Fred was frustrated. The longer he spent on the newest Weasley Wizard Wheezes product, the less it seemed to work. He knew it was a good idea, but getting it to work seemed to be the problem. The other day, he tested the product out on himself. George found him passed out and shaking on the floor.
After that, George demanded to know what the product was. So, Fred told him. He wanted to make a product that allowed the user to drift off during class, daydream a little. George, too, thought the idea was promising, he was just pessimistic of Fred making it. If something went wrong, what was going to happen to his brother?
So, George set a rule. Fred couldn't work on the product unless someone was with him. Fred was messing with people's mental facilities, it was very dangerous indeed. "You don't have to finish this, you know," George told him. Fred shook his head.
"I'm not giving up, George. I don't think I can." Somehow, George didn't think Fred was talking about the product.
-----
The Room of Requirement was amazing. Seven years going to Hogwarts and Fred never knew that the room existed. "It's bizarre," Fred commented to George, frowning. "We once hid from Filch in here, remember, George? But it was just a broom cupboard then..."
"I remember," George reminisced. "Right after we stole Mrs. Norris." Fred smirked at the memory. Filch was livid that had taken his cat. They just wanted to see if she was a real, authentic vampire cat. She wasn't.
"Well," Harry said, calling attention to himself. "I've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and-" Hermione raised her hand. Fred frowned. She didn't think this was a real class, did she? Harry was definitely not going to be giving out homework. And if he tried, Fred wasn't going to do it. "What, Hermione?"
"I think we ought to elect a leader," she said.
"Harry's leader," Cho Chang said at once, looking at Hermione as if she were going mad.
"Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly," Hermione continued, unfazed by Cho's comment. "It makes it formal and it gives him authority. So- everyone who thinks Harry ought to be leader?"
Everyone raised their hands immediately, except for Zacharias Smith. George elbowed the Ravenclaw until he raised his hand, too. Merlin, that guy was annoying.
"Er- right, thanks," Harry said, his face burning. "And-what Hermione?"
"I also think we ought to have a name," she stated. She must have put a lot of thought into this, Fred realized. "It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?"
"Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?" Angelina interjected half-seriously.
"Or the Ministry of Magic Are Morons Group," Fred suggested, thinking of Percy. The students around him laughed.
"I was thinking," Hermione said, frowning at Fred, "more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside of meetings."
"We can still stick with Ministry of Magic Are Morons Group, Hermione," Fred told her. "We'll just refer to it as the M.M.A.M.G." Hermione just shook her head at him like his mere presence was exhausting to her.
"The Defense Association?" Cho said. "We can stick with D.A. so nobody knows what we're talking about."
"Yeah, the D.A.'s good," Ginny stated. "Only let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?" Fred nodded in agreement. Dumbledore's Army was perfect for their little group.
"All in favor of the D.A.?" Hermione said, glancing about to count the number of hands in the air. "That's a majority-motion passed!"
Finally, Harry was able to call attention to the Disarming Charm. "I know it's pretty basic but I've found it really useful-" Harry was saying when he was interrupted.
"Oh, please," Zacharias Smith said, rolling his eyes and folding his arms. "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"
"I've used it against him," Harry answered quietly. "It saved my life last June." Smith opened his mouth stupidly and the rest of the room was very quiet. Fred considered for a moment testing his new Daydream Charm product on Smith. Sure, he would be unconscious indefinitely, but he might be doing the world a favor.
"But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave," Harry told the room. No one moved. "Okay, I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice."
Before anyone could do anything, Fred jumped forward and asked Hermione to be his partner. "What about George?" she asked with an amused expression on her face.
"George partnered with Angelina," he replied. "I've lost my brother to his girlfriend." He looked down at the floor in mock sadness. Hermione chuckled.
"Sure, you can be my partner."
"What about me?" said Ron in outrage.
"You can partner with Neville," Fred suggested before turning to face Hermione, his wand raised.
Fred wasn't going to fool himself into believing that he needed to go easy on Granger. He had known her long enough to know she was strong. In fact, he was more worried about himself than he was for her.
