Hermione wasn't sure when it happened exactly, but sometime after she came back from Australia she became friends with Fred. Maybe it was because he had been the first she met in Diagon Alley or because of the talks at the Burrow, she couldn't pinpoint it. It had been a slow process. Of course, they always had been friends in some way, but in a different way. In a way that had centred around Ron, because she was his best friend and Fred was his older brother. But now they were real friends.

They talked at Sunday lunches without need, but because they liked it. They joked with each other and bickered in a friendly way. And sometimes Hermione thought that Fred was flirting with her. But she was never sure if it wasn't his way of joking and teasing. But she wasn't the only one who noticed this new relationship.

Hermione was at Madame Malkin's for Ginny's final dress fitting, when the young Weasley asked her about Fred.

"You know," Ginny came out of the dressing room with her normal clothes on, "you and Fred are really chummy. How come?" Hermione shrugged non-committal.

"We just get on well."

"Yeah... but two weeks ago you wanted to kill him because of his products. What happened?" Ginny leisurely walked to a show case with jewellery.

"Nothing happened. We just started to talk. It's nothing special. It's not like we never talked before." A bit huffy Hermione grabbed her robe, handed Ginny hers and went to the exit.

"But that's the thing." Ginny followed her to the street. "You two talked but never like that. Now you talk on purpose. And you laugh about his stupid jokes, you never did that before." Hermione stopped in the middle of the street and turned to Ginny.

"Ginny, are you against me being friends with Fred? Does it bother you?" Hermione didn't know how to feel. She was hurt by the integration, but also worried. Out of habit she bit her lip.

"No!" Ginny blanched. "No, that's not it. Come, let's sit down." Ginny dragged her into a near café's back corner and ordered two teas.

"It doesn't bother me. Well, it does, but..." Ginny struggled with her words. "It's okay for you to be friends, of course it is. It's just..." Ginny thankfully grabbed her tea when it came, took a sip and then examined Hermione afraid.

"Mione, are you in love with Fred?" Hermione was taken aback. Of course, she wasn't in love with Fred. They just were getting along, nothing more.

"That's ridiculous."

"It's not. He's flirting with you, I'm sure. And its just Fred you are close with, not George. So, are you interested in him?"

"I'm not. We just- it was coincidence that we started to talk, and we went from there." Ginny raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "I'm really not interested in Fred. And why do you make such a big deal out of it?"

"Fred is my brother and I love him. To be honest, he and George are my favourite brothers, but I detest how he is with women. With him it's always no strings attached and that crap. He's a heartbreaker. I would hate it if you get hurt."

"Well, then its good I'm not interested and he's not flirting." Hermione grinned, but deep inside she freaked out. She had been thinking about the possibility of Fred flirting with her, but she always had pushed it aside. But now she could no longer do it. Now it was a bit more real. Even if Ginny was wrong, the idea was now in Hermione's head and that wasn't good.

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Fred and George were helping their dad with degnoming the garden when Hermione and Lavender apparated to the boundaries of the Burrow. It was a blazing hot Wednesday at the end of April and the big wedding was this Sunday on May 1st at the Burrow. So naturally the whole family had to help with getting the house and the garden into the best shape.

Hermione and Lavender weren't arranged to help today so it was a surprise to see them. Fred smiled at the little brunette witch until she was close enough to see her face. Her eyes flashed with fury and this fury was directed towards him. Fast and determined Hermione made her way to the twins while Lavender was a bit behind with Rose in her arms.

"You two giant prats! You- you are so dead!" Fred and George knew when they were in trouble and drew their wands.

"Expelliarmus!" Faster than lighting Hermione disarmed both twins and after seconds she pointed her wand to Fred's chest while she grabbed George's shirt to prevent his escape.

"I want an explanation and I want it now! What did you think? Did you even think?"

"Love, I have no idea what you're talking about." Fred grinned.

"Yeah, we're innocent, Granger," George teased. They really had no idea what was wrong, but they could have some fun meanwhile either way.

In the meantime, Lavender had reached them and pointed her wand at George's chest. Hot anger written over her face.

"My child is blue, you little maniacs," she growled. "Explain that!"

Surprised Fred stared at Rose. And sure enough, the toddler was blue from head to toe. Rosie's skin was dyed in a deep midnight blue that looked nice with her red hair and she giggled while Lavender put her down.

"What's going on?" With perfect timing Ginny came out with Teddy and then stopped abruptly when she saw Rose. Teddy meanwhile touched Rose's skin in awe and turned his own into the same shade. Frowning at the children Ginny eyed her brothers.

