A/N: Mehehehe, looks like I'm goint to update earlier than usual, which I did. Thank you for everyone who reads this and double-thanks to those who review. I love you all! ^-^

Shucks, all of you flatter me. I just want to clarify things, this is a Fremione story, a Fred and Hermione story. So I just want to clarify that this won't be a love triangle between Fred, Hermione, and George. :D

Enjoy~ (:

Disclaimer: Accio Harry Potter! Didn't work. :(

"Rambling"
by SJRegina

Hermione always found herself rambling whenever in the presence of the one and only Fred Weasley, but that's just how Fred liked it.

Chapter 15: Hermione Becomes A Feline

Since they wouldn't use the Polyjuice potion till that night, nothing was wrong with enjoying the Christmas morning.

Everybody was in happy spirits in the Gryffindor common room, huddled with friends showing each other the gifts they had. But there were a very few people there as most of the students went home for the holidays.

The twins, Ginny, Ron, Harry, and Hermione took this advantage and sat on the couches in front of the fire place. It made Hermione smile that everyone was in such a cheerful mood.

Ginny was even smiling now, a great improvement compared before. They all opened their gifts at the same time. Everybody was so happy with the gifts, Hermione was very happy with hers.

She got a quill from Harry and ink for the quill from Ron. Hermione giggled when she saw them. She got a cute new plain light blue v-neck jumper from her parents. It was soft and lgiht but just enough to make her warm.

Mrs. Weasley even gave her a large plum cake. She then remembered what just happened last summer and smiled at the memory of Mrs. Weasley telling them about her brothers.

Ginny had given her chocolate frogs. Hermione smiled at Ginny, she really did know Hermione. Hermione was quite the chocoholic. Neville had given her a lot of Berty-Bott's Every-Flavor Beans. But it was the gifts from Fred and George that really made her smile.

It was not like her gifts from her other friends or roommates who gave her books. It was a handsome mahogany frame with a picture of them at the Burrow looking at the bands they had. Hermione looked closely and giggled as she saw the three of them mouth the same word, wicked.

She gave a hug to the her best mates. "You really have outdone yourself boys." George hugged Hermione back friendly. Fred did the same but maybe it was just her imagination, but she felt Fred sniff her and twirl her hair with his finger. Maybe it was just the wind, she thought.

Or maybe he was just grateful for the gift she gave them. A book about muggle pranks. They seemed so fascinated by it.

All of them went together at breakfast and returned back to the Gryffindor common room stuffed. They played Exploding Snap and told each other how they celebrated Christmas at home. They laughed and smiled as everyone was just comfortable in each other's presence.

Dinnertime came and the Great Hall looked magnificent. Not only were there a dozen frost-covered Christmas trees and thick streamers of holly and mistletoe crisscrossing the ceiling, but enchanted snow was falling, warm and dry, from the ceiling.

Dumbledore led them in a few of his favorite carols, Hagrid booming more and more loudly with every goblet of eggnog he consumed. Percy, who hadn't noticed that Fred had bewitched his prefect badge so that it now read "Pinhead," kept asking them all what they were sniggering at.

Harry and Ron had barely finished their third helpings of Christmas pudding when Hermione ushered them out of the hall to finalize their plans for the evening. Fred and George were just about to get another plateful of dessert but they listened to Hermione intently.

"We still need a bit of the people you're changing into," said Hermione matter-of-facdy, as though she were sending them to the supermarket for laundry detergent.

"And obviously, it'll be best if you can get something of Crabbe's and Goyle's; they're Malfoys best friends, he'll tell them anything. And we also need to make sure the real Crabbe and Goyle can't burst in on us while we're interrogating him." She continued.

"I've got it all worked out," she went on smoothly, ignoring Harry's and Ron's stupefied faces. She held up two plump chocolate cakes.

"I've filled these with a simple Sleeping Draught. All you have to do is make sure Crabbe and Goyle find them. You know how greedy they are, they're bound to eat them. Once they're asleep, pull out a few of their hairs and hide them in a broom closet."

Harry and Ron looked incredulously at each other.

"We'll do it Hermione!" Fred and George piped up.

Hermione just smiled mischievously.

~.~

Fred and George had expertly hid Crabbe and Goyle in a closet across the hall.

"Piece of cake." Fred and George said in sync as they rubbed their hands as if to remove the filth that was Crabbe and Goyle.

Hermione was stirring the cauldron and it emitted a black smoke. Then she layed glass tuners on a toilet seat. The potion bubbled and it smelt horrible. Fred thought he might just vomit at the site of them.

"Did you get them?" Hermione asked breathlessly.

Fred showed her Goyle's hair.

"Good. And I sneaked these spare robes out of the laundry," Hermione said, holding up a small sack. "You'll need bigger sizes once you're Crabbe and Goyle." She gestured to Ron and Harry.

The five of them stared into the cauldron. Close up, the potion looked like thick, dark mud, bubbling sluggishly.

"I'm sure I've done everything right," said Hermione, nervously rereading the splotched page of Moste Potente Potions. "It looks like the book says it should, once we've drunk it, we'll have exactly an hour before we change back into ourselves."

"Now what?" Ron whispered.

"We separate it into three glasses and add the hairs."

Hermione ladled large dollops of the potion into each of the glasses. Then, her hand trembling, she shook Millicent Bulstrode's hair out of its bottle into the first glass.

The potion hissed loudly like a boiling kettle and frothed madly. A second later, it had turned a sick sort of yellow.

