The Crush
"I need some advice, Granger."
Hermione raised both her eyebrows at this unusual circumstance. "You want advice from me?" she asked him.
He nodded, fervently.
"Alright," she replied, with just a bit of hesitation. Hermione wasn't uncomfortable giving advice – far from it actually. She enjoyed helping people with their problems and suggesting solutions to their situations. Hell, she had even offered him advice before. Mind you, her advice to him was almost always ignored and fairly often laughed at. In fact, she could think of no time in their past where he had ever requested advice from her. It made her a tad suspicious. "What do you need advice on?"
"A woman," he replied.
'Hell no,' she thought to herself. 'There is no way I am going to help him with woman problems.' "Why are you asking me? Why not ask Ginny or Fleur? They probably have a better idea of what typical women want than I do."
"Oh, I don't know," he responded with a grin. "I think you might have a bit more in common with this bird than Fleur or Ginny."
Hermione gave a deep sigh. "Fred, I want to help you, really I do, but you KNOW relationships are not my forte. I haven't even gone out on a date since Ron and I broke up eight months ago," she reminded him. 'Besides,' Hermione thought to herself, 'I have a little crush on you and don't want you to be attracting other women.'
"Pleeeeeease, Hermione," he pouted, in his adorably cute way. "I am really out of my league this time."
Sighing again, she finally agreed. "What can I help you with?"
"My problem is that this girl I am attracted too, doesn't take me seriously as a potential boyfriend. I can get her attention with some prank, but she is smart, serious, and industrious, so I'm not sure how to signal to her that my intentions are sincere."
"How do you typically ask girls out?" Hermione inquired; genuinely curious about how Fred normally approached witches he was attracted to.
He grinned. "I tell a little joke, give her a wink, and then just let my natural charm and good-looks convince her to go out on a date with me."
"But that hasn't worked with this girl?"
He shook his head sadly. "She rolls her eyes when I wink at her and appears immune to my charm."
Hermione shook her head, wondering briefly how anyone could be immune to Fred Weasley's charm. "Perhaps she's not the girl for you," she told him gently.
"I worry about that myself, but I've been attracted to her for years and now that she is available, I really want to give it a shot."
"Why wasn't she available before," Hermione asked, a bit surprised by all the detail Fred was providing.
"She was pining after and then dating another bloke. However, they have been apart now for awhile so there should be no obstacles to us going out. Assuming, of course, that she is interested."
Although a large part of Hermione wanted to tell Fred to forget this witch and move on – preferably toward the brown-haired girl standing in front of him – she tried to put herself in the girl's shoes. "It could be that she would respond well to a more direct approach. Some girl's simply aren't used to having handsome, charming wizards flirting with them. Maybe she only appears to be not interested because she doesn't realize you are genuinely attracted in her."
Fred nodded in understanding. "So I should just go up to her and say something like: Hermione, I really like you and would love to take you out to dinner tonight."
Hermione's heart beat faster and she could not help but speculate on how wonderful it would feel if Fred actually were asking her out. "Yes, do it like that. Just make sure to use her name and not mine," she teased.
A broad grin spread across Fred's face. "What if she still resists?"
Cocking her head to the side, Hermione bit her lip as she thought. "I suppose you could always try admitting that you've fancied her for a long time. Telling her exactly what you like about her might work too. She would have to feel flattered by either of those admissions."
"Alright, at the first sign of resistance, I'll tell her about how I've been infatuated with her since my seventh year at Hogwarts. How I've long admired her intelligence, her determination, and her natural beauty, but that I never made a move since she was my brother's girl. Now that they are no longer dating, however, I'd really like for her to give me a chance."
"Your brother's girl?" Hermione was confused. Who in the world was he talking about? "Penelope Clearwater?"
"Who? Percy's former bird? Merlin, no! I am talking about Ron's old girl."
"Lavender Brown?" Hermione exclaimed, unable to hide the dislike in her voice.
"Granger, for being the brightest witch of your generation, you are surprisingly dense at times. Would anyone ever describe Lavender as smart and industrious?"
Hermione shook her head, her eyes growing wide. If Fred wasn't talking about Lavender that meant he was talking about—"But you said she was beautiful!"
"You are," he replied with a big smile. "Hermione I've fancied you for ages, would you go out to dinner with me tonight?"
"You tricked me!" she exclaimed, blushing brightly. "You never needed my advice."
Stepping closer to her, Fred grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. "Of course I did. If you hadn't told me to just ask you out directly, I probably would have spent another six months teasing and pranking you."
She giggled. "Well, then I'm glad you came to me for guidance, because I'd love to go out to dinner with you tonight."
"Great!" Fred replied grinning broadly. "I need one more piece of advice, though."
"What's that?" smiling up at him.
"Where can I take a pretty girl for dinner that will leave her favorable inclined to see me again?"
Squeezing his hand back, Hermione told him truthfully, "As long as you are as sweet and direct with her at dinner, as you were when you asked her out, I don't think it really matters where you take her. She is going to want to see you again."
