Chapter 4: George's Reasons

"This is ridicules" Hermione said, blind folded, twirling on a stool one day during their lessons.

"Just hold on." Fred grinned spinning her faster.

"I told you I don't get dizzy. We have to finish the lesson" Hermione said sitting perfectly still.

"I promise if you can walk straight after this we will do another lesson. If not, I get to pick another game."

Hermione shook her head but couldn't help but smile. "Fine."

Fred stopped the stool. "Alright, now hop off and walk straight towards me"

Hermione sighed and did as he said. Before she could even take one step her foot slid sideways and she went straight down before Fred caught her. Hermione giggled at her embarrassing attempt.

Fred laughed removing her blind fold. "You did better than ones before you. You alright?"

Hermione looked up at Fred. Noticing how close he was she blushed and pushed him away as she sat on the floor. "I'll be alright."

Fred smiled. Apart from teasing her, one of his favorite things to do was make her blush. He didn't know why he liked it so much. Maybe it was because he was so good at it. She blushed when he touched her hand or put his face too close to hers or just winked at her. He wondered if he was the only one who could get her to blush. A part of him hoped he was.

He was sure if he had seen this side of Hermione first they would have been friends immediately. Just friends, he told himself. Once she and George become a couple and get married he'd be able to play around with her like this all the time.

Though the thought of his brother and her marrying gave him a hollow feeling, he wasn't sure way.

As Fred walked down a corridor one day he noticed a group of first years huddled in a circle. One figure however did not fit with the others as she was a few feet taller than them. He recognized Hermione instantly.

"Come on give it back." He heard her say as he walked closer to the huddle to see what was going on.

"I don't have it." Came a smaller yet curt voice from a short black haired pale faced boy wearing Slytherin robes.

"Walter worked really hard to earn that. Now hand it over." Hermione held her hand out to his level. Fred then noticed another small boy with dark brown hair falling past his eyes, clutching the back of Hermione's robes, glancing out from behind her every so often. Tear marks down his cheeks. This one was wearing Gryffindor colors. He assumed that was Walter.

"It's not Sean's fault." Another little boy with light brown short pointy hair and Slytherin colors spoke up pointing at the black haired Slytherin, who Fred now understood to be Sean. "Walter wasn't looking where he was going and knocked into him. He must have lost it then and blamed Sean." The black haired Sean nodded in agreement.

"That's not what happened and you know it, Mickey!" the little Gryffindor Walter shouted, before retreating back behind Hermione.

"Shut up, Whinny Wittle Walter!" shouted the spiky haired Mickey.

"Why are you guys always picking on him?" came a girl's voice in the crowd.

"Cause he's a cry baby." Came another voice. Suddenly the whole group of little midgets began arguing and pushing.

"Stop it! James don't hit! Sara that isn't nice! Mickey!" Fred couldn't help but snicker as Hermione scrambled to control the lot. Hermione finally rolled her eyes, and brought out her wand. "Immobilis!" She shouted and the whole group went silent and froze, nothing moving but their eyes looking every which way. Hermione walked up to Sean who had a little boy by the front of his robes and his fist clenched in the air ready to punch. Hermione raised her eye brow at him.

"Accio trophy" She said pointing to the boy's robs and a small plastic trophy cup came flying out into her hands.

"You worked hard on your project didn't you?" Hermione asked him, knowing very well he couldn't respond with even a nod. "I've seen you in the library many times, always looking up the same books. You won't check them out because you don't want your friends to call you a bookworm." Hermione gave a small laugh. "I know the feeling." The boy's eyes moved to scan the floor.

"You're a very bright boy. The top of a lot of your classes." Hermione grinned. "I make it a point to know who all the top students are so I know what my competition is."

Fred laughed to himself as he knew Hermione probably was not lying.

"It's not fun to lose but it's no more fun having a trophy you didn't earn." Hermione smiled and pat his head. "The one you win will be much more rewarding. I promise."

Hermione waved her wand and the first years could move again. Hermione handed the trophy to Walter. "Here you go. Its settled, now leave it alone." She pointed her finger at him in a mock strict tone then smiled. The little boy smiled back and walked away. The rest of the first years applauded Hermione and the boys even hooted her last name.

"You all have 30 seconds to get to your next class or I write you all up!" Hermione shouted to them. They all dispersed immediately, laughing and running down the hall. "No don't run! Ahh.." Hermione regretted her words.

The little one named Sean stayed still glaring at her for a little while before turning to walk away. "What would a mudblood know about anything?" Hermione's head turned towards him in surprise. "Don't act like you know me." He spat before running off, Hermione staring after him.

"That little wanker! I'll kill him!" Fred came storming from his hiding place.

Hermione jumped back in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Just walking." Fred smiled turning his attention toward her. "I could see you had your hands full."

Hermione shrugged and sighed. "Just a little."

"You shouldn't of let him talk that way to you Hermione. It isn't right." Fred spat.

Hermione smiled at his disapproval. "I don't really believe he meant what he said. He was probably just upset I embarrassed him in front of all his friends. Wouldn't you have felt the same, Fred?"

"That's not the –" He suddenly realized she had said his name. He wasn't used to hearing it said from her. He was surprised to find she knew it was him and not George. Especially since she had not yet discovered that in her lessons. Still it felt good to hear his name come from her lips.

Fred blinked noticing Hermione was staring at him. "Well anyway, you should have done a lot worse than that! I mean he is Slytherin. I don't know why you gave him that little pep talk, it won't do any good."

