Chapter 10 – Learning Something New

HG

"Finally!" The twins called out as the three of them stepped in the common room, that was filled with students.

"You brought Katie with you?"

"And little Granger?"

"To our little secret spot?" The twins said at the same time.

"I needed help to get everything up, as you two were too busy feeling good about yourself." Lee rolled his eyes as they dropped the baskets on the floor with a loud thump.

"You know you're a wizard, don't you?" George laughed as he took one of the baskets and placed it on the table near the window, Fred copied his movement.

"Yeah, and the last time we put a levitation charm on it, it all crashed against the wall."

"Oh, right." George said, thinking back now, grinning.

The rest of the team entered the common room as Hermione and Katie finished placing the food and drinks on the table. Hermione smiled as they saw the celebrating team walk through the doors, wide eyed, at the food and drinks that were displayed on the table. She congratulated everyone, giving Angelina, Alicia and Charlie a hug before she took a seat in the corner and opened her book. Katie was talking excitingly with Angelina and Alicia as they went over the game. Hermione zoned everything out and turned her attention to her book, letting the whole Gryffindor tower celebrate.

After a while a red head sat down next to her, out of breath because he was singing so loudly only a few seconds ago. She didn't even have to look up to know which Weasley sat down next to her.

"Hey Charlie. Congratulations!" She smiled before looking up at the seeker.

"Thanks, Hermione. You really have a knack of telling us Weasleys apart. You didn't even look up and I didn't say anything." Charlie grinned.

"It's a gift." Hermione shrugged, smiling.

"Thanks for talking to the two jesters." He nudged his head to the two laughing twins, who were joking around with Lee.

"They would've done great either way."

"Maybe..." Charlie shrugged. "So, what did you think of your first game EVER!"

"It was okay." Hermione said simply, she saw Charlie's stunned face in the corner of her eye before she turned and grinned wide. "Just kidding. I loved it!"

Charlie let out a full-blown belly laugh, that made heads turn to them in the common room. "You had me going for a moment."

"Aaaannd... what's going on here?" Fred asked as he and George sat down across from them.

"Nothing really, Hermione just got one on me. So, elaborate please." Charlie grinned at her.

"I was afraid it would be too violent but those two...-" She waved her hand to the twins. "Did a good job."

"Good? Great!" They chorused.

"It was a bit hard to follow everyone, -" She said ignoring the twins. "- but Lee said I'll get a hang of it soon. So, I focused on the girls first as I listened to OJ's commentary. Charlie, you did amazing! The way you saw the snitch from so far away!"

"I try." He laughed as he bumped her shoulder.

"And thanks again, George. If it wasn't for you, I would've been in a hospital bed for a second time in three months."

"Got to take care of our number one fan, don't we?"

"Oi!" They heard Lee call over the room.

They all laughed as Lee glared at them. "I think that spot is reserved for one, Lee Jordan."

"Probably." Fred grinned, as he glanced back to him.

"So, are you going home for Christmas break?" Hermione asked the Weasley clan.

"Yeah, Bill's supposed to come home for a couple days."

"And Ginny's getting crazy with only Ron around." George chuckled.

"She just misses her favourite brother -" Fred said.

"Me!" The three Weasley men said together. Hermione laughed as the brothers looked at each other, eyebrows high.

"What about you, little Granger?"

"I really need to find you an annoying nickname." Hermione sighed, with a small smile on her lips. "But I'm going home, I never been away for this long. I miss them." She said quietly.

"I know it's hard, especially first year. You'll get used to it." Charlie said reassuringly.

"I actually thought it would be worse, but since I have Katie and even you guys." She grinned as the three of them clutched their hard in mock hurt. "I feel like I finally belong."

"And that you do." George said. "Do you have any plans?"

"Yes, we are going to France for a week."

"Wow, France!" George mouth dropped open in envy.

"We never been out of the UK." Fred said, rubbing his neck.

"We have family there, so we stay there every other year."

