Detention

By Fidelius Charm

Summary: "Granger, I hope you're proud of yourself. You've just earned yourself a week of detention!" The words shocked the entire student population. Hermione Granger had Detention? And she had Fred Weasely to thank.

Note: I want to thank all of my reviewers and I'm glad to oblige to your requests for another chapter. In addition I have no intention of abandoning this story, I'm one of those people who will only work on one story at a time dedicating my time it that story alone. So do not fear, this story will be completed.

WEDNESDAY

"Hermione…" Fred said, almost pleading with her, "Just hear me out, could you at least do that for me?"

"It seems I have no choice, either I listen or you'll haunt me to my grave." Hermione replied.

"I'm really sorry for what happened 'Mione. I didn't mean for that parchment to get messed up in yours. I like playing jokes 'Mione…but I know that there not funny to you so that's why George and I don't really play tricks on you anymore. Be--because they only get you upset. I wouldn't do something like that on purpose, I wouldn't dream of it 'Mione." Fred spoke nervously, with his hands in his pockets in attempts to avoid biting his nails.

"Fred you have no idea what this has caused! The entire school thinks I've become a prankster, they look at me in the halls and laugh! I've lost the respect from my favorite teachers; you have no idea what I've lost because of your jokes! And you think a simple I'm sorry is just going to mend everything? That I can just forgive and forget so quickly?" Hermione fumed as the words passed through her mouth, Fred obviously had no idea the consequences of what had gone on Monday.

"Hermione…I—I didn't know, and I'm going to make it up to you. I'm not sure how, but I will."

"We'll see, good night Fred."

"Sleep well Hermione." Fred replied.

Had Hermione been too hard on Fred? He had been so sweet and kind about the entire thing. He really didn't even have to apologize if he didn't want to. It was her fault really for not realizing it was one of Fred and George's joke shop products. She definitely needed to talk to him. She checked the clock and it read 9:45, and as a prefect Hermione knew that most 6th years had Divination or Ancient Runes. She wouldn't be able to find Fred until after Potions. Hermione sighed, things just couldn't be a tad bit easier could they? Of course not, she's Hermione Granger, nothing can be easy for her. She ran her fingers through her intensely curly hair, and walked towards the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry and Ron had spelt in, yet again, because they had been doing their Charms assignment late into the night without the help of Hermione. Then she remembered that Fred might be at breakfast!
She sat down with Neville, Luna, and Ginny who were chatting away about the freshly fallen snow outside. She took relief in knowing that they still thought she was the same Hermione Granger, bookworm extraordinaire. She grabbed a piece of toast and the strawberry jam that sat beside it.

"So Hermione, how are you holding up? I mean with the Detentions and all." Neville said smiling at Hermione.

"There alright, I mean…all I do is constant lines." Hermione said hiding the true nature of the lines with a laugh, "It's really quite trivial."

"Lucky you, when I had detention with Hooch for charming the brooms to rejects their riders I had to help the house elves clean the Quidditch pitch…and it took hours." Ginny said with a smile on her face, "But I do not regret it. You should have seen the look on those first years' faces when the brooms shook them off midair. There are some things you just can't live without doing."

"Like snogging me in the hallway," Neville whispered under his breath so that only Ginny could hear.

"Oh Neville shush, no one asked you!" Ginny said playfully punching him in the shoulder. You could tell she was highly embarrassed because her entire face was turning a nice shade of tomato red.

"It was quite funny, especially when that one girl broke her arm." Lund said, not looking from the Quibbler that she was reading. She seemed to have processed the conversation slower then the rest of the group.

Everyone knew to ignore Luna's strange comments, she meant well, but was a bit strange in her approach of doing so. Hermione sighed and bit into her toast when suddenly she was hit by a muffin on the side of the head. Apparently, the Bloody Baron had scolded Peeves for picking on a first year Slytherin girl. This led Peeves to send food flying in every direction, some scrambled eggs managed to find there way into Umbridge's hair which caused the entire staff table to laugh uncontrollable, even Snape couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

She noticed something fly through the air out of the corner of her eye, and it was heading towards her. She tried to duck, but it didn't matter. She now had Fred standing in front of her, covered in pie. When he turned around she couldn't help but laugh, he had pie all over him from head to toe.

"Get under the table before we get hit by anything else!" He grabbed her hand, and they slipped under the table, Hermione couldn't help but giggle.

"Thank you for saving me from the flying pie." Hermione said.

"No problem my dear, no problem at all." He smiled; Hermione couldn't help but smile too. His smile was contagious, and there was nothing she could do to stop the spread.

She looked at Fred, really looked at him, noticing for the first time that he had really changed in the past two years. She knew that everyone had changed in the two years, it was a natural occurrence. But she had never really noticed Fred; he just always seemed to be in the background of her adventures with Harry and Ron. And she couldn't help but notice that his boyish looks were replaced by that of a man, a very attractive man at that. What in the world was she thinking? She was thinking that she really just wanted to lick that bit of apple pie off his cheek…that was what she was really thinking.

"Hey Hermione wanna taste me, I bet I taste really good." He said winking at her.

