"Hermione are you okay?" George and Fred rushed to her sides once the second task was finished and everyone was clearing out.

"Yeah, of course. Just cold," she smiled. "Ready to get into the castle."

"Well come on then," they each took hold of an arm and walked with her back up to the entrance hall.

"So what were you talking to Krum about?"

"Thanking him for saving you?" George teased.

"Actually, he's asked me to visit him over the summer."

Fred's smile faded a bit. He knew Hermione and Krum had grown closer over the last few months since the ball. He wasn't sure how close. "What did you say?"

"I told him I'd think about it. I mean, it would be nice, going to visit. But I don't know," she shrugged. "I don't want him to get the wrong idea."

"Wrong idea? About what?"

"Well about me and him. He's quite nice but I'm not interested in being with him. We just don't connect on that level."

"So you're not involved with him?"

"You'd know if I was. I would have told you," she laughed.

"But you spent Valentines day with him," Fred looked at her.

"Yes, and that's when I realized he's not who I'm looking for."

"You snogged him?" George laughed.

"Why do you just have to assume that?" she smiled.

"Because you said you don't connect. You snogged him and you didn't feel anything," Fred laughed.

"Fine," she sighed. "I didn't feel anything. Not that it was bad. It just wasn't special, I guess."

"You sound disappointed," Fred frowned.

"I just thought maybe I had found someone special. I think it was mostly the ball. I felt like such a princess and thought maybe he was like my prince," she laughed. "I know it sounds silly. It was nice to have someone fancy me though."

"Oh, I'm sure there's someone else. You just don't know it yet. Maybe he's too much of an arse to tell you," George looked over at Fred, who was glaring at him.

"Well I wish he'd just reveal himself then," she laughed as she looked back at them before stepping through the portrait hole.

"You heard her mate," George grinned before following behind her.

"Hermione, there's going to be backlash from this article," Fred looked at her, worried. He set the paper down on the table in front of them.

"It'll be fine. You sound like Harry and Ron," she laughed

"Well, they may be right about this one. You think it's no big deal. But Rita Skeeter has quite the influence. I don't think you know what you've gotten yourself into here, love," George added.

"Stop worrying, you two," she smiled. "It's not like any of it's true. I'm not seeing Viktor, nor am I seeing Harry. Though I still want to know how she knew about Viktor asking me to visit him. That makes no sense. She wasn't there with us. It was just the two of us," she frowned again.

"Well, obviously not," Fred replied.

"Thank you for that," she looked at him, annoyed. "Can we just talk about something else?"

"Like what? Your sordid affairs are the most interesting thing at Hogwarts right now," George laughed.

"Of course they are. What about your sordid affair with Angelina?" Hermione laughed.

"Oh, it's all kinds of sordid," he winked, grinning.

"That's enough," she held up her hand, smiling. "That I don't need to hear about."

"Hermione, how are you holding up?" he caught her in the hallways after dinner. He knew between the hate mail and the kids at school, the reactions to the article had to be bothering her.

"I'm fine," she replied casually as she started walking again.

"Hermione, wait," he grabbed her arm. "I know this is bothering you. You may be able to fool Harry and Ron and the rest of the school but I know when something is bothering you. You can't lie to me," he put a hand on her shoulder.

"You want to talk about lying? Why don't you stop lying to me?" she folded her arms. She looked around the now empty corridor before turning her gaze back on Fred.

"What are you talking ab-"

"Stop lying to me," she repeated.

"I haven't lied to you," he looked at her, confused.

"I have given you every chance in the world to tell me how you feel, Fred Weasley! Every chance since the night of the ball! I should have recognized it sooner, but I never thought that it'd happen. I kept thinking that you'd finally pluck up the courage to let me know. But you never did. So I tried to keep my mind off of it with Krum. Thought maybe I could find some happiness with him. But after Valentines day I realized it wouldn't happen. Because you-" she poked him hard on the chest. "You kept getting into my head. And now, you still want to tell me that's not the case?"

He stood, looking at her. Her hair was frazzled and she looked like she wanted to punch him. He couldn't help but to start laughing.

"What is so funny?"

"You," he replied, still laughing. "You're so angry with me yet you're telling me you want to be with me. This is not at all how I imagined this to happen."

"Well, Fred, I can't take pretending anymore. You've made your way into my head and I can't get you out of it. And all I think about every time I look at you smiling like that is how much I'd like to kiss you," she smiled slightly now. She was starting to see how weird the whole situation was.

"You're mad," he laughed harder. "I like that in a girl," he leaned down and kissed her briefly.

"Well, I suppose that's good. Because you're going to have to deal with it a lot," she smiled when he put an arm around her.

"I can do that. Come on, back to the common room," he put an arm around her as they walked through the hall toward their house dormitory.