A/N: I'm sorry for a late update. I promise I will try to update this work weekly, but I am not sure if I can. Please, leave reviews about this work.

I also have an Russian version of this work, but since neither English nor Russian is my native language, I cannot guarantee that you will not find any grammatical errors. ficbook net/readfic/11000855

Disclaimer: All original characters and canon events belong to JKRowling. I'm not making any profit from posting this fanfic.

HGHGHG

The 19th October promised to be the most ordinary, unremarkable Saturday afternoon for all the inhabitants of Hogwarts. The students planned to get plenty of sleep, even if it meant skipping breakfast – therefore an empty stomach, and the teachers were happy to be able to relax over a cup of tea away from the unwanted company of the High Inquisitor. The weather outside was unusually sunny, as if calling them for a walk in the fresh air. All in all, the day was lovely.

However, Hermione Granger did not manage to sleep much longer, and she was absolutely not interested in the weather outside. If today's date really did not have a special meaning, as it seems at first glance, she would have grabbed the first toast that came to hand and walked away in the direction of the library. But instead, she had to show up in the Great Hall exactly as the breakfast appeared on the Gryffindor table, because her first Quidditch lesson with Fred and George was scheduled today. For the first time in her memory, the twins refused to waste time sleeping and took her word that she would wait for them in the morning in the common room.

"Stop daydreaming, Granger, you need to eat well," Fred said, and handed her a toast with her favorite cherry jam. And when only he has time to notice such little things. Maybe it's just a pleasant coincidence.

Hermione smiled weakly at Fred and forced herself to eat the porridge with a toast, while watching the surprisingly cheerful twins. She knew that they loved Quidditch, but she had no idea that the opportunity to teach her to play would cause such genuine joy and enthusiasm among her friends. Perhaps she really should pay attention to their conversations about Quidditch, Merlin sees, that they were lacking easier topics for conversation.

"Are you ready, Granger?" George leaned slightly towards her, drawing her attention to himself, and Hermione noticed the empty plates of the twins.

She looked at her almost finished breakfast and nodded to him, still she had no appetite. Plus, they're not going to be on a broom all day, are they?

"Come on then, Granger..."

"An exciting lesson awaits you from Gred and Forge," Fred said, and pulled the unresisting witch's hand toward the exit of the Great Hall, leaving several teachers and students to watch the odd trio with their eyes.

However, it soon became clear that their lesson would not go as smoothly as they would have liked. Problems arose as soon as Hermione realized that they were heading towards the Quidditch field. She braked sharply and backed away in horror, shaking her head.

"Don't you even dare to think about it, Fred and George Weasley!" She protested violently, pulling her hands out of their grasp, and the twins, who had not expected this from the previously calm witch, gasped in surprise and almost lost their balance. "I refuse to make a laughing stock out of myself in front of the entire school!"

"What did you expect, Granger? That the three of us would head to the library to read Quidditch through the ages in peace and quiet?" suddenly sharply addressed to her George, obviously taking her reluctance to go to the field for an attempt to evade the consequences of their bet.

"George," there was a warning note in Fred's voice, but the damage was already done as Hermione instinctively took a step toward the older twin — away from George.

Hermione had no illusion that one day George would fall in love with her and they would have a happily ever after. No. She has long come to terms with the fact that George Weasley simply does not see her as a girl. Perhaps he saw her as a younger sister, for whom he cares, but definitely not as a girl. And therefore she never tried to confess her feelings to him and did not seek him out in the crowd. She was content with their frequent banters and stolen moments, where she secretly watched him from time to time. She was not close to him so that she could call them best friends, but she was proud that she knew much more about George than his fan girls, who giggled every time, as soon as he winked at them in a joking manner. For her, George has always been a calmer and more reserved twin compared to Fred, although during a Quidditch match he became more aggressive of the two and his bludgers were sent with more strength. He was not the initiator of their pranks, but he was the one who thought through their plan to the last detail. George was soft. He always offered explanations and awkward reassurances if the need arose.

Also he didn't jump into conclusions and blame her groundlessly.

At first, Hermione was startled by his sudden change in mood and was confused when she first met his frown. Then she felt anger and hurt fill her, which was not a good combination for Hermione Granger.

"I wanted to offer the Room of Requirement for our training," she said coldly and looked into those same blue eyes in which she was drowning with no hope of getting out. But now, more than ever, hurt intensified her desire to get out of the blue of his eyes.

An awkward silence fell around the three of them after Hermione's proposal, from the light mood and giddy expectation that had previously emanated from them, not a trace remained. Fred's face was unreadable, and Hermione had nothing to say. She had no desire to speak.

