EEEH! Here it is, the one you've all been waiting for! :D

Fred could understand his younger brother's sentiments from 6 years ago now. 'Slimy git!' he thought miserably, drinking his butterbeer. Krum wasn't actually doing anything wrong at all, in fact quite the opposite! He'd managed to help Hermione before Fred could get there and now he was listening in rapture to her account of the past 6 years, laughing at all the right moments and looking stricken at the particularly bad ones. It was just the fact that he was…a slimy git! By now Hermione had reached the bit about the Battle of Hogwarts. Fred couldn't remember very much about that himself, he'd been laughing at Percy when something had knocked him out of the way of a killing curse. A wall had collapsed on him and he'd been left unconscious for the remainder of the Battle ("the really good part," he always grumbled) but alive. After waking up a few hours later to a weeping mum and a pale, tense George, he'd been so angry that he'd missed out on Harry defeating Voldemort, but he knew he was lucky that whatever had knocked him out of the way had! He sometimes imagined what would have happened if the curse had hit him. He imagined George…on his own…

"…and then I shoved him out of the way and oh! It was very scary, I nearly got hit too! And then a wall fell on us!"

"Wow! You are being very lucky for having Hermi-on, Fred!"

Fred snapped back to the present.

"What?"

"Er…I said you are very lucky…to be having er…Hermi- Hermo- Herman-"

"Yes, yes I know I am, but what did you say, Hermione?" Fred deliberately stressed her name. How could anyone not be able to pronounce her beautiful name?

"I was…just telling Krum about the Battle…when I pushed you out of the way of Rookwood's killing curse…remember?"

Her! It had been her! She'd saved him? Was that why George was always extra kind to Hermione and always did anything she asked, even if it meant stop pranking Ron? Fred had always worried that his brother may also have had feelings for her, but this was both relieving and shocking.

"It was you?" Fred whispered in disbelieving awe, before clearing his throat. "Excuse me, I just need to…" he stood and walked out of the kitchen through the back door in a daze. Hermione's eyes followed him as he went. Did he not remember?

"Please, continue? Did You-Know-Who get defeated?"

She turned back to Krum, smiled and continued recounting the battle, secretly vowing to find out what was wrong with Fred once Krum had left.

Another hour or two later and Hermione stood at the door, waving Krum off as he walked out into the garden to apparate.

"Keep in touch!" she called after him.

"Do not be worrying, I will! Goodbye!"

And off Krum went, making the usual loud crack. Hermione smiled, and stepped outside herself.

"Fred? Fred where are you?"

No reply. Hermione searched around the garden and even a little way down the track but there was no sign of him. 'Perhaps he's down by the lake?' she thought to herself. It wouldn't hurt to check. So Hermione set off towards the small lake which was a short distance from the Burrow, 'It shouldn't really be called a lake, more a pond' she thought to herself, tugging her cardigan closer.

The water was so still that Hermione could see the full moon's reflection in it. Immediately, she thought of Remus and smiled. Snape always ensured that there was enough Wolfsbane ready for him, whenever he needed it. Sirius and Remus had slowly started to become friends with Snape after the Battle, after they realised the point of Snape's actions. A small splash in the water disturbed her train of thought as she realised that Fred was sitting down next to a tree, lazily throwing pebbles into the inky water. She walked over to him quietly.

"'Cha doin?" she said, plonking herself down next to him.

"Nothing really…" he replied tiredly, not bothering to look away from the small ripples he was causing in the water's surface.

A few minutes of silence lapsed, neither of them moving, except for Fred who was still idly flicking pebbles.

"Is that why you were in St. Mungos for so long after Harry finished off Voldy?" he spoke so suddenly that it made Hermione jump a little.

"Pardon?"

"They told me I was pushed out of the way and then a wall fell on me, that's why I was out of it for so long…I can remember thinking I was pretty well off if a large stone wall had collapsed on me. I had barely a scratch, just a sore head. And I just assumed that you had been hit by a particularly nasty curse." He finally turned to look at her then, and she saw tears in his eyes.

"I thought you knew! I didn't mean to knock you out…"

He laughed at her sorry expression. "You saved my life, Hermione! Knocking me out is fine!" The laughter left his eyes as he pulled eyebrows down into a frown. "If the wall barely hit touched me…-"

"It was an impulse. You weren't looking, but I saw Rookwood. Instincts took over I suppose. I just threw myself at you. I guess the combination of both our weight and the curse was too much for the already damaged wall. It just…collapsed."

He looked deep into her eyes.

"You were days in St. Mungos, 'Mione! The wall…it fell onto you didn't it? You protected my body at the sacrifice of yours!" His eyes were now intent upon her.

"You really don't remember? But you…you spoke to me…whilst they were clearing the rubble off of m- …us…you spoke to me…"

He laughed once.

"I probably called you a stupid witch for protecting my body with yours! It must have been so painful, 'Mione! How come you didn't get hu-" he stopped talking and suddenly grabbed her, turning her away from him.

"Fred! What're you-? No! Stop it! Don't look!"

But it was too late. He tugged her shirt up to look at her back. Pink puckered lines and blotches ran over her skin, disfiguring it grotesquely. Sucking in a sharp breath, Fred spoke in a quiet whisper.

"Hermione…no…"

She pulled her shirt back down angrily and stood up, crossing her arms protectively.

"You can't tell anyone about the scars. I asked the staff at St. Mungos to not say anything to anyone about it. I don't want anyone to know…anyway I already had scars, so it wasn't like I had anything beautiful to preserve." Her eyes flickered to her left arm which was always covered so no one could see the cruel branding Bellatrix had given her.

