioningly.
"What'd you do to it?" she asked
"Hermione, I'm hurt. What gives you the slightest idea that I would give you anything unusual?"
"Because you're Fred Weasley, you have a reputation."
"Ah yes, but now you're not just Hermione Granger the snitch, you're Hermione Granger my girlfriend." he kissed her cheek.
"What'd you do to it?" she repeated.
"All right, it's just a simple little concoction George and I came up with." he admitted.
"What does it do?"
"Well have you ever heard of 'Spanish Fly'?"
"Isn't that the stuff that's supposed to turn you on and make you really horny till it wears off?"
"Right. Well we've made our own formula similar to that, but without such drastic effects. It's more of a simple love potion really." he explained.
"Why are you trying it out on me?"
"Because it's a couples thing. I take it too." he proceeded to eat one of the pieces of toast he'd brought up for her.
"So you were going to guinea pig me without even telling me?"
"It's not that big of a deal, Hermione. Please?"
"If I grow a tail or anything, you'll pay for this." she gave in and ate the toast.
"I'll think you're beautiful even if you do." he smiled. She hit him and he kissed her. The door opened and Ginny came in.
"Mum wants to see you." she told Fred.
He nodded and stood up. He kissed Hermione's cheek then departed. She got up and got dressed for the day and finished her breakfast. Ginny just sat there on her own bed quietly, writing again. Once Hermione had dressed and finished eating, they met Ron and Harry in the Common Room.
"You're certainly cheerful this morning." Ron commented.
"Just had a good night's sleep, and now I'm ready to study."
"I'll never understand you and you're excitement for learning Hermione." he muttered as they headed towards the library.
"Hey I need to speak with Harry. We'll be along in a moment okay?" She stopped once they reached the doors. She grabbed Harry's arm. She let go immediately after feeling a slight shock go through her. She brushed it off as she watched Ron and Ginny proceed without them into the library.
"Is this about you and Fred?" Harry asked once the doors closed again.
"I had a feeling you knew something. You won't say a word to Ron then, yeah?"
"No, I'll leave that to you. I have to ask-"
"Why?"
"Yeah."
"Because... he's not Malfoy... he's not Viktor. I feel safe with him and I fancy him, Harry. Please don't question it, please just say you'll stand by my decision?"
"It's your life Hermione. Just when you tell Ron tell him in a way that will hurt him less."
"I will. Let's go before they think we're snogging in the hallway." she smiled. He gave a weak smile back and followed her.
Malfoy joined them about an hour later and as a group they began going through every book they could locate concerning Azkaban and The Goblin Wars. Hermione began looking for any information she could find about his daughter, Delsie, in case it brought up anything concerning her father. Hermione wasn't getting very far though, and it was beginning to frustrate her. She couldn't concentrate. She was dealing with a burning desire within her, and wanted some release. Fred hadn't said what the potion was supposed to do, and it was beginning to get on her nerves. She looked up from the book, biting her lip, and caught Malfoy's eyes. He was sitting straight across from her. She quickly looked away.
"Weren't Fred and George supposed to help us?" she asked.
"Oh mum wanted them to run a few errands for her in Hogsmeade. They should be back within a couple of hours." Ginny replied.
A couple of hours? She needed them to be back right now. At least it brought a little comfort to her knowing that Fred had taken it too. Which meant he was probably experiencing the same thing, only he was out in public. Good. It's what he deserves, she decided. She shifted nervously in her chair and looked up again. Malfoy was still staring at her. He knew something was going on with her. He always seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to these sort of things. She jumped slightly at the sound of a book dropping, but refused to look up again. She felt a hand on her leg and she quickly jumped out of her chair.
"Sorry, I dropped my book." Malfoy smirked at her, coming up from under the table. She glared at him, but it came out more as a look saying "please don't do this to me."
"I'm going to go to the bathroom!" she announced, and quickly headed for the door.
"What's with her?" she heard Ron ask Harry.
She rushed down the hallway and to the girl's lavatory. She hoped that the Weasley family had many fond memories of Fred, because as soon as she was done with him, they'd be making funeral arrangements. Hermione splashed cold water on her face and took a deep breath. She heard the door open and she quickly turned around, bracing herself against the sink. It was Malfoy.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"Having some trouble there, Hermione? A little bit of tension?" he snickered and moved closer to her.
