Of Calendars and Kisses by WeasleyForMe
Just when Hermione thought her silly birthday plans were spoiled, Fred steps in and saves the day! Hermione/Fred
This is my entry for the Twin Exchange Monthly Challenge for September!
Prompt: Detention, Pairing:Fred/Hermione, Quote: "Oh no!", Theme: Hermione Granger, born September 19
And a big thanks to Clover Bay for beta reading and helping me with my idea!
Fred Weasley sat in an overstuffed armchair in the teacher's lounge at Hogwarts, writing up lesson plans for his first year flying students. It was his first term as Professor Hooch's replacement, and he wanted to put forth extra effort as the new flying instructor both on and off the Quidditch pitch. He found himself planning ahead for classes and taking extra time to help his students who were falling behind, because flying and playing Quidditch had been so important to him when he was a student.
"Let's see," he muttered. "They should be able to actually mount the brooms by the fourth week…" His attention was fixed on the parchment and spreadsheet on his lap, that is until he heard the door open and close.
Hermione Granger breezed into the lounge and headed for the bulletin board. She was the only other new instructor this year, taking over Charms for Professor Flitwick, but Fred rarely ran into her. She gave him a small wave and a smile, which he returned brightly, perhaps waving too much, causing all of the teachers in the nearly silent room to briefly turn their attention to him.
Hermione nearly giggled at the sight of the overzealous Weasley. Fred had always been charming, and all of the seventh year girls had a crush on him this term, a fact which made Hermione's giggle overflow. She quickly cleared her throat to cover her laughter as she skimmed the large wooden board for the detention schedule. A frown overtook her entire face as she read the beginning of the bulletin.
Schedule of Detention Duty for Hogwarts Instructors: Fall Term
Students will serve detentions from 8 to 11 pm, Monday through Friday, with the assigned instructor.
September 8 through September 12- Professor Fred Weasley, Room 231
September 15 through 19- Professor Hermione Granger, Charms Classroom
September 22 through 26- Professor Pomona Sprout, Room 444
Hermione bit her lip to prevent herself from shouting in front of her peers and quickly spun on her heel, walking pointedly toward the door, where she ran into Fred.
"Ladies first," he told her with a small bow as he held the door open for her.
"Thanks," she snarled, walking at a rapid rate toward her personal quarters, black teaching robes whirling in her wake.
Fred immediately started to jog after her down the corridor, determined to make sure she was feeling okay. "Hermione, what's the matter?" he huffed as he caught up to her and matched her pace.
She sighed and completely ceased walking; Fred tried to stop in time, but ended up chest to chest with Hermione, nearly knocking her over. She grabbed onto him for support, noticing his very muscular build and the concerned look in his eyes. He wrapped his arms around her to steady both of them, and looked down into her deep brown eyes. "Is everything all right?"
Hermione's brow crinkled as she started to rant. "Doesn't she even pay attention to things? Honestly, I thought McGonagall would take into account the little details as Headmistress. Didn't you?" she asked, talking at the same speed she had been walking. Fred tried to interrupt but was completely cut off. "She must have made that schedule without even looking at the other calendar, which is hanging right under the detention schedule!" Hermione finished with a small stomp. Then she realized that she was still being firmly grasped by Fred, his face quite close to her own, and slowly backed a step away from him.
"I'm not following at all," Fred managed to say.
Hermione sighed again, hands firmly planted on her hips. "Don't worry about it Fred, there's nothing you can do about it. Have a lovely evening."
Fred watched intently as the petite brunette disappeared around the corner. "Calendar?" he muttered to himself as he made his way back into the teacher's lounge, suddenly very curious.
He perused the detention schedule, but found nothing new. Tonight was to be his final night of detention duty for the term, and next week would begin Hermione's five day stint as the mean teacher forcing the students to write lines or clean Cornish pixie dust off of the desks. His eyes dropped further down to the bright yellow "Staff Events Calendar". He looked at the goings-on for each day in September. He found nothing of note until he reached September nineteenth: Hermione's 27th birthday.
