Tap, tap, tap
That was the first noise Hermione heard upon waking. She sat up slowly, blinking her eyes groggily and ruffling her messy hair. She looked out the window of the girl's dormitory where the source of the noise was, squinting at the sunlight peeking through.
Outside the window nearest to her head sat a small, yet beautiful, tawny-grey owl. The pretty, feathered creature had a letter clamped in its beak, and she could just make out the name, "Hermione," scrawled on the front of the envelope.
Hermione stretched her arm to open the window so the owl could enter the dorm and deliver her message, careful so as to not wake Ginny, who was still sleeping soundly. The other girls in her dorm had already left.
The window creaked open ungracefully and the owl hopped happily inside, landing on Hermione's bed post, dropping the letter next to her. She stroked the owl gratefully for another minute, before bidding it farewell. It chirped joyfully at her, before taking flight. She watched it fly until it was out of view, and then proceeded to open her letter.
The letter was somewhat sloppy, and very obviously a boy's handwriting. She read anxiously, extremely curious to see what had been sent to her.
Hermione,
I've been meaning to tell you this for a long time; I just didn't know how to say it. I've liked you for quite some time, but I never got the chance to say so, with you being busy all the time with Harry and Ron. You're beautiful, and smart, and funny, and I just want the chance to get to know you better. I was hoping you would meet this afternoon at 1:00 for a picnic. Meet me in the meadow next to the dock; I'll be waiting.
Love,
Fred Weasley
What?
This was certainly not what Hermione had been expecting; she had initially thought the letter had been from her father, based on the handwriting, but as she started reading, she had assumed it was from Neville or something. She definitely had not expected Fred to write this. She reread it another three times, just to be sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.
But she couldn't say she wasn't flattered. Hermione had always found Fred rather attractive, and he could make her laugh harder than anyone else. She supposed the attraction had always been there; she just denied it.
Unfortunately, Ginny saw right through her state of denial, often catching her staring at him without realizing it.
Hermione was excited, and, since her ginger friend was bound to find out about the picnic and the letter eventually, she thought she might as well tell her.
She rushed over to Ginny's bed, and gently shook her fiery-haired schoolmate awake. Ginny slowly worked her way into a sitting position, muttering grumpily to herself about being interrupted in the middle of a good dream. Her annoyed grumbling was paused by a yawn, and she ran her fingers through her long hair, pushing it back.
"What do you want?" she asked mid-yawn, obviously struggling to keep her eyes open.
"Look!" Hermione insisted, practically shoving the letter into Ginny's face.
Ginny's eyes opened wide at this, and she quickly scanned the note, eager to find out what was happening in her friend's personal life. However, her reaction wasn't quite what Hermione expected; she looked as if she knew something like this was going to happen.
"You..." she started suspiciously. "You don't seem very surprised."
"That's because it's not surprising," Ginny retorted, giving her an expression that Hermione took to mean as "No shit".
"It's- it's not?" Hermione stammered inquisitively. She had no idea as to what her friend was referring to; it was to her knowledge that Fred had not showed any signs of interest towards the bushy-haired girl until now. Had he?
Ginny sighed exasperatedly. "Have you never seen the way he looks at you? The way he's nicer around you? He certainly talks about you a lot. Bit annoying, really," she added.
Hermione stared at her in disbelief. He certainly talks about you a lot. That sentence kept replaying over and over in her head. Fred Weasley liked... her?
"Almost as often as you talk about him," she continued.
She glanced at Ginny with a look of confusion plastered on her face. "I don't talk about Fred a lot!" she protested.
"Oh, really?" she asked, clearing not believing anything Hermione had just said.
"Really!" Hermione pleaded. "I don't know what you're talking about!"
Ginny looked at her with a doubtful, and slightly amused facial expression, eyebrows raised. "You are so unbelievable sometimes, Hermione," she said, shaking her head and laughing.
"Shut up," Hermione said, playfully smacking her friend in the face with her pillow.
Ginny pushed the pillow away. "Enough of that," she said. "It's 10:30; you need to get ready!"
Hermione did not know why Ginny insisted on spending the entire two and a half hours she had left on clothes, hair, and makeup when they had magic to do most of it, but she wasn't going to argue. She wanted to look semi-nice, and Ginny made sure she did, though in Ginny's mind, semi meant utterly shaggable.
She ended up wearing one of Ginny's dresses, charmed to fit Hermione. It was a light-green summer dress with frilly sleeves that barely covered up her shoulders, with a rounded neckline that Hermione felt was just a little too low. It gripped her snugly at the waist, and flared out below, stopping short of her knees. While this wouldn't have been her first pick in dresses, Hermione had to admit she liked how it looked on her.
Hermione was lucky that Ginny decided to take it easy on makeup; she had only used mascara, dark eyeliner, and a hint of green eye shadow that brought out her eyes. She added a dab of lip gloss, and deemed her fit.
It was her hair that took the longest. Ginny spent about twenty minutes casting the same spell to make her hair smoother and flatter, until it was good enough to work with. Ginny then proceeded to put in heated curlers that she had found in a muggle shop, bewitching them to make the curls last longer. When they were removed a few minutes later, Hermione had smooth, bouncy curls framing her face.
Hermione felt ready to go, or, at least anxious to go. Unfortunately, it was only noon by then; she still had another hour.
So, being Hermione, her solution was to pick up a book and read. Originally, there were 24 runes collectively known as "the Futhark".
Was she too dressed up? Was she too casual? Would Fred not think she looked pretty?
Originally, there were 24 runes collectively known as "the Futhark".
What if this was just a prank? What if he wasn't sincerely asking her out?
