A/N: This is where my story starts to diverge from canon, since so far what's happened could have happened and just not been mentioned. From here on, and paraphrasing Dumbledore, we shall venture into the unknown and see where this takes us, shall we?

Special thanks to Harriettlovesbooks for reviewing!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, however much I wish I did. I just like to play.

Chapter 2: The Wedding Crashers

Four days after the disastrous night in which Harry had arrived to the Burrow, the Weasleys plus friends awoke to a sunny and clear morning. The twins had pointed out that it would have been the perfect weather for flying, but that was not to be, for today was the much, by now, dreaded Wedding.

Though not officially part of the bridal party, Hermione had been asked to help with the finishing details. Well, not so much asked as forced to. Hermione had just finished braiding a thin golden chain on Ginny's hair when an old woman entered the room where the bridal party was getting ready. She had on her hands an old velvet case in which rested the most beautiful tiara Hermione had ever seen. The light of the mid-afternoon sun reflected on the diamonds and moonstones that peppered the intricate silver cords. Muriel left it in front of the bride and turned towards them.

"Ginevra! What is that you're wearing? Just look at yourself…" Muriel rambled on, and Hermione saw Ginny roll her eyes at her. Apparently, Muriel saw her too, because she turned around and addressed Hermione.

She looked her up and down twice. "Is this the Muggle-born?" She sniffed haughtily. "Bad posture and skinny ankles." She made her way past them and promptly left. Ginny and Hermione couldn't help chuckling.

"I better go, too. You look beautiful, Ginny."

"Thanks, Hermione!"

Hermione sat towards the front of the tent, beside the Weasley family. The ceremony was beautiful and everything went according to plan. She had had to dab at her eyes with a lace handkerchief more than once. After the officiating minister showered Bill and Fleur with shimmering stars, she stood up and as the chairs resettled on the floor, she made her way to where Ron and Harry were sitting. After sharing a few dances with them, Luna, Ginny and even Viktor Krum, she was surprised to find herself being "asked" to dance by none other than Fred Weasley.

"Join me for a spin!" He pulled her on to the dance floor and spun her around. Despite her muggle dancing lessons she had to struggle to keep up with him. By the time the song ended, she was gasping trying to regain her breath, half from laughter at his antics and half from the effort it took. The band struck the chords for a slower song and Fred placed a hand on her back, pulling her to him. They waltzed slowly, flowing from one form to the other. After a minute or so, Hermione spoke.

"Fred I… I wanted to thank you again." He cocked his head to one side, apparently not knowing what she was talking about. "For being there for me the night I era—the night I arrived at the Burrow." She'd been about to say 'the night I erased my parent's memories', but found she couldn't even say it. The guilt still ate at her.

He grinned at her, flashing his trademark Weasley Twin smile at her. He dipped her low and whispered "You don't have to thank me. That's what friends are for, Hermione."

Her eyes widened. She had never believed Fred might consider her a friend. She felt a blush rise on her cheeks and looked down. "I—I didn't know you considered me a friend…"

It was his turn to look surprised. "Not friends? Really?"

"Oh, umm… Well… I just… hadn't…" She stumbled over her words, not wanting to offend him.

He laughed loudly, attracting a few stares. "Hermione Granger not a friend of the Weasley Twins, please!" He dragged the last word out.

He spun her away and back against him again as a faster beat begun playing. "Think back on your fifth year. Do you really think we would let anyone treat us like that and not retaliate if they weren't our friend?"

"Treat you how exactly?"

"You know, yelling at us in the common room, taking us down a peg or two or ten…"

"Well, you were a little bit irresponsible, weren't you?" She was somewhat amused by this bantering.

"You, sneaky witch, are not getting any admission like that from me! Though you must admit, we did stop testing on first years, and that's not something we would have done for any other prefect."

"I guess you're right. I'm sor—"

"If you're going to apologize for not realizing sooner, don't. There's nothing to apologize for. Come on, George wants a spin with you."

He spun her away once more and she could see George a few paces away ready to catch her. She spun again, rather enjoying dancing like this when a shot of silver raced past her face. She froze and turned around to the center of the now still dance floor. Her wand was already in her hand.

A silver lynx stood there and Kingsley's voice came forth from it. "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."

