Hermiones dream had left her confused more than anything, and the following day she tried her absolute best to avoid Fred- and even George. Instead Hermione sat outside reading and watching the scenery as she tried to fill her thoughts. She, like Harry, were long ready to go to Hogwarts as they'd already packed before coming, so it was a nice change of pace for Hermione to be sitting alone with her thoughts the way that she liked. She was only stopped in her daze by Harry, who had called her inside to have lunch as well as farewell Charlie.
"Don't miss me too much, I might be back sooner than you think," he smirked before winking at Fred and George and hugging everyone goodbye. "Again, it was great to meet you too. I'll try and come home next summer if you'll be around." he said to Harry and Hermione, hugging them both as well. It was Charlies welcomeness that was the biggest signifier that he was a Weasely, Hermione thought to herself as they hugged.
And from then until dinner, and from dinner until lights out, Hermione continued to sit alone in the house reading with a silent distraction- forcing herself to not think about her dream and the feeling it gave her. Hermione knew in her heart that she had no interest in Fred- but feared that dwelling in the thought could change that quickly. So Hermione just tried her best to read, as hard as it was, and hoped that by tomorrow her mind would be clear of any such ideas.
"Whats wrong with Hermione?" Ron whispered to Harry. The entire ride, she had been silently looking outside the window- which she had also been doing most of yesterday. While silence was on brand for the young witch, her unwandering eyes from the scenery concerned her friends, who weren't used to seeing her nose out of a book.
"She's probably swooning over someone," Harry replied quietly with a smile. Hermione shot a short look to the two before looking back to the view.
"Not Hermione, she knows the chances of someone liking her back are far too low for her to swoon," Ron chuckled as quietly as he could, but Hermione had heard and was now upright and facing him.
"Do you have a problem with me, Ron?" she asked loudly, instantly changing the atmosphere of the cabin. "Because all you seem to do is insult me and I'd like to know what thats about!"
The truth was, Ron had only said one other insult in the entire Summer, but they had only just fully gotten over it that for him to make a rude joke about her so soon just reopened the wound.
"Oh you know I was joking! You could get plenty guys if you'd only try," Ron replied, to which Harry winced, knowing that this was in fact not the right thing to say at the moment.
"What do you mean try?! I know i must not be the prettiest person in the world but there's no need to be so nasty!" Hermione snapped.
"I'm not being nasty, I'm just being a friend- I'm being honest! And - and you are pretty… " Ron replied, hesitantly as if unsure of what to say.
"Oh you couldn't be any more convincing, could you!" she said sarcastically, "And I don't even care what you think of me, it'd just be nice to hear something kind from you for once!"
"I just said you were pretty!" Ron replied with wide open eyes in disbelief.
"You know what I mean, stop playing dumb!" she snapped as she stood up. "Harry could you mind my things for the time being, I need some fresh air." And with that, she was gone.
Hermione walked down the trains hallway, hoping to find Ginny and Neville somewhere nearby for her to join to distract her from how genuinely upset she was, but her track was stopped by a particular blonde haired boy.
"I'm not in the mood, Malfoy," Hermione growled as she crossed her arms.
"As if I'd want to stop and chat with the likes of you," he sneered, looking the girl up and down. "Just thought I might say I'm surprised you're on the train. I thought for sure the Death Eaters would of made do with you at the finals. Shame, really."
"You're a prick, Malfoy!" she said as she pushed him to the ground and walked away angrily. Hermione stormed into the tiny bathroom compartment and sat down on the toilet seat- her face red hot with anger and her eyes swelling from holding back tears. She was angry at everyone it felt. She was angry at her friends and her enemies for two very different reasons, and she was angry at herself for not fighting Ron, and for not fighting Malfoy- for running away instead. And at this thought, tears began to fall slowly down her face. She wasn't crying or sobbing, but the rage in her heart from the encounters had been to much for the young witch to handle that she needed to get it out somehow.
