Leave it to George!

~o0o~

It happened a lot lately. The most curious thing. If Fred didn't know better, he'd think . . .but, no, that was ridiculous. Because there was no way she could. . .could she?

Fred Weasley fancied Hermione Granger. However insane many would think this, he fancied her. Proper. From the way she irritated him with her adherence to rules, to the way she continuously broke said rules. From the way she scrunched her nose up at his antics, to the way she'd laugh brightly at his jokes. He couldn't help it, he was enamoured. Smitten.

This of course wasn't something Fred had made public. In fact, it had taken time for even himself to acknowledge his feelings and it was information he'd only shared with a select few; namely, his sister Ginny and his twin, George. The rest of Hogwarts thought the two of them as far from compatible as it could get. That they preferred to steer clear of one another. Hermione included.

Therefore, the only reason he could think was behind Hermione's sudden decision to start talking to him and sharing ideas with him, was because she liked him back. But that would be insane. She liked Ron . . .didn't she?

" . . .either way, I thought you might find this interesting. I certainly did."

Fred blinked and snapped his attention back to the brunette in front of him.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione," he said, "I didn't catch that."

He could tell by the twitch of her lips that she was annoyed, but found some patience inside to give it a second try. "I was telling you that I have a book on advanced Transfiguration for you, since I heard you were interested. It specifically mentions turning inanimate objects into living things. You tried creating your own animals, right? Well, with this you might be able to."

"Thank you, Hermione. This is brilliant. And very kind of you."

Her peeks turned a bit pink. "It was nothing. It's just nice to know that there are people interested in learning more, outside of their curriculum."

Fred smiled. "Never thought you'd respect me for my intellect, but I'll take it."

"Just don't make me regret it," she said and laughed, stepping away.

Holding the book she'd handed him, Fred felt a fuzzy sort of feeling. It was nice.

Then George sat down. "Saw you talking to Granger. How's that going?"

"Believe it or not, we actually finished having a civil conversation. I think she might be coming around on me."

George nodded, his expression far too smug for Fred's liking. Far, far too smug . . .

"What did you do?" Fred asked.

George patted him on the shoulder. "Oh, nothing, brother. Nothing."

Fred didn't believe him, but let it be. Whatever George had done had got Hermione talking to him, so there probably hadn't been anything untoward at hand here. Unless George had Confunded her.

Fred dismissed that last part and continued eating his dinner.

The next few weeks however, Fred's faith in his brother wavered, as Hermione was acting like she'd been hit with a Confundus charm or more. After lending him another one of her books, she'd appeared at his spot in the Gryffindor common room and scolded him for turning Zacharias Smith's nose green and not stopped until he—and a very out-of-breath George, who hadn't shown up until the last minute—had explained that he'd only done it because he'd been speaking badly about Harry. She blushed and apologised and Fred had thought that would be it.

But then similar events kept happening: Hermione would speak to him and start an amicable conversation, only to later scold or chastise or send him a cold look across the room.

It had gone so far that he now mentally prepared for either a hex or a hug whenever he saw the witch approach him.

"What did she do now?" George asked as Fred stumbled in and immediately aimed for the bed.

Fred landed with a soft thud and held up a small jar. "Supposed to be good for healing potions. I swear, George, I don't know what's going on in that girl's mind."

His brother hummed in response and averted his eyes. "But you're talking?"

"Oh, we're talking. And that's what's confusing me."

"But you're overall enjoying your time together?"

Fred narrowed his eyes at his twin. "Before, you said it was nothing. That you weren't doing anything."

"And I'm not. Unless you count developing a new and more immediate working 'Fever Fudge' as nothing."

There was a moment of silence. Then, "George?"

"Yes?"

"Would you mind letting Hermione know I'm taking Arithmancy?"

George grinned. "Leave it to me, bro'."

~o0o~

A/N: "George is secretly Fred's wingman as in he talks him up whenever hermiones around because he knows that fred has a thing for her but fred has no clue. "

This was a request from a reader on tumblr and I thought the idea was cute so I got inspired!

Hope you enjoyed!
/Primrue