A/N: Hey you all! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! You have no idea how happy reviews make me! Special thanks to FlamingArrow a.k.a.GinnyWeasly as my first reviewer! Now on with the chapter...
Chapter 2: Astronomy Tower
Hermione looked up at the last couple of stairs, pausing to catch her breath. She was nearly at the Astronomy tower, in record breaking time as well. Taking in a shaky breath, Hermione ran up the rest of the stairs, preparing herself for the thief. The 'soon to be hexed to oblivion' thief, that poor soul.
She reached the top of the tower and slammed the door open. She found, to her surprise, none other then Fred and George Weasley. They were sitting on the floor, calmly playing exploding snap and as the door slammed open they both looked up to see a very befuddled Hermione.
"Hey Hermione!" said Fred as he got up and started to clear up the game of exploding snap. George conjured up three chairs and motioned for her to take a seat. Bewildered, she sat down to look up at both of them with confusion.
"I don't understand! You stole my essay?"
"We didn't really steal your essay..." said Fred hesitantly.
"Actually," George cut in, "we did steal your essay. I'm sorry Hermione but we needed help."
Now Hermione started to get angry. She sprang out of her chair and glared at the two. "If you two needed help I would have helped you! Why did you need to give me a near heart attack by stealing my essay? Cheating is not the answer, you know."
"No, that's not it," said Fred, "we didn't want to cheat from your essay. Here, I think this can explain us better then we can. Sit back down."
Hermione took a seat and watched as George conjured up a large screen. He took the seat at Hermione's right as Fred took the seat at Hermione's left.
"This is a flashback of last week. You probably know all this but we wanted to show it to you anyways." George said as the lights dimmed and the screen began to play.
FLASHBACK
"Voila! It is perfect! You can't tell the difference at all!" Fred and George Weasley sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. It was dinner time and they were both up to their no good tricks. In fact, at the very moment, Fred was busy rearranging a platter of custard creams to fool their unsuspecting victim.
"Brilliant Fred! This is exactly what those Slytherins deserve!"
"And this is the perfect chance to see if how our extra potent Canary Creams actually work!" Fred said as he finally finished rearranging the platter.
"I've hidden three of them in here. Seem about right?"
"Look fine to me. This is going to be great!" said George with a grin. He discreetly took his wand out and spelled the platter to appear on the Slytherin table. The platter appeared in front of Crabbe and Goyle...bulls eye!
Their little piggy eyes looked about ready to pop as they saw the platter of custard creams appear before them. They each grabbed a handful, shoveling the custard creams into their faces. Fred and George watched in anticipation as each custard cream was eaten.
Draco rolled his eyes as he watched his two bodyguards stuff themselves senseless. Someone needed to get those custard creams away from them, and fast. Leaning towards the platter, Draco snatched it away and out of reach.
"Hey! I was eating those!" cried out Crabbe, bits of food spraying about the table.
"Yeah! I was eating those too!" protested Goyle.
"Oh really," said Draco with a sneer. He picked up the platter and bit into a cream, watching the anguish that came over the two.
"You both should know when to stop," Draco said as he bit into another cream, watching with relish as Crabbe and Goyle's faces crumbled. They began to beg, making their eyes wider and wider. Draco sighed in despair. How would they ever become strong men if they made puppy dog eyes at every person that took their food? As Draco sat there with the platter of custard creams, he didn't notice the yellow feathers that were beginning to sprout from his body.
Fred and George watched in confusion. "Huh, I guess since it's more potent, it's taking longer?" Fred whispered to George.
"Nah," said George, "look, it's taking longer because the feather are bigger then they usually are. They're actually growing faster then I thought they would...maybe Malfoy ate two Canary Creams?"
"Two Canary Creams! Brilliant! Double the fun!" Fred was ecstatic. He was right, in a way. A loud bang echoed in the Great Hall as Draco transformed into a canary. A very large canary, one could say double the size of a normal canary. And quite an ugly one at that!
The platter fell from Draco's grip and clattered to the floor, echoing in the now silent great hall.
