A/N: Hey everyone! I own nothing, not even Fred! ;) JK! Thanks so much to my wonderful beta, wvvampire. Thanks once again, Crystal!!
This is a oneshot for the January Twin Exchange Challenge.
Prompts: WWW fireworks, snow, fiendfyre
Pairing: Fred/Hermione
Quote: "Why me?" (Quote is written in bold type)
Theme: New Years
George Weasley was worn out and tired from the long day of work that he had just endured. The rush was always greater than usual on the day before New Year's Eve. All he wanted to do was apparate right into his bedroom and fall asleep. However, he knew that he needed to check on someone first. Tip toeing very quietly, he made his way down the short hall of the flat, past his brother's closed door, and twisted the knob of the door at the end of the hall.
He poked his head in through the now-open door and gazed at the sleeping figure on the bed. Hermione Granger. Ever since the war, she had been trying to get back on her feet, trying to pick up the pieces. He still remembered the day when Fred had offered for her to come and work for them along with Verity.
He smiled. She had improved drastically in the lighthearted atmosphere that the joke shop offered her. She had begun to laugh and smile again, despite the fact that both Harry and Ron were married and didn't see her very often. All in all, she had told them once, she was happy to be with them. They were making her feel whole again.
George started to close the door, content to see that his little friend was safely tucked in, not having fallen asleep over a book again, but then she twisted sharply in her sleep, adjusting herself to lie on her back, and her eyebrows drew together. She started to shake, her head flying from side to side and her hair whipping around her face.
Fearing that she was having another nightmare, George stepped into her room and crossed over to her bed, ready to shake her out of her sleep-induced fear. However, just as he reached out to touch her shoulder, she gave a small groan and whispered breathlessly, "Fred."
Startled, George pulled away from her. Had she just said what he thought she'd just said? "Fred," she whispered again, and then rolled over, breathing deeply.
A slow grin twitched at the corners of George's lips, spreading with rapidity over his whole face. So his little bookworm friend had the hots for his brother! No wonder she had never dated since after the war, and had never shown interest in anyone that happened to flirt with her when she was working!
As he cautiously backed out of the room and shut the door behind him, a brilliant plan formed in George's mind. It was time to prank Hermione Granger, and it would work perfectly with what Fred was doing tomorrow.
Hermione Granger woke the next morning and glanced up at the ceiling, smiling. She had had a wonderful dream, and she wasn't nearly ready for it to be over and for her day in the real world to begin. She wanted to stay in dreamland for a while longer.
She rolled over and hugged her pillow, pretending, as she did every morning, that she was actually hugging Fred. Fred, the wizard who didn't even realize that she was in love with him. Fred, the wizard that she had loved dearly with all her heart since her fourth year at Hogwarts.
There was a knock at the door that startled her out of her daydream. "Yes?" she called, sitting up and smoothing down her unruly hair as best she could in case it was Fred.
The door opened and George peeked his head in, grinning madly. "Morning, Mione my darling. How are you on this glorious day?"
Hermione cocked an eyebrow and stared at George. Why on earth was he so chipper? "A little tired," she replied, brushing it off and smiling at him, "but I'm alright. And I'm not your anything, George Weasley!"
He laughed and dodged the pillow she half-heartedly threw at him. "Breakfast is making its way onto the table," he told her when she ran out of arsenal to throw at him. "Better get up."
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Hermione mumbled, sliding out of bed and shutting the door with a little more force than necessary. She could hear George laughing his way down the hall.
When the twins had just been her friends, Hermione would have blearily stumbled out into the kitchen, not caring what she looked like. Now, however, she pulled on fresh clothes, including the horrid work robes she endured, and charmed her hair into a loose style that would keep the frizzy locks out of her face as she worked.
When she finished, she made her way into the kitchen where Fred was sitting at the table, chatting with his brother. "Morning, Hermione!" he said cheerily, still in his pajamas. He eyed her fully-dressed body and shook his head. "How do you get dressed so quickly?" he asked, awed. "It takes even George longer than you!"
"Hey!" George protested and swatted at his brother.
Hermione, meanwhile, took her place at the table and shrugged. "There's not a lot to put together," she said softly, examining the table diligently.
Fred opened his mouth to say something, but George spoke up instead. "What are you doing today, Gred?" he asked.
Fred abandoned his train of thought and tackled this new one. "I have an errand to run a little later, if you guys think you can manage the shop for a few minutes without me."
George snorted. "Of course we can. We're not that needy for your attention."
