All Bets Are On...

Even the frigid morning air couldn't keep the students from turnining out in droves to see the Quidditch match. Why, it could have been pouring rain in torrents, and they still would have showed up to cheer on their respective teams. They always did, rain or shine, and today was no exception. Coats turned up, mittens and hats pulled on, and with red noses from the cold, the whole of Hogwarts' student body (and a good deal of the professors as well) were present.

Lee was yacking into his microphone, taking the opportunity of McGonagall not being present (she was just finishing up her reprimanding of the ghosts that had started last night) to mutter several biased, to say the least, things concerning Gryffindor. Not that he didn't do so at every match anyway but with the teacher gone, he could mutter several more "comments" about Slytherin in addition. Comments like, "What's Marcus Flint riding? A mop?" and "There goes Draco Malfoy! An excellent seeker, indeed..when compared with a festering tree stump."

Of course, Lee was whispering all this-whispering, but loud enough so that only the Gryffindors up in the stands; Neville, Ginny, Hermione, Lavender, Parvati, Seamus, and the lot, could hear him. Then with a sharp piercing shriek from Madame Hooch's whistle (sounded comparable to Hermione's yelling when she got really mad, thought Ron, his mind still on the fight they had had) the game began.

And so did the pranks. No, for once, NOT Fred and George-their lack of such could be blamed on their weekly supply of dungbombs from Zonko's arriving late-but from the ghosts. Ghosts that had spent the better half of the night snoozing as McGonagall admonished them, waking up every time her voice raised and then sinking back into stupor once again.

But McGonagall had made what for her was quite possibly the only unwise move of her career. She let the ghosts off with just a reprimanding. Furthermore, though she took Peeves' and Myrtle's wands-who wouldn't after seeing all calamities (the ghosts called it fun) they had caused?-McGonagall forgot to take Nick's. Actually, not so much forgot as Nick hid it as soon as Professor McGonagall had spotted the three ghosts next to the Gryffindor Common Room. Though, how Nick managed to hide such an object when he was transparent was never apparent (not that either Myrtle or Peeves was all that keen to know.)

At last free of McGonagall, the ghosts were hidden underneath the bleachers, having a hasty chat. A hasty chat that would give the Gryffindor team, including Harry and Ron, who was now quite the Quidditch player (Lavender would argue literally and figuratively) enough time to win the Quidditch match before the "misfortunate accident" occurred.

Waving his wand from underneath the bleachers and poking quite a few of the students sitting down as he did so, Nick watched in satisfaction as the result of his work took place. The game now over and Gryffindor having won, the Gryffindors in the stands were going wild with delight, screaming, shouting, and just generally acting like a gigantic swarm of fans at a football match, though only Dean would have made such a comparison between the two.

Amid all the hubub and excitement, Hermione made her way down the bleachers to Harry and Ron in the field to congratulate them. What transpired next was nothing like congratulations. The words "hey, good job, you two" was barely out of Hermione's mouth before the found herself kissing Harry. Not one of those stupid, bend you over, ankle popping kind of kisses, it was more akin to two birds accidentally bumping beaks. It lasted for all of one second before both pulled away and looked at each other in shock.

Hermione was not so much in shock as Harry was. She had certainly had enough wierd events happen against her will yesterday to know that something like this was coming. Not wanting to examine Harry's face-because she was sure it must have been every bit as embarrassed as hers and she didn't want to make it any more so-looked instead at the throng of exuberant Gryffindors, jumping up and down in the field.

Luckily, none of them seemed to have noticed a thing, they were too caught up in the results of the game. Uhoh. Make that none of them noticed except for Ron, who was staring at them both with more shock than either of them had combined.

******

Still underneath the bleachers, Myrtle glared at Nick.

"You, you..that is soo unfair! We never said anything about making them kiss!"

In a sudden movement, she grabbed the wand from Nick and waved it at Lavender, who in response to the spell, walked right over and kissed Ron-not that she wouldn't have on her own, based on her already exsisting feelings.

"There." Myrtle smiled. "Now Hermione will be jealous and he'll be jealous and then they'll-"

"-Argue for two hours straight?" guessed Peeves.

"Probably. Which leads to kissing and making up."

Nick shook his head at Myrtle's doubtful strategy. Hermione and Harry, Hermione and Harry, Hermione and Harry he thought fiercely.

*******

Ron and Lavender broke it off just as fast as Hermione and Harry, though from the expression on Lavender's face, that wasn't all her doing. Ron didn't waste a second in walking purposely off towards Hermione to apologize..and intending to tell her something else, as well. So was Harry.

And George hadn't yet given up on her either. Or wouldn't if she perhaps followed him as she skulked off to the library (he too had seen the kiss between her and Harry.) But none of them need have said a thing-for Hermione had already made up her own mind and would act accordingly.