"What did you do?" She hissed at them. "My wedding is in four days! Tell me that it will wear off till then."

"I would love to tell you that, but we have no idea what happened." George smirked at his sister.

"Dammit, stop joking around, you gits!" Hermione pricked her wand in Fred's chest to stress every word. Her whole body cracked with pure anger and Fred involuntarily smiled at her. That was the feisty prefect he liked to tease.

"We were at a muggle café when she suddenly turned blue. Do you have any idea how hard it is to explain something like that?"

"What's going on?" Fred rolled his eyes, was that the question of the day? His dad and mum accompanied by a highly amused Bill and a curious Victoire came out of the house.

"Granger, how could this be our fault?" Fred had an idea what had happened, but he would never admit that. Never confess until there is evidence, that was the twins' life motto.

"Rose was eating this," Hermione skidded a wrapping paper at him, "how did she get it?" It was a wrapping paper well known to Fred and he cursed internally. They had forgotten that they gave Rose one of those not long ago.

"Oh Rosie," George sighed and Fred smiled defeated at his cute niece. "We told you to give that to your daddy. Not to eat it yourself."

"We will need to train a bit more to make a mischievous mastermind out of you." Fred coaxed the girl, who laughed gleefully and showed her blue skin to Victoire. At least she was enjoying herself.

"You won't make a troublemaker out of my daughter!" Lavender shrieked and Hermione flashed them her best prefect face.

"Why Rose? You aren't training Teddy or Victoire, aren't you? So leave her alone." She threatened in a low voice.

"Well, Granger, Teddy is the heir of a marauder-" George started and Fred picked up with his best smirk.

"-so, he will be a natural. And Victoire's daddy is a badass curse breaker-"

"-not to forget partly big bad werewolf-" Bill flashed a confident grin at George's words.

"-so, we are a little bit concerned about him getting angry at us, that means Vic is off limits." Fred finished but a dangerous smile appeared on Hermione's face.

"So, you're telling me you're not afraid of me." Fred gulped, but no way he would back out now. He knew it wasn't wise to provoke Hermione, especially when her backup was his sister, the bridezilla, and Lavender Brown, who looked downright murderous. It wasn't wise, but the words left his mouth before he could do anything.

"Couldn't control us in school, can't scare us now." Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.

"You have 30 seconds head start. You can either run or choose a nice place for me to bury your bodies." With one glance at each other Fred and George decided to run.

Ten minutes later Fred made his way back to the Burrow with George by his side. Both sported I'm an idiot in bright green letters on their foreheads and had dark blue skin like Rose. Additionally, Hermione had hexed their voices to sound like little girls and their clothes were purple. Roaring laughter started when they entered the kitchen were everyone was seated.

"Yeah, very funny." George whined in his high voice.

"Rosie, Teddy, look, we match." Fred showed the children his blue arms. Hearing his own voice gave him a fright. Granger really could be a vicious genius.

"Daddy, wanna be blue," Victoire cried with tears in her big eyes. Broken-hearted by being left out she clutched Bill's leg and begged miserably Wanna be blue. Bill scowled at the twins.

"You will turn Rose back." Fred opened his mouth to protest, but Bill growled at him.

"Now! Fleur will kill you, and me, if Vic comes home blue." Mumbling George handed Rose a small vial that reversed most WWW products who worked with colours and instantly the girl was back to normal. Sadly, she wasn't impressed by that and started to cry. Hasty Lavender put her up and went for a soothing walk to the living room before the toddler could throw a full-grown fit of rage.

"Granger," Fred tried to intimidate Hermione but his shrill voice didn't help. "Would you be so kind?" He gestured at himself and George. With a small giggle Hermione muttered a few spells and the blue skin, the green letters and the pink clothes turned back to normal.

"Thanks," Both twins sighed and then froze. Their voices were still high pitched.

"Granger!" Both screamed and the whole room erupted in new laughter. Fred looked at George and in seconds they both smirked mischievous.

"Revenge!" And with that they ran towards Hermione, who let out a small squeak and ran off to the garden. She had a few steps head start but their long legs made it easy for the twins to follow. With a scream Fred tackled Hermione to the ground and together with George he started tickling her.

"Okay, you- you win. Stop, please- please stop!" Hermione begged guwaffing with laughing tears in her eyes. The twins let go and she muttered the spell to restore their voices.

