Chapter 1

Hermione and Matt had just broken up, it was sad but she felt no great lose. He had been nice, but they really didn't have much in common with each other, he was interested in going into caldron sales and she had her eye on working up through the ministry. She had only met him at an event Percy had hosted a few months previously; Matt adored Percy's ethical treatment of caldron thickness.

Walking up the first flight of stairs to her flat that she strangely shared with the Weasley twins, she thought about what to do with the rest of her night. She had needed a place to live after finishing school, and they had needed someone to help with the more complex spells for the shop, they had always gotten along well, and she actually enjoyed living with them. They all got on really well, and she and Fred get on so well that she actually thought of him as one of her closest friends. Ginny was often there, helping them develop some new trick- she had a very sharp mind that girl. Harry would come by with Ron and Violet after training for the day, then Ginny would head off with them, the two happy couples. It had been Ginny who had alerted Hermione to the less then interesting connection between herself and Matt.

'Don't you just love when they pull you close and cup your face just before they kiss you' Ginny swooned, slightly intoxicated with a potion they had been brewing in the back rooms of the shop.

'Sure?' Hermione had replied

'Well what do you like?' Ginny asked, eyes slightly glazed in a purple hue.

'I don't know' Hermione said added three drops of lavender to the draft.

'Matt must do sweet things that make your heart race' Ginny said swinging her legs over the edge of the desk she was perched on.

'The only thing that will make my heart race is you falling off that desk, be careful Ginny'

'He doesn't make your heart race?'

'Why should he?'

'That's what it feels like, to be in love, to be attracted to someone, to want them...'

'Okay, you need fresh air now' Hermione said, taking Ginny's arm and marching her out into the street for clean air.

Since that moment, Hermione had thought about what Ginny had said, she noticed how she felt when Matt held her hand and when he kissed her good night, it was nice, but no heart racing. She decided that Ginny must feel differently, she liked Harry after all, and they both liked flying, so they must feel the way they did about flying towards each other. Yet a month and a half later she and Matt had broken up, and in all honesty, she was fine with it.

Shrugging off her coat in the hallway, Hermione hung it on the coat rack and then continued on into the lounge room, taking up a chair and opening a book. It wasn't until half an hour into reading did she realize that Fred, her now best friend and roommate was actually in the room, bent over a desk next to the window. He yawned and stretched then looked around,

'Oh hi Hermione, how long have you been sitting there for?'

'About half an hour?' she mused, flicking through her book.

'Sorry, working on a device for the shop'

'Can I see?'

'Sure' he picked up his papers and gave them to her, sitting down in the other single chair. They talked about his design and how to alter and improve on it for a solid forty minutes. Satisfied with the new design the topic changed to their days, Fred explained what was new at the shop and Hermione told him about her job at the ministry.

'…so then I was left with all of these papers to read through for the meeting on Monday, but I'll start reading them tomorrow, I need a break from all of that intense jargon.'

'Go hang out, get a drink or something' Fred said

'Well I met up with Matt at the leaky caldron…' she said flicking through an order catalogue.

'How is Matt?' Fred asked out of real interest

'We broke up' Hermione said in a bored voice

'Oh Hermione, I am so sorry' Fred said looking at her in concern.

'I'm fine, really, his a nice guy, but we don't suit each other, I'm honestly much more content on my own'

'But still, you had your heart broken, why did you let me prattle on about my designs! I could have been consoling you'

'Honestly, do you think I need consoling?'

'It will be ok, after a while you will not feel the sting of this break up and you will find a new guy that you will want to date' Fred said with a warm smile.

'I can't be bothered'

'Why?'

'What's the point?'

'Companionship, love, intimacy…'

'Let me stop you there, I don't need all of that from just one person, I have a pretty great life, I have everything that I need, I am doing with I love, although the endless pages I have to read because Crossly is too bored to read them is slightly annoying, but I am happy'

'Well I am glad you are happy, and when you get hit with the blues from this breakup I am here to listen'

'What blues, I told you I was fine'

'Maybe now, but in time you will begin to miss Matt'

'He was nice, but we honesty didn't have much in common'

'Ok so you won't miss the mind numbing lectures on the difference between fat lip and pinched lip cauldrons, but you'll miss the closeness'

'We didn't really hang out much, he travels a lot and I am working'

'The sex then, surely you will miss the sex' Fred said

'Why?' Hermione asked, pausing to stare at a page of feathers 'if you ordered these in bulk for the shop you would probably cut the cost for them in half'

'Sure' Fred said then added 'but sex is good'

'Pfft for the guy maybe' Hermione said dog tagging the page for later.

'Should be for both of you'

'Nope' she said flipping the page over to the next

'What?'

'What?' she looked up at Fred, he had a weird look on his face.

'But he did make you feel good…didn't he?' Fred asked looking at her.

'What do you mean?' Hermione asked.

'Umm...like he made your toes curl, your heart race, loose your breath…'

'Well sex is active so I got a bit puffed' Hermione admitted

'A bit puffed!' Fred yelped 'Hermione, you're meant to be gasping for air because your orgasm hits you so hard that you see stars.'

'Oh come on Fred, don't be ridiculous' Hermione said waving her hand at him and resuming her perusal of the catalogue.

'Hermione…he did make you orgasm…didn't he?'

'Probably' she said shrugging. Fred almost died right then and there. He looked at his dear friend, reading an order catalogue looking calm and relaxed, his beautiful, intelligent, kind best friend being nonplussed that she hadn't orgasmed with her, now ex boyfriend.

'Hermione, you deserve better then that' Fred said honestly.

'Then what?' she asked, not really paying full attention to the conversation.

'One sided sex, that's not how it works'

'Seemed to work for him'

'Well yeah, it "works" but it's not fair'

'It doesn't matter' Hermione said looking at him, it didn't bother her.

'It does' Fred said firmly.

'Why?' She raised an eyebrow at him.

'You deserve to feel and be treated incredibly'

'I treat myself well' she said looking shocked 'I have a great job, good hobbies, I like where I am in life'

'That's great, you said it before, but you deserve a good sex life too' He said looking at her.

'I don't need it'

'You don't need it…'

'I don't want it either' she said honestly.

'You don't know what you are missing'

'And that's fine' she said with a shrug.

'Hermione please…'

'What do you suggest Fred?' she looked at him

'Well…um…' he racked his brains 'date someone better?'

'I'm not interested in dating'

'…Or I could show you' he said after a pause, slightly surprising himself.

'You're that good hey?' she grinned, not taking him seriously at all.

'Well I have some experience, but it's a team effort, you have to communicate what you actually like to each other, then you go from there…'

Hermione chuckled

'Well that's good for you, but I am not interested in sex'

Apples and Beckett

Hope you like this first chapter and want to read more, let me know with a review