*****Ending #1-Harry********

Harry watched as Ron came up to him, but Ron was not the one he needed to address first. He searched for the right words to say, never having been who had them in abudant supply. "Uh..Herm..I didn't mean to-"

"I know."

I wanted to, thought Harry to himself, even though that kiss hadn't exactly been of his own free will.

Any further conversation was cut off by Ron. "Honestly," he panted out of breath, "that wasn't what it looked-"

"Oh yes it was." Neither Ron nor Harry could tell from Hermione's voice if she was upset or simply being matter of a fact.

"No it wasn't!" Ron looked at Harry apologetically. "Can't you at least give me the benifit of a doubt? You don't see me going on about, well, you know, do you?"

Hermione's and Harry's guilty faces showed they knew what Ron was talking about all too well. Why, thought Hermione unhappily. Why does Ron have to be understanding now of all times? An angry Ron was dangerous, but a reasonable Ron was ten times worse..and ten times as stubborn, not good for what Hermione was prepared to tell him-for she knew what he was going to try and tell her.

"'Mione, can I talk to you alone for a moment?"

"No," said Hermione firmly. "I know what you are going to ask, and it's no both ways."

Harry, taking the hint that this conversation really didn't involve him, went off a ways. Ron turned the color of a poppy. He didn't look too upset, only confused. It was that that convinced Hermione that the choice she had made was a good one, even if it turned out to be not the right one-hey, whoever said life had to be composed of all the right choices, especially when you were only fifteen?

"But why?" asked Ron.

"You don't like me," stated Hermione, fairly sure of herself. "You like Lavender."

Harry knew he shouldn't be listening to all of this, but really, it was hard not to when you were only a few feet away-and besides, something inside him warned him against moving out of hearing distance altogether (his conscience must have taken after Lavender's.)

"Listen, just because of one stupid signature in a book--"

"It was written in your favorite color."

"What has that got to do with anything?"

Hermione gave a half smile and shrugged. "You're right. Absolutely nothing. Except that it's her favorite color as well."

Ron rolled his eyes. "This is ridiculous! What, because we have one thing in common, we're suddenly supposed to be destined for each other?"

"There's more to it than that."

"That kiss back there with Lavender didn't mean-"

Hermione cocked her head to one side and studied Ron. "You know, you always were a terrible liar. I've known that ever since you made your first excuse for forgetting your homework."

"Well, it worked, didn't it?" said Ron defensively.

"Only because Professor Binns was napping standing up again and thought you were Remus come to give the gnome pork."

Hermione willed herself to look straight at Ron, which was not an easy thing to do given the circumstances. "You do like her, you're just too stubborn to admit it."

"I am no-!" Ron suddenly broke off in the middle of his statement. "You really don't mind?"

"No."

"You sure? I mean, 'Mione, you deserve someone-"

"Ron," broke in Hermione impatiently. "We're only fifteen, not twenty. This isn't the end of the wolrd. Now go catch up with Lavender before it's too late to find her."

"I will always like you more than Lavender-"

"-Oh, of course, as a friend. Who else you going to argue with? And please don't say your lifelike figurine of the star of the Chudley Cannons."

Ron grinned. "Well, there's always Harry-"

Harry, who had gotten fed up with waiting for the conversation to finish, walked back over just in time to catch the last two comments.

"Appreciate the offer, but I want to have my hearing stay intact, thanks all the same."

"Ron! Hey, Ron!" Lavender could be heard yelling over the crowd. Ron gave Harry and Hermione a sheepish smile.

"I think that's my cue to leave."

After Ron had gone off to talk to Lavender (who's worried look was slowly changing into a smile as she did so) Harry turned to Hermione.

"Right. Need I restate again that Ron likes you?"

"He doesn't," said Hermione, wondering who would try to convince her of the fact next...Dumbledore himself?

"He just thinks he does," she finished, looking at her toes instead of Harry and trying to curb a grin that was coming to her face from who knew where for who knew what reason, though Hermione could more than hazard a guess as to both.

"Oh. In that case." Harry took a deep breath, feeling as if he was preparing himself for the World Quidditch Cup. "Can I talk to you in private for a minute?"

The words were nearly identical to Ron's, and Harry mentally cursed his inaptitude. Gah. Why did he always have to get so..awkward..when it came to things like this?

Hermione, however, didn't seem to notice or mind, and she smiled at Harry's use of the word "private". "Among a crowd of people?"

"Why not? I have somewhere no one will bother us." Harry lead her towards the underside of the bleachers (not right next to where the ghosts were conviently hiding out, thank goodness!)

"So.." started Hermione.

"So..."

"What did you want to talk about?"

"Well, you see, it's-" began Harry, happy to be able to say the words he had been planning at last, even if not quite in the way he had planned.

