Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is a genius; me, not so much. Anything you recognize from the HP universe is hers. I'm just a ripple in the tide. James8 is beta-ing for me, so thanks to her.
George peeked around the corner of the end of the hallway. An evil grin spread across his face as he watched the Slytherin team head out the front doors for quidditch practice. He checked his watch absently sticking his tongue out between his teeth and noted the time. He turned to go to the Gryffindor tower and came face to face with Hermoine Granger. She pursed her lips and looked at him suspiciously. He gave her an innocent look before straightening up and moving down the main stairs following the Slytherin team. He was pleasantly surprised she didn't follow or nag at him. He rolled his eyes.
The Slytherin team had reached the quidditch stadium and entered pulling the doors shut behind them. He grinned as he thought of them hexing the doors so if anyone tried to spy on them that poor person would have some interesting problems. George's grinned widened when he saw Fred sidle up to the door and use an extendable ear to listen to what spells they were using. As George neared his twin he noticed the same evil grin. He reached his brother and waited quietly leaning against the wall.
"They've used charms to hide what they are doing from the air and hexed the doors." Fred straightened and pulled the extendable ear from the doorway. "Not very smart though, they didn't conceal the crack under the door."
"No one ever said Slytherins were intelligent." George grinned. "Same time everyday. They're practicing a lot."
"Same spells everyday to. You'd think they would be more cautious." Fred grinned again. "Shall we teach them to be more cautious?"
"Yes, lets."
XxXxX
Fred and George were sitting in the corner of the common room under a window facing the quidditch pitch. Occasionally they would point in a certain direction, but it didn't help Ron, Harry, or Hermoine to figure out what they were up to. Ron and Harry really couldn't have cared less, but Hermoine had insisted they watch them.
"They're up to something I know it!" Hermoine pursed her lips at the twins. Fred noticed and waved at her. "Hrmph." She crossed her arms at the twins' amusement.
"When aren't they?" Ron tried to hide his smile. "At least you know it has nothing to do with you, but irritating you."
Harry looked between the twins and Ron. "How do you know that?"
"If it did, they would be looking over here and laughing. It's one of their biggest flaws. If they would look at you constantly and be laughing like that, then worry." Ron shuddered.
"Maybe it's a warning that they're planning something against you." Harry offered.
"Nah, it's a form of torture they use to let you know they're planning something against you." Ron closed his book ignoring the rest of his homework. Fred and George laughed again. "I think I'll go to bed." Ron glanced at his brothers and hurried upstairs.
"I know they're up to something." Hermoine refused to let it go.
XxXxX
George watched from the corner of the great hall as the Slytherin team made its way out to the quidditch field the next day. He checked his watch. Just as he was about to follow them, he noticed Hermoine staring at him. He waved innocently before heading out the front doors after the rival team. As he pulled the doors shut behind him George saw Hermoine speed walking after him. Several seconds later, he heard the front doors open and close. George fought the urge to confront Hermoine and instead led her around the side of the castle so she would not see what Fred was doing. He circled the castle and met up with a disgruntled Fred. To his amusement, Hermoine looked confused and unhappy that she had been tricked. George followed his brother into the castle and waved at Hermoine as he closed the front doors.
XxXxX
"We're going to have to do something about her." Fred looked across the library to where Hermoine sat pretending to read a book.
"We could hex her." George shrugged leaning back in his chair.
"That could be dangerous, you know how powerful she is rumored to be." Fred thought about the possible consequences. "We could talk to Ron about distracting her."
"The little troll would want to know what we were doing then." George argued.
"We could promise to leave him alone for a month." Fred glanced at Hermoine.
"What fun is that?" George hated to leave his brother alone.
"What if we include her and then get her for causing problems?" Fred sat back in his chair blatantly returning the stare coming from the other side of the library.
George scratched his head thinking over the possibilities. "What could we do?"
"Lets head to the common room and talk about it. If she follows us this time, it's a done deal." Fred stuffed his books into his bag and followed George out of the library. To their amusement they heard Hermoine rushing to put her things away and follow them to the common room. Evil grins spread across the identical faces and they looked back to make sure she knew what they were thinking.
Hermoine stopped when she saw the delighted grins of the twins.
XxXxX
Ron and Harry sat with Hermoine in the common room working on their homework. The boys had noticed a change in Hermoine as soon as she had come through the portrait hole. Ron had also heard Fred and George snicker, but had disregarded it. Now he wasn't so sure. The twins kept looking over at the small group. At first he had thought it might be him they were looking at. He had almost run up the stairs, but their gazes hadn't followed him. Ron had then thought it was Harry they were focused on, but he had gone upstairs to find something and the twins hadn't noticed. Ron realized they were watching Hermoine. To make things even more interesting, Hermoine seemed to know it and was trying to ignore them. She was doing the worst thing possible, trying to ignore the situation away. Ron didn't want to become the target, but wondered what Hermoine had done to make the twins concentrate on her.