Fred snorted and Hermione gulped down her tea so that neither of the boys would notice the look on her face that clearly said that she was needy for Fred's attention. "Right then," Fred said, standing. "I'll see you guys little later, yeah?"
He was looking intently at Hermione, so she lowered her teacup and cleared her throat. With a nod, she teased, "We'll make sure that the shop stays standing until you return."
"Great," Fred said, and with a wink, he was gone.
Hermione was shelving new products when there was a loud pop right next to her, almost making her drop the bottle of lust potion she was holding. With a wild screech, she dove for the bottle, fervently wishing that it wouldn't break, and caught it just before it fell to the floor.
"Nice catch, Hermione," said the person that had apparated right next to her.
"Fred!" she gasped, already disappointed that she hadn't let the lust potion bottle break. "You scared me! I didn't know you'd be back so soon."
Her grinned devilishly and said, "Sorry." He held up a package and looked at her sheepishly. "I'm really am sorry, but do you think that you could help me with something?"
"Sure," Hermione told him, nodding. "What's up?"
Fred motioned her over to the counter and then handed her the bag. "It's for a friend," he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows that made Hermione blush deeply and focus intently on the ribbon holding the two paper handles together. "I'm not fond of the wrapping, but I'm terrible at gifts, so I was wondering if you'd re-wrap it for me."
Hermione raised an eyebrow and tried not to frown. He was asking for her to re-wrap a present, obviously for a woman, because he didn't like the wrapping? She was far too generous when it came to Fred, though, and she nodded, taking the package from him. "Um, sure," she said. Her curiosity got the better of her and she couldn't help asking, "Who's this for?"
Fred's smile grew. "There's a girl down the street who works in the little café. We've been seeing each other for a while, and I thought this would be the perfect New Year's Eve present for her." He winked. "And me." He motioned towards the bag. "Go ahead and open it. You can tell me if I picked out the right one."
Obediently, Hermione untied the ribbon and pulled out the tissue paper that concealed Fred's gift from her eyes. When she saw it, her eyes grew to a huge size, her mouth dropped open, and her breath caught painfully. There, staring up at her, was the skimpiest set of lingerie she'd ever seen. It was almost entirely lace, and far too revealing to have hidden anything.
She looked up, and there was Fred, watching her with the same, overjoyed expression. When he saw her face, however, he instantly asked worriedly, "What? Do you not think she'll like it?"
Hermione couldn't bear to look at him, so she just shook her head and turned back to the taunting lingerie. "She'll…love it, I'm sure," she mumbled, tears threatening to well up hotly in her eyes in just a few seconds.
"Great!" Fred chirped. He started towards the door to the shop and called over his shoulder, "I have another errand to run, so I'll leave you to it. Can you have it done before dinner time? I want to give it to her at her favorite restaurant."
Hermione, running on autopilot, just nodded. "Mmhm," she murmured, hoping that he would leave her alone so that she could cry in peace.
With a bang, he was gone, probably headed out to the café to sweet talk this girl to death. Hate for someone she hadn't even met welled up within Hermione and she let the tears fall, not even trying to choke back her sobs.
"Hermione?" someone called a few minutes later.
Hermione's head shot up and she stuffed the lingerie bag under the counter just in time. George appeared at the top of the stairs and frowned, quickly descending the steps two at a time. "Hermione, are you okay? Have you been crying?"
Hermione roughly brushed the tears away and shook her head. "No-o," she sniffled unconvincingly. "It's the blasted dust. It gets into my eyes and makes them water." She waved him away. "I'm fine."
"Okay," George said, completely unconvinced. "I'll head back upstairs then. Are you doing something tonight for New Year's Eve?"
Hermione glanced down at her hands. "Why yes, George, as a matter of fact, I am. I'm wrapping a skimpy set of lingerie for your brother and his café friend." "No," she answered aloud. "Why? What are you doing?"
George shrugged, but then grinned. "I think I'm going to go see Angelina and wish her a very happy New Year," he said with a wink, and Hermione resisted the urge to cry once more. So it would just be her tonight. Alone, on New Year's Eve. What a way to welcome the New Year.
"Sounds great," she said falsely. "You heading off soon?"
George nodded. "Just getting ready. I'll see you later?"
Hermione smiled and then turned away as George dashed back up the stairs. When she was sure that he wasn't coming down again, Hermione pulled the bag out from under the counter and sighed. She refused to let herself cry anymore as she stood and strode to the back room in order to find the proper box. Fred had asked her to wrap it, and it would be the best-wrapped present in all the wizarding world.
