Authors note: Hey guys, my HP ff is finally done! I hope you enjoy reading it was much as I have enjoyed writing it!
She watched him and his brothers as they played quidditch. She was sitting alone because Ginny was off somewhere with Harry. Doing something that she probably didn't want to know, instead she turned her gaze back to the book she was currently reading. Sure she had read the book before, but she always learned something new. She didn't notice when the game stopped, but she did however notice the redheaded boy sitting down next to her. But instead of putting the book down, she kept on reading. She didn't know how long they sat there, but the silence became more and more uncomfortable. Eventually she put the book down and turned to face the boy beside her.
"Good book?" She looked into his green eyes and sighed, this wasn't a question that he usually asked so she knew at this stage that it was going to be an awkward conversation.
"Of course it is, otherwise I would not read it." She tried her hardest to avoid his gaze; if she looked into his eyes she would see the sadness within him. The silence fell over them once again and she noticed that he moved closer to her, and almost unconsciously she moved away from him. In his eyes she could see hurt and confusion; the emotion was gone as fast as it came.
"What, I can't sit next to you anymore now, Hermione?" She was completely taken by what he had said, she didn't know what to say for a while, and she did not wish to hurt him further.
"We talked about this Ron…" Her voice faded, she thought the two of them had agreed on just being friends.
"I know what we agreed on, I may be a Weasley but I'm not stupid!" He was raising his voice, and his posture straightened.
"Ron, we agreed on just being friends. We both agreed that we didn't want to pursue a relationship, because it could risk our friendship." She tried to avoid the subject as much as possible; she didn't want to talk about relationships while she was still broken.
Ron just looked at her and she could not describe how broken he looked, when he stood up and walked back towards the house. But halfway there he stopped; he turned around and began to walk towards her again.
"I thought you loved me, I thought we were in love?" It pained her to hear him say this.
"I thought I was but, it was always the thought of you that I was in love with… I'm sorry Ron…" She stood up and walked away, leaving Ron behind her. He didn't call out to her, and as she walked a million thoughts ran through her mind. She watched as the sun started to set, suddenly she felt a pair of warm and firm arms around her waist. She did not need to look at the persons face to tell who it was, she could tell by his way of holding her. His touch was already so familiar to her, a touch that always made her feel safe and loved. She leaned back into his chest and sighed, why did Ron have to ruin everything. Ever since the war had ended she was holding on by a thread, she wasn't sure she would ever be the same. Her parents would never remember her, friends had died and she had lost her best friend in a way. Eventually she turned and looked into his blue eyes, and every time she did she felt like she was home. He slowly leaned down and put his forehead against hers. Hermione could still remember their first kiss, which was the day that changed everything.
"A lovely young lady as yourself should not be walking these halls alone, Miss Granger." She did notice the teasing tone in his voice but didn't smile, although his voice warmed inside of her.
"And why all this sudden concern for my safety may I ask?" He grinned at her attempt of trying to play along, she didn't actually succeed but it was an attempt.
"Well, there are quite a lot of reasons love, but some of them I really should keep to myself. They are not really suitable for a young lady, but you could always guess." She just stared at him; he really was a piece of work, annoying as hell sometimes. She didn't want to feel like she did when she was around him, but she could not help it. He just had a stupid grin stuck on his face all the time and sometimes she wondered if that boy were always happy, or if he just played the part of a smiling idiot. She was so lost in thoughts that she forgot to reply, that was until she tripped. Instead of feeling the cold floor connect with her face,, she felt a pair of arms catching her. He chuckled and Hermione could feel the blood flooding her cheeks.
"Thanks for catching me, I'm not really this clumsy usually…" He smiled at her and laughed, and god his laugh was beautiful.
"Am I making you nervous Granger?" Granger… That was one of Malfoys nicknames for her, but it sounded so different when he said it, Malfoy always made it sound so condescending but this was full of emotion.
"No, I'm just tired and thinking about an assignment…" He could easily tell that she was lying, but he just kept on going. They walked down the halls in silence, staying close to each other. Hermione finally stopped and it made him turn around looking confused.
"You never told me why you were so concern about my safety before" Her eyes locked with his, and he just laughed.
"Well, we can't have my little brothers girlfriend getting hurt now can we?" This made her furious, she was still mad at Ron after how he had acted at the Yule ball.
"There is nothing going on between me and Ronald, he is arrogant and annoying! There will never be anything between us, and I have moved on." He looked taken back by her outburst and that's when he decided to play nice for a while and be serious.
"And when you say moved on, you mean to another guy?" He looked at her with curiosity and she just stared at the floor.
