Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling. I would like someday to meet her though…
It was because of the blankets on the bed that Fred first noticed that something was wrong.
He couldn't sleep that night and as he lay there in bed thinking about the stresses of the day, he noticed that he and Hermione no longer shared the same blankets. Yes, they shared the same bed, but they had different blankets.
Hermione was not feeling well and was extra cold one night. That was why she had added another blanket underneath the one they shared. Then slowly they had progressed to where Hermione had her two blankets and Fred had his two.
'Hermione was sick just a little bit ago, right?' But as Fred started to think about it, he realised that it had actually been a little while. He then wondered what else he had not noticed.
As the light from the sun slowly crept into the room, Fred knew that he was going to have to get up and on with the day; business to run, kids to feed, family to deal with, Life.
As he went through out the morning, he began to notice other changes as well. He noted that while he used the bathroom, Hermione got the kids dressed. Then while she was getting ready, he feed them breakfast. With them never interacting. As they were all headed out the door, mandatory kisses were given to everyone.
The peck to the cheek as she walked out the door, caused Fred to notice that he couldn't remember the last time he had really kissed his wife. Sure they had kissed before falling asleep that night before, but those kisses weren't heated. They seemed to be more routine, than full of love and life.
As Fred apparated to the shop he started stressing over these little details. He needed to find his brother and run some ideas by him.
"Gred?" Fred found him in the shop, brewing some potions.
"Hey Forge, what's wrong?"
"Do you and Angelina share blankets in your bed?"
"Of course! As well as sharing activities under them!" His eyes wagged. "Don't all married couples? Why what's wrong?"
"I noticed this morning that Hermione and I don't share the blankets on our bed. That caused me to start thinking."
"You don't share the blankets on the bed? How strange is that? Well you guys have seemed off lately." George replied.
"Off? What does 'off' mean?" Fred wondered how much he had actually missed.
"Well you seem to function as two different people instead of a couple. You have things that you do and Hermione has hers. You both take care of the kids, and you both go to work." George said. "Where's the passion, the fire, in that?" That sounded boring to Fred.
"I don't know, brother. It does seem to be a little flat. Hey, I'm headed to buy more ingredients; I'll be back in a little bit. Would you mind watching this?" he gestured to the potion he was working on.
As he left, Fred really worried about what was wrong in his marriage.
ooOOoo
As Hermione entered work that day she knew there needed to be some changes made. She had a great job, wonderful children, an organised house and a husband. But there was the problem. She couldn't think of an adjective to describe her husband. When they had first been dating he was vivacious, funny, outgoing, and full of life. He went out of his way to make people laugh, help his family and prank everyone.
'Now' she realized, 'he still does that, just not with me.'
As people and papers came through out the day, she realized she was unhappy in her marriage. Little things in the office made her aware of how much was missing. Marie's husband sent her an owl, just to say he loved her. While eating lunch in the ministry cafeteria, someone received a firework explosion in the shape of a heart. Even her assistant, Betsy's husband dropped by to see her. All of these things opened her eyes to what she was missing in her marriage.
'Well', she thought biting down on her quill, 'I have two options. One, Fred and I acknowledge that there was no spark left between us. We divorce, move on and find that spark with someone new. Two, I could try putting some of the romance back in my own marriage and hope Fred does too.'
"I love Fred, we have a great life and I don't want to lose him, so option two it is."
"Great", said Ginny as she entered Hermione's office. "What is option two?"
"Oh Ginny, I need your help!"
ooOOoo
By the time George returned to the shop, Fred had come up with a list of things he wanted to change.
"George, Hermione and I have lost the connection between us."
"Afternoon to you, too, brother and what connection?" George said.
"The one that keeps us IN love with each other. I mean we love each other and all but we aren't IN love with each other. That's what I need to fix. Now, how do I do that?" Fred wondered.
"Well there is always the stand-bys: Flowers, candy, dinner dates, notes to each other."
"That is so boring though."
"Well considering that you are coming from nothing, something or anything is always better than nothing," George chuckled.
"True. What was first on your list, flowers? I'll send her some of those."
"Oh Merlin, Fred! You are a Weasley male! How could you have you forgotten how to woo women? It needs to be subtle, gradual. That way it creates anticipation and build-up."
"Wouldn't it just be faster to…" Fred whined.
Moaning, George interrupted, "This is the reason you are in this position. SLOW DOWN! Take your time. I'll floo Angelina and tell her I am going to be late tonight. This may take awhile."
ooOOoo
As Hermione was the first one home that night, she set to work on several of the ideas that she and Ginny had come up with.
Favorite dinner – check.
Kids in bed and quiet – check.
House picked up – check.
While she waited for Fred to come home she became nervous and started over thinking. What if Fred had noticed the changes in their marriage and didn't want to fix them? What if he wanted out? About the time she was really starting to freak out, Fred came home.