Moody's advice rang through Hermione's head. Form teams of three with the people nearest to you. Two fighters, one defender. At once, she felt the twins grab her and pull her back to back to them. Panic spread through the guests and the loud pops of Apparition signaled the arrival of Death Eaters and various ministry officials. Good, that means there aren't any wards and Harry can get out of here, she thought. Of course, that was assuming that Harry would follow his orders and get the hell out. She raised her wand and looked through the crowd, trying to spot Harry and Ron—who, more likely than not, was with him—and at the same time searching for a target to start hexing.

"Granger," she heard George whisper behind her. "You take point with me. Fred will defend." That meant she and George were to attack and Fred would be defending. She grunted her response at the same time that she spotted Harry, still polyjuiced, take a fighting stance with Ginny and Ron. Cries of "Protego!" and "Stupefy!" rang from all sides.

Choosing a target near her, she sent a Stunner in his direction. The masked figure crumbled to the ground. "That idiot! Ooh, if we get out of this alive, I'm going to kill him with my bare hands! Stupefy!" Another jet of light left her wand, but it zoomed past her target's ear and exploded a flower arrangement behind him.

She felt the twins shift slightly, adjusting their position. A shield went up on her right, stopping a Stunner meant for her. "What are you talking about?"

"It's Harry! He isn't leaving, he's fighting!" Both twins swore in shock. Hermione knew it would be up to her to get Harry to leave, but there would be no convincing him. "I have to get him out, can you get me closer?"

Behind her the twins looked at each other and nodded. "Come on!" they said in unison and started slowly making their way towards Harry, dodging, redirecting, and stopping spells from all directions. All three gave as good as they got. The twins, Hermione had to admit, were brilliant duelists, and the way they seemed to read each other's minds when dodging and cursing was impressive. She settled into a, as far as the circumstances allowed, comfortable rhythm with them. Adrenalin pumped through her body and time seemed to slow down as she ducked to avoid a violet flash of light, sending a Stinging Hex back at her opponent. It hit him full on the face and she took that moment of advantage to send a Stunner his way.

To her left, she saw a Death Eater raise his wand and start casting what she recognized as anti-apparition wards. She swept her wand in an arc in front of her, sending everything she could reach flying in his direction. Unfortunately the spell left his wand just as a bottle made contact with the back of his head knocking him out.

"Dammit! Anti-apparition wards are up, and we don't have the time to dismantle them. Ooh! Harry's going to get it after all this is over."

Suddenly, she felt herself being pulled down by the waist, and her eyes widened as she saw a jet of green light soar just where her head had been. She looked up in time to see George sending a Cutting Hex back and heard the female screams as it hit its mark. She rolled behind a table, Fred and George putting up shields to cover them as they took a breather.

"We're evenly matched in numbers," Fred told her. "But they are better duelists than most of us. Only some of the Order members are up to par. We need to get Harry out because we are not going to win this." She nodded, already having come to the same conclusion. They needed a plan.

She closed her eyes for a moment to think and snapped them open a moment later. "How far are we from Harry?"

"Fifteen, maybe twenty paces. Why?"

"Do you think you could throw this at him," she said, raising a round white stone she had taken from a shattered decorative bowl. "So that he catches it?" Both twins raised an eyebrow at her as if saying 'of course we can, who do you think you are talking to?'

"All right then, you have 15 seconds before it goes off for him to catch it. Portus!" The stone glowed blue for a moment and settled. Ignoring the fact that she could make Portkeys, Fred took it from her hand, and stood, trusting George and Hermione to cover him.

He threw the stone in Harry's direction. "Potter, catch!" Harry's head snapped his way, and his seeker reflexes brought his hands to cover his face, catching the stone. He looked at it with a confused expression before it turned into one of horror as he glowed blue and disappeared.

Back again behind the table, Fred was beaming. "That was brilliant, Hermione! I didn't know you could set Portkeys!"

"No one does, and I'd appreciate it if you guys kept it a secret. It's not something I'm supposed to know anyways."

Both twins grinned at her. "Hermione Granger—"

"—breaking the rules?"

"We are so proud!" They both finished together.

"The law, more likely." She said dryly.

"Can you make anymore? We could send more people out…" Hermione stopped him, shaking her head.

