Here's another short chappie for you.. I think this one was written a bit differently than the others, don't you?
Well, anyway.. hope you like it! :)
Chapter 7
Distractions
"Hey, you!", Ginny called as she saw Hermione in the Great Hall the following morning by breakfast.
"Hi", Hermione replied as she turned around and smiled at her.
"How are you?"
"I'm fine, how come..?", Hermione asked and gave Ginny a suspicious look, as if she already knew she was up to something.
"Ah, nothing", Ginny said, "except that Dean Thomas said yes to going to Hogsmead with you next weekend".
"WHAT?", Hermione squeaked, "You did not..?"
"Oh yes, I did", Ginny answered, "No doubt about that..", she added and nodded in Dean's direction.
He was sitting by the same table as Harry and Ron, and didn't seem to care much about the two other boys' attempt on having a conversation with him as he was staring at Hermione.
"Hey, Dean!", Harry said and waved his hand in front of Dean's face, "What's up with you today?"
"Oh, sorry.. I wasn't really paying attention.. what were you guys saying?", Dean said as he snapped back into reality and turned his head towards Harry and Ron.
"Didn't you hear?", Ron asked, "Ireland won their last quidditch match agains the bulgarians with over two hundred points!".
"Wow", Dean said surprised, "How's that even possible..? I thought the bulgarians were waaaay better than the irish?"
"Yeah, well.. they usually are", Harry answered and shrugged, "You remember when we saw them two years ago, Ron?"
"Of course!", Ron said, "Pity you weren't there, Dean.. it was magical!"
"Almost as magical as your possibility to not pay attention while gazing at Hermione", Harry said and grinned.
"Uhm, what?", Dean asked, but didn't seem to care about Harry's answer.
"Look", Ginny said and shook Hermione's shoulder, "He's looking at you!"
Hermione turned around to find Dean staring at her, while Harry made a pointless attempt on getting his attention back to quidditch.
"And it doesn't seem like he's able to stop..", Ginny said as Dean spilt his pumpkinjuice, without noticing until Ron took his cup away and tried to get the worst of it off of the table.
Hermione couldn't help but smile when she remembered Harry doing the same thing in their third year, when he had a massive crush on Cho Chang, the one year older Ravenclaw.
"Ok, I'll go with him..", Hermione said before Ginny interrupted her with a small squeak of happiness, "but only, and let me make this totally clear to you - ONLY - to make your brother jealous!"
"Yeah, yeah", Ginny replied and clapped her hands, "of course, he's gonna be sooo jealous and blahblahblah…"
Fred was sitting by another table with George and Lee, and was closely following the whole scene.
He was even so near Harry, Ron and Dean's table that he could hear everything they were saying, and the comments about Hermione made him hot with irritation and anger.
"Take it easy", he told himself, "you were the one to end it, so you shouldn't be feeling this way!".
"Hey, Freddie", George suddenly said and interrupted his thoughts, "What's up with you? You look like you're about to kill an innocent bunny or something.."
"Nothing..", Fred mumbled. He didn't want to talk to George about it, but of course he should. George was his brother, and knew him better than anyone. If something was going on, he'd be the first to know.
"Come on, bro", George said and smiled at Fred, "You can tell us! We're your best mates, and I", he said and straightened his shirt, "am proud to say I'm your genius of a brother".
Fred grinned, George always found ways to made it easier for him to laugh.
"No, it's nothing", Fred said again, "it's just a.. girl".
Lee almost choked because of swallowing his pumpkinjuice, George just gasped and lost grip around his toast as his mouth fell open and his cheek almost dropped onto the table, while the rest of the gryffindors turned to see what all the fuss was about.
"What on earth are you talking about..?", George suddenly asked as he tried to help Lee catch his breath.
"Relax, guys!", Fred said and stood up, "Is it really that big of a deal?"
"Of course, see poor Lee here for example!", George replied, "The though of you with a girl nearly choked him!".
"Now you're just being ridiculous", Fred said as he started to get more and more angry with his brother, "I can get any girl I want, and I'm just s good as you!"
"Pfff, no girl can stand my charm and sense of humor", George said and stood up with a smirk.
"Well, luckily we're twins - and I have exactly the same qualities as you, plus more", Fred said and shot his brother an angry look.
He hated it when George was this way. He knew he did it just to annoy him, but Fred just could't let him humiliate him in front of everyone like that.
"So then, if you're that sure", George said, "let's have a bet".
"Ok, what kind of bet?"
"Let's see who gets the a certain girl, and who gets her first can have her", George said and smirked at his brother.
"Okay", Fred said, "but who are we talking about?".
Luckily the rest of the gryffindors had gone back to eating and talking about homework and exams, so no one except Lee heard what George said.
"Hermione Granger".