Two very loud, obnoxious giggles interrupted Harry. Giggles that could only belong to two loud, obnoxious (at the moment, anyway) people; Padma and Parvati.

"I think we've got an audience," Harry whispered to Hermione.

"Obviously so," she whispered back. "How are we supposed to get rid of them? The only thing that diverts their attention are gossip and boys. And I can't very well wave you in their faces, can I?"

"I have a plan." And Harry whispered the rest of his plan in Hermione's ear, even quieter than he had been whispering previously. She nodded her agreement and the "plan" went into action.

"Hermione, how could you? Cheating on me with Ron! I'm so devastated, I think I'll go jump off a cliff."

"No, no Harry! Don't! Throw yourself into the lake instead. I don't want any memory of the grief you have caused me!"

"I will! And just so you know, you broke my heart and I will never be the same again-"

"That's obvious when you're threatening suicide. Kind of hard to be the same when you're a corpse," whispered Hermione and Harry, realizing his error, quickly tried to cover it up by continuing.

"Errm..I mean, it's all your fault! I love you!"

"Right," said Harry, switching to his normal voice and feeling a bit abashed at what he had just gone through with. "I think that got rid of them. Can't believe they fell for it." His pale face turned slighty red as he looked at Hermione. It was now or never.

"Umm..'Mione? That last part was true."

"You love me?" asked Hermione, then thought that she should have simply said liked. The term love, well, just seemed a bit too strong when you weren't yet out of school.

Harry's face went even redder. "Umm..ermm.."

Love is never an easy word for a guy to say. Especially not when you're fifteen and that word is more likely to be associated with your favorite Quidditch team. But Harry needn't have worried over what to say-Hermione solved that matter when she gave him a tentative kiss. Of course, she and him were both nervous over the whole thing (plus Hermione was still dead tired from being up so late the night before) so she ended up kissing his ear. Accidents happen.

Harry smiled at her. "We need to work on your aim."

"And yours." Hermione smiled back, a becoming mischievous glint to her eye. "Practice makes perfect." Cliches never seemed to sound cliche in this type of situation.

"Good thing, that. I've got much to look forward to in the future, then." And Harry kissed her again-luckily no ear was involved this time. Afterwards, it was a magical moment. He stared at her. She stared at him...

and hit her head on the bleachers as she moved backwards a step, causing her to fall face first towards the grass. Harry leaned forward to catch her and save her fall, but succeeded only in falling over himself as he too bumped his head. So they both toppled over, her in his arms. The perfect beginning for the perfect couple, right?

And a yard or so away (not so far away as to not see what was going on, though) Myrtle keeled right over beside Nick and Peeves. Things had not gone the way she had thought they would. She had lost the bet-and her chances of joining stalker's anonymous (Harry would have been quite "fun" to follow around.)

"Pimply wimply fainted!" said Peeves, barely hiding his laugh behind a pretend distressed look.

"Get the smelling salts," stated Nick.

"No, better yet, get Lee," said Peeves.

That was it. Him and Peeves both broke off in guffaws while Nick conjured a water bucket with his wand and dumped it over Myrtle's head.

"My complexion is ruined!" she wailed.

"Always has been," muttered Peeves.

Ignoring him, Nick beamed. "Hah! That'll show you to respect my wise choice. Didn't I tell you they would get together? Welll, didn't I?"

Myrtle rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't respect you if you dressed like Fudge himself."

"What about Dumbledore?"

"Even less. I still have reoccurring nightmares of him in violet."

"Agreed," said Peeves seriously. "Violet is so not his color."

"No, not violet clothes."

Nick looked at Myrtle in shock. "You DIDN'T!"

"Didn't do what?"

Nick shook his head at Myrtle. "Honestly, spying on the headmaster in his PJS. That's awful!"

"No,no, not pjs!"

Peeves snickered. "Loungerie?"

Myrtle glared. "No, I'm talking about violet suntan lotion."

Nick glared right back accusingly at Myrtle. "How would you know about that? Did you follow Dumbledore to Bermuda last summer?"

"I..ermm..well.. I wanted to get a tan?" lied Myrtle.

"STALKER!" yelled Peeves.

"Oh shut up. At least I'm not the one with pictures of McGonagall hidden underneath my mattress."

Peeves was horrified. "But how--? I mean, neve rmind."

"You know, there are more couples we could pair off," said Nick, bringing the subject back to the bet as he collected his money from a crestfallen Myrtle and Peeves. "How about Parvati and Seamus?"

"Nah, he's dead gone on Padma," said Myrtle.

"I bet you twenty galleons he likes Parvati and in addition, another ten that he asks her to the Yule Ball."

