"So that's the big secret?" George asked, looking a little confused and disappointed. "Why is it even a secret?"
"It's part of it," Harry explained. "You asked what was going on between Fleur and me and you correctly pointed out she looked at me just like Gabrielle did. Want to guess why?"
It took the twins only a few seconds to realize the answer, but to emphasize the point, Fleur had also joined Harry and Gabrielle and wrapped her arms around both of them.
"Two?" George asked.
"Veelas?" Fred chimed in.
"Sisters?"
"Yes, yes and yes," Harry said.
"Shall we bow now, or wait until we are ready to leave oh mighty one?" George panned.
"And this was the Harrikins who was having trouble approaching a girl about the Yule Ball?" Fred asked his brother.
"We are so proud," Both twins said in unison as they each wiped an imaginary tear away.
"But seriously," George said. "Well if we can be serious after that kind of news. Wow."
"Yeah wow," Fred continued. "But we and a lot of other people really thought you would end up with Hermione."
"Yeah, we really did," George agreed. "I mean you two have been mostly inseparable for years."
"I guess it's time to retire that pool," Fred said to his brother.
"What pool?" Hermione asked.
"When you and Harry would finally get together of course," George replied.
"Were we the only two people in the whole castle who didn't realize we were supposedly going to be together?" Harry asked.
"Well if you didn't," Fred nodded at his brother, then looking back at Harry, "Yeah pretty much."
"So who all was in on this pool?"
"A lot of people actually, including professors," George replied.
"Just don't tell me Snape had a bet down."
"Let's see he said you two would get together..." Fred started and then started laughing.
"No, nothing from Snape. No Slytherins were invited," George admitted.
"Out of curiosity," Hermione asked, "Who had February twenty-seventh?"
"Why?"
"Oh, just curious."
Fred reached into his robed and brought out a roll of parchment, he unrolled it and looked down the list, "We had two people for that week, Hagrid and Katie Bell."
"Well that's a problem," Hermione said as she walked over to Harry.
"Why?"
"Because you can't pay the winners without telling them they won, but we aren't telling anyone when it happened."
Fred and George looked utterly confused. "Winners, what do you mean?"
Hermione wrapped her arms around Harry and kissed him before smiling at her bondsisters.
"Guys, well actually I have a third bondmate, it's Hermione."
It was one of the few times anyone had made the twins speechless. Similar to Remus' reactions the jaws came down, words tried to form but nothing materialized for several seconds. A certain large black dog was jumping around barking in glee. Finally George recovered and just like Lupin he thought a fast one was being pulled on them. "Okay Harry, you got us, and we thought you were serious."
"Not a joke or a prank guys," Harry said. Then letting out a deep sigh, he looked at his bondmates, "I'm stuck with these witches for the rest of my life."
"But you said it was a Veela thing?" Fred asked. "How can Hermione…I mean she's not Veela unless we missed something along the way."
"Not to say you're not attractive," George quickly said to Hermione. "But...but..."
"I prefer to not go into the details, but it is Veela magic. Hermione had the choice to join the bond and we realized what everyone else seems to have known all along, that we loved each other and she chose to join Fleur and Gabrielle in bonding with me."
This time Fred and George did drop to their knees and started bowing with their arms outstretched in front of them. "Oh mighty one, we are but unworthy humble servants in your presence. Teach us oh mighty one."
"Oh shut up you two," Hermione said as Fleur and Gabrielle started giggling.
"That is our secret guys and I hope you can understand why we want to keep it secret," Harry explained. "We are going to announce the bond this summer, so the Prophet can finish their stories of me before school starts back up. Besides, you know Rita Skeeter is going to find some way to slant this badly."
"We understand Harry," George replied. "Wished we had your problem, but we do understand."
"Do you think you can announce your bond the last week of July or the first week of August?" Fred asked.
"Why?"
Fred smirked at his brother then turning back to Harry, "We have that time in the pool."
"We thought maybe it would be your birthday party," George said. "We had planned on pushing for you two to be at the Burrow for it."
"We'll see guys, but wouldn't that be cheating?" Harry asked.
"Cheating is such a strong word," Fred said pretending to be hurt. "Giving you love potions or having Moody put you under the Imperious Curse would have been cheating. 'Accidentally' locking you and Hermione in a closet…not so much."
"Besides the Galleons would come in handy to make our dreams come true," George said.
"Your joke shop?" Harry asked.
"We think we can do better than Zonkos," Fred said.
"I'd bet on it," Harry replied. "So you want us to help you win the pot. Didn't you already clean up at the World Cup?"
Fred and George looked at each other and their normal cheery faces lost their smiles. "Yeah, well since you've let us in on your secrets, we'll tell you one of ours. Bagman ripped us off," George said.
"Paid us off in Leprechaun Gold, he did. It was gone by the next day," Fred explained.
"We've been trying to talk to him about it, but he keeps avoiding us."
"We first thought it was an honest mistake, but we've started to think otherwise."
"Anything you can do about it?" Hermione asked.
"No real proof," George replied. "People saw him give us our Galleons."
"Besides if we make a big stink about it, mum will find out," Fred said. "And you know mum. We'd be out our Galleons and have to listen to her all this coming summer."
"Yeah, too bad mates," Harry said. "Speaking of your Mum though, that's the other thing we hope you can do for us. What do you think she's going to do when she reads Rita's slant in the Prophet of our bonding?"
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