"Do re mi fa sol la ti," George lilted, checking his voice, while heading back to the kitchen.

"Granger, that was maleficent and brilliant. Didn't think you had it in you." Fred helped Hermione up. She was still breathing heavy and her hair was like a wild halo of curls around her head. Her cheeks were flushed. Fred's heart missed a beat at her sight and he hastily plastered a smirk on his face.

"Well, I hope you learned your lesson." Hermione smiled with a wink.

"Yeah, I do look smashing in blue. Suits my hair." Hermione growled at him and playfully twirled her wand. "Okay, okay, Granger. Don't worry, lesson learned. I'm terribly afraid of you."

"Thanks," she flashed him a proud grin, "don't forget to be scared." She winked and followed George, but Fred felt frozen. He was scared. His heart felt like a thousand pounds of stones weighted it down as he watched how Hermione moved away from him. Her hips swaying and her curls bouncing. Hermione Granger truly was a force of nature and Fred was scared to be completely and hopelessly captivated by her. Hermione was right. He should be scared of her and he was, but in a different way than she had intended.

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Hermione was reading a new book when Lavender and Rose came home from their weekly Saturday date with Ron. Rose was obviously tired but still too excited to sleep and bounced around her auntie. Hermione took the toddler into her arms and listened while Rosie told her about her day. But her thoughts always went back to Fred.

Since the dress fitting with Ginny she was constantly thinking about him. Was he flirting? He couldn't, right? Never ever would Fred Weasley, prankster and womaniser, flirt with her. Hermione could only think of reasons against it. They were too different, he was funny and laid back and she wasn't. But he was also ambitious, like her, and he was quite brilliant. And she really enjoyed talking with him, joking and laughing.

No, Hermione shook her head. Just because her image of him had changed didn't meant he flirted with her. She wasn't his type. She wasn't like the pretty witch that day at the shop. She wasn't like his conquests. And she didn't want to be like them. She hated the idea of Fred flirting with her like he flirted with all those other women. She wasn't one of his conquests, never would be. And if he ever tried to treat her as one, she would be offended.

So, Hermione decided that Fred was definitely not flirting with her. She banished all thoughts about him out of her mind and spend the evening persuading Rose to go to bed. The big wedding was the next day and they had to be up early to get ready. Rosie was excited to be a flower girl together with Victoire and Hermione had to help Ginny get ready.

Much later Hermione lay awake and brooded over Fred again. She slowly became frustrated with herself. She needed some to talk. Hermione needed someone to tell her that Fred wasn't flirting with her, that it was a stupid idea to think about it.

In hope for a good talk she lumbered to Lavender's room, knocked softly and made herself comfortable beside her roommate in her bed.

"Everything okay?" Lavender eyed her sleepy. Hermione wasn't usually the one in need for late night talks. In the last years it had normally been Lavender climbing into her bed.

"I need to ask you something, but you have to promise me that you won't be overenthusiastic or something like that. No gushing or cooing or romancing."

"Okay..." Lavender was now wide awake.

"Do you think Fred is flirting with me? Ginny said something and it's bothering me. I can't stop thinking about it."

"Why does it bother you?"

"Because there is no way Fred would flirt with me, but now I feel shy when he's around and I'm overanalysing everything. And I hate that. Just tell me I'm being stupid so that I can forget it."

"You're stupid, forget about it." Lavender repeated with a grin.

"Lavender," Hermione whined, "that's not helping." Lavender chuckled.

"Okay, okay. We just have to go step by step. First, what if Fred is flirting with you? Would that be bad?" Hermione took a few minutes to think about it. Would it be bad?

"I don't know. I don't want to be one of his conquest."

"So, you want to be more than a conquest?" Lavender inquired.

"No," Hermione sighed, "at least not yet. I'm afraid of hoping for something just to realise in the end that he didn't feel the same."

"This is about Ron." Lavender's voice was a mere whisper.

"I thought for years that Ron was in love with me and that we would end up together. But he didn't feel the same. What if I fall in love with Fred and the same happens?" It felt good to finally put her fears into words, but still her heart was tight and beat in a painful rhythm.

"Hermione, I know you're afraid, but maybe you're overthinking it? Maybe he is flirting, maybe he isn't. Just go with the flow."

"I was never good at that." With heavy eyes Hermione leaned into Lavender and fell asleep.

The next chapter is the wedding! Thank you all for reviewing so far, especially E-Dett, you really calmed me.

I'm still thinking about the rating. I will let you know in time.