Chapter 6

After Harry left to meet up with Hagrid Hermione was happy to see that the common room was already nearly empty. Only the twins were sitting in front of the fireplace. But they didn’t seem to have noticed that Hermione was still sitting in the corner of the common room. As they started to talk loudly.
“We have to talk to him tomorrow you know. He still hasn’t answered any of our letters.” Fred said.
“Yeah I know, but we have to make sure we don’t scare him off again.” George replied.
“Or we just catch him at a place he can’t escape from us.” Fred said.
Hermione was confused she had no idea who the twins were talking about. For a few minutes no one said anything.
“I’m going to bed are you coming too?” Fred asked his Twin as he got up.
“No, you go ahead. I will come in a few minutes.” George replies. As soon as Fred left the common room Hermione heard George say, “I know you are sitting in the corner Hermione, you probably wonder what me and Fred talked about.”
Hermione was shocked as she had thought the Twins didn’t notice her. She got up and went over to the sofa George was sitting on. She sat down on the other end of the sofa and said, “I though you forgot I was sitting there I really didn’t mean to eavesdrop on you both, really, I mean you two talked pretty loudly so it wasn’t really my fault.”.
“It’s okay Hermione. I don’t mind at all. Maybe you can help us. Do you remember how me and Fred bet our whole money that Ireland would win but Krum would be the one to catch the Snitch?” George said.
“Yeah, I do” Hermione said.
“Well Bagman never gave us the Money he owns us. We have written him several times, but he just won’t answer us. On Halloween he totally ignored us. Fred hopes that we will have a chance to talk to him tomorrow, but I don’t think that he will talk to us.” George replied.
“I’m really sorry George but I don’t think I can help you in this matter.”
They sat there in silence for some time then Hermione looked at her watch and saw that it was nearly time for Harry’s meeting with Sirius, so she said, “Let’s go to bed, we have to be well rested to support Harry tomorrow.”.
Her and George got up and went to their rooms.

Hermione was so relieved when Harry had finally caught the golden egg. She saw how Ron’s face changed throughout Harrys first task.
“You believe him now?” She asked and he just nodded his mouth still a bit opened in disbelieve. “Come on let’s go to harry it seemed like the Horntail got him a bit. I want to see how he’s doing.” Hermione said and pulled Ron through the cheering crowd.
At the champions tent they nearly ran into Harry.
“You were amazing Harry, you did it!” Hermione nearly screamed as she was so happy. But Hermione saw that Harry was looking at Ron and at her. Ron said very seriously “Harry – I believe you now. Whoever put your name into the Goblet wants to see you dead.”.
“Caught on, have you” Harry said coldly.
Hermione was looking from one to the other. She was nervous. Maybe Ron would mess it up again and say something that would upset Harry or the other way around. But Hermione could see how much both missed each other. As Ron carried on apologizing to Harry, Hermione started to tear up.
“You two are so stupid” she said before her Tears started falling down and she hugged them both and then walked away.

She was sure both wanted to spend some alone time after they hadn’t talked for so long. As she went around the corner of the tent she nearly ran into Viktor.
“Oh, Hello Herm-own ninny, you are okay?” He said and pointed at her tears.
“Hello Viktor, yes, I’m okay these are happy tears you know. I was very pleased to see how well you mastered your first Task.” Hermione said a bit nervous whilst she tried to dry her tears.
“Thank you” Viktor replied.
“I think you should go they will give out the points soon.” Hermione said. She went on to look for Ginny.