"I'll do more than that. Not only do I say that he and Padma go to the Yule Ball together, I bet another ten galleons that five years from now, him and Padma end up marrying," said Myrtle.

Nick rolled his eyes. "I doubt it."

"You're on!" said Peeves. " I bet moony swoony will go with shamrock boy within a month."

"Wait a minute, we don't have any money left to bet with..." began Myrtle.

"How about toilet paper?" asked Myrtle brightly.

"What would I need with toilet paper?" scoffed Nick.

Myrtle grinned and whispered something in Nick's ear while Nick took one look at Peeves and could not manage to stifle his laugh. Peeves put his hands on his hips.

"And just what is so funny?"

"You're right," whispered Nick to Myrtle. "It would make a perfect gag. "

*******Ending 2-Ron*****

"Umm..'Mione, I didn't mean to.." began Ron as soon as he reached her.

"I know. Anything you have to say to me can be said in front of Harry. We're all friends and what are secrets between friends?"

"This is about Lavender's name in my book, isn't it?"

"Ooh, that's real keen of you to guess, but that's only part of it."

"You think I took your notebook to cheat, is that it? I didn't! Just because I don't spend all my time behind a wall of books.."

"How would you know how I spend my time? You're always too busy ignoring me."

"Me ignoring you? You're ignoring me!"

Ron turned to Harry for support. "Isn't that right, Harry?"

"Well, really-"

"Don't you try to force him to take sides!"

"Me? It because of you that, that..."

"What, Scabbers is now on life support?"

"DON'T YOU DARE MAKE FUN OF SCABBER'S DELICATE CONDITION!" yelled Ron, going purple in the face.

Harry stared at both of his seething friends, knowing he had to do something. "Right, I'll just be leaving now-you two carry on arguing."

"We aren't arguing! We're disagreeing!" yelled both Ron and Hermione.

"Exactly why I'm leaving before you start arguing." And with that , Harry vanished into the crowd, stopping only for a brief moment to turn around and talk to Hermione over his shoulder.

"Oh, and 'Mione, I know he deserves it, but don't turn Ron into a pumpkin. And you two get back before midnight or I'll have to borrow a pair of earmuffs from Neville to get any sleep."

"No problem, fairy godmother..and thanks," she added, breaking from her blazing row with Ron to smile at Harry (this, of course, made Ron all the more aggravated.)

"For what?"

"For not adding a third voice to the fight me and Ron are having."

Ron opened his mouth to protest, but Harry spoke first, shrugging as he did so.

"What can I say, I'm the only sensible one of us three."

"If you call getting yourself drenched in a water fountain sensible," muttered Ron after Harry had walked off.

"Ahem," said Hermione. "Now where were we?"

"Arguing over nothing."

"No, we weren't! You kissing Lavender is hardly nothing!"

Hermione was exasperated. How on earth was she ever supposed to get the point across to Ron?

"Well I think it is!"

"Well I don't!"

"How come you don't think it's nothing if I do?"

Hermione drew herself up, miffed. "Oh, what, now I have to think exactly like you too? In that case, I suggest you stick to talking to Scabbers."

Ron shook his head, exasperated. How on earth was he ever supposed to get the point across to her?

"Hermione," he said gently, in a tone of voice Hermione was not accustomed to hearing. "That's not what I'm talking about. If the kiss didn't mean anything to me, then why should it bother you?"

Did he know? But it had escaped his attention all of last year. Why should he realize it all of a sudden? Or had he known all along of how she felt? Hermione wasn't ready to say exactly why it would bother her out loud, not yet..just not quite yet. She was sure Ron wouldn't listen.

"Don't you tell me what to do or not do!"

"I'm not," said Ron quite patiently. Hermione seemed not to realize the absolutely reversal of their roles. Now, she was the one yelling and Ron was the one trying to bring things back to reason. "You yourself said you were bothered."

"No, I didn't. You just want me to be. Well, sorry to break it to you, but you can't have both."

Ron rubbed his temples in another game imatation of Nick. "'Mione, what ARE you talking about?"

Hermione whirled on him. "Isn't it obvious? Or are you really that oblivious?"

"About what?"

"About..about.."

Unable to finish, Hermione turned away from Ron. " Look, if you really like Lavender, why don't you just go talk to her? Our little argument can always be postponed. Not like it will matter if we forget what we're arguing about, anyway. We'll just find something new to argue about tomorrow."

Without thinking, Ron put his hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Mione, what is the-" He broke off mid-sentence, thinking he probably shouldn't press her for the answer and pretend he didn't know what she would say when he thought he already did. He'd rather they stay friends than go and mess everything up when he heard her tell him the confirmation of his fears. Perhaps he should go after Lavender-at least he knew she'd like him back. Hermione, Ron was positive, never would.

Just as positive as Hermione was that Ron would never listen.

