Upon Hermione's return, Fred leaned in eagerly, a grin brightening his features. He had been trying to overhear what went on between she and Harry, but had even worse success than Ron. He knew the answer to his question judging by the look on her face before he even asked it.
"Well?" he demanded eagerly. "What did he say?"
He was getting quite excited - the thought of the prank they were to pull on Snape and Umbridge was sounding more appealing by the moment. He wondered if it could be classified as a "prank". Or perhaps something worse? Nah. But it definitely traced along the borders, and that was what made it all the more exciting.

In reply, Hermione rolled her eyes and sat down, once again regaining her appetite.
"He said he would lend it to us – get this –" Her eyes were shining with mirth. "-- tonight! We can go get the ingredients TONIGHT!!!! I asked Harry if you and I could go pick up his invisibility cloak while he was still eating if we finished before him, and he said yes!" She took a mouthful of mashed potatoes and grinned at Fred's eagerness to play this prank. True enough, Hermione was a bit surprised by herself that she was doing this – yet some of it faded when she remembered that Umbridge was the only person to which she would play any tricks on. Well, perhaps Snape as well...
"So, do you want to go as quick as we can? Or would you rather wait?" She asked after swallowing.

Fred replied with a snort of laughter - he was already shoving his plate forward, the light of excitement glittering in his eyes. He had little desire for food when the idea of having an invisibility cloak in his hands to use at their own disposal was so close at hand.
"Have I ever stricken you as one that had undying patience, Hermione?" he asked dryly. "I am ready to go as soon as you are, madame."

Hermione grinned and finished her mouthful of potatoes, before swiping her bag and getting up hastily. "Let's go." She muttered, wincing and trying her VERY best to ignore the newest phrase behind her, "I heard that they were even planning pranks together! What, now George is being replaced by Hermione and we have a new pranking duo in the school?"
Hermione's biggest temptation was to turn right around and give whoever was saying that a long and furious diatribe. She even had it all planned out in her head.
'No, I am not replacing George – I do NOT want to be classified as a prankster, you need to learn to keep your nose out of other people's BUSINESS, whereas you can't though, because you are brainless, useless, MINDLESS gossipers who can't keep a thing to yourself and learn to respect other people's privacy.'
Yes, that would be lovely to say, but she couldn't. She held it in a forcibly turned back to Fred. "Shall we be off?"

Fred too rose to his feet. He glared icily at the pair of students behind Hermione. He too had heard the not-so-quiet comment, and was thinking of giving a retort similar to the Hermione planned, yet came to the same conclusion. He never was one who had a masterful grip on words. He wondered how news traveled so quickly over the whole school. It was like living in an anthill. He was about to suggest staying a while to give the gossiping prats something to squeak about, but he decided it would be better to get out of their as soon as they could.
"Let's be off, then," he said, and with a grin began to walk around the table to cross to Hermione's side - stifling the instinct to cause anyone bodily harm as he did so.

Hermione sighed once more, adjusted her bag on her shoulder – and slowly began to trudge out of the great hall through the chattering students. She paused after only a few steps, waiting up for Fred.
What really was going on inside her head was who the culprit was who had seen the kiss between her and Fred. Who and why they would choose to broadcast it to the entire school – dumbfounded her, and really, quite angered her. Oh, when she found out – she would make sure that person was embarrassed just like she was currently being.
She chose different methods of payback than Fred – who would probably choose to send the boy home in a full body cast rather than use other ways of revenge.

Fred fell into step beside Hermione, keeping his eyes down to the ground a few inches in front of his feet to avoid temptation to clock somebody. Yes, he most definitely preferred violence of physical action to any sort of mental attack or conniving plan of revenge. It really was a much easier plan of action if one thought of it, required far less thought and was quite effective in the long run.
He hadn't yet thought that one single person could be the cause of all this. It was perhaps glad that he didn't, for of course he woud have most likely pointed to Draco Malfoy for no reason whatsoever except for the fact that his grudge against him was greater than it had ever been.
"I do believe, Hermione," he commented dryly. "We are going to have quite an interesting couple of days ahead of us, eh?"

