In a dimly lit corner of the Hogs Head Hermione sat, her head perched upon her hands. Aberforth had cleared the pub a little over half an hour ago and had left her with the instructions to as stay as long as she needed. Hermione was feeling slightly dizzy still as a result from her adventure with firewhiskey earlier on. In an effort to stall her complete annihilation she had switched to butter beer about an hour ago, and still nursed her first one.

A sudden bang outside the pub brought her back to the present. Her ears perked up as she tried to listen for the cause. Hearing only hushed murmurs she made her way closer to the door wand in hand.

"You knock on the door"

"It was your idea to come over here in the first place"

The voices were familiar and it only took her the briefest of moments before she placed the owners as the Weasley twins. Slumping slightly against the inner door frame Hermione continued to listen.

"Because he would have found out one way or the other, better we warn him. Besides as I remember it was you who suggested we use the goat as an experiment"

"Because you said a cat would be too small"

"Only because you insisted a dog would move to quickly"

"It would! Which wouldn't be a problem if you hadn't insisted on adding a dash of moon fly hair"

"Which we wouldn't have needed if you hadn't wanted the potion to be purple instead of brown"

"Who would by a brown sluggy potion? And my dear brother it was you who brewed the potion"

"Because you said charming it would ineffective, besides the potion itself was your idea"

"My idea because you I got the idea from your joke"

"Which was a response to your joke"

"YOU WERE BORN FIRST".

Neither spoke for a few moments and Hermione had begun to think that they had lost their nerve to do whatever they had been planning. She smirked at the idea of them befouling one of Aberforth's beloved goats. She needn't have worried as she soon heard muffled laughter and the suggestion of 'potion, wand, and cloak', the wizarding alternative to rock, paper, and scissors. Which, she still contested to this say made little sense.

After several games and continued bickering, Hermione decided she could wait no longer to see what had caused this little show and so, without a second thought, unlockedthe door with a flick of her wand and pulled it upon.

The boys, taken by surprise both jumped back and managed to fall over each other in the process, revealing a shimmering goat which stood behind them.

"Bloody Hell Herms, nearly gave us a

"Heart attack", George joined in upon catching his breath.

Hermione however was ignoring them and merely raised her hand in direction of the goat, whose was causing enough light to brighten the whole alley.

"What is that?"

Both boys shared a look before gulping.

"Well you see", began Fred picking himself up from the ground and holding his hand out to George "We spent last weekend at home, and happened to be their when Andromeda visited with Teddy".

"And, well you could say, he was somewhat of a muse to us" George finished.

Hermione stifled a chuckle, "Hate to disappoint you boys, but regardless of what you've been informed, that" she once again pointed at the goat who seemed somewhat oblivious "is not art".

"Trial and Error"? George pleaded.

"We thought how fun it would be if we could develop a potion that would for a certain period of time, allow your hair to change colour in accordance with your mood" Fred smiled wryly, "Unfortunately, it appears we may have been a little quick with rushing through to the experiment stage".

Hermione regarded them both for a moment, before succumbing to laughter. A deep bellied, unstoppable laughter that left her crouching on the floor with tears streaming down her face. Both Fred and George too seemed to find the whole situation amusing, and allowed themselves to be overcome with laughter.

After a few minutes, the three seemed to have laughed themselves out. It was only then that Fred seemed to notice the oddity of Hermione being at the Hog's Head at all.

"Pray tell, what gives us the honour of finding the beloved head girl of Hogwarts here anyway, and" Fred allowed himself a cautious sniff "Have you been drinking?".

Hermione immediately sobered, as if suddenly remembering the reason herself.

Glancing at them, she wondered if maybe some company would help. Something to take her mind off the task that lay ahead of her.

She opened her mouth to invite them in, but was cut off with the arrival of a livid looking Professor Snape and a worried looking Headmistress.

"It just so happens" Snape sneered "We were wondering the exact same thing".