Charlie fumbled with his fingers as he looked from George to Fred and back.

"Charlie? Are you okay?" Hermione asked as she saw him nervously sitting next to her.

"Yeah..." He looked from her and then back to his brothers. "Fred, George... I need to tell you something, but you can't tell anyone yet, especially mum."

Fred and George looked at each other surprised before turning back to their brother? "Promise."

"After I graduate... I'll be moving to Romania."

"ROMANIA?" The twins yelled, jumping up.

"Hush you!" Hermione pulled them down on their sleeves. "Let him talk."

"You know I always wanted to work with creatures. Professor McGonagall and professor Kettleburn called me in their office last week with a job offer. I'm going to work and live in a dragon reserve in Romania."

"Dragons?" Hermione whispered in shock.

"You did know about them, didn't you?" Charlie asked.

"Not really... There are muggle stories about them, but they are just stories."

"Well, here in the wizarding world, they are real. Hold on a sec." He put his finger up before he darted up the boys' staircase.

"What?" Hermione said surprised as she looked from the empty staircase to the twins, who shrugged. After about a minute Charlie came running back down the stairs, clutching a book in his hand.

"Here." He sat back down next to her and handed over the book. She turned it in her hands, so she could read the title. Dragon breeds in Europe. "We all know you love your research." The twins tried to hide their snickers behind their hands. "So, here. Do your best. I read it cover to cover a couple times already."

"Thank you, Charlie." Hermione leaned over and hugged him before jumping up. "You three enjoy the festivities, I'm going to dive in." She smiled wide. "Can you tell Katie?"

"Sure, little Granger." Fred grinned as Hermione walked up the stairs excitingly. "We lost her for the rest of the night." Fred laughed as he turned back to his brothers.

HG

"Take a deep breath Hermione." George said as she climbed in front of him on the broom. "You wanted to fly with me first, remember? And Katie and Lee are keeping Fred busy in the common room."

"Yes, yes, I know. But-"

"I'll just fly a few feet off the ground, I won't let you fall, I promise."

She just nodded her head, too afraid to speak. She clutched her hand hard on the handle as George leaned forward and placed his hands before hers.

"One, two, ..." George pushed himself softly off the ground. They hovered a bit before George leaned forward and slowly zig-zagged over the grounds. "Breathe Granger." George chuckled behind her, she let out a breath as George set a steady pace.

After about five minutes of flying low to the ground, Hermione summoned her Gryffindor courage. "George?"

"Yeah? Are you okay?"

"Yes, you can go higher, but slowly." She knew George was grinning behind her as he gently pulled the handle up. George went higher than he first intended to, but Hermione didn't tense when they reached the lower branches of the trees. Since they were practicing at night, the moon shined brightly down on them, lighting up the grounds beneath them.

"Wow! George look!" Hermione nervously pulled on hand of the handle and pointed at the castle with a trembling hand. George followed her gaze and looked at the castle, surrounded by the moon and stars.

"Never really looked at the castle like that, it's quite impressive." George said behind her as they hovered back and forward before the castle. "Are you ready to call it a night?"

"Yes, it's getting late." Hermione nodded her confirmation.

"Should I just fly us back to the common room?" George started flying up to the tower.

"NO! GEORGE!" Hermione yelled.

"I'm just kidding." George laughed as he lowered them to the ground. He was still laughing as they landed and stepped off the broom. George easily flung the broom over his shoulder as they walked back to the castle. "You did great."

"I did nothing." Hermione chuckled.

"Technically speaking, no. But you didn't scream or pull on the broom or anything. You did good, Hermione."

"Thanks."

"Maybe next time you can try alone?"

"No, I'm not ready for that. Do you mind flying with me again?" She asked looking up to the younger Weasley twin.

"Of course not. I promised you, I'd make you a great flyer."

"Yes, you did." Hermione chuckled as they walked up the stairs. "But maybe next time, I can steer? If anything happens you can easily intervene."

