Fever Fudge
"Please Granger, we need a girl to test it," Fred asked with big blue puppy dog eyes.
"Ask your sister," Hermione responded flatly, looking back through her notes, she had a charm's exam in the morning and wanted to make sure she was totally prepared.
"She flat out refused. Some rubbish about not trusting us," Fred said in mock hurt.
"Ask your girlfriend then." Again Hermione didn't so much as offer a glance up at the tall red head.
"Yeah, well… I haven't got one of those anymore. Apparently I spend too much time with George, and I have no clear path to the future," Fred spat out, still angry.
"Oh Fred, I'm sorry," Hermione said finally looking up at him. Her stomach dropped a little at the sad look on Fred's face, he was a Weasley twin, he should never look so sad.
"It's fine, anyway, We need to test the snack boxes on different types of people, and since you've put a stop to the willing first years, we are running out of options," Fred sounded quite desperate.
"Those first years didn't know what they were signing up for," Hermione huffed, tired of this same old argument. "What exactly is the product anyway?"
"Fever Fudge," Fred smiled. "It's meant to give you just high enough a fever to-"
"I've heard the speech for those snack-boxes, thank you very much. I honestly don't understand why anyone would want to get out of classes here, we're leaning magic for Merlin's sake!" Hermione huffed again.
"We can't all be as perfectly brilliant as you Hermione," Fred said, he noticed how her eyes widened slightly at the use of her first name. "George, Lee and I have all tried them. 38 degree temperature was pretty standard, but we are all three roughly the same size, and blokes. We just want to be sure that the serving size is appropriate for someone smaller."
"Wow, you've actually put quite a bit of thought into this, haven't you?" Hermione asked, slightly impressed. "Are there any side effects, apart from the fever, I'm not going to turn a ridiculous colour or sprout wings?"
"You'll be perfectly safe, the antidote has worked 100% of the time," Fred smiled brightly, causing Hermione to smile despite herself.
"Alright, on one condition. You can't tell anyone, save George of course, I know you could never keep anything from him. It wouldn't do to have it known that a prefect is helping with the development of your products. Especially seeing as how I'm likely to confiscate many of those products next year," Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Fred asked suddenly nervous, he and George were planning on opening a storefront, and soon, but no one knew about it. They had already looked at a place just before term started, and with the money Harry gave them it was closer and closer to becoming a reality.
"Oh honestly Fred. As much trouble as I give you two, I can see how brilliant you two are. I hardly think that once you finish school you'll be happy with a ministry job. Maybe it will take you a bit to get the capitol together but I know you two will open a shop sooner or later, besides haven't you already been running an owl delivery business?" Hermione asked matter of factly.
"I didn't realise you have been paying such close attention," Fred smirked at her.
"You've all become family, besides the biggest troublemakers in this school? Of course I pay attention. So what do I need to do?" Hermione waved his comment off.
"Oh, well if you could come to our dorms after your rounds that would be great. You can come up to ours after all, bloody sexist rule that one is. I'll send George and Lee off to the kitchens or something to give you your privacy. You eat one end of the sweets, I track your temperature, then you take the antidote. Simple. It'll take fifteen minutes tops," Fred answered her, he felt a little bit of disappointment when she said she thought of him as family, as a brother, he would have to think on that later however.
"Alright, I should be finished around 11:00, then I'll meet you. Now go away, I need to finish studying for my exam tomorrow," Hermione told him, not at all angry with him.
"You are amazing, you are!" Fred said and squeezed her hand without really thinking about it. Hermione didn't answer, diving back into her charms book. Fred didn't notice the gentle blush that came to her face.
Fred leisurely made his way to the dorms, smiling like a bloody idiot. He took a deep breath and schooled his expression as he walked into the room he shared with George and Lee. He wasn't surprised to see the two of them lounging about.
"I've found a girl to test the fudge," Fred said excitedly as he entered.
"Who?" George asked from his position on the bed, head hanging off the side as he read through an old Potions book.
