Sorry about the delay/the quality/the length of this chapter. My mum was taken to hospital for emergency surgery so my writing schedule was pushed back a bit.
Enjoy anyway and R&R like always!
~Bethany
'You said that you had done your chemistry homework, Ron!' Hermione huffed, gripping her books tightly to her chest, like she was protecting them from Ron's grasp.
'Well, the title is done.' He scratched the back of his head and looked at Hermione hopefully. 'Please Hermione? I'd rather not spend Halloween in detention with Professor Snape. He's terrifying enough as it is.'
She sighed heavily and pulled out a few sheets of paper and handed them to Ron who took them without a second thought.
'Thank you, Hermione. You're a life saver.' Ron sped off to find himself a pen and some paper to copy Hermione's homework, like he usually does. Hermione decided that she really needed to stop letting him do that.
Today was Halloween, for most of the students, that meant dressing up, trick or treating, feasts and good fun all round. However, for Hermione and Ron it was a time to try make Harry feel better about his parents murder, so naturally, Harry never really had much fun on Halloween. He tried of course, he always put up a good front so the others could enjoy themselves.
The school day seemed to drag on forever, it didn't help that it was raining and cold as well. That just made the time seem like it was going on even slower. The time dragged on so much that even Hermione thought it to be ridiculous.
There was one thing that made her feel better about the day. During History, she opened her text book only to find that a slip of paper had fallen out of it and on to the desk.
'That's odd.' Hermione thought. She looked around the class for anyone she thought might have put it there. She would have known if it had been either Harry or Ron, so it couldn't have been them. Hermione picked up the paper between her long fingers and unfolded it.
'Dearest Hermione,
This is just a note to say that I hope you have a good day and that I hope Ron doesn't drive you up the wall too much.
Yours always, F. x'
Hermione's grin seemed to spread from ear to ear. She folded the note up quietly and tucked back inside her text book. Suddenly, her day seemed much brighter, despite the grey clouds outside and rain pounding hard against the ancient windows.
The rest of the day didn't seem so bad after that. Even when the bully of their year, Draco Malfoy, who belonged to Slytherin house, started bad mouthing her and her parents for not being a higher class family. Sadly, this sort of taunting happened often, but Hermione and her friends were kind of used to it now. It had been happening since their first year.
Ron finally gave Hermione back her chemistry homework just before Professor Snape walked in, his face expressionless like it usually was.
'Silence!' He bellowed, but the class was already silent before he walked in. He started writing on the chalk board, the class daring not to breathe too loudly. Out of fear that if they did, they'd have to face the wrath of Professor Snape after school everyday for the next three months.
'Follow the instructions on the board...carefully. Go!'
The class got out of their seats to find the equipment to complete the experiment. Hermione's had gone perfectly, like it always did. She felt quite proud of herself. Ron's was smoking profusely, and Harry's had gone a bright shade of orange.
'Mister Potter.' Professor Snape said, over his shoulder.
'Yes, Professor?' Harry replied, knowing what was about to happen.
'Tell me why...your solution is..orange.' Snape droned, dragging out his sentence and putting emphasis on the word 'orange.'
'I don't know.'
'It's because you're gormless, and as a result, misread instruction three. Do you wish to fail this class? Dispose of it, Potter. The rest of you, carry on. At the end of the lesson, I want your essays on my desk. Is that clear?'
Draco sniggered from the across the class with his friends at Harry.
xx
'That was completely unfair on you, Harry! Ron's solution was just as bad as yours and Professor Snape said nothing to him.' Hermione complained angrily, pacing down the corridor.
Ron decided not to retaliate and start another argument.
'Well, Snape's had it in for Harry for years.' Ron decided to say finally.
Harry just sighed and clasped his hand around his school bag tightly.
'It doesn't matter. ' he sighed. 'Anyway, I'm going to get ready for the Halloween feast,or whatever it is they've decided to call it this year. See you both later?'
Hermione and Ron nodded, bidding their short farewell to Harry and watching him move towards the Common room and out of sight.
'I can't believe Snape would say something like that to Harry, on today of all days! Doesn't he think that Harry is upset enough as it is?' Hermione carried on, looking over at Ron, her cheeks almost flushed bright red from anger.
