It was a good start to the year. She was excited to start Care of Magical Creatures, and the new Defense teacher actually looked like he had promise. Hopefully they would actually learn something this year, last year was a disaster, and had led to Lockhart losing all credibility. She was excited for all her classes this year, McGonagall had vouched for her and had gotten her a time turner so that she would be able to take more classes.

She didn't like that she wasn't able to tell the twins about her time tuner. She had been given strict instructions to not tell anyone about it. She had almost bumped into them right after they parted ways for her to go to class one day, and ever since then she had made sure that she was more careful, she wasn't even a week into school, she didn't want to ruin it already.

She was extremely excited for the third year's first day in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Fred, George and Lee had already had the class, and they loved the new professor. She was waiting in front of the classroom now, though she was about ten minutes early. She had a book sitting on her lap, open, to pass the time until class started.

"Hey Hermione." She heard, and she looked up, standing above her was Fred. Just Fred, nobody was with him, it was an odd sight.

"Oh, hey Fred." She said, folding the book closed and setting it down. He gestured next to her questioningly and she moved her bag to make a space for him. He sat down and picked up the book that she was reading.

"Is it any good?" He asked, eyeing the title on the spine, and she nodded.

"Yeah, you can borrow it any time you'd like." She said, and he nodded slightly in acknowledgement. He smiled and handed it back to her, she tucked it in her bag then looked back at him.

"So, what brings you here?" Hermione asked curiously, he just smiled mischievously at her. She felt heat crawling into her cheeks as she smiled knowingly. The boys had planned a prank, they usually tended to split up if they didn't have to actually be where the prank was so that they didn't get in trouble.

"Oh you know, this and that." He said, resting his head on the brick behind him. He was still smiling when she heard a bang from nearby.

"Fred, what was that?" She said softly, and he laughed lightly.

"Oh… Peeves dropping a suit of armor helmet onto Mrs. Norris." Fred chuckled, and Hermione looked at him, her mouth agape.

"Fred? A cat?" She asked in surprise. She may not like Mrs. Norris, but she didn't like the idea of hurting an animal.

"Oh. Don't worry Hermione." Fred said, looking at her seriously. "We made sure it was one with an opening for her to climb out of. We weren't going to hurt her at all, and we made that very clear to Peeves." He reassured her, and she nodded slowly. He looked down at his battered watch and stood up. "Bell's about to ring." He said, and he offered her a hand to help her up. She took it gratefully and he pulled her up onto her feet.

"Thanks Fred." She said, giving him a small smile, she was glad that he had stumbled upon her while trying to be as far away as possible from the large noise that had rung though the castle. "You should probably be getting to class, you have potions next, don't you?" She asked him, and he nodded nonchalantly. He stood next to her for another moment before turning on his heel.

"Thanks for hanging with me Hermione." He called as he walked away, making her grin as she entered the classroom next to her.

She loved DADA, it was a tie to be her favorite class, her other being Arithmancy. She told the boys all about her first day in the class that night over dinner, they listened to her enthusiastically until she was done speaking.

"So, anything happen to you guys today?" She asked them, and they all grinned at each other. "Anyone get detention today?" She asked knowingly. They all shook their heads, making her breath out a sigh of relief.

"So, you both have tryouts to watch over tonight, don't you?" She asked the twins, and they nodded. Their captain this year was determined to start training early this year to have a leg up on the competition. She sighed, she had already gotten used to hanging out with them before bed each night whether it was working on homework or planning out pranks.

"Yeah, but you and Lee are welcome to just watch from the stands if you'd like." Fred suggested, and George nodded enthusiastically. Hermione caught Lee's eyes and they seemed to reach a silent decision.

"Of course we will be there." Lee said, and the twins grinned appreciatively.

They all finished their dinner at about the same time, and walked together back up to the common room. The twins still had a couple hours before they had to down on the Quidditch pitch. They all sat in the common room around one table, deciding that they needed to get some homework done tonight so that they could enjoy their weekend. They worked studiously, Hermione occasionally answering questions for Harry and Ron since she knew that they had to be down on the pitch too. Well, Harry did, Ron was just going for moral support for his family and Harry.

After a couple hours, they put away their things and made their way leisurely down to the pitch. Hermione, Lee and Ron all found seats in the stands while the others made their way onto the pitch and mounted their brooms. Hermione imagined what it was like to fly on a broom, she didn't relish the thought. She hadn't even gotten into the air in their first year flying lessons when she decided that she never wanted to go onto a broom. She and Lee chatted while the tryouts went, occasionally cheering on their best friends.

Over an hour later, the team was put together and they had set up the practice schedule. Lee and Hermione met the twins on the way back to the castle and walked in a group to Gryffindor Tower.

"You both should have tried out, even just for laughs." George told them, his broom slung over his shoulder. Lee laughed.

"Come on mate, you know I can't fly for the life of me." He said, and the twins agreed with him.

"What about you Hermione?" Fred asked, and she shook her head.

"Not even you, Fred Weasley, would be able to coerce me onto a broom." She said sternly, and Fred grinned.

"Well, we'll see about that." He said, smiling at her.