"Fred Weasely!" She cried back regaining her composure, "Get your mind out of the gutter!"

"Come on Hermione, I know you wanna try!" He said taking his finger and wiping some of the pie residue off of his face and eating it, "Oh boy I do taste good!"

She took her pointer finger and wiped some pie off his other cheek and ate it, she smiled at his shocked expression. Then he looked at her bandaged hand.

"What happened to your hand Hermione?" He asked with concern.

"Um—I burned my hand in Potions the other day…" She said quickly.

He gave her a skeptical glance, "What were you making?"

"We…we were working on making a Sleeping Potion. It needs to be heated the Muggle way, using fire for it to work to it's full potential, and I burned my hand making the fire."

Hermione wasn't completely sure she had convinced Fred of her tale, but her reputation of being the smartest witch of their age didn't stand for nothing.

"My dad constantly talks about that, hope you feel better soon," He said taking her hand and kissing the top of it lightly. This caused Hermione to blush furiously. Then he smiled at her again, and again she couldn't help but smile back.

Her heart was pounding, why was his presence making her so nervous? It was just Fred, Ron's older brother and infamous prankster of Hogwarts…her thoughts were interrupted by Fred's question.

"So does this mean I'm off the hook?" Fred asked.

Hermione sighed; she couldn't resist the urge to forgive him. But she wanted to stay mad at him, for what he had done to her…but she knew he didn't do it on purpose, and she knew he was truly sorry. She knew, she knew…then why couldn't she just forgive him? Because then he won't bother with you any more, Her mind told her, Because the minute you forgive him he'll go back to paying attention to every other girl in the Gryffindor house. And if that was the real reason, it was a selfish one. Hermione decided that it was better to just get this whole thing over with.

"Yes Fred, I forgive you." She concluded, "Just try not to let it happen again."

"Wizard's honor!" He said raising his right hand.

He smiled licking his fingers in hopes of getting some of the pie off of himself.

"You know what this could use?" Fred stated, "Some vanilla ice cream! Come on," He grabbed her hand, causing her heart to skip a beat, "Dobby will get us some if we go to the kitchens!"

The two of them rushed out of the Great Hall unnoticed and headed towards the kitchens. In Hermione's book this had been the greatest breakfast she had in all of her five year's of being at Hogwarts, all because of one single Apple Pie.

Fred had been excused from Advanced Charms to take a shower and get himself cleaned up from the food fight. Professor Flitwick had always liked Fred and his knowledge of, 'Some of the greatest charms ever known by the wizarding community.' The Professor thought Fred had a talent for charms like no one he had ever seen since Remus Lupin (1). Fred was always proud of that. So he took advantage of the old man's favoritism and asked for the period off.

And that brought him here, playing Wizard's Chess with Katie Bell who had a free period. He wasn't as talented at chess as Ron, but he did have his shares of victories.

"Queen to D-6, and that my red headed friend is check mate." Katie said triumphantly.

"Don't count your chicken's before they are hatched, Katie. I can still move." He grinned, "Bishop to G-2, now that, Katie Bell is a check mate (2)."

"Damn you Fred, you always beat me!"

"It comes with practice, and a little brother who is obsessed with the game."

"Well we have Divination soon, we should get going."

"Yeah, I guess so."

Fred didn't feel like doing anything today, all he wanted to do was go back to the kitchens and eat ice cream for breakfast with Hermione. If he could do that for the rest of his life he'd be a content man. She was so more mature for a girl her age, she was intelligent, and passionate about the things she spoke about. And they spoke about everything, from Qudditch to Professor Snape's oddly shaped nose.

He seemed to be able to talk to Hermione about anything; she was so approachable in that respect. He never felt so at home talking to any girl before, with the exception of course of his own mother. He felt safe telling her his secrets, because he knew she'd never tell. He trusted her, and he cared about her…a lot.

Fred stood in the middle of the common room, he had an epiphany. He liked, maybe even had fallen in love with Hermione Granger, she was charming, charismatic, funny, talented, and not to mention quite pretty. She was everything he was looking for in all the girls he had ever dated during his six-year stay at Hogwarts, and she had been right under his nose for almost five years. George had been right, but where didto go from here …

"Now please pair up into groups of two!" Professor Sprout called to the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs in the room.

Hermione immediately paired with Neville, because she wasn't going to get another E on a practice assignment because Harry or Ron's lack of interest in the class. Herbology was an easy O in her book.

"I want you to plant the Starkblumen (3) in the center of the pot, making sure that the roots are not submerged more the three inches into the soil. And make sure you put some elbow grease into this ladies and gentlemen because this plants are extremely strong and do not like to be handled by people."

Hermione was holding the pot for Neville who was trying his best to coax the plant into the large terra cotta pot. Suddenly the plant began to struggle and Hermione had to help him, straining her already sore hand. Once they got the plant in the two Gryffindors were relieved. A sudden rush of pain entered Hermione's hand and she rubbed it.

"Miss. Granger, I recommend you get that hand checked by Madam Pomfrey. She wouldn't be happy if I let you continue the lesson with a bruised hand."