"Hermione!"
She didn't want to answer. She'd been dreading this for hours.
"Hermione!"
Perhaps if she stayed quiet, the caller would go away.
"Hermione!" Her name sounded closer this time, and Hermione realized that the person was standing in her doorway. Fearing who she would see when she rolled over, Hermione took her time, only opening her eyes when it was absolutely necessary. As she had feared, there stood Fred.
"Hi," she said weakly, sitting up and swinging her legs over the bed, not even bothering to try and push back her curly hair. What did it matter now?
Fred frowned and stepped closer to her. "Are you alright?" he asked, sounding concerned.
"Yeah," Hermione responded. "I'm great!" However, the words were flat at best, and Fred's frown deepened.
"Hermione, is something wrong?" he asked.
She looked up at him, saw him standing there, looking far too gorgeous for his own good, and felt her tears welling up once more. No! She couldn't be this weak in front of Fred! She shook her head. "No," she assured him. "Just, take your package and go. Enjoy your night." The bitterness in her voice came out harsher than she had anticipated.
Fred frowned once more, looking utterly confused. "What package?" he asked.
Hermione sighed impatiently and ran a hand through her hair out of annoyance. "Don't play games with me, Fred," she warned him. "I'm not in the mood."
"Hermione, I have no idea what you're talking about," Fred insisted.
Hermione sighed and pointed to the corner of the room where a box, beautifully wrapped in shimmering paper and tied with a ribbon that would match the awful present inside, sat, taking up space. "There it is," she said, and stood, walking to the window and peering out into the night. Below her, Diagon Alley opened up, showing crowds of festively decorated streets and many happy witches and wizards going to and fro. Her throat constricted painfully and a tear slipped down her cheek. She felt hurt, and anger that she hadn't realized she possessed welling up inside of her.
"Herm-" Fred began, but she whirled to face him.
The look on her face stopped him dead in his tracks. Her eyes were pained, her lips pressed together to keep from crying, and tears were rolling down her cheeks. What shocked him the most, though, was what she asked.
"Why me?" The words came out strangled, as though Hermione could barely bear to speak to him. "Why, Fred?" She didn't give him the chance to speak before she continued. "I'm either really good at hiding my feelings, or you just take some sick pleasure in hurting me like this. And I'm going to guess that it's the latter, because usually you can see right through me." Her voice cracked slightly, but she ignored it.
"Her-"
"And if that's the case, then you knew that I loved you, and that hurts more than you could ever imagine." She shook her head, feeling more tears course down her cheeks and hearing as her voice rose an octave. "I've loved you for so long, and this is how you tell me that you're not interested? I've known you to be cruel in your pranks, Fred, but I've never expected this."
She paused, and Fred took the opportunity to jump in. "Hermione, I don't understand," he gasped out, still reeling from the shock of her confession.
Hermione trembled with hurt and rage as she glared at him. "How much clearer do I have to be? You waltz into the shop today, asking me to wrap this, this…gift of yours, obviously knowing how I feel about you. You hurt me, Fred." She brushed past him and grabbed the box off her desk, shoving it into his hands. "So now that I've made an even bigger fool of myself and you've made your feelings clear, you can go and enjoy your night."
She turned away from him, crossing the room to stare out the window once more, expecting to hear him apparating from her room, but there was no sound. "Hermione?" Her name floated through the room, fragile and careful, almost as though her name alone might break her.
She whirled to find Fred still standing in the same spot, holding the box awkwardly. "What are you still doing here?" she asked.
"I'm here because I still have no idea what you're talking about," Fred told her carefully. When she opened her mouth to speak, he raised his free hand and told her, "Hermione, I haven't been in the shop all day. The last time I saw you was at breakfast. I have no idea what this is," he said, gesturing to the box in his hand, "and I in no way meant to hurt you."
Hermione just started at him. "Okay," she said sarcastically. "I know that-that, well, I suppose it was supposed to be a top of some sort, was rather sheer, but honestly, it couldn't have slipped your mind so completely. In fact, I was expecting that to be the only thing on your mind today."
With one last, confused glance, Fred started to pull the ribbon off the box. Hermione's eyes widened, shocked, as he tore the meticulously crafted paper away in one smooth motion. He pulled off the lid to the box and gaped at what lay within. He looked from the box, to Hermione, and back again, stunned. Then, he blinked rapidly. "That is not mine," he stated.