"I'm sorry, Granger," George finally sighed and ruffled his hair, making it more messy. "I don't know what came over me."

"Do you think we can fly in the Room of Requirements? I'm not sure the room can offer us a Quidditch pitch," Fred said to her, and she decided to ignore the younger twin for a while.

"Once I asked the room for a place where I could relax. When I opened the door, I was greeted by the garden behind the Burrow," Granger said, and the three of them headed back to the castle. Apparently, they really started their day early, because the Great Hall still looked almost empty, and there were no sleepy students in the corridors.

Soon they came to a famous wall at the back of the corridor, and Hermione, thinking to herself about a place where one can teach flying lessons, walked past the wall three times. A moment later, a large wrought-iron door with an ornate handle appeared on the wall. When Fred pulled on the handle, revealing the contents of the room, they saw an exact replica of the Quidditch field they had just returned from. The only difference was the lack of spectator stands.

"Well, let's start our lesson," said George cheerfully, leaning on his broomstick, and Fred opened the chest containing the balls necessary for the game.

Hermione, who was too busy looking at the room, did not even have time to notice where the twins got their broom and other things. She smiled at them unknowingly, looking at their beaming faces and crooked grins. And she decided not to tell them that in an effort to calm her nerves, she had already read every Quidditch book she could find in the Hogwarts library. There is no need to interrupt their explanation if it makes them genuinely happy.

GWGWGW

George Weasley never had a problem with imagination. Unless his overly active imagination was itself the cause of his problems, of course. But lately, he had imagined Granger so much in Quidditch uniform and with the beater's bat in hand that he even dreamed of her in the aforementioned form. Unsurprisingly, he woke up with a big smile on his face despite the early hour.

He looked forward to their training with Granger so eagerly, that he reminded himself of a little boy counting the days until Christmas. George watched her in the common room while chatting with friends, in the Great Hall and in the hallways of the castle, if luck was on his side and he managed to catch a glimpse of her. But at the same time, he was afraid that the Gryffindor would start avoiding him and Fred, not wanting to spend time with them. Even on ordinary days she was not very happy to talk with the twins - where is the guarantee that she will want to spend a few hours in their company on a broom? Perhaps that's why he snapped at her when the thought that she wanted to abandon their plan popped into his head.

"What did you expect, Granger? That the three of us would head to the library to read Quidditch through the ages in peace and quiet?" the words flew out of his mouth, and George did not have time to register their meaning before uttering them.

"George," his twin said warningly, but George only watched as the brunette took a step away from him, increasing the distance between them, as if she couldn't stand his company any longer.

And suddenly this small step seemed like a whole mile to him, because George did not remember the last time she first pulled away from him. Maybe he was too dramatic, but at the end of their many squabbles or rare short conversations with the Gryffindor prefect, it was George who was always the first to turn his back on her. Even Fred more than once stayed behind him with Granger to prove his point of view to the stubborn witch.

"I wanted to offer the Room of Requirement for our training," the ice in her voice when she addressed to him was new.

However, what burned George the most was the coldness in the brunette's eyes when she looked back at him. Her eyes did not resemble cup of hot chocolate as usual. No. Now they looked like the cold, frozen ground, on which the first snow lay like a white tablecloth. Again, George was not familiar with this shade of her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Granger," he sighed and ruffled his hair to avoid looking into her eyes. "I don't know what came over me."

Granger ignored him, answering Fred instead, and they headed back to the castle in awkward silence, sometimes interrupting it with short remarks. But if on the way here the petite witch walked in the middle of their unusual trio, then on the way back she preferred to walk on the other side of Fred, which did not escape George's attention.

"As you already know, Bludgers fly on their own and exist to complicate the game," finally, Fred and George moved on to explain the Bludgers, which they left for last, preferring to first quickly mention the Quaffle, Snitch, and other players on the team besides the beaters.

"Beaters are responsible for keeping their teammates safe from Bludgers. They beat off the Bludgers from their own and direct them either to the side or to their rivals," George continued their speech and, defiantly twisting the bat, pretended that he was hitting the Bludger.

"Of course, we prefer to direct the bludgers at people..."

"It's so much more fun," Fred winked, to which Granger just rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway.

"Granger, would you like to fly?" asked his twin, although it was clear that refusals would not be accepted.

George was dissatisfied for a moment, but still mentally agreed with Fred that it was unlikely that Granger would want to fly in his company especially today. There was no trust between them at the moment. Hermione approached Fred without any unnecessary protests, but it was clear that the girl had no idea what to do next.

"Sit in the front, it'll be easier," said George, and the girl threw her leg over the broomstick, gripping the broom tightly.

