a/n: I own nothing, J.K. Rowling is brilliant- the usual.
Five times Fred kissed Hermione, and one time she kisses him back.
(1) December 25th
Hermione groaned quietly as her cramps woke her up in the middle of the night again. She climbed out of her bed, edged around Ginny's, and made her way out the door towards the kitchen to grab a hot water bottle. She glanced at the clock, 2:00 AM. Merlin, she wished she could get a good night's sleep during these holidays. She was going to be swamped with work when she got back.
So lost in musing to herself, Hermione nearly fell over when she ran into the solid figure in front of her. A hand reached out to catch her and guided her back into a traditional standing position.
"I'm so sorry, Fred, I wasn't watching where I was going... I'll just be heading off now, sorry." she stammered and attempted to move away, but soon realized that her body was still held in place by Fred.
"Ah ah ah, not so fast Miss Granger," Fred said, smiling, and pointing at the ceiling above them. "You and I have a job to do." He winked.
Hermione groaned internally as she looked up and saw mistletoe. Of course, she would get stuck under the mistletoe with him. Why wouldn't she run straight into the person she fancied?
"Did you know that mistletoe is really quite a parasitic plant and it usually feeds off of other trees? Honestly, it's quite a pest. The tradition of people kissing under them dates all the way back to the ancient Norse though, when their English servants would consider it good luck to kiss beneath the plant and then pluck one of the berries, it's really quite antiquated if you ask me, but anyhow, they were usually already in love, and I mean, well, we're clearly not lovers, and there would be no hard feelings if you didn't want to kiss me, to be honest, I would entirely underst-"
Her nervous rambles were cut off by Fred gently placing his lips on hers.
"Happy Christmas, 'Mione," he whispered before heading up the stairs.
"Happy Christmas to you too, Fred," she said weakly as she went back to Ginny's room, all cramps forgotten.
(2) February 22nd.
George slid his way into the kitchen on his socks, hoping to have the chance to make the tea before his brother woke up. He set to work arranging the peppermint tea bag nicely in the mug so that it wouldn't look suspicious, looked over both shoulders to ensure that Fred wasn't approaching, then allowed three drops to trickle out of a small flask into the liquid before hastily replacing it in the breast pocket of his jacket. Merlin, I hope Hermione doesn't cancel their lunch date today, he thought as Fred sauntered into the room.
"G'Morning Georgie, are you excited for the lovely day we have ahead of us?"
George snorted. Lovely was going to be an understatement if everything worked according to plan. With a grin and a nod, he gulped down the last few sips of his tea before placing the mug in the sink, putting on his shoes, and heading down to the shop.
Hermione arrived at the Weasley twins' Joke Shop at a quarter to noon, stepping inside to get inside from the February chill. She saw George at the till and made her way through the considerably empty shop to him.
"Ah Hermione, my favorite muggleborn witch to ever have been born! On second thought, don't tell Angelina I said that…" Hermione chuckled and shook her head. "Off to lunch with my brother, I'd expect? I'm sure you'll have a lovely time." He said with a wink. "I'll go get Fred," he turned to leave, "And uh, Hermione?" he paused, "Don't forget the chapstick."
Hermione felt the blush rise in her cheeks and turned to look at a product or two while she waited for Fred. Suddenly two hands covered her eyes, and she heard a low chuckle before "Guess who?"
She turned around, ending with her face on his shirt, and gave Fred a hug and a smile before heading out the door to lunch, not noticing the pleased look in George's eye.
Lunch had been quite nice, Hermione decided. Fred had both insisted that they go to a slightly higher-end restaurant than the ones that they usually frequented, but also that he foot the bill. He acted quite the gentleman the whole time, but now, as they were nearing the shop, he was fidgeting anxiously and had gotten much quieter.
"Fred, is something wrong?" Hermione inquired. He shook his head furiously and tilted his head up to stare at the sky while blowing out a long breath.
"You're certain?" she asked again, stopping and facing Fred as they reached the windows of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. She peered through for a moment and saw George helping one of the three customers that milled about inside, before turning back to face his twin.
Fred finally lowered his gaze to meet hers, and before she could ask again, he began to speak.