Draco was suspended in midair, his overly large wings flapping to support his weight. He looked down at himself.
"Yellow." He said, in a state of shock.
"I am covered in feathers, and I... am... yellow. I hate yellow." He said softly. He was beginning to get angry and, as he looked up to meet the stares of the people in the Great Hall, he saw the Weasley twins clutching their sides in silent laughter.
"Weasley..." He said under his breath. They would pay! He would have his revenge, yes he would!
"WEASLEY!" This time Draco screamed it out, in a fit of utter rage. But it didn't come out the way he thought it would. It came out more like a loud squawk. A very undignified squawk, since neither Malfoys nor canaries squawked.
The silence in the Great Hall broke as everyone began to laugh. Draco Malfoy had just turned into a canary! Who wouldn't be able to see the humor in that?
Draco stormed out of the Great Hall, actually he flew out of the Great Hall, fuming and cursing. He flew and flew, all the way up to the Hospital Wing. And he stayed there for the next three days.
END FLASHBACK
"I remember that day! That was hilarious! Malfoy was scared of Mrs. Norris for a week!"
George grinned. "Yeah," said George, "That was definitely one of our best!"
Hermione frowned. "But I don't understand...why do you need my help?"
Fred and George exchanged a glance. "Well," said Fred, "It's not over yet..."
As the screen began to play again, Ron sat hunched up in a corner, unbeknownst to anyone that he also watched the screen.
FLASHBACK CONTINUED
"Ha! This will show those Weasley twerps. This will get them back for sure." Draco grinned a very evil grin. His revenge was about to begin.
Blaise furrowed his eyebrows in bewilderment. "This is pure genius," he said, "but how did you do it...unless it's real...?"
"Oh it was easy! That little camera kid from Gryffindor...what's his name again?"
"Creevey."
"Yeah! That's the one! Well, I just made him do it for me. He did it in a snap."
"How did you get him to do it for you?"
"I held his camera hostage!"
"But he knows the truth. Are you sure he won't go around telling everyone?"
"Memory charm...worked like a charm!" Blaise shook his head at his friend's lame pun.
"Ok, ok...I know it was lame. Just forget it. Have they walked in yet?"
Blaise craned his head towards the entrance. Both Blaise and Draco had arrived early to dinner and were waiting in anticipation for everyone to gather for dinner. More specifically they were waiting for the Weasley twins, Fred and George.
Spotting them in the Gryffindor crowd that had just walked through the doors of the Great Hall, Blaise gave Draco a thumbs-up sign.
Draco grinned. "Perfect, now let's wait for just a moment. I want everyone to be in their seats before I begin."
To Draco it seemed like an eternity before Blaise told him that the Great Hall looked as crowded as it was going to get. The more people there were, the better.
Draco had his back to everyone in the Great Hall; he didn't want anyone to see what he was doing. He discreetly took out his wand and a few photographs and mumbled a few words beneath his breath. The first photograph began to grow to about a hundred times its normal size. It hung suspended in the air as everyone gave a loud gasp.
It was a picture of Fred and George. There was no doubt about it. It was Fred and George. But they both were wearing flashy evening gowns. In the picture, Fred wore a long flowing pink gown while George wore a long lilac gown. Both looked deliriously happy and, in the picture, Fred was zipping up George's dress from the back. The picture was stuck in that very moment. Fred zipping up George's dress; again and again and again.
Loud laughter broke out in the Great Hall as everyone looked up at the photograph.
"Hey!" cried out a first year from Hufflepuff, "they're both wearing lipstick!" And the laughter in the Great Hall erupted louder then before.
Draco sat there in triumph. He knew what the pictures looked like. He was the one who had specified what they should look like. So he wasn't watching the picture. No, he was watching the twins. They sat there at the Gryffindor table, their faces pale and the look of utter humiliation on their faces. "Ha!" thought Draco, "let's see how they react to the others!"
The large picture began to shrink as another photograph began to enlarge itself to take its place. The first picture fell to the ground, forgotten, as the people in the Great Hall stared in shock at the next picture.