"You shouldn't be in here." she commented and turned off the water.
She moved past him to dry her hands. He leaned in close to her. His scent made her insides scream. She wanted him right there on the bathroom floor. His lips were mere inches away from her own. She wanted to remember what they felt like, what they tasted like. Why wouldn't he kiss her already? She couldn't make the first move. She couldn't give him exactly what he wanted, even if she wanted it too at that moment. Her heart was beating fast and they were so close to each other. He leaned in a little bit closer when Hermione heard the door open. Malfoy moved away from her and they both looked over at the intruder. It was Ginny.
"Hi." she said awkwardly.
"Hi." both she and Malfoy replied. They looked at each other, and then looked back at Ginny.
"I just wanted to let you know we found some information... and Fred's back Hermione, you said you wanted to talk to him... about that thing..."
"Oh that! Thank you, Ginny."
"What thing?" asked Malfoy.
"Er... just this thing. A Gryffindor thing. We're planning er.." Hermione looked to Ginny.
"A surprise party." Ginny interjected.
"Yes, a surprise party, you see it was Neville's birthday over the summer and with school starting next week, we thought we'd throw him a party, you know to show how much we care. Fred had some ideas from their joke shop. And I'm going to go talk to him... right now... about that. So um, could you tell Ron and Harry where I've gone? Thanks." she hit herself mentally for making up such a ridiculous lie, but he at least looked like he bought it.
He didn't ask any questions and muttered something about girls as he left the bathroom. She went in the opposite direction and headed up to Gryffindor tower. When she got there only one twin was in the Common Room. She looked him over closely.
"Fred?"
"George."
"George. Where's Fred?"
"Upstairs in our room, I think. About time you started figuring out who's who isn't it?"
"Normally I can tell, I just... forget it. Thanks." she didn't have time to stand there and argue. She also didn't want to tell George she'd taken the bait to try their new invention. He'd find out soon enough. She ran up the steps two at a time and knocked loudly on the door.
"What?" she heard a voice.
"Fred it's me, let me in." she pleaded.
The door opened and she ran into the room. She saw that he'd been packing, but that was the furthest thing from her mind at that moment. She tackled him onto the bed and kissed him passionately. He put his arms around her and gladly returned the kiss.
"You're a prat you know that." she replied, still kissing all over him.
"So it works then?"
"You tell me." she pushed Fred down onto the mattress and pulled off his shirt.
She kissed him roughly and straddled him. Desire ached through her body. The tension was high and making her physically uncomfortable. She had never been like this. Not even with Malfoy. She wanted it bad, and no one better damn well interrupt them. He sat up some and started unbuttoning her blouse. She slowly ground her hips into his as he kissed down her neck. She ran her hands down his back; her nails dug just enough to redden his skin. He kissed her and bit her lip slightly, but not hard enough to draw blood. Hermione threw her shirt on the floor and reached behind to unzip her skirt. She leaned back and he pulled the skirt and her knickers down. She attentively pulled her legs out and layed on his bed, out in front of him. Fred looked at her body eagerly, then placed himself on top of her. She worked on unbuttoning his trousers and pulling them down as he kissed down her neck again and trailed his tongue down her chest and stomach. She didn't remember much of the night when she'd slept with him and George. She'd been too intoxicated. So the most experience her mind was able to recall was that of when she was with Malfoy. She'd never slept with Viktor. It felt awkward to her, having someone else kiss all over her and see her nude. He nipped at her neck as she wrapped her legs around him.
Hermione gave in to passion as the act of mating started. Her mind wasn't focused on Fred Weasley though. She was remembering the way Draco touched her, the way he felt when he was on top of her. She couldn't help it. She knew what would've happened in the bathroom if Ginny hadn't interrupted, and it just sent her on an even hotter hiatus. She met every stroke and every movement as if her life depended on it. When she reached her peak she bit into her lip to keep from screaming out the wrong name. Once the passion and carnal urges subsided, she began to come back down to earth. She kissed Fred softly and held him close. He smiled at her and brushed her lips slightly with his own. She was about to say something when there was a knock on the door. They looked at each other with fear and jumped out of the bed. Hermione had just thrown on her skirt and was buttoning her blouse when the door opened. Ron looked at Fred who was fumbling with his pants and then at Hermione who was straightening out her shirt.
