Frederick Gideon Weasley pulled back the curtains surrounding his bed. Enough light from the moon filtered through the window so he could see his twins sleeping figure. "George," He hissed. "George!" George didn't respond; not verbally, anyway. He made a rather odd grunt like snoring sound and rolled over, pulling his quilt up a bit more. Fred rolled his eyes. Grabbing his model bludger off of his bedside table, Fred threw it at George's head. He could feel the impact as it hit, causing George to jolt up and wake from his slumber. George looked around, his eyes red and dazed, to see his brother sat on the bed to his left, sniggering quietly. Rubbing his head where it had been hit, he noticed the bludger rolling out from under the bed.
"What, Fred?" He snapped, "You interrupted a perfectly good dream!" Fred raised eyebrows.
"Oh, sorry brother. Let me guess, was it about Angelina?" He grinned, earning a glare and a very crimson blush from George. "It was!" Instead of responding, George grabbed the bludger and pelted it at him. Fred caught it easily and tossed it aside. "You hungry? I'm feeling like a trip to the kitchens." George shook his head.
"No, thanks, go alone. I already ate tonight." Shrugging, Fred jumped up and pulled on his jacket. The castle could get chilly at night.
"Suit yourself. I'll bring a basket back though, incase you change your mind. See you later." After Fred received no response, he assumed that George had gone back to sleep.
Moving as quietly as he could, he made his way down the stairs and through the common room, being careful not to wake anyone. He knew women could be very light sleepers. He climbed out of the portrait hole and set off, en route to the kitchens.
Fred peered his face around the corridor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry rather slowly, praying to Merlin that neither Filch nor any of the Prefects were around the corner. They weren't. Sighing in relief, Fred silently crept forward to the painting of the fruit bowl. He tickled the green pear and the portrait swung open, revealing behind the marvelous House Elf filled kitchens of the school.
Fred clambered inside the passage only to be met by several eagerly awaiting House Elves. "Master Fred!" They greeted him cheerfully, before bowing and returning to their various tasks. One of them, however, remained behind. Dobby stared at Fred with wide eyes before looking at the empty space beside him.
"Has Master George not accompanied you tonight, sir?" Dobby asked, fiddling with the ends of the cloth he wore. Fred shook his head,
"Nah, he had time to eat in the feast. I missed it, so I thought I'd come and see if you have any left overs." He winked before proceeding to walk over to the table covered with several picnic baskets.
These baskets were especially left there for the pair of them; after Fred and George had discovered the kitchens, the House Elves had been more than willing to create baskets of food for them each and every night incase they ever fancied a midnight snack. They absolutely adored them, and had grasped the chance of getting to do extra work.
At first, they were hesitant to accept the offer as they didn't want to force the House Elves. After all, they did so much work already and the twins weren't even their rightful Masters. But all the elves assured them that they chose to work there, after being abandoned by their real Masters, as Professor Dumbledore offered them a home where they could work for a living - they loved it. And they loved Dumbledore too, just for giving them the opportunity. George had decided to look it up in the library though, in Hogwarts: A History, to make sure the elves weren't tricking them into giving them extra work.
"Hmmm." Fred speculated as he inspected each basket. Finally, he decided on a rather lush looking one at the rear end of the table containing several chicken wings, some strips of bacon and plenty of Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans. "Cheers Dobby!" Said Fred, giving Dobby a pat on the shoulder before climbing back out of the painting.
"Happy to help, Master Fred!" Dobby called after him.
On his way back to the Gryffindor common room, Fred ran into no trouble at all. Until he got to the third floor, that was. Turning the corner, he smacked straight into someone and dropped the basket - the contents scattered everywhere.
"Fuck!" He hissed, rubbing his nose where they had collided.
"Fred?" A surprised voice whispered back. He froze, but he couldn't see who it was in this darkness. It didn't, however, seem to be a teacher. Thy would have been screeching by now if it was. He hadn't been caught, not yet anyway. It all depended on who this mystery person was and whatever their next intentions were.
"Who's that?" He whispered back curiously. Instead of an answer to his question, a ball of light seemed to appear out of no where in between them. Staring at the blue glow he followed it back to its source. A wand. Tracing the arm that was attached to the wand, he came to a face. A girl's face.
Hermione Granger's face.
Now he really was in trouble, with her being Princess Prefect and everything. Gulping, he took an automatic step back, out of reach of her hands. "H-Hermione?" He stammered, just to make sure it was her and he wasn't seeing things or being paranoid for no reason.
