The feeling of hands in her hair brought Hermione back. She immediately pushed off of Fred and scurried to the furthest point on the bed she could be without falling off.
Fred opened his eyes, a grin still on his lips. He looked at Hermione, who looked terrified, and frowned, "What's wrong?"
Hermione shook her head, "I'm sorry."
"For...for kissing me?"
"I should have asked first."
Fred stared at her before bursting out laughing. Hermione glanced at the door and looked about ready to bolt. She was planning her escape when she felt a warm hand enclose over hers. She looked back at Fred and saw him staring at her warmly before slowly pulling her to him. Hermione was now only a few inches away from him, she felt her cheeks heating up and she looked away.
Fred smiled lightly, "Hey, hey you." He brought his hand around her face and gently nudged her to look at him. She finally did and found herself staring into his eyes. He stared back at her, completely serious, "I'm glad you didn't ask."
Hermione nodded slowly, "Next time I'll ask."
Fred smirked, "Next time?" Hermione blushed fiercely and looked down. "Maybe next time you won't have to ask." She felt his hand under her chin, lightly pushing her to look at him. Their faces were closer together than before, and she could feel his breath on her face.
BANG! "FRED!" The two jumped apart, immensely startled by the sound of the door being thrown open. George looked from his twin to Hermione, "What did I interrupt?"
Hermione stood up quickly, brushing invisible dirt off of her pants, "Nothing."
Fred stood next to her, "What was so important that you had to come bursting in here?"
George smiled broadly, "Percy is losing his mind. He's tearing his and Ron's room apart looking for the badge."
Fred's grin matched his twins', "Let's go, I can't miss this."
George nodded, "Knew you wouldn't want to." He ran out the door ahead of his twin.
Fred turned back to Hermione, as if remembering she was still there, "We'll talk tomorrow, yeah?" Without waiting for her response he kissed her forehead lightly before running after his twin.
Hermione put a hand to her lips, "Tomorrow."
The Next Morning
Fred practically bounced out of bed the next morning. He jumped on George's bed, "Get up George! Get up, get up get up get up GET UP!"
George responded by shoving Fred off his bed.
Fred jumped off the ground, a smile still stuck on his face, "GEORGE GET UP!"
George threw off his covers and glared at his twin, "Why are you so happy!"
Fred shrugged, still smiling, "Why shouldn't I be happy? The sun is shining, the birds are singing!"
George looked at him with narrowed eyes, "You snogged Granger last night."
Fred looked scandalized, "I did not!"
"Yes, yes you did."
"Not exactly!"
George jumped out of bed, "How could you! I thought you said you were only going to be her friend!"
Fred smiled, "She kissed me."
"She did what now?"
"She. Kissed. Me."
George blinked once. Twice. Three times. "I can't believe it."
Fred laughed, "Well believe it Gred. And now I can finally make my move on her since she initiated it."
George sighed, "Just. Be careful."
"I won't hurt her."
"I'm more worried about you getting hurt."
Fred opened his mouth then closed it and nodded firmly.
The twins waltzed downstairs and any thought Fred had had of talking to Hermione privately went out the window. That morning was a mess, everyone was running around doing last minute packing.
Fred waited for about an hour before he saw his move, they were packing up their car to go to the platform and he saw Hermione struggling with a trunk. He quickly ran over to her and grabbed the trunk before it could fall on her and smiled, pushing it into the trunk, "Hey Hermione."
She glanced up at him, "Hi Fred." She turned to go back to her friends.
Fred stepped in front of her, "We should talk."
Hermione let out a breath, "No we shouldn't."
Her response left him so stunned he didn't try and stop her as she walked by him.
A few hours later the Weasley clan plus Harry and Hermione were at the platform saying goodbye to Mr. And Mrs. Weasley. Fred grabbed Hermione's arm as she lagged behind, "Listen about the other night-"
"Fred? Where's Fred! (1)." Fred heard his mother call from a few feet away. He sighed and made himself known, accepting the sandwich she handed to him. He looked around for Hermione and saw her deeply immersed in a conversation with Ron. Catching a moment to talk to Hermione alone would prove more difficult than he had originally thought.