"So too much of the fluxweed then?" Fred asked, looking back at Hermione.
"Um, yeah you might want to cut the amount down in half..." she replied. She felt her face go flush. They both looked at Ron, who looked as if he was trying to come up with something to say, but wasn't finding words.
"H-h-how could you?" he stuttered.
"Ron, I can explain." Hermione started, but the look on Ron's face advised her not to say anymore.
"He's my brother, Hermione..."
"It wasn't just sex, we're together." Fred stated. Hermione glared at him. How could he think that was a wise thing to say? He shrugged at her.
"You two are..." Ron started to speak, but couldn't finish.
He ran out of the room. Hermione ran after him, with Fred behind her throwing on his jumper. They ran past a confused George and down the corridors back to the library. Ron slammed the doors open and everyone looked at them to see what was going on.
"Ron, please. Let's talk about this like adults." Hermione pleaded. She pulled on his arm to get him to leave the library.
"Hermione, he's my brother! I love you! You had to have known that!" he was on the verge of tears. Guilt hit Hermione like a brick. Everyone was staring.
"You had plenty of opportunities to ask her out yourself." Fred snapped.
"And you! You don't even like her! You're always saying how she gets in the way of your business. I had to listen to both you and George complain constantly about her not letting you test out your products."
"People change. I admit, I had been wrong. It might not have been a good idea to test things out on first years."
"Why do you always have to have everything? The both of you!" Ron yelled at Fred and George, who'd just entered the scene. Hermione looked at Harry, who was obviously trying to stay out of it.
"We don't!" George defended.
"Wasn't Angelina and Katie enough? Why do you have to go after our Hermione?"
"Whoa, what's going on?" Malfoy interjected.
"Nothing!" Fred and Hermione answered at the same time.
"Big load of nothing if you ask me! I walked in on the two of them having sex." Ron informed the entire room.
"You didn't walk in on us having sex. You walked in on us after having sex." Fred pointed out.
Hermione glared at him again. She didn't have time to make up for what he'd said. Ron attacked him and pinned him down on the ground. Harry, Ginny, Malfoy, and George all ran over to them. George and Harry pulled Ron off Fred, and were trying to restrain him. Fred was nursing a bloody nose. Hermione helped him up and handed him her handkerchief. Ginny was shaking her head and looking at the ground. Malfoy just smirked.
"Well it's not like your getting much, but then you're used to getting hand-me downs, aren't you Weasley?" he sneered.
There was a loud BANG and Hermione screamed. Fred had turned Malfoy into the white ferret as Moody had years before. Hermione ran over to it and picked it up. The ferret crawled up her shoulder and hid behind her hair.
"Turn him back Fred!"
"No don't, I kind of like him this way." George laughed, bowling over on the ground.
"If you don't turn him back now, I'm going to tell your mother."
"Empty threats, my dear. We're adults, she has no control over us now." Fred smiled
"Besides I think mum might prefer the change." George added.
"No she wouldn't, and you know that. Turn him back."
"No."
"Fredrick Weasley! Turn him back now or I'll tell your mum about everything you two have been keeping in your rooms and the elixir you recently made." Hermione yelled and advanced towards him.
"Fine." he sighed.
There was another BANG, and Malfoy landed on top of Hermione knocking her to the ground. She pushed him off of her and stood up. She turned back to Ron, who seemed to have calmed down a bit.
"I'm sorry you had to find out this way, Ron. Neither of us wanted to hurt you, that's why we hadn't said anything."
"So you all knew right? Except for Malfoy... You all bloody knew." Ron commented looking around at each of them.
Harry and George let go of Ron. He didn't say anymore and ran off past all of them, towards Gryffindor tower. She looked at Malfoy who was glaring at her.
"Your welcome." she huffed and walked past him over to the table. Malfoy left the library, leaving Hermione, the twins, Harry and Ginny alone.
"What happened?" Ginny asked and sat down next to Hermione.
"He doesn't know when to not open a door, can hardly put us at blame for that." Fred replied.
"What were you guys doing that in the castle for to begin with? It's too dangerous. If it had been mum instead of Ron what do you think would've happened?" Ginny scolded.
