Dinah awoke the next morning with Ron sleeping next to her in her bed. She sighed and curled into Ron as she remembered what happened the night before.
Dinah and Ron went back to the common room where there was barely anyone hanging out. They were well into their game of wizards chess when more people began filing in from the night's festivities. Fred walked in with Angelina's legs wrapped around his waist as he held arse, snogging most inappropriately. It was a wonder he ended up finding his way into the common room.
Dinah watched, much to her dismay, the open display of hedonistic intentions. George came in shortly afterward with Alicia, hand in hand. George saw his brother and then looked toward Dinah. The look of absolute sorrow on her face stunned him and he immediately dropped Alicia's hand. Ginny came in just behind George and saw the scene at play, she was furious. Ginny looked at Ron looked equally furious. Ginny shoved George out of her way and then rounded on him, "Are you happy now? Did you accomplish what you wanted? I don't know what your goal was but if it was to hurt her even further, you've succeeded!"
George had enough presence to allow shame to fill his features. As George was about to head in Dinah's direction he spotted Ron wrap his arm around her shoulder and guide her up to the dorms. George felt a similar pang of jealousy that he did when he saw Ron kiss her. He scoffed and it caught Ginny's attention, "Oh come off it." He glared down at his little sister. "You don't have a right to be jealous George Weasley!"
At this point, Fred heard the yelling and broke away from Angelina. As he approached Ginny eyed him, "Oh you came up for air!" Fred glanced at George, he didn't want to open his mouth because he was sure it was going to invite a tirade of unpleasantries from his little sister. He didn't have to open it though, now that she had their full attention.
"You two gits have some balls running around like jealous idiots." Ginny reprimanded them. "Well, she had her tongue down Ron's throat." Fred protested. "OH SHOVE IT!" Ginny yelled but then lowered her voice more "That wasn't remotely what happened besides, it's not like you caught her NAKED with a bunch of girls in the water doing Merlin knows what with them!" She looked at George, then to Fred, "Let's not forget you essentially told her she was not good enough to go to the ball with, OR… or for that matter let's talk about blatantly snogging and dry humping your date in public, right in front of her." Ginny was fuming by this point, "So if you happen to see her give a sweet and perfectly innocent kiss to your brother, you have no right to say jack shit about it."
Ginny turned and left the two brothers to think about what they did. They quickly found themselves back in their dorm room thinking about Ginny's points and coming to the horrible realization that they treated one of their dearest friends horribly. The bottom line of it all was that their feelings toward their friend were more than strictly platonic, which is why they were in the mess they were in, to begin with. If Fred and George simply admitted to themselves that they both fancied her, that they both wanted more than just friendship with her, then maybe things would have turned out far differently up to this point.
Fred and George would have never given a second thought to the blonde beauty and her friends when they asked them to go for a swim. They would have been more inclined to refuse their advances and less willing to participate in the lascivious acts perpetrated under the water. They both were trying to rid Dinah from their minds to no avail. While Dinah fell deeper for them, they were trying to convince themselves otherwise. If they had communicated then they would have known that Dinah didn't have a date, but as it was, George thought Fred would ask just like Fred assumed George would ask. Being the bigger hothead, Fred had more to apologize for than his brother. They were grossly negligent and were sure that they had messed everything up beyond saving.
Meanwhile, Dinah had changed into something far more comfortable and laid down on her bed, "Ron, how do you cope with fancying Hermione?" Ron just laid down next to her, "I don't, have you seen how dim I am around her?" Dinah laughed, "I think it is sweet, and I am sorry she doesn't see it yet, but I am sure she will." Ron smiled at her kind words, "Those gits will realize soon what they are missing. I promise you that." He smiled and cupped Dinah's face, "Can I kiss you again?" Dinah just stared blankly for a moment, "You want to kiss me because you feel compelled to, or is it out of pity?"
Ron smirked, "It certainly isn't out of pity, I know I am not Fred or George, and you are not Hermione but right now, I like whatever this moment is with you. Dinah nodded and Ron leaned over gently caressing her lips with his own. The sensation was delightful as they molded their lips together. Ron's tongue darted out and Dinah welcomed him. The taste of Chocolate Frogs tickled her taste buds and she giggled into his mouth, "Mmm Chocolaty…" Ron just laughed as well, breaking the kiss. "Thank you, Ron," Dinah said simply.
"Whatever for?" Ron asked as he backed away from her and lay on his side, he pulled her into his body snuggling down further. "For this, you see, we were different people this morning and we grew together today and I appreciate you for growing with me." Dinah nestled in and yawned "Dare I say we will be a little bit taller tomorrow."
Ron shook his head, "You're mental you know that?" But Dinah didn't since she was breathing deeply, fast asleep snuggled into Ron. He kissed the top of her head and hugged her closer.
It had been days since the ball and Dinah had yet to see her Tweedles. Which made her quite sad, she didn't think it was very fair of them to be mad at her of all people. Ron stayed by her side in those following days. Their relationship was far more platonic after they kissed. Dinah loved him very much as a friend and brother figure. The same way she loved Bill, Charlie, and Ginny. She loved her Tweedles too but that was far more chaotic to try and understand completely.