"Can't say, promised I'd keep it a secret," Fred answered as he began rummaging through his trunk for a clean shirt.
"It's not-" George began, uneasily.
"No, I haven't spoken to her since," Fred answered the unasked question. "In all honesty she was much too flighty. I prefer a bird who can actually hold a conversation, ya know. I'm more relieved it's over more than anything. I'm going to take a shower."
George nodded to his brother, he had worried a bit for his twin after the break up. He didn't see the relationship as a serious thing, neither had Fred to be honest, but the girl had said some things that hit a little close to home. It shook Fred a bit that someone would expect him to not be as close to George or that the joke shop was a waste of time. George was happy to see that Fred was getting back to normal, now he just needed to find out who this new bird was. George knew that Fred would have told them who she was if she wasn't important. George and Lee threw around a few names while Fred was out of earshot.
"This place is a mess," Fred muttered as he came out of the bathroom, towelling off his hair. George smirked when he saw that Fred was wearing the navy t-shirt that he always got compliments on, sure it wasn't a coincidence.
"It's always a mess in here," Lee answered a bit confused.
"Yeah, well," Fred said, not really having anything to say without giving everything away. "Could you two run down to the kitchens in a bit? I've got quite a bit of work to do with on this layout for the store and I'm starving."
"Yeah, sure," George answered, talking over Lee who was about to object. "We were actually planning on heading out anyway, we were just talking about how it's been much too long since we've thrown dung bombs in Filch's office. Don't want him getting too comfortable do we? We may check Umbridge's office as well, see if it's being guarded just now. We'll be back in an hour or so."
"What was that all about?" Lee asked, confused, as they walked down the stairs to the common room.
"That, dear Lee, was how we are going to find out who Fred's mystery girl is," George answered mischievously.
Hermione gave up studying as a lost cause after Fred left, thinking more about the way he had touched her hand than proper wand movements. Finally, she shook her head to clear it and packed up her things. She set her bag next to Madame Pince's desk then headed off to do her rounds, planning on picking it up as she passed back by toward Gryffindor tower.
Her rounds were uneventful, which she liked very much, and before she knew it she was walking into the common room. As she walked through the portrait hole, she looked around. Right away she spotted Ron and Harry sitting at one of the tables, working on homework. Quickly she walked to the girl's dormitory, hoping they wouldn't notice her, they would inevitably ask for her help. Hermione hated to lie, especially to Harry and decided that an omission would be easier all around. She dropped her bag on her bed and took off her outer robes.
Checking the clock showed her she had fifteen minutes before Fred would be expecting her. She caught sight of her reflection in the full length mirror Lavender had put next to her bed and began raking her fingers through her hair. Rolling her eyes at herself, she wondered why she was worried with her hair. It was just Fred, he'd seen her hair before. Then she thought of the way it had felt when he held her hand, when he'd called her by her first name. A slight blush came to her face and she giggled despite herself. She was being silly, but she couldn't stop herself from one final attempt at taming her wild hair before going down one set of stairs and up the other.
With a deep breath and one final mental admonition about being so nervous, Hermione knocked on the door. The door swung open to see Fred standing in the centre of the room. Hermione was impressed to see how tidy the room looked, until she caught sight of a corner of parchment peeking out from under one of the beds. She smiled a little at this as she looked around the room, it was nearly identical to her dormitory, the biggest difference being the lack of lacy knickers strewn about by Lavender.
"Thanks again for doing this, Hermione," Fred said as he ushered her into the room. "George and Lee are gone, doing things I have no clue about, certainly nothing for a pretty prefect like yourself to worry with."
"Hmmm," Hermione rolled her eyes. "Filch or Umbridge?"
"Both I think," Fred smiled easily.
"Alright then, where do you want me?" Hermione asked, not noticing the slightest bit of pink that touched Fred's cheeks as he thought about her question.