"Hermione, we've known each other for almost 12 years now, and I'm so glad to consider you a friend of mine which is why I've put this off for so long, you know? I didn't want to ruin what was already a good thing, but I don't know if I can keep pushing down these feelings. Hermione, it's been four years since we've started going out for coffee and everyday that I've gotten to spend with you has made me a happier man and I think that I may be in love with you and I'm not quite sure exactly what to do about it so screw it all, I think I'm going to kiss you now."
His words tumbled out so quickly that Hermione almost didn't catch them all. Almost. Even with hearing all of the words, she didn't have time to process them before suddenly his lips were on hers in a short, chaste kiss.
Watching from inside, George smirked and made a mental note to tell Fred some time that their prototype for their newest line of love potions worked.
(3) April 17th
Hermione and Fred were walking hand in hand through muggle London one blustery morning in April when suddenly Hermione stiffened and became increasingly interesting in her shoes.
"Hermione?" Fred questioned.
"Fred, do you remember when I told you about Gregory?" she offered tentatively.
"You mean that dunce of a bloke that dated you for two weeks and then broke up with you because you," he made dramatic air quote gestures, "'read too much'? That Gregory?"
She sent him a withering look that clearly said she didn't approve of him calling Greg a dunce, but continued. "That's the one, yes."
"Well yes, I remember him quite well. What about him?"
"That's him, right over there. That's my ex." She gestured to a slim man about twenty feet in front of them on the opposite pavement. He wore a navy suit and an air of superiority. Fred immediately disliked the man more than he had before.
"Well, I'll guess you'll have to kiss me so he'll see it."
"Fred, I couldn't! I wouldn't be able to do it." Hermione protested.
"Then I guess I'll just have to kiss you, won't I?" Fred said as he leaned down to capture her lips in a soft kiss, making sure Gregory saw them.
Gregory's face flushed and he looked hastily around before retreating down an alley. Fred thought that victory had never looked (or tasted) so sweet.
(4) June 29th
It had been a long day at the shop. It was late June, students had just gotten out of Hogwarts and were itching to purchase tricks and pranks that they could use on their siblings all summer long. They were eager to explore -a welcome sight- but chaotic to monitor, which made managing the floor a bit harder.
Fred had opened the shop as usual, and per George's request to take Angelina out for the night, he had closed as well. He loved the shop, but being the sole twin on the premises took a lot out of him on busy days like today. He climbed up the stairs to his flat after locking up, planning to fall onto the couch and slip quickly to sleep.
He closed the door behind him and went to use the bathroom. Upon his return, he made it almost all the way to the sofa before hearing a knock on the door.
"Fred? Are you home? I ran into George on his way to his date with Angelina and he said you were closing tonight and I know we couldn't do lunch today so I thought I'd bring over some take-away."
Torn between wanting to ignore his girlfriend due to exhaustion, or let her in so he could at least eat, Fred haphazardly flicked his wand at the door, which swung open to reveal a far-too-peppy Hermione Granger.
"Here's some food -I wasn't quite sure what you'd be in the mood for, so I got a bit of everything. While you eat, I'll tell you a bit about my day." Fred groaned internally. He loved Hermione, he really did, but at that moment, all he wanted was to relax and not have to think for a bit. He reached to grab the cart of fish and chips off of the coffee table in front of him and slowly began munching as he tuned his attention back in to what Hermione was saying.
"...and like I said earlier, this was a huge advancement in the litigation for the House Elves, I mean, we've been trying for years to achieve something of this magnitude, and it's honestly impressive that we've even made any headway at all with the pushback that we always receive. Oh, speaking of pushback, you know that author that I've been telling you about, the one that writes about historic wizarding legal battles? Mafalda Hopkirk gave me a pre-released copy of his next book, and I'm so excited to read it! My bet is that I won't get around to it until August at the earliest, but I'm thrilled to get to hear what he has to say abou-"
Hermione was cut off by a pair of lips on her mouth.
"I'm glad to see you, love, and I can't wait to hear you tell me tomorrow about all of this, but I'm really quite knackered and I'd like to get to sleep. I promise you can steal me for lunch tomorrow and we can talk about all of this, alright? I'll even ask about the facts and figures in the House Elves case." He said drowsily.
