Joke's on you, sucker! (On Hold)

Beginnings ~ Chapter One

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling, and only her.                                                                  

                    Enjoy :)                                                                                

Chapter 1

Hermione was meandering through the barely lit corridors towards her dorm, returning from her late night meeting with Professor McGonagall, when she heard muttering coming from an allegedly empty classroom. As she drew nearer towards the sound, it ceased to a stop. Drawing her wand out at the ready and readying her stance, she called out cautiously. “Who’s there? I’m a prefect; I’m warning you.” She marched in and there, with two smug grins on their faces, stood two identical ginger boys. Visibly the Gryffindor relaxed, her shoulders lowering along with her wand.

One, for the life of her she couldn’t tell which one, stepped forward and began to address her, “Ah, Hermione, how nice of you join us finally! We have been expecting you after all.”

For a moment Hermione was taken aback by the statement, it was not what she was expecting. Although, if there was anything she had learned whilst spending time with the Weasley family, it was that the twins never did anything expected. She quickly regained her calm façade, whilst inside her heart was pounding against her chest violently.  “It’s after hours, what are you boys doing here?” She sighed with relief when her voice came out as she had hoped it would: strong, calm, and in control. Just like a prefect’s voice should be. A trail of red caught the brunette’s eye and suspicion became evident on her features. She darted around the twins, following the red trail which she now found out to be blood, and her eyes feasted upon a first year. He had at least the courtesy to look ashamed as the blood gushed from his nose heavily.  

Hermione was livid. Turning around to face Fred and George, she raised one finger to them.  “You!” Her anger was evident in her tone of voice. eHerHer“Twenty points from each of you for being out after lights! Twenty more from each of you for testing out your ‘products’ 1st years! Don’t think I don’t know a Nosebleed Nougat when I see one!”

She turned back to the first year once more, her nose flaring and eyes wide. “You’re a Hufflepuff, right?” The small boy nodded slightly at Hermione. “Ten points from Hufflepuff for being out after hours and another ten for agreeing to be their guinea pig! Now, Fred, George,” She whipped round to face the twins again. She could have sworn she had seen George elbowing his brother, but when she blinked; his hands were lying uselessly at his sides. She shook her head and started again. “Fred, George, I need one of you to give him the antidote and send him to bed, then I’ll escort you to the common room. We’ll talk there.”

“What would you want to talk about then, eh?” George asked while raising his eyebrow in the way only he could pull off. The first year was handed a Sickle and five Knuts, along with two boxes of tissues by Fred, before scampering off to his dormitory. Hermione shot both George a murderous glare before dragging both twins to the tower.

“So, what would you like to talk about then?” George repeated, again raising his eyebrow. Instead of replying, Hermione began pacing the room as if they weren’t there.

“What am I going to do with you two?” she muttered to herself repeatedly.

The twins began to sneak away up to the boy’s dorms, hoping that Hermione would be too involved in her pacing to notice them, but one icy glare from her forced them to retreat sheepishly to their original places. “Can we go to bed now? It’s getting rather late and we do have Quidditch practice tomorrow.” Fred cautiously proposed the idea, most of which was a lie of course. They didn’t actually have Quidditch practice the next day, but surely what Hermione didn’t know couldn’t hurt her. She raised her head again, ready to shout at them again, but found herself staring into Fred’s immense, sapphire eyes. Immense, sapphire eyes which were pleading her to let him go. Their eyes locked and they held each other’s gaze until Hermione looked away, her face pinkening. The boys took her dropping the gaze as a yes and immediately rushed to the boy’s dorm. Hermione sighed loudly to the empty room and hurried up to her own dorm.

She had hoped sleep would overcome her as soon as her head had touched the pillow, as it always seems to do in books, but instead she lay awake for what seemed like hours going over what had happened that day. Something had changed inside her, although she had no idea what; just something. After constant tossing and turning under her duvet, the decided to go down to the common room just for something to do. She grabbed the nearest book from her bedside table – Hogwarts: A History – and left the dorm.

The fire was still blazing and she winced internally as she thought of those poor little house-elves and her campaign for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. To make up for it, she decided to knit some more hats for them, and she was getting better, no matter what Ron or Harry said on the contrary. She hurried back to her dorm to gather her knitting things and soon she the regular pattern of her knitting washed her thoughts away.  That was what she loved so much about knitting: you had to concentrate so hard there was no time to think. It was great when she didn’t want to think, when she just wanted to feel. The forgotten book was laid cast aside on the floor beside her, along with thoughts of the Weasley twins. She was so absorbed in her knitting that she didn’t hear soft pad of footsteps coming down from the boy’s dormitories.

***

“So, did you get caught this time?” The twins were pounced on by their friend Lee Jordan as soon they entered their dorm. George nodded his head in reply, a grin flittering across his face. “Who caught you? What happened?” Lee asked excitedly.

George began to tell the story when Fred suddenly interrupted him. “Look, I’m going to sleep now. I’m really tired, goodnight.”

Lee sent a confused look towards George, and was greeted with the same look. The only time Fred ever went to bed earlier than them was when it was essential to their schemes, or in the rare times he was ill.  “Goodnight,” George and Lee chorused in unison as Fred settled down to sleep.

Although George and Lee both thought Fred was asleep, the truth was he couldn’t fall asleep. Something had happened that day, and that something stuck fast in his mind, refusing to be thought about at a more reasonable time.  He just couldn’t quite put his finger on what, however. Unless… unless it wasn’t a thing, but a person. Unless it was Hermione that was keeping him awake. Why was his mind suddenly thinking about Hermione so much? She was his little brother’s best friend, and Ron had told Fred many a time that he had feelings for her. But what if Ron wasn’t the only one that Hermione was perfect for… Could a person really have two soul mates? No, this was just a slight crush, something that will pass. It could even be less than that, but definitely not more. It couldn’t be more.

Fred sat up and looked around at his environment. It looked different without the sun streaming through the windows or the seemingly artificial lights shining brightly down on the beds, much more… peaceful. Yes, that was the word: peaceful. A mutter and a snort came from a neighbouring bed, although Fred wasn’t sure which one, as the person turned over in their sleep. Outside the full moon was as bright as ever, making the room not only peaceful, but eerie at the same time. A sigh escaped Fred. This wasn’t what he needed. What he needed was something to take his mind off Hermione, but what though? He sighed again and headed towards the common room. Despite what he knew he needed, he just couldn’t stop thinking about her. He wandered aimlessly down and sat on the sofa. Only when he really looked at what was next to him did his heart rise to his mouth, skipping beat after beat after beat…