Happy Birthday to Me, and Ficage.
I am (finally) working on finishing up all those old unfinished fics I have. Yep, so here's a new chapter.
Chapter 9
RECAP
George sat with Ginny, Charlie and Bill once again at dinner, giving Fred and Hermione a chance to talk. Fred was delighted when Hermione informed him that she had managed to convince Professor Lupin to help them. It would be great to have an adult to cover their tracks for once. Hermione leaned over to him to whisper in his ear about the next step of the plan, and Fred grinned as he realized that this action alone would probably look suspicious… and not in the usual way. His mother glared disapprovingly in their direction, and Fred grabbed Hermione’s hand, and leaned over to whisper to her in return.
“How about we speed this plan up a bit? Follow my lead.”
~
Hermione hid a smile as Fred slipped an arm around her at dinner, and instead shot him a look that clearly said “not now” so Fred moved his arm in a casual way, and then brought it to rest on her thigh. Hermione tried not to twitch. Fred’s eyes were bubbling with withheld laughter as he glanced around the table to his siblings' faces, who seemed to be the only ones paying close attention. Hermione nearly snickered as Tonks looked rather frantic, and soon had to morph the expression of looming dread off her face. Lupin was now drinking steadily from his automatically refilling glass of wine in order to cover for his giggles. Hermione smiled at this, as she knew the werewolf was far from being drunk. Mrs. Weasley sent him a look of mixed pity and disapproval. Fred now leant over to murmur the plans he had set up for the next day in her ear. With the majority of the adults watching Lupin with careful concern, this left the children to panic as Fred and Hermione carefully slipped away from the table.
~
“Did you see the looks on their faces?” snickered Hermione.
“Priceless,” agreed Fred, “this is so much fun already, now I can’t wait until we get back.”
“You’ve got the rings?” Hermione questioned.
“Right here.” He pulled them out of his pocket. Hermione knew they were no more then loops of string, but the enchantment on them was amazing.
“How did you-”
“Joke shop. I can make pretty much anything look like anything else. That’s why our fake wands are so good,” he winked, “let’s get to bed, busy day tomorrow.” Hermione giggled, and headed off. Everything was going exactly as planned.
~
Harry was deep in a conversation with Ron on Quidditch when he stuffed a forkful of potatoes in his mouth, glanced over at Hermione, and nearly choked. His best friend, the resident bookworm of Gryffindor tower, appeared to be flirting with one of the infamous Weasley twins. This was the last straw for Harry. Contrary to what was apperently popular belief, he did notice things. In fact, he had been covering for Hermione, distracting Ron the past few days. This however, was she trying to give people heart attacks? Harry breathed a sigh of relief as Fred and Hermione slipped away from the dinner table leaving Ron none the wiser. This left Harry to listen to Ron rant about the Chudley Cannons, a distraction that worked everytime. Harry often wondered if Ron would notice anything while on a tangent about the. Making a mental note to corner Hermione later, he sat back and acted like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. With the adults worrying about Lupin's aparent drunkness (he had fallen out of his seat laughing a few minutes ago) and the teenagers panicing over Fred and Hermione's disappearance, he was the only one.
~
Hermione jumped when she got to her room to find to already occcupied. Harry was sitting on her bed, clearly waiting for her. He was also giving her a disapproving glare that she recognised too well as the one she used on Harry when he was about to do something incredibly stupid.
"Hi?"
"Sit down, Hermione, and let's have a little chat." Hermione sat down facing Harry nervously. Despite the fact that he was sitting cross-legged in his quidittch pajamas, he still managed to look imposing and somewhat larger than life. "Is there anything you'd like to tell me?" Hermione took a breath to compose herself before lying, and then somehow ut all caming slipping out. If it weren't for the fact that she knew Harry would never do something like that, she'd have thought he'd slipped her Veritiserum. She told him everything.
"That wasn't so hard now, was it?" Hermione shrugged miserably. "But it does sound like you've gotten yourself into a bit of trouble."
"Tell me about it. If this doesn't work..."
"It's all going to come crashing down around you, yes."
"I'm so stupid."
"Hermione, you're one of the smartest people I know." Hermione let out a sob, and Harry patted her carefully on the back. "It's going to be okay, Hermione, just follow through on the plan."
"But what if the plan doesn't work?"
"Well then I'd suggest immdiatly confessing everything. Keeping secrets can only get people hurt." Harry smiled at her, but it was a pained one. Hermione knew that Harry could understand that statement better than most. "Now I'll let you get some sleep. You're going to need it."