"That's it!" Fred exclaimed, disrupting all of the other teachers for the second time. Fred silently, apologetically left the lounge and headed to Room 231 to serve detention duty.
Bright and early Saturday morning, Hermione gathered up some reports on "The seven ways to misuse the Banishing Charm" written by her fourth year students, and headed outside to correct them. She sat in the first row of the empty Quidditch stadium and began to mark up the parchments. It was sunny and quiet outside- the perfect contrast to her mood, but she needed to catch up with her corrections and comments before she started her dreaded detention duty on Monday.
She still couldn't believe she would have to put her solitary birthday celebration on hold; she had been looking forward to it since the beginning of the month.
"Hey, Hermione! So, what are you going to miss?"
Hermione jumped nearly a foot off of the stadium bench as Fred plopped down next to her, broom in hand.
"Fred! You scared me!" she shrieked.
"Sorry," he replied with a half smile. "But I just wanted to know what you're going to miss out on."
"Pardon?"
"You were just muttering that you'd be missing something."
Hermione hadn't even noticed that she had been talking to herself. "Well, I, uh… it's just that it's kind of silly."
"Oh no! No! It couldn't be sillier than me." Fred confirmed this by making a ridiculous face.
"This is true," Hermione laughed. Fred had dimples. How did she never notice that he had adorable dimples? And beautiful teeth and nice, full lips. He had perhaps the best smile she had ever seen. She had to literally shake herself back to reality. "Well, I didn't want to make a big deal about it, but I have detention duty on my birthday."
"Let me do it."
Hermione examined his face, trying to catch the joke. "Work my detention duty for me?"
"Sure."
"McGonagall will never let that happen. In fact, I think she even has a line at the bottom of the detention duty schedule expressly stating that 'there shall be no transference of days among staff members,'" Hermione rattled off in an uncanny impersonation of McGonagall. "Thanks though," she told him with a smile.
Fred frowned. "What were your plans? Dinner with Harry and Ron? Shopping with Ginny? A hot date…?"
Hermione laughed aloud. "None of the above! The boys will forget my birthday as usual, and Ginny isn't returning from tryouts with the Harpies until the following week."
Fred cocked his head. "Not a hot date either?" He hoped he didn't sound as excited as he felt that she happened to be lacking a 'hot date'.
"No! Who would want to date a bookworm?" she asked, returning her quill to the parchment on her lap.
Fred couldn't help but imagine himself dating her, and he didn't dislike the thought at all. "Well, what were the plans then?"
Hermione took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She never took her eyes off the parchment as she told him, "I do the same thing every year for my birthday. I just wanted to hang out in my quarters and make muggle cocktails and watch muggle films and paint my toenails the muggle way, and then fall asleep on the couch after eating too much junk food." She turned to face him with an apologetic smile. "Told you it was silly."
"Still not as silly as I am." Fred winked at her and stood to make his way onto the turf with his broom. "See you at lunch," he promised as some students begun to arrive for extra lessons with Professor Weasley.
Hermione had been dreading Friday all week. By the time it arrived, she was in a horrible mood. Of course she had been correct; the boys had managed to forget yet again that it was her birthday. Her parents had sent her several books and a calligraphy set, but other than that, Fred was the only person to send her a card.
She had smiled when she sat at her seat for breakfast to find he had made her a greeting card out of turquoise parchment and neon orange ribbon. It was hideously tasteful, and she thanked him for it immediately. His wink and kiss on her cheek gave Hermione unexplained butterflies all morning.
But, by the afternoon, she was ready to turn in for the day. To make matters worse, she found out at dinner that she would only have one student serving detention with her that night. One! And a first year, at that. The poor child probably didn't even understand what he had done wrong! Hermione, not wanting to complain, just grumbled and met little Billy Lighterton in her Charms classroom at eight o'clock precisely.
"Please take this piece of parchment and write I will not disrupt my Potions class while my teacher is lecturing until I tell you otherwise," she instructed the child. He took a seat in front of her desk, petrified, and started writing very quickly with his quill.