He was right about Hermione. She held nothing back and wasn't afraid or intimidated. She was strong. She sent his wand flying a few times, making him go chase it down. "You don't have to go easy on me, Fred," Hermione told him, after retrieving his wand the second time. Her arms were folded across her torso like she was daring him to argue with her.
"I'm insulted, Granger," Fred answered, placing a hand over his heart like he'd been wounded. "That you consider my best so far beneath you." He shook his head a little, smirking. "Don't worry, I'm not going easy on you. I know you can handle yourself."
She smiled at that and stepped back, preparing for his attack. Fred was only able to succeed in forcing the wand out of Hermione's hand. Half-way through, George asked Hermione to practice with Angelina for a few minutes. When Hermione raised an eyebrow, silently wondering what he and Fred would be up to, George said logically, "It's important to switch partners. You know, to practice on more than one person. It makes you better." She didn't fully believe him, but turned to Angelina, ready to through the Disarming Charm at her.
Meanwhile, Fred and George took turns pointing their wands Zacharias Smith. Every time the Ravenclaw would open his mouth to disarm Anthony Goldstein, his own wand would fly out of his hand. "This is good practice," Fred commented to George.
Harry caught them before long. "Sorry, Harry," George said hastily. "Couldn't resist." But the twins could tell Harry didn't mind that much, probably encouraged it somewhat. Once Harry turned to look at other groups, correcting where needed, Fred and George continued pointing their wands at Smith.
"Well, that was pretty good," Harry said loudly a few minutes later, "but we've overrun, we'd better leave it here. Same time, same place next week?"
"Sooner!" Dean Thomas yelled eagerly. Fred had to agree with him. This was the most fun he'd had learning something in a long time.
"The Quidditch season's about to start, we need team practices too!" Angelina said quickly.
"Let's say next Wednesday night, then," Harry settled, "and we can decide on additional meetings then...Come on, we'd better get going..."
As everyone was getting ready to leave, Fred turned to Hermione. "This was a good idea, Granger." He smiled and winked at her before following George out of the room.
Hermione found herself smiling as she walked back to Gryffindor Tower with Harry and Ron.
-----
Neville Longbottom was frustrated. He had been in the library for what seemed like hours, trying to find the correct answers for his Potions work. He wasn't sure he could take anymore humiliation from Snape.
Hermione helped him sometimes, when she had the time, but she was always busy lately with the D.A., homework, and Harry's problems. He wished for her help right then. He was so terribly bad at Potions and Snape was going to tell everyone how poorly he did on his essay.
He was getting ready to give up when Luna Lovegood plopped herself down beside him. She smiled kindly at him before setting to her own homework. Neville had never really spoken to Luna before. He always thought she was weird and he didn't know what to say to her.
Did she think they were friends now? He wondered. They were both in the D.A. Maybe she thought that meant they were friends now. But what was he supposed to say to her? All she did was come in and sit down beside him without so much as a "hello." He knew his gran would be upset if he didn't show kindness to this girl. After all, he never saw her with anyone. Did she have any friends? His gran would tell him to be friends with her.
He took a deep breath. "Er-hello, Luna," he finally said.
"Hello, Neville," she replied, not looking up from her work. "What are you working on? You've got wrackspurts following you."
"Oh," he simply said. "Sorry, what are wrackspurts?"
"They're invisible," Luna replied. "They float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy. I sensed quite a few around here." They're always around me, Neville thought sadly. Since I'm always confused.
"Well, my brain has been feeling fuzzy," he told her. "But I don't know if that's wrackspurts or just Potions."
Luna looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe I can help you," she stated, dragging his book in front of her. "Oh, Neville you've got this all wrong."
Luna sat with him for an hour helping him with his Potions assignment. He was positive he was finally going to get a passing grade. And at the end of that hour, Neville could say with absolute certainty that he and Luna Lovegood were friends.
-----
Hermione was sitting in the library when the idea came to her. The D.A. needed a better way to communicate with one another about meeting times. She was reading about the Protean Charm and it seemed absolutely perfect for what they needed to accomplish. Eagerly, she set to work, proud of her idea.