'Apparently not.' Ron shrugged.
xx
The Common room was dark and Hermione seemed to be alone. She dismissed it at first, thinking that everyone was down at the feast already. Hermione had taken a quick detour to the library, only, she ended up being there for a lot longer than she had planned.
She crossed over to the light switch and flicked it. Nothing happened.
'The bulb must have died.' She muttered to herself.
CRASH
Hermione turned round quickly, her hair whipping against her neck. She could not see any one or any thing in the dark.
'Crookshanks?' She called, lowering herself to see if her large fluffy cat was around. 'Crookshanks!'
There was an eerie silence once more.
That was until she heard a strange noise behind one of the common room chairs. She crept quietly towards it, a lump beginning to form in the back of her throat.
As she got to it, she took a deep breath and looked behind it where the noise had supposedly come from, only to find nothing.
Something grabbed her around the waist and pulled her backwards. She let out a loud, panicky scream. The lights came flickering on, she looked to see that Fred and George stood behind her, both dressed as vampires and trying not to laugh.
'That was not funny!' She cried, trying to get out of Fred's grasp.
George burst in to laughter which made Fred follow in suit. He let go, knowing he was going to be in a lot of trouble with her, again.
'Don't be upset, Hermione. It's Halloween, we were only having a laugh.' Fred said through false fangs.
'Do I look like I'm laughing?' She snapped, smoothing out her clothes.
'No, you don't.' George replied.
Fred elbowed his brother in the ribs.
'I think that was supposed to be a rhetorical question, actually.'
'You scared me! I was fine up until you grabbed me! And how on Earth did you manage to do the lights?' Hermione asked, not being able to push away her curiosity.
'Well, we unscrewed the light bulb before you came in and then when George broke that ugly vase on the fireplace, it provided me with enough cover to go and put the bulb back, especially as you started looking for Crookshanks.'
Hermione paused for a moment and crossed her arms.
'As much as I find you two to be a bad influence on people, I admire your teamwork, and the way you use your brains to do things like this. However, I would prefer it if you used your brains to pass your exams and not scare other students.'
The twins laughed. They knew they were smart enough to pass all of their exams but having a good time seemed more important to them.
'Are you dressing up for the feast?' Fred asked.
'Harry and Ron have gone as zombies.' George continued.
Hermione shook her head and unfolded her arms again. She started picking at the fluff on her school jumper.
'No, I don't really see the point.'
'But it's Halloween!' George cried.
'You're supposed to dress up!' Fred followed on in the same tone as his brother.
Hermione disagreed and eventually, the boys gave up on trying to make her succumb to the tradition.
'Suit yourself.' They said in unison, shrugging and starting to head out of the common room, where they would sit in the Great Hall to join their friends at the yearly Halloween feast.
She quickly ran up and gently grabbed Fred's arm.
'Do you mind if I talk to you for a minute?' Hermione asked, giving George the 'go away, please' eyes.
George smiled and left.
'You're not breaking up with me, are you?' He laughed nervously, not sure if he was joking about it at all.
Hermione raised her eyebrow.
'No.' She let her face relax and beamed happily at him. 'I just wanted to thank you for the note you left for me. It made my day a lot better.' Hermione reached up and gently kissed Fred on his cheek, which was surprisingly smooth.
Fred put his forehead against Hermione's. Their hands found each other, and locked together once again. Suddenly, everything around them had disappeared, there was absolute silence and they had become one person. They could feel each others hot breath on their skin, and it was comforting feeling to have. It was like no harm could come to either of them if they were together, they were what kept each other safe and sound. No force would ever be strong enough to tear their hands, or hearts apart.
'We should go to the feast.' Hermione whispered.
'Mhm.' Fred nodded, not really wanting to go any where.
'But we can go right after you've cleaned up the broken vase.' Hermione instructed, dropping Fred's hand and pointing towards the fireplace. 'Nice cape, by the way.'
xx
The Great Hall smelled strongly of pumpkin pies and various other sweets and treats. Fred and Hermione sat by their friends.
George turned to Ron who was shoving some hard boiled sweets in to his mouth.