"Oh, just, uhm just right where you are. Here you are, it really does taste like fudge, not as good as Mum's of course," Fred handed her the sweet. He took out a piece of parchment and quill and prepared to take notes. "Just a few questions first."
He didn't get to ask the questions however as Hermione put the entire piece of fudge in her mouth. Suddenly her face turned red and she started to sway slightly on her feet.
"I-I feel a bit lightheaded," Hermione said quietly as she fell to the floor.
"Damn it Granger! You weren't supposed to eat all of it at once!" Fred ran to the lifeless girl on his bedroom floor. He panicked as he saw the small pool of blood coming from where she had hit her head when she fell. Fred looked at Hermione laying there and was overcome with emotion and forgot everything he knew about healing spells, even forgetting the antidote he held in his hand.
George and Lee burst into the room and saw Hermione Granger unconscious and bleeding on the floor and Fred holding her tightly, at a loss of what to do.
"Sh-she's hurt Georgie. What do I do?" Fred croaked out, very near tears.
"Have you given her the antidote yet?" George asked quickly, he was always the one to keep his head in an emergency. George quickly went to work, he moved Hermione to the closest bed, nearly having to fight Fred to let go of her. He then took the antidote from Fred's hand and shoved it in Hermione's mouth, moving her jaw to help her chew and swallow it. Next he turned her gently to her side so he could heal the gash on the back of her head.
"Mmmm, I'd like that… of course I will… you smell lovely, Fred." Hermione was mumbling incoherently as she slowly began to come back to.
George and Lee looked at each other with large smiles as they listened to Hermione come out of her fever induced dream. Fred wasn't smiling with them, though he was smiling. He was crouched next to the bed, holding one of Hermione's hands in his. He took the cool cloth George had handed him and began wiping Hermione's forehead with the other.
"Whe-where am I?" Hermione asked, slight panic as her eyes darted to each boy in turn.
"Mione, I am so sorry. I should have explained everything before giving you the fudge. You are all of it at once, you passed out," Fred was looking at her, trying to make sure she was taking everything in.
"You ass! You said it wouldn't hurt!" Hermione raised her hand to her throbbing head.
"Yeah, you hit your head pretty hard when you fell. George healed it though," Fred said quietly.
"Lee, hand me a pain potion?"
"Do you really think I'll be taking anything else you've made?" Hermione laughed.
"I'll have you know, I'm bloody brilliant at Potions," Fred smiled down at her, still holding her hand.
"So Granger, what was it you were dreaming about? For informational purposes of course," George asked, not even hiding his huge grin.
"Oh, well… I-I don't really remember," Hermione mumbled, turning a lovely shade of pink.
"Interesting," George continued. "You were saying some pretty strange things."
"Oh Merlin, what did I say?" Hermione was steadily getting redder and redder.
"Oh you know, the usual, a bunch of mumbling, most of it incoherent. Except that last bit, right Fred?" Lee asked, all but laughing.
"Out, both of you. She doesn't need you two gawking about," Fred rolled his eyes, but was still smiling. George and Lee left, laughing loudly. "Sorry about that, they're and bunch of wankers."
"Fred? What did I say?" Hermione asked quietly.
"It doesn't matter, you were in a fever induced dream." Fred said, giving her an out.
"What was it?" She asked a bit more firmly.
"You said that I smelled lovely. Don't worry, I know you were a bit out of it," Fred was slowly beginning to match Hermione's red face.
"Well, you do," Hermione said quietly. Fred's head snapped in her direction in shock.
"Hermione, I'd like to try something, if that's alright with you. Another experiment if you will," Fred walked slowly back to crouch next to the bed next to her again.
"Alright," Hermione swallowed thickly. She watched as he slowly came closer and closer to her, until their noses were about to touch. She closed her eyes as his mouth came down on hers in a sweet soft kiss.
"I've wanted to do that for a long time," Fred smiled.
"I wouldn't be opposed to you doing it again, Hermione smiled back at him. He didn't need to be told twice.