"Hey, honey." Fred whispered due to his nerves.
"Hi, Fred, how was your day, are you hungry, I made your favorite dinner, I also made up the house and put the kids to bed so you could have quiet time for yourself." Hermione rambled out all at once.
"Slow down, I am fine and let's start with dinner." Fred replied. It was painful that things were so awkward between them. As they ate dinner and got ready for bed, they made small conversation. Nothing that was monumental or would bring them extremely close together, but it was progress. Then they went back to using different blankets on the bed.
The next morning in the ritual chaos of getting everyone ready and out the door both Hermione and Fred made an effort to make sure that they had a real kiss on the mouth. They both felt the tingle and in that moment, decided that this was worth it.
ooOOoo
Flowers began arriving at Hermione's office every other day for the rest of the week. Not huge arrangements, but simple flowers and single roses. Each flower had a meaning or a memory attached to them. Each one made Hermione smile when she got them.
When the single pink rose arrived, Hermione was beginning to remember when Fred had first given her one, when Ginny walked in.
"Oh, how delicate! What is the memory for this flower? Ginny exclaimed.
Hermione hesitated, not knowing if she wanted to share this memory.
"Come on, you told me how the daisies reminded you of the time when you took him to visit your parents for the first time. He brought a bunch for you and your mom. You also told me about the time when he gave the tulips after you two declared your love. What can this flower mean?" Ranted Ginny.
"This is the flower that he gave to me when we hit our first rough patch. We had a huge row over something trivial. I honestly can't even remember what. We didn't talk for an entire day. Then the next morning an owl came with the note saying 'I'm sorry' and a single pink rose. Then we knew we wanted to be together." As Hermione finished recapping the story she felt her eyes well up.
'This was his reminder of that moment.' She thought. 'This is his way of saying he wants to be together still.'
"Ginny, what was next on our plan of action?"
"In plan – Woo Husband – the next step is random lunch visits. And for that occasion, I think you should look extra nice. Maybe even a little too nice." Ginny smirked. To which Hermione groaned, knowing that Ginny would fight until she got her way.
ooOOoo
Which is why at lunch time that day, Hermione arrived at the shop in clothes tighter than she was used too. She had drawn the line at showing 'more skin' as Ginny put it, stating that this was Fred's business.
George took one look at her and said, "He's in the back, having lunch and babysitting a potion. Do try not to burn it."
Hermione gathered all her courage and entered the back room. She saw Fred sitting there devouring a sandwich and watching a pot as it stirred itself. She noticed how handsome he was. It had been several months since she had last randomly touching him and she found herself rubbing her hands on his shoulders.
"Who or What is that?" he exclaimed jumping up.
"Sorry, I just thought it would be nice to rub your shoulders. Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you." Hermione was saddened that her plan for lunch was already failing.
"No, it's fine, I just wasn't expecting that." Fred quickly replied. "Here have a seat. What brings you by this lunch hour? Are the kids okay? Is everything all right at work?"
"Yes, yes, everything is fine. I just wanted to see you today." Hermione blushed.
As they talked about the day so far, things they found funny and the kids, they found themselves as ease with each other again. As George peeked into the back room, he smiled to himself, watching as they sat close together talking. He left them alone to owl Ginny that the plan was working.
ooOOoo
An owl came sweeping into Hermione's office the next afternoon. She removed the note from its leg and noticed that it didn't move. 'Probably waiting for a reply.' She thought.
Opening the note, she recognised Fred's scribble.
Hermione my wife,
I was wondering if you would do me the honor of accompanying me to dinner this evening. George has agreed to take the kids, so it will be just you and I together for a romantic evening.
Please let me know, so I can confirm arrangements.
Your husband, Fred
'Wow, that sounds all official and formal. Again, not like my husband. Great. Well at least he is making an effort.' She thought as she sat down to write her response.
ooOOoo
Fred was watching for the owl to come back. As it swooped down, he took the note from it. After reading her positive response, he ran to find George.
"Gred, I need you to watch the kids tonight. I am taking Hermione on a date."
"I don't know, Forge. Angelina and I have plans."
"But Hermione agreed to a date! I need back up help! This has to be spectacular to continue our romancing! We are doing so well. We can't lose momentum now!" Fred screamed in frustration.
Groaning George replied, "Let me floo Angelina and I will let you know."
ooOOoo
Upon arriving home Fred found Hermione in the midst of changing clothes for their date. "Can you be ready in 15 minutes?" he asked.
"Yes" she replied. "Where are we going?"
"Now, now, my lovely wife. Why would I give away the surprise? This will be a lovely romantic evening."
"Right. Any other details I am allowed to know?"
"No. Not that I can think of now." He smirked.
Fifteen minutes later Fred apparated them into a quiet park. Here he had set up a quiet table for two. The candles flickered as the red roses released their wonderful fragrance into the air.
