Chapter 10: The Final Countdown

"Erm… it's at the end of the library professor, very rare specimen, very fine." Fred sniffed appreciatively, trying to make it sound as though he actually knew what a fine book would look like.

Seemingly the same thought had just occurred to Snape as he eyed Fred suspiciously.

"Oh gosh, is that the time?" Fred said suddenly as they passed a tall grandfather clock chiming the hour. "I really said I'd go and make sure my sister is okay. But if you just go straight to the end of the room you'll find it on the bottom shelf, er, big green thing it is." He gesticulated toward the gloomy end-section of the library.

"Weasley, this better not be one of your-"

"No time now! Really must dash!" George interrupted cheerfully as he sprinted out of the room.

Hmmm. Snape stepped forward cautiously, carefully eyeing the room – he was damned if he'd let a Weasley get the better of him. Yes, he could detect some sort of movement at the end of the room. Slowly, quietly, he edged forward until he reached the poorly lit corner the Weasley boy had pointed to and discovered, sure enough, a fine leather-bound emerald book sitting on the bottom shelf. He bent down to blow the dust of the spine to – owwwwwwwwww!

"What the devil?" He spun around so quickly he almost took Tonks' eye out with the point of his wand. In the event, that may have been preferable to the resulting damage issued from a pissed off and startled Slythie…

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Hermione stayed in the Weasley kitchen a few minutes longer before following Ron, trying to decide what she would tell George. He would not be happy that she had handed the diary over to Draco, but then what else was a girl to do trapped in a werewolf-infested forest late at night without a wand? She was sure he would understand her pragmatism. With resolve, she entered into the fireplace and shouted out her desired destination.

It took her a while to find George, huddling in a corner in a downstairs room giggling with Fred.

"…so I've left them to it and all we can hope is that nature takes its course." Fred grinned, taking a large swig from his tumbler.

"George?" Hermione tapped him tentatively on the shoulder.

"Oh." George paused, furrowing his brow slightly as he swivelled his head round. "It's you."

"Ten out of ten for observation," Hermione replied dryly, stepping between Fred and George. "There's something I need to tell you – alone," she emphasised, shooting a cold glare at Fred.

"Fine, fine." George gestured at his brother to leave them, before turning back to Hermione. "What is it?" he asked somewhat brusquely, suddenly assaulted with the mental image of Hermione kissing Fred all over again for some reason. He shook his head quickly.

"Well, the diary's been handed in." Hermione couldn't quite manage to keep the triumphant tone out of her voice, imaging George's surprise and admiration.

"You didn't just disturb Tonks now, did you?"

"What's that got to do with anything? I gave it back to Malfoy when he arrived at the burrow demanding I return his property," Hermione huffed. "George, I have just spent the last few hours traipsing around a forest playing host to a Werewolf convention with Draco Malfoy. Did you even notice I'd gone, been, well, kidnapped!" Her voice rose shrilly as she continued. "What did you think these were doing in my hair?" She gestured to the broken twigs and dry leaves entwined in her tangled hair.

"Well, I don't like to judge your fashion statements," George replied somewhat defensively as he took a distancing step backward.

"George, I was nearly ripped apart by a pack of ravenous Werewolves, does that mean anything to you?"

"Well, I guess I, well…" George blinked rapidly. "Wait – what was Malfoy doing in my house?"

"Yeah! Why don't you ask her what she wasdoing with Malfoy in our house?" Ron said angrily as he entered the small dining room.

"What?" Hermione turned around distractedly to face their new companion.

"Okay then," George said slowly as he looked from one red face to another. "Hermione, what were you doing with Malfoy in our house?"

"He was-"

"He was coming to visit her because she invited him to because she's been seeing that git," Ron garbled, jabbing an accusing finger at Hermione.

"Oh Ron, you idiot! How can you get it so wrong?" She took a deep breath and began embarking on a lengthy explanation encompassing her journey from their front garden to the forest and back. "…and that's why it looked like I was kissing that slimeball, when really all that had happened was that you chose the exact moment to walk in that we Apparated into the kitchen holding on to each other."

There was a long pause as a puzzled look descended over Ron's face. "But why did you end up in that forest in the first place?"

"I told you." Hermione reddened. "It was, er, incompatible wands; a Slytherin touching a Gryffindor's wand. It can happen in some cases." She looked down at her feet quickly.

Just then they heard a loud clattering on the stairs accompanied by a strange, wailing noise. "By dose! Whad have you done to by nose?"

The three of them exchanged puzzled glances before Fred rushed into the room, colliding clumsily into the back of Ron.

"Sorry bro', but you'll never guess what's happened; Snape's only gone and hexed Tonks with a point blank curse! I think we Weasleys better make ourselves scarce." With that, he grabbed the back of Ron's shirt and sprinted out of the room again.

"What?" Hermione turned to face George with a puzzled frown on her face.

"Ah."

