Summary: Fun loving Fred Weasley has always been carefree, going through life with laughter and fun, fastracking through everything he does. But when his younger brother's friend comes under his radar, he finds himself taking a different perspective.
Disclaimer: All characters and general plotlines belong to JK Rowling. Anything you do not recognise, is mine.
Pairings: FW/HG ; HP/LL
FRED
"Afternoon." the barman, Tom, greeted us with a toothy smile as we entered the pub together. I nodded at him, and he motioned toward a table at the back, and with a smile from Hermione, the two of us headed towards it. She sat across from me, and I, fresh from the realisation i'd had only moments before, was lost for words.
"Glad to have got all your shopping done then?" her attempt at conversation was slightly weak, and the look on her face didn't exactly set us off to the best start. I managed an awkward grin, before standing abruptly.
"Butterbeer?" I questioned, and she nodded, looking slightly relieved. I headed towards the counter. Was this awkward? I didn't turn back to look at her, determined that I would not be distracted for the third time today. A slightly aged man came to serve me, and I ordered two butterbeers briskly, my thoughts elsewhere.
"4 Sickles, please." The gruff voice informed me, and wordlessly I handed over my money, wondering aimlessly if I could call this a date, as i'd bought her a drink. Not really.
"Thanks mate." I said, taking the two large mugs and turning round, meeting Hermione's eyes, grinning at me.
"How much was it?" She had her purse out, but I waved it away quickly.
"Oh no, don't worry. I offered, Granger." I gave her a wink, marvelling inside at how flippant I was managing to act. She didn't push it, merely took one of the mugs and took a sip, her eyes not leaving mine. I took my own and mirrored her action, rifling through my head for something to say.
"Excited it's Christmas?" I reprimanded myself quickly for how boring that statement was, but she didn't seem to mind, crossing her legs as she faced me.
"Not really, I don't think." She furrowed her eyebrows, and twisted her hands together, looking a little confused.
"I mean, I guess I am. And it's lovely to be with Harry and Ron at christmas of course, being at home is so.. different." She managed, and looked up at me.
"Not different, I mean, I love my parents..." She trailed off.
"But they don't really understand magic, and while they're excited for me, they wouldn't have the first clue what to say if I talked to them about anything. So it's nice to be around your family, especially with so much going on this year." She looked up at me, earnestly, and I opened my mouth to reply but she had more to say.
"I feel a bit out of the loop when i'm back home. I spend time with my muggle friends, but obviously it gets difficult when they ask what my schools like..." She snorted, and grinned at me again.
"You wouldn't believe the sort of things i've had to tell them to cover up for it." She finished.
"Tell me." I responded, and she looked at me.
"Another time, maybe?" She offered. Another time? We both knew, pretty much for sure that we wouldn't have another time like this, another time when we were alone together. Heck, we weren't even friends. But I nodded, letting it slide.
"What about you, Fred?" She asked, squinting at me as I took another sip of butterbeer. I stared at her, confused, but it eventually clicked.
"Oh, am I excited?" I thought about it, and shook my head.
"Christmas is Christmas." I shrugged. She raised her eyebrows, looking a little surprised.
"That surprises you?" I questioned, and it was her turn to take a drink, holding up her hand to imply she'd answer when she was done.
She put down her cup, smiling.
"Fred Weasley, not excited about christmas?" She shrugged.
"I dunno, with all the hype that surrounds it I'd assume you'd love everything about it." She watched my reaction, which I wasn't sure was even going to be.
She really thought all there was to me was a big kid.
"Lot you don't know about me, Granger." I finished, adding an overexaggerated mysterious tone to my words. She laughed, rolling her eyes.
"I could say the same to you." She answered, and I sort of shrug-nodded my affirmation of her statement.
"Tell me about you, then." I suggested, and she looked taken aback by my words, laughing.
"What do you want to know?" She said finally.
"What do you want to tell me?" I countered, and she laughed again, as did I, when her eyes met mine. Her laugh was musical, infectious. Happy.
"This seems unfair. You tell me about you." She said, and I grinned.
"What do you want to know?" I said, teasingly, and she rolled her eyes, before continuing, adding, in a put-on bored voice.
"What do you want to tell me?" We met each others eyes, and I picked up my mug again, mirrored by her. The thick, sweet liquid rejuvenated me, and I placed my mug back on the table, empty.
