CHAPTER THREE
Summary: Hermione's secret is discovered by The Order of the Phoenix. Before Harry is rescued, she needs to be first. But from who? With the help of Sirius she learns to put the past behind her, and with the help of two Weasleys, they show her a happy future. But Hermione isn't who she thinks she is, what she discovers will change her life for good. Rated M for a reason.
Disclaimer: All original characters and canon events belong to J.K. Rowling. Non-canon events are my own ideas. I am not making any profit from posting this fanfic.
Page count: 11
Hogwarts – Wednesday 6th December 1995
Fred and George finished with their dinner and made to leave the great hall to head to the Astronomy Tower for their detention with Hermione.
"Where are you two off to?" their friend Lee Jordan asked with a raised eyebrow. "Plotting mischief on some unsuspecting Slytherin?"
The twins grinned. "Nope, got a date with a beautiful brunette," George spoke smugly.
"Actually, it's detention," Fred corrected with a chuckle.
"Alone with a beautiful brunette."
Lee chuckled at the two. "And who is this poor beautiful brunette that has to suffer your company?"
The twins gasped and held their hands against their heart in mock hurt.
"We're a delight to be around, you're just jealous that we're ditching you for someone better looking," Fred spoke.
Lee laughed and shook his head at them. "Shove off!"
"Gladly, we wouldn't want to keep the little witch waiting."
They waltzed out of the great hall.
"Merlin help the girl that's caught their attention," Lee muttered.
The twins made it to the Astronomy Tower a few minutes after seven and Hermione was sat on the window ledge waiting for them. When she heard the door go she looked up at them.
"You're late, are you trying to gain yourself another detention?"
"If it's with you, then sure," George winked and she blushed, but despite that she was still sure to scowl at him.
They looked at her and noticed she had changed out of her uniform. She was wearing blue high waisted skinny jeans, white converse, a white t-shirt and a long, grey, knee length woollen cardigan. That's when they noticed it was cold in the tower and they hadn't brought their cloaks.
Hermione noticed them shiver and she pulled her wand and cast Warming Charms over them and they immediately warmed up, they looked at her gratefully whilst she muttered "boys" under her breath and rolled her eyes.
"Okay, detention is fairly simple. Professor Sinistra needs an updated map of the stars for her younger students. Your job is to use that telescope," she pointed to the telescope behind her. "And map out as many stars as you can see, accurately and neatly. She wants it to look colourful and eye catching, something to brighten up her classroom. So I'm going to help you. I have plenty of parchment, you will draw one constellation on each piece of parchment and I will colour it in. Once we're done, I will use a Sticking Charm to piece together the parchment and it will be put on the wall in the Astronomy classroom, almost like a mural, got it?"
They nodded. "So our detention is to draw and for you to colour in?" Fred said amused.
"You want to clean the second floor girl's bathroom? Moaning Myrtle's flooded it again," she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Nope, we'll do this," they said quickly.
"How long is this detention?" Fred asked.
"Three hours, why, planning on trying to convince me to allow you to leave early?"
"On the contrary, I was going to convince you to let us stay longer," George spoke with a grin and she rolled her eyes.
They made their way towards her, took the parchment from her and the pencil, ruler and protractor which they looked at weirdly, before they moved over to the telescope and the small table nearby.
They set to work and Hermione conjured a cushion to sit on and a small table to rest on. She picked up the pack of muggle felt tip pens and colouring pencils and tipped them onto the table.
Fifteen minutes later Fred handed her the first constellation he had drawn. With her colours and a ruler, she went over the lines with a colouring pencil, before colouring over the dots that joined together and adding in the name of every star in the constellation in a coloured felt tip pen. When George handed her the next one she set to work repeating the process in different colours and they worked in silence.
Two hours later the three of them somehow ended up sitting around the table on the floor, and instead of drawing the constellations like they were supposed to be doing, they were drawing horrifically bad pictures and laughing loudly.
"Okay," Hermione spoke, colouring in one last part of her picture with her tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth in concentration. "What do you think?" She put down her colouring pencil and held up her drawing for them to see.
"What is it?" Fred asked, his head cocked to the side and his eyes squinted, and his twin mirrored his actions.
"It's Ron."
They burst out laughing. "It looks more like Goldilocks has been dragged through a hedge backwards, been attacked by a hippogriff and then fallen into The Black Lake," George said through his laughter.
"Exactly, I'm going to put it on the fridge at Grimmauld," Hermione said and they laughed louder. "Your turn," she grinned and put her picture back on the table.
