Authors note: this one shot is set in hermione's fifth year at hogwarts, but does no follow the storyline line of the fifth book

none of these characters belong to me they belong to the magnificent queen J.K. Rowlings

November rain

"Hermione, hurry up!" Ron yelled at hermione from the portrait hole as she gathered up her books "we're going to be late for quidditch!"

"Stop whining Ronald" this was said a bit exasperatedly, as she was out of breath from carrying such an armful of books

"But it's the first match between gryffindor and slytherin! how the beginning of the match plays out will determine the whole thing, we can't miss ANY of it!"

"Well YOU could help!" Hermione snapped

"Fine" Ron mumbled, taking five of the books off the stack in her arms "urg... what do you need these all for anyways?"

"Don't you remember?" seeing that Ron had shook his head no, she began to explain that "we're going to the library after the match, before lunch so we can study for the exam in a history of magic on Monday, you and harry's memory of the late 1700's names and dates is rubbish. Remember you and harry agreed because tonight we will be busy with the celebration party, since you're SO certain there will be one and tomorrow's a hogsmeade visit, which neither of you were real keen on missing, as it's the first of the year..."

"Ugh" Ron groaned "won't THAT be fun"

"Oh, don't be so..." The pair stopped as they neared the quidditch pitch, so they could listen to lee Jordan's play-by-play of the game, to see if they missed any. to Ron's delight it was just beginning.

"Come on hermione!" He tugged her forward towards the stands
" If we hurry we'll get seats by neville, Seamus and dean, instead of Luna and ginny! I'd rather Not here another thorough analysis of all the players arse's."

Hermione laughed as Ron cringed at the memory of the fourth years examination of the different body parts of the boys at previous matches. Some reoccurring favorites had been harry and Draco's arse's and abs, while luna also quite enjoyed making both ginny and Ron uncomfortable when she commented on Fred's, very defined arms, which hermione could agree were quite attractive. especially when he hit the bludger, or gripped the Broom when he was flying at difficult angles. She was brought back to reality by the victorious cheer of her classmates as harry sped up towards the sky in pursuit of the snitch.

"HE'S GOT IT! HES GOT IT!" Seamus was chanting behind her

"Come on harry" she said beneath her breath, the sooner the match was over the sooner they could go to the library.

"HARRY POTTER HAS CAUGHT SIGHT OF THE SNITCH AND IS GAINING ON IT! THERES ABOUT 20 FEET BETWEEN THEM AND IF HE- DRACO MALFOY HAS COME UP BEHIND HARRY!.."

Hermione watched nervously as Draco shoved harry out of the way as he advanced towards the snitch, harry was now behind Draco and the two where pushing each other around

"Can you BELEIVE him hermione?" beside her Ron was giving her his very colorful opinion of Draco.

"I know Ron - oh look Ronald!" a bludger about 15 feet away was headed towards the pair! " Where are Fred and George?"

"I don't...look over there!" Hermione looked over to the lower half of the tallest goal past that Ron was pointing to, sure enough Fred and George were both occupied trying to keep a bludger from hitting Angelina Johnson. as they watched Fred noticed the other bludger's intentions and was flying after it.

"Do you think he'll make it?" hermione asked Ron nervously

"Oh, I'm sure. I mean, come on it's Fred he's never missed a bludger... well there was that one time in second year, but that one was cursed so it really wasn't his-"

"I don't think he's gonna make it , look the bludgers 5 ft away from harry and Draco, but Fred's a good 10 ft away! I don't see HOW he could make it!"

"It'll be- blimey, did you see that! Harry just turned downwards, now the bludgers farther away! see I told you!" sure enough after Harry's sharp turn (and of course Draco had followed)the bludger had fell behind and fred was inches away and was pulling the bat back, when the crowd erupted as harry caught the snitch the same moment that Fred hit the bludger.

Hermione let out a breath she hadn't even realized she had been holding. she didn't understand everyone's obsession with quidditch, it was dangerous and competitive and fueled the rivalries between houses, she could admit that it was exhilarating at time, but didn't seem worth the trouble to her

After the match hermione and Ron met up with harry and to the boys dismay went to the library to study. about halfway there though they ran into Fred and George who insisted that they come to the celebration party. which instead of being after lunch like they thought, was going all day. It was becoming quite hard to not want to cave into their wishes, when it was not only harry and ron, But the twins also nagging at her.

"Come ooon hermione" harry begged her while pulling on her arm "we'll study tomorrow!"

"I thought we were going to hogsmeade tomorrow"

"We'll study after hogsmeade" Ron said pushing her from behind "now come ON"

"Fine whatever" she said finally consenting "but don't come whining to me when you fail the exam"

"Oh don't be such a killjoy! it won't be that hard you already studied so you can just tell us right before class"

"And why will hermione be giving you all the answers?" Fred said frowning

She looked at Fred gratefully then sighed, of course they would want to copy of her, that's what they always did.

