All Tied Up by WeasleyForMe

Lavender and Parvati discover some juicy gossip about George and Hermione.

This was written for the Twin Exchange October Monthly Challenge! Prompt: necktie, Quote: "Come have a look at this!", Pairing: Hermione/George

Hermione yawned as she dressed for class on Friday. This was the fifth morning in a row that she was exhausted from staying up several hours past curfew, but she couldn't stop a small smile from finding its way to her lips. Her late-night studying for the O.W.L. exam had become a lot more enjoyable recently.

Yanking her Gryffindor sweater from its place on her curtained four-poster bed, she turned to try to tame her hair in the mirror which Lavender had finally vacated.

"Oh my goodness, Parvati, come have a look at this!" squealed Lavender. Hermione tried her best to ignore both of her roommates and their incessant chattering.

"Is that what I think it is?" Parvati gasped.

Unable to tune them out any longer, Hermione turned to see what they could possibly be making such a fuss about. Then she realized that both girls were looking at something on her bed, and her eyes widened in horror.

"Is that a boys' necktie in your bed, Hermione?" Lavender asked; she was trying to keep her voice calm, but the excitement of discovering new gossip clearly came through.

"No!" Hermione insisted, wishing her wand was a little closer so she could vanish the piece of crimson and gold fabric before any further damage was done.

"Yes it is, Hermione! Whose is it?" Parvati asked, inching her way toward the offending article of clothing that was partially wrapped up in Hermione's bedding.

"Nobody's!" said Hermione as she tried to plead with them to stop.

"You know, there's one way to find out who it belongs to," Lavender said with a smirk.

"That's right," added Parvati as she crept ever closer to her goal. "All Hogwarts school uniforms are tagged with the owner's initials!" she squealed and lunged for the tie.

Hermione dropped her hair brush and dove toward her bed, but she wasn't quick enough. Parvati pulled the necktie through Hermione's grasping fingers and tossed it to Lavender who then shrieked.

"It says G.W. on the tag! Oh my goodness, George Weasley has been in Hermione's bed!" screamed Lavender as she shared a shocked look with Parvati.

Both girls turned to find Hermione had blushed a deep shade of magenta. She knew there would be no use denying it now that they had seen his initials. "Stop yelling! You're not listening to me!"

"You know, I'll bet they've been snogging all over the school for weeks," said Parvati.

"Maybe months!" Lavender insisted.

"Please, just listen to me! We haven't been snogging at all!" Hermione pled. She knew that everyone in the entirety of Hogwarts would be gossiping about George and herself by lunchtime if she didn't straighten this out.

"Come on, Hermione. A little snogging is no big deal," said Lavender with a wink as she twirled George's tie around her fingers. "I used to sneak Zacharias Smith back to our Common Room all the time when we were dating. But I wish you'd tell us how you managed to get a boy up the girls' stairwell."

Hermione took a deep breath. "We've been using a complicated levitation spell-"

"So you've been inviting George up to your dormitory for awhile now?" Parvati asked, clearly impressed by Hermione's daring.

"We've only been studying!" Hermione insisted angrily.

"In your bed?" asked Lavender, casting a disbelieving look at Parvati. "Riiight. So is he a good kisser?"

Hermione let her head fall back and groaned at the ceiling. Didn't they realize that George would never possibly be interested in snogging her? "Studying! That's all we've been doing! George is using my O.W.L. material to review for his N.E.W.T.s. After the Library closes and the House Elves arrive to clean the Common Room, we've been coming up here and using a silencing charm so we don't disturb anybody."

"So you invited him here to study, and then he started to take off his clothes in your bed?" asked Parvati with a smirk.

Hermione wanted to scream but they were interrupted by a knock at their door. Parvati dashed across the room to answer it, and they all stood mutely at the sight of George Weasley.

"Good morning! Is Hermione up? I need to talk to her."

Parvati pulled the door open further, and George traipsed into the room, dressed for class but oddly enough missing his necktie.

"Hey, Hermione, I think I must have accidentally left my tie in your bed last night when I was getting comfortable. Oh, there it is!" George smiled brightly as Lavender held it out for him. "Thanks!"

"'Getting comfortable', eh? By the way, how did you get up here?" Lavender asked with a vicious smile.

"Hermione taught me a cool levitation charm," he said, winking at Hermione who in turn wished she could disappear. "It comes in handy when we decide we want to sneak back up here at night."

Parvati's eyes widened. "Yes, so we've heard. How long have you been sneaking up here exactly?"

George started to tie his tie for class as he said, "Oh, a few weeks I suppose. It's been really great to have some privacy with Hermione. I'm glad you girls understand."

"George, shut it! They think we've been…. you know…. doing things other than studying, in my bed!" Hermione hissed at him.

"Other things?" George asked, putting the finishing touches on his tie. Parvati and Lavender inched closer, excited to learn such juicy details.

"Yes," Hermione whispered. "Things like, like snogging! Things we would never be doing!"

George's face fell and his shoulders slumped. "Never? Blimey, Hermione, that hurts a bit. I thought I had been making some good progress recently, spending so much time studying with you. I was going to ask you to Hogsmeade with me next weekend."

"W-what?!" Hermione sputtered as her roommates' gazes bored into her face. "Are you serious?"

"Well, yeah, but if you're not interested…" But George was silenced as Hermione tugged on his necktie until his lips were very close to hers.

"I'm interested," she said with a smile before kissing him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and George held her close, smiling against her lips.

"They've obviously been doing this for weeks," Parvati said, scooping up her backpack, as George and Hermione's kisses grew in intensity.

"Yeah, Hermione is horrible at lying. Just wait until we tell Marietta and Susan and Hannah and…" Lavender said she they both left the snogging couple in their dormitory.

"So is that a 'yes' for Hogsmeade, then?" George asked with a grin.

She barely had a chance to answer before his lips returned to hers.

Hermione was vaguely aware that she would be late for class. She was also aware that most of the school would be under the impression that she and George had been secretly dating for ages. But, at the moment she really didn't care so much.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to vote starting October 20th!