Dinah decided she couldn't stand the distance any longer, and she wrote a simple and dear little message onto a playing card, "Either the locks were too large, or the key was too small. I dare say even if they don't fit together perfectly the key is surely missing her locks." She signed it with her grinning signature. Dinah ventured into the workroom when she knew they were not there and left it just out of plain sight. Ron praised her for taking the high road but didn't encourage her to make more than that singular attempt.
They received their message a day later and realized that their absence was not healing anything. They figured maybe she needed space after their series of unfortunate mistakes. Truth be told, she just missed them, and they missed her.
Dinah awoke that following Saturday with a small box outside her dorm. In it was a small Scrabble tile with a W on it. There was also a simple riddle that led her to the common room's fireplace. From there she found another small box with an E tile and another hint to another location just outside of their house door. And so went Dinah on a mysterious trail of scrabble letters leading her to who knows where. As she trailed and traversed the school following clues, nine in total. She ended up in the Prefects bathroom which was a rather luxurious room. She was enchanted when she saw the stained glass depictions. She sat with her tiles and moved them around until they made sense; 'RAW ROY SEER', 'WE ROSE YARR', 'WEAR SOY ERR' finally her last attempt made so much more sense 'WE ARE SORRY'. She smiled at the puzzle.
What she didn't know was that while she was trying to solve the tiles they crept in and sat just behind her listening to her mutter to herself as she struggled with the tiles. Fred waved his wand and made the letters levitate and dance around guiding Dinah to turn toward them. She smiled brightly, "That was quite fun."
"It is true though," George said seriously, "We mistreated your friendship." Fred sighed as he spoke right after George, they continued back and forth; "And it was not something you deserved", "We never meant for you to feel unwanted", "Which is the exact opposite", "of how we feel", "about you."
She smiled as her brain finished processing their tandem statement, "I missed you both terribly." She spoke as she lunged toward them to hug them both. She kissed each of their cheeks out of joy. Then pulled back with a serious look. "I don't know if I understand why you would choose to cavort with those Veelas or why neither of you asked me to the Ball. That hurt quite a bit you know."
"We were stupid and didn't think clearly about our actions," George said apologetically. Dinah eyed George, "Don't say we when you mean you and you alone." She turned to Fred, "You ought to learn to speak for yourself sometimes instead of having your brother explain your actions away." She folded her arms across her chest, "What do you have to say, Fred?"
"You're right, George is far better at explaining the feelings behind the actions, and I am more of the actions first kind of bloke. George was right though, I was being a git. When I saw you kiss Ron after dancing with him and laughing, I got jealous and wanted to make you angry." Fred looked down at the edge of his sweater, "It wasn't the right thing to do and I am sorry about it". Dinah reached out for his hand and squeezed it. "Thank you."
She wasn't done with the serious conversation yet, "I am sorry as well, I got irrationally jealous over something that was, quite frankly, none of my business. Seeing you naked with those girls, it just made me wonder what was wrong with me." She couldn't look at them anymore, "It made me think that maybe you both thought I was far too little to play that way."
George groaned out, "Oh Christ Dinah," the timber of voice told her he was not reprimanding her but instead chastizing his wandering mind. Fred chuckled, "Only you could make something dirty sound like the most innocent thing." George continued, "And that is exactly why we call you our little one.", "Because of your seeming innocence that holds all the promises of dirtier things", "Things we never thought you would want from either Fred or me."
Dinah pouted, "Can I not play with both of you? Do I only get to choose one of you?" The Twins' jaws dropped together, "You mean you want us both in the same capacity?" Dinah looked at them in all seriousness, "Of course! To desire one of you is to inherently desire the other. It is the nature of your very existence being identical. I can see your individual traits and love them equally but when you're together it's absolute perfection." Dinah's eyes were beaming.
Fred stood abruptly and held out his hand to Dinah, "Dance with me." She accepted his hand and gracefully stood. George pulled out a player and put on Fade Into You. Fred pulled Dinah close to his body and she rested her head on his chest as he guided her around in a small pattern. She began to close her eyes and focused on what it was like to be in his arms. She fit rather perfectly, she felt the warmth of his hand in hers and she felt how his muscles moved under the hand that was around his waist. He moved so languidly to the music that it almost put her in a trance.
As the song faded, Wicked Games played next, and George took Fred's place almost seamlessly. He kissed your knuckles and a small thrill went through Dinah's spine. She could hear George's heartbeat. She smiled as she heard George sing the lyrics just under his breath, the vibration rattling about in his chest. She felt the words he was singing. He was just as coordinated as Fred as they glided around in a similar pattern. As the song finished George laid a kiss to her forehead.
Dinah ever one to lighten a mood, dramatically twirled her body and fell to the ground with the back of her hand to her forehead, "Oh be still my beating heart, my Tweedles have come to their senses and my spirits are soaring to the ether." Fred and George broke out into a hearty laugh. Dinah sat up with a complete change in demeanor, "The only way to save them is to fill that beautiful tub with slime!"
As the twins filled the tub with a slime spell Dinah set about jinxing all the faucets to spray into the face of anyone who used them. As they left the Prefect Bathroom they were smiling and laughing. Dinah was relieved to be back on good terms with her Tweedles.