"Wow, this is nice. You did all this work for me?" Hermione blushed.
"Yes. There is only one rule for this evening. We are not allowed to talk about anything related to our jobs, our kids or our family." Fred declared.
"Then what does that leave us?"
"Just us, the most important people of the day. I found myself the other day just going through the motions of every day life. I wondered how we had gotten to this point." Fred said with his eyes focused downward. "I decided that this wasn't something that I was comfortable with. I wanted to be close to you again. You, Hermione, are the love of my life and I do not show you enough."
With tears building, Hermione replied, "Oh Fred, me too. I knew that something was off and wanted to feel connected to you again. Thank you for this lovely evening."
"Fabulous! Well then my dear, on with dinner." Fred said and with a waving of his wand dinner appeared on their plates.
They enjoyed dinner. Fred's rule didn't hold up and before too long, they were talking about their jobs, the kids and the family. That was after all what they and their life consisted of at that moment.
As dessert was presented, Hermione turned to Fred once more. "Thank you again for this lovely evening. This has done so much to restore us again. I love you."
"I love you too my dear. Now, who can pass up dessert? Dig in!" he proclaimed, digging into his chocolate cake.
As soon as Hermione's fork sliced into her cake, it exploded. Out came fireworks of all colors and designs, spelling out 'I love you.'
As she sat there covered in chocolate cake, she looked at Fred who was grinning sheepishly.
"I couldn't resist pulling a small prank to tell you again that I love you." He laughed.
With a wave of her wand, cleaning up the mess, and grinning, she leaned into his kiss. Later that night, Fred found them turned toward each other in bed. He was still under his blankets and she under hers, but they were holding hands.
'Progress,' he thought before falling asleep.
ooOOoo
Over the next several weeks, Fred and Hermione found themselves getting closer together. Flowers continued to arrive for Hermione, she went to the shop for lunch where they talked, they had even rearranged the seating at the dinner table so they sat next to each other. They were falling IN love again.
Now that Hermione was IN love again, she wanted to be laughing again and of course, pay her husband back for the exploding chocolate cake. For this reason she called Ginny and George to her office one day.
"This had better be good. Trying to figure out a lie that Fred would believe was hard." George whined.
"Of course it will be good. When was the last time that Hermione asked you to come to her office?" Ginny snorted.
"Point." George conceded.
"I want to prank my husband. I have the idea, I just need the help to pull it off." Hermione explained.
"Oh, we are so in!" Ginny shouted without asking George. "What's the idea?"
"I want this to be something like when he is speaking he doesn't talk normally. All he does is sing my praises. Something like, Hermione is wonderful. Hermione is smart. I love Hermione, whenever someone asks him a question. What do you think?"
Love it!" smirked George, "As a pranking master, I have a piece of advice. You need something to throw him off of the big prank. Something smaller so that he thinks you are done, and doesn't suspect the larger prank coming."
"What about a prank or joke that your family used, Hermione?" Ginny asked.
"But those are so small and relatively harmless."
"That is exactly the point! Those will be perfect." George laughed and thought, 'It is a little unnerving to be planning a prank without Fred. But they need the help to bring them back together.'
"Alright," Ginny declared, taking charge. "Let's make a list of muggle jokes and you can pick one of those."
ooOOoo
Knowing what was coming as Fred got out of bed the next morning, made Hermione smirk. She pushed her face into her pillow to try and cover up so Fred wouldn't suspect anything.
A few moments later a shout was heard from the loo. Hermione couldn't keep the chuckles in. Fred came out a few moments later, with an incredulous look.
"Hermione? Have any of the kids been in our loo? Are they showing any signs of magic?"
She smothered the laughter and answered, "Yes, they have been showing signs of magic. Making the dolls dance and such. No, they haven't been in our loo. Why?"
"I think there is a spell or curse on our toilet."
"Why would you think that?"
"Well, I just tried to use the loo and 'it' didn't go in the toilet."
Taking several deep breaths, Hermione replied, "Where did it go then?"
"It splashed all over. Like there was a barrier above the toilet."
Wondering how her husband didn't know about the 'plastic wrap on the toilet' prank, she decided to play along for a little longer. "I'll go to the restroom and see what is wrong."
As he got dressed, Fred tried to remember all of the pranks he and George had pulled at Hogwarts to see if any of those spells would help him.
Hermione came out a few moments later and chuckling declared, "There wasn't anything wrong with the toilet for me. Are you sure you aimed correctly?"
"Of course I aimed correctly!" he yelled back. Astonished, Fred went into the loo again, as Hermione headed into the kitchen to get the kids ready.
'Did I aim correctly? Really? I have been using the loo for a while' he thought. 'Maybe, I should try again.' As Fred tried again, he noticed something. There was of course, some bouncing off, however this time, there was also some trickling through the barrier to drop into the toilet.