Hermione grimaced wearily as they walked. "We are in for a –very– interesting next few days....all this hubbub about a kiss and two people.... Makes me so angry...."
She took a quick glance at the red-haired boy and wondered why she didn't realize how cute it was before. The orange hair and those mirthful brown eyes! – how could she be so blind?
But, she shrugged it off and continued to walk, cocking her head to the side slightly and causing some brown hair to fall downwards.

Fred nodded in reply.
"Yeah. Makes me wonder how pitiful their lives are if they have to spend their time gossiping about - about such absurd things. But, oh well - at least excitement is better than boredom, eh?"
He flashed a quick grin at her. In all truth, he didn't regret a thing. He'd kiss her again if he had it to do over. And he was not about to allow a few bored adolescents bother him or change his mind.

Hermione smiled rather weakly as they walked into the entrance hall, her thoughts half-formed and floating around in her head.
"Actually, I'd rather have them be bored with us and leave us alone rather than be in the limelight of gossip..." She muttered truthfully, adjusting her bag on her shoulder and still only somewhat looking at the path in front of her, because she was staring at Fred.
In truth, she was VERY surprised at how cute he could be when she really noticed it.

Fred laughed. He caught her looking at him a couple times, it was making him a bit self-conscious. He was not used to such attention, except perhaps from his mom when he was making sure he looked his best for some event or another. He was not all that bothered, though. He looked at her from the corner of his eye, wondering why he had never thought her as the overly pretty type. Had he always been standing a mile and a half away from her?
"Yeah," he said distractedly. "I suppose s-- ow."
He walked right into a wall as they were to turn a corner. He blinked at it, taking a step back. Grumpily, he wondered who had put it there and why he hadn't been told.

Hermione put the back of her hand to her mouth and suppressed a giggle as she watched Fred chow out his forehead into the wall.
"Going a bit blind, are you?" She grinned. "I don't blame you... my eyes were a bit preoccupied myself..."
She turned a bit pink at this and wondered why those words had just slipped out of her mouth. She was so corny when it came to compliments!

Fred snickered at the unexpected compliment. He wasn't sure whether he appreciated the compliment or the look on Hermione's face more. He rubbed at his forehead, grinning rather goofily - he could only be glad that he had not ran into a suit of armor or something sharp.
"Blinded by your beauty, milady," he said gallantly. "And I blame the wall. It should not have been there. Pure and simple foul-play. In fact, I am going to lodge a complaint to Dumbledore right away..."

"And ask him to remove the wall?" Hermione asked in the same mock tone, feigning a disapproving look.
"Well I say, your requests are quite high, Mr. Weasley." She smiled and laughed slightly, thinking about his hilarious valiant persona.

He laughed at himself - he was even being goofier than usual. Not even George could tolerate such nonsense for long, and would probably have demanded him to shut up already.
"Oh, of course not," he replied, looking scandalized. "I would ask him to move it to Professor Snape's office. Or perhaps Madame Toad-Face Umbridge's. After a few months of such overt torture, I am sure it would never dare to disrespect my right of way ever again."

Hermione laughed and put her hand over her eye. Her thoughts were along Fred's, only about her. Since when had she been this silly? Only Fred brought out this in her – and she was beginning to really realize how much fun this was, and how much she needed to be like this more often. But she squashed this plan by thinking of what not only Ron would think of her, but how she could never turn into a female Fred. It was impossible!
"I cannot wait to get the ingredients to this potion... I simply cannot wait..." She said with a smile, realizing it had been a few moments since she had spoken.

He gave her a swift, lopsided grin. He highly doubted that statement would have been uttered by Hermione a few weeks earlier. He supposed he was rubbing off on her - he wondered what he thought of this. Of course, it was fun to have her to laugh and joke with, but he liked Hermione as she was as well. He wouldn't like her to completely, completely change her ways. He supposed he would rather miss it if she didn't scold him now and again.
"Let's go, then," he said. "The sooner we get the cloak the better."

