Then our mother came in And she said to us two, 'Did you have any fun? Tell me. What did you do?' And Sally and I did not know what to say. Should we tell her The things that went on there that day? Well what would you do, if your mother asked you?–Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat.
Alright, stage one of my plan 'Get Hermione to say I do' was officially going to be started tonight. Harry and Ron had just completed their Auror training, and we were having a party at our flat tonight to celebrate. We'd invited Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Verity as well. Since Ginny was dating Harry, Luna was dating Ron, and Verity was dating George, that left just Hermione and me without dates, which meant we'd be paired up in any games we might play.
The fact that I had planned out the guest list and the game list had nothing what so ever to do with this incredible coincidence. It was just happenchance. Really, would I lie?
I wouldn't answer that either.
Anyway, she was arriving in half an hour, and I could not get my hair to stay flat on my head. It just kept sticking up in a bad imitation of Harry. I really needed to work on something to help my potion hair. Even charms weren't working against my crazy locks. I finally just coerced it to the side and left the bathroom, deciding that if it messed back up, it'd just be better if I didn't know about it. I checked out my jeans and green button up shirt one more time, making sure they were both smooth and wrinkle free before I left my room and went to help George set up the refreshments. We'd actually refrained from pranking anything, George had wanted to put shrinking potion in the punch, but I'd gotten him to promise not too after begging on my knees. Never let it be said that Fred Weasley is too proud to beg. I was not letting anything ruin tonight. I was going to get Hermione to agree to go out on a date with me, and we'd get started on our future that I had all planned out.
We put a few finishing touches on the refreshments and then kicked back and waited for the guest to arrive. The doorbell finally rang at a quarter to six. I hopped up from the couch and began fussing nervously with my clothes. George walked pass me towards the door, shaking his head as he stared at me.
"Pathetic!" he exclaimed, starring at me with annoyed eyes as I tried to flatten my hair. "You have got to get a grip on yourself!"
"Just open the door."
"Fine." He said, reaching for the door knob. He gave it a small twist and popped the door open, stepping back to let Ginny and the gorgeous Hermione into our flat. Ginny gave George a hug before coming over to me and hugging me.
"Hi George, Fred." Hermione said, stepping into the flat and giving George a half hug. I smiled eagerly, hoping she'd come give me a hug, but she stepped pass me into our living room and sat down on a couch next to Ginny. George snorted at the crestfallen look on my face and then held up his hands in mock surrender when I glared at him. I looked back at Hermione and only then realized that she was holding Crookshanks.
"I hope you two don't mind, I brought Crookshanks because he's been acting a little strangely and I wanted to keep my eye on him."
"No, no problem." I said quickly, cutting George off before he could say anything. He hated the half cat, he felt like the cat was always trying to ruin our pranks. Admitably, it was always foiling our plans, and did have an odd taste for extendable ears. Still, Hermione loved the half cat, so I was going to try and be pals with it. I wasn't above using potions or spells on it either, if that's what it'd take.
"Harry and Ron'll be over in about twenty minutes." George said, sitting down on the other couch. I hesitated for a moment before sitting beside Hermione on the couch. George stared at me with wide blue eyes that were clearly fighting back a laugh. I ignored him and turned towards Hermione.
"How's everything at Flourish and Blotts?" Crookshanks lifted his flat head off of Hermione's lap and glared at me, a faint growl emanating from his throat.
"It's going great, we just got a new shipment of books from Egypt in this week." Her chocolate eyes were sparkling and she had the most adorable grin on her face as she spoke.
"Neat, what are they about?" I asked, ignoring George's snicker and Crookshanks faint growl.
"Ancient curses, Mr. Blott is letting me examine them before he sells them." She said eagerly, leaning forward in her seat as she talked. I shifted in my seat, scooting minutely closer to her, and Crookshanks went berserk. He hopped off of her lap and flew at me, landing on my face and sinking his extremely sharp claws into my hair and neck. I yelped in pain, reeling backwards, and flipped off the couch, accidentally, and yes, it was an accident, sending Crookshanks flying. He flipped through the air, flying over the couch George was sitting on, and right onto the head of Luna Lovegood, who had just arrived. He clawed at her hat, a strange purple thing that looked like an overripe apple sitting on her head, and slipped, pulling the hat down with him. He landed on the floor with a dull thud and promptly let out an extremely exaggerated yowl of pain.
Hermione shot out of her chair and ran to his side, picking his limp form off the floor and holding him close to her chest.
"Fred Weasley!" She accused her voice squeaky with anger. Crookshanks just snuggled into her hold and snickered at me. Yes, a cat can most definitely snicker.
"What are you yelling at him for?" George asked, standing up from his chair and walking over to me. I was lying on the floor trying to get my breath back from where I had landed, and then fallen off, the coffee table. He held his hand out to me and I gripped it, letting him pull me up. My neck and head were both throbbing, and I could feel something warm and wet trailing down my head. I wiped at it with the back of my hand, realizing it was blood with surprise. Okay, George was right, the cat was bad news.
Hermione was still yelling at me, but I hadn't realized it until that moment. I was too lost in the way her curls were flying around her face like mad. Her eyes had narrowed and darkened, turning the color of dark chocolate. While she was pretty when she was happy, she was flat out hot when she was mad.
"Umm, did we miss something?" Harry's voice came from the door way, where Ron was laughing behind him.
"No," Hermione said, lifting her head from Crookshanks for the first time and glaring at me. "I was just leaving, I'm taking Crookshanks home." Her eyes widened as she looked at me and her glare instantly switched to a look of horror. Her beautiful brown eyes filled with tears and she turned around, heading towards the door. I realized what she said and lunged forward, grabbing her by the arm and turning her back around.
"No," I yelped, "don't leave. I'm sorr-YOW!" The stupid cat clawed at the hand I had on her arm and hissed at me, baring his fangs and letting the hair on his back stand up. I jerked my hand back and shook it in the air, fighting the urge to curse as I saw yet more blood on it. Hermione's eyes grew even wider and tears fell from them as she looked down at Crookshanks in shock.
"No, I've got to go, he's not well!" She exclaimed, backing up and heading towards the door.
"Congratulations Harry, Ron, I'll see you tomorrow." And then she was gone and I was left with a ruined plan and a bunch of cuts.
I was going to kill that cat.
A/N: He-he, that was fun! I couldn't help but bring Crookshanks into the mix, I always imagined he wouldn't have been too nice to any potential boyfriends. Hope you like this chapter, and thanks for taking the time to review, it means a lot to me :D