Day Two - Butterbeer

A few too many Butterbeers at the Leaky Cauldron leaves Hermione to have to stay at Fred and George's until she's had plenty of water and some snack food (platonic)

A/N: I know butterbeer isn't actually very strong, especially since they're allowed to drink it in third year, but for this story we're just going to pretend it's stronger than in canon ;) Happy reading!

It had been a busy Saturday night at the Leaky Cauldron, but due to the late hour the atmosphere was winding down. People had either gone home or moved on to places that stayed open later where they could drink more and be louder so as not to disturb the people staying at the pub overnight.

Fred and George Weasley had popped in after spending their evening over at Lee Jordan's for one last drink when they came across the apparently lone girl.

'And what have we here, Georgie?'

'It appears to be a lone Granger, Freddie.'

Hermione looked up from her tankard of Butterbeer at the sounds of the twins voices.

'Hey boys!' She cried happily when she saw them looming over her from the booth behind as she turned in her seat to greet them.

'Why are you all alone, Hermione?' Fred asked kindly, moving around to slide into the seat next to her while George slid into the one opposite.

'Oh, I'm not alone,' she assured them with a vague wave of her hand as she took another swig.

The twins exchanged bemused glances.

'Oh really? And who, prey tell, is here with you?'

'Why you two, of course!' Hermione chuckled at her own joke before continuing. 'No, I'm kidding. Harry, Ron and Ginny were all here earlier but they had to leave not long ago. Neville and Luna are around somewhere too, they'll be back any minute, I promise you.'

Despite the lack of slurred speech, Hermione was clearly hammered.

'How many Butterbeers have you had tonight, Hermione?' George asked, raising an eyebrow as he gave her a look worthy of a stern older brother.

'Ermmm, let's see,' Hermione mumbled as she started counting on her fingers.

'About 15,' Luna chimed in as she slid back into the booth next to George. 'She was determined to outdrink Harry and Ron tonight. Which she did, by the way.'

Fred and George gave Hermione an impressed look before turning back to Luna.

'Why on earth would she even bother?' Fred asked amusedly.

'They goaded her into it on purpose, they wanted to see how drunk they could get her,' Neville piped up as he arrived back at the table. 'I don't know how she's still so eloquent in her speech considering she outdrunk them and they're both slurring everything. I had to help Ginny get them in a taxi, there's no way they could've apparated home.'

Neville chuckled to himself as he slid into the seat beside Luna and draped an arm over her shoulders.

'Well, it seems this one could do with some help getting home, or at least some sobering up first,' Fred suggested as Hermione hummed happily to herself as she drank the rest of her butterbeer. Normally she would've pitched in to the conversation but she appeared to be too drunk to care and favoured ignoring them in order to finish her drink.

'We can help her get home, we'll just stop by to meet Seamus and Dean on another night out,' Luna suggested as she looked to Neville.

'Yeah, of course, we can help her get home,' Neville agreed, never one to leave a friend in such a state.

'No, no, no, sounds like you guys still have some of the night ahead of you,' George told them as he looked to his brother. 'We can take her back to ours to sober up a bit and then send her off home.'

'But didn't you just get here?' Neville asked, not recalling seeing them earlier throughout the night.

'Yes, but we only stopped in for one drink before we go home,' Fred began.

'We've just come back from Lee's house and a guys night in,' George continued.

'But we're happy to go home ever so slightly earlier and sober up this one,' Fred finished, nodding his head to Hermione who seemed to be bringing her attention back to them all now.

'Who's doing what now?' She asked curiously.

'You're coming home with use so we can sober you up,' George told her.

'And then we can send you on your merry way home.'

'When did you guys get back?' She asked Neville and Luna happily, trying to reach across the table to give them a hug and almost sending multiple tankards to the floor.

Fred pulled her back before she could do any damage.

'She's quite far gone, isn't she?' He chuckled as she hugged him instead.

'Just a bit,' Neville muttered before turning to Hermione. 'Not long ago, 'Mione, but we've got to get off now!' He told her loudly so she'd pay attention.

'Nooooo! You're leaving me all alone?!'

'Of course not,' Luna told her kindly. 'We're leaving you with Fred and George.'

'Oh yeah, hey guys!' She pulled back from Fred and gave them both a big grin, apparently having forgotten they were there.

'Yeah, let's get going shall we?' Fred suggested, guiding Hermione out of her seat carefully.

'You go ahead, I'll nip back into muggle London and grab some chips from somewhere to help sober her up, you just try and get her to drink some water before I get back.' George followed Neville and Luna out of the other side of the booth.

'Great to see you both, sorry it was so short,' he told them, giving Luna a brief hug and Neville a quick "bro handshake".

'Yeah, you guys and Lee will have to join us next time,' Neville insisted.

'And see Hermione drink those two under the table? Absolutely!' George chuckled as he made his way to the door to muggle London and left.

'Great to see you both, Fred said, saying goodbye like his brother while keeping Hermione upright.

'Lovely to see you both, Fred,' Luna said brightly. 'Goodnight, Hermione. Make sure you let the twins sober you up.'

'Byyyyeee!' Hermione sang as she launched herself at Luna and then Neville for a goodbye hug.

The pair then left after George into muggle London while Fred led her to the back exit of the Leaky Cauldron and into Diagon Alley. They'd almost made it half way back to the twins flat when George caught up with them with the chippy in hand.

