Chapter 16 – A new announcement


HG


Oliver Wood is a dictator! Hermione grumbled to herself as she bid the group farewell again as they had yet another practice. For the past two weeks it has been quidditch practice nearly every night. Leaving Hermione to fend for herself, she once again was making her way to the library. She was already ahead of her homework, so she looked back into third year lessons.

"Hi, Blaise." She said as she walked to the hidden corner.

"Hey, Hermione." He answered not looking up from his potions book. Hermione dropped her bag on the ground with a sigh as she let herself fall in the chair. "What's up?"

"They have another practice. I've barely seen them in two weeks."

"You still have the Hufflepuff kid-"

"Cedric."

"Yeah, that one." He said as he looked up. "He plays quidditch too, right?"

"Yeah, but his captain isn't a dictator."

"A what?"

"Never mind." She waved him of as she leaned forward and picked her third-year potions book out of her bag. "I just had dinner with him and his friends, since the others only had five minutes before Oliver called for them."

"Is he your..." He let the sentence hang in the air. Hermione looked at him with a frown before she registered what he was talking about.

"Oh, no. He is my friend. He's actually going to Hogsmeade with Alicia tomorrow. I wish I could go." She sighed. "To Hogsmeade, I mean. I've read so much about its history!"

"At least you get to go next year." Blaise smiled.

"Uhm, Blaise?" Hermione asked carefully. "Can I ask, why do you always sit alone?"

"I prefer it actually. The others in my house they're..." Hermione hummed as she understood what he was talking about. "I just let them do their thing and they let me do mine." He looked at her and suddenly a grin appeared on his face. "Don't change the subject, Hermione."

"About what?"

"You and Cedric."

"Merlin, Blaise. I'm twelve!" Hermione laughed and quickly lowered her voice when she remembered where she was. Blaise grinned at her reaction. It was funny how close the two had become, they never spoke outside of the little hide-out and only Cedric knew she would study with him on occasion. They didn't talk about their home life or about the other Slytherins, they mostly talked about school and classes. They fell back into their pattern as they both studied their own lessons. Blaise never asked her to go over his work, unlike what her friends did right now as they were so busy with practice.


HG


It was almost nine when Hermione made her way back to the common room, when she walked through the portrait and large hand dragged her to the pinboard on the wall.

"Hey, Lee." Hermione chuckled as he pointed to the board. "What is it?" She looked at the paper that had been recently pinned against it. "A Halloween dance?"

"Yeah, it's been years since they organized one." Lee said excitedly. Hermione's eyes flickered over the announcement.

"Ah, well you have fun." Hermione smiled as she stepped away from the board and to the couch in front of the fire.

"What?" Lee looked back at her confused. He walked over and jumped over the couch as he landed next to her. "You're coming."

"Third year and up."

"Oh." He said and Hermione nodded sadly. "I always forget you're a year lower than us."

"That's because I'm more mature than any of you." She snickered.

"Oh." Lee scoffed put his hands around her and tickled her mercilessly. Hermione laughed loudly as she tried to push him away, but Lee was too strong. Her laugh made the other students look at them for a second before turning back to their own conversations. The two of them didn't see the others came dropping in, all soaking wet from the rain. They all stopped as they looked at the laughing duo, the water dripping from their uniforms, leaving small puddles around their feet.

George was the first one to clear his throat. Lee stopped tickling Hermione and they both looked at them out of breath.

"Did you all go for a swim?" Lee laughed at the sight of them.

"You need to undress before you take a shower, guys." Hermione joined Lee, laughing.

The twins dropped their broom and ran over to them, they jumped over the couch and Fred laid flat on Lee, while George did the same to Hermione. Their clothes were wet before they had a chance to push them off.

"George, you arse." Hermione pushed him.

George pulled back, his eyes wide. "Miss Granger! Watch your mouth." He smirked at her.

"Get off me Weasley before I lift me knee." She threatened. George looked down and saw Hermione's knee between his legs and he quickly jumped off. Hermione had a triumphant grin on her face while Lee was still struggling to push Fred off. "Rusty, get changed. We need to tell you guys something."

Fred stopped wrestling with Lee and looked at her confused. Lee saw his opportunity and pushed him off, Fred fell to the ground with a loud thud. The girls already were making their way up the stairs when Fred got himself up from the ground.

"What is it?"

"Shower, now!" Hermione pointed to the boys' staircase. The twins sighed and picked up their brooms before they headed up the staircase. "Ugh." Hermione said looking down her clothes.

"Here." Lee grabbed his wand from the couch and waved it over her clothes drying them before doing it to himself. They leaned back against the couch as they watched the flames in the fireplace.

"Already thinking about who you're going to take to the dance?" Hermione asked as Lee looked lost in thought.

"Yes, actually." He turned to her; his face serious. "Who am I going to take?"

"You can go stag." Hermione suggested, but by the looks of it he didn't want to. "Alright, there are enough girls who would be thrilled to go with you."

"I'm not like Fred and George, they don't just fall at my feet."

Hermione started to laugh but stopped when Lee looked offended. "Are you blind? Yes, there are a lot of girls after the twins, but believe me you can pick out of a dozen too. Pay attention next time, Lee Jordan."

Lee looked at her as he mulled it over. Before he had time to react the twins jumped down two stairs at a time, both already wearing their matching flannel pyjamas. They flopped down next to Hermione, nudging her to scoot over. She rolled her eyes as she and Lee scooted over the other side of the couch.