Almost instinctively, as her mind was full of the terrible things she would like to do to Malfoy and the things she wanted to say to Ron, Hermione rose her wand and held it to her cheek to collect her tears. And somehow, in a completely seperate chamber of her mind, Hermione found it funny how even in her anger she still managed to multitask and get other things done- even the things she was completely reluctant to.
She stared at her wand and the bubble of tears that were being held at the end of it and wondered to herself what her next move was going to be. She could either let go of all of this and go back to her cabin- try and talk to Ron and sort it out, or she could go to Fred and hope that whatever spell he was making could distract her. Eventually Hermione realised one of those sounded far more pleasant than the other. And so, holding her wand carefully, Hermione walked down the way she came, passing her cabin without looking inside it, and barged the doors of Fred and Georges open.
"Dear Merlin, Granger, whats happened to you?" George gasped. It was just the two in the cabin, which surprised Hermione as she expected Lee Jordan and Angelina Johnson to be in here with them. Hermione, somehow stunned by her own decision, held out her wand. The twins stared at each other before looking at the ball of tears and then back at Hermione, whose face was red and swollen. Fred stood up and pulled Hermione inside the cabin before closing the doors.
"What happened to you? Sit down, you look dreadful," Fred said, pulling down a chest and rummaging through it before pulling out a small blanket and giving it to George, who instinctively opened it and put it over Hermiones back.
"You said you wanted tears of rage and I got them for you. Is there a problem?" she replied flatly, holding out her wand. Fred then pulled out a glass vial from his chest and quickly captured the tears before shutting them in and putting it back amongst his posessions.
"Sit down, Granger." Fred commanded, and Hermione did so as she looked out the window. "Now what happened?"
"I want to help you with your potion. I want to know what it is," she said, jumping eye contact from twin to twin.
"And we want to know what just happened because you've clearly had a bad train ride," George replied.
"It really doesn't matter, I just got into an argument with Ron- but I don't want to talk about it. I came here because I thought you two would tell me whats going on if I gave you your ingredient. But I guess not- me and my tears will be leaving thanks," Hermione stood but was shortly forced back down as Fred put both his hands on her shoulders to keep her still.
"Fine, fine, last time we ever try be nice to you, aye George," Fred said, letting go of his concerned attitude with a smile
"Honestly," George rolled his eyes jokingly before picking up the vial. "This little ingredient is what goes into what is called a Lunar Jump potion. They're these clever little spells that can make a person older. But it is very complicated- and even more than that, it only makes a movement by a couple of months depending on the amount you manage to brew."
"Okay, and so whats your business in making this potion?" Hermione enquired, pulling the blanket around her closer as she very quietly appreciated the smell.
"Well, you see George and I are born in April, but we are very interested in becoming legal wizards," Fred said. "Charlie was the one who gave us the idea, surprisingly. Apparently its actually quite common in Romania for young wizards to skip the last few months before their birthday so they can get onto being adults. Glad he moved there, he's really become an all round fun guy."
"Well thats completely stupid- the Ministry will find out," Hermione retorted.
"No they won't," Fred replied.
"When you take the potion- it works the exact same as the spell obliviate would- thats the genius of it. Every document that exists simply changes, and everybody that knows your birthday simply believes its a different date. Really the only shame is that April fools is a very fun day to have a birthday- but we'll be the same people when we do it, just simply men instead of boys." George grinned at Hermione, whose face had returned completely to normal, though she still continued to scowl.
"Why in the world would you want to go to all this trouble to change your birthday? Its not like you can aparate in school or anything." the two boys looked at each other and then at Hermione, before the two moved from sitting across to sitting on either side of her.
"You can't tell anyone this, but you may as well find out now before we move on, because you're either in fully or you're out," Fred began, letting his brother continue.
"This year they're bringing in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. You probably know all about it being a smarty, but its basically a competition between certain schools to find out which is the best one- and we want in. We don't care which of us goes in- we just want to win."
Hermione was stunned. She knew exactly what the Tri-Wizard Tournament was, but had absolutely no idea why in the world the boys would want to enter- or even why they would want to go to the great trouble of changing their birthdays completely to do so.