"So then the elixir works right, brother?" George asked, ignoring Ginny.
"Yeah." Fred and Hermione replied at the same time. They both looked down at the table.
"So what've you found out about Gillium?" Hermione was in desperation to change the subject.
"Well we've found where his burial site is located, and we were thinking of going and having a look it's not to far outside of Hogsmeade. The tombstone might tell us more." Ginny explained.
"All right then, let's go." Hermione stood up. The others followed in unison and began to clean up the books that were strewn all over the table. Hermione noticed an odd dragon skin covered book lying amongst the others. She picked it up.
"What's that?" asked Fred.
"I think it's Draco's journal..." she replied looking it over and running her hand along the monogram with his initials. She looked at Fred, who had a hint of excitement in his eyes.
"No, Fred. I'm going to return this to him."
"After we read it, right?"
"It's none of our business what he's written." she stated.
"Well it's certainly your business, he's your ex... and since you're my girlfriend, it's my business as well." he responded and took the journal out of her hands.
"Give it back."
"Only if you promise not to give it back until we're done with it. There might be something in here to help the Order." he pointed out, handing it back to her.
She hadn't thought of that. There could be plenty of information that Malfoy hadn't released to Dumbledore. He had been a Death Eater after all. Part of her brain was hitting herself for giving into one of Fred's ill advised plans once again, but pocketed the book inside her robes.
"That's my girl." Fred beamed in a whisper.
A/N: Alas a chapter! This was actually in connection with the one coming up, but I cut it off since it'd be way to long otherwise. I'll update again when I can :) as always, if you read please respond.
"Come in." she yawned.
"Good morning. Sleep well?" Fred asked and sat down on the bed next to her, handing her a tray of food.
"Yeah. Say how did you get in here? Boys can't get into the girl's dormitory."
"You forget that I know every secret passage this school has. There are ways." he winked.
"So what's with the breakfast in bed?"
"Mum told Ginny to bring you up something, but I asked Ginny if I could do it. That girl is acting very peculiar. She kept giggling."
"She knows. I think Harry does too, I'm going to have to talk to him and ask that he not tell Ron. One of us is going to have to break it to him eventually though, you know that right?"
"I'll have George do it."
"Fred!"
"All right, I won't have George do it. You should do it. He won't hex you."
"No you're not getting out of this one. He's your brother, talk to him. If I tell him, he's just going to be even more angry with you."
"I can deal with that, so you tell him."
"Fred!"
"All right! I'll tell him. Now that it's settled, eat." he smiled. She sat down the piece of toast she was about to take a bite out of and looked at him questioningly.
"What'd you do to it?" she asked
"Hermione, I'm hurt. What gives you the slightest idea that I would give you anything unusual?"
"Because you're Fred Weasley, you have a reputation."
"Ah yes, but now you're not just Hermione Granger the snitch, you're Hermione Granger my girlfriend." he kissed her cheek.
"What'd you do to it?" she repeated.
"All right, it's just a simple little concoction George and I came up with." he admitted.
"What does it do?"
"Well have you ever heard of 'Spanish Fly'?"
"Isn't that the stuff that's supposed to turn you on and make you really horny till it wears off?"
"Right. Well we've made our own formula similar to that, but without such drastic effects. It's more of a simple love potion really." he explained.
"Why are you trying it out on me?"
"Because it's a couples thing. I take it too." he proceeded to eat one of the pieces of toast he'd brought up for her.
"So you were going to guinea pig me without even telling me?"
"It's not that big of a deal, Hermione. Please?"
"If I grow a tail or anything, you'll pay for this." she gave in and ate the toast.
"I'll think you're beautiful even if you do." he smiled. She hit him and he kissed her. The door opened and Ginny came in.
"Mum wants to see you." she told Fred.
He nodded and stood up. He kissed Hermione's cheek then departed. She got up and got dressed for the day and finished her breakfast. Ginny just sat there on her own bed quietly, writing again. Once Hermione had dressed and finished eating, they met Ron and Harry in the Common Room.
"You're certainly cheerful this morning." Ron commented.
"Just had a good night's sleep, and now I'm ready to study."
"I'll never understand you and you're excitement for learning Hermione." he muttered as they headed towards the library.