"What do you mean 'ah'? What's going on?" The music from the kitchen suddenly stopped so that Tonks' wailing could be heard clearly amid a clamour of angry voices and a sharp order from Kingsley evicting Ginny from the room. "I want to know what's happening," she demanded. "Come on, we can use one of your extendable ears."

"I don't know if that's such a good id-" But before he could finish Hermione had grabbed him by the sleeve and was pulling him toward the kitchen door, where Ginny was already crouching down with her head cocked next to the key hole.

"Shhh!" she hissed. "I think Snape is trying to explain himself."

George quickly unwound one of his extendable ears and they huddled around the end until it picked up the voices.

"But what were you thinking, Severus, hexing a poor, unarmed girl like that?" Professor McGonagall said sharply.

"I was startled! Any fool knows not to sneak up on a fully-trained Wizard like that," Snape huffed in reply. "Look, is she going to be alright?"

"Hmm, I'm sure Mungo's will be able to fix her up – eventually. Honestly, anyone would think you'd never had your bottom pinched before!"

There was an awkward silence in the room. Ginny let out a barely concealed giggle.

"Wait, what's this?" There was a sudden tug on the extendable ear.

"Time to scraper I think!" George abandoned the ear as the three of them quickly scattered from the hallway. Ginny dived behind a floor-length curtain while George and Hermione searched desperately for somewhere to hide. "In here, in here!" George hissed as he pulled Hermione into a coat wardrobe. Despite the thickness of the wooden panelling they could still hear the screaming of Mrs. Black's portrait which Ginny had unwittingly set off, and the resultant scolding from her mother.

"Phew, close shave!" George whispered from somewhere nearby as Hermione felt the warmth of his breath against the side of her face.

"George," Hermione said slowly. "Call it a hunch, but did that little scene there have anything at all to do with you and Fred, perchance?"

There was a pause. "We were just trying to spread some Christmas cheer. We thought they'd make a lovely couple in this time of giving and receiving."

"You tried to play matchmaking with Snape?" Hermione spluttered. "What on earth for?"

"We thought he might be lonely," said George sulkily. "We didn't know then that he was just plain sociopathic. I mean, nobody wants to be on their own at Christmas, right?"

The din outside was starting to abate slightly; seemingly someone had managed to draw the curtain back over the portrait again.

"You once told me you were lonely." Hermione reminded him, her heartbeat suddenly quickening.

"It's pretty difficult to be lonely when you've got a twin - especially one which you do everything with."

"But George, that's your choice, you don't have to. Why don't you try to do something by yourself, for yourself?"

"I tried that, remember?" George shot back. "But it seems even you didn't really want that – everyone wants me to just be one half of the Weasley twin monster."

There was a long silence when all Hermione could hear was the long shallow breathing of George. The space inside the dark wardrobe suddenly seemed to constrict as the walls pressed closer in. Then, suddenly, Hermione stamped down hard on George's foot.

"Ye-ow! What the hell was that for?" George hissed.

"For… for being you! For being idiotic! I may well be the only once who's seen you for who you are, just as George Weasley and not the counterpart to Fred, and now you're turning on me?"

"Yeah well, didn't stop you sampling the delights of Fred as well, did it?"

"I didn't! How many times do I have to tell you that I thought Fred was you and I made a mistake? It doesn't mean I wanted to kiss Fred. And I'll prove it," Hermione said resolutely. She took a deep breath. "George, this is for you, and you only." She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him toward her, planting a hard, loud kiss on his stunned lips. "There," she said primly, before charging out of the wardrobe and into the empty hall, leaving a stunned George to slowly clamber out many minutes later in a confused daze. He patted his jacket pocket thoughtfully. Yes, maybe it was time to sort things out once and for all.

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Christmas day at the Weasley's was about as different an affair from the orderly regime imposed by her parents as one could imagine. No deferral of present opening until the afternoon, no gentle preservation of Aunt Maude's 'pretty' wrapping paper by carefully peeling off the sellotape, and – for once in her life – no bloody pair of socks! Instead, Hermione awoke early in the morning and followed the noise trail to the kitchen where a scene of utter carnage met her eyes as layers of multicoloured wrapping paper scrunched underneath her slippered feet.

"Come on, your presents are over here!" Ginny took Hermione's hand and led her over to a respectable looking pile before returning to her own frenzied unwrapping.

George sidled up discreetly amid the melee. "Here," he said, gently thrusting a small package into Hermione's hand. "I wanted you to have this to, erm, make up for being such a git." He reddened as Hermione accepted the gift and slowly peeled a corner open. "It's nothing really, just, erm, just something I saw and thought of you."

"But George, it's beautiful!" Hermione gasped as she opened the small velvet jewellery box to reveal the sapphire studded broach that Ginny had admired so much in Ottery St. Catchpole. "I don't know what to say."

"Say," George took a deep breath. "Say you'll be my girlfriend, Hermione."

"You idiot!" Hermione smiled, before throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him in front of a shocked Weasley clan.

THE END bows

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