"Are you in?" Fred asked.
"Are you boys absolutely mental?! You could die! You're risking changing your birthdays entirely to enter a competition that you couldn't even get into- and even then only one of you could get into- and even then could DIE!" Hermione exclaimed! Standing up and then moving to sit across from them, completely inverting their previous position. "Truly have you guys stopped to think about how absolutely insane your idea is?!"
"Well, you see, the way we see it is- even if we don't get in, we get to be legal wizards. And anyways, when we take the potion, we also forget about our old birthdays- and so will you, and so will mum and dad," George said, to which Hermiones eyes opened widely.
"So then what if you do the spell wrong and forget everything?!" she asked, full of absolute concern.
"Hermione Granger!" Fred said dramatically, "Now I can accept being called mental, but I absolutely refuse to be called dumb."
"Besides," George added. "If you join us- between all our genius there is absolutely no way this spell can go wrong."
"Oh, no no no!" Hermione said looking at the two wildly. "There is no way you're dragging me into this mess."
"Well thats fair enough. But you are fully welcome to join us on this adventure. Now that we have everything we need, by tomorrow morning you will be happy to meet the new Fred and George- born the fourth of September- or whenever the potion fully sets in." George smiled. Hermione was still visibly surprised and upset by the ordeal- as if them changing their birthdays was a magnificent crime.
"Look," Fred said, getting up to sit beside her once again. "If you really are that worried, we'll be doing it tonight after lights out. We've already gotten the Marauders Map back from Harry- we'll likely do it in one of the broom closets or somewhere none of the teachers are posted. But we'll wait for you in the common room until midnight so you can decide whether or not you'd like to join."
Hermione looked at Fred and then at George. "I still don't know, there is no way this isn't illegal- or not in one of the Hogwarts rules, even still it's immoral." she said, thinking to herself about what she had just gotten into.
"-It's actually not listed anywhere in the Ministry laws, and same goes for Hogwarts. I guess its against the rules for a witch or wizard that is not of age to enter the Tournament, by the time that names are being picked the potion will of completely settled in." George mentioned.
Still feeling strange, Hermione stayed quiet as she thought to herself about this situation. The issue for her really was that she was the one standing in the way of their plans happening or not. She could decide to leave and take the vial with her, or she could stay and see it through.
"So explain this potion to me," Hermione said, which was her way of going along with the plan somewhat.
Fred and George continued to explain in detail the Lunar Jump potion, which worked by copying the experiences of the first few months in the drinkers life and replaying them so as to make them older. The time deducted goes by a single cycle of the moon, which is added on by the amount of both moondew and bones of a Romanian Longhorn. The twins explained that this is both why the potion is mainly common in Romania, as well as how they managed to get their hands on such an ingredient. They explained that to add five months into their lives, they'd have to add 5 pounds of the bone and 10 drops of the dew each, and be sure to drink it in hole. They also mentioned that they also needed 5 drops each of the tear of rage, which Hermione knew theyd have more than enough of. Hermione was surprised not so much by the ingredients, but moreso by the fact that the twins had them. Things like polypody, boomslang skin and most surprisingly- fairy wing, were all things that one would have to gather over a long period of time to collect, but when Hermione asked where they'd managed to find them, the boys simply smiled and said they knew people around.
"Well this is very interesting," Hermione said after a period of silence.
"Yeah, but it'll be way worth it," George replied smiling. "I mean even if we don't get picked- it'd be fun to just… change, you know?" Hermione nodded, but didn't actually know what he meant.
"I'm not condoning this, and I can't promise I'll be joining you- but you can have my tears. Let me know how it goes," is what Hermione said finally as she took off Freds blanket and handed it to him, secretly wishing she could keep it.
"If it goes well we won't remember to tell you anything happened," is what Fred said as the young witch left the cabin to rejoin her friends, wishing she could of stayed with the two boys for the rest of the trip.
—
I'm very excited for the next chapter, but in the meantime I hope whoever reads this enjoys this one.