Silence, then, "What were we arguing about again, anyway?"

Hermione felt the strange urge to smile, but hid it. "Oh, just forget it. You won't listen to me anyway."

"Why should I when you're not making any sense?"

"You're the one that's not making sense!" yelled Hermione.

"Me? How am I not making sense?"

"Not by your words, by your actions."

"Ugh. I give up! Talking to you is like running endlessly on a hamster wheel."

"Leave it to you to use creative analogies."

With that last stinging comment, Ron walked off himself, the mid-afternoon sun striking his hair, causing the lighter highlights in the red strands to turn to a peculiar sort of honey color and Hermione to catch her breath. She wanted to tell him..but she just didn't have the guts.

She may not have had the guts, but luckily she had the intuition. Hermione stood in shock, the lone figure on the Quidditch field for only a second, before without even thinking about where her feet were taking her, walked at a rapid pace and then broke out into a full out jog, trying to catch up with Ron.

"Wait, where are you off to?"

"What do you care? And no, Harry's not with me, in case you're wondering."

"Ron," pleaded Hermione, at her wit's end, but it was too late, Ron had already disappeared around the corner and through one of Hogwart's many doors. That didn't stop Hermione from following him, though. Following him straight to the library, of all the unlikely places. Thank goodness Madame Pince wasn't there-she would have thrown a fit if she could have heard the shouting match that followed next.

Hermione sank into a chair beside Ron, who promptly crossed one knee over the other. However, as soon as Hermione did the same, he switched to the opposite knee.

"Ron," said Hermione comfortingly, but Ron would not be comforted. "You know, I have every bit as much reason to be furious with you as you do with me. You did kiss Lavender," she pointed out.

"So? You kissed Harry."

"Well, as stupid as it sounds, I didn't mean to."

"What, your lips just happened to bump into each other in the dark?"

Hermione remained tight lipped, not saying a word.

"Well," said Ron from out of nowhere. " I didn't mean to kiss Lavender either." He sighed. "I don't like her. Never did. That signature in my book that you borrowed-she wrote it."

"Oh." That one simple word could not possibly convey how relieved Hermione felt, the lightheadedness and happiness that flooded her. "Well, that explains why it was written in bright pink, then."

Ron winced. "I've tried everything to erase it, but nothing seems to work. Even tried putting one of my Chudley Cannon pictures over it, but the words still showed through. It looked like Pip Malloy had her name tattooed on his forehead."

"Come to think of it, there are similarities between the two," said Hermione. "They both like to stare at their reflections in their lacquered nails."

Ron was indignant. "Pip Malloy is one of the best seekers in the world. He does not paint his fingernails."

"Does to."

"Does not."

"Does to."

"Does--oh, hang it." The corners of Ron's mouth began to turn up and Hermione felt her spirit rise with his smile. Perhaps he would listen, if only she could find the right way to form the words...

"Why do we always argue so much, anyway?"

"We aren't arguing."

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Are--"

Hermione and Ron laughed in unison. "I don't know why we argue so much," admitted Hermione.

"Maybe because the only thing we have in common is having nothing in common," suggested Ron.

"So then why are we friends?"

"I don't know."

Ron realized his mistake as soon as the words were out of his mouth. "No, I didn't mean it like tha-"

"I knew it, I just knew it! You're only friends with me because I'm smart or something and can get you out of trouble, is that it?"

"No, not a-"

"Oh, I should have realized it. Whenever you or Harry gets in trouble, who's the one who always has to cover for it? Me!"

"Now wait a minute, Hermione, if you'll just listen, I have some-"

"Remember when you tried to make a Muggle pop tart and ended up setting it on fire? Who was the one who got blamed for mixing you up over which was the toaster and which was the microwave? Me!"

"'Mione, if you'll please-"

"And than that other time when Harry and you accidentally locked yourselves in the boy's bathroom with the broken, overflowing toilet in the middle of winter, who had to come running in the middle of the night with sleeping bags to sneak under the crack in the door so you wouldn't die of hypothermia? Me!"

"'Mione, that's not true at all."

"Oh, right. So you don't even think I'm helpful? When your old wand broke and you couldn't afford a new one, where do you think those twenty galleons that just happened to show up under your bed came from? The tooth fairy?"

"No.. I mean yes... I mean no. I mean.. 'Mione, I likeyoubecauseyouryou."

It came out all in a rush and not at all as Ron had planned (and boy, had he ever planned. Why, if his mirror hadn't been so criticising, he probably would have practiced in front of it) but still, Ron felt a sense of relief that at last he had spoken about the matter.

Hermione looked furious. So furious, that for a minute Ron seriously considered hiding behind the back of his chair. That or jumping out the glass window.