"Prepare to be blown away," George said. He then lifted up his drawing for Fred and Hermione to see.
"I don't get it," Hermione said and Fred nodded in agreement.
"It's Percy," he said in mock outrage at them not being able to tell what it was.
"It's a stick," Fred and Hermione both said and they looked at each other in surprise.
"Hey, you're stealing my twin!" George pouted and Hermione looked at him with a raised eyebrow and he grinned at her.
"I repeat, it's a stick and is that a...hat and a badge?" she squinted.
"Precisely, Percy has a giant stick shoved up his arse. I don't know where he begins and the stick ends." Hermione and Fred looked at each other and then burst out laughing whilst George smiled proudly with his chest puffed out.
"That's brilliant," Hermione gasped out and she leaned against Fred, clutching at her aching sides. She took several calming breaths and then spoke. "Your turn, Fred."
Fred cleared his throat and then picked up his parchment; he turned it around and made a sweeping hand gesture, showcasing it.
Hermione stared in surprise.
"Merlin, that's amazing," she said awed and staring at the drawing in wonder.
Fred had drawn a very detailed portrait of an ogre's face. It looked incredibly life like, down to the skin tone and wrinkles, the two jagged fangs and the cold, narrowed eyes. It was truly hideous, but beautifully so.
Fred shrugged. "It's nothing," he said, brushing off her comment and George watched the two of them with an amused small smile.
"No, seriously Fred, it's amazing, I didn't know you could draw like that. You're brilliant, very talented, you have a gift." George noted amusedly, the small tinge of pink on his twin's cheeks and the tips of his ears. "You could give Dean a run for his galleons," she said proudly and she took the picture from him, her fingers brushing his and Fred could swear he felt a jolt of electricity shoot through him at her touch.
"Can I keep this?"
He shrugged. "Sure, what are you going to do with it?" he asked curiously.
She grinned. "I'm going to enlarge it, frame it and when we go to Grimmauld for Christmas, I'm going to hang it right over Mrs. Black's portrait. All you'll see from the neck upwards is this ogre head," she beamed. "Sirius will love it, every time he sees it he'll wet himself laughing and Mrs. Black won't be impressed at all, it's a win win situation." They stared at her before bursting out into laughter.
"Now that's brilliant," George praised and her grin widened.
"I thought so too, no one will be able to take her seriously when she starts spouting off her blood supremacy bollocks."
The twins gasped. "Miss. Granger, such foul language," George tutted and she shrugged.
"You've been spending too much time with Sirius," Fred said amused and she grinned.
"I know," she agreed and they chuckled. "So, how did you get so talented at drawing? As you can tell, I'm pants," she gestured to her own drawing and they snorted.
Fred shrugged. "I don't know really, I've been drawing since I was little, just a natural I guess."
"Well you're both incredibly creative, your products prove that, they're dangerously ingenious." They sat up straighter and puffed out their chests. "Though over the years I've noticed that George is the more practical of the two of you and Fred is more theoretical."
"What?" they asked shocked. 'How did she know that?' they thought.
"Well, George is better at potions and Fred, you're better at charms. You're both brilliant at transfiguration, and from what I can tell from the D.A you're both skilled duellists and I have no doubt you'll be able to cast a patronus in the future. And I know you're both rubbish at herbology which makes me laugh because of your potion brewing abilities."
They stared at her.
"How do you know that?" they both asked.
She chuckled. "Starting from my third year, I sometimes attended your lessons because they were more advanced than mine. I had permission from Dumbledore and the other Professors, as long as I stayed in the back and didn't make a sound. I was actually in the lessons that I just mentioned. No one ever noticed I was there, I sometimes still attend them too, it just depends on the lesson plan for the day and whether or not I've already achieved what the class is being taught."
They stared in awe.
"That's why you were brewing Amortentia?" George said in shock. "You said it was for extra credit, you wouldn't be able to brew it unless you had a lesson on it before and you don't learn to brew it until sixth year."
"If I remember correctly, that was the day Lee's cauldron exploded. But I first brewed Amortentia in my third year because I was bored," she shrugged.
Fred laughed disbelievingly. "I can't believe this, you've been in our lessons for the last two years and no one's ever noticed."
"Not an observant bunch your classmates," she mused and then shrugged. "Anyway, back to my point. You're both amazingly creative and talented. But I've noticed that Fred tends to make the plans, figure out the theory and George tries to make the products through trial and error," before they could ask how she knew that Hermione answered. "Like I said, I've attended some of your classes so I've seen it there, but when you're in the common room, Fred tends to be scribbling away on parchment with a thoughtful look on his face, and it doesn't take a genius to work out what you're doing."