She took out a fake Galleon and held it for everyone to see at the next D.A. meeting. "You see the numerals around the edge of the coins? On real Galleons that's just a serial number referring to the goblin who cast the coin. On these fake coins, though, the numbers will change to reflect the time and date of the next meeting. The coins will grow hot when the date changes, so if you're carrying them in a pocket you'll be able to feel them. We take one each and when Harry sets the date of the next meeting he'll change the numbers on his coin, and because I've put a Protean Charm on them, they'll all change to mimic his."
In the silence that followed, Fred nearly burst with pride at Hermione's work. The woman was positively brilliant. It was one of the many reasons he liked her. Here she was doing N.E.W.T. level work like it was nothing, just to make the meetings easier. The woman was amazing.
Hermione looked down uncertainly. No one had said anything. Perhaps they all thought it was a terrible idea. "Well — I thought it was a good idea," she said, "I mean, even if Umbridge asked us to turn out our pockets, there's nothing fishy about carrying a Galleon, is there? But . . . well, if you don't want to use them . . ."
"You can do a Protean Charm," Terry Boot said in disbelief. Fred frowned, hearing the awe in his voice.
"Yes," Hermione replied.
"But that's N.E.W.T. level work," he said.
"Oh," she said modestly, "yes, I suppose it is."
"How come you're not in Ravenclaw?" he demanded, staring at Hermione with something close to wonder. "With brains like yours?" Fred didn't like where this was heading.
"Well, the Sorting Hat did seriously consider putting me in Ravenclaw during my Sorting," said Hermione brightly, "but it decided on Gryffindor in the end. So does that mean we're using the Galleons?" There was a murmur of assent and everybody moved forward to collect one from the basket.
Terry Boot kept trying to talk to Hermione throughout the meeting. Fred hated that. Hermione had always been brilliant, he had noticed it when he first met her. Who did this Ravenclaw think he was?
When Harry told everyone to pair off into groups. Terry immediately made his way over to Hermione. "Hermione, would you like to be my partner."
"Oh, sorry, Terry, I already told Fred I would partner with him."
Fred couldn't help the victorious smile he sent Terry's way. Hermione was his partner and no one else's.
-----
Fred had missed Quidditch and was more than excited to play Quidditch for Gryffindor House his final year at Hogwarts. He and George were surprised when Ron tried out as Keeper. He wasn't terrible, he just couldn't do anything when people were watching him.
Which meant it was mostly on offense during the matches.
The match was brutal, as it generally was when it came to playing against Slytherin. But what really destroyed them was when the Slytherins started singing "Weasley is our King." The song tore away what little confidence Ron had left.
The Quaffle headed towards the goal. Fred turned away, not wanting to watch. The scream that came from the Slytherin end of the pitch told him what he had already suspected. The Slytherins scored. Taking a deep breath, Fred flew over to Ron.
"Don't listen to them, Ron," he shouted to his little brother. "Ignore them." He wasn't sure Ron had heard him over the Slytherins' singing. Sighing, Fred hoped that Harry would find the Snitch soon, ending the game. He just wanted to save Ron the embarrassment.
The game continued for another half hour before Harry was able to successfully catch the Snitch. Gryffindor roared with cheers, having won the game when they were so far behind. Fred glanced over at Harry to congratulate him when Harry was hit squarely in the back with a Bludger. The unexpected impact caused him to fall off his broom. Thankfully, he was only five or six feet above the ground.
Fred and George immediately flew down to see if he was okay. Angelina got to him first, though. "Are you alright?"
" 'Course I am," Harry told her.
"It was that thug, Crabbe," she said angrily. "He whacked the Bludger at you the moment he saw you'd got the Snitch- but we won, Harry, we won!" Fred dismounted and walked over to where Harry was standing, glaring at Malfoy.
"I've never seen a worse Keeper...but then, he was born in a bin...Did you like my lyrics, Potter? We wanted to write another couple of verses. But we couldn't find rhymes for fat or ugly- we wanted to sing about his mother, see-"
Fred stopped, hearing what Malfoy had said. How dare Malfoy talk about his mother that way! His mother was the kindest, most loving woman Fred had ever known. In the back of Fred's mind, he knew that Malfoy was just saying that to gage a response from him, but he couldn't help but tense at Malfoy's words.