She walked towards him menacingly. "Well, I hate you too, Ronald Weasley! You horrible, little, slimy-"

All of a sudden, Hermione stopped misstep and blinked. She looked at Ron's face and blinked again, the words he had just said finally catching up with her. "Did you just say what I think you said?"

Ron instinctively backed up another step. "That depends on what you think I said."

With that, Hermione's face did a complete three hundred and sixty degree change of expression as she gave a squeal of delight, and hugged a very flummoxed Ron around the middle.

"I like you too," she muttered into his shirt. Her face looked uncertain as she stared up at him. "You don't like me just because I'm smart, do you?"

"No! I mean, you are, but like I said, I like you because you're you."

Hermione grinned. "Explain."

Ron fumbled for words. "Umm..well, you're beautiful and you're smart and funny and not just outside beautiful. Inside beautiful..."

Hermione grinned even wider. "Okay, 'fess. Which book of poetry did you steal that last line from?"

"No one. Been practicing that part of my speech for some time." Ron gave a frown. "Only problem is, I kinda forgot the rest of it..."

"That's okay." Hermione raised her head and gave Ron a short kiss, not perfect by any means, but a promise of beginnings.

Behind the nearest bookshelf, Myrtle forgot where she was and jumped right off the ladder in pure joy. Right into Nick's arms, who promptly fell over from the weight, a couple of books from the top of the shelf hitting him atop the head as well.

"What was that for?" he asked grumpily.

"They kissed, they kissed!"

"Yeah, so? Everyone knows Madame Pince and Professor Binns have been dating secretly for yea-"

Peeves hit Nick again over the head with a book. "Not them! She means Ron and Hermione!"

"Ooh, I could dance!" said Myrtle happily.

"Do us a favor," said Nick with a frown as he emptied out his pocket obligingly, handing Peeves and Myrtle the money owed. "Don't."

Only two bookshelves away, Lee, Fred, and George had been witness to the whole scene and were giggling quietly over it. Yes, George had liked Hermione. Alot. But he wasn't about to let it get him down-he couldn't let anyone or anything get him down. His job was to cheer people up after all, wasn't it? Besides, it just didn't fit his personality to mope around for long. Life was too short to spend it all moping or being envious. Sure, he would be unhappy and upset-but that would be in private.

But he couldn't hide that from Lee or his twin. "Sorry George," said Fred to him. "But hey, on the plus side, Angelina said Alicia's been asking about you and we all know about Lee and Katie. Maybe we can all go oh, I don't know--"

"-On a date?" guessed Lee. Fred wrinkled his nose.

"No, on a prank trip, genius."

"With us, those two are pretty much the same," said George.

"Well," said Fred as he continued to observe Ron and Hermione. "At least now the people in Australia can sleep in."

"Not for long. Lavender's screaming when she finds out will be loud enough for all of them," said George.

******Ending#3-George********

Ron was coming near her to explain his kiss to Lavender, Harry was at that moment trying to explain his kiss to her, but Hermione's senses did not pay a wit of attention to them. Her eyes were on George as he broke away from his celebrating team mates and walked right past, his eyes straight ahead and his freckled face not showing anything, unusual in a face that was always so frank.

But unfortunately for him, his eyes could not be so schooled. Hermione caught a flicker of them as he passed by and she knew. She knew he had seen her kiss Harry-and that for some reason or other, he had been serious the other night. If she had only known he wasn't joking...

Hermione berated herself, not listening to the drone of Harry's voice. Don't you ever say if only. You control your life, not someone else. If you want to fix things, then go and fix them.

And that was just what Hermione did, walking off in half a daze as Harry and Ron both called after her, puzzled as to where she was going and why. She would explain to them, of course. Later. She wasn't going to just walk off and leave them. Ever. Even if George did still like her, she wouldn't just forget about her friends, becoming all wrapped up in one person. That wasn't her style. No matter what, she would remain true to them as a friend. But nothing more no matter how much either of them wanted it. It just wouldn't work. One way or the other and their happy threesome of a friendship collapsed. Of course, that was without her feelings coming into consideration. Her feelings that went towards..

Him. Which was exactly why she was running across the field in his shadow, exuberant with finally having sorted out her entangled emotions at last. Even when she lost sight of him, she did not give up, but went straight to the library on the strange hunch he might be there-a very strange hunch, considering she really did not think of the library as George's sort of place.

Seeing the red hair falling across his face as he stared at his hands in his lap, Hermione gave a small smile, surprised to see him there. It was nice to know that perhaps the library was George's haven too. That perhaps they had more in common than she thought, and that perhaps...

Well, that wasn't really a perhaps, it depended on her. All on her. Or so she felt.
George looked up as she came near and his face deepened into something that to Hermione, seemed alien on his face. A frown. The usually talkative twin said nothing and for a few seconds, Hermione fidgeted as she stood, unconsciously twirling a piece of hair around her finger as she thought of words to say.