"Seems we have a stalemate, Granger." I said finally, and she nodded.
"I have an idea." she said, tracing patterns on the table with her fingers. I beckoned at her to go on, and watched her in silence as she sat for a moment, clearly trying to piece together her next words.
"Let's play a game." She said, and I raised my eyebrows at her suggestively. She slapped my arm.
"No, Fred, not a weird game!" She looked flustered, turning red, and I held up my hands, feigning innocence.
"What are you suggesting i'm suggesting you're suggesting?"
"Wait, Wha-..." She huffed.
"Never mind." I marvelled at the way i'd manage to make her blush.
"No come on Granger, tell me about your game." I coaxed, as she pretended to be angry, looking in the other direction. At least, I hoped she was pretending to be angry.
"You'll think it's dumb." she decided, giving me a small smile to indicate she had been pretending.
"No I won't, tell me."
She looked torn, and I smiled encouragingly while she apparently played the pros and cons across in her mind.
"Okay. Truth. We ask each other questions, and no matter what, no lies." She started.
"You have to answer, completely truthfully. Except you get three vetoes." She held up three fingers, as if to illustrate this, and put one down.
"If you don't want to answer a question, you can veto it, and then you can't ask the person anything that would involve them telling you that answer. You can remove the veto at any time and answer the question, then you get it back. If you lose all three you lose." She looked at me expectantly, and I thought about it.
"What happens if you lose?" She laughed.
"We'll figure it out when it happens." She answered, and studied my face, clearly waiting for a response.
"So, shall we play?" She questioned. I wondered whether this was a good idea. This could probably end up with her finding out my feelings for her. But I could find out if she had any for me. I was about to nod, when she spoke again.
"And this is ongoing. We play until one of us loses." This surprised me. Hermione had indicated several times tonight that this wasn't the last we'd see of each other. Our relationship had changed now. Not only in my mind, of course, but really. We were friends now.
"Yeah, okay. Who's first?" I asked. She pointed at me.
"You're older." I snorted.
"That's not a rule!" She winked at me.
"I made up these rules." She said quickly, and raised her eyebrows, daring me to challenge her. I gave an overexaggerated sigh.
"Do you play this with Harry or Ron?" A nod indicated to her that this was my question, and she rested her head on the back of the seat for a moment before responding.
"No. I pretty much know everything about them, and they don't take that much interest in knowing 'everything' about me." She shrugged, putting air quotes around the word. Was there bad feeling there? She seemed to sense that I had picked up on it, as she hurried to cover it up.
"I don't mind, or anything. It's how they are, and I love them." She said this decisively, making me smile.
"I've only ever played this before with my muggle friend, Ella." She said after a minute, playing with her hair. She looked at me, an odd look on her face at the mention of the name, nodding.
"My turn." She said.
"Do you ever wish you weren't a twin?" Her question was fairly straightforward, and I mused for a moment.
"No. George is my best friend, and the life i've led is the one with him by my side. I've never had negative thoughts towards him, we've never fought." I shrugged at her. It suprised most, when I was asked if we'd ever fought and my answer was always the one they hadn't wanted. But she simply smiled, not commenting on what i'd said.
"Who's Ella?" I tossed back at her, and that look, the odd one, was back.
"She's a friend, we've known each other since we were very small. My best friend, I suppose." She played with her hair, looking down, and not at me.
"Neither Harry nor Ron know who she is, nor have I ever spoken about them to her. She's part of who I am when i'm at home. She never asks why I don't contact her during the school term, she never questions me when I can't tell her something. She's loyal." She looked up at me, finally.
"I've never even mentioned her to them. I'd like you to keep it to yourself." She said this honestly, and I felt honoured that she'd told me this, shared something that her best friends didn't know.
"I won't tell." I reassured her, and she smiled at me.
"I know." The surity in her tone surprised me, but our attentions turned back to the game, the oddness forgotten. We wiled away several hours sat in the pub, as the butterbeers flowed and we got more confident, the questions got more deep, required longer answers.
I learned from Hermione her worries about Harry, her issues with Ron, the boy she could never really find a healthy middle with. I was surprised by the depth of her bond with Harry, the commitment she felt to stay with him through the troubles that seemingly surrounded him, even at a young age. She told me about her insecurities, worries about how she had no real female friends. She shared stories of her summers, after a few seconds of awkwardness she told me more about her mysterious friend Ella, talking about times they'd gone out together in the muggle world. After some stammers, she informed me that she hadn't yet had her first 'real' kiss. I asked about her family, her school life, which subjects she preferred and how she would react in ridiculous, inconcievable situations. She took each question at face value, answering thoroughly and honestly, with an openess that surprised me. I couldn't help but feel secretly pleased when she told me absolutely, that she had no feelings for either Harry or Ron, but refused to let myself think that this beautiful witch, this amazing girl who was unfolding before me, had room for me.
In return she questioned me, her questions no less probing than mine. Like the questions i'd aimed at her, the ones batted back were an interesting mix of ridiculous and interesting, and in those three hours we had a combination of deep moments with ones filled with laughter, as I described to her the most memorable pranks Fred and I had pulled on our brothers and classmates alike. I told her about my friendship with George, which interested her, and described, after encouragement, how I felt about each of my brothers. The slightly protective air with which George and I surrounded Ginny made her smile, and the jokes I made about my youngest brother made her laugh.
"It's nearly four, we should probably get back..." I'd known the words were necessary, but I wished I could take them back. She smiled at me.
"Well we've been sat here talking for... three hours?" She said, laughing, and sat up from the more relaxed position which she'd adopted.
"It's a good game." I said, and felt compelled to continue.
"Thank you, for being so open, and sharing with me." She said it for me, and I nodded.
"Same to you."
"Who's turn was it?" She said, and I pointed at her. She stretched, and stood up. I followed suit, and with a wave to Tom and the barman, the two of us left, my bags in my hand.
"Have you had fun today?" She said, bumping my arm with hers, and I laughed.
"Yes. Surprisingly, Hermione, I've had a really great time. Have you?" She rolled her eyes.
"No fair, bouncing it back to me!" I laughed, but widened my eyes at her, expressing that she still needed to answer. She smiled.
"Yes Fred. I too, surprisingly, had a really nice time." We walked together, in silence for a minute, before I, not sure what I was doing, caught in the moment, held out my arm to her. She studied me for a moment, but took it, wordlessly, as we walked toward the small room from which we'd floo back to the Burrow.
"Fred?" We'd reached the fireplace, and she removed her arm from mine. I looked at her, not sure what she was going to say.
"Thank you." She said, simply. I nodded.
"You too." Not sure quite what we were thanking each other for, we just stood for a moment, looking at each other.
What had this been to her? This day, this afternoon, had changed everything for me. She probably didn't return the feelings I could feel so strongly bubbling up within me. Or if she did, she, like me, knew this wasn't possible. Not something we could do. This afternoon had been probably one of the best of my life. But I had no idea what was going to happen when we went through that fire, back to our lives.
"I feel like we've changed, now." Hermione said, eventually, breaking the silence.
"I know you differently than I did this morning." her nose crinkled.
"I know what you mean." I agreed, and looked at her carefully.
"Three hours changes a lot!" I said resignedly, and she nodded. Unspoken words were flying between us. Whether there was anything here or not, whether my attraction to her was mututal or not, this wasn't a road we could go down.
With an air of regret, she smiled at me.
"Again, Fred." She said, reaching towards the powder.
"I had a really good time." She made to go into the fire, and I caught her arm.
"You hate flooing." I said after a moment, but she shrugged.
"Time to change, I guess." She stepped into the emerald green flames.
"The Burrow." And with that she was gone, leaving me to simply stand and stare at the flames as they gradually faded back to orange.
"Bugger. bugger, bugger, bugger." I said under my breath, not sure what I should do.
'Summarise it, Fred. You've completely fallen for your brother's best friend, who is possibly the only unattainable girl you know. Said unattainable girl and yourself just had a long heart to heart.'
'And now I have to act like I don't like her.
''Are we friends now, or what?'
'See how she plays it?'
'Unless she looks to you, too...'
'You can be her friend. Just be her friend. Forget that you like her.'
'I can't forget that I love her.'
I stopped pacing. Had I just thought that? No, you don't fall in love with someone in one day. There's just no way.
'Unless you and that person are meant to be.'
Shaking my head experimentally, as if I could shake this out of my head, I realised Hermione had probably expected me right behind her. I picked up some powder and my bags, dropping it into the flames as I stepped in.
'The Burrow'.