"We couldn't fit in useless loser either- for his father, you know-"
"Leave it," Angelina said immediately, grabbing Fred's arm. "Leave it, Fred, let him yell, he's just sore he lost, the jumped-up little-"
"But you like the Weasleys, don't you, Potter?" Malfoy sneered. "Spend holidays there and everything, don't you? Can't see how you stand the stink, but I suppose when you've been dragged up by Muggles even the Weasley's hovel smells okay-"
Harry grabbed a hold of George to keep him from attacking Malfoy. It took the combined efforts of Angelina, Alicia, and Katie to stop Fred from leaping on Malfoy. Oh, he wanted to. He wanted to pound Malfoy into the ground. That was his home, it wasn't much but he was proud of it.
"Or perhaps, you can remember what your mother's house stank like, Potter, and Weasley's pigsty reminds you of it-"
Harry let go of George and together the two flew onto Malfoy in a flash. Fred immediately felt victorious, watching the two punch Malfoy over and over. "Harry! HARRY! GEORGE! NO!"
It was only then that Fred registered that Harry and George had attacked Malfoy in front of all the professors. That it was taking three people to restrain him. "Fred," Katie Bell said to him quietly, "you have to calm down." He nodded and took a deep breath, trying to control his anger.
"What do you think you are doing?" screamed Madam Hooch. She was staring in outrage at Harry and George. "I've never seen behavior like it- back up to the castle, both of you, and straight to your Head of House's office! Go! Now!"
Fred watched George and Harry march off of the pitch. Fred glanced at Malfoy. He had caused this trouble. For years, Ron talked about how evil Draco Malfoy was. He didn't fully believe his brother until that moment. He shook his head and started walking up to Gryffindor Tower to hear what was going to happen to Harry and George.
"Fred!" Angelina called after him. She looked worried. "You're not going to do something stupid, are you?" Fred shook his head.
"I'll be in Gryffindor Tower," he mumbled.
It wasn't until he reached Gryffindor Tower that he realized he was still carrying his broom and that he hadn't stopped to shower. What a mess he must have looked like. Shaking his head, he entered the Common Room.
Hermione jumped up and ran over to him, a worried expression on her face. "Are you alright?" she asked. He nodded tiredly.
"Harry and George back yet?"
"No," Hermione sighed. "It doesn't look good, Fred. Umbridge went in with McGonagall. See, there's this new decree-"
"Of course there is!" he shouted. "That woman is bent on destroying our lives! I hate her, Hermione. I honestly hate her." He couldn't meet Hermione's eyes as he said it.
"Fred, the decree-"
"I don't want to know," he told her, quieter now. "I just- I'm going to go wait for George." He turned and made his way up to his dormitory. Finally, he peeled himself out of his Quidditch uniform and showered.
When Fred returned to the dormitory, George was sitting on his bed looking grave. He was staring at Fred's broom sadly, like the world had just disappeared before his eyes. "What is it, Georgie?"
"Angelina may very well break up with me for this one," he tried to say jokingly, but his voice was hollow. "We've been banned from Quidditch for life, apparently."
"You and Harry?" Fred said in disbelief. How could McGonagall have allowed that?
"You, me, and Harry, Fred. Umbridge reckons that if Katie, Alicia, and Angelina weren't holding you back, you would've gone after Malfoy, too."
"I would have," Fred spat. "That ferret needs to be taught a lesson-"
"We can't even fly anymore, Fred," George told him, standing up. "She confiscated our brooms. We can't play Quidditch anymore..."
"She sent you back for my broom, didn't she?" George nodded sadly. They both glanced down at the broom. Six years they had given to Gryffindor's Quidditch team. They'd tried out when they were just second years and Fred loved every moment of it. He wasn't ready to see it go.
Fred picked up the broom and walked down to the Common Room, where McGonagall was standing, waiting for the broom. "I am sorry about this," she said. "It is not the punishment I would have chosen." Fred believed her. McGonagall turned and left the room.
"What's happening?" Angelina demanded to know. "What was the punishment you received?"
"Harry, Fred, and I have been give a lifetime ban on Quidditch and she's taken away our brooms."