Hermione nodded with a smile on her face and made to clear the table. When she had thrown away all of the rubbish and washed up some leftover dishes in the sink, she returned to the couch, planning on saying goodnight, only to see that Fred was already fast asleep and curled up on top of a pillow. She wordlessly summoned a blanket from a nearby chair and draped it over him lovingly before standing up and walking out the door, a smile lingering on her face.
(5) August 24th.
Hermione and Fred were curled up on her sofa, each reading their respective books. Fred was re-reading and taking notes in a book on muggle pranks that Hermione had given him for his birthday, while Hermione was reading a thick tome on a legal battle for Centaur rights. Fred was beginning to grow tired, and he reached over and tugged on Hermione to lay her head on his stomach while she read.
She acquiesced while mumbling something about migraines and poor sleep patterns.
"What was that, love?" Her mouth turned up ever-so-slightly at the term of endearment before settling back into a grimace as she laid her head gently on his chest.
"The migraines I get have been hitting their crest at about 9:00 in the evening, and I'll try to read or sleep but nothing's been helping, and I, well, I haven't been sleeping particularly well. I really want to finish this book, I mean, I've been working on it for a week now, I should've been done by now, but every couple of paragraphs I have to stop because I'm afraid I might faint."
Fred brushed her hair tenderly with his fingers for a few moments before asking, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
She gave a weak smile. "Not much, I'm afraid." She paused for a moment. "Could you read to me?"
"Pardon?"
"I want to finish the book, but I don't think the muscles behind my eyes very much appreciate how hard I'm trying to do so, and well, you have a nice reading out loud voice." she mumbled the last few words, blushing.
Fred smiled warmly down at her. "Where did you leave off?" she gestured at the page her finger had stopped on.
"In 1598, Sir Alastair Mitchell, of the noble house of…." he began.
"...and ultimately established the Mitchell-Hayworth by-law of Section 12-Q of the Ministry's Code of Classification of Magical Creatures."
Fred let out a deep breath before sneaking a glance at his girlfriend.
"What did you think, love?" No response.
"Mione?" He peered down over the top of the book and brushed some curls off of the side of her face before smiling brilliantly. She was asleep. That was the intended effect of my reading out-loud, well, that and of course the sleeping draught I put in her tea earlier. He thought, placing a tender kiss on her forehead.
Fred placed the book on the coffee table and summoned a blanket to cover them both before relaxing into the cushions of her sofa, draping an arm protectively around Hermione, and promptly falling asleep.
(6) October 30st
"I still don't understand why you dragged me here."
"I already told you, Fred. If we're having a muggle style Halloween tomorrow, then it's only fair that I get to take you on a muggle style date."
Fred half-heartedly rolled his eyes and looked up at the sign above him.
LaserLand: Shoot And Score!
He glanced back at Hermione, who was eyeing him curiously, before heading into the facility.
10 Minutes later, after a brief explanation of how to play the game, and a warning from Hermione about not taking out his wand, Fred was running all over the complex, trying to avoid the pack of teenagers that seemed to be following him around.
He saw Hermione, who in turn didn't see the twelve-year-old creeping up behind her, and instinctively jumped in front to defend her and shoot at the kid with his laser gun.
He was bemoaning the fact that he had been hit when suddenly a hand was yanking him by the back of the vest towards a corner.
"I'll have you know, Fred Weasley, that a woman who's a war hero doesn't need you to step in and save her from a twelve-year-old with a laser gun," she said jokingly.
Fred thought for a moment, wracking his brain for a clever retort, and then she was kissing him, and he wasn't thinking anymore.
Suddenly the pressure on his lips abated, and he heard the telltale buzzing that signified his vest had been shot. He opened his eyes to see Hermione with a wicked grin on her face.
"I believe that should be sufficient." she said with a smirk before walking off into the path of one of the smoke machines.
Fred stood there, dumbstruck for a moment before chasing after her.
"Hermione!"
a/n: I think we're at round ten of me absolutely LOVING writing these.
I had a blast writing these, and I hope you've had as much fun reading them.
Leave me a review and let me know what you think!
Enjoy!