A/N: Once again, I own nothing! :D Enjoy!
She couldn't do it. She just. couldn't. do. it.
"You're not getting cold feet, are you?" Lavender Brown asked, sweeping past her in the hallway, her face set in a smirk.
Hermione Granger glared at her, wanting nothing more than to wipe that self-satisfied smirk off Lavender's face for her. At this point, Hermione didn't even care that Lavender was Ron's girlfriend. In fact, it was because of that fact that she was in this mess in the first place!
"That's the last time I ever appease Ron with girl bonding time." The words came out of her mouth like a disease and she silently wondered why one of her best friends had had to choose Lavender Brown out of all the eligible girls at Hogwarts. Why? Why did life have to be so cruel?
"Are you okay?"
Hermione, who had been pacing outside of the Great Hall for the last fifteen minutes, jumped and spun around as the voice spoke right in her ear. She found her friend, Ginny Weasley, watching her carefully. "I'm fine," she snapped. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Ginny pulled back slightly, surprised at her friend's response. "No reason," she said, sarcasm dripping from her words. "I just figured that you might be feeling slightly nervous since you look like you're about to faint."
"I'm fine," Hermione told her shortly, even though both she and Ginny knew that she was anything but fine. Truthfully, Ginny had pinpointed her feelings perfectly. She felt sick, faint, and about to die all at the same time.
"Well," Ginny said, striving to be conversational, "I highly doubt that he'll be mean. If he does, I'll hex him with a Bat Bogey."
Despite her terrible fear and overwhelming anxiety, Hermione could not help but smile at her friend, mentally wincing for the boy in mind. She pitied anyone on the receiving end of Ginny's Bat Bogey hexes. "Just don't hurt him," she told Ginny firmly, and her friend couldn't help but smile.
"Oh, that definitely won't be necessary," Ginny thought with a secret smile as she dragged her friend into the hall for breakfast.
George Weasley impatiently pushed and prodded his way through the crowd of meandering students, silently cursing their slowness. Patience had never been a strong point in his character, but today, his already-meager supply was nearly empty. "Excuse me," he muttered for what must have been the hundredth time, restraining himself from pushing a first year out of his way with brute strength. Now was not the time.
His sharp eyes scanned the hallway, but he was not on the lookout for a person he might have pranked in his spare time, instead, he was looking for his brother. Though he and his twin were rather tall, the press of the students was annoyingly cloaking. He barely caught a glimpse of red hair before it was gone again.
Using a charm to amplify his voice for a moment, George bellowed, "Fred!" The students close to him scattered due to the loudness of his voice, and most of the other students in the hallway turned to look at him, curious to see what was going on. Was another prank about to take place?
However, the amplification served its purpose because the redhead turned and spotted his brother, fighting through the sea of students to get to George. "There you are!" Fred said as George drew him aside. "I couldn't find you this morning. Where were you?"
George checked to make sure that no one was looking and then yanked his brother into a secret passageway. "Ginny came to talk to me," he told Fred, slightly breathless. "She wanted me to warn you about something."
Fred frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "What?" he asked curiously. "Is Ron going to propose to Lavender or something?" His tone was humorous and cynical at the same time. How his younger brother could stand that girl was beyond his comprehension.
George snorted. "I hope not, but it does have something to do with Lavender," he admitted, and then chanced a glance at Fred as he added, "and a certain girl you fancy."
"Hermione?" Fred asked, and then his eyes flew wide open and his hands balled into fists. "What's Lavender done to her?"
George put his hands up, trying to make sure that Fred didn't get too excited. "I don't know all the details, but I guess that our dear Ronald begged Hermione and Ginny to have some 'girl bonding time' together, and Hermione, like the dear girl she is, agreed."
Fred shook his head. "She's a better person than I am," he said admiringly. He had hid his crush on her for two years, but he had planned on asking her out soon, perhaps to the next trip to Hogsmead. His eyes shot up to meet George's. "What happened?" he asked tightly, worried about the answer he might receive.
"According to Ginny, Hermione said something that was meant to be a comment, and Lavender got sore at her, so she hexed her."
"What!" Fred shouted. "I'll kill her!"
George put his hands up again, this time to keep his twin from doing anything rash. "Hermione's not hurt!" he yelled above his brother's tirade about taking Lavender apart bit by bit.
Fred frowned, mentally going through the list of hexes that he knew. "What hex was it?"
George shrugged. "Ginny didn't know. It's one that Lavender apparently created, and it's physically harmless." The hesitancy in his voice made Fred suspicious.
"Physically?" he asked, knowing that there must be something important that George was keeping from him. "Okay, so what does it do to her mentally?"
"Ginny said that after Lavender hit Hermione with the hex, she issued an order. Hermione has to kiss the one person she's deeply in love with. The hex binds her to that command. She can't get out of it." George rolled his eyes. "Lavender's rather unimaginative. I bet we could've come up with a lot better hex."
Fred, however, was not listening. He was still stuck on the word "kiss." "So who is it?" he asked, not liking the high, strained tone in his voice. "It's not Malfoy, is it? Please tell me that it's not Malfoy."
George actually laughed, his pale face turning almost as red as his hair as he doubled over, laughing. "No, you idiot!" he wheezed. "It's you! Why else would I tell you this?!"
"What?" How eloquent of him.
"Ginny asked me to tell you because Hermione's having a panic attack. She thinks that you'll make fun of her or turn her down in front of the whole school."
"I would never-" Fred began.
"I know that," George interrupted, "and Ginny now knows that, but Hermione doesn't."