"You've noticed us?" George spoke, both pleased and stunned.
"Of course I have, I'm a lot more observant than the others. Besides, you're not exactly subtle are you?" she chuckled. "I can hear you boys approaching from the other side of the castle. And you have a gaggle of witches following you around like lost puppies," she said amused.
"No, we don't," Fred said frowning.
"Yeah, you do."
"We don't," George denied.
"You've honestly never noticed?" she said in disbelief. "Boys, listen to me, you have a fan club; they follow you around all the time. When you walk past them in the hallway they giggle and blush, when you smile at them they practically faint, when you drop a quill in the corridors they pick it up and keep it like it's their most precious possession, you're famous around here, legends even. You have a fan club."
"How do you know this?"
"I have eyes," she said simply. "And I've seen some fourth year Gryffindors gushing over this quill that apparently belongs to George, by the way, have either of you lost a towel, a potions book or a pair of socks?"
"Now that you mention it..." Fred said thoughtfully. Hermione burst out laughing and they stared at her. "What's so funny?"
"A third year Gryffindor has your socks, a sixth year Hufflepuff your towel and a seventh year Ravenclaw your potions book." They gawked. "When I walked into the common room last week, the night you walked me back from the library," she clarified. "I was stopped in the common room by some fourth and sixth years, they wanted to know if we were friends, how close we were and if I could somehow get them a pair of your underwear."
"You're joking," they both said horrified.
"I wish," she chuckled. "The conversation worried me a little, but now that I think about it, it's hilarious," she laughed.
"It's disturbing," they replied.
"I know; that's what makes it so funny. Considering you two are brilliant you're rather clueless. Next time you're walking down the corridor, pay attention, but don't be obvious about it, if you even give them the slightest bit of attention they'll shriek like a banshee and won't shut up about it for the rest of the year, and they'll only become more relentless in following you around," she snorted. "It's your own fault really," she mused.
"How is it our fault?" Fred said incredulously and looking at her like she was a nutter.
"Well, you are incredibly intelligent -although you don't let people see it- and you're creative, imaginative, loyal and everyone knows you're both hilarious, like seriously, I've seen Snape's lip twitch once or twice due to one of your pranks, so well done, Snape feeling laughter and joy is about as rare as Hagrid hating magical creatures. I've noticed how kind and selfless you can be as well. Not that they care about that because they're superficial. Which brings me to my last point, you're quite handsome too," she shrugged; they noticed that she didn't blush. It seemed she could give compliments, but not receive them.
"You think we're handsome?" the practically whispered in shock.
She nodded. "You all are, your brothers I mean, but for different reasons obviously. Percy and Ronald in my opinion, are far less handsome because of their horrendous attitudes and personalities. Anyway, any girl would be lucky to have either of you."
The twins shared a hopeful look. "Well we hope we can convince her that," George said.
Hermione's eyes snapped to theirs and a smirk appeared, they were taken aback at the foreign gesture.
"Wait, there is someone you've got your eye on?" they nodded. "Same girl?" they nodded again.
"Do you think it's weird?" Fred asked. "Us liking the same person?"
"No, triads are uncommon in this world, but they aren't looked down on either. Actually they're coveted. It's known that witches and wizards who are a part of a triad are quite powerful, there's magic involved in creating a bond of sorts between the members, and for that reason people want to use them for their power. I think the last triad was your Uncles Fabian and Gideon. They were powerful; they took out a load of Death Eaters before they were over powered."
"How do you know this?" Fred asked curiously.
"Sirius told me."
"Is there anything you two don't talk about?" George said.
"I don't think so," she said, frowning thoughtfully.
"Sex? I can't imagine a teenage girl wishing to discuss that was their male parent."
"No, we talk about it; I was almost raped and sexually abused. We have to talk about it so that I won't be affected by what they did to me for the rest of my life. Sirius, he makes me feel safe. I trust him and I don't need taking care of, but I know that he'll take care of me whether or not I need him or want him to. He is what a Father should be," she said softly, her eyes locked on the table. "I have no way to repay him for what he's done for me. I am forever in his debt. And I'm screwed this Christmas, how the hell am I supposed to repay him, any gift I get him would hardly compare to what he's given me?" she sighed. "Anyway, back to this girl. I'm nosey so I'm going to ask. Do I know her? What's she like?"