It was ten minutes later that George began to worry about his twin. Not only were Fred and Hermione in a staring contest, but Fred had gotten it into his head that to win this contest, he had to not blink at all. Hermione finally tore her eyes from Fred's when she and Ron were pushed onto the train. Fred let out a shout of triumph and then closed his eyes wincing.
George clapped his brother on the back before shoving him on the train.
The Welcome Feast
The welcome feast was as it usually was, Dumbledore made a speech that was oddly threatening and Fred and George threw some food around. Fred looked up as Hermione came in with Harry and felt his stomach clench. From behind him he heard Malfoy sneer to his friends, "Wonder what they were off doing."
Resisting the urge to slug the little snake Fred instead picked up a napkin and whispered a spell to it before casually passing it to Hermione, never once breaking out of the conversation he, George, and Lee were involved in.
Out of the corner of his eye Fred saw Hermione grasp the napkin in one hand and slip it into her robes without even looking at it.
"Ah," Fred thought, "She wants to play hard ball, well she won't get away that easily."
For a week Fred tried to corner Hermione but it seems like whenever he finally had, she just disappeared. George told Fred to let Hermione come to him but it seemed like that would never happen.
Finally Fred gave up. For three days he stopped trying to find Hermione and on the fourth day of his waiting, it happened.
Fred opened up his bag and a crane flew into his face. He grabbed it and it immediately unfolded in his hand.
Dear Fred,
Meet me in the library tomorrow after dinner.
Hermione
Fred smiled stupidly and George rolled his eyes and punched him in the shoulder. Before long they were wresting on the ground in the common room.
Lee walked by them on his way to the boys dormitories shaking his head, "Twins."
The next day Fred skipped dinner and instead sat in the library, he wanted to make sure he didn't miss Hermione.
She finally arrived and sat down in the chair across from him, she looked at her hands and refused to look at him.
Finally Fred cleared his throat and began, "So. How have classes been?"
She looked up at him, "Let's not do the small talk thing, okay?"
Fred nodded slowly, "Well what do you want to talk about then?"
"I'm sorry about what happened that night." She resumed looking at her hands.
Fred paused, "I'm not."
Hermione's head shot up and then she smiled a bit, "Good because neither am I."
"But you just said-"
"I lied."
They both took a moment to absorb this new information. Then Fred spoke, "Why have you been avoiding me? I mean you've been impressive but...why?"
Hermione took a deep breath, "I'm scared. I thought things would change, you know, between us."
"Well, they will."
Hermione paused, "Do they have to?"
Fred hesitated then shook his head, "Not if you don't want them to."
"Can I think about it?"
"Of course."
Hermione left Fred alone in the library.
It was another week before they spoke again.
Fred was on his way back from Potions, the only class he didn't share with his twin which made the class that much worse.
He had almost reached his next class when a hand shot out from an empty classroom and dragged him into it.
He whipped out his wand only to see that his attacker was Hermione. He put it away and cocked an eyebrow, "My Granger, do you go around accosting boys in the hallway much?"
"Only the ones I like," she replied, and although the words were teasing, her face was not.
He chuckled, "So you admit you've fallen under my Weasley charms, congratulations, how about a celebratory snog." He moved to grab her but she side stepped out of the way, placing a table between them.
Hermione shook her head, "We can't."
"Why not."
"I-I don't feel that way for you."
Fred walked around the desk, but Hermione moved as well, keeping the same distance between them. Fred stared at her, "You're lying."
Hermione shook her head, "No, no I'm not."
Fred moved the desk out of the way, "Then why are we here right now. Why," he stepped closer to her, "why did you kiss me that night?"
Hermione backed up, "I was just overwhelmed by it all, Percy's badge, the necklace-"
"Stop lying!"
"I'm not! I don't want to hurt you but-"
Fred lunged and grabbed her upper arms, "Then stop! You want me just as badly as I want you, if you didn't, "He reached into the collar of her robes and grabbed the necklace he had given her, "if you didn't you wouldn't still be wearing the necklace I got you."
Hermione seemed near tears, "Fred, we can't if people knew-"
"You're worried about other people? About it, about me ruining your reputation?"
Hermione pushed Fred back, "No! About me ruining yours!" And with that she ran out of the class room.
Fred watched her go, shell-shocked.
(1) : Pg 72