"Banned," Angelina repeated in disbelief. "Banned. No seeker and no Beaters...What on earth are we going to do?" It didn't feel like they had won the match at all. It felt more like they had suffered the biggest loss they'd ever had. Perhaps, in a sense, they had.
"It's just so unfair," Alicia said. "I mean, what about Crabbe and that Bludger he hit after the whistle had been blown? Has she banned him?"
"No," Ginny answered miserably. "He just got lines, I heard Montague laughing about it at dinner."
"And banning Fred when he didn't even do anything!" Alicia said furiously.
"It's not my fault I didn't," Fred said. His usual look of ease gone and replaced with a very ugly look on his face. "I would've pounded the little scumbag to a pulp if you three hadn't been holding me back." He stared miserably at the floor.
"I'm going to bed," Angelina said. "Maybe this will all turn out to have been a bad dream...Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and find we haven't played yet..." Alicia and Katie followed her up to the girls' dormitories.
"Maybe it is all a dream," George grunted. "I'm off, too." Fred stood to follow George, when Hermione's hand fell on his arm.
"Fred...I know this is hard, but I mean, it is-"
"It's more than Quidditch, Hermione," he snapped. "I know you don't care for it, but couldn't you at least try to be considerate?" He left immediately for bed, not even stopping to assess how badly he may have hurt Hermione's feelings in the process.
Because he did. And as Fred left, Hermione couldn't help but wonder why it hurt so much that he'd snapped at her.
-----
Hermione was livid. What was it about this year that caused everything to go wrong? She agreed with Fred. She hated Dolores Umbridge. The woman was taking over Hogwarts and it seemed like there was nothing they could do to stop.
That vile woman only gave Hagrid a bad inspection because he was a halfbreed, and Umbridge despised halfbreeds. She didn't care who she was hurting, as long as she was in control. And not only that, but Malfoy had spoken like Hagrid had only ever shown them dangerous creatures. Certainly, he had, but it wasn't like the way he said. Malfoy was only attacked by Buckbeak because he was too stupid to follow Hagrid's directions. He had to be the center of attention.
Learning about the thestrals was interesting. Sure, Hagrid's teaching was unorthodox, but he clearly knew what he was talking about. Umbridge didn't have to speak to him like he was some sort of imbecile. He knew English, she didn't need to talk to him like he was three years old.
And Hermione knew that Hagrid was going to be put on probation, like Trelawney. And she wasn't sure how to fix it.
Sighing, she sat down in the Gryffindor Common Room and began knitting more hats and scarves for the House-elves. The hats, mittens, and scarves she had made before had been disappearing like crazy. She needed to keep making more. Plus, knitting calmed her down a little.
Fred sat down beside her. He hadn't spoken to her much since he'd snapped at her after the Quidditch game a week prior. She had missed his carefree company. He probably felt awful immediately after he snapped at her. But she was going to make him work for his forgiveness. "Are you here to apologize?" she asked him, not looking up at him.
"You know I'm sorry, Granger," he told her. Still, she didn't look up at him. "I'm really sorry, Hermione," he tried again. "I shouldn't have snapped at you. The world didn't end because I can't play Quidditch anymore. You were right."
"Sorry, I didn't hear that last part," she said, smiling at little.
"You were right," he said louder.
"That's what I thought." He chuckled a little before growing serious again.
"Hermione," he began, "with everything going on, you're still making hats for the house-elves?" She opened her mouth to, once again, explain how the treatment of house-elves was the same as that of slavery. But before she could, Fred continued. "I mean that in a good way. Even when things are as difficult, you still stand by what you believe in. You're still looking out for the house-elves. I think that's amazing. I don't know anyone else who would do that."
Hermione glanced up at Fred, startled by what he had said. No one had ever admired her for her stance on house-elves. They all laughed at her, including Fred. "Thank you, Fred," she finally said. He looked like he was battling with himself for a moment, like he wanted to ask her something, but decided not to at the last moment.
"I'll see you later, Granger," he finally said.
As she watched him walk away, Hermione recognized the feelings inside of her. She liked Fred Weasley. He was the only one to care about what she had to say about the house-elves and he could always make her laugh. She liked Fred Weasley. What on earth was Ron going to say when he found out?