Chocolate Wands & Pumpkin Juice

Chapter One

(Hermione) Chapter One

“Seven Sickles,” Fred says, holding out his hand. George hands Hermione the Canary Cream as she digs through her coat pocket and counts each Sickle. “Who are you planning to give that to, anyway, Hermione? You don’t seem like the joking sort,” They ask simultaneously.

Hermione shrugs half-innocently and chews on her lower lip. “Well, Ronald and Harry are fighting over that ridiculous tournament and I’m tired of hearing your daft brother complain about not having a date to the Yule ball which isn’t for a month now and…” She realizes she’d been rambling at an alarmingly fast rate and she quiets herself up and turns away from the Twins. She pushes an unruly strand of her culry hair behind her ear and pulls her knit cap firmly down to cover her ears, and then she hides the little cup of Canary Cream in her pocket.

She walks from the Gryffindor common room to Hogsmeade, where she finds Ron and Neville eying a caramel apple and some Chocolate Wands with delight. “You know, ‘Mione, I don’t think this sweet has ever looked better than it does right now,” Ron says, and he turns to face her.

“Perhaps that’s because you haven’t eaten and we are supposed to meet Ginny at the Three Broomsticks in ten minutes,” Hermione says, folding her arms across her chest. “But you probably forgot all about that.”

Ron’s eyes widen, but he plays off a vibe that says he totally did not, which he then voice. Neville hides a laugh with a cough and when Ron turns to scowl at him, he raises his hands in surrender and grabs a box of sweets randomly to go buy them. Or to at least look occupied. “Let’s go then,” Ron says, clearly annoyed, and he pushes Hermione toward the door. “C’mon!”

The walk down to Broomsticks and find Ginny sipping at her butterbeer and reading Modern Magical History. She turns the page and stares at it ever so intently until Ron pulls out his chair and as it scuffs across the floor with a loud screech. Her head slowly turns up from the book, and with one hand she stuffs a marker in between the two pages and closes the book. “Ron, are you and Harry still fighting?” She asks curiously, though she’d never tell why.

Ron sits down in his chair and Hermione sits diagonally from him, next to Ginny. Her eyes wonder around the room as she listens to the two siblings talk. “Well, sort of. We started talking again after the dragon, but we still get a bit snippy. He didn’t even want to come out today, said he’s too busy worrying about the next challenge to go and have fun,” She hears Ron say, and then he apparently must’ve taken a swig of Ginny’s drink because Hermione hears her smack him on the arm and yell, “Hey!”

But she doesn’t pay any attention because her eyes are focused across the room at a set of red hair talking to Angelina Johnson. George has his whole body turned in the seat to face Angelina and they’re talking so softly that even though it’s pretty quiet, Hermione can’t hear anything but Angelina giggling. Hermione wished she could just have fun with a guy like that. Victor was…well he was just plain stupid and so serious all the time, and he was just so annoying.

George on the other hand was funny, spontaneous, and he definitely knew how to live.  Honestly, Hermione needed someone like that. Someone who was less of a stiff as her, someone who could let go and laugh at anything, anywhere, anytime.

And he was maybe, sort of, possibly kind of attractive. But that’s not the point!

“Hermione!” Ginny yells in to Hermione’s ear, and she whips her head around. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Staring in to space is all. Are you okay?” Ron asks and he gives her a look like she’s a basketcase. “Maybe you should go back to the common room?”

Hermione shakes her head, “No, no. I’m fine! Don’t worry about it, it’s nothing. I was just…admiring the wallpaper.”

“Admiring the wall paper?” Ginny says and she laughs out of pity. “That’s just…the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Hermione stands up, and walks to the door. “I think I need a nap or something, I’ll see you two later,” She says, and she heads back out in to the lightly falling snow. She shoves her hands in her coat pockets, letting her money shuffle around with each step across her hand, and turning the cup of Canary Cream with the other.  From behind her she heads shoes shuffling through the snow and then a voice, “’Ey, wait up, Granger!”

She stops walking and turns around to have George wrap his arm around tiredly around her shoulders. “Running a marathon or something, Hermione?” He says with a laugh, and the two start to walk forward. “Yes, you could say that,” Hermione smiles at him. “Where’s Fred?”

“He and I aren’t always together, but if you must now, he’s trying to advertise the bets for the next tournament and he forced me out. He said I need a date but I dunno,” George’s voice goes from rather happy to rather bored and he ends with a sigh. “Anyway!” He pipes up. “What’re you going back for? Tired of not studying?”

Hermione mock laughs, “Oh you just know me so well, George. My life is simply dedicated to books and nothing but.” She smiles at him, and he lets his arm drop to his side. “I actually just left because I feel lightheaded and I think I need a nap.”

“Oh, then I’ll make sure you make it there safely,” George says. A wild grin spreads across his face and he says in an announcers voice, “Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the official Weasley tour of the walk to Hogwarts. Not that you don’t already know, but if you look over to your left you will see a lot of snow. And over to your right you will see more snow.”

The two howled in laughter and soon enough found themselves back in the common room with Fred and Harry who’s nose was almost literally buried in to a book. It was something about the history of the Twi-Wizard Tournament, but his face was locked in to a frown that even showed in his scar, so he clearly wasn’t getting the information he wanted from it. Fred and George were talking about some new firecrackers they were planning, and then they got to the subject of Hermione’s recent purchase, which struck Harry’s fancy.

His head jerked upright and he stared at Hermione with an eyebrow raised. “You? Pranks?”

“That’s what we thought!” Fred and George chime.

The twins and Harry laugh as Hermione reaches behind her to grab the cup from her jacket that was hanging over the side of the couch. She handed it to Harry, who was sitting next to her, and he smiled at it. “It’s not much, but Ron eats without thinking so he’d definitely fall for it. Almost a bit brilliant, I must say,” He grins, and Hermione snatches it back from him. “Yeah, I’d rather here that from the masters, but thank you anyway, Harry,” Hermione states and then she turns to the Twins. “Is he just pitying me?”

“No, he right,” Fred nods.

“You’ve done well, Grasshopper,” George says, and then they both bow.

“So, I think of I’m done for the night. I’m so tired I can’t even think straight,” Hermione stands up and starts walking to the stairs leading to the bedrooms. “Goodnight, boys. See you and the canary at lunch tomorrow.”

 The Great Hall is filled with the sounds of sniffles, coughs, quills against paper and paper turning, and the clip-clop of Snape’s shoes scuffling between each table. There’s only a few Gryffindors at the table, most everyone has finished doing their work, but Hermione’s excessive amount of classes had left her schedule filled with work. A few feet away Fred and George sit, whispering about something and writing down things they’ll need for their new practical joke they’re planning, and Hermione finds herself glancing over at George.

She finds a piece of scrap parchment and starts to draw little circles and those morphed to squares then stars then hearts and then she found herself writing ‘I heart Weasley’ with an actual heart that she then proceeded to shade. “Is that cross-hatching I detect?” George says from beside her and Hermione’s heart almost stopped. She snatches the parchment off the table and balls it up. “Uh, is-is there s-something you want, George?” She asks him and tries to find her breath again.

Fred suddenly appears next to George and says, “Oh nothing. We were just curious as to what you were so infatuated with, but now I suppose we know what.”

If Hermione had been drinking pumpkin juice she might have choked on it then. “That’s…goodbye!” She says, and she grabs her books from the table and rushes back to the common room like the coward she is not afraid to admit she is around guys.

Another successful interaction with a man, Hermione. Job well done. Well. Done.