'Hey, Ron. Pick and a hand and depending what hand you pick, you'll either get a trick...'
'Or a treat.' Fred piped in, propping his elbows up on the table and watching his brothers carefully.
Ron took a while to choose but eventually ended up choosing George's right hand.
'Are you sure?' George teased.
'Yeah.' His brother said, trying to inspect each hand, hoping to have any sort of clue as to what was in his hands.
'Trick!' The twins shouted, throwing a large fake spider at Ron. He screamed and fell on the floor in his fright.
Fred, George and surrounding company all laughed. Ron took a deep breath and climbed back in to his seat.
'Bloody hell!' He breathed heavily. Fred and George high fived each other from across the table.
'Are you okay?' Hermione asked, turning her back on Fred.
Ron nodded.
'Yeah, yeah...fine.'
Harry hadn't spoken much all day and everyone knew better than to bother him about it. Some things are better left unsaid.
'I sent a letter to my parents this morning, about the camping trip.' Hermione said calmly, trying to decide what to eat.
Ron's eyes widened and nodded, he had obviously forgotten all about it.
'Oh yeah!' He spat with a mouthful of pie. 'I'll do that tomorrow.'
Harry smiled at the pair of them, one of the only proper smiles he had given to the world today.
'Thanks, guys.'
'What camping trip?' Fred and George asked.
It was Ginny's turn to pipe in then. She hadn't really gotten dressed up either, she had just put a fake arrow through her head.
'Harry wants to go camping with Hermione and Ron. That's all. It sounds like a nice idea.' She smiled dreamily over at the dark haired orphan boy who returned it in the same way.
'How long for?' George wondered.
Harry swallowed his mouthful of food and turned to them, breaking eye contact with Ginny.
'Oh, not long. Just a night.' He answered.
Fred looked at Hermione with large eyes.
'You will write to me, won't you?' He pouted and started playing with Hermione's hair. Twisting it around between his fingers and then brushing it out again.
Hermione made a tutting sound at her significant other.
'It'll only be a night and, besides, we don't even know if we can go yet.' She reached under the table and grabbed Fred's hand, that feeling of security coming back to the both of them.
'Yeah.' He sighed. 'I know.' Fred stroked the back of Hermione's hand with his thumb.
xx
'Trick or treat?'
'Seeing as I've already had a trick today, I think I'll go treat.'
'Are you sure?'
'Most certainly.'
'Close your eyes.'
Hermione obliged and shut her eyes tightly. She could feel something cold around her neck and her heart was beating like crazy once again.
'Okay, open them.' Fred whispered in to her ear.
Her eyes flickered open and she looked down to find a small silver necklace placed around her neck with an 'F' falling on her chest. The 'F' had small diamonds in it, probably only glass but beautiful all the same.
'It's gorgeous...' Hermione said. She was completely shocked by the gesture and was almost speechless.
'I was going to give it you for Christmas, but I wanted to give it to you now.'
'You really shouldn't have.' She laughed, holding the 'F' in her hand.
Fred nodded.
'I wanted to.'
Hermione let go of it and hugged Fred tightly.
'Thank you. So much.'
They laid together on one of the common room sofas, it was a tight fit but they managed it. The fire was crackling and the rain was pouring against the window.
It was getting late and most of the students were already in bed. The sounds of fire and rain relaxed them and made them feel warm.
These moments, when they were alone and it was silent, was some of the best times they had together. Especially because they were often rare moments.
Hermione had fallen asleep soon after but Fred was still wide awake. He gently got up off of the sofa and picked Hermione up. He carried her up the stairs and in to the girls dormitory where he lai d her on her bed and put the covers over her.
He left silently for his own dorm where George was sat up, waiting for him.
'How's Sleeping Beauty?' He whispered.
'Asleep.' Fred joked.
'You've been spending a lot of time with her recently.' George pointed out, settling down in to his bed.
Fred grinned and put on his pyjamas.
'You're not jealous are you?' He laughed and climbed in to his own bed.
George yawned.
'Of course not. I just wanted to know, do you love her?'
Fred went to answer his brother's question, but decided to pretend to have already fallen asleep instead.