The next day her classes went by too quickly for Hermione. It was already close to 4:00 and that meant she had to go to meet with the boys in the kitchen. She couldn't believe this was really happening to her. A whole weekend with the twins. Not that she particularly disliked them, but she didn't care to spend alone time with them. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad. Maybe they would mind their own business. Maybe she could go about doing her cleaning without them being distracting. She sighed as class ended. She gathered her books and met up with the boys.

"Hey Hermione," Harry smiled. "You ready for the weekend?" he looked at her sympathetically.

"Thrilled," she rolled her eyes, earning a laugh from Ron.

"Oh, I'm sure it won't be so bad. They won't be nearly as awful to you as they are to me," he grinned.

She laughed. He did have a point. Normally she witnessed the twins picking on their brother. They had never done anything bad to her. "Well, maybe I'll rub off on them," she smirked.

"Of course. The twins will be regular bookworms after you're done with them," Harry laughed.

"I'd better get going," she sighed as she started toward the kitchen. She was surprised to see the twins there before her.

"Don't look so surprised," George grinned.

"The kitchen is our favorite place, after all," Fred added. He grabbed a cupcake off the counter and took a bite.

"You do know you're not here to eat," she smiled, rolling her eyes.

"We can surely do both," George assured her, grabbing a cupcake as he sat himself on one of the counters. "Have a seat, love," he winked.

"I think we should get started. The sooner we get the tasks done for today, the sooner we can go back to the dorm."

"Oh, come on, let's have a little fun while we're here."

"Loosen up, Hermione," Fred put an arm around her. "We won't get you in trouble again."

"I should hope not," she suppressed a small smile. "Come on, now. Stop eating and let's get started on the pantry so we can be done with it," she put her hands on her hips.

"Oh, but Hermione dear, don't you want to spend time with us?" George smiled.

"We were so looking forward to spending time with you," Fred added.

"I'm sure you two could only dream of it," she rolled her eyes.

"Sit down, Hermione."

"Let's have a chat," they were standing on each side of her. Merlin, she hated when they did that.

"What about?"

"The ball," they answered with a smile.

"What about it? Do you need help finding a date?"

"You hear that Georgie?"

"I do. Sarcasm. I like it," George grinned. "As a matter of fact, we already know who we're going with. But what we want to know-"

"Is who's taking you?"

"Why?"

"We like to know things," Fred shrugged.

"I don't know why you want to know so bad, but if you must know then I'll tell you. But don't you go telling everyone. I don't want it to be a big deal, alright?" she huffed.

"Twins honor," they recited in unison.

"Viktor Krum," she sighed. She was waiting for their teasing. She knew how much the twins teased Ron for his love of the quidditch star. She could only imagine what they would have to say about her going as his date.

"Good choice, Granger," George patted her on the back.

"Every girl in school is going to wish they were you," Fred added, placing a hand on her other shoulder.

"No teasing?" she looked at them, waiting for it.

"Why would we tease you?"

"We're impressed. You caught the eye of the Viktor Krum."

"I guess I just thought-"

"You have us all wrong. We like to have fun."

"But we're not mean-spirited. We only tease Ron because he's our brother-"

"And it's so much fun," George finished.

"But we like you. You intrigue us."

"You're bloody brilliant. Yet you hang with our nutter of a brother."

"Ron is not a-" she paused and then laughed. "Maybe he's a bit of a nutter sometimes. But he's really a good friend."

"Too bad we didn't meet you first. You'd be a brilliant addition to our duo."

"We'd be the most brilliant pranksters in all the land," Fred smiled.

"Imagine the possibilities," she smiled and shook her head. "Come on. Let's get started please. I want to get started on my essay tonight," she was pleased when the boys followed her into the pantry.

"So why did you decide to go with Krum?" George asked thoughtfully as he flicked his wand to pull the various items off the shelves.

"He asked," she shrugged. She had been asking herself the same question. It wasn't as though they had much in common. Or much to talk about. Not that he talked much at all. "I suppose it was just nice to be asked," she surprised herself with her words. Normally she wouldn't dare show any insecurity in front of the infamous twins. But they did seem to be genuinely interested in talking to her.

"Come on now, Hermione. You're a lovely girl. Someone else would have asked you if he hadn't," Fred was controlling the duster with his wand.

"I must admit, I'm having some second thoughts though. It's going to be a lot of attention. And-" she stopped.

"And what?" They asked.

"Well, I'm not much of a dancer," she frowned.

"Haven't you read all about it?" George smiled, earning a small smile from Hermione.

"It's not really something you can learn about in a book, now is it? But I haven't got a partner to practice with. All I have is memories of my mother and father dancing. I'm just afraid I'll look silly up there with Krum," she turned and started cleaning again. Why was she telling them all this? She hadn't even told Harry or Ron. She'd shared with Ginny her news of Krum, but not her worries of making a fool of herself.

"It just so happens, Hermione, dear," George started, grinning mischievously.

"That we are excellent dancers."

"And teachers I might add."

"You want to teach me to dance?" she laughed. "Why on earth would you want to help me?"

"Because we're gentlemen," George smiled wider.

"And you might be willing to look the other way on certain things?" Fred eyed her questioningly.

"Fine. If I don't look like a fool at the ball, then I'll be more lenient on you two. But that doesn't mean you can just get away with everything. It just means I'll look past the occasional trip out of the dorm," she put her hand on her hip. She felt as though she were making poor deal. But she wanted to badly to be regarded as much as the beautiful beauxbatton girls at the dance.

"Deal," they grinned.