Hermione looked at Neville who gave her a nod in agreement. She wasn't about to disobey a teacher, she left the greenhouse without saying goodbye to Harry or Ron who were too busy trying to get their Starkblumen into it's pot.

When Hermione finally reached the castle she was faced with a choice, head over to Madam Pomfrey and have her secret revealed…or do the unthinkable. Cut. She stood there for a moment; she couldn't risk her secret being revealed. That would just cause Umbridge to know that she had won, that she caused Hermione Granger the smartest girl in Hogwarts to crack. And she couldn't do that, she had her pride. And not even Umbridge's bloody lines were going to change that.

Hermione turned towards the Gryffindor tower. She could hide out there without being caught, or at least that's what she hoped. She was walking in the hallway she was bumped into by none other then Fred Weasely. He seemed to just be everywhere lately, Or it's just you've taken more notice of him now…you like him now don't you? Her mind whispered to her quietly.

"Sorry 'Mione, I wasn't paying attention." He said, picking up the potions book she had dropped, "Here you go."

Hermione thanked him and explained she was heading towards the tower.

"Is Hermione Granger actually cutting a class?" Fred responded by placing his hand over his mouth in shock, "Have I been that big of an influence on you already Hermione?"

"No, it's just that I didn't feel like going to the hospital wing. So I'm just going to rest in my room." She said trying to cover up what was really going on.

"Alright Hermione, feel better. I've gotta get to Divination." He said with a smile, "I'm already forty minutes late."

"I've noticed." Hermione said,

"Not like that nutter notices though. I could just decide not to show up and I wouldn't get in trouble."

The entire school population knew this to be true, the Divination teacher wasn't the brightest of the bunch.

"I'll see you later Fred."

"Ok, I need to talk to you later about something anyway." Fred said biting his nails; Hermione knew he was nervous about something.

"Sure, it'll have to be before I have Detention though because I usually don't get back until late."

"Whatever you say 'Mione."

The two turned and walked in their respective directions. Both of them sharing the feeling of butterflies, in Hermione's opinion the butterflies were having a mosh pit. It was a funny Muggle term, but describe how her stomach felt. Fred on the other hand was grabbing his chair desperately hoping that he wasn't going to fly away because of those, 'Bloody Butterflies'.

Fred was waiting for Hermione in the common room; she was going to be back from DADA any minute. He needed to tell her how he felt, it was the only thing he could think of doing. It would be idiotic to not say anything and act like a giggling schoolgirl. Talking to George wouldn't help, because he'd just tell Lee who would tell Lavender, who would tell the entire girl's dorm. He couldn't afford to beat around the bush, it was too risky.

He waited and waited, he saw all the fifth years file in one by one starting there homework and preparing for OWLS, but Hermione never entered. He checked the grandfather clock by the fireplace and noticed Hermione was probably at Detention by now. He sighed, he was going to have to wait for her to return.

Then he had a brilliant idea, he'd wait for her outside of Umbridge's room and then bring her to Honeydukes for a midnight treat. It would be perfect, and he could tell her then. He just had to borrow a few things from Harry and he'd be off.

Hermione sat down and took out parchment, she stared at the top of her right hand in disgust. It was now covered in bloody scabs, that Hermione knew wouldn't get the time they needed to heal, without a word she began writing over and over again. The scabs began to slowly tear, and tiny streams of crimson blood raced through her fingers and on to her palm. She pushed forward, ignoring the burning pain that serged through her hand like an army of pins were being stabbed into her hand.

It was 11:45 and Hermione was still bravely fighting off tears, as she pushed forward. He looked up to see Umbridge gingerly grading papers as if nothing was wrong. Hermione wanted to scream, this was torture, it was taking advantage of her position as a teacher. Umbridge was abusing the authority she had over students! How many others had she already put through this? She was sick, Umbridge was truly sick.

"Hmmm, seems like you've gotten it in deep enough. You're dismissed Granger." Umbridge said, not looking up from her work.

"Goodnight ma'am." Hermione said, trying her best to keep her composure.

"Goodnight Granger." With that Hermione walked out of the office and slammed the door behind her.

She glanced down at her now blood drenched hand, she pulled out some cloth she had brought with her and began to wipe away the blood that had crusted itself between her small fingers. Her vision became a bit blurry but she closed her eyes and reopened them and continued to clean up her fingers.

"Hermione?" She heard a familiar voice call to her.

Hermione couldn't respond, she couldn't see much for that matter, and to top it all off her head was ready to explode. She was worn out, and tired…oh so tired. The castle bells chimed midnight, though the sound of them seemed to fade from Hermione's ears.

(1) I just really picked a random Harry Potter character. Remus was the smartest of the Marauder's so it seemed to fit well.

(2) I'm no chess master, so if you know there's something wrong with what I wrote just let it slide.

(3) Starkblumen in German means "Strong Flower" I have no knowledge of Latin so I used the German knowledge that I do have to make up a cool name.

Long chapter I know. But it's an important chapter, and it needed the extra couple of pages. I won't be able to post for a couple of days. I'm planning my sweet sixteen party and everything is becoming hectic. But I will be posting another chapter.

--FC