What could Hermione Granger have been thinking when she agreed to go out for the day with Fred Weasley? Maybe it was some kind of indirect revenge against Ron for choosing Lavender instead of her. Maybe she was lonely and wanted to feel like someone really liked her. Perhaps she just wanted to do something fun over the holiday break other than study. But it was definitely not because she liked him. Definitely not.
They'd gone to a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Diagon Alley for an early dinner. The place was dimly lit and hardly romantic, but it was better than being out in the rain. While they looked over the menus and made idle conversation, Hermione couldn't help but think about the trip to the restaurant. Fred had come to her house to pick her up, introduced himself to her parents, and did so quite politely. While they were walking, the temperature had started to drop, so he gave Hermione his jacket. When it started to rain, he pulled an umbrella out of nowhere and held it for her. At the restaurant, he held the door open for her and pulled out her chair. For once, he was acting like a gentleman. Who would have guessed that the notorious prankster had it in him?
Hermione hid her little smile behind her menu. She had to admit, Ron had never done that for her, and probably never would. She glanced at Fred when he wasn't looking, and found herself liking his permanent cheeky smile and clever, playful gleam in his eyes. She'd never really noticed before, but his features were a bit finer than those of most of his family, and he was more athletic than the rest, who were either scrawny or bulky. The particular shades in his hair…
Hermione shook herself out of her brief trance and twirled a piece of her hair around her finger absentmindedly while she pretended to continue reading her menu. In truth, she already knew what she wanted, but keeping her eyes on the words helped to keep them off of Fred.
Within a few minutes, a young waiter came to take their orders, and he took the menus with him when he left. Being the extrovert that he was, Fred didn't let the silence linger. He asked about Hogwarts, she told him about the new Potions professor and the Slug Club. When Fred cracked a joke about Professor Slughorn's parties, Hermione laughed and told him about the disastrous date with Cormac at Slughorn's Christmas party. The conversation just kept going and going, never dull for even a moment. They were laughing and joking and poking fun at each other like they'd never been able to at school.
Before long, the waiter returned to their table, and this time, he had their food with him. They weren't the prettiest of plates, but like Fred had sworn, the food was truly fantastic. Hermione could completely understand why Fred liked it so much, as it reminded her somewhat of his mother's cooking, and was just as comforting and delicious as one of Molly's home-cooked meals.
In all the time she'd known him, Hermione had never realized how clever and witty Fred was. When he was still at school, she only ever seen the side of him that came up with incredibly dim-witted ideas and childish schemes, failing classes or getting into trouble. Until their day out, she always thought that they had very little in common. True, they had their differences, with her channelling her cleverness into books and school work and him putting it into pranks and shenanigans, but she couldn't help but like it. Talking to him and being around him was so comfortable and easy, she couldn't figure out why they hadn't gone out before.
Fred and Hermione arrived back where they had started; on Hermione's doorstep. At long last, neither of them really knew what to say. They both enjoyed the date much more than they would have ever thought, but how to part ways? If she was honest with herself, and by this point, she was, Hermione didn't want to separate just yet. She was happy and having fun with Fred. She didn't want it to end, but they both knew it had to. Even so, they agreed that they should go out again sometime soon, and definitely before the end of the break, if they could. After standing around a bit awkwardly for a bit too long, the pair decided that it was time to say goodbye. Fred took the initiative and went in for a hug, albeit clumsily, since they'd never hugged before in all the years they'd known each other. In a stroke of courage, or perhaps simply audacity, he pecked her on the cheek. He quickly said goodbye and disapparated before she could respond, leaving a blushing Hermione dazed on the doorstep.
To her surprise, her parents didn't bombard her with questions the second she walked in the door. In fact, she didn't even see them anywhere. Choosing to take the opportunity, she immediately continued upstairs to her room and collapsed on her bed. For once, her mind wasn't whirring with facts or spells or passages from books. Instead, she could only think about the time she'd just spent with Fred. She rolled over and giggled at herself, enjoying the sense of giddiness bubbling up inside her. At the beginning of the day, she'd thought that she would never see Fred Weasley in a romantic light. Now, she couldn't see him any other way. She really liked him, and she was overjoyed at the change.
Author's Note: Optional prompts used: 3 (The word "change"), 8 (Restaurant setting), 13 (No dialogue).