"Urgh - essence of Millicent Bulstrode," said Ron, eyeing it with loathing. "Bet it tastes disgusting."

"Add yours, then," said Hermione.

Harry dropped Goyle's hair into the middle glass and Ron put Crabbe's into the last one. Both glasses hissed and frothed: Goyle's turned the khaki color of a booger, Crabbe's a dark, murky brown.

"Hang on," said Harry as Ron and Hermione reached for their glasses. "We'd better not all drink them in here, once we turn into Crabbe and Goyle we won't fit. And Millicent Bulstrode's no pixie."

"Good thinking," said Ron, unlocking the door. "We'll take separate stalls."

Careful not to spill a drop of his Polyjuice Potion, Harry slipped into the middle stall.

"Ready?" he called.

"Ready," came Ron's and Hermione's voices.

Fred and George watched them nervously.

"One - two - three -"

Pinching her nose, Hermione drank the potion down in two large gulps. It tasted like rotten mustard.

Immediately, her insides started writhing as though he'd just swallowed live snakes - doubled up. She wondered whether she was going to be sick, then a burning sensation spread rapidly from her stomach to the very ends of her fingers and toes.

Next, bringing her gasping to all fours, came a horrible melting feeling, as the skin all over her body bubbled like hot wax - and before her eyes, she saw her hands grow ginger fur and became paws, she looked on her behind and saw that she grew a tail.

Her cheecks felt like they were swelling and whiskers grew out of it. She lay flat on the floor from the pain. She took the mirror she laid a while ago on the toilet cover and brought it up slowly to her face.

As she saw her reflection, she gasped and the mirror she was holding almost slipped from her fingers.

Her face was covered in black fur. Her eyes had turned yellow and there were long, pointed ears poking through her hair.

She was not going out like this.

"Are you two okay?" Hermione heard Goyle's low rasp of a voice.

"Yeah," came the deep grunt of Crabbe from her left.

"Hermione, the potion worked!" She heard George exclaimed.

"Yeah, Harry and Ron look as ugly as ever!" Fred laughed.

"Whatever." Ron growled but it looked funny because the grunt came out of Crabbe.

"We'd better get going." Goyle's voice said again.

"C'mon! We need to go!" Crabbe's voice demanded as he banged on the door. Hermione was sure that this was Ron.

"I - I don't think I'm going to come after all. You go on without me." Hermione was shocked to hear her voice to become high-pitched.

"Hermione, we know Millicent Bulstrode's ugly, no one's going to know it's you -"

"No - really - I don't think I'll come. You two hurry up, you re wasting time." Fred looked at George in worry, was Hermione alright?

"Hermione, are you okay?" said Fred through the door.

"Fine - I'm fine - go on -" With that Ron dragged Harry hestitantly and walked out of the stall.

Once theye were gone, George knocked rapidly on the door. "Hermione, I know something's wrong. Open the door!"

"No! I don't want you to see me like this."

"Hermione, if you don't open this door right now, I'm going to launch a Filibuster Fireworks to the toilet." Fred bribed.

"No! Fred Weasley, that's breaking school property!"

Fred was going to say something again but Moaning Mrytle suddenly came out of nowhere giggling annoyingly.

"Oh, you look awful! And they told me I was ugly." Moaning Mrytle belt out a hearty guffaw. George picked up a glass somewhere and threw it at her.

It just went through the ghost and it moaned in annoyance. "Ugh! I hate you!" Mrytle sobbed annoyingly and flew into a toilet splashing water to the end of the stall.

Fred heard Hermione sob, and it broke his heart just hearing her in sorrow. Fred walked over the door and muttered, "Alohomora." He muttered this quietly then opened the door slowly.

He gasped when he saw Hermione there. She had black fur all over her and pointy ears peaking out her bushy hair. She even had a tail.

"Fred! I told you-" But Fred cut her off with a hug. Hermione was shocked at first but then melted to his touch. She hugged him back and sobbed on his chest.

"I loo-look te-terrible!" Hermione sobbed more on his chest and Fred just hugged her back tightly, rubbing comforting circles on her back.

"I've seen worse." Fred leaned Hermione back and smiled at her. Hermione gave back a faint smile and continued crying on Fred's chest.

Even though Hermione was in a form of a semi-cat, she was still beautiful and amazing in his eyes.

George watched the two from the door, wondering if he should join in or leave. He just smiled at them and rubbed Hermione's back.

"Don't worry, one hour will pass by fastly." George told her. She just nodded her head in Fred's chest.

George raised his eyebrow to his brother teasingly and Fred just put his tongue out. George chuckled quietly and left the two and sat on a nearby chair.

"Fred has it bad." He thought as he shook his head and entertained himself by reading Hermione's gift to them. A book about muggle pranks.

~.~

Harry and Ron returned an hour later gasping for air, now back in their original forms.

"Hermione! We have so much to-" But they were cut off as George shushed them and gestured to Fred and Hermione.

Fred was hugging Hermione in his lap and Hermione cuddled into Fred, sleeping. She was still in her cat form. It truned out that the potion had different effects on people when animal hair is used.

Fred was humming and Hermione's tail was sawying comfortably. Fred nuzzled his nose to her hair and smiled when a very adorable sound came out from Hermione.

She purred in contentedness.

A/N: Darn it, looks like there'll be more chapters for CoS than I expected. Le sigh. Anyways, thank you so much for all the nice comments. But don't hestitate to review constructive criticism. ^-^

Well folks, hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to review and vote on the poll on my profile. :D Till the next update!