"That is none of your concern really, but to answer your question then yes…"When she turned to face him the teasing look in his eyes were gone, and he was one staring at the floor.
"Tell me is it Viktor Krum or is it Harry, because I want to know who to place my bet on." She just stared at him in awe; people actually thought she would date Viktor or even Harry, seriously.
"It is neither one of them, and I am not going to tell you." He chuckled a bit, and then she noticed his face coming closer to hers. Then he did the crazy thing and kissed her, and she surprised herself by kissing him back. When the kiss ended she didn't want it to, but still she looked at him in shock.
"Fred…" He pulled her into another kiss and that kept on going until she pushed herself back. They still stood close and they just gazed into each others eyes.
"Well… That was interesting…." Both of them chuckled, and for the first time in a long time Hermione smiled and actually meant it.
"So I guess that was either inappropriate or amazing…." She avoided his eyes, fearing his reply.
"Well I would not use either one of those words, I would go with wicked, but I don't know that's just me. Hermione, look, I care about you, but if you don't want to do this then just say so." She shook her head and looked into his eyes and kissed him again, and for the rest of the night she only thought about Fred.
Hermione broke down; she buried her face in his chest and just cried. She felt his grip tighten and his hands rubbing her back. It took her a few minutes but finally she stopped crying. For the first time she felt safe, she always felt safe in his arms. She was amazed by how wonderful he was, even though their relationship had been hard from the start. They fought almost daily but after a few minutes or hours they had forgiven each other. Keeping it a secret was the hardest part, try sneaking around for almost two years with not a person knowing. Not even George and he knew everything about Fred. They never told George but knowing him, he had already figured it out. If he knew about it you wouldn't notice it, he of course never said anything about it though. But it had been both of theirs decision, so almost every day the two of them sneaked away for a few minutes or for a few hours. But there were days when they were too busy and didn't have time to sneak away, and all they had to live on a was few glances at each other.
She didn't need to explain anything to him, he already knew. Fred always knew what was going on in her mind, and they never kept anything secret to each other. But after Dumbledore's death, everything went down spiral. They didn't really part as friends, which made everything much worse.
Hermione looked around in the empty store, and when she heard someone behind her, she quickly turned around.
"Well, well… If it isn't Miss Hermione Granger, and what owes me the pleasure of your presence?" He just grinned and she sighed, letting her eyes wander a bit more until she realized that Fred wasn't in the room at all.
"Where's Fred?" Simple question, simple answer…
"The other, and of course less handsome twin is upstairs" She walked past him, mumbling a 'thanks' while she passed him. She stopped at the door into the twins' apartment, hesitated, but turned the handle and pushed the door open. She could see him sitting on the couch with his face buried in his hands, when he heard the door open he looked up. Without a word he stood and walked towards her, he pulled her into his arms and just held her tight. Hermione knew what she was about to say would break his heart, but it was for his own good.
"Fred… I think we need to talk…" She felt his grip on her loosen, and she turned around, not wanting to look him in the eye.
"I... I can't lie to everyone anymore, to my friends, to my family, to your family…" He shook his head in disbelief; she could tell that he was trying to find the right words.
"So… We'll tell everyone, it's that easy…. Right?" She shook her head, and her whole heart ached. When she turned around she saw tears forming in his eyes, eyes that otherwise shone with light and laughter.
"I… I can't lie to myself anymore Fred, I can't pretend to love you anymore… I am really sorry, but this isn't working out anymore…" With those words she turned around, and left him just standing there. When she reached the door, tears were slowly making their way down her cheeks.
She tore away from him, not facing him
"Why are you so good to me? After everything I did to you? I shouldn't be worth it!" He put a hand on her shoulder and as she tried to move away from him, his grip stopped her.
"Why wouldn't you be worth it? And what if I think you're worth it?" Hermione quickly turned around so she could face him, and before she could stop him, he kissed her. Hermione ended the kiss abruptly, and now both of them had an unreadable expression. The only sound you could hear was the sound of them breathing. Hermione didn't know what to think, she was trying to be calm and reasonable as she used to be. She stared down at the ground, took a deep breath, trying to gather some courage. She was not supposed to act like this; she always knew what to do or what to say but not now. There had always been something about Fred, she had never been able to put her finger on it but he always made her nervous and excited. At this moment she felt more nervous than excited, without thinking she grabbed his lapels and pulled him into a kiss. A kiss which he gladly responded to, his hands were on her hips trying to pull her closer. Her own hands were buried in his hair, making it even messier than before. His hand moved up to her cheeks, slowly he ended the kiss. Their foreheads touching and their eyes locked within each other. One of his hands caressing her cheek, a smile slowly coming to form on his face.
"Listen to me Hermione, I think you're worth everything. You are the most amazing person I've ever met, you're caring and selfless. You would gladly give your life if it could save someone that you care about and you would do it without hesitation. But to be honest you can also be a stubborn pain in the ass, but that's just one of the things I love about you." She looked down at the ground, hearing Fred being so serious and honest was rare. When he said 'one of the things I love about you', she was astounded. Although the long period they had been together, the two of them had never exchanged those three words.
They had never put words on their relationship before, it wasn't really necessary for them. Sure they would fight and call each other names they would later regret. But never once did they say I love you, nor call each other boyfriend or girlfriend. For them it was obvious what they felt for one another, even when they fought.
"Come on, can you please put down the book for a while?" pleaded Fred, he put his hands on her shoulders. Quickly she shrugged them off and tried to focus on the book in her hands. After a few minutes she felt a warm breath next to one of her cheeks, a hushed voice startled her.
"Please, can you please put down the book for a few minutes? I have to go soon and we haven't been able to spend a lot of time together lately." She turned to look at his pleading eyes, but soon turned her focus back on the book.
"I can't… I need to write a 4000 words essay on this book until tomorrow" Hermione didn't need too see the annoyance in his eyes; she already knew it was there.
"Is it really necessary to mouth of every time Snape says something" She rolled her eyes; sometimes Fred could be really annoying.
"Well, he was wrong! I had to correct him, he can't be teaching us the wrong facts" He sighed and shook his head.
"No you didn't, you could have kept your mouth shut. You already know that Snape don't like you being a know-it-all" Hermione stood up and walked over to where Fred stood.
"So you think I'm a know-it-all? Thank you so much, it's nice to know what you really think of me!" He rolled his eyes and was starting to get angry.
"Well you are sometimes! And it gets really annoying!" Her eyes started to fill up with tears and she tried her best to hold them back. When Fred saw her hurt look,, his annoyance turned in to remorse. He took a step towards her and in the exact moment she took a step backwards.
"Hermione…" He didn't get any further before she had turned around and run out of the room. He stood still for a few minutes, trying to think about how he could apologize. Soon he took of after her, running to the place where she most likely would be.
He found her sitting in a silent part of the library; her eyes were red and puffy. Without a word, he sat down beside her. They sat like that for a few minutes, not a single word was spoken during those minutes.
"I am so sorry; I didn't mean it like that… I'm just a bit cranky, I haven't been able to see you a lot… I'm so sorry Hermione" She took one of his hands in her own, taking a deep breath.
"I'm sorry too, I wasn't supposed to be stuck doing an essay… I was supposed to spend more time with you…" She slowly put her head on his shoulder and felt when he faintly kissed the top of her head. They sat like that, not saying a single word. Seconds turned in to minutes, which turned in to an hour.
"Weren't you supposed to meet George 30 minutes ago?" He smiled at her, and pulled her closer to him.
"George can wait, I'm more comfortable right here with you." Her cheeks turned into a slight red colour and she buried her face in his chest.
She looked at his face, took one of her hands and ran it through his hair and down to his cheek. She pulled him into a tight hug, never wanting to let go. Deciding that it was time to put words on her feelings, she whispered in his ear.
"I love you." His grip on her became tighter and he put his head on her shoulder. Giving her shoulder a light kiss, this made her whole body shiver. He eventually loosened the grip and turned his gaze to meet hers.
"I love you too." He took one of her hands and led her too tree nearby where they sat down. His arms tight around her waist, almost as if he thought that she would disappear otherwise.
"I don't want to keep us a secret this time." Hermione nodded in agreement and smiled.
"Me neither." He kissed her lips slowly and tenderly.
"Ron's going to be really upset about us." Hermione knew that wasn't a question, it was a statement.
"I know…" Ron was going to be more then upset, but she didn't care. They were just friends, they had agreed on it. Neither Hermione nor Fred had noticed the sun going down, but they did notice a voice calling out.
"HERMIONE? FRED?" Fred stood up and offered Hermione a hand which she gladly took. Hands clasped together, they walked closely to one another back to the burrow. When they came in to eyeshot Fred dropped her hand and moved away a bit. In the door opening a figure stood, a figure who turned out to be Ginny.
"Where have you been? Dinners ready, come on!" She turned her back and walked towards the kitchen. When Hermione made a move to follow Ginny, a hand stopped her. Looking up at Fred, a big smile plastered on his face.
"We'll do it together right?" He stretched out one of his hands towards her, which she accepted.
"Always."
