Please don't be disappointed, my fan fiction lovers! School has just started and I haven't had the time to update, but I'll (hopefully) be posting every weekend! And, as a treat I'll try for twice this weekend, alright? Thanks for sticking with me thing long guys, I appreciate it!

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The Weasley clan made their way down to dinner, all surrounded by smiles that rivaled the Cheshire-Cat. They had all assumed that Hermione and Fred were together, when in fact they weren't. Even Mrs. Weasley had a smug grin on her face, who knew nice old Mrs. Weasley could be smug?

Certainly not Hermione, and she found it all a bit too fishy, but she ignored the light taunts and jeers that were thrown at her about Fred. She really had no clue how in the world she had ended up in his arms, she just had assumed that she was having a bad dream and he came to comfort her.

But, she knew that wasn't what happened, even if she couldn't admit it to herself.

Fred, on the other hand was pleased at how well his plan was going. He had expected the ill-tempered Hermione to be on a rampage right now, but she stayed calm, cool, and collected. And that was one of the many reasons he loved her.

"Oh dears now tell me, what has been going on around Hogwarts?" Molly questioned, hoping for an answer to Fred and Hermione's predicament.

"Loads of drama, Mrs. Weasley. Rumors, love, you know; the whole teenage experience." Harry replied smugly, which was followed by George's snickering.

"Of course mum, I don't believe you've heard the latest rumors, now have you?" Ginny inquired.

"I… I don't feel so well Mrs. Weasley. May I please be…" Hermione mumbled, but this was no lie. She then began feel dizzy, and as she had begun to get up, but ended up fainting into the muscular arms of Fred Weasley.

"Bloody hell is she alright?"

"Oh no! Hermione, wake up!"

"Hermione? Hermione?"

The many different noises came from throughout the room and everyone showed signed of concern, but one voice of reason overpowered the rest.

"If you were really her friends, then you lot would've noticed that she hasn't been eating, and she has bags under her eyes from lack of sleep. And if you have noticed, that's even worse because you haven't done anything about it. Now, it's an acceptable time to go to sleep, so I'll go up with Hermione and make sure she's alright." Fred snapped as he ran upstairs with an unconscious girl in his arms. He knew there was something wrong; that much was obvious. He just didn't know if it was him or something else.

Hermione, on the other hand, tried not to fall asleep in front of her dorm mates the night before because of the incident. She knew she would have nightmares, it was horrifying.

The next thing Fred new, he was once again lying next to Hermione, and he was lying awake, wondering how in hell his plan would work, but it was about to become a whole lot easier.

Hermione began to stir and moan in pain, and then a cry left her lungs. "Don't touch me, leave me alone, ouch!" Then, Fred attempted waking her up, but in her sleep she was crying and panicking with tears tumbling down her cheeks. "Don't hurt me anymore! Please, stop! Please!" But then, a final jolt woke her up, leaving her panting for breath. Fred, not knowing quite what to do, wrapped her in his arms and shushed her back to being calm.

"Fred…" she stammered, but couldn't muster any words.

"Hermione? Was it just a bad dream… or did something happen? You can tell me anything, love. Anything."

"No, no Fred it's n-nothing I can talk about right now. I'm sorry."

"No," he murmured, "You tell me when you're ready."

"Thank you," she whispered. And so they began to talk, as part of Fred's plan, to get her to know more about him by answering questions.

"What do you fear?" Hermione asked.

"Losing the people I love. If I ever lost George, I believe I would die. With all the rest of my family, I would be devastated. But there's one person in the world I would save, but only if they wanted me to."

"Ginny?"

"You."

"Oh… well that's incredibly sweet Fred. Thank you," Hermione smiled. "Your turn," she giggled, poking him in the ribs.

"Of course, now let's see. How many blokes have you snogged?"

Hermione blushed fiercely. "Inappropriate Fredrick! I ask you a deep question and all you can think about is my snogging experiences!"

"Aha! You said experiences, so that must mean more than one, am I correct?"