'How are you guys not back yet?'

'Because Hermione keeps getting distracted by the window displays,' Fred laughed as he tried to guide Hermione past Flourish and Blotts without her noticing the shop. If she did they'd probably have a job dragging her away. It was her favourite shop. Thankfully the street was quiet so there were no other people around to have to navigate.

Twenty minutes later they'd managed to get Hermione to their shop and up the stairs to the flat above. Fred, having done most of the work guiding Hermione back, dragged her over to the sofa and collapsed on it, pulling her down next to him while George went to get a large glass of water.

He brought it over with the bag containing the contents from the chippy and sat himself on Hermione's other side.

'Right, drink some of this 'Mione,' he told her, handing her the glass of water. She'd gone quiet over the last five minutes and seemed to content to just gaze around at everything peacefully. She took the glass as carefully as her drunken self would allow and took a few big gulps.

'Okay, now here,' George told her, taking the glass from her hands and replacing it with the chippy bag. 'Have some food to soak up some of that alcohol.'

George placed the glass of water on the coffee table, then leant back against the sofa like Fred had done. They sat in silence while Hermione munched away on her chips, keeping a close eye on her to make sure she didn't spill any of the dip.

Once the chips were half gone, she finally decided she'd had enough of the quiet.

'Tonight was great,' she mumbled through a mouthful of chips. 'Those guys are so much fun, and I demolished Harry and Ron!' She cheered and threw her hands in the air.

Fred was quick to grab the dip out of her hand before she threw it all over him in her celebration.

'And you guys!' She exclaimed, looking from George to Fred, taking the dip back from him as she looked away again. 'You guys are so good to me, bringing me back to your flat and feeding me so I don't get ill.'

They could tell she was starting to sober up a bit now. She reached forward with her free hand and drank another few gulps of water.

'I don't know what I'd do without friends like you.' She smiled to herself contentedly and offered the chips to Fred and George. They both took a few, realising they were a little peckish themselves.

'Well it's no trouble 'Mione. There's nothing we wouldn't do for our favourite Gryffindor,' Fred winked at her as she chuckled.

'Besides, someone's gotta look out for you other than our nitwit brother and your other best friend. They couldn't keep up with your drinking, let alone look after you,' George laughed.

'So very true,' Hermione sighed. She finished off the last of the chips and gulped down the rest of the water. The twins reached out to steady her as she clambered to her feet.

'Woah, where you going?' Fred asked.

'Just to get more water and bin my rubbish,' she told him, managing to keep her balance all the way to the kitchen. The twins followed just in case. She was sobering up, but she wasn't quite sober enough to be left unattended yet.

Hermione managed to dispose of her rubbish and get herself some more water before she slipped into one of the chairs at the kitchen table.

'You must send me the bill for the chippy, George,' she told him sternly.

'Absolutely not,' he told her, moving to sit opposite. 'You can just get the next lot when you have to help sober me and Fred up.' He gave her a wink.

'Deal,' she agreed, taking another good drink. 'Guys, I'm really sorry but I'm so tired, I don't think I can make it back home tonight. Do you mind if I crash on your sofa?' She asked the sheepishly.

'Of course you can,' George told her.

'I'll grab you one of my old shirts and a pair of shorts to wear so you don't have to sleep in your jeans and wrinkle your clothes,' Fred wandered off to his room.

'Stay here and I'll go and get some spare sheets for the sofa,' George told her. She nodded absently as she drank the rest of her water.

Ten minutes later and Hermione had changed and was curled up under some cozy blankets on the makeshift bed on the sofa.

'Thanks so much for this, guys,' she told the twins sleepily.

'No problem, 'Mione,' they chorused fondly. A few seconds later and they could hear her snoring lightly.

The following morning, Hermione woke with a slight headache and brought her arm up to shield her eyes. Light was streaming in from the living room window and she was too tired to cope with that just yet. She quickly dug around on the floor for her bag that she'd left on the floor the night before and located her wand, giving it a swift wave to close the blind before dropping her arm back to her side with a sigh.

'Well good morning, sunshine,' George said as he peered over the back of the sofa at her.

Hermione simply groaned.

'I'll grab you a drink, hang on,' he told her. He returned a few moments later with another large glass of water.

She took it gratefully and had a long sip. 'Thanks.'

'So, regretting making fools of Harry and Ron now you've had chance to sleep it off?' Fred asked as he sauntered into the room with 3 cups of coffee.

'Absolutely not,' Hermione told them truthfully. 'Stupid gets had it coming.' She smirked as she took the mug Fred offered her.

'So can we expect a repeat performance?' George asked hopefully.

'Not anytime soon, but I promise you, the next time it happens I'll be sure to invite you guys,' she winked slyly as she drank from her mug.

The twins exchanged gleeful looks.

'And to think, all I wanted was one butterbeer last night. I can hardly complain though when a boring plan turns into a brilliant night of humiliating those idiots.' The three of them laughed, all imagining what Harry and Ron were dealing with this morning.

Meanwhile, at 12 Grimmauld Place, Ginny was busy making as much noise as she could in the kitchen while she made herself some breakfast. There was no way she was letting these two idiots get a moments peace this morning after she had to look after them both most of the night. The boys were sat at the table trying to cover their ears from the noise, and regretting ever having such a contest with Hermione Granger.