Hermione woke with a start, lifting her head groggily off the dusty venerable codex she had been inadvertently using as a pillow. She blinked confusedly as she noticed a sandwich next to the tome. A sandwich that had definitely not been there prior to her unintentional catnap. She turned her neck slowly, working the stiffness out and was surprised to find she had company. Very few students ventured to this distant corner of the library, the section containing texts on Wizarding laws dating back to Fulbert the Fearful. Earlier that day, Hermione had been thrilled to find an unexpunged edition of the Domesday Book containing property records from the establishment of Diagon Alley, and had set that aside to peruse on a later study break.
Hermione eyed the young man sharing her table with a measure of suspicion. While Fred Weasley was not quite the last person she would expect to find in this isolated corner of Hogwarts' library, he was close to it. Fred merely turned the page in the text he was reviewing and rubbed his nose.
"Eat your sandwich," he spoke finally, eyes continuing to scan the page.
Hermione turned her suspicious gaze to the sandwich. The turkey on wheat seemed innocuous, but with Fred, she thought that unlikely.
"I didn't do anything to it," he added, "If I were going to prank you, I'd want an audience." Hermione made a noncommittal noise in the back of her throat.
"You missed dinner," he continued, eyes still on the text. "For the past three nights. What's so important that you can't take the time out to eat?"
"What's so important that you actually braved the library?" she countered smartly.
"Trouble with the antidote to our Coughing Chews," he responded, his eyes still on the page, "It stops the coughing, but turns them green."
"That'll be the doxie eggs," Hermione said, "try Lethifold perspiration. It should counteract the color issue as well as reduce the amount of sugar necessary in the chew, due to its sweet aftertaste." Fred flipped pages until he came to the section he sought and beamed at her.
"Of course! You're brilliant. Well. Obviously. I mean, you knew that already. And I knew that already. But, that'll be just the thing. It even fixes the problem with the extra sugar affecting the texture of the antidote, so this will be loads better!"
"Why didn't you ask me in the first place, rather than spend hours researching?"
"Just because my brother and Harry view you as their own personal walking encyclopedia doesn't mean we all do, Hermione," he replied, rolling his eyes, "Some of us do our own work. Just don't publicize that. I've got a reputation to uphold," he said loftily. Hermione laughed and felt a small smile lingering on her face as she returned to her book with a funny little feeling blossoming in her chest.
"You never did answer my question. Or eat your sandwich." Hermione glanced back up, surprised that he seemed inclined to stay put, even after receiving the information he needed.
"Looking up the legality of that quill of Umbridge's" she replied sourly. "It can't be legal to use something like that! In a school! On minors!" At Fred's grimace, she narrowed her eyes. "Give me your hand," she demanded. He reached out his right hand. "Your other one. I know you're left handed."
Reluctantly he reached out his left hand. Hermione breathed in sharply at the sight of the angry markings covering the back of his hand. It appeared that, unlike Harry, Fred had been forced to write different statements over the course of what were clearly many detentions. Hermione carefully took his hand, rubbing her thumb gently over one of the few sections of unmarked skin as she opened her bag with her other hand to retrieve the vial of murtlap essence and the small bowl she had taken to carrying with her. Scooting her chair closer to him, she placed the bowl on the table and poured the soothing liquid in, then eased his hand into the bowl. Fred smiled gratefully at her as the solution worked it's magic.
"Now eat your sandwich," he urged. Hermione conceded and took a bite. She immediately turned to him, shocked. "It's turkey and swiss on wheat with lettuce and spicy mustard. That's your favorite right?" She nodded, shocked, as she continued to chew.
She was surprised to note his cheeks turn pink as she swallowed and responded, "Did you even put the mustard between the lettuce and cheese instead of on the bread?"
"Well, you don't like it when the bread gets soggy, yeah?" He offered, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. The warm feeling in Hermione's chest grew and expanded as he reached forward and picked up a book off her stack, opened it to the index, and began running a finger down the list, murmuring under his breath as his eyes scanned the text. "Use of cursed objects for corporal punishment? Sounds promising." His eyes met hers and she felt a slightly foolish grin blossom on her face, matching the one growing on his. Hermione took another bite of her sandwich and returned to her own book, enjoying the giddyhappy sensation in her stomach.