~
Chapter 9
RECAP
George sat with Ginny, Charlie and Bill once again at dinner, giving Fred and Hermione a chance to talk. Fred was delighted when Hermione informed him that she had managed to convince Professor Lupin to help them. It would be great to have an adult to cover their tracks for once. Hermione leaned over to him to whisper in his ear about the next step of the plan, and Fred grinned as he realized that this action alone would probably look suspicious… and not in the usual way. His mother glared disapprovingly in their direction, and Fred grabbed Hermione’s hand, and leaned over to whisper to her in return.
“How about we speed this plan up a bit? Follow my lead.”
~
Hermione hid a smile as Fred slipped an arm around her at dinner, and instead shot him a look that clearly said “not now” so Fred moved his arm in a casual way, and then brought it to rest on her thigh. Hermione tried not to twitch. Fred’s eyes were bubbling with withheld laughter as he glanced around the table to his siblings' faces, who seemed to be the only ones paying close attention. Hermione nearly snickered as Tonks looked rather frantic, and soon had to morph the expression of looming dread off her face. Lupin was now drinking steadily from his automatically refilling glass of wine in order to cover for his giggles. Hermione smiled at this, as she knew the werewolf was far from being drunk. Mrs. Weasley sent him a look of mixed pity and disapproval. Fred now leant over to murmur the plans he had set up for the next day in her ear. With the majority of the adults watching Lupin with careful concern, this left the children to panic as Fred and Hermione carefully slipped away from the table.
~
“Did you see the looks on their faces?” snickered Hermione.
“Priceless,” agreed Fred, “this is so much fun already, now I can’t wait until we get back.”
“You’ve got the rings?” Hermione questioned.
“Right here.” He pulled them out of his pocket. Hermione knew they were no more then loops of string, but the enchantment on them was amazing.
“How did you-”
“Joke shop. I can make pretty much anything look like anything else. That’s why our fake wands are so good,” he winked, “let’s get to bed, busy day tomorrow.” Hermione giggled, and headed off. Everything was going exactly as planned.
~
Harry was deep in a conversation with Ron on Quidditch when he stuffed a forkful of potatoes in his mouth, glanced over at Hermione, and nearly choked. His best friend, the resident bookworm of Gryffindor tower, appeared to be flirting with one of the infamous Weasley twins. This was the last straw for Harry. Contrary to what was apperently popular belief, he did notice things. In fact, he had been covering for Hermione, distracting Ron the past few days. This however, was she trying to give people heart attacks? Harry breathed a sigh of relief as Fred and Hermione slipped away from the dinner table leaving Ron none the wiser. This left Harry to listen to Ron rant about the Chudley Cannons, a distraction that worked everytime. Harry often wondered if Ron would notice anything while on a tangent about the. Making a mental note to corner Hermione later, he sat back and acted like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. With the adults worrying about Lupin's aparent drunkness (he had fallen out of his seat laughing a few minutes ago) and the teenagers panicing over Fred and Hermione's disappearance, he was the only one.
~
Hermione jumped when she got to her room to find to already occcupied. Harry was sitting on her bed, clearly waiting for her. He was also giving her a disapproving glare that she recognised too well as the one she used on Harry when he was about to do something incredibly stupid.
"Hi?"
"Sit down, Hermione, and let's have a little chat." Hermione sat down facing Harry nervously. Despite the fact that he was sitting cross-legged in his quidittch pajamas, he still managed to look imposing and somewhat larger than life. "Is there anything you'd like to tell me?" Hermione took a breath to compose herself before lying, and then somehow ut all caming slipping out. If it weren't for the fact that she knew Harry would never do something like that, she'd have thought he'd slipped her Veritiserum. She told him everything.
"That wasn't so hard now, was it?" Hermione shrugged miserably. "But it does sound like you've gotten yourself into a bit of trouble."
"Tell me about it. If this doesn't work..."
"It's all going to come crashing down around you, yes."
"I'm so stupid."
"Hermione, you're one of the smartest people I know." Hermione let out a sob, and Harry patted her carefully on the back. "It's going to be okay, Hermione, just follow through on the plan."
"But what if the plan doesn't work?"
"Well then I'd suggest immdiatly confessing everything. Keeping secrets can only get people hurt." Harry smiled at her, but it was a pained one. Hermione knew that Harry could understand that statement better than most. "Now I'll let you get some sleep. You're going to need it."
~