"If I hadn't been dueling, perhaps, but for now, one is all I can manage. Come on, there's Death Eaters to stun." Seeing no reason to get back into the fray, they set the table as a fort and started stunning people from behind it, only once in a while reinforcing the shields keeping them safe. Hermione even summoned a second table to them so they were protected from two sides. Unfortunately by that time most of the remaining guests and order members were either bound or stunned. The fight quickly died down, and they saw five Ministry officials approaching their make-shift fort at the same time that a Death Eater shouted their orders. "Find Potter and the Mudblood! They are to be taken to the Ministry. The others are not to be harmed too much."

Hermione felt her eyes go wide and both twins grabbed her arms at the same time.

"Don't worry, we won't let them find you." Thinking something must have addled their brains, since at the moment at least five people with the order to apprehend her on sight were advancing on them and would find her any moment, she felt panic start to rise.

"You do her eyes, I'll take her hair." Fred pointed his wand at her hair. Eyes? Hair? What the hell are they talking about? It wasn't until she felt the transfiguration spells hit her that she understood what they were doing. Her hair was already sleek because of the Wedding, and if they changed her hair and eye color no one would connect her with Hermione Granger.

"You might not see perfectly because we're in a hurry, but you'll be back to normal once I remove the coloring. Just in case, do you speak French?" She nodded and waved her wand twice over her head, lightening her skin color. "Great, you'll be one of Fleur's cousins." He hit her dress with a color changing charm, just in case someone had seen her during the battle and remembered what she was wearing. Her lavender dress was now a deep midnight blue.

"Done!" Fred sagged back, spent. Transfiguration was never his forte, which was George's area of expertise. Hermione's hair was now as white blonde as Fleur's, her eyes bright blue and her skin alabaster white. No one would connect this ethereal creature with Hermione Granger anytime soon. Now, they only had to hope that the Death Eaters bought the act.

Fred slipped an arm around her waist and put his lips to her ear. She shivered slightly at the contact. "Act scared." Truth be told, she didn't need to act that much.

"Leave your wands on the ground, and stand up slowly. If you obey, you will not be harmed." A gruff voice Hermione recognized from the Battle of the Department of Mysteries said. Dolohov, her mind supplied. The scar across her upper torso seemed to throb in response to the voice of the man who had given it to her. They stood up slowly, their wands on the ground. She ignored the looks of shock some of the Order had. They had obviously known she had been fighting with the twins.

"Two Weasleys and what looks like a frenchie. Names!" The one who appeared to be the leader of the squad barked. Dolohov stood a little ways behind him.

"George Weasley," said George.

"Fred Weasley," said Fred at the same time. While Hermione suspected that they might have exchanged their names had they been able to, George's missing ear now made it impossible.

"And you?" He said, turning his head to study Hermione.

She curled herself into Fred's embrace, and softened her voice, but made sure it carried so that at least some people would back up her story. "Amèlie. Amèlie Delacour." She saw Fleur widen her eyes and nod subtly at her.

Dolohov took a few steps forward and grabbed her chin between his fingers. "Is that so?" She whimpered, pretending she didn't really understand what was going on. "You see, I could have sworn I saw the Mudblood fighting with the twin blood traitors. What do you say about that, huh?"

Fleur raised her voice. "Arrêt! I am afraid, Monsieur, that ma cousine does not speak Eenglish."

"Really? Vous ne parlez pas anglais?"

Hermione thanked her parent's insistence that she learn proper, unaccented French. "Non, Monsieur! C'est ma première fois en Angleterre!"

Apparently satisfied, he ran a hand through his hair, muttering something uncomplimentary about French people that had Hermione really been French would have left her rather incensed.

The man who had asked for their names earlier approached them after Dolohov left to search the rest of the tent. He pointed back towards the others and addressed the twins. "Go sit there. Don't give us any trouble, or you will regret it." He covertly nodded in the Death Eater's direction. It appeared that this man wasn't happy with his new bosses.

They quickly made their way to sit beside Fleur. Hermione left Fred's arms and clung to her 'cousin', thinking it would be more realistic, since she wasn't supposed to have met the Weasleys before this day.

"Merci, Fleur. Vous avez sauvé ma vie."

Fleur smiled at her and lightly petted her hair. "C'est mon plaisir, cousine."

It took the Death Eaters and company a further half an hour to make sure that neither Harry nor Hermione were in attendance. Despite some of the Death Eaters swearing he had seen both of them at one time or the other, they finally left. As soon as the last of them Disapparated with a pop, the Order set in motion. Wands were collected and redistributed, Patronuses sent to the pertinent people and cries of "Ennervate!" and an array of healing spells were heard from all sides. Hermione made her way to where Lupin had her and the twin's wands. He pressed hers into her hand, and asked about Harry. Apparently, he had seen the stunt they pulled to get him out.