Her eyes widened and turned into a glare as she saw Fred standing before her. "Seriously, Fred? You're out of bed this late? For what reason?" She cast a quick glance down at the scattered basket ingredients and rolled her eyes. "Food," she muttered, "figures."
"You're out of bed this late too." Fred simply responded by pointing out the obvious in the same patronizing tone. It took Hermione a couple of seconds to answer and her eyes seemed to widen even further, and as far as Fred could see in the dim light, her cheeks glowed darker.
"Y-yes, well. I'm a prefect. I'm supposed to make sure everybody's in bed, and - and if you weren't in my house, I would be docking points and giving you a detention right now!" Fred raised his eyebrows, not quite believing her.
"Mmmhmmmm. Right." He watched in amusement as her cheeks flushed even more.
"Frederick Gideon Weasley! How dare you accuse me of rule breaking? You know, I think I may just be changing my mind about that detention!" Hermione's pitch and volume had risen significantly towards the end of her shrilling.
"Quieten down, woman! Do you want Filch to hear? Prefect or not, you know he would bust you!" Hermione seemed to pale at this realization.
"No!" She gasped, as Mrs. Norris came padding along. "Bugger." It was Fred's turn to glare as Mrs. Norris' speed increased and she disappeared, no doubt in search of her owner to alert him to the two rule breaking students.
"Well done." He said sarcastically. "Give me your wand." He instructed, squinting in the darkness.
"What- why?" Impatient, Fred snatched it out of her hands and shone it around, looking for an escape.
The two of them froze as they heard the running of footsteps and clanging of metal. Filch's panting was recognizable anywhere, and right this moment he was running after them.
Not even thinking about it, Fred grabbed Hermione's wrist and too began to run. The dim light from the wand end was their only source as they navigated through the snaking maze like corridors of the school.
They ran for what seemed like hours, and both were exhausted by the time they came to a dead end. Unfortunately, they could still hear Filch coming after them. They hadn't exactly been quiet during their escape and Filch was now hollering after them, rousing some of the paintings from their sleeps.
"STUDENTS! ... STUDENTS OUTTA BED!"
Thoroughly panicked now as they seemed to have no way out of this, Fred frantically looked around. Hermione had been suspiciously silent during their running and he noticed that now she was just staring at him, looking helpless and afraid. He realised that this was the first time she had ever been in trouble, let alone a situation like this. He resisted the urge to smirk, as he was feeling rather proud that her first time had been with him.
He felt a light tugging on his jacket sleeve and he looked down at Hermione. She was pointing at a door, which she proceeded to drag him towards. Still not saying a word, she opened the door and walked inside. Fred followed, shutting the door as softly as he could and muttering 'Defigo'. With his ear still trained on the noise outside the door, he turned and faced Hermione. Seeing that she was about to speak, he held his finger up to his lips, silencing her.
The pair listened intently as the footsteps outside came to a halt. As the door handle rattled their breathing stopped altogether. Fred could practically feel the waves of terror radiating from Hermione's body, and if Fred's heart beat was irregular, he couldn't imagine what her's must be like.
Fred heaved a huge sigh of relief as he heard Filch walk away, muttering to himself. Hermione let out a shaky laugh and Fred raised the wand so he could see her facial expression.
What he saw he wasn't expecting. She was beautiful. To the extreme. Sure he'd thought she was pretty in the past, but what he felt and saw right now was nothing in comparison to back then. 'Hot' or 'Sexy' were far below the adequate words to describe her. In fact, they were down right insulting. She was magnificent; a goddess. And he wanted to taint her. To kiss her and make her his.
Fred closed the gap between them with three simple strides. He didn't act upon the throbbing impulses straight away, instead he let his fingers trail down her cheek, leaving warm tracks in their path. His hand rested under her chin, tilting it up, closer to him. Their eyes bored into each other, the only visible things in the dark room. Hermione's wand now lay discarded on the floor, the glow growing dimmer. Short, shallow breaths filled their hiding place.
Hesitantly, Fred leaned in slowly; the last thing he saw before his eyes closed were Hermione's fluttering shut. His lips fastened onto hers; it was a long, lone kiss. Pulling back, he could feel the smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
The heat radiating from the two of them was enough to boil water, and Hermione wasn't too fond of the sudden separation. Reaching up on her tip toes, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his face back down to hers. She could feel the smile on his lips, one she gladly returned. Fred placed his hands on her waist, gently bringing her body closer to his.
