At breakfast, the twins still hadn't returned. They didn't come around for lunch either, nor for afternoon tea.

Hermione had been reading a book in the living room all day and if it hadn't been for an unfamiliar gnawing feeling in her stomach, she would've enjoyed the fact that there had been no mischievous red haired twin bugging her. However, on numerous occasions, she had found herself looking out the window, hoping she would see the twins approaching the Burrow. But to no avail.

"Hey, Angie - can I ask you a question?" Hermione asked Angelina in the afternoon.

"Yeah, sure," the girl answered and looked up from her knitting, "what's up, Hermione?"

"The emergency at the shop - do you think it's bad? I mean.. since they haven't returned yet?"

Angelina smiled at her, "I wouldn't be concerned. They probably just got caught up in some invention or something after they had tended to the emergency," Angelina made quotation marks around the last bit and rolled her eyes.

Hermione was confused, "Why are you saying it like that?"

Angelina laughed, "They always come up with the same lame excuse whenever they need some time alone. They honestly think I haven't noticed that they have a 'serious emergency code two' every other week," she mimicked the twins' dialect and Hermione couldn't help but laugh.

"Do their code twos normally take this long?"

"Naah..." Angelina said, "usually they're only gone for a couple of hours. Must be some serious alone-time this time," she smiled.

"They acted weird last night. Did you notice?"

"Yeah.. and they talked with hushed voices yesterday afternoon too. Normally, if it's a prank, they don't mind that I overhear what they're on about, but yesterday, they stopped talking as soon as I walked in the room.. But I wouldn't read too much into it if I was you - it wouldn't be the first time that Fred and George were acting weird," she laughed.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm probably being silly," Hermione laughed, "well, thanks for clearing it up," she smiled and returned to her book, relieved that Fred and George probably were alright and just needed some time alone.

It wasn't until right before dinner that night that Hermione heard the kitchen door creak open followed by two familiar laughs. She felt a little loop of happiness from the bottom of her stomach followed by confusion - why was she acting like this all of a sudden? She convinced herself that it was because Fred had shown her more concern yesterday than Harry and Ginny had (put together) since her break-up with Oliver. Her two best friends had been too busy with their own lives. Not that she couldn't understand why they thought babies were more important than their friend's miserable love life, but she had missed someone that would ask her how she was actually feeling instead of just waiting for her to say something about it out of the blue.

Hermione put down the book and went to the kitchen with anticipation. She sent Fred a bright smile but he didn't return it as sincerely as she had hoped. With a frown, Hermione sat down at the table and hoped that Fred would come sit next to her. He didn't. Instead he sat down next to George at the other end of the table, not even sparing her a glance.

Soon they were surrounded by the rest of the Burrow's inhabitants, and dinner plates full of pot roast and mashed potatoes were flying left and right. Hermione tried catching Fred's eye numerous times but he was far too concerned with the meat on the plate in front of him and George's somewhat childish jokes.

The more she thought about how he was acting, the more confused she got. Last night, Hermione had believed that everything was back to normal. That the thing that had been bothering the twins had disappeared and that Fred and her were friends again. But right now everything seemed much worse than before. What had George wanted to talk to Fred about that had caused him to act like a prick again? Hermione nibbled at her food in silence, but had soon lost her appetite.

At the end of dinner, Arthur turned to the twins and asked them "Did you sort out the emergency at the shop?"

"Yeah," George answered his dad, "it didn't take too long."

"Didn't take too long? You were gone for 20 hours!" Ron asked nosily.

"Yeah, and you'll be gone for much longer if you don't keep your large nose out of our business," Fred retorted with a glare.

"Boys," Arthur said, and glanced at Fred over the top of his glasses, "please - not at Christmas."

For a glimpse of a second, Hermione thought she saw Fred looking in her direction with a guilty look on his face, but his attention soon turned towards his twin who was snickering by his side.

With an annoyed glance, Hermione went back to staring at her plate, not really understanding what was going on.

As the others went to the living room to relax after dinner, Harry and Hermione stayed behind and helped Mr. and Mrs. Weasley clean up the kitchen.

As Hermione was putting away the dishes, she contemplated her next move. Should she say something to Fred? Ask him what was going on? If this was some sort of a joke or if he just wasn't sure how to react. She decided not to sit idle by.

"If there's nothing more, I think I'll join the rest," Harry said after they had left the kitchen shining.

"I'll join you," Hermione followed him, "thank you so much for the lovely meal, Mrs. Weasley."

"You're more than welcome, dear. Now go have fun with the others."

In the living room, Harry sat down next to James, Teddy, and Victoire who were all mesmerised by the sparks that Ginny lazily procured with her wand.

Fred was lying on the sofa, occupying the whole thing himself. With a few fast-paced steps, Hermione walked over to him and asked, "mind if I sit?"

"Sorry, Hermione. Georgie's seat," Fred shrugged, sending her a dull expression. Any trace of the friendliness that he had showed her yesterday was gone.

"Excuse me?"

"George is sitting there," he repeated.

Hermione looked around the room and turned to Fred with a sweet smile, "I don't see George around - and I need to talk to you. So; mind if I sit?" she repeated.

"I'm here!" George panted from behind Hermione rattling a box of wizard's chess. "Scoot," he said to Fred who happily obliged and let his twin sit down.

"Sorry Hermione," both twins shrugged, sending her equally innocent smiles as they started unboxing the board game.

"Fine," she huffed and turned on her heel, "I'm going to bed."