Author's note: should be damn ashamed again...well...and I am. It's terrible that I hardly have time for the story anymore but with exams approaching...you know what I mean and I hope you're not too disappointed.
I'll continue to give my best with this story, promise!

Thanks for reviews, alerts and favs as always! ^-^

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story. All characters and the world belong to J.K. Rowling


Chapter 11

-Shopping Time-

~Hermione's POV~

Weird and beautiful dreams were visiting me through the night. Always changing from a nightmare to a good dream. Usually I felt a familiar grip and smelled a calming scent before things changed to be better. Cinnamon…I love it, have I ever mentioned it?

When I woke up the next morning, it still seemed like a dream. A blurry world that gave me more warmth than I had ever felt before. Stronger feelings of being save than I had ever been able to feel when I had been around my family or my friends. It just felt different…but great. I would love to wake up like this every day. Held by strong, protective arms, leaning against a firm but comfortable chest, leaving behind the problems of the day before.

Wait…I was in my bed and nevertheless…an arm was wrapped around me? I blinked a few times to make the blurry effect go away and lifted my head slightly. Somehow it felt like a déjà-vu.

There was Fred, still sleeping peacefully. A content smile on his handsome face. It was his arm that held me and his chest I had used as my pillow. His blanket was draped over us. But that wasn't that strange and god, I would be the last person in the world to complain about sharing a bed with him…uhm…even though it's a bit…well…I hadn't thought that this would happen that early, if you understand what I mean.

No, the strangest thing was, that I was wearing a pyjama. A nice one by the way, but I didn't know this. Mh…sure, we had been fully clothed last evening when I had fallen asleep…he had changed it magically, I suppose.

Thinking of last evening, my stomach tingled and hundreds of butterflies flew circles in it. That kiss…I just had to bite my lip a bit to stop me from grinning like I was crazy.

A short glimpse to the clock on the nightstand told me that it normally was late enough and that Fred could slowly wake up as well. And…to be honest, this would also be the only way for me to get away because at the moment, he – even though he was asleep – didn't seem to want to let me go.

Fair enough, I thought and laid my head back down. I liked it like this…so why should I even think about complaining or changing it? No, he should take all the time he needs to wake up. I mean…hey, that way I could still be close to him without having to fear that he would go down to the shop and I was distracted from the problems around me!

Unfortunately, that peaceful time was going to be disturbed…by someone I would never have expected…at least not now…not at the moment. Not before in…well…many hours.

It was half an hour after I had awoken. Fred still didn't think about doing the same, so I decided to try and drift off to sleep again. I also almost succeeded in doing so but…as I've already told you, there was a disturbance. You really want to know what I'm talking about? Alright, here it goes:

My eyes were shut and I was breathing in sync with my fiancé who by the way had taken my hand within the last few minutes. I was completely relaxed, ready to fall into a slumber, when suddenly the door opened. You could almost say it burst open!

"Of course I can, half of it belongs to m- OH MY GOD!" This familiar voice turned loud and shocked at the end. The owner? No one else than George Weasley who really thought he could enter his brother's and my room without knocking. But…why was he so shocked? It's not that Fred and I had done something last night…

"See, I told you that you would regret this!" hissed Katie behind him, bowing to the side to see me and waving at me.

"What are YOU TWO doing here?" I asked half shocked as well and half full of joy. I even tried to jump out of bed but was held back by the arm around my waist.

George tried to answer, "Uhm…we'll explain later after you…uhm…" but failed.

"Oh please! You don't think that we-" But I was interfered by the person who still had seemed to sleep.

"…that we did this?" And the next moment, he pulled me a little bit up and crushed his lips against mine. The kiss was just as breathtaking as the one yesterday evening which means that I couldn't hold back and just had to respond even though I knew that George was still looking at us. At least Katie had left again. Well…I suppose that Fred did this on purpose to get exactly the reaction out of his brother which really followed:

George grimaced, let out a disgusted sound and retreated even faster than he had entered the room. A moment later, the two of us broke apart and grinned at each other.