Hermione nodded and fixed her eyes on where she was walking instead – and to her surprise, they were nearing the Fat Lady! Goodness, time and corridors went by when one was having fun!
"Bean sprouts." She said to the Fat Lady, who was in conversation with her friend, Violet, the witch from the third floor. They immediately smiled in a motherly way when they saw the two.
"Look at it Vi," The Fat Lady said as they both beamed down at Hermione and Fred. "Young love. How sweet, isn't it? Especially these two."
"Oh I know!' Vi said, laughing softly and gazing intently at them.

Fred did this surprised twitching sort of thing, completely unexpected the dialogue between the two ladies. He wasn't sure whether to be embarrassed or laugh - motherly indeed. HIS mother would probably go about on a tirade when she found out about this, demanding why he "stole" Hermione from Harry. Let alone if she found out about Ron - then he would be in even worse hot water. He snorted, his grin resurfacing again.
"Errr... would you mind letting us in?" he asked innocently, deciding to ignore the rather embarrassing comments.

Hermione had gone completely red when the words of the two portraits reached her ears.
This was even more embarrassing than being teased by the whole school!
The FAT LADY had even heard about it? Why, she wouldn'tve been surprised if -- if the giant squid had heard of it by now!
"Yes, please?" She muttered, eyes looking at the floor and avoiding Fred's gaze.
The Fat Lady beamed down at her for a few moments, then the picture swung forward and Hermione went inside, biting her lip and pushing some brown hair back behind her neck.

Fred grinned, stepping back for Hermione to climb through the portrait hole before him.
"Ladies first," he said.
Oh well - there goes any other slim chance they might have had of even a teensy bit if secrecy. He wouldn't be surprised if McGonagall herself would come out and congratulate them. Or perhaps scold them. This was becoming far too amusing than it was bothersome, in his opinion.

Hermione half-jogged up to the boy's dormitories stairs and walked up a few, then turned and waited for Fred again, smiling. This was going to be fun – sneaking a peek in the boy's dormitories AND getting to use Harry's invisibility cloak!
Gracious, she startled herself at the mischievous side Fred unlocked in her.
Yet there was still that old Hermione shining through a bit as she scowled. "You DO realize we're breaking about fifty school rules by doing this, do you not Fred?" Her eyebrow raised and once again, her arms found their way to that often used cross-arm position whenever she was telling someone off. She wasn't losing ALL her touch.

Fred beamed - ah, here was a bit of the old Hermione. At least he knew that she was not completely converted to his ways. It wasn't nearly so fun, pulling something off, if there was absolutely no resistance.
"Of course I do," he said, his tone one of pleased amusement. "And that is half of the fun, you see. Whyever should I go out of my way to do something that I am allowed to do anyway? But come now - we waste valuable ingrediant-pinching time!"
He laughed, walking on.

Hermione allowed herself to be pushed, but only with a slightly raised eyebrow and a reluctant tone went up the stairs.
"Oh Fred... but what if we're caught? What if something goes wrong??? -- What would Dumbledore think?" Her eyes widened a little at the last question as they rounded the top of the stairs, and she tucked some brown hair behind her ear nervously,
This task was looking more and more difficult.

"Dumbledore," Fred said wryly, his eyes sparkling as he concealed a grin. "... Shall never know. And if he does - well, we shall not think of what happens if he does. But I highly doubt it will be anything too severe. I don't think he loves Umbridge so much as to expel us for it. Now, it shall be Snape we have to worry about... but let us cross that bridge when we come to it, eh?"
No, he was not going to let any doubts come between he and Hermione carrying this through. In his opinion, any risks would be well worth the actual act, if indeed it could be done. What was he thinking? Of course it could be done. Where there was a will, there was most certainly a way - and if there was, he and Miss Granger would find it.

Hermione grimaced as they rounded the top of the stairs, and when the door to the boys dormitories came into view, paused with a slightly raised eyebrow.
"Er, are you sure I should go in there?" She asked uneasily, taking a precautious step backwards. "Maybe, well, you should check to make sure it's... empty."