"George, you know that kiss with Harry wasn't my doing."

"Oh no, of course not. He just happened to have a magnet in his pocket, you just happened to be wearing a metal necklace, and viola, it was fatal attraction."

"Well, it wasn't!"

"I know," said George tonelessly.

"And Ron kissed Lavender.."

"I know."

"I don't like Harry."

"I know."

Hermione threw up her hands. "Oh, will you cut it out? You sound like Professor Trelawney when she-"

"Stares into that fishbowl she calls a crystal ball and tries to make a prediction? I-"

"Don't you dare say you know, because you don't." Hermione sighed. "You don't know the half of it..."

George put his hands behind his head and relaxed in his chair. "Then tell me." He gave her a grin, but it was a pale imitation of the real one that usually graced his face. "Don't worry, if I start to fall asleep, my own snoring will wake me up."

"It's simple. I don't like Ron."

"You said that already."

"Will you please be quiet? Just let me get through this, okay?"

"Mum's the word."

"Good. Anyway, I don't like Ron. Or Harry."

George looked at her. "You stalked me across the quidditch field and up three flights of stairs to tell me that?? Why? I'm not the writer for Witch's Weekly, no matter how similar I may look to him."

He was making things hard. On purpose, Hermione was sure of it. Not that he didn't have every right to. How could she have thought he was joking?

Maybe because she didn't know him that well yet, maybe because she had thought that joking was all there was too him. But there was more, she could see that even now, even if she'd only caught a glimpse; a piece of the puzzle to understanding who he was.

"Similar, my great grandmother. You wouldn't look similar to him unless you decided to steal Lavender's rainbow gelly belly quills and write all over yourself with them."

"Been there, done that." George wiggled his eyebrows at her. "What else can I do when I run out of paper and Professor Binns wants us to take notes?"

"Use that thing filled with cobwebs and rust that's otherwise known as your memory," said Hermione. She could see George was determined to avoid the real reason he had come up to the library, the real reason he had said what he said yesterday. Well, she wasn't about to let him.

"Umm..George? What was that all about yesterday?" she finally ventured to ask, plopping down on a couch beside him and refusing to look into his face for fear of what she'd find there. Would he simply blow it off as a joke? Or worse yet, would he tell her that the things he had said yesterday really were a joke?

"Do you really like me?"

George's green eyes sought out her own and he stared at her, not frowning in the odd way he had when she'd entered the library, but not smiling either. For once, he looked serious and this gave Hermione hope. Maybe, just maybe...

"At least I didn't get slapped in the face."

It hadn't been a joke. His voice said that, as did his eyes, as much as she tried to lower her head away from their searching view. What was he looking for in her face? It half scared her.

"Look," Hermione whispered. "I'm-"

"You're sorry and you really want us to be friends. Look, save it for Ron and Harry. You don't want to overuse your speech. Only problem with me is, we were never friends before to begin with. And mutual acquaintances just doesn't have the same ring, does it?"

Hermione's face flushed. "Don't you make me feel guilty about all of this. Of course we weren't friends. We never talked much before, how could we be? Through telepathy?"

"Are you saying..you think we could be friends?"

Hermione gathered all of her collective courage and shook her head. "No."

George gave her a smile. She wished he would stop grinning and smiling. It only made her feel worse because she could see he was only doing it to cover up his other emotions of the moment. She wanted him to smile, but she wanted it to be a REAL smile. "You know, if you were any more blunt, you would have hit me over the head with a hammer."

"I'll save your time by telling you Ron has gone up to his dorms."

This was it. If he wouldn't, then she would have to..

"Oh, shut up."

George gaped at her, not used to hearing Hermione use such strong vocabulary unless it was with Ron in the midst of an argument. For some reason, being put on a parallel with his brother irked him. Was he just another Ron to her?

His silent question was answered as Hermione leaned forward in her own chair, put her hands gently on his shoulders and kissed him.

"From now on," said Hermione, looking at George (who still hadn't quite stopped gaping) "I'll do the explaining."

That was when Hermione happened to look over George's shoulder, out the glass window, and see none other than two resentful faces staring back at her; Lavender and Parvati. The library being on the second floor, they were both standing on a ladder, spying on George and Hermione.

Hermione had no time to worry over trying to shoo them off, however, as she only saw their shocked faces for a fraction of a second (they obviously hadn't been expectng her to kiss George) before both fell backward, ladder and all, into the snow on the ground.

"They make good snow angels," said Hermione as she watched Lavender and Parvati flat on their backs as they waved their legs and arms to try and stand up amid the deep drift.

George gave a mock shiver. "More like devils."

"Now George, that's not very nice..."

"What, why do you think they always wear so many ribbons in their hair? Got to hide their horn-"

"GEORGE!"