"I would like to wake up like this every day…well…except for George coming in like that." he mumbled, grabbing my hand again.

"Me, too." I mouthed, leaning once again against his chest. "Mh…but maybe we really should get up now…George and Katie are back and I would love to hear from their honeymoon."

"Really? This is going to be disgusting."

"Nonsense. Come on." Having given him a small peck on his cheek, I managed to stand up and roll out of bed onto his mattress. He pouted but eventually sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes a bit. I smiled, Accio-ed some clothes out of the closet and then disappeared to the bathroom, giving Fred a little bit more time to really wake up.

~George's POV~

"I…I never wanted to see that." I whined quietly to Katie after I had retreated from my brother's bedroom. She just smiled and shook her head at me, so I continued, "He's my other half and the last thing I ever wanted to see was him, in his bed, kissing and maybe…ugh…"

"Oh get off of it!" she laughed, "They were fully dressed and he obviously only wanted to annoy you. It's his way to say 'Welcome Home', have you forgotten?"

"Doesn't matter, it was…brr…I will never forget this!"

"Love, you behave as if you've never ever seen him doing something like that before. It was only a kiss…well…a deep one if I understood you right but who cares? There are much 'worse' things we could tell them."

I think I turned pink and green at the same time and I was really glad that we didn't have a mirror near the couch.

"And at least you had success, hadn't you? They're both awake and preparing for the day now. I'm sure they'll join us every minute."

"Yeah…then the loss of my ability to see has at least one good thing, huh? Phew…I have just one ear and am almost blind, you really want to stay with me?"

She shot me a bad look but had to grin after a few moments. "Well…maybe I'll think about it. Somehow I would sure be able to pretend that you hit me and so on…no…you poisoned me with your experiments! Even better, isn't it?"

"Eh…yes, great. By the way, your owl is back." I said, pointing to the window.

Immediately, my wife hopped off the sofa and almost ran towards said window. Conjuring a little snack for the owl, she loosened the letter from its leg, and then fed it and sent it away again.

"You want to tell me what this is? Or first…what your letter was?"

"Nope…it's unfortunately none of your business unless you want to go shopping with me."

I couldn't help it, my face turned into a grimace again and I whispered dryly, "Eh…no, thanks. I think I've different things to do today."

As I would learn a few minutes later, I really had different things to do. It took my future sister-in-law and my dear twin about ten minutes to join us but then our conversation started pretty fast.

Hermione, absolutely over the moon with hearing from our last weeks and Katie, glad that she had her friend back (I suppose she nevertheless had a good time with me…at least it sounds like that) both talked nineteen to the dozen while Fred and me just talked about the most important things of my honeymoon, how the shop was going and…yeah, that was it. Why? Because Freddie said that he would tell me what happened on his side later on when we were alone. But surely I asked myself when this would happen.

"Oh and look at this! It's Ginny's answer to a letter I've sent to her yesterday evening." said Katie in a quiet voice. Maybe she hoped that Fred and I wouldn't be able to hear it but she was bloody wrong.

Hermione leant over to her, reading the words on the small piece of parchment faster than any broom of the world could fly. She frowned at the end. "You serious?"

"Uh-huh! We need to! And besides, we have already planned before that we would go shopping at least once!"

"Phew…alright, alright. When did you say we want to meet?"

"Uhm…in 20 Minutes."

While Katie was beaming, Hermione's face had gone emotionless. I could understand her too well, shopping with Katie AND Ginny was torture.

But before I could give her a sympathetic look, my brother tipped on my shoulder, leant over to me and whispered, "We have to go as well."

"Shopping?" I mouthed without actually saying a word.

He nodded and shook his head at the same time. I just had to narrow my eyes into a questioning look, ignoring the girls' interested glances completely.

I shouldn't get any answer, not even through a silent conversation. So I just nodded and thus accepted our – hopefully short – shopping tour later on.