Originally, there were 24 runes collectively known as "the Futhark".
Hermione closed her book, frustrated. She knew she wouldn't be able to focus. Not now, while she was so nervous.
12:20 was what time the clock read. Hermione had been staring at the same bloody sentence for 20 minutes!
She began slowly pacing, her speed growing faster and faster as time went on.
12:30
12:35
12:40
Finally, she decided to leave, taking into account the time it would probably take for her to get all the way down to the field by the dock. She slipped on her brown ankle boots, and grabbed her bag, tucking the letter inside.
When Hermione made it down to the common room, George walked up to her.
"You know, my brother is very excited," he said, quirking a grin. "Just keep the shagging to a minimum; we are at school, after all," he added with a wink.
"George!" she exclaimed, blushing.
As she began to walk to the exit, he called out after her, "Have a fun time on your date!"
Harry and Ron emerged from the boy's dormitory just in time to hear George shout that. The two boys stared at Hermione in awe. Though she had gone to the ball with Viktor Krum last year, her friends still didn't seem to grasp the concept that she could date.
As she made her way down to the courtyard, she passed the wall containing all of Delores Umbridge's ridiculous educational decrees; she half expected there to be a new one saying "Students are not allowed to breathe."
Finally, she made it down to the field. It was a warm October day, only a slight breeze. The sky was its fullest blue, not a cloud in sight. It was the perfect day for a picnic.
Hermione spotted the blue-and-white-checkered towel with the picnic basket. Fred was not there, so she sat down to wait; she assumed he had gone to do something. Fortunately, there was no one else near the field; they would have the entire place to themselves.
After a few minutes or so of waiting, Hermione spotted Fred's ginger hair making his way towards her. As he got closer, she could see that he was smiling, making her heart flutter.
He was in dark jeans, a blue button-down tucked inside. He looked dashingly handsome.
When Fred got to the picnic towel, he plopped down next to her.
"Why hello, Hermione!" he said cheerfully.
"Hello, Fred!" she responded in an equally cheery voice.
It was clear neither one of them knew exactly what to say after that, so they just sat there awkwardly for a minute.
"It's a beautiful day," Hermione said quickly, breaking the silence.
Fred nodded in agreement before looking down at his shoes, not knowing how to respond.
"Do you want to eat-" she began
"Love to," he agreed quickly.
Hermione opened the basket, and pulled out the two sandwiches that were resting on top, handing one to Fred, and taking the other for herself.
They ate in silence, neither of them knowing how to start a conversation.
About halfway through her sandwich, Hermione decided to talk. "I have to say," she started. "I was a bit surprised when you invited me to this. I never really knew-" she paused at Fred's confused expression.
"I thought you asked me to this," he said, baffled.
Hermione shook her head, puzzled, and pulled out the letter she had received and handing it to him. As he read it, he shook his head and pulled out a similar-looking letter from his pocket.
Hermione inspected it, noting that the writing looked very similar to her own.
Fred,
I've been meaning to tell you this for a long time; I just didn't know how to say it. I've liked you for quite some time, but I never got the chance to say so, with you being busy all the time with George. You're extremely handsome, and smart, and funny, and I just want the chance to get to know you better. I was hoping you would meet this afternoon at 1:00 for a picnic. Meet me in the meadow next to the dock; I'll be waiting.
Love,
Hermione Granger
She looked at Fred with a knowing look. "Ginny," they said in sync, cracking up.
"That friend of yours is nothing but trouble," Fred said to her, grinning.
"My friend!" she exclaimed, laughing. "She's your sister!"
"But you're the one who chooses to hang out with her," he pointed out.
They were both in hysterics by this point. Only Ginny would have thought up something like this.
They calmed down after a few minutes. "Well, there's no point in letting all this perfectly good food go to waste," he stated, gesturing to the picnic basket.
Hermione's stomach rumbled, even after her sandwich. "I agree," she said. "Let's see what else Ginny prepared for us."
She opened the basket, and pulled out two large apples, a container of lemonade, a single cup (how cliche), two slices of cherry pie, and a can of whipped cream. She stopped there, and began to awkwardly laugh, her face turning bright red.
Fred noticed this. "What is it?" he questioned.
Hermione, rather than speaking, picked up the basket and turned it over, more than twenty condoms falling out.
"Do you think she's trying to say something?" she asked, trying not to laugh.
"Well, look at this," Fred inquired, holding up the whipped cream. "'Not for the pie.' Classy."
Hermione howled with laughter, Fred joining in.
"She has a wild imagination, that one," Fred piped. Hermione's face was red from laughter by this point.
"Well, let's eat," Fred said. "I'm starving! However," he said, picking up a handful of the condoms. "I think we'll save these for another day."
Hermione giggled and picked up an apple, taking a large bite. Fred did the same, and they ate in silence, just without the tautness of before.
Once they had finished, they began to talk, his arm around her shoulder, keeping her tight. They talked about everything and nothing, and all in all, they had a genuinely good time.
When they figured it was time to go back inside, they began to pack up the picnic supplies.
"Well, as far as first dates go, this was certainly an interesting one," Fred said while folding the towel, not looking at Hermione.
"First?" Hermione inquired. "As in, you want to do this again?"
Fred shrugged. "Sure. Why not? It's fun to talk to you."
Hermione's stomach did a somersault. "Well, great," she stammered. "It's a date."
When they had finished packing, Fred grabbed the basket, and they walked back to the castle, hand in hand.
I hope you liked it! Leave a review and tell me what you think! I really enjoyed writing this one, and the idea's been in my head for awhile. Thanks for reading!