"Hey I need to speak with Harry. We'll be along in a moment okay?" She stopped once they reached the doors. She grabbed Harry's arm. She let go immediately after feeling a slight shock go through her. She brushed it off as she watched Ron and Ginny proceed without them into the library.
"Is this about you and Fred?" Harry asked once the doors closed again.
"I had a feeling you knew something. You won't say a word to Ron then, yeah?"
"No, I'll leave that to you. I have to ask-"
"Why?"
"Yeah."
"Because... he's not Malfoy... he's not Viktor. I feel safe with him and I fancy him, Harry. Please don't question it, please just say you'll stand by my decision?"
"It's your life Hermione. Just when you tell Ron tell him in a way that will hurt him less."
"I will. Let's go before they think we're snogging in the hallway." she smiled. He gave a weak smile back and followed her.
Malfoy joined them about an hour later and as a group they began going through every book they could locate concerning Azkaban and The Goblin Wars. Hermione began looking for any information she could find about his daughter, Delsie, in case it brought up anything concerning her father. Hermione wasn't getting very far though, and it was beginning to frustrate her. She couldn't concentrate. She was dealing with a burning desire within her, and wanted some release. Fred hadn't said what the potion was supposed to do, and it was beginning to get on her nerves. She looked up from the book, biting her lip, and caught Malfoy's eyes. He was sitting straight across from her. She quickly looked away.
"Weren't Fred and George supposed to help us?" she asked.
"Oh mum wanted them to run a few errands for her in Hogsmeade. They should be back within a couple of hours." Ginny replied.
A couple of hours? She needed them to be back right now. At least it brought a little comfort to her knowing that Fred had taken it too. Which meant he was probably experiencing the same thing, only he was out in public. Good. It's what he deserves, she decided. She shifted nervously in her chair and looked up again. Malfoy was still staring at her. He knew something was going on with her. He always seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to these sort of things. She jumped slightly at the sound of a book dropping, but refused to look up again. She felt a hand on her leg and she quickly jumped out of her chair.
"Sorry, I dropped my book." Malfoy smirked at her, coming up from under the table. She glared at him, but it came out more as a look saying "please don't do this to me."
"I'm going to go to the bathroom!" she announced, and quickly headed for the door.
"What's with her?" she heard Ron ask Harry.
She rushed down the hallway and to the girl's lavatory. She hoped that the Weasley family had many fond memories of Fred, because as soon as she was done with him, they'd be making funeral arrangements. Hermione splashed cold water on her face and took a deep breath. She heard the door open and she quickly turned around, bracing herself against the sink. It was Malfoy.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"Having some trouble there, Hermione? A little bit of tension?" he snickered and moved closer to her.
"You shouldn't be in here." she commented and turned off the water.
She moved past him to dry her hands. He leaned in close to her. His scent made her insides scream. She wanted him right there on the bathroom floor. His lips were mere inches away from her own. She wanted to remember what they felt like, what they tasted like. Why wouldn't he kiss her already? She couldn't make the first move. She couldn't give him exactly what he wanted, even if she wanted it too at that moment. Her heart was beating fast and they were so close to each other. He leaned in a little bit closer when Hermione heard the door open. Malfoy moved away from her and they both looked over at the intruder. It was Ginny.
"Hi." she said awkwardly.
"Hi." both she and Malfoy replied. They looked at each other, and then looked back at Ginny.
"I just wanted to let you know we found some information... and Fred's back Hermione, you said you wanted to talk to him... about that thing..."
"Oh that! Thank you, Ginny."
"What thing?" asked Malfoy.
"Er... just this thing. A Gryffindor thing. We're planning er.." Hermione looked to Ginny.
"A surprise party." Ginny interjected.
"Yes, a surprise party, you see it was Neville's birthday over the summer and with school starting next week, we thought we'd throw him a party, you know to show how much we care. Fred had some ideas from their joke shop. And I'm going to go talk to him... right now... about that. So um, could you tell Ron and Harry where I've gone? Thanks." she hit herself mentally for making up such a ridiculous lie, but he at least looked like he bought it.
He didn't ask any questions and muttered something about girls as he left the bathroom. She went in the opposite direction and headed up to Gryffindor tower. When she got there only one twin was in the Common Room. She looked him over closely.