"Okay, okay," responded George as he leaned in to kiss her again.

Hermione moved over to sit beside him on the same chair and for awhile they just sstayed like that, her head on his shoulder, in silence, a very comfortable and satisfied silence. Hermione was once again pleasantly surprised. She hadn't thought George would be the kind to appreciate such a silence, however temporary. It was nice to simply sit there, surrounded by him. Hermione could hear his heart thumping against his rib cage. Mmm.. very nice.

"George?" asked Hermione, wanting to find out more about him, curious to try and get to know him as well as she knew Ron and Harry.

"Hmm?"

"What are you thinking?"

"That my stomach feels exactly like it did the day Charlie accidentally levitated me unto the roof of The Burrow."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Kissing makes you dizzy?"

George smiled and this time, it was a true smile, one that made Hermione feel happy and several other things all at once. "No. Lee and Fred's going by on broomsticks outside the window and giving me the thumbs up sign makes me dizzy."

*********

The ghosts, hidden behind a bookshelf, instantly began bemoaning their situation.

"Oh, It's the end of the world as we know it," began Peeves merrily, waving his arms about and causing both Myrtle and Nick to give him irritated looks.

"It certainly will be if you don't SHUT UP!" said Myrtle.

"Knew I never should have given him a radio for his birthday," muttered Nick.

"Well, look on the positive side, at least we didn't lose any money," pointed out Myrtle to Nick and Peeves.

"Didn't gain any either," muttered Peeves.

"You know," said Nick thoughtfully. "Us ghosts really should start a protest for getting pay. I mean, being a house ghost isn't easy. All that work and umm-"

"-Being forced to room with Professor Binns and his stinky feet after he takes his shoes off," pointed out Peeves.

"And forced to watch prefects in the bathroom and try not to trip over all the soap they leave lying on the floor," added Myrtle.

"VERY trying, I'm sure," grinned Nick. "No, but really, we should start a movement of protest. Even the rusty sets of armor get more money than we do, what with all those people that keep using them as secret piggy banks and then forgetting about their stash of money within a month."

"I'm thinking twelve dollars a day, what do you think?"

"No, nine sounds better. That would be exactly enough to get a subscription to Witch's Weekly and Wicked Wizards," said Myrtle.

"No, no. Eighteen!"

While the ghosts were arguing, they failed to see both Angelina and Alicia, who were watching them with much amusement.

"Hey, how much you wanna bet Myrtle gets with Nick before the month is out?" whispered Alicia to Angelina.

"No way. Look at the way Peeves keeps on floating over Myrtle's head like that. Definite sign of attraction. I bet you say, ten galleons, that he professes his undying love to her in a bathtub."

Alicia giggled. "I'll double that wager!"

"In a bathtub? Can do." Angelina's eyes twinkled merrily as she pulled out her wand from behind her back and muttered a spell at Peeves and Myrtle, who instantly vanished, much to Nick's surprise.

Alicia glared at Angelina. "Hey, that's not fair!"

Angelina grinned. "You never said no magic."

Alicia grinned back. "Alright, magic allowed then. It'll make it more exciting. Where did you send Myrtle and Peeves, anyway?"

Angelina shrugged. "Wherever the nearest bathtub is."

********

One mere floor away, Myrtle and Peeves looked up from the metal confines of their bathtub, both squirming about in the small, confined space to try and escape only to hear the door creak open as they found themselves staring at none other than...

Snape in a bathrobe?

The screams were luckily drowned out as both Myrtle and Peeves, in their hurry to get out of the tub, slipped on the slippery side of it, and fell right back in.

There were far worse sights than Dumbledore in violet suntan lotion, after all.

*********
And Hermione and George lived happily after..until George began going to SPEW meetings and came to love the house elves so much he decided to transform into one-aww, who am I kidding? It was more like Neville's spell when he was trying to teach Trevor how to carol backfired and hit George in the stomach, turning into an elf. Well, sort of.

Unfortunately, the spell went wrong there, too. George was stuck with green hair, wearing just an apron and a tea cozy. Not that Hermione seemed to mind. It was half an hour before she told Professor McGonagall.

Things did not change between George and Hermione. He still hated SPEW. Hermione still couldn't abide how he didn't work his hardest on his schoolwork, not as much as he had potential for, anyway, or how he was always playing pranks. Yet, he was subtly influencing her as she was him. Subtly influencing as in "dungbombs are cool!" and "oh look George, if you study chemistry, it'll help you make your products for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes even better!"

They were complete opposites and completely happy that way. After all, opposites attract, don't they? ( Of course, when people said this, no one mentioned George's and Hermione's newest invention for Weasley's Wizard Wheeze's.. magnetic canary creams.)

******THE END!!!!******