The twins once more shared a look, having a silent conversation like Hermione had seen them do several times in the past, before they nodded to each other, apparently in agreement.
"Subtle," Fred mouthed and George nodded.
"Well, she's a Gryffindor. She's scarily smart and helplessly beautiful. She's kind and caring and loyal to a fault." George spoke whilst watching her, but Hermione was too busy to notice, with her head cocked to the side and a thoughtful look on her face, trying to figure it out.
"She puts others before herself and she's downright frightening with a wand. She's a brunette, with chocolate brown eyes and tanned skin," Fred spoke, openly staring at her and not bothering to hide it.
"Well that rules out Angelina Johnson, she has black her and her skin's darker than the rest of the girls in your year, Alicia Spinnet has green eyes and Laura Goodman is pale and I'm not trying to be mean, but she's not the smartest of people." They nodded in agreement at her last comment. "That's the only girls in Gryffindor in your year," she said confused.
"She's not in our year," George replied staring at her intently, hoping that she would understand what he was trying to convey just by looking at him.
She was going to speak when her alarm on her wand went off. She looked up surprised and then reached over to shut it off. "Well detention is over boys, I hope I won't have to give you detention again."
She stood and flicked her wand gathering all the parchment and putting the felt tip pens and colouring pencils back in the packaging and she banished them back to her room.
"If detention with you is like this then we'll make sure to get double servings," George winked at her and she blushed and turned away and banished the cushions and table.
"I'd rather it be me than that dreadful toad. What I wouldn't give to see that hideous pink suit on fire," she sighed and the twins shared a look and a smirk. If that's what she wanted, they'd make it happen for her.
"Let's go, it's getting colder up here and I'm exhausted."
She left the tower with them walking silently beside her. When they reached the fifth floor they ran into Filch.
"Look what we have here, My Sweet," he said to Mrs. Norris who meowed in response. "Students out of bed."
"They had detention with me, Filch," Hermione said and Filch perked up at the news.
"Did they suffer?"
Hermione looked to Fred and George and they jumped in realisation.
"Oh, suffer? Yeah, we suffered. It was awful, three hours of torture," George said.
"Yeah, truly horrendous, it'll give us nightmares." Fred shivered for extra affect.
Filch grinned a crooked smile.
"Well done, Granger." They noticed her flinching at the name. "There's hope for you yet. Now get back to your common room."
Hermione nodded and walked away with the twins following behind her and looking solemn, and when they reached the common room it was empty.
"Right boys, don't get detention again, yeah?" She walked away and before she headed up the girl's staircase she turned around. "And if you need a wing woman for this girl of yours, let me know." She turned and ran up to her room.
Fred and George turned to each other and then quickly made their way to their room before shutting the door.
"She's thinks we're handsome," Fred grinned.
"And talented, brilliant, intelligent," George grinned back.
"We get detention tomorrow?"
George scoffed. "Obviously." They beamed at each other. "I can't believe she couldn't figure it out. They only thing we didn't say was her name."
Fred chuckled. "She's clueless," he shook his head, thinking about her fondly. "Do you really think we have a fan club?"
"If she says we do than we do, we better keep a better eye on our things. Especially our underwear." They shivered.
~000~000~000~
As soon as Hermione entered her room, she changed into her pyjamas and headed to her bathroom. She set about readying for bed and she was stood by the sink readying her toothbrush.
"Gryffindor. Brunette. Brown eyes. Tanned skin. Not in their year," she said to herself, trying to figure out who they were talking about. She shook her head and started brushing her teeth, watching her movements in the mirror above the sink.
"Gryffindor. Brunette. Brown eyes. Tanned skin. Not in their year," she muttered around her tooth brush and then she made a sound of frustration.
She washed her mouth out, cleaned her tooth brush and popped it back in its place. She looked up at the mirror and then a thought hit her, she cocked her head to the side and looked at her self. Really looked.
"Gryffindor. Brunette," she touched her hair. "Brown eyes," she looked at her eyes in the mirror. "Tanned skin," she ran her fingers over her cheek. "Not in their year," her eyes widened in shock and she stepped backwards. "No, it can't be. It's just a coincidence." She looked up at herself once more and then ran from the bathroom and she sat on her bed with her head in her hands.
"It's just a coincidence," she muttered.
Her conscience snorted. 'Get a grip. It's not a coincidence and you know it.'
"It is," she argued.
'It's not. They were talking about you. You're the girl.'
"I can't be."
