Authors Note: Wow! Thanks so much to all my reviewers! You make me feel all special...Anyway, sorry for no update yesterday, I had to work. But I wrote two tonight, so hopefully I won't fall behind again with that little buffer. This is the strangest story, for me, cause usually when I write a chapter its upwards of 1500 words. This story won't even let me write half that. Silly stories that get away with me. Anyway, enough author babble, on to the next chapter.
After about the fifteenth time she did it, Ron finally asked Hermione why she touching her right cheek. She blushed furiously, looked down, and said something about an itch and about putting some lotion on it later. George sent a questioning look to his twin, who winked in reply. Both brothers grinned at Hermione, who tried to ignore them, with little success.
After the meal was finished, rather quickly and quietly on Hermione's part, Harry, Ron and Ginny expressed their intention of enjoying an Exploding Snap mini tournament in the common room. Hermione begged off, explaining that she wanted to study in the library for a few more hours. Her friends bemoaned her need to study when term had just started, but she smiled, leaving them no recourse except to roll their eyes, knowing she would never give up a chance to broaden her mind.
She waved goodbye to the small group as she left the Hall, and made her way up to the library, blissfully unaware of the boy who followed her until he grabbed her arm and spun her into one of those pesky little alcoves that littered the halls. He stood directly in front of her, so no one in the hall could see her, and she looked up at George, annoyance in her eyes.
"Your brother's already tested my ability to be fooled into wasting time with no reason, so if you don't mind, I'd like to take another look at the potion we were making in class today," she said, irritated.
"Did Fred get to you earlier, Hermione dear?" George asked, ignoring her request for release. She was startled by his question, and she sputtered a bit before asking him to repeat himself. "You seemed rather distracted," he said, stroking the back of his hand lightly over her cheek, "and I was just wondering if he had said or done something to…upset you."
"N-no, he didn't do anything to upset me," she replied hastily. George grinned, knowing he had caught her, and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, so you liked it when he kissed you, then?" he asked innocently, brushing her cheek again. She opened her mouth to reply, but couldn't think of anything to say; denying it would be a lie, but she didn't want them to think they could go around kissing her because she didn't find it repulsive. She just didn't like the twins that way, they were fun to spend time with, but they were Ron's older brothers, and that alone was enough to keep her from ever developing any feelings of a romantic nature in their direction. Not that she hadn't admired them, they were good looking boys, and she was only human after all, and she obviously had a thing for red hair, judging from the crush she'd had on Ron for ages…. George watched with amusement as all these thoughts crossed her mind as she tried to come up with something witty to retort with. "Hermione Granger, speechless, who ever thought it would happen? I'll have to tell Fred even mentioning his kiss left you without words," he joked.
Hermione gaped at him again, stammering her objection. "Don't you dare, George Weasley!" She tried to push him out of the way so she could finally make it to the library as she had planned.
"Now hold in a minute," he protested, stopping her. "I'm not going to let you get away without a kiss from me, too." Before she could stop him, his mouth swooped down and pressed, not against her cheek as his brothers had, but high on her neck, on the sensitive spot right beneath her ear. Hermione shivered unconsciously, which again made George smile. He raised the arm he had been using to block her path and let her pass, which she did as quickly as she could, glancing back at him once as she walked briskly toward her favourite room in the castle.
George stood, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, watching her walk away, knowing they had her right where they wanted her.