"I will support you from behind," Fred said and, according to his words, hugged her from behind, putting his hands on hers. "I won't let you fall, I promise."

George had rarely seen his brother so serious, but now Fred's voice made it clear that he had no intention of joking. For some reason, watching his twin and Granger from sidelines caused an incomprehensible emotion in George - he wanted to talk incessantly, so as not to feel left out, so that they would not forget about his presence.

"You must trust your broom as you trust your wand," he said, and met Granger's gaze. "It can feel you, trust me."

FWFWFW

Fred Weasley still remembered with a smile on his face their first lesson with Granger, at the end of which she managed to overcome her fear of heights. He didn't know if this was due to the fact that it was Fred and George Weasley who were teaching her or it was simply because of her pride. Of course, if he said that after the very first lesson she began to fly at high speed on her own while holding a bat in one hand, then it would have been the most impudent lie. However, he noticed how day after day her confidence, and at the same time, her speed on the broom increased.

"You know, wands can be brought to the field if you don't use them during the game," Fred casually mentioned in one training session when he saw the girl struggling with her beaters bat.

Granger's aim was undeniably accurate, and her reaction was quick, instinctive. It could be said that she was born to be a beater, but she was still afraid to let go of the broomstick completely and therefore had to beat off the bludger with one hand, which significantly weakened the force of the blow.

However, after Fred's remark, the problem was successfully resolved.

"Arresto momentum," Granger replied with a sly smile to the surprised faces of the Weasley twins - a little earlier, holding the bat with both hands, she beat the bludger in the direction of George with such force that he barely managed to dodge.

Also, Fred had no idea how to react to the changes that had taken place in Hermione Granger over the past two weeks. Yes, she still stayed up until late hours to read another thick book, lectured Harry and Ron, and threatened the twins for breaking the rules. But at the same time, she trained almost daily in Quidditch, laughed more and generally competed with lumos in terms of the power of the glow. It would seem that Fred should be happy for her, but that ugly part of him was unhappy that others also began to stare at the girl. Fred more and more often noticed how the gazes of the guys from other houses lingered on her, how they turned their heads, as soon as she was nearby.

And he didn't like it at all.

"Fred and George Weasley!" shouted the captain of the Gryffindor team - Angelina Johnson.

For the umpteenth time, she unsuccessfully tried to draw the attention of the Weasley twins to the tactics of the game she had conceived. Fred loved Quidditch, of course, but not enough to listen intently to the same strategy for the tenth time.

"For Salazar's sake, calm down, woman," Fred sighed and nevertheless looked at his classmate, who was out of breath with anger and nerves. "I'm pretty sure Wood possessed you."

"Fine," Angelina snapped displeased and got up from her seat, having finished her last instructions. "Don't even think about losing."

"Better than 'get the snitch or die trying', isn't it Harry?" George joked and patted Potter on the shoulder, causing him to chuckle and shake his head.

As the Gryffindor team entered the field, cheers and screams rang out from their fans. Fred looked around the Gryffindor stands for curly brown hair - Angelina had dragged their team into the locker room so early that the twins hadn't seen Granger.

"Captains, shake hands," ordered the referee Madam Hooch, as Angelina and Montague reached each other.

At that very moment, Fred managed to find Hermione in the red-gold mass, and she, noticing that he was looking at her, waved her hand in response with a smile. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw George looking in the same direction as he. You could read from her lips that Granger wished them both good luck from a distance, and Fred mentally blamed Johnson once again for not letting them talk before match.

Madam Hooch placed her whistle in her mouth and blew.

The balls were released and the fourteen players shot upwards. Out of the corner of his ear, Fred heard their best friend Lee Jordan commenting on the match, and, gripping the handle of the broom tighter, beat off the Bludger who was heading towards Katie Bell.

The strong rush of air coupled with the roar from the audience left almost no chance of hearing anything, but when the song rose loud and clear from the sea of green and silver in the Slytherin section of the stands, Fred caught the words. He felt the rage fill him and sent the Bludger towards Warrington with all his might, forcing him to drop the Quaffle.

It seemed to Fred that the game had been going on for an eternity, when he saw Harry Potter flying behind a tiny winged golden ball. The Gryffindor fans erupted in jubilant shouts, and the Slytherin tribune, as expected, fell silent. Somewhere in the distance, there was the roar of a lion hat, charmed by Lovegood, a friend of Ginny.

Before Fred had time to feel the joy of winning, he heard George's warning cry and the next second a Bludger flew past him at high speed. If it weren't for the silence and the frightened scream from the Gryffindor fans, Fred would have made fun of Crabbe's non-existent aim. However, a familiar voice desperately asked for help from those around him, and when he looked at the source of the sound, Fred's heart stopped for a second.

Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood tried to revive the unconscious Hermione Granger, whose blood was trickling down her forehead.

Fred immediately flew in their direction and threw the broomstick when he finally managed to get to the girl. He knew she could dodge the Bludger. He fucking trained her himself. He knew it! Then why was she lying unconscious in front of him now?

"Crabbe wanted to hit the Luna with a bludger, Hermione pushed her away," Neville explained to him. The younger Gryffindor looked pale, and his eyes darted in search of Madam Pomfrey, for whom Ginny ran for help.

Meanwhile, the screams of the Gryffindor team rang out on the field, with the loudest voices of George and Harry being heard. Ron was out of sight, and Malfoy, looking worried, stood impassively away from everyone. Madame Hooch was still berating Crabbe for his illegal bludger attack.

Fred gently touched Granger's face with his hand, wiping the blood from her forehead, and mentally prayed to all known Gods that she would be all right.

"She'll be fine," Lovegood said quietly with her usual dreamy voice. It's easy for you to say, the bloody Bludger did not fly into your head, Fred thought, but did not snap, preferring to silently hold Hermione's hand, while carefully observing what was happening on the field.

Blaise Zabini was talking to Harry about something with a mocking grin and turned his head with the same expression to address to George, forcing the latter to move towards him. But Harry was faster, he grabbed his twin, keeping him from the fifth-year. Fred didn't know what else Zabini had said, but the next second Harry and George ran into the Slytherin with tightly clenched fists.

"She has a concussion and temporary loss of consciousness. There is nothing dangerous in this, but we must quickly transfer Miss Granger to the infirmary," as he watched, Fred missed the arrival of Madame Pomfrey, who had already enchanted the stretcher for Granger. He wanted to go to George, but Fred was not ready to let Hermione out of sight yet. So with one last glance at his twin, who was now yelled at by Madame Hooch, he followed Pomfrey.

She needed him more.

GWGWGW

George could not believe that he was kicked out of the team. But if he had the ability to turn back time, he would have beaten Zabini again with no hesitation.

"Yes, I agree, Crabbe's aim was bad, but he still got into the Mudblood. Congratulations await him when he comes to the Slytherin common room," Zabini approached them with a haughty expression on his face.

George was then ready to punch him in the face, but Harry did not let him out of his hold. This was followed by insults about their mother and father, and a second later both of them were sprinting towards Zabini. They managed to deliver only a few painful blows until Madame Hooch knocked them apart with the Impediment jinx.

And George could not believe that the ugly toad Umbridge tried to kick Fred out of the team with him.

"And I think, to be safe, this young man's twin ought to be banned too. I will want their broomsticks confiscated, of course; I shall keep them safely in my office, to make sure there is no infringement of my ban. But I am not unreasonable, Professor McGonagall. The rest of the team can continue playing, I saw no signs of violence from any of them," Umbridge said with a wide smile, but Professor McGonagall did not let her finish her happy speech.

"Well, actually, Dolores," McGonagall interrupted, repeating her recent words. "But Mr. Fred Weasley at the time of the incident was next to Miss Granger, who was hit with a bludger by a Slytherin student after the Gryffindor house's win."

It was impossible to read anything from the stern face of the Transfiguration professor, but it is not difficult to guess that she was content with Umbridge's sour expression.

"Banning Mr. Fred Weasley from playing would be unfair, wouldn't it? After all you're not unreasonable," Umbridge's smile grew tighter with each word.

"Well, then so be it. I give Mr. Fred Weasley permission to continue playing in the team," with a loud bang of the door, Umbridge left the office.

"Banned," said Angelina in a hollow voice, late that evening in the common room. "Banned. No Seeker and no Beater… what on earth are we going to do?"

George wanted to leave the common room as soon as possible and fall asleep. Madame Pomfrey did not allow any visitors to enter the Hospital Wing, saying that Miss Granger needed rest and silence. However, Fred, who was still in the room, was not kicked out by the healer, which caused another wave of indignation among George and Hermione's friends.

"It's just so unfair," said Alicia numbly. "I mean, what about Crabbe and that Bludger he hit after the whistle had been blown? Has she banned him?"

"No," said Ginny miserably. "He just got lines, I heard Montague laughing about it at dinner."

At that moment, a tired Fred entered the living room. He went to the infirmary immediately after dinner to find out if Granger was awake.

"You have a new beater," Fred said calmly, and everyone's attention focused on him. "Granger said she would play in the team."

The room was instantly silenced, only to be filled with loud screams and gasps a moment later.

FW&HG&GW

In all this chaos, no one noticed that Fred's ring finger was adorned with a bluish-black tattoo resembling a wedding ring.