Hermione saw the expectant look of the twins. "Wait for the others."

"Aaaah." They groaned, letting their head fall against the couch in unison. "The girls are going to take forever!"

"It's not like they are going out. They'll be down in a minute. You two are too impatient."

"And immature." Lee chimed in with a smirk. The twins opened their mouths to reply but were interrupted when they heard the girls coming down. The girls had just taken a seat around them when the twins head snapped back to her and Lee. Simultaneously Hermione and Lee pointed at the board behind them. Five heads snapped to the board and when they saw that there was something new posted on it, they all jumped up and hurried over to the board.


HG


They heard Angelina and Alicia squeal and Katie dropped down first next to her looking gloomy.

"I know." Hermione said patting her leg.

"We have to get dresses." Alicia said to Angelina as they came back and took their previous seat. Angelina nodded but looked less excited than her best friend.
The twins came back too, seeing their spot being taken by Katie, they sat down in front of the fireplace.

"You don't look too excited." Lee noted the look on the twins' face.

"Yeah well, couldn't they have waited a day or two before announcing it." Fred grumbled, letting his head fall in his hands

"Why?" Hermione asked confused.

"Because our dates tomorrow to Hogsmeade would expect us to take them." George continued.

"Maybe the date will go well." Katie offered, but the twins didn't react. The only one who truly looked excited was Alicia. "Will you go with Cedric?" Katie asked her.

"Don't know, like you said depends on how the date goes." She shrugged. Hermione looked at her in surprise. She had been Cedric crazy for weeks and now it didn't matter to her if she'd go with him or not. Katie looked surprised too and quirked an eyebrow as she looked to Hermione. "Plenty of other boys to choose from." She added, with a dreamy glint in her eyes.

"Anyone wants to play a game?" Hermione asked, pointing at their stack of muggle board games.

"No, I'm off to bed." Angelina said standing up. "Oliver is madness." She said as she rubbed her arms.

"I'm coming too." Alicia said and the girls walked up the stairs. Hermione looked to the twins, but they got up too.

"What? You too?" Lee asked looking between the twins.

"Sorry, mate!" George clapped his back. "Good night."

"Night." Hermione called back as they walked up the stairs. "What about you, kitkat?"

"I'll stay as long as I can rest my feet on your lap."

Hermione chuckled as she grabbed her feet and placed them on her lap, and Katie leaned down against the armrest. Lee stood up and picked up a game they could play with only the two of them.

He took out the box of Strategy and placed the board on the table. When he was setting his pieces, he said. "With their extreme practice schedules, it seems like I haven't seen them in weeks."

"Yeah." Hermione looked to Katie, who had already fallen asleep. She picked up the blanket from the back of the couch and placed it over her. "I know what you mean."

"At least we have gotten to know each other better."

"That is true." Hermione pointed out with a smile as she leaned forward and placed her pieces on the board. "There is something I wanted to tell you, but please don't mention it to the others."

"Is everything alright?" He asked worried as he sat down in front of the coffee table.

"Yeah, it's just... Beside Cedric no one knows." She bit her lip before she continued. "I've been studying with Blaise in the library from time to time."

"Blaise?" Lee asked confused, tilting his head to the left.

"Zabini, first year... Slytherin."

From everything Lee expected her to say this wasn't one of them. He thought maybe the young Hermione Granger was meeting the Hufflepuff in secret or something like that but this... never.

"A Slytherin?"

"Yeah. It started out in the beginning of the school year. He sat in the spot Cedric and I usually study, but he was sitting there. He made room for me to sit down, and we studied. We did that a couple of times without speaking a word to each other, that until two weeks ago, my birthday. We don't talk much or about something important but... he's not like the others. He always keeps to himself."

"Does he know?"

"I don't know. I never told him; he may have heard it in the Slytherin common room. But he never said anything about it."

"Okay." Lee nodded.

"Okay?"

"I trust your judgement, Hermione. I won't say a word, but if something happens you come straight to me, alright?"

"Alright." She smiled and the two began to play their game. The common room was thinning out at the end of their second game, and they decided to go to bed too. Hermione wanted to nudge Katie awake, but Lee stepped in. He picked her up gently, Katie's arms going around his neck subconsciously.

"Lee." Hermione whispered next to him. "You can't go up there, it turns into a slide."

"Wait and see, miss Granger." Lee winked, he had his wand in his hand already and after one quick movement of his hand, he strutted up the stairs. Hermione's eyes went comically big as the stairs didn't turn. After she was sure the pair wouldn't come sliding down, she followed them up. "Which dorm?"

"Second on the left." Hermione said. "How?"

"My dad. He had it written in one of his old books from school. He doesn't know that I know." He said as Hermione opened the door to let him in.

"Do the twins know?"

"Not yet." He whispered as he lowered Katie to her bed. "If they know, they'll be up here every weekend to prank or scare you." He laughed softly after he tucked Katie in. "But knowing them, they'll figure it out soon enough."

"Probably." Hermione grinned as she walked him back to the door. "Once they do, I'll put on enough protection charms to keep them out."

"I think that's for the best." Lee kissed the top of her head, just like her parents used to did. "Night, Hermione."

"Good night, Lee." Hermione closed the door once Lee had disappeared from view. She changed into her pajamas as Katie's soft snoring was filling the room. She hopped in her bed and closed her curtains before she lit up her wand. She took out her charms book from her nightstand and started researching the spells she would need once the twins figured out how to get up the girls' stairs.