"Yes. It was a muggle boy, and then…" She mumbled.

"Who?" Fred asked intently, not hearing what she said under her muffled sounds.

"Victor Krum," she said; not proudly, but as-a-matter-of-factly.

He couldn't believe that she had snogged that bloke! On their first date as well! He was terribly, terribly pissed off at himself, but let it go when she saw the look of pain on his face. Then, after hours of questions, he decided it was time she would get some sleep.

"Oh, of course. It was rather daft that I didn't think of that, right? Well, I better be off to sleep. Same goes for you, I presume." He mumbled dejectedly.

"Yes, of course. Fred, my bed is bigger. So if you don't want to squeeze into George's bed-"

"Then I can sleep with you?"

Hermione blushed fiercly. He made it sound so…. Disgusting. "Yes Fred. Goodnight."

And, as the muggles say, she was out before she hit the pillow.

oooOOOoooOOOooo

"Do you think they've hit it off?" Ginny asked sneakily as they made their way up to Fred's room.

"I'd rather not think about Hermione in that way with my brother, thank you very much." Ron snapped angrily, and everyone knew that even though he went along with this scheme, he still had feelings for her.

"Oh, come of it, Ron. We're just curious, that's all." George replied thoughtfully. "On that note, I had better be sleeping on the couch tonight. Don't want to walk in on the two of them-"

"Oi! Merlin, George tone it down. My ears can't handle all of this!" Ginny mocked Ron playfully, pretending to be him whereas he hadn't even kissed a girl before.

"Idiotic plan… stupid brother…" Ron mumbled as he pulled Harry by his collar and made his way up to his room.

"Well, that went rather well. I thought he would explode, to tell you the truth." George commented to Ginny who all but smirked a devil smile that only a Malfoy could pass off.

"Of course, dear brother. You see went they do start going out- then Ron will snap."

And so left George sniggering, oblivious to what was going on.

oooOOOoooOOOooo

"Come on, Mudblood! Get up and fight, you know the incantation. Say it!... Or not? Alright, then… crucio!" The cold figure pointed her wand at Hermione as soaring pain seared through her body.

She didn't scream, not one bit. She wouldn't give the creature the benefit of the doubt until….

"Avada Ked-"

Hermione woke up screaming from pain and terror, trembling as she looked at the red haired boy laying besides her.

"Hermione? Oh, Hermione are you alright? What am I saying, bloody hell of course your not! What happened, dear? You can tell me." Fred questioned frantically, beginning to pace around the small contents of the room. He ran his long, pale fingers through his ruffled hair. As he bent over to meet Hermione's face, he whispered oh so gently, "You can trust me." And that was all Hermione needed to burst into sobs.

"Cloak… curse… pain… cr-cr-" She panted, but ended up spewing the whole story to Fred who hadn't responded at all; he just sat there, dumbfounded. How had something like this happened at Hogwarts? Wasn't it safe anymore?

"Sh… Sh… don't worry, love. I'll be here to protect you. Don't leave my sight, I promise I'll never let them hurt you again." Fred whispered into her ear and as Hermione fell back into a peaceful state, she wondered how she had ever gotten along without him.

oooOOOOoooOOOooo

The next morning was uneventful for the Weasley-Potter-Granger clan. They were bombarded with questions about school, their personal lives (which Hermione and Fred were apprehensive about answering), and what they planned to do for the rest of their break.

Ginny, of course, smiled brightly at this, she had already stored everything she wanted to do in the back of her mind.

"I have an idea, if you don't mind listening. I propose that we go sledding!" She announced gleefully, only to receive moans from her brothers.

"Gin- we go sledding every year, and every year we end up tumbling down the hill because our sleighs are too-oh!" George contemplated what he had just said.

"Of course Gred, how could we've forgotten? We're of age and we have been since April! Godric's underwear, that's not something you forget ever day, eh?" Fred laughed shakily, but really, his thought had been on Hermione since last night. This wasn't just your average fancy; Fred was in love with her.