Fred snorted.
"Are you afraid, then?" he teased - but he could imagine their situations switched. Actually, no he couldn't. He wouldn't step foot in the girls' dormitories even if his bloody life depended on it. "Very well, then. I shall make sure the coast is clear."
He stepped forward to open the door. He stuck his head in, and after a swift scan returned.
"No worries," he said brightly. "It is quite empty."

Hermione still look a bit anxious about this – going into the boys dormitories where they slept, talked... and did – well, boy things, would be a quite odd place for a girl. Especially her.
"Alright, I guess..." She said skeptically, and holding her breath as if diving under water, walked into the room.

Fred grinned, following after Hermione.
"Careful," he said in a low tone. "You might step into a trap or somewhat. We males tend to keep our sleeping territories well-guarded from intruders... Now where would Harry keep his cloak? Surely not in his trunk, where any prankster or thief worth his salt would look first for it?"

Hermione laughed – a little more nervously than she would've wanted, for it came out in a soft uneasy one, but looked around anyways, taking in all the beds and their different posters around them.
"Sure he would keep it in his trunk... he's trusting. Besides, where else would he keep it AND he told me it was in his trunk. I've always known where it was. I'm his friend, Fred." She smiled slightly, realizing that she was near telling Fred off for something small, and flashed a some-what apologetic look in his direction.

"'Course I knew that," he replied, kidding tone gone or at least turned down a little. "And that is why I asked you. I didn't think he would have us search through the entire dormitory... ah well then. After you."
He reminded himself again for the umpteenth time that perhaps he should tone down with the teasing a bit. But it would be a difficult thing to do - it was something he had done his entire life, and so it would take more than a few weeks for the habit to be broken in all of its entirety. He motioned towards Harry's trunk - he supposed it was Harry's trunk, as it was by Harry's bed. Hermione had seen what was in it before - he did not feel like rummaging around someone's trunk. Though he and Harry were friendly, they were not friends as he and Hermione were, and felt it would be an invasion of sorts.

Hermione nodded and kneeled down beside the trunk.
"I hope it isn't too difficult..." She muttered. "All the ingredients we'll need to get once we even FIND the book... of course if I took Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts I'd have access to the restricted section..."
After opening the trunk, she began to rummage around in it. "– But I don't think I could take extra classes with that cow Umbridge... it'would be a nightmare..."
She stopped gibbering and pulled out the cloak, also realizing that she might now want to keep talking in case she said something too un-Hermioneish about the teacher.

"I doubt that she would let anyone into advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts..." Fred commented. "Even if they are so brilliant as you. No, in fact, especially you."
He grinned once Hermione took out the invisibility cloak - he could barely imagine what sort of things he and George would be able to use the wonderful thing with if it were their own. Ai - Filch would probably wish he had never been born. But he sighed, and made himself stop thinking of it - he would only use it for what Hermione told him to, and that was that. No matter what temptation may befall...

Hermione stood up, tucked the cloak neatly under her arm, then closed the trunk and turned to Fred after she did so.
"Well, it's all set then. How's tonight to go and get the book?" She inquired, looking past Fred at the door and back.

"Tonight is fine," Fred said with a nod - for once he didn't even have any pressing homework worth mentioning, due to he and Hermione's studying session. "Whatever time you think is best."
He realized that she would perhaps want to leave the dormitories as soon as possible. He smiled, backing up a bit to let her pass. His mother would be proud at his manners. It was a shame he only used them once in a while - and mostly around Hermione, of course.

Hermione gave a slight smile, then brushed past Fred and went all the way down the steps, eyes widened a little. "That was the oddest thing I've ever done." She muttered. "Well, apart from mixing an illegal potion in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, or any of the other mad things I've done with Harry and Ron..."
Her voice trailed off and a sudden pang entered her heart as she remembered all the times the trio had spent together. What fun... all the law breaking and telling off she'd done... all the laughs and arguments, not to mention jokes.
She missed that. As much as she didn't like to admit it to he own self, she missed being with Ron and Harry... together, as best friends.
Not that they weren't, but....