~Hermione's POV~

Exactly 20 Minutes later, Katie grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the flat to the streets of Diagon Alley where we found Ginny in front of the Quidditch Shop. Of course, where else?

"AAAH! Good to see you two!" she squeaked, throwing herself around both our necks at the same time. We almost fell over but that didn't matter at the moment, we just laughed and felt unbelievable good to be reunited. As I sure have mentioned before, Ginny had always been my best friend and Katie had turned into something like a sister for me. The same was it for Ginny, so it was nothing special to speak about 'being reunited'.

"You look good, Gin! Training's alright I suppose?" asked Katie when we finally let go of each other.

"Everything's just fine. My trainer says I might get into the team when I go on like that. But that's not important at the moment! How was your Honeymoon, what happened at yours, Mione? Have you any ideas for dresses?"

I had to laugh again. This would be a funny morning…noon…afternoon…however you want to call it. "Didn't Luna want you as Maid of Honour?"

"Yes but she wrote in a letter that I could choose the dress myself and that she was sure that everything would fit. Okay…the other things? Teeeeell me how your weeks were!"

I allowed Katie to begin. Hers was much more important than my life and I also think that I would rather disgust my best friend by telling her how things between Fred and me had developed…

~Fred's POV~

"Alright…and where do we want to go?" asked George short time after Katie and Hermione had left.

"To Hogsmeade…I can't risk that one of them sees us." I answered mysteriously.

"Do I have to worry to destroy my reputation?"

"No…not really I think. Phew…"

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you? Oh my Merlin, don't tell me that you've done something you will regret and want to find something to-"

"Georgie! What do you think of me?"

"You shocked me this morning, you know?"

I rolled my eyes. "We just slept in one bed because she had problems the day before. I comforted her and she fell asleep. I didn't want to wake her up and stayed, alright? Can we go now?"

"Yep, but be sure that I'll go on asking questions!"

"Whatever…" I mumbled and disapparated.

As always, George and I reappeared in front of the Three Broomsticks. "So? Go on and follow me."

"Since when do you…well…do it like that? I know that you kissed first on my marriage but I suppose that that kiss had been different to the one of this morning."

"I always thought it's disgusting for you?"

"It is, but I'm interested in how your relationship is, dear brother mine."

I sighed but couldn't deny him the answer, "If you really need to know…since yesterday."

"Uh-huh?" he rose an eyebrow, "Who started?"

"Forge!"

"Okay, okay…and where are we going now?"

"You'll see when we're there."

Somehow I felt quite bad and somehow also stupid now. Just walking towards my destination made me feel like I had lost it. George would probably send a Patronus to St Mungo's immediately…

~Hermione's POV~

"All of them are so damn beautiful! How are we supposed to decide?" moaned Ginny about half an hour after we had entered the shop we usually bought our dresses. Not that we often bought some…eh…please really don't get me wrong!

I for myself stood next to a mirror, my arms crossed, thinking about different things. Yes, of course I enjoyed it but…well…I just had to think about other facts of my life as well.

"We don't have a real goal except for buying nice dresses, have we?" asked Katie.

"What d'you mean by that?" retorted Ginny, half disappeared in a clothes rack.

"We don't have a theme or something special in mind, or am I wrong?"

"Nope, you're absolutely right." I said, loosing my arms and tilting my head to the side.

"So maybe we should think about what we really want first and then have a look!" suggested Katie, gesturing with her hands.

"Sounds like a plan." said Ginny and I at the same time.

So we sat down on the reddish couch that was standing just in the middle of the shop for tired shopping-women.

Fortunately, it didn't take us too long to think about something. About a really good plan.

"How about us wearing the Ravenclaw colours?" mumbled Ginny.

Katie and I looked at her in question.

"We had the Gryffindor colours on Katie's and George's wedding…as the bride had wished. Why don't we get dresses in the Ravenclaw colours this time? In honour of Luna's former Hogwarts house. She's surrounded by Gryffindors and I'm sure she would like it."