"Fred?"
"George."
"George. Where's Fred?"
"Upstairs in our room, I think. About time you started figuring out who's who isn't it?"
"Normally I can tell, I just... forget it. Thanks." she didn't have time to stand there and argue. She also didn't want to tell George she'd taken the bait to try their new invention. He'd find out soon enough. She ran up the steps two at a time and knocked loudly on the door.
"What?" she heard a voice.
"Fred it's me, let me in." she pleaded.
The door opened and she ran into the room. She saw that he'd been packing, but that was the furthest thing from her mind at that moment. She tackled him onto the bed and kissed him passionately. He put his arms around her and gladly returned the kiss.
"You're a prat you know that." she replied, still kissing all over him.
"So it works then?"
"You tell me." she pushed Fred down onto the mattress and pulled off his shirt.
She kissed him roughly and straddled him. Desire ached through her body. The tension was high and making her physically uncomfortable. She had never been like this. Not even with Malfoy. She wanted it bad, and no one better damn well interrupt them. He sat up some and started unbuttoning her blouse. She slowly ground her hips into his as he kissed down her neck. She ran her hands down his back; her nails dug just enough to redden his skin. He kissed her and bit her lip slightly, but not hard enough to draw blood. Hermione threw her shirt on the floor and reached behind to unzip her skirt. She leaned back and he pulled the skirt and her knickers down. She attentively pulled her legs out and layed on his bed, out in front of him. Fred looked at her body eagerly, then placed himself on top of her. She worked on unbuttoning his trousers and pulling them down as he kissed down her neck again and trailed his tongue down her chest and stomach. She didn't remember much of the night when she'd slept with him and George. She'd been too intoxicated. So the most experience her mind was able to recall was that of when she was with Malfoy. She'd never slept with Viktor. It felt awkward to her, having someone else kiss all over her and see her nude. He nipped at her neck as she wrapped her legs around him.
Hermione gave in to passion as the act of mating started. Her mind wasn't focused on Fred Weasley though. She was remembering the way Draco touched her, the way he felt when he was on top of her. She couldn't help it. She knew what would've happened in the bathroom if Ginny hadn't interrupted, and it just sent her on an even hotter hiatus. She met every stroke and every movement as if her life depended on it. When she reached her peak she bit into her lip to keep from screaming out the wrong name. Once the passion and carnal urges subsided, she began to come back down to earth. She kissed Fred softly and held him close. He smiled at her and brushed her lips slightly with his own. She was about to say something when there was a knock on the door. They looked at each other with fear and jumped out of the bed. Hermione had just thrown on her skirt and was buttoning her blouse when the door opened. Ron looked at Fred who was fumbling with his pants and then at Hermione who was straightening out her shirt.
"So too much of the fluxweed then?" Fred asked, looking back at Hermione.
"Um, yeah you might want to cut the amount down in half..." she replied. She felt her face go flush. They both looked at Ron, who looked as if he was trying to come up with something to say, but wasn't finding words.
"H-h-how could you?" he stuttered.
"Ron, I can explain." Hermione started, but the look on Ron's face advised her not to say anymore.
"He's my brother, Hermione..."
"It wasn't just sex, we're together." Fred stated. Hermione glared at him. How could he think that was a wise thing to say? He shrugged at her.
"You two are..." Ron started to speak, but couldn't finish.
He ran out of the room. Hermione ran after him, with Fred behind her throwing on his jumper. They ran past a confused George and down the corridors back to the library. Ron slammed the doors open and everyone looked at them to see what was going on.
"Ron, please. Let's talk about this like adults." Hermione pleaded. She pulled on his arm to get him to leave the library.
"Hermione, he's my brother! I love you! You had to have known that!" he was on the verge of tears. Guilt hit Hermione like a brick. Everyone was staring.
"You had plenty of opportunities to ask her out yourself." Fred snapped.
"And you! You don't even like her! You're always saying how she gets in the way of your business. I had to listen to both you and George complain constantly about her not letting you test out your products."
"People change. I admit, I had been wrong. It might not have been a good idea to test things out on first years."
"Why do you always have to have everything? The both of you!" Ron yelled at Fred and George, who'd just entered the scene. Hermione looked at Harry, who was obviously trying to stay out of it.