It was a picture of a large field of flowers. The people in the Great Hall watched as Fred and George ran from opposite sides of the picture towards each other. They were both wearing yellow sundresses and matching hats. The hats blew into the wind as they both clasped each other hands and twirled around in merriment. How bizarre.
Half of the students in the Great Hall were now out of their seats, rolling on the floor with laughter. The photograph played over and over as Fred and George sunk lower and lower into their seats. This was insane! Who would believe this rubbish?
The third photograph began to enlarge as the second one began to shrink and fall to the ground near the first. It was the worst of all. Fred and George sat on the floor, their hair in rollers and their faces covered by green facial masks. Fred's pants were rolled up to his knees and George was kneeling over, helping him. Everyone watched in silence as George smoothed a white cloth strip on Fred's leg. He yanked it off to reveal a smooth hairless section as Fred let out a silent yelp. Fred was getting waxed.
Now nearly everyone was out of their seats, howling in laughter as they watched Fred get waxed again and again and again. Draco laughed along side everyone else. This was even better then he thought it would be! Fred and George were speechless, so humiliated that they hid underneath the table to avoid the glances that everyone in the Great Hall were sure to be sending them.
Under the Gryffindor table Fred and George, mortified and livid with anger, tried to figure out how Draco had created those pictures. For they knew, without a doubt, that it was Draco who had set this all up.
"Those pictures are rubbish! They are so fake!" Fred exclaimed.
"It doesn't matter," said George, "everyone has seen them. And they won't let us forget about it anytime soon."
"But you know what this means," said Fred quietly.
George turned back to look at Fred. "Yeah, I know what this means," he said "This means WAR!"
END FLASHBACK
Hermione looked from Fred to George, her eyes wide with shock. All of a sudden, she grabbed the hem of Fred's robe and lifted it up to see perfectly smooth legs! She yelped in shock and horror and she jumped out of her seat and backed away from them.
"What?" asked a confused Fred, as he got up and moved towards Hermione. Hermione backed away even farther.
"Your legs...they're hairless..." she said, her voice quivering.
"I swear I don't wax them! They're just like that! Ok?"
Hermione visibly relaxed. "Promise?"
"Promise," said Fred, "now will you sit back down so we can tell you why you're here."
Hermione returned to her seat but, after a moment, she spoke up. "Wait, I'm confused, I remember the 'Malfoy turns into a canary' day but I don't remember 'humiliating pictures of Fred and George' day. When did that happen?"
George gave a shrug. "It was a couple days after the canary thing. You might have skipped dinner."
Hermione thought hard for a moment. "Oh yes! I did skip dinner and I was studying for the transfiguration test all that week. I remember hearing passing conversations about something that happened at dinner but I really wasn't paying that much attention."
Fred looked glum. "Everyone knew about it. I guess after a day or so they got tired of talking about it. But it's been two weeks and we still can't go to classes without someone bringing it up!"
"Yeah," said George through clenched teeth, "usually Malfoy, that bastard."
"Why didn't he get caught? You both got three days of detention for the canary prank!"
"He did," said George with a shrug, "McGonagall caught him and everything. She gave him a week of detention. But Snape pulled him out of it. Snape said since there was no evidence that Malfoy had done anything and since that idiot Malfoy lied and claimed to be innocent Snape said that there was no justice in punishing him."
Hermione looked at both of them in turn with shock. "You're joking! That is insane. Snape can't do that!"
"He sure can," said a sullen Fred. "Malfoy was so smug about getting away from detention and all that we couldn't look him in the face for days!"
"I'm so sorry," said Hermione sympathetically, "I wish I could do something to help."
Fred and George perked up.
"Actually," said George, "you can!"
"I can?" said a very confused Hermione.
"Yes," said Fred excitedly as he leapt out of his chair, "you can!" And with a wave of his wand, a scroll appeared in his hand.
"My potions essay!" said Hermione brightly as she lunged for it.
"Oh no," said Fred holding it back, "this isn't your potions essay, this is something else."