"You can't believe that!" Hermione shouted.

"What?"

"If you truly believe that…" Hermione looked down sadly. "…then we might as well hand them all over to you-know-who, right now."

Fred was surprised to see how upset Hermione was over this. When in fact that was something he and his brother joked about on a regular bases.

"I can't believe a child would be destined for something like that so young." She turned her eyes up at him. "I won't just give up on them."

As she turned to walk away Fred couldn't help but think that Hermione was beautiful in more ways than one. She always wanted to find the good in everyone, even when it was impossible to see. She wanted there to be hope that they would all be able to live in peace. It was a beautiful dream…that few people believed would ever come true, but here was Hermione fighting for it. Trying to make a difference one Slytherin at a time.

Later alone in the boy's dorm Fred lay on his bed, throwing a ball at the ceiling and catching it, pondering the mystery that was Hermione Granger. George walked in carrying a bag of sweets he had swiped from the kitchen.

"Ello mat" George said with a donut in his mouth. He sat on his bed facing Fred throwing him a pastry before shoving the bag under his bed. "How goes the studying?"

"What studying?" Fred asked taking a bite of the cream filled mess George had given him.

"Weren't you studying?" George shrugged "You've been up here by yourself, not making a sound for so long we all thought you decided to straighten up and fly right."

"I don't know the meaning of the words, Georgey" Fred said licking the cream from his fingers as he finished the donut.

"Actually I don't either." George said squinting off into the distance as if trying to figure it out before shrugging and collapsing on his bed.

Fred watched him. There was something he had wanted to ask him. It was gnawing at the back of his head and there was only one way he was going to find out.

"Hey, George?" Fred finally said.

"Hmm?" George turned his head.

"When did you realize you liked Hermione Granger? It's been bugging me to know." Fred managed to say very quickly.

George sat up straight. "Why do you want to know?"

"Well cause…Its so weird. She's not the prettiest girl in school, she laughs at the nerdiest jokes. She can be uptight and bossy, she can't take a joke –"

"Yeah, so what? No bodies perfect." George got up from his bed. "I don't know, I just like her."

"Ok…but when did that start?" Fred didn't understand, if George knew all her flaws why did he like her? It's not like he spent as much time with her as Fred did. It's not like his twin knew her as well as Fred did…did he?

"I can't tell you." George turned away from Fred.

"Why not?"

"Because I promised her I wouldn't." George spat and Fred's eyes widened.

He promised her? Now he was even more confused. Did Hermione know George liked her? If so, did she like him? Fred felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Come on, George? Of all the secrets you've told me, how many have I shared?"

"None." George glanced suspiciously at him. "That I know of…"

"Oh, come on!" Fred begged.

George sighed. He couldn't keep anything from his brother for very long so he might as well tell him by his own free will before it slipped out when he didn't want it to.

"It happened a little over a month ago. Remember when you were serving detention for handing out boil candy to a Professor." George laughed. "I still can't believe you fell for that."

"Snape was really convincing!" Fred protested "Who knew he was just trying to catch me in the act…"

"I did" George snickered.

"Alright, continue!" Fred retorted.

"I went upstairs to move all evidence I had under my bed of selling joke candy to under your bed." George grinned.

"You bastard!" Fred jumped up when George motioned for him to sit back down.

"When I noticed the door to the boy's dorm was wide up." George continued ignoring Fred's glare. "I tried to shut it but it wouldn't close, I assumed it was jinxed to stay open. When I turned around Hermione was hunched over near our beds."

Fred looked more confused than ever. "Huh? How could you be sure?"

"Because I yelled "Hermione!", and she looked." George laughed.

"Oh." Fred was mildly impressed.

"When I walked closer to her she threw a pillow at me and tried to make a run for it. I grabbed her around the waist and held her there." George looked up and grinned. "You should of seen how much she blushed."

Fred felt the side of his left eyelid twitch. "Yeah, ok. What next?"

"I noticed she had some of our lovely produces in her hand. I teased her a little before she assured me her intentions for needing them were decent."

"Were they?"

George nodded. "Decent enough. She wanted to set off a smoke bomb in the Herbology lab. Apparently Ron, Harry and she had an exam that would count towards their O.W.L's. Ron and Harry had studied really hard but didn't seem to be getting the material. She thought if she could buy an extra day to study they would be able to pass. "George smiled to himself. "Personally I was quite touched by her motives. I suggested she use a stink bomb instead, seeing as it's twice as hard to get rid of then a fog bomb. She asked me to promise not to tell anyone, which I did." George looked up at his twin guiltily "She was so happy she kissed me on the cheek before running off to go set it off." George smiled and touched his cheek looking gitty, like he did after seeing Hermione.

Fred's stomach gave another tug downward.

"Anyway, that's when it started. I realized that Hermione was really a great person. She's caring, helpful, smart, cute, and wicked clever. I knew right then and there that I had to have her. That she was the only girl worth going after." George looked down at the floor a serious expression on his face.

Fred's insides felt hollow. George had noticed everything Fred was just realizing about her. He didn't know why but he hated it. He hated that George had seen Hermione blush. He hated having George tell him that story, in which Hermione had given him a kiss on the cheek, something Fred couldn't help being jealous over. He hadn't been jealous over a kiss on the cheek since he was four and his mother decided to kiss George goodnight first before him. It wasn't fair. Why did he have to feel this way? He hated feeling this way. He hated wanting something his brother had wanted first. But most of all he hated that he was just now realizing how much he liked Hermione.