"That's…a really good idea, Gin!" said Katie immediately beaming at her sister-in-law.

"Sounds good to me as well…you're Maid of Honour, do you want to have blue or bronze?" I asked.

"It depends on the dress. Let's just have a look now. We're searching for dark blue as well as bronze dresses. We'll try them on and then decide whether I take bronze or blue, alright?" said Ginny, hopping off the couch.

The two of us nodded and stood up as well. And now that we had a real plan, everything would be much easier and faster, I was sure about it.

~Fred's POV~

"What exactly are we doing in…a place like this, dearest brother mine?" asked George sceptically when we stepped into my place of destination. A shop full of necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings and everything else a heart (of a woman) could desire.

"Isn't it obvious?" I asked quietly, fighting with my inner self not to disapparate again this instant.

"Have you forgotten a birthday and want to apologize with one of those expensive things?"

I couldn't tell if George just pretended that he didn't know the reason for this visit or if he really didn't have a clue.

"Phew…no…it's about Hermione. I…I thought about quite a few things during the last weeks and I realised something."

Georgie seemed more than interested now. He had a wide grin in his face and leant his head a bit towards me as if he feared that he wouldn't get everything if he was 'so far away'.

"I realised that…how to put it…that I care about her and that I…really like her. Don't look at me like that; you haven't won a bet or something! I also already told her how I feel…yesterday. And…yeah…now you should know why we're here."

But George didn't say anything. He just looked at me with eyes wide open and triumphant but also unbelievable happy smile on his face. To be honest, I don't even know why it left him so speechless. He was my twin, always knew everything about me…and he had said that we – Hermione and I – would end up like this. Have you known it? Phew…I don't remember if I had already told you about this conversation. Anyway…he was right again, as always!

"Forge? I will need your help for this, you know?" I asked, moving my hands up and down in front of his eyes.

"Uhm…yeah, sure. You want me to help you buy the perfect ring for her so that you can give her a real proposal."

"Exactly."

"So then…does she prefer gold or silver?" he asked.

And with his question, I paled. "How should I know?"

"Did you NEVER ask in your games if she liked gold or silver or bronze the best?"

"Eh…no? I suppose it's gold, she's a Gryffindor through and through."

"But you're not sure."

"Right."

"Okay…that's not a problem Freddie, get your colours back! We'll find something; I'm pretty sure about that." He winked at me, and then pulled my arm and therefore me further into the shop.

It took us bloody two hours to find something that we both supposed she would like. I prefer not to tell you the price, you probably would kill me. Anyway, at the end of the day (ehm…or rather at the end of our little shopping tour), each of us was happy and tired. You can't believe how bloody exhausting looking for a ring is!

Half an hour after George and me, Katie and Hermione also came back, bringing Ginny around for a few minutes as well. Uh it was great to see my baby-sister! It seemed like ages that I had seen her last. And by the way, she was a good way to get away from Hermione's question what George and I had done the 'whole day'. I mean…sure we could lie to her but…nah, I really didn't want to lie.

Unfortunately Ginny left not even an hour later, saying that she also wanted to spend some time with Harry. George and I grimaced at that…we really didn't want to hear any detail.

Oh, have I ever mentioned that I loved the TV set? No? Then now you know it. And why? Well…because it saved my ass. My dear twin turned it on few minutes after Gin had left. Katie joined him immediately and when I sat down on the second couch, Hermione couldn't resist a minute to sit down as well and lean against my chest. I put my arm around her and all of us fell in comfortable silence.

"You shouldn't wait too long or the possibility increases that you chicken out." whispered George a few hours later when both our girls had fallen asleep. They had been even more tired than Forge and I!

"I won't wait too long…think I'll ask her tomorrow…just don't ask me how…" I said, looking down at my fiancée and finally placing a kiss to her hair. Yes…tomorrow…I just had to figure out how exactly I would do it…