Hermione frowned, "Hey, I thought the essay was just to lure me here. Won't you give it back to me now?"
"Yeah!" said Ron as he jumped out of his hiding spot, "you had her scared to death! Bloody hell, she made the furniture fly! You really should give her essay back."
Fred and George looked at Ron in shock. "How did you get here?" They both turned to Hermione. "Did you bring him with you?"
"No!" exclaimed an equally shocked Hermione. "I had no idea that he was here!"
Ron began to turn red. "I just wanted to make sure everything was alright 'Mione. I didn't mean any harm."
George gave a shrug. "Hey, don't worry about it Ron. Let me get you a chair..." George conjured up another chair and Ron gratefully sat down.
"Ok," said Hermione, "back to my essay...can I have it back?"
Fred and George exchanged a glance. "You see Hermione, we have the perfect revenge to get Malfoy back...but we need your help."
"Why me?"
"Well," said Fred simply, "You're a prefect, and we need a prefect for our revenge."
"Hey!" said Ron indignantly, "I'm a prefect! Why didn't you two ask for my help?"
"Exactly!" said a relieved Hermione, "I don't do revenge. I could never do anything that would remotely hurt my chances of becoming Head Girl!"
"The thing is," said George, "Mum told us she would transfigure us into cats and give us to our Dad to perform Muggle cloning experiments if we did anything to Ron or Ginny this year."
"Sorry Ron," said Fred sheepishly.
Ron stood there, getting extremely angry. "I'm not a little mummy's boy! This is totally unfair! I want to get Malfoy too!"
"You really should let him," said Hermione, trying to sound convincing. "I probably won't be any good at what you want me to do."
"No, we need a girl...with a brain." said Fred simply.
"And that's you," said George.
"I don't know...it sounds risky." said Hermione dubiously.
"Come on you two, leave her alone, I'll help!" Ron stepped closer to Hermione and glared at Fred and George. He was starting to get annoying. Fred gave a sigh and took out his wand. With a few choice words, Ron fell softly to the ground; his eyes flickered for a moment and then closed. Hermione looked up at Fred in shock.
"Asleep," said Fred simply.
"Now, we need specifically your help...will you help us?" George looked pointedly at Hermione.
"I don't know..."
"Well," said Fred, "simply put, we have your potions essay. Will you help us?"
"That's blackmail!" cried out Hermione. How could they stoop so low?
"True," said George with a shrug, "but really, don't you want to see a totally crumpled and disgraced Malfoy, weeping on the floor?"
Hermione pictured it and a mischievous smile crossed her lips. "For how long? And what will I have to do?" she asked. She wanted to see what she was getting into first.
"Oh, we'll take care of that later," said George offhandedly, "And this shouldn't take longer then a week. Your part will be really simple." He was being very evasive about the actual plan. Hermione frowned but decided that she wanted her essay as soon as possible and it was getting very late indeed.
"Ok," said Hermione, "I'll help you."
"Done!" cried out Fred and he unrolled the roll of parchment he had spelled up. "Sign here," he said, pointing to the X on the bottom.
"I have to sign something? Isn't my word enough?"
Fred shrugged. "Formality, think nothing of it."
Hermione gave a shrug and signed at the bottom. As she signed she felt a familiar tingle course through her body, like the binding of a spell. She looked up at the twins in shock.
"What spell am I under? Fred, you didn't say anything about a spell!"
Fred looked a bit uncomfortable. "Hey, don't worry about it," said George smoothly, "It's just for privacy. So you don't tell anyone. No big deal."
Hermione hoped that was all. She had a sinking feeling that there was more to it.
"My potions essay?" she asked expectantly. George nodded and, with a flick of his wand, produced the scroll.
Hermione tucked it away with relief and looked down at the sleeping Ron. "Now will you two help me get him back to Gryffindor?"
A/N: Whew! That took me forever to write! Now please review! I'm sorry if this was sort of dull...I needed to get it out of the way. Things will just go uphill from here! If you're reading this author's note then you've read the chapter...so click the purple button below!