Christmas Break at Hogwarts
December 25, 1993
Hermione sat alone in the Common Room, knees pulled up to her chest as she stared into the fire. Her Ancient Runes textbook sat upon on the couch next to her, but she couldn't focus on it, so she'd shoved it to the side a long time ago.
"What are you doing down here by yourself, Granger?" George asked.
Hermione jumped, so lost in thought that she didn't hear him pop up behind her.
"Frighten easily, Hermione?" Fred said with amusement. He rounded the couch and picked up her forgotten book. "But yeah, why are you down here by yourself? And studying no less? It's Christmas. You should be having fun."
"I'm not studying, not really, anyway." She sighed and rested her chin on her knees.
Fred sat next to her, and George perched on the arm of the couch. "Where are Ron and Harry?" George asked.
"Upstairs, I think. They're avoiding me."
"What happened?"
She sighed again. "They're mad at me. Harry got a Firebolt from some anonymous person, and I thought it was suspicious. I thought it would be smart to alert McGonagall, but she confiscated it, and—"
"A Firebolt?" Fred interrupted. "And McGonagall confiscated it? No wonder they're both mad at you."
Hermione whipped her head toward him in time to see George elbow him and give him a pointed look.
"What?" He asked, glaring at him incredulously. "It's a Firebolt. Imagine how we'd do in the next match with Harry on a Firebolt."
She did her best to fix him with a glare, but she didn't quite have the energy. "If it were Ron, and a mass-murder was on the loose trying to kill him, and he received an anonymous broom, what would you do? Would you risk it and let him ride it—knowing it could be hexed by someone trying to kill him—or alert someone who can test it?"
Fred turned his head to look at her, and to his credit, he looked apologetic. "I guess that's a fair point."
"Yeah, Mum would kill us if we let him ride it. Harry, too, for that matter," George added.
"Exactly. But they don't see it that way," she said, trying and failing to keep her voice even.
Fred's face softened, and he shared a quick look with George before tentatively throwing an arm around her shoulder. She stiffened for a moment at the unusual gesture but relaxed, deciding it wasn't an unwelcome one.
"Buck up, Hermione," Fred said gently. "They won't be mad for long. Ron's never been mad at us for longer than a few days, and we've done way worse."
"Yeah, remember when you turned his teddy bear into a spider?" George laughed.
"Is that why he's terrified of spiders?" Hermione smacked Fred lightly in the stomach. "You two are the worst."
Fred jumped and protectively guarded at his stomach with his other arm. "I didn't do it on purpose! I was five, and he broke my toy broomstick. It was just some accidental magic."
"Well, I guess that's better, but still," she said as she fought a smile.
"The point is that if Ron can forgive me for giving him a lifelong case of arachnophobia, then he will forgive you for simply trying to protect your friend," Fred promised.
"And Harry isn't the type to hold a grudge for that long, either," George added.
Hermione sighed, then let herself give them a small smile. "Thanks, you two. I actually feel a bit better."
"No problem." Fred grinned and gave her a little squeeze before finally removing his arm from around her shoulders. He shared another look with George, who nodded as if they were having a silent conversation, then turned back to her. "Now, we were going to play a round of exploding snap, if you were interested."
Hermione's smile widened. She wasn't quite sure why Fred and George were being so nice to her all of a sudden. Maybe it was just the Christmas spirit, but she wasn't going to question it too much. "Yeah, that would be nice. Thank you."