"We don't!" George defended.
"Wasn't Angelina and Katie enough? Why do you have to go after our Hermione?"
"Whoa, what's going on?" Malfoy interjected.
"Nothing!" Fred and Hermione answered at the same time.
"Big load of nothing if you ask me! I walked in on the two of them having sex." Ron informed the entire room.
"You didn't walk in on us having sex. You walked in on us after having sex." Fred pointed out.
Hermione glared at him again. She didn't have time to make up for what he'd said. Ron attacked him and pinned him down on the ground. Harry, Ginny, Malfoy, and George all ran over to them. George and Harry pulled Ron off Fred, and were trying to restrain him. Fred was nursing a bloody nose. Hermione helped him up and handed him her handkerchief. Ginny was shaking her head and looking at the ground. Malfoy just smirked.
"Well it's not like your getting much, but then you're used to getting hand-me downs, aren't you Weasley?" he sneered.
There was a loud BANG and Hermione screamed. Fred had turned Malfoy into the white ferret as Moody had years before. Hermione ran over to it and picked it up. The ferret crawled up her shoulder and hid behind her hair.
"Turn him back Fred!"
"No don't, I kind of like him this way." George laughed, bowling over on the ground.
"If you don't turn him back now, I'm going to tell your mother."
"Empty threats, my dear. We're adults, she has no control over us now." Fred smiled
"Besides I think mum might prefer the change." George added.
"No she wouldn't, and you know that. Turn him back."
"No."
"Fredrick Weasley! Turn him back now or I'll tell your mum about everything you two have been keeping in your rooms and the elixir you recently made." Hermione yelled and advanced towards him.
"Fine." he sighed.
There was another BANG, and Malfoy landed on top of Hermione knocking her to the ground. She pushed him off of her and stood up. She turned back to Ron, who seemed to have calmed down a bit.
"I'm sorry you had to find out this way, Ron. Neither of us wanted to hurt you, that's why we hadn't said anything."
"So you all knew right? Except for Malfoy... You all bloody knew." Ron commented looking around at each of them.
Harry and George let go of Ron. He didn't say anymore and ran off past all of them, towards Gryffindor tower. She looked at Malfoy who was glaring at her.
"Your welcome." she huffed and walked past him over to the table. Malfoy left the library, leaving Hermione, the twins, Harry and Ginny alone.
"What happened?" Ginny asked and sat down next to Hermione.
"He doesn't know when to not open a door, can hardly put us at blame for that." Fred replied.
"What were you guys doing that in the castle for to begin with? It's too dangerous. If it had been mum instead of Ron what do you think would've happened?" Ginny scolded.
"So then the elixir works right, brother?" George asked, ignoring Ginny.
"Yeah." Fred and Hermione replied at the same time. They both looked down at the table.
"So what've you found out about Gillium?" Hermione was in desperation to change the subject.
"Well we've found where his burial site is located, and we were thinking of going and having a look it's not to far outside of Hogsmeade. The tombstone might tell us more." Ginny explained.
"All right then, let's go." Hermione stood up. The others followed in unison and began to clean up the books that were strewn all over the table. Hermione noticed an odd dragon skin covered book lying amongst the others. She picked it up.
"What's that?" asked Fred.
"I think it's Draco's journal..." she replied looking it over and running her hand along the monogram with his initials. She looked at Fred, who had a hint of excitement in his eyes.
"No, Fred. I'm going to return this to him."
"After we read it, right?"
"It's none of our business what he's written." she stated.
"Well it's certainly your business, he's your ex... and since you're my girlfriend, it's my business as well." he responded and took the journal out of her hands.
"Give it back."
"Only if you promise not to give it back until we're done with it. There might be something in here to help the Order." he pointed out, handing it back to her.
She hadn't thought of that. There could be plenty of information that Malfoy hadn't released to Dumbledore. He had been a Death Eater after all. Part of her brain was hitting herself for giving into one of Fred's ill advised plans once again, but pocketed the book inside her robes.
"That's my girl." Fred beamed in a whisper.
A/N: Alas a chapter! This was actually in connection with the one coming up, but I cut it off since it'd be way to long otherwise. I'll update again when I can :) as always, if you read please respond.