"Besides, if I hadn't, then you would have…you would have died! You honestly think I would choose undamaged skin over your life?"

"Hermione…" he spoke again, gently this time as he too rose to his feet, moving towards her.

"Hermione," he sighed her name, pulling her into a tight embrace. She uncrossed her arms and wrapped them around his neck, leaning her head into his broad chest.

"Don't be angry at me…I didn't want you to die…"she whispered.

"I'm not angry at you! I'm so bloody grateful! You saved my life! I just can't believe you did that for me!" he pressed his cheek to the top of her head. This was far more intimate than their usual, casual hugs.

"For three years, I didn't know who had saved me. You should have told me."

"I didn't want anyone to know. Otherwise they would have seen the scars and automatically said that I shouldn't have done it…and without realising it they would have been saying I shouldn't have saved you! I didn't want to cause a fuss, I'm no heroine."

"I understand…it's just…I'm the cause of this," he stroked his hand over her scarred back, only just feeling the faint ridges through her cotton cardigan and t-shirt. How had he not noticed them when he'd hugged her in the past?

"I don't care, no one's going to see it, it's not like I'll ever have a boyfriend or husband."

"What?! You've got to be kidding me, right? Hermione, you could get ANY guy!" he pulled away to look at her properly.

'But not the one that matters!' she thought ruefully, looking into his deep hazel eyes that were burning hard. She now realised suddenly how true that was. The panic she'd felt three years ago when Rookwood had turned to the oblivious Fred, that had been different to the panic she'd felt for Harry or Ron. Of course, she had been terrified of losing any of them…but the feeling of losing Fred had consumed her entire being. Had she taken into account the very strong chance that the curse could have hit her? Or the wall crush her to death? She didn't know. She'd just instinctively protected him. And something had made her exceedingly happy when Fred offered for her to stay at the Burrow with him…

(~Music: All About Us – Owl City+ He is We~) Suddenly it hit her. HE was the one who mattered to her. How had she not realised all of this. It was no mere crush, he mattered!

"Are you listening to me? Hey! Hermione. You are beautiful, inside and out, in every single way and no amount of scarring could ever change that!" he whispered the last part, raising her arm with his hands. He rolled the sleeve back on her left arm.

'MUDBLOOD' stood out darkly against her pale skin.

"Do you hear me? No scar could change that. You are beautiful…so beautiful…"

He bent his head slowly and placed his lips against the ugly word carved into her skin. What felt like electricity jolted through her body from the point where his lips brushed over the letters. Her eyes grew wide as his mouth trailed up her arm, before he broke off.

"No, don't st-"

But his lips were suddenly on hers, cutting off her words with a gentle but urgent kiss. He couldn't help it. This had been building up for days, weeks, months, years even! He had been needing this for so long.

Again Hermione's instincts took over, only this time it was just to reach up behind his head, to deepen the kiss. Her fingers wound softly into his orange, unruly Weasley hair. Fred. This was Fred. And he was kissing her! Nothing had ever felt this good! One of his hands rested on the small of her back, whilst the other cupped her face. Their mouths moved together effortlessly and their sighs harmonised. Hermione allowed one hand to loosen his hair and trail down his muscular chest. His breath quickened and Fred let out a slight moan.

"Merlin's Beard, 'Mione!" he whispered against her lips causing them to move in time to his words. She smiled and sighed. Fred could not believe it. This was Hermione Granger! The most coveted girl in probably the entire wizarding world! And here she was, warm in his arms, sighing his name without realising. They broke apart for air. He chuckled, leaning his forehead against hers.

"you know something?"

"What?"

"Krum was right!"

"Sorry?"

"I am lucky for having you, Hermione Granger!"

She laughed then and he loved the way it sounded; almost musical, and how her body shook with it in his arms.

"And I'm lucky for having you, Fred Weasley!"

He smiled down at her.

"I love the way you say my name!" he said, kissing every inch of her face.

"Oh! I just remembered, I made you something, with a little help from George."

"You saw George today? Is he okay?"

"Yes yes, he's fine" she smiled again at how this echoed her earlier conversation with George.

"It was to make peace with you after…this morning…sorry about that…I wasn't thinking and I was embarrassed-"

"So it wasn't a dream then?" he declared grinning cheekily.

"Ah…assuming we're thinking of the same incident, then no…very real…" she blushed then and Fred couldn't help but think how cute she looked with rosy red cheeks. He'd been waiting for years for her to be here with him, melted against his body.

"So what did you get me?"

"I made you some special fairy lights so you don't need to bother taking Ginny's. Oh don't worry, they're not normal fairy lights. I thought you'd be bored with having no pranking stuff around so I modded them. Each light holds a surprise and with intervals emits either strange noises, odd smells or starts shaking!"

His reaction was an exact copy of his twin's, his eyes were wide and his mouth opened and closed like a fish.

"Hermione! You're a genius! Damn, that's so sexy! Since when did you become a prankster?!"

He stroked her cheek. It felt good and Hermione leant into his hand.

"I suppose you're just rubbing off on me!"

Grinning Fred leaned in and planted a kiss on her nose.

"It's getting cold, love. Let's get back home."

Love! He called her love! A warm glow went right through her and she laced her fingers round his as they turned back to the house. She couldn't believe it! A day ago she thought he looked at her as just another sister, but now…had he been aching after her for as long as she had for him? It felt good to be wanted, and by Fred too. She leaned against him as a dull ache spread slowly over her left arm. Dismissing it as a muscle strain she looked up at Fred.

"Let's go home."

That's all I've got written down on paper, so it may take longer now to post new chapters :) don't worry, I'll try my best to get them up quick! :D xxx