Why had Fred asked Angie to this stupid ball? All she's done this entire time is flirt with Oliver Wood!

He sighed as he watched them from across the Great Hall. He took a large drink from his goblet, then slammed it back down. So what if it wasn't pumpkin juice? Fred thought this justified as good reason to have a bit of fire whiskey. So what if the ball hadn't even really begun yet? He scowled at the thought. The TriWizard Champions hadn't even come in for their big dance number yet, and he was already hitting the hard stuff. He pushed away from the table he had been leaning against. There is no way I'm letting her ruin my night. He had about had it with the way Angelina teased him. She would flirt with him, act as if she truly wanted to be with him, then run off to some other bloke.

Just then the song changed, and the oak doors swung open. The champions swirled in with their dates, and some little chit in a purple dress caught his eye. He couldn't tell who the girl was from the back, but she was dancing with Viktor Krum. As he watched they way she moved gracefully across the floor, he forgot all about how angry he had been. The girl had chocolate brown hair that had been pulled into an elegant updo. There were a few stray curls hanging about, and he longed to pull on one, just to see if it would bounce back up. The dress hung to her curves in all the right places, and he was sure there was no way this bird went to Hogwarts. He would have noticed a body like that before now.

The song end after what Fred felt like an eternity. Before the girl could leave the dance floor, or even worse, agree to dance with someone else, Fred moved quickly up to her. He stood behind her, and placed his hands just above her hips. "Care to dance, love?" He asked in a husky voice.

Hermione quickly turned around to slap the boy touching her, but her hand fell limp by her side when she recognized the long red hair, and sleek athletic build that was Fred Weasley.

"Oh!" They both said in surprise.

Hermione blushed, "Er, sure. I suppose it won't hurt." She murmured. Still in shock that Fred Weasley of all people wanted to dance with her.

Fred, however, recover quite quickly. He pulled her closer to him, and moved his hands lower to her hips. He might not have been expecting Granger, but dancing with her was still a much better option than watching Angie and Oliver. Besides, she looked rather pretty tonight.

As it happened, it was a slow song. The two swayed slowly in an awkward silence.

It must have been the firewhiskey talking, though, because a sober Fred would have just left it as awkward and ended it after one dance. This Fred, though, he was enjoying the way she smelled, and they way she fit almost perfectly to him a bit too much to let her walk away when the song finished. Instead, he had held onto her hips when she tried to pull away, and smirked down at her.

She sighed, and pushed at his chest again. "Fred, the song is over, you can let me go now." Her voice was slightly irritated.

"Well, then it's a good thing I didn't ask for just one dance, now isn't it?" His smirk grew as she huffed and placed her hands back around his neck.

"Why did you want to dance with me anyway?" She asked. Was it the alcohol, or was there really a bit of pain twinged in her voice? Fred wasn't sure.

"You want the truth, my dear Granger?" She rolled her eyes.

And now is when he says Molly or Harry told him to.

She nodded, "Clearly, or else I wouldn't have asked."

He frowned for a second at her tone. There had definitely been a hint of sadness that time.

"Well, I asked because you looked rather beautiful when you were dancing with Krum. And if anyone gets to dance with the prettiest girl here, it should be me."

Now, where had that come from? It most certainly must be the firewhiskey.

That was not what Hermione had been expecting. She stared up at him wide-eyed for a moment, before chalking it up to usual Weasley twin antics. "Right. And why would it be you?" If he was going to tease her, she was most certainly going to throw a few punches as well.

"Well, I've had an unfortunate bout of bad luck lately, don't you think I deserve it?"

Oh, he deserves something alright... "Oh? What kind of bad luck?" She scoffed as he feigned innocence.

"Well, what with that git giving us vanishing gold this summer-"

"That you won illegally, I might add,"

"And not being old enough to enter the tournament,"

"That's hardly unfortunate, seeing how dangerous it is."

"Then being turned into an old man-"

"I warned you not to try,"

"And Angie's been all over Oliver for weeks-"

"What happened to Katie?"

"Percy's been a right prat the entire time he's been here,"

"He's always been a prat."

Fred sighed, "You're really taking the fun out of whining, did you know?"

Hermione laughed. "Oh, my apologies! You really have had such a rough term, haven't you? Poor little Freddie." It was her turn to smirk up at him now.

The song had changed again, though this time neither of them noticed it.

He pouted, "You wound me!" He sighed dramatically, before flipping his hair to the side and joining in on her laughter.

They also hadn't noticed that they had managed to move even closer together. "You know, I don't think I've ever made you laugh before. I quite like the sound of it, actually."

She looked into his eyes again, and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. Fred sucked in a shaky breath. Merlin, when did Granger become so... irresistable? Does she know how sexy she looks nibbling on her lip like that?

He opened his mouth to ask her just that, when Ron stomped over and pulled roughly on her arm. "Is it my turn to dance with you, yet?" He asked in what Ron seemed to think was a flirty tone. And just like that, it was over. Hermione smiled apologetically at him, then turned to dance with Ron.

Fred just rolled his eyes and walked away. Now, where did I leave that firewhiskey? He was definitely not drunk enough to be think about his little brothers best friend that way.

NOT ALL OF THE CHAPTERS WILL BE THIS SHORT! Only the first eight or so, up until the point where the story really starts. These are just little drabbles leading up to the actual story, so it has a background.