As always I want to thank everyone who reviewed and all of you who are reading this story. As a treat I have a longer chapter for you today. Enjoy!
I don't know why but FF is marking the story as finished and I can't change it... Of course it's still not finished.
ADORE YOU
Chapter 12 - The Three Days
"So, what exactly happened to Teddy's hair?" Hermione grinned as she watched the four-year-old playing with his plush wolf. The little boy had bright turquoise hair and Hermione felt her lips twitch as she saw Remus' defeated smile.
"Totally my fault," he sighed. "I should have known better than to leave my child alone with Sirius for more than an hour."
"Oi, Teddy just wanted to be like his mummy." Sirius walked in with the tea.
"So, you dyed his hair?" Hermione asked, almost unable to suppress her laughter.
"Don't be silly. It's not permanent, a few washes and he will be back to normal."
"What did Tonks say?" Harry laughed as he took a biscuit from the tray.
"Oh please, like my lovely cousin could ever be angry with me." Sirius grinned and Remus rolled his eyes.
"She took a bunch of photos and sent it to all of her colleagues. Right now, she is probably spending her work day searching for child friendly hair dye at the Internet. I bet she will dye Teddy's and her own hair to match." Harry and Hermione snorted into their tea. That was actually something Tonks, who loved to dye her own hair in bright colours, would do and of course a small boy like Teddy would want that too.
Every time Hermione visited London she spent at least one afternoon with Remus, Sirius, Teddy and Tonks. Sirius, as full-time heir and bachelor was of course available almost every time and Remus, who was working as a teacher in London since he had married Tonks, was mostly free in the afternoons when he picked Teddy up from the kindergarten. Tonks was the only one with less time at hand since she worked as an inspector at the metropolitan police service.
"So, you're moving back to London, Hermione?" Remus asked and Sirius instantly began to pout.
"Does that mean I have to give Crookshanks back?" The black-haired man whined.
When Hermione's parents had moved to Australia to fulfil their lifelong dream, Hermione had shortly thought about taking her beloved cat with her to Paris. But Crookshanks reluctance to enter the damn basket made it clear that there was no way the stubborn beast would be happy with the long travel. Plus, Hermione often needed to travel between Paris, London and Australia, so a permanent solution was in order. That's when Sirius had surprised everyone with not only offering to take the cat, Crookshanks also seemed to love the man. The same cat that hated everyone besides the Grangers and often hissed at or scratched Hermione's friends, was a sweet, cuddly kitten in the arms of Sirius Black.
Hermione looked down on her lap where Crookshanks was sleeping and purring, like every time she visited.
"Don't worry, I don't think I will ever find a flat in London where I'm allowed to keep him. Every flat I visited till now had a strict no-pets-rule."
"Well, there is a free flat in my apartment house. It's freshly renovated and I was going to hire an estate agent next week. If you want it, it would safe me time and work."
"Sirius, that would be wonderful." Hermione blinked surprised. She had wanted to ask the Black heir for help but she hadn't expected to get an offer right away.
"Plus, I live in the same house so we can share custody over Crooks." He grinned.
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Hermione was packing her last box of stuff when it knocked on the door.
"BLAISE!" She yelled, as she was caged between boxes and suitcases, and heard how he sprinted for the door. Thanks to Sirius help she could move into a nice two-room-apartment for a ridiculous amount of rent immediately. Most of her stuff was still packed from the move from Paris to London, but still it was messy and a lot to carry. So, Hermione had asked Harry and Ginny for help. Neville was unfortunately not able to come, but maybe Draco would jump in later.
"Oi, Mione, how many of these are filled with books? You want us to break our backs?" Harry walked in with a fat grin, eyeing the high-piled boxes. Ginny was right behind him, stalking between the mess to hug Hermione.
"Granger," George stopped in the doorway.
"We heard you need help?" Fred leaned against the doorframe right beside his twin. They both grinned down at Hermione and her heart made a small jump. Partly because of seeing Fred, partly because she tried to detect if George had already blabbed about their last conversation.
"Thank you all for coming, guys." Hermione grinned at her friends as Blaise peaked to her behind the twins, waggling his eyebrows. She supressed an eyeroll and started to give everyone orders which boxes should be carried down first, which had breakable stuff and where to place everything in the transporter. Everyone of course sniggered at her detailed planning but at the end of the day they were more than glad about it. The planning had saved them not only time but also strength since Hermione had packed smartly.
"Finally," George sighed. "Say, Granger, do you even have room for furniture after you unpack those books?"
"Or are you just stacking them to have something to sit on?" Fred grinned. The twins sank down to the floor, while Blaise and Harry brought in the last boxes. Ginny meanwhile ordered a bunch of pizzas over the phone.
"Very funny," she rolled her eyes as she inspected if all boxes where in the right room. She had almost no furniture right now, only a bed that needed to be build up before the night. Some serious shopping was due in the next days but Blaise and Ginny had already offered themselves as company and aide. Carefully Hermione opened a box which she hoped contained the prepared clothes for the next days, but instead found her old ball dresses. She touched the periwinkle-blue material of one dress.
"Pizza is here." Fred appeared beside her. "Oh wow, haven't seen that for a while." He nodded at the dress and Hermione hastily pushed it back and closed the box. With a blush she remembered that ball.
The Yule Ball was an annually tradition at Hogwarts that happened at the last weekend before everyone went home for the holidays. How the students regarded the balls changed dramatically the older they got. The first and second years tended to go in groups as friends as they were too shy to ask someone out or simply not interested in dating yet. Hermione, Harry and Ron had gone as friends till their third year, but at their fourth year the mood dramatically changed. Suddenly everyone wanted a date and not having one made someone, especially girls, a target for mockery. Harry and Ron too were crazy with finding a date but Ron also made some mean comments about Hermione going alone. Just that she wasn't going alone since one of the exchange students, the popular Viktor Krum of all people, had asked her.
Eventually Ron had ruined her night by telling her off for dating someone so much older than her, even if there wasn't something going on between her and Viktor yet. Still the evening ended with Hermione crying in a corner near the common room where she believed herself safe from curious eyes and ears. That's were Fred found her.
"Granger, what's wrong?" He asked with wide eyes.
"Ron embarrassed me in front of the whole school, just wait till tomorrow. I'm sure you will hear all about it." She hiccupped. "And he also sabotaged my first kiss." She added quietly.
"Ahhh yeah Ron is pretty good at fucking things up. Don't worry, tomorrow he will be unfathomable sorry and apologise to you."
"Well, he can try to but he ruined my night so I will let him stew in hell." Hermione wiped her last tears away and tried to smile at Fred. She had always liked the twins, despite their pranks, but it was different just talking to one of them and being comforted made it even weirder.
"So, you wanted to snog Krum?" Fred inquired with a quirk of his lips.
"Not snog," Hermione protested with a blush. "And not necessarily Viktor. I just hoped... I don't know. I thought I looked nice today and hoped that some boys would finally recognise I'm a girl too. Your idiotic brother seems to think that I'm one of the guys." She sniffed. Hermione wanted in no case to be like Lavender or Parvati, who swooned over boys all day and spent all their time with styling their hair, but she was still a girl and when she made an effort she wanted it to be acknowledged.
"Well, I wouldn't worry about that." Fred grinned at her and then suddenly he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. It was a short, soft kiss and over before Hermione could even react. With wide eyes she stared at Fred, who chuckled.
"You look very beautiful, Hermione." He winked and pulled her up, accompanying her back to the dorms. That was the day Hermione started to see Fred in a new light, no longer as Fred-and-George. It wasn't quite a crush but she became aware of him.
"That dress is my favourite." Fred winked at her as they left the boxed filled bedroom and Hermione was glad that she was walking behind him as she felt her face heat up. Carefully she sat down beside Ginny, but from the corner of her eyes she saw Blaise and George eye her curiously. Damn it, those two would be her doom.
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Something fishy was going and Fred would eventually find out what it was. Ever since the party George and Ron both behaved suspicious. Either they were ignoring each other or whispering conspicuously in a corner.
And not only those two were behaving weird, Susan was too. The redhead, normally a bundle of joy and happiness and therefore perfect employee, was acting odd. Since George had sent her home sick the last Sunday she had come back to work but it was clear that she wasn't actually good. Her usual smile was missing and she seemed exhausted.
"Bones, come here for a minute." Fred called through the café.
"Are you okay? You can take a few more days off if you're still not feeling well, you know?" He asked when she stood in front of him. She appeared tired, her eyes had dark rings, and her skin was pale. She was either badly sick or worrying about something.
"Nah, I'm okay. It's just the stress because the term is ending soon." Susan waved at her face. "I pulled a few all-nighters and only need a bit of sleep. Don't worry."
"Well, then go home and sleep. It's a slow day anyway and you're scaring our guests." Fred teased and Susan gave a weak smile. She was clearly not okay but Fred wasn't going to force an answer out of her. They were friends to some extent but not close enough for that. Ron would be a better fit but the git was also taking a day off to sort his mind.