"I have to find her," Fred said, his mind desperately spinning. He had to tell her that he loved her, that he would never turn her down. "I have to stop her."
George shook his head. "You can't stop her. The hex won't allow you to." He paused, then grinned. "What, you don't want her to kiss you? Could've fooled me! I think all your dreams for the last two years have been about her kissing you." He grinned cheekily. "At least it sure sounded like it."
Fred punched his brother's arm lightly. "Shut up," he growled, his ears turning red as he realized the truth in George's statement. "Come on. I'm not going to keep Hermione waiting." He headed out of the passageway and turned to glance at George. "Aren't you coming?"
George nodded gleefully. "Wouldn't miss it for the world," he said with a smirk plastered on his face.
Fred found himself walking quickly down the hallways towards the Great Hall. Whether it was the promise of a kiss from his crush, or the fact that he couldn't stand the idea of an anxious Hermione, he didn't know. All he knew was that he had to get to breakfast.
When he walked into the hall, Fred felt three sets of eyes turn on him. Lavender's malicious eyes were the first that he saw, and Fred was filled once more with a loathing for his brother's choice in girlfriends. Really, had he and George not taught Ron anything?
"Apparently not," he muttered to himself, ignoring George's questioning look.
The next pair of eyes he saw were Hermione's. When the girl of his affections saw Lavender look up expectantly, she turned as well, and her gorgeous brown eyes took on a look of horror and embarrassment. Fred was suddenly thankful for Ginny's warning because otherwise he would have thought that Hermione was put off by him personally.
The last pair of eyes belonged to his little sister. Dear Ginny. She was sitting next to Hermione, chatting to Harry and Ron. Harry noticed the change in her attention, but Ron was still oblivious, squeezed in next to Lavender in a way that sickened Fred. Her eyes conveyed a distasteful, growing hatred towards Lavender and a sense of concern for Hermione, but her eyes also held a look of excited expectance. She and Fred both knew that his non-relationship state with Hermione had gone on far too long.
With deliberate steps, Fred and George stepped up to the Gryffindor table and seated themselves next to Hermione. "Good morning," Fred said softly in her ear, feeling her shudder slightly next to him. George, on the other side of him, poked him discreetly under the table. He waited. "Three…two…one…zero…zero…zero. Come on, Hermione!" he thought, wanting some kind of reaction to come out of her.
Hermione choked on the piece of toast in her mouth and coughed, covering up the blush that was flooding her cheeks for an entirely different reason. Lavender noticed her obvious embarrassment and grinned. "Good morning, Fred and George," she said, looking between them quickly because she still couldn't keep them straight. "Hermione's very happy to see you, aren't you, Hermione?"
"Ecstatic," Hermione mumbled, catching Lavender off guard.
"That's my girl," Fred couldn't help but think with pride. "Always do what your enemies least expect."
Now that he was close to Hermione, seated just inches away from her warm body, Fred could actually feel the magnetism that was pulling her towards him. The force of the hex astonished him. He honestly had not thought that Lavender was bright enough. There was absolutely no way that Hermione could fight off the hex forever. It was too strong.
He was just about to lean over and tell her that she didn't have to torture herself any longer when Lavender raised an eyebrow and Hermione's calm control snapped. She leapt up awkwardly, thwarted slightly by the table and bench she was sandwiched in between, and took a shuddering breath as she turned to Fred.
He was sure that she had never looked more beautiful. Her robes were the exact same ones he had seen a thousand times before, but somehow they looked better today. Her hair was tamed down to lush curls and he found himself dying to run his long fingers through those very locks. Her eyes had always captivated him, for she wore so many emotions in her gaze. Today, though, the only emotion he could see was fear.
"Fred, I'm sorry," she whispered just a moment before she swung one leg over his torso almost mechanically and found herself straddling his lap. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment and she refused to meet his eyes, focusing instead on the buttons of his shirt. The whispers from the neighboring tables only served to embarrass her further.
"Hermione-" Fred began, but once more, Lavender raised an eyebrow and he felt the harsh tug of the hex.
"Please, Fred," Hermione said hoarsely, lifting her eyes to look at him for the first time since she had found herself in his lap. "Please, just don't hate me." And then, her lips were on his.
The moment her lips touched his, Fred lost all sense of time, place, and even reason. All there was in his world was Hermione, and that was all he could focus on. Her small body was pressed up against his and he found himself craving the warmth she gave off. After a moment, she tried to pull away, but Fred's hand lifted and cupped the back of her neck, gently keeping her in place as he tilted his head to the side to kiss her deeper, his fingers twisting into those curls he had just been thinking about.
He barely heard her groan as his lips moved over hers. The feelings that she evoked in him were swirling around in his subconsciousness, making it difficult to process anything. His other arm grasped her small waist and tugged her closer, and she didn't protest, in fact, she clung to him tighter.
After a long moment, Fred gently ended the kiss, pulling away to glance up at Hermione. The silence in the Great Hall should have been overwhelming, if they had been paying any attention at all, but for now, all they could see was each other. Hermione had a look of wonder…and love on her face and she tenderly pushed Fred's long hair back behind his ears.
With smug satisfaction, Fred took in George's gleeful face, Harry and Ginny's happy faces, and best of all: Lavender's outraged face, and genuinely smiled up at Hermione, mimicking her movement and pushing her hair behind her ears.
"I could never hate you," he said emphatically as he drew her down for another kiss.
A/N: Well? All your amazing reviews have gotten me on a Fred/Hermione kick (in case you haven't noticed) so here's another one! PLEASE review and let me know what you think. Your reviews are the best! :D (Hint Hint!!)