"I sent him to safety. He won't be pleased, though."

His eyes shone golden for a second before he spoke. His voice sounded more like a growl than anything else. "I'm even less pleased with him! He had orders and disregarded them, putting himself and everyone else in danger." Not wanting to be the focus of his righteous anger, Hermione slipped the twin's wands from his grip and went to find them. She cautiously made her way through the overturned tables and chairs, her vision blurry from the hasty transfiguration. She didn't dare take it off yet in case they were being watched.

She spotted the twins hovering at the edge of the tent. She approached them slowly, not wanting to interrupt, but picked up the pace when they saw her and smiled.

George motioned to the seat in front of them. "You know, Granger, you pull the French look very well."

"Merci, George," she replied with a smirk. She handed them their wands back. "Why didn't you go pick your wands up?" She was rather confused. She loathed parting with her wand.

"We saw Lupin getting them and," Fred started.

"We figured we might as well wait."

"Well, there you go, guys. And guys… thank you for saving me. I don't know what I would have done without you. I completely froze up." She promptly kissed each of them on the cheek and stood to leave.

Fred reached out to take her hand and pulled her back into her seat. "Wait just one second, blondie! We have a proposition for you."

She arched an eyebrow. "That can be taken so many ways, I don't even want to go down that path."

"Get your mind out of the gutter, we're being serious here!" George said with a smirk.

"Serious, huh? I'm listening."

"Well, you know Mad-Eye wants us all to form teams of three, right?" She nodded but remained quiet.

"And that's been difficult for us, since we're a team of two, and most people just don't fit well with us."

"Even so, it was suggested to us—"

"—more like we were ordered to—"

Fred went on as if George hadn't interrupted. "—find another person to assist us."

"And we have decided we want you." They finished together.

"Me? But…"

"No buts, Hermione. We worked really well together this time, and however much we hate to admit it, we do need a third person. Just think about it, will you?"

There was nothing to think about, or so she thought. "I'm sorry guys, but I can't. I figured I'd be partnering up with Harry and Ron." The twins exchanged a look at this.

"Well, you see…"

"That's not really possible…"

She stood up abruptly and stared them down. "Why not?"

Fred tugged her back down to sit on her chair and didn't let go of her hand. It made her skin tingle in ways she really didn't want to think about. "All three of you are attackers. Ron's shields are rubbish; Harry goes into noble, self-sacrificing mode; and you get too much into the battle to really defend effectively. Not that you can't do it when you need to, but it's not in your nature. Teams have to be two-to-one. You don't have to give us an answer now, but please will you think about it?"

They did have a point. Their fighting styles were not compatible for this type of fighting teams. She wondered if that was one of the reasons it had been chosen. She wouldn't put it past the adults to try and separate them so they could put an adult on Harry's team to keep an eye on him. "I… Fine, I'll discuss it with Harry and Ron and I'll give you an answer later."

"Thanks, Hermione!" She felt suddenly warm as both Fred and George leaned over to her to peck her cheeks at the same time.

They were leaving when Hermione held George back. "One more thing! George, could you do my eyes again, my vision is really blurry."

"Want to stay a blond, blue-eyed babe a little bit longer, eh, Granger?"

"Don't be daft! We are most certainly being watched, so I can't remove the disguise yet; and I'll need better vision if we're attacked again."

His smirk was firmly in place. "If you say so, woman, but you can't lie to me!" That earned him a slap upside the head. After he finished correctly transfiguring her eyes, she thanked him again and they each went to help to clean up the mess the Wedding-slash-attack had caused.

A/N: Reviews are like rain on a drought! If you review, I might upload sooner than planned, so please do so! Also I apologize for my French, which is extremely basic, and I had to run most of it through a translator to make sure it was alright. If you speak French and find an error, please tell me! If you don't, find a translation of the conversation below. Cheers!

"Arrêt!": Stop!

"Ma cousine": My cousin.

"Vous ne parlez pas anglais?": You do not speak English?

"Non, Monsieur! C'est ma première fois en Angleterre!": No, Mr. This is my first time in England.

"Merci, Fleur. Vous avez sauvé ma vie.": Thank you, Fleur. You saved my life.

"C'est mon plaisir, cousine.": It was my pleasure, cousin.