After Hermione, Harry and Ron came back from the Owlery the Gryffindors were still partying. As they entered the cheers for Harry got loud again. There was a mountain of cake and a lot of Pumpkin juice and even a bit of Butterbeer. Hermione sat down with Harry and Ron after they picked up something to eat. The other Gryffindors wanted Harry to open the golden egg. When he opened the egg Hermione heard the worst sound ever.
“Close it” nearly all Gryffindor screamed at Harry.
Harry closed at for a minute the Gryffindor common room fell into silence. Fred was the first one to move and speak again.
“Want a jam tarte Hermione?” He asked her.
She looked at him sceptically as he held out a tray to her. “They are fine” George said who now was standing next to his twin brother. “We haven’t done anything to them. It’s just the custard creams you’ve got to watch.” Fred added.
Neville, who had just bitten into a custard cream, chocked and spat it out.
“I’m joking Neville.” Fred said and left the Tray at Hermione’s table and went over to Neville.
Hermione took one as George sat down next to her.
“Did you get all this from the kitchens, George?” She asked George.
“Yep, they practically throw the stuff at you. They’re dead helpful…they will give you anything if you ask for it.” George said with a wide grin on his face.
“And how do you get there” Hermione now asked innocently.
She really wanted to see them. Maybe she could convince them of S.P.E.W if she had a chance to talk to them.
“Do you want to convince them that they need payment and stuff Hermione? You know that they are really happy at their job?” Geroge said as he looked right through her.
“How could they?”
“Come on Hermione I will show you if you promise me to not talk to them about payment and their rights. At least not when I’m around.”
Hermione was surprised that George was willing to show her the kitchen even though he knew why she wanted to visit it.
“You would do that?” Hermione said with a smile on her face.
“Sure” George replied and got up. “Let’s go now Harry and Ron are talking about the first task again and Fred still is talking to Neville.” He added and took Hermione by the hand to lead her through the common room.

After they crawled through the hole, he took her hand again. Hermione didn’t notice until they stood in front of a painting of a bowl of fruit and George had to let go of her hand to tickle the pear. The pear started to giggle and turned into a door handle. Geroge opened the door and gestured her to enter first. She did and was a bit surprised to see the four house tables. She figured that it’s a exact replica from the Great hall over them. There were a lot of elves strolling around. They were cleaning up after the dinner that had just finished. For a moment Hermione just stood there her mouth a bit opened.
“You see now, do they look unhappy to you Hermione?” Geroge who stood behind her asked her.
She turned around to him and hugged him.
“Thank you, George” she said as she quickly let go of him.
She was just so happy to finally see under what circumstances the house-elves were working and the reuniting of Harry and Ron still made her a bit over emotional. George’s face was nearly as red as his hair. Hermione turned around as a house elf came to them and said, “Master George, can we do anything for you? Have you forgotten anything?”.
“Oh no, we have everything thank you. I’m just showing my friend the kitchen. But we are leaving now.” George said.
He must have seen Hermione’s look on her face. She was about to talk to the elf about S.P.E.W. George whose face was back to its normal colour softly pushed Hermione back into the corridor.
“Come on Hermione we have to get back to the party or people will notice that we’ve been missing for the last ten minutes.”.
Hermione was a bit sad that they were leaving that fast, but she already made plans to return tomorrow after school, so she followed George back up to the Gryffindor common room.
“Thank you again, George. I appreciate your effort to show me the kitchen even when you are against S.P.E.W.” Hermione said as they turned into the corridor of the fat lady.
“No problem, Hermione.” He said before he told the Fat Lady the password and entered the common room.
Hermione followed him and once again no one seemed to have noticed that they came back. As Hermione sat back down next to Harry and Ron they were still talking about the first task. She looked over to George who was standing next to his twin brother to help him taking in orders for the Canary Creams. She still was a bit surprised that he was willing to show her the kitchen. It was nearly one in the morning when Hermione, Harry and Ron finally went to bed. As Hermione was on her way up she ran into Ginny.
“Hello Hermione, why did you leave with George before?” the red headed girl asked her with a raised eyebrow. Hermione was startled to hear this question as she was sure that no one had seen her leave or enter the common room with George.
“Me... and George?” she stuttered.
“Yeah, I thought I saw you leave with him.” Ginny replied.
“Uhm yeah he showed me the kitchen.” Hermione said after a short pause.
“Oh, okay, well then good night, Hermione.” Ginny said and went into her room.
“Good night” Hermione replied and went up to her own room.