"Um, Hermoine?" Ron tried not to make it obvious he was questioning her.
Hermoine jumped and turned to look at him.
"What did you do to get Fred and George's attention?" Ron was trying his best not to look too concerned.
"Nothing." Hermoine glared at him then turned back to her homework ignoring the snickers coming from the window. "I'm off to bed." Hermoine gathered her things quickly, "Night." She practically ran out of the common room.
Harry and Ron glanced at each either. Ron knew there was nothing they could do or say to get Hermoine to talk to them. He would just have to wait and see what would happen. He thought quietly that when it happened, whatever it was, it hopefully wouldn't be too bad.
XxXxX
George watched the Slytherin team head out the front doors. He looked around for Hermoine, but noticed she hadn't been watching him lately. He noted the time and began to stroll towards the library. George took his time and after reaching the library walked in-between the stacks to hide from Hermoine's view. Fred joined him several minutes later. They exchanged looks then headed over to Hermoine's table. She saw them coming, but tried to ignore them. Fred and George pulled chairs out of the table and sat down opposite of her, identical grins on their faces.
"Hermoine." Fred folded his hands in front of himself.
"We need to have a few words with you." George followed Fred's lead.
Hermoine chewed her lower lip, lowered her quill, and looked up at them. She nodded to them to continue.
"We have a plan." Fred informed her.
"But you seem to have a…"
"Problem with us…"
"Playing a game…"
"On the Slytherins."
It was a good thing Hermoine knew they finished each other's sentences or she would have felt very overwhelmed at their back and forth talking.
"I don't think you should be cheating by wanting to watch their practices is all." Hermoine defended her judgment.
The twins looked shocked at her assessment of the situation.
"Us?"
"Cheat!"
"We would never cheat!" This time the twins spoke in unison. "We're Gryffindor!"
Hermoine stopped them. "Then what are you doing spying on the Slytherin team?"
"We found out the Slytherins were spying on our team practices." Fred looked furious.
"We are simply returning the favor." George grinned again. "Only we thought we'd teach them a lesson."
"Wait a sec, how do you know they were spying on you?" Hermoine was trying to reason with them.
"Do you remember the Ravenclaw versus Slytherin quidditch match?" Fred saw through her question.
"Yes." Hermoine looked at them unsure of what to believe.
"The move the Slytherinsused to score to get ahead. The chasers all flying in a tight group to scramble the other team, that was a move we had been practicing for the Gryffindor match against Slytherin." George explained. "It was to split up the chasers and in the confusion get the quaffle. It worked great, but it was one of our secret moves."
"They stole a move from Gryffindor?" Hermoine looked like she was ready to hex the next Slytherin to walk by.
"Yep." The twins spoke in unison again.
"Those cheaters!" Hermoine stopped suddenly. "But what are you planning to do about me?"
"Nothing."
Hermoine looked shocked.
"We knew Ron would notice our actions towards you…"
"And he would tell you…"
"That is how we act…"
"Before playing a trick…
"On someone."
The twins' grins widened even more.
"So we thought it would be more fun…"
"To just make you a little nervous."
Hermoine looked relieved. "What are you going to do to the Slytherin team?"
"We thought we'd change the spells they put on the doors so when they unlocked their spells, they'd get blasted with ours." Fred explained.
"But we're having a problem with one of the one spells." George tapped his fingers on the table.
"It won't hurt them will it?" Hermoine was thinking of the twins' ideas of a joke.
They both shook their heads.
"What's the spell?" Hermoine demanded.
XxXxX
The next day in the great hall people were chatting at breakfast. When the Slytherin team walked in silence fell. They glared at the other students as they took their places at the Slytherin house table. Somebody muffled a laugh and the hall broke out into thunderous laughter. Even some of the fellow Slytherins were having a hard time trying not to laugh at their housemates' embarrassment.
Overnight the Slytherin team had grown long, thick, shaggy, lion's mane all around their faces and neck that was bright orange hair with gold streaks running through it. Each member of the team had a lion's tale growing under his robes and nothing they did would stop it from swinging back and forth. Across their faces in purple pustules was the word "CHEATER!"
Fred and George howled at the opposing team finally seeing their work accomplished. They had been more than pleased when Hermoine had added her own little spell to the plan. They looked over at where she sat between Ron and Harry, a pleased look on her face. No one noticed the wink she gave the twins except for a white haired wizard who sat at the teacher's table smiling because the cheaters had been caught.