As the teenagers made their way outside, Hermione couldn't help but squeal when Fred went to lock his hand in hers. She hadn't been expecting it. Actually, she hadn't really known what to expect. There was obviously something between the two, but a relationship might just be pushing it.

Hermione made her way up the hill followed by the rest of the Gryffindor clan. As they reached the top, Hermione truly saw how far up they were. She wasn't afraid of heights; she wouldn't be a true Gryffindor if she were. But the feel of falling off and experiencing pain… yeah, it scared her a bit.

Fred, seeing Hermione stiffen as she peered down the monstrously tall hill, he wrapped his arm around her waist, assuring her that everything was going to be alright.

oooOOOoooOOOooo

The days came and went and soon; it was Christmas Eve, 11:57 p.m, to be exact. The whole Weasley clan agreed that staying up late and sleeping in was a far more attractive choice then waking up at five in the morning being so anxious for their presents.

As the minutes dwindled down to Christmas day, everyone swiped out their gifts for one another and as the clock stroke twelve, everyone began to exchange gifts immideatly as Molly was taking notes of what everyone received (and it went something like this…)

Fred- A bag of puking pasties from George (which he really half-owned already), a new broom from Harry because his old one had been confiscated (and that was a surprise as well, considering he gave George and himself a thousand galleons last year), Quidditch Through The Ages from Ginny, candies from Ron, a sweater from his mum, dragon's hide gloves from Charlie, and a Gringott's account from Bill, and a watch that was sliver and had a Latin saying engraved on it from Hermione .

George- Had gotten practically the same things as Fred, except that Hermione had given him an actual Quidditch set with the whole set of balls.

Ron- Also received the same things as the two previous, but a Keeper's glove from Hermione and a poster of the Chudley Cannons from Harry.

Ginny- Had received a poster of the Holyhead Harpies from Hermione, a beautiful necklace of her family from Harry, and the same as the rest of her family.

Harry- Had also gotten the cliché gifts, and just a new book on Occlumency from Hermione.

Hermione- Yes, she got the cliché gifts, new clothes from Ginny, and muggle book from Harry, and a necklace from Fred that when she opened it, what came to be his voice sang to her a muggle song which happened to be her favorite- Aerosmith's Don't Wanna Miss a Thing.

Although there hadn't been many people around when Hermione and Fred exchanged their gifts, everybody knew of their budding relationship. They had feelings for each other, but Hermione was far to scared and shy to actually do anything about it.

Fred was becoming worried; worried about the fact that Hermione might not feel the same way about him as he does to her. He had been dropping hints all break but if she wasn't ready, Fred wasn't going to push her. After all, she didn't even know what he would do in a few months from now.

Fred knew it was coming, and that it would hit him hard. He just needed the right moment to do it, and the right moment to tell Hermione exactly what was going on. He couldn't hurt her, and he knew that he couldn't. It would only make her more fragile and sustain to what was going on at Hogwarts.

How would her tell her, though? He would just have to ask George or Ginny like he usually did. Hopefully he would be able to push it off a tiny bit, but that can't be long. It will most likely be a few days after the pre-exam ball that Hogwarts would be hosting (so the students could get their mids out of studying for a night and relax), and Fred had to ask Hermione to the ball. He knew he should make up a whole romantic scheme, but he was still Fred Weasley for Godric's sake!

As soon as he sought out to find Rose, he saw her peering out the window and into the snow. Was he really Fred Weasley anymore? Or was he just another hopeless romantic? Shrugging, he flicked his wand towards the snow so the imprints now read, "Hermione, would you go the ever so pleasing pleasuring of being my escort- nay, date to the ball?" And with that, Hermione turned around with tears in her eyes, of joy or sorrow no one knew, but Fred did she the nod that she gave him as he embraced her- ready to protect her from anything and everything.

A/N: Preeeetttyy please review! You have no clue how much it means to me when you guys do! Hope you liked it, I'm planning on continuing it until the end of The Battle of Hogwarts, then making a brief Epilogue. P.s, I'll be writing more often (: