Chapter 4
Hermione awoke with a start and quickly checked to see if she was in one piece. No missing limbs, no extra limbs, no oddly disfigured limbs…In fact, she noted after a moment of intense examination, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her at all.
She breathed a sigh of relief and rolled over on the creaky mattress, looking out the window. It was still dark. No wonder there isn't anything wrong with me, she thought with a groan, they're probably still asleep, and haven't gotten around to it.
Hermione shifted again to see which twin had got the floor. She would have taken it gladly, it was their room after all, but she had been too exhausted to bother getting one of them to summon a sleeping bag. So, which twin had won…?
Neither of them, apparently. They were both asleep in a tangle on the floor; it looked like exhaustion had overcome them before they finished their argument. Hermione smiled as she imagined both of them suddenly keeling over and snoring. How they managed to sleep in such an uncomfortable position, she couldn't guess, but she figured if anyone could do it they could.
She smiled again as she leaned back into her pillow, hoping to get a few hours more sleep.
When Hermione woke up, again, she rolled over on to her side to check on the twins. She started violently when she saw both of them sitting on the floor, cross-legged, staring at her. They both grinned wickedly (they did that an awful lot) at the same time.
Hastily Hermione checked herself again, trying to figure out what they had done. Nothing seemed wrong, but there had to be something…
She grew more and more agitated as the twins continued to look at her as though she was a lab specimen. A very bizarre and creative lab specimen.
"All right, what did you do?" she asked at last, and the twins shared a look. That kind of look. The 'WeDidn'tDoAnythingReallyWeSwearGiggleMadly' kind of look.
"Nothing," they chorused. Again with the look. Hermione snorted.
"I believe you as much as…" she trailed off and paused, "Well, it's too early to think of something, but the point is I don't believe you." They looked hurt.
"Don't…believe us?"
"Haven't we proven ourselves trustworthy?"
"Time and time again?"
"Your own friends…"
"…and she doesn't believe us."
They shook their heads. Hermione snorted again.
"Trustworthy, you say? I'm not even going to begin with that one. Why don't you just tell me what you did so you can fix it, and then we can get on with helping your mum?" As if on cue there was a crash from somewhere downstairs, followed shortly by a small scream of exasperation.
The twins stood up and made their way to the door.
"Well, we can't fix it-" Hermione's eyes widened, "Because we didn't do anything." They giggled, and quickly scrambled out of the room before Hermione could get out of bed. She sank back into the covers, knowing that she wouldn't catch them now.
An hour later found Hermione violently stuffing soup into Ron's mouth, deaf to his complaints that it was getting everywhere.
"And then it turned out there really was nothing wrong…"
"Please! Sto-" Ron coughed.
"…And they just pretended like they did something…"
"You don't have to take it out on m-"
"…Unless they really DID to something, and I just haven't noticed what it is yet…"
"Hermione!" Ron yelled in that hoarse way sick people yell, "please!" That brought her back to the present, and she looked around at all of the sloshed soup on the coverlet.
"Oh, Ron, I'm sorry!" she said, mopping it up. He looked around, nauseated.
"Urgh…" he moaned. Hermione flopped back on her chair.
"This is terrible!" she moaned. Ron nodded miserably. "I mean, really! To stay with them! If they get sick I'm sure it will be just to spite me…" Ron didn't say anything, which was probably for the best.
After the lunch time rush Hermione trudged slowly back to her room, looking forward to a quick nap. She really should have known better.
When she opened the door the twins were back at their cauldron, making something that smelled like a cross between cabbage and peppermint. The room was filled with soft chirping sounds (which seemed to be coming from the cauldron), and the twins were conversing in low tones.
Hermione looked at them furtively and made her way to the bed. She curled up under the covers, and had just closed her eyes when there was a very loud squawk. This was followed by the ominous sound of a cauldron tipping over (she had learnt the sound well after so many years of Potions with Neville), and a crash.
"No…" Hermione groaned quietly to herself, but if she was upset it was nothing to what Fred and George were.
"Stop them!"
"They took months!"
"Stop them!"
"Get out of there!" Apparently the…things, Hermione had yet to look and see what they were, had made their way into the twins' Finished Products basket.
"Stop them!" Fred (she guessed it was Fred) yelled in a much more frantic tone. "They have the Leprechaun tablets!"
They made them into tablet form? Hermione thought in horror. Her desire to eat nothing they had been anywhere near increased rapidly.
"Not the Leprecha-" Cough. There was a silence, which was broken only by squawking at random intervals. The moment dragged on as the three of them waited to see if George would cough again. They had almost let out their breath when there it was again. Cough.
Cough cough cough. Cough. Hack.
"Bloody hell," Hermione said, burying her face as far as it would go into the blankets. "Just…bloody hell."
A/N: ...I am so sorry. Muse died. But I think I got back on track with the last half of this...but I won't promise a quicker update. If I promise it'll just make it worse. >
Well, the twins (at least one of them)are sick. So far the story has been one long prologue, and I think I'm finally getting around to the plot. More single twin and Hermione interaction, and some individual personality will start to emerge. Speaking of which, which twin should finally get the girl (Hermione, for those who haven't been following the story very closely)? Fred or George? Leave me your vote in a REVIEW, and the twin with the most votes wins! ...or just review. Please?