"I can do that." George grinned at her. "So, after Christmas break then?"

"Yeah, there's no other way, since we're going home tomorrow, remember?"

"Right, forgot." He gave her a lopsided smile. "Are you meeting up with Katie during break?"

"No, probably not. I don't think I'll have much time for that."

"We usually meet up with our friends during summer break. Christmas is usually pretty busy with our family."

"Can imagine with such a big family. Our Christmas is rather quiet, just me and my parents."

"Sounds boring." George huffed a laugh.

"We play a lot of boardgames."

"Like the ones Angelina has? Domi asservaretur." He suddenly said to the fat lady and the portrait swung open.

"Yeah, like that." Hermione laughed, shaking her head, walking through the portrait hole. When they entered the common room, she saw Katie and Fred waiting for them at the round table near the window.

"Hey, where were you? We didn't see you." Katie asked, pointing out the window as Hermione pulled out two chairs as George went upstairs to put away his broom.

"George took me to the other side of the castle." She said as she sat down next to Katie.

"Why?" Fred asked.

"Because... I knew you would be watching and make Hermione nervous." George said as he reached the table.

"Hmmm." Fred grinned.

"Can I ask? How do you feel about Charlie moving away?" Hermione asked the twins as she and George sat down.

"It will be an adjustment, but we went through the same thing with Bill. He's working in Egypt right now." Fred said as he leaned back in his chair.

"Yeah, I think mum will have the hardest time. Not only is her second child moving abroad, but like Bill, he chose a dangerous job."

"When do you think Charlie will tell her?"

"He's probably going to wait until the last second." Fred laughed. "So, how did it go?"

"She didn't scream." George said proudly as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"That's a start." Katie chuckled.

"We flew together tonight. First just a few feet of the ground, then we went higher. I'm just getting her used to the feeling of flying, you know. Next time, she gets to steer."

"So, if you hear me scream, meet me in the hospital wing." Hermione joked and the others started laughing.

HG

"Oh, Hermione you're back." Angelina smiled, holding several boxes under her arm as she came down the girls' dormitories with Alicia.

"I'm back too, you know." George said dramatically. Angelina just waved him off as she turned her attention back to Hermione.

"Since we're all leaving on break tomorrow. I thought we could play a game, a muggle one."

"I'd love to. What do you have?" Hermione smiled, eyeing the boxes.

"Let's sit in front of the fireplace, more room." Angelina said, already walking up to the sofas. Hermione stood up and followed quickly, behind her the twins, Katie and Alicia. "Oi, Lee! You in for a game?"

Lee looked up from his essay to the group and quickly stuffed the parchment in his bag and made his way over.

"What are you working on?" Hermione asked as he sat down on the ground in front of her.

"My transfiguration essay." He sighed. "I need to hand it in tomorrow before we leave. I already had it postponed once."

"Do you want me to look it over?" Hermione asked carefully, trying not to offend him. Lee's eyebrows shot up.

"You're a first year." He stated.

"So?" Alicia started. "She helped me and Angelina a bunch of times. She's wicked good at transfiguration."

"Little Granger!" Fred called out.

"Why haven't we gotten your assistance?" George continued.

"You never asked." She said simply, shrugging her shoulders. She turned her attention back to Angelina, who displayed the games, ignoring the still shocked twins. "Let's start easy, Ange. Monopoly. Why don't you try to explain the rules to them?" She turned back to Lee and held out her hand. "And I'll go over the essay."

"You're a life saver, Hermione Granger." Lee said excitingly as he pulled out the crumbled piece of paper and tried to straighten it out before handing it over.

"Oh, can I be the car?" Hermione asked as she started to read the essay on Vera Verto.

"Only if I can be the hat." Angelina laughed as she put the dice on the table.

"A car, a hat? What kind of game is this?" George asked frowning as Angelina pulled out the board grinning.

"Okay, now everyone, listen up-"