She sat down at her desk, completely annoyed that she was still in her teaching robes, and graded a few poorly written essays. It was evident that she would need to re-teach the Colour Changing Charms. Shuddering, Hermione realized she sounded very much like Professor Snape of all people, but damn it, today she had every right to do so!
As Hermione paused to stretch, her classroom door creaked open. Much to her surprise, and delight, Fred strode in and walked right over to Billy Lighterton's desk. "Hey kiddo," he said as he knelt down until they were both on the same eye level. "You've learned your lesson, right? You don't really need to stay here and write lines all night, do you?"
"I learned my lesson, sir!" Billy immediately replied.
"Good!" Fred exclaimed, patting the child on the head. "Then why don't you say goodnight to Professor Granger and return immediately to your dorm room and go to bed."
Hermione stood to protest; she would surely get into trouble for letting a student leave her classroom early. Before she got a word in edgewise, Billy skipped up to her desk and wished her a good evening and vanished out through the door.
"What was that all about?" Hermione demanded.
Fred grinned excitedly. "That is all about you commencing with your plans." He reached out and took Hermione's quill from her hand and dropped it onto her desk, and then he took her hand in his. "Let's go."
"Where?" Hermione questioned, dragging her feet along the stone floor, trying to get Fred to tell her what was going on.
Fred stopped and turned to face her. "I just want you to enjoy your birthday. You'll have fun, I promise." His hands came to rest at the top of her black teaching robe, as he asked, "Trust me?"
Hermione nodded silently as her heart begun to pound rapidly. Deftly, Fred undid the column of buttons and hung her robe on her coat rack, leaving her in a simple sweater and a pair of blue jeans. He smiled down at her bewildered expression before taking her hand again and leading her from the room.
Although Hermione had at least twelve unanswered questions swirling through her mind, she bit her tongue and allowed Fred to lead her to his private quarters. "Hold on," Fred told her as he muttered the password to gain entry. He then gently placed his hands over her eyes and led her inside. Hermione was luckily too curious at this point to protest, and he guided her over to stand next to his couch.
"Happy birthday, Hermione!" he yelled as he unshielded her eyes. Hermione stood still, mouth agape, as she took in her surroundings. There was a warm fire burning in the fireplace, and colourful banners and balloons were hanging from the ceiling. Fred's entire coffee table was covered in bowls, boxes and platters of junk food. He had even somehow managed to acquire a muggle television set and video player.
She turned to face him with a bright smile. "Wow. I'm not really sure what to say, but you definitely didn't have to go to all of this trouble for me."
"You deserve it," he replied sincerely. "Now have a seat and pick out a film while I make you a delicious muggle drink."
As Hermione sunk into his couch, he disappeared into the adjacent kitchenette. She perused the various, unrelated movie titles while he apparently used a blender in the next room. Hermione couldn't contain her laughter when she realized she would have to make a decision between Nightmare on Elm Street, The Little Mermaid, and a documentary on the Cold War. When Fred emerged holding two large margaritas, Hermione was curled up on his couch, laughing hysterically.
"What's so funny?" he questioned with a frown.
"Nothing!" Hermione sputtered amid her giggles. "It's just, oh man, you picked the funniest films!"
"How so?" Fred asked, setting the drinks down in the middle of the junk food assortment.
"Well, we can't watch this one, or else I will have terrifying dreams for a week," she told him, tossing Nightmare on Elm Street aside. "And this one will have us both snoring by the end of the opening credits," she added, putting the documentary in the discard pile. "So that leaves us with a children's movie about a fictitious mermaid!"
Fred bit his lip. "Sorry, I don't really know anything about muggle films."
Realizing she had offended one of the sweetest men she knew, Hermione quickly pulled him down onto the couch to sit next to her. "No! This one is great, I promise! Let's watch it."
Within a few minutes, Hermione and Fred were side by side, sipping margaritas and eating cheese curls. Although Hermione was pretty sure he had added the salt directly into the drink, she decided not to say anything; this evening was far too unique and perfect to complain about a single thing. Just as Hermione set her empty glass down and was about to curl up next to Fred, he jumped up from the couch.