Nothing could compare to how happy her was feeling right now, kissing Hermione like she was his and his alone, that she always had been and always would be. Maybe she had, but they were too blind to see that the person they each wanted the most was right in front of them the entire time.
All good things must come to an end, and a dejected Fred pulled back once again. He chuckled at the put Hermione's face fashioned and took her hands, swinging them by their sides. She giggled. "You have no idea how good that was." He whispered, looking her intently in the eye and bringing one of her hands up, firmly pressing his lips against the back of it. There was just enough light for him to see the colour rise in her cheeks.
"Actually," she whispered back, a seductive edge to her voice, "I think I might." Grinning from ear to ear like the Cheshire Cat, Fred wrapped his arms around her shoulders and dragged her in for a warm, tight embrace and planting a kiss on the top of her head. Hermione sighed into his chest and snuggled up, more than content.
They stood there like that for a long while, enjoying each other's company. Every now and then Fred would lean down and place another kiss on her head, earning another sigh of happiness from Hermione each time.
Eventually, she cleared her throat. "Err, Fred?" She whispered tentatively,
"Hmmmm?"
"Not to ruin the moment or anything, but shouldn't we get back to the common room? Before everyone wakes up and realizes we're missing, I mean." Fred couldn't help but laugh at that. But he quickly frowned, he didn't want this to end. Not now, not ever. Hermione wrapped her arms around his waist and together they exited the cupboard, walking in silence back to the Gryffindor tower.
Half way there, a thought occurred to Fred. "Hey, Hermione, what exactly were doing out so late, any how?" He felt her stiffen beside him and he stopped, turning to look down at her, eyebrows raised.
"Erm," She shifted guiltily under the sudden spotlight. "I was... looking for someone." Her mind traveled back to only hours before when she was sat in her dormitory, watching a figure move along the Marauder's Map, and how she had subconsciously decided to follow them.
"Who were you looking for?" Fred asked, intrigued. Was there some one else? And then she grinned suddenly, her whole face lighting up. It reminded Fred of his younger sister Ginny on Christmas mornings in the past.
"It doesn't matter," She purred. "He found me."
And with those words, Fred lifted her up bridal style and kissed her, carrying her all the way to the Fat Lady portrait. The only time he stopped kissing her was to say the password, with which he waltzed into the common room and placed her on one of the squishy sofas, hovering over her, his tongue gently caressing her now plump lips. Hermione moaned into his mouth, crushing her body eagerly against his. She wanted him just about as much as he wanted her.
Several long minutes and breathless moans later found Hermione sat on Fred's lap with him tracing her jaw line with his nose, stopping at her earlobe only to start lightly nibbling it. He felt Hermione shiver and whispered, "Sorry to disappoint, but remember - we are in a semi-public place." Hermione sighed, he was right. They were. Fred pulled back and kissed her once more before she nestled down into his shoulder, closing her eyes. She was lulled to sleep by the peaceful sound of Fred humming a lovely melody.
The whole Gryffindor house was in for a shock when they came down the next morning to find the two love birds nestled up together sleeping. George, Lee, Harry, Ron and Ginny didn't know what to do, so they simply stared at the sleeping teenagers.
And then all 5 of them began speaking over one another.
"Are they...?"
"How long?"
"What's going on?"
"Did you know about this?"
"Since when?"
The outburst of noise was enough to rouse Hermione, and she blinked a few times before she registered the five housemates before her. Blushing deeply, she nudged Fred in his ribs with her elbow. "Fred!" She hissed. She watched him slowly stir to life.
"What 'Mione?" He mumbled, looking around dazed. His eyes locked onto his brothers and he sat up immediately, jostling Hermione out of his lap as he did so.
"Ooof!" She complained as she scrambled to sit right on the sofa. "Erm..." Without even offering an excuse, she shot up and darted to her dormitory, shortly followed by Ginny, leaving all the boys staring at them. Fred gulped as the four turned to face him.
"Morning boys," He offered, cracking a smile. Lee laughed and walked off, taking Harry and Ron with him. George, on the other hand, joined his brother on the sofa. Fred ran his hand through his hair, thinking back to last night...
"Ahem." George had pulled him out of his day dream by artificially clearing his throat, looking at him with his eyebrows raised. "So," He smirked, "How was your midnight snack?"
"Tasty." Fred concluded, winking.