"What?" Fred yelled storming into the kitchen. "Hermione, what did you do?"
"What makes you think I did anything?" She chuckled with a twinkle in her eye.
"You did! I can't believe I fell for the plastic wrapped toilet seat! How could I have missed it? Oh, we are so on now, Wife. You just wait." And with that, he kissed the kids and headed out the door plotting his revenge.
ooOOoo
Fred had spent all morning coming up with great idea. He would have a bouquet of flowers delivered to Hermione again that afternoon. They would arrive as flowers. After a period of time, they would transform into birds, swarming around her office causing havoc. Fifteen minutes later they would transform back into flowers. This cycle would continue all afternoon. 'And no Finite Incantatem will get her out of this.' Fred thought chuckling to himself.
After lunch, George walked in chewing on some candy. "Look at what Hermione sent me. Lemon drops. I don't know if it was her telling me that she thinks I have a sour disposition or she was reminding me of Dumbledore."
"Gred, I wouldn't eat those. Hermione pranked me this morning. In just a few minutes you will be clucking like a chicken or something."
"I have been eating them for a few minutes and nothing has happened. I think she just sent me candy." George said throwing a few more in his mouth.
"Well, if you're sure, then you won't mind sharing some." Fred joked as he grabbed a small handful, tossing them into his mouth.
'All too easy' George smirked and walked out back set to owl Hermione and Ginny with the news.
ooOOoo
Fred continued his work in the back plotting the exact needs of his prank.
A few minutes later, George yelled "Forge, we need help out front. Get out here!" As Fred walked out front, he was smiling thinking about his revenge prank.
As he approached, the customer asked, "Where would I find the protective shields?"
'How can I help you, so I can get back to pranking my wife?' Fred thought. All that came out however was "I love Hermione, I love my wife!" at full volume.
The customer chuckled rubbing his ears, "Um, that's great. Maybe I'll just go ask someone else."
'That is not what I meant to say at all.' Fred stressed. Turning to help another customer asking a question, all that came out was "My wife is a genius! I love her so much!"
'Gaaaahh, I can't control this. What is going on? Maybe I should try and say something else.' As Fred was about to practice saying something else, Ginny stopped by.
"Hey Fred, where are the Canary creams? I need some to get back at a coworker."
Pointing, Fred was about to say, 'Over there next to the Raven Rumbles' but again what came out was, "Hermione is so gorgeous!"
"I already knew that Fred, but thanks. I'll go ask George." Shaking her head she headed over to George.
'What is going on with me? Why am I screaming about my wife? Did I get pranked again? Nothing has happened out of the ordinary.' Just then George came running up. "Forge, why are you yelling at the customers?"
"I love my wife! She is so talented!" Fred shouted. He quickly grabbed parchment and wrote, 'I can't say anything else! What is going on?'
"I don't know, brother, but maybe should work in the back for afternoon. I'll floo Lee to come help out. And you should probably talk to Hermione." He smirked and walked away.
'Hermione? What? She got me again?' Fred fumed as he flooed to Hermione's work.
ooOOoo
Having gotten George's owl saying Fred had eaten the candy, she was waiting for him to arrive. She could just picture what was going on. Fred running around the shop, yelling at the top of his lungs how much he loved his wife, how talented she was, etc. 'It was a brilliant idea really' she chuckled to herself.
Just then outside her office she heard her assistant Betsy say "Fred, nice to see you. Would you like to see her? She is just inside her office."
Hermione starting laughing out loud when she heard his response, that was usually something like 'Thanks Betsy' come out as, "Hermione is so creative!" Following that Fred stormed into her office.
Smirking Hermione said, "Hi, honey what's wrong? You don't usually visit me at work."
Fred didn't respond. Instead he pulled out his parchment and started writing. 'What did you do to me? How long does this last?'
"Really, honey? As someone who owns a joke shop, you should be able to recognize a prank when you are in one." Hermione laughed at him.
'How and when does this end?' he scribbled again.
"Why would I want this to end?" she asked. At seeing Fred's reddening face, she continued, "It ends, my dear husband, when you properly snog me. We haven't had a proper snog is a while and I want you to."
'Well, why didn't you just say so?' he wrote as he walked up to her. Gathering her up in his arms he opened his mouth one more time before kissing her. "I love my wife! She is so talented!"
"Thank you Fred, but you were…." Was all Hermione got out before Fred started kissing her thoroughly.
ooOOoo
Later that night, with Ginny watching the kids, Fred and Hermione renewed their love for each other. Fred noticed that they were sharing the blankets and all the activities under them. Life was good again and he would work to keep it that way.
"You really are brilliant, my wife. But revenge will be sweet. " Fred remarked.
With a giggle Hermione replied, "I wouldn't expect anything else from you my husband."
Thank you for reading my first fan fic! Please review.