"I almost forgot! You said you wanted this." He handed her a bottle of magenta nail polish. "I had to send an owl to Ginny to find out where to get it. And I must admit, I have no clue what it does," he confessed with a shrug.
Hermione laughed and proceeded to sit on the floor and paint her nails, the children's movie essentially forgotten as neither was particularly interested in the plot. Hermione painted, and started to talk about her interview with McGonagall over the summer. They talked about the stress and rewards of their first few weeks as teachers, and Hermione admitted she missed her family. Fred asked her to help him organize his lesson plans, and Hermione agreed, always feeling that organization was the key to success.
"See?" she asked, pointing her painted toes toward him for inspection.
"Very pretty," he told her, barely glancing away from her face to see her pink nails. "Now why don't you come back up here," he whispered, patting the spot next to him.
Hermione blushed and daintily took her place on the couch next to him. As the movie drew to a close, she could feel Fred's eyes on her. She turned and stole a glance at him, making him smile as she quickly looked away again, trying to force herself to focus on the film. Hermione shivered, extremely aware of Fred's closeness.
"You're cold?" he asked. Before Hermione answered, he had pulled a soft blanket off of the back of the couch and draped it over both of them. Along with the blanket, Hermione felt Fred slip his arm around her shoulders, and his hand came to rest on her upper arm.
"Much better," Hermione whispered as she laid her head on his shoulder. Neither of them moved as the film ended and the television screen went black, the firelight playing across the walls. Hermione just relished the feeling of Fred's hand gently rubbing her arm, wishing it never had to end.
Finally, Hermione turned her head to face him. "Thank you. You completely fixed my birthday," she whispered to him with a smile.
"It was my pleasure. Besides, I couldn't stand the fact that I didn't know how to paint toenails, so really, it was a learning experience for me."
Hermione laughed at his behaviour, and she turned slightly to stand up. "Wait," Fred murmured. "I have one more thing."
As soon as Hermione turned back to face him, a questioning look on her pretty face, Fred pulled her against his chest and kissed her squarely on the lips. After a few moments, he released her to find the same bewildered look remained on her face.
Hermione sputtered, "What was that for?"
"Well, I, just… I just wanted to kiss you."
Hermione's eyes opened wide and her mouth formed a silent "Oh" as she sat face to face with Fred in the orange firelight.
Suddenly Fred felt as though that had been a very un-smooth move. "I didn't mean to offend-"
Without any warning, Hermione's lips came crashing against his, this time leaving Fred as the unbelieving party. Once he had been effectively silenced, he became an active participant in the kisses, burying one hand in her messy curls, and sliding his other hand around her waist. He deepened the kiss when he felt Hermione wrap her arms around his neck and nibble on his lower lip.
Hermione pulled away slightly, trying to catch her breath, relishing the feel of Fred's thumb drawing circles on her lower back. "That was unexpected," she whispered. The orange firelight flickered across Fred's face, making his expression difficult to read.
His thumb stopped drawing as he asked, "Was it unwelcome?"
"No."
Hermione ran her fingers along Fred's cheek, once again claiming his mouth. Elated, Fred pulled her part way onto his lap. He didn't want to press his luck, and it was more than enough that she returned his kisses in the first place. But, luck happened to be in his favor; Hermione positioned herself fully on his lap and lavished his lips with kiss after sweet kiss. Fred was pleased to find that Hermione had him pinned to the back of the couch, relentless in her actions.
When she released him, he grinned as she bit her swollen lower lip. "Fred, I don't really feel like letting my birthday end."
"You don't have to," he promised her, running his fingers through her soft curls.
Chewing on her lip, she asked, "Would it be ok if I spent the night?"
Fred nodded as she lay down on his couch, pulling him along with her. Hermione fell asleep with Fred's arms wrapped around her and his lips gently kissing her neck. It was perhaps the best birthday she'd had in a long while, but she was even more looking forward to tomorrow.
I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a review!
And remember to read all of the entries for the September Twin Exchange Challenge and vote for your favorite!