Ron who was mumbling something about that being what friends were for, was walking up ahead so the conversation would drop. while harry, trying to comfort her was offering her a butterbeer as they climbed into the portrait hole. her classmates cheered as harry walked in an she noticed ginny catch his eye, wink and walk of into the crowd. after harry had her and Ron Sat down with a butterbeer he walked of to find ginny saying he would be back in a few minutes. something that both hermione and Ron could agree was unlikely.

About five minutes into the party lavender brown caught sight of Ron, and after yelling WonWon, ran over and promptly threw herself at him smashing her lips to his. of course Ron didn't object to this. she sat there for a bit longer trying to enjoy her butterbeer, but after several minutes of watching there snogging which was beginning to get pretty heated she felt the hot tears of rejection start to burn her eyes. She quickly wiped her eyes but it was no use, they were coming quite steadily now. so without anyone noticing she quickly picked up her things and ran from the room.

Out in the hallway she found an abandoned classroom and tried to get control of herself. but all she could think about was how she was completely ignored until she was convenient, until someone needed the answers on a homework assignment or the answers of an essay. She loved Ron and harry, sometimes she thought she loved Ron a bit more then a friend. but right now she felt like they didn't love her. they left her alone at a party that they had made her go to. and no matter how much she did for them, they treated her like she was an Inconvenience. A killjoy Ron had called her.

She got up and walked out into the courtyard where she cried freely as the November rain washed down her face

Back in the common room, Fred was waiting for Ron or any of her friends to notice her emotional departure. but after several minutes he sighed and got up to find her. what wonderful friends she had, he looked over at Ron who was feeling lavender up while she kissed his neck, he realized then that Ron was probably the biggest git ever. how could he not see what was right in front of him?

After several minutes of wandering the castle he walked past the courtyard where he saw hermione looking up at the rain as she cried silently. he quietly walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.

He couldn't help but laugh as she jumped and whipped around. he also couldn't help bur notice the raindrops that clung to her eyelashes and streaked down to her lips. her lips, the soft pink lips that parted slightly as she opened her mouth to speak.

"I was just" she said searching for a reason to explain why she was standing in the middle of the rain crying "everyone was busy so I..."

"I know"he said tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, he noticed a shiver that ran through her "Ron's a git, they're all gits"

"Thank you" she said smiling "I'm sorry Fred, but why did you follow me? why do you care?"

Fred sighed and felt sad for her, she was so confused that some one would show her the kindness of making sure she was ok, and he realized he should've done this a long time ago.

"Hermione, the way they treat you is wrong, that's not how you treat someone you love. your the smartest person I've ever met and probably the kindest too, the thing is they know it and they use you for it. it's wrong and you shouldn't let them treat you like that. And you better ignore all that buck tooth, bushy-haired crap they give you , your beautiful and I... I..."

Fred looked down at her unable to find the words to describe how he felt, and smiled at the shocked expression on her face.

He thought about how he had quietly observed her Over the years... his little brothers best friend. he thought of all the times he would find her reading while everyone else played quidditch at the burrow, or the few times he had stumbled upon the room she was sleeping In. He would then watch her for a few minutes, the quite rise and fall of her chest always calming him.

He thought about the way she always caved into harry and Ron's wishes, she always started out determined to get them to do the work theirselves, but after constant nagging and the compliments from Ron like "your brilliant hermione"
Or "i swear hermione your the best" with the little smiles he would give her that he knew would make her give in, because she was so eager to please them. He wished that she could see that he wasn't worth it, he wished that Ron would see that he wasn't good enough for her, and maybe start trying to treat her with the respect she deserved.

He thought about her cute quirkiness that she tried to hide, like the time he watched as she danced in the rain when she thought no one was home, or when he would overhear her go crazy about muggle books and 'movies' with ginny, even though ginny had no idea what she was talking about. the way that she insisted upon eating toast with breakfast Every morning, insisting that it was a basic part of every breakfast.

He thought about the first time he noticed how beautiful she was, it was at the Yule ball last year, a lot of people had been surprised that night, but he had been very pleasantly surprised. he had never really looked at her that way before, he had always liked her for the way she was not how she looked. but that night he noticed her big chocolate brown eyes, her thin curves, her soft feathery hair, her pale smooth skin, the dusting of freckles across her nose and her soft link lips.

He had always respected her, he had liked her for years, but looking down at her in that moment he realized he loved her. this shocked him a bit, he'd slowly fallen in love with this smart, kind, independent and beautiful girl without either of them knowing.

So as he looked down at her, he was unable to stop himself as he leaned closer and brushed his lips against hers. he felt her jump and then to his surprise kiss him back. he put his hands on her back, pulling her closer, and deepening the kiss. he felt her gasp at the sudden contact and he smiled then pulled away, looking down at her he saw that she was looking at him with the same combination of shyness, affection and nervousness that she normally saved for Ron.

" You...but I thought.. Ron? " he seemed incapable of forming coherent thoughts and finally gave up.

"Your not a git" She smiled up at him.

He smiled back and pulled her closer, as she wrapped her arms around his neck,and they stood there until the rain stopped.