Fred caught the tone in Hermione's voice as her sentence drifted off. He frowned a bit, and followed her down the stairs. At first the red-headed Weasley twin didn't say anything, because he felt troubled, trying to read the meaning behind the words. Hermione truly had done many mad things with Harry and Ron. Harry, Ron, Hermione. It had been that way - since their First Year. And now - were things different? And did Fred want to be a part - or even the reason - of it?
"I shouldn't think so," he commented thoughtfully. "From what I have heard you three have done plenty of mad things... you give George and I a run for our money. Who knows what you shall do next - undoubtedly it'll be a bit more than causing the Toad to get a bit of a crush."

"Well," Hermione replied oddly, putting the cloak in her bag.
"I don't know when I'll be seeing them often enough to do any more crazy things... I am in sixth year. Besides, Ron wouldn't want me to come back and I am not even sure if – I – want to go back..."
But the tone in her voice wasn't very convincing when she had said her last sentence.
She had always been very bad at lying... well, if you put aside the one time she lied in her first year to Professor McGonagall about the troll to save Harry and Ron's necks.
She smirked and laughed softly at the memory of how wide their mouths were when they realized she was lying downright to a teacher.

Fred snorted lightly. He wondered whether Hermione realized how pathetic a liar she was. This was not the first time he had been exposed to her horrible skill at the act. Yet he felt bad - now that he thought about it, he was sure Hermione would probably go back to her clique with Harry and Ron in a second if she had a choice. The decision to switch to the sixth year was spur of the moment - and come to think of it, it was probably only to spite Ron for his rotten behavior. A bit disgruntled by this, he lacked some of his signature bright answers.
"... Nah," he said with a shrug. "Of course you do, and you know he would, eventually. Where there is a will, there is a way, at least, or George and I should go completely out of business."

Hermione finished tucking the invisibility cloak in the bag, and looked up at Fred.
"No, this was pretty serious... I doubt Ron and I are going to get through this one... he is so -- stubborn." With a sigh and a rub of the face, she resigned the talk.
"No, what am I saying – we have a book to steal, and things to plan... only," She paused and her eyes drifted to the portrait hole.
"Would you mind if I met up with you later? I have something I DO need to ask Ron..."

The Weasley twin nodded, though his eyes narrowed a bit, curiously. Mentally, he was ticking off the thought: "don't ask, you are turning into one of the most annoyingly nosy creatures I know" to himself. He was also impatient - though they could not very well steal the book straightaway, he was anxious to get things rolling.
"Of course," he said out loud. "I'll be lurking around here somewhere, I suppose. Just give a holler when you need me."

Hermione raised her eyebrows a bit at his odd behavior. He was bugged about something -- she knew it. Hermione may have been a bad liar, but she wasn't thick.
"Fred -- it's alright." She said convincingly. "I just need to ask him one thing..." Then, with in mock-dissaproval. "Stop being so protective..."

Fred sighed, only used to that tone when his mother was trying to retain her patience with him.
"Oh, I'm not -so- protective," the Weasley twin said with a small grin, his humor returning once again - did it ever leave him for more than a few moments, anyhow? "Yet. You would know it if I am being protective - you have seen nothing yet. Go on, ask him whatever you have to ask him. I'll be here when you need me."

It was Hermione's turn to grin mischievously.
"Don't you worry about THAT, Fred." She replied briskly, re-slinging the back over her shoulder. "When I need you . . . I'll be there in a heart beat if I ever do, that's for sure. Whatever the case might be . . ." She added thoughtfully.

Fred laughed.
"Alright, then. I'll see you later."
He decided not to delay Hermione any longer - the sooner she asked this of Ron - whatever it was - the sooner they could begin plotting the thievery of the book. He could definitely entertain himself by imagining the prolonged effects of their prank - again the little grease-balls of children came to his mind - for a while as he waited.