"Of course it isn't," Hermione muttered bitterly. "It's for the café cutie down the street."
Fred's eyes shot up to hers, and the box slipped momentarily in his fingers, causing him to grab wildly for it and accidentally brush his fingers over the silky lace contents. A poof! rang through the room and a small billow of smoke rose from the box. Both Hermione and Fred coughed as they tried the clear the smoke from their faces. When Fred looked down, the contents had changed and inside lay a harmless letter written on plain parchment.
Fred took it out and held it up, identifying the writer immediately since the handwriting was so similar to his own. He cleared his throat, making sure he had Hermione's attention, and then began.
Dear Fred and Hermione,
If you're reading this, you're probably pretty confused. Hermione, Fred wasn't the one in the shop earlier; that was me. Fred, hope you don't mind that I used the last bit of polyjuice potion on this little prank. You'll thank me later. I suppose I should explain myself now, since you're both probably hurt and angry.
Hermione, I heard you having a dream last night about Fred and decided to help you both out (since Fred's been in love with you for ages and won't do anything about it). So I went ahead and charmed the sleepwear to his touch so that you guys could get your emotions out in the open. I truly hope it worked. Enjoy your New Year, and don't forget to kiss at midnight!
Hugs and kisses and all that jazz,
The Better-Looking Twin (George)
Hermione stared wide-eyed at Fred, who was blushing, but looking extremely pleased about something. "So it wasn't you," she managed weakly, and his grin only grew bigger.
He shook his head, and then said, "So you dreamed about me?"
Hermione covered her face with her hands. "Ugh! This day couldn't get any worse!" she spit out.
Fred laughed, dropping the box onto her bed before stepping closer and removing her hands from her face. "I'd say it's getting better," he told her kindly, but with that trademark Weasley smirk firmly in place. "What George said about me was true, Hermione," he assured her, running a hand softly through her hair. "I've loved you for quite a while."
Hermione stomped her foot. "Why didn't you say anything?" she cried, annoyed all over again.
"Why didn't you?" Fred shot back quickly. He grinned when she seemed lost for an answer and answered for her. "I'm going to guess that it had to do with you thinking that I wouldn't return your affections. Am I right?" When Hermione nodded, he added, "Well, so did mine." His thumb gently caressed her cheek and he said softly, "I owe George big time for this."
Hermione laughed, not feeling the least uncomfortable with the close proximity. "Well, at least you aren't going out with that café girl," she said.
Fred once again looked confused. "Café girl?" he asked, and then it dawned on him. "You mean Rebecca?" he asked, and then burst out laughing. "Oh gosh no! Is that what George told you?" He laughed and then explained, "I've been seeing Rebecca lately because she helped me plan the meal I have for you downstairs." He looked slightly bashful. "I was coming up here to invite you to dinner."
Hermione blushed, and then laughed just for the sheer joy of laughing. She felt freer now, and completely happy. "Oh," she said lamely, but ended the word with a laugh.
"There was one other thing," Fred told her and carefully steered her towards the window. "By now, it should be anytime."
Immediately after he spoke, a clock chimed somewhere and cheers from the street below filtered up. The New Year had come. Just as Hermione was about to speak, fireworks crackled in the sky, blazing brilliant trails through the inky night. Hermione gasped in delight as the WWW fireworks put on a dazzling display, lasting several minutes. It was only when the fireworks stopped and the smoke hung lazily in the sky that she saw the words Go out with me? written in the smoke.
She turned to Fred, who was standing very close to her, and smiled. Nodding, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. He held her close, breathing deeply, and they stood there for a moment before Fred pulled away, an impish smile on his face. "It's too bad that the lingerie's gone," he said sadly, causing Hermione to lightly punch him in the shoulder. "But," he added with a deeper grin, "we can still do as George instructed."
Hermione put her arms around his neck again and asked softly, "Well? What are you waiting for?"
And so he kissed her, gently at first, and then a little harder, never wanting to let go of her. The Weasley fireworks may have been spectacular, but the fireworks Fred evoked in her body were even better! She felt like she belonged in his arms, and Fred was planning on keeping her there for a while. Finally, he pulled away and kissed her smiling lips one last time.
The old year and all its pain and suffering was gone, and the New Year had begun superbly.
It had started with a kiss at midnight.
A/N: Hope you liked this! Please review and tell me what you think. Happy New Year to all of you! ;) If you like it enough, please vote for it after January 21st on the Twin Exchange profile!! Thanks!