A/N: Thank you for all the reviews on the last chapter. I am attempting to get as much of this fic done before NaNoWriMo kicks (Trigger warning for mentioning blood towards the end of the chapter)


Hermione survived the rest of of her summer with the Weasleys. In her spare time she read her text books, made SPEW badges and tried to help the others eavesdrop on order meetings. She had a hard time holding conversations with Fred that went beyond the lovely weather they had this summer. The only silver lining was she was now able to tell the twins apart with a simple glance. George kept his relaxed posture around Hermione, Fred's usual relaxed body language always tensed up.

Fred hated every minute he spent around Hermione. He had no idea what to say to her anymore. The ease he had felt last year had disappeared and since his speechlessness to her question he had no idea how to tell her how he felt. He wanted to kiss her again. He wanted to be around her, but being around her was torture. He had never been more confused by his own feelings in all his life. On top of his messed up love life he had never kept anything like this from George and keeping secrets from his twin was another complicated mess he had created.

Hogwarts was the perfect escape for both of them. They both had important exams at the end of the year and since Fred started putting effort in last year he found it hard not to care about his grades. Even if he did still have every intention of never putting them to use outside of his joke shop.

Hermione slipped back into school with ease. Being a prefect filled in any time she had between SPEW, the DA and most importantly her school work. Ron neglected a lot of his prefect duties in favour of 'spending time with Lavender.' Even if she wanted to think about Fred and how she felt about him she did not have the time. She did not talk to Fred unless it was to tell both Fred and George to stop giving puking sweets to first years. He was only ever sarcastic back and kept doing whatever he wanted, she always left wondering why she had wasted her precious time.

The DA became more of a priority the longer Umbridge remained their defence against the dark arts professor. Fred looked forwards to their meetings, to learning new spells and to steal glances at Hermione. Being a twin came with a lot of perks, whenever practice called for pairs they were always the natural choice. He never had to worry about Harry picking him to partner with Hermione when he was born with a partner.

The fourth DA meeting was well under way, after throwing objects in air to practice the stupefy charm Harry was pairing them up. He did not want anyone to get hurt. But he also knew using a charm on a ball and using the charm on another witch or wizard were different things entirely. He had instructed them all to go easy on one another. The last thing anyone needed was Madame Pomfrey to be rushed into their meetings.

Harry lined everyone up and paired them off.

"Ron, with Cho. Ginny with Collin. Lavender with George. Fred with Hermione." Hermione stopped listening to Harry sprouting off names. She could not believe he had not gone with the default of pairing her with Ginny and the twins together. Her heart sunk. Her mind did not wonder into Fred hurting her but she still did not warm to the idea of pointing her wand at Fred.

Hermione had not noticed that the pairs were spreading out. Her head was somewhere else as she stood opposite Fred and they prepared themselves.

"Remember go easy on one another." Harry called out. "There are crash mats in the corner grab one and get started."

Hermione was tempted to ask to speak to Harry in private and talk him out of this idea. Surely testing on the dummy would be good enough. But it was too late for that now. Fred was already waiting for her.

"Do you want to go first?" Hermione asked holding her head up high, she was certain that she was going to retain her dignity and take the spell on the chin. A little part of her wanted to see how much force he was going to pack and then make sure her spell was stronger. But she pushed that thought away. This was not the time to start being overly competitive with Fred.

"Yeah," Fred said waiting while Hermione took her position. "Stupefy!" Fred made sure the spell did not hit her square on, she fell to the side and got back up again. Hermione straighten her skirt and pointlessly patted down her hair. "Are you okay?" Fred asked as they swapped sides.

"Never better." Hermione said and took a breath before holding out her wand. "Stupefy!" Hermione had intended to take it easy on Fred to, but at the last moment she looked Fred straight in the eyes and a rush of emotions came over her, including a slight spike in anger. Hermione lost her focus at the most critical moment and Fred sored past the mat and crashed against the wall. Hermione dropped her wand and ran to his side. The room fell silent as everyone turned to see Fred lying on the floor.

Harry rushed over shocked that the best witch he knew had not controlled herself. But Fred was moving and trying to stand already. Harry pushed him back down and turned to the rest of the group who were all watching and closing in.

"Okay guys see you next time." Harry called out, no one moved. "Seriously, don't worry he's fine. We'll take care of him, get back to your common rooms before it gets too late." George, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were the only ones who stayed behind.

"Fred, are you okay?" Hermione asked, his forehead was bleeding but apart from that he seemed okay.

"A bit sore, but I'll survive, but I think my head caught the corner of the bookshelf." Fred said rubbing his forehead. "Ouch."

"We should get him to Madam Pomfrey." Ginny said crouching next to Hermione.

"And tell her what?" Harry asked. The room had provided a bowl of warm water and a cloth next to Hermione. She pressed the cloth against Fred's forehead trying to ignore how his wince made her heart clench.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" George asked holding five fingers up in front of his eyes.

"Four fingers and one thumb." Fred said with a smirk. "You can't trick me, George."

"He's fine." George said smiling and standing up straight. "You are still bleeding though mate."

"I'll take care of it." Hermione said looking around for her wand. "You guys should head back to the common room too, it's almost after curfew and we don't want anyone to get caught in the corridors."

It took a little more convincing to get George to leave. He insisted on going back to the common room and running the map back to them so they could avoid being caught as well. Hermione was glad they had all left. She wanted to apologise in private.

"I'm sorry Fred, I don't know what came over me." Hermione said, she dipped the cloth in the water and was glad that the cut looked smaller than she had imagined at first. And he did not appear to be too dazed or showing any other signs of a concussion. "I would never try and hurt you."

"I know, don't worry I think the magic in this room cushioned the floor." Fred said smiling and trying not to let the pain show when she applied pressure to his forehead again. "But I know I'm not the only one whose been hurt. I know I hurt you when you asked me about our kiss and I said nothing." Hermione felt her mouth go dry as her mind scrambled to find the right words to say.

"I did put you on the spot." Hermione mumbled.

"No don't make excuses for me. I should have told you how I felt a long time ago. I like you Hermione." Fred said. Hermione busied herself applying a bandage to Fred's forehead. She used patching him up as a reason not to look him in the eye and avoid letting him see how nervous she felt. "I was in denial all last year. Until that night in the common room and then I just let you go without saying anything and I thought you did not feel the same way. I should have talked to you. Please say something?"

"I like you too." Hermione said staring at the ground. "I like you a lot."

"Why didn't we just talk and tell each other?" Fred said with a chuckle. "One conversation could have saved us so much trouble."

"I know." Hermione said smiling too. "I'm supposed to be the smartest witch in my year and I've been acting like a fool." Hermione tucked the last bandage away. "I was going to use magic for your forehead but I don't trust myself tonight." She mumbled.

"I'll swing by the hospital wing tomorrow. Please don't beat yourself up about it." Fred said noticing that Hermione was still fiddling with the left over medical supplies.

"Okay, I just have one condition." Hermione said, it was now or never, she needed to be brave and put herself on the line with Fred for once.

"Anything." Fred said. Hermione moved closer to Fred and moved the hair off of his slightly wet forehead. She leaned in and kissed him, the kiss started off soft at first but with no one else around their intensity grew. Fred tugged Hermione closer and Hermione threaded her fingers through his hair. Until George returned.

"Hows the patient?" Called out as he opened the door. Hermione pushed herself away before George had a chance to see them kissing.

"Better than ever." Fred called out winking at Hermione, she blushed and helped Fred to his feet.