'But you are and you know it. Think, really think. How have they been treating you lately? Yes, they know your secret, but they haven't been making things easier for you for no reason, they care for you. They fancy the pants off of you,' her conscience chuckled. 'They go out of their way to make you laugh. They seek you out during D.A. meetings and in the common room. They wanted more detentions with you, they uncharacteristically woke up early so they could eat breakfast with you without interruption from others and they asked you for lessons. You're the girl,' her conscience smirked. 'And you like them.'
"Of course I do."
'No, you like them, like them. Think about it. What did you say to them in detention? You meant every word and you told them everything you value about them. You called them handsome for Merlin's Sake. Did you forget that little crush you had on them the summer before fourth year?'
"I got over that."
'Did you? Or did you bury it only to realise that your feelings are still there? Stronger even, especially after the way they've been treating you. Admit it, you like that they're giving you more attention. You like that they seem to care. You like them.'
"Okay, maybe I do, but still, it's not me."
'Keep telling yourself that.'
~000~000~000~
Monday 11th December 1995
Hermione had been avoiding the twins since the night of their detention last Wednesday. They of course had noticed. It worried them that they had done something to upset her. Every time they walked towards her she walked off in the opposite direction and she somehow disappeared out of sight. They tried going to the hidden library room, but they never caught her. They tried empty classrooms but could never find her. At meal times she would leave before they even had the chance to speak to her and she always made sure she sat at the table where there were no seats available that were close to her.
They'd had enough of her avoiding them, especially when they didn't even know what they'd done wrong. Hell, they hadn't spoken to her in almost a week, so what could they have done? They decided they would corner her when she least expected it.
So after dinner on Monday evening, they snuck out of the great hall before Hermione did, and they followed her. Once they reached the fourth floor they pushed her into an empty classroom, they shut the door behind them and silenced and locked it.
When they turned Hermione was looking around with her eyes narrowed and somehow, her wand was pointed in George's face. Fred and George quickly removed their Disillusionment Charms.
"Whoa there, Granger," George said with his hands up in surrender. She sighed when she saw it was only them and she dropped her wand arm.
"Fred, George you complete and utter idiots!" she scolded them and then she whacked both of them in the arm. They whined and rubbed their arms. "Do you have any idea what I could've done to you?" she fumed.
"In hindsight, that probably wasn't our best idea," Fred said to George. "We forgot she's dangerous with and without a wand."
"Yeah, we'll have to be more cautious next time," George agreed.
They both then looked at Hermione, George crossed his arms, Fred put his hands in his pockets and they both leaned against the wall. Hermione watched them both carefully and subtly put more distance between them.
"Why have you been avoiding us?" George asked.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You're a rubbish liar, why have you been avoiding us?" Fred spoke.
"I haven't," she denied.
"Did we do something to offend you?" George asked.
"No."
"Because if we did then we're sorry, but you should've just told us. There was no need to avoid..."
"I haven't been avoiding you because you offended me, which you haven't."
"So you admit you've been avoiding us?" Fred smirked.
"No," she scowled and cursed silently.
"Why are you avoiding us? Tell us and we'll leave you alone," George said.
Hermione turned so her back was to them and she walked forward until she reached the first desk. She placed her hands against the surface and leaned forward with her head bowed.
"What's her name?" Hermione asked.
"What?" the twins said confused.
"The girl you told me about. What's her name?" she whispered.
Fred and George shared a look.
"She knows?" Fred mouthed.
"Possibly," George replied. They slowly started to walk towards her.
"Well, she's in Gryffindor -" Fred started.
"- And she's incredibly intelligent, kind, loyal and caring. -"
"- She puts others before herself and is terrifying with and without a wand. -"
"- She has large, chocolate brown eyes and beautifully tanned skin. -" They stepped so they each stood on either side of her, but still slightly behind her.
"And she has soft mahogany curls, that are a confusing mixture of wild and tame and they fall to the middle of her back." Fred reached up and tugged gently on one of her curls and a small smile covered his face. "She's in fifth year and a prefect. She is apparently older than us due to the use of a time turner and she is incredibly beautiful, no matter what she or anyone else says."
They both leaned forward until their mouths were by her ears. The heard Hermione's breathing change and she tensed up slightly when Fred rested a hand on her shoulder and George the small of her back, but they knew it wasn't her fault. The only people they had actually seen touch her without flinching was Sirius, Remus and that Jason guy who was her self defence teacher. During the summer she avoided touching people, even Harry and their Mum.
"- Her name? Her name is -" George spoke softly.
"- Hermione -"
"- Jean -"
"- Granger," Fred finished in a whisper into her ear.