It took another five minutes till Fred finally managed to shoo Susan out of the shop, and hopefully right into her bed, when Ginny and Hermione came in.
"Freddie, two double extra strong espressi." His little sister ordered with a grin while Hermione sank down on a bar stool and immediately dropped her head to the counter.
"What did you do with my favourite bookworm, Ginny? She looks broken." Fred teased while he handled the coffee machine.
"We went shopping." Ginny shrugged. "You may remember that our lovely Mione is in desperate need of furniture to fill her new flat."
"And that's that exhausting." With a chuckle he planted the cups in front of the girls and then presented them with two slices of their fresh made strawberry cake.
"You're an angel," Hermione sighed around her fork. "And your sister is the devil. She forced me to visit every furniture shop in London before she allowed me to buy anything. All I wanted was a few simple bookshelves, a desk and a nice sofa. But Ginny here insisted that everything needed to be perfectly matched. Even Blaise gave up after the fifth store."
"He's a wimp." Ginny shrugged, gulping down the espresso. The scene reminded Fred of all the other times when Hermione and Ginny had been at the shop together. But one memory, his favourite one, pushed itself into his mind.
It was December 2013 and two days till New Year. Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes was bursting with people who wanted to try the new Christmas cocktails on their menu. Fred was behind the bar this evening when Hermione and Ginny entered.
"Granger, here to scold us about selling alcohol?" He teased her when she ordered a drink, while Ginny strolled off to find the loo.
"I only scolded you because you two were brewing it illegally in unused classrooms and sold it to underaged children." Hermione stuck her tongue out to him and sipped happily on her cocktail.
"Mhhhh, that's fantastic."
"I aim to please," he winked at her and saw how she blushed deeply. He loved it when he managed to do that. Fred had admitted that he had a thing for Hermione sometime during his final year at Hogwarts. Fighting with her because of his rule breaking and pranks had been fun and she did look sexy as hell when she was angry. But he had never made his move because he suspected her to have a crush on Ron.
"So, what brings you and my underaged sister into our fine establishment?"
"Ginny and I are visiting Fleur's sister Gabrielle at Paris. Ginny is sleeping over at my house tonight and tomorrow morning we will take the plane."
"What? I thought you were visiting the Burrow over New Year with Harry?" Fred was puzzled. At Christmas a few days ago, his mother had told him about it.
"That was the plan-" Hermione carefully took another sip, "-but then Ron asked me if I could be engaged elsewhere so that he could invite Lavender over. Since your mother is strict about that no-boys-and-girls-sleeping-in-the-same-room-rule and there is no free other room beside Ginny's..." Her voice trailed off but a slight twitch of her lips showed her anger.
"And so, you decided not only to have a better time without my idiotic brother, but you also saved Ginny from sharing a room with his girlfriend."
"Well, Gabrielle invited us both." Hermione grinned.
"Drinks on the house, Granger." He laughed and handed Ginny a cocktail when she came back. For the rest of the evening the girl sat at the bar, chatted and entertained Fred when there was nothing to do. In turn he mixed them his best cocktails, but only added very little alcohol. Ginny was still underaged and he suspected that Hermione wouldn't want to have a hangover even if she was legally allowed to have one.
It was a really fun evening till some drunk idiot splashed his beer over Hermione's blouse, soaking her all over. A series of colourful curses escaped Miss-Prim-and-Proper and Fred almost forgot to help because he laughed so hard.
"Come on, Granger, I will give you some clothes. Ginny, could you get George?" Fred showed Hermione the way to the flat and vanished for a few minutes into his room. When he came back he found her in the bathroom, washing a few strands of her hair.
"Here, you can bring it back anytime." He handed her one of his shirts and Hermione vanished behind the closed doors. When she emerged Fred almost stopped breathing. He liked how she looked in his cloth. All small and tiny and cute and and and... There was an awkward silence as he stared at her and Hermione obviously didn't know what to do.
"Erm, let's go back." He suggested and opened the door for her. Smooth Fred, really smooth, he scolded himself. He was such an idiot.
"I wouldn't count on Blaise to help with the build-up. I'm sure all these muscles are just for show at him." Fred snapped out of his memory at Ginny's laugh.
"I can help." Fred suddenly suggested and he saw how Ginny's and Hermione's heads snapped to him in surprise. They both stared at him in confusion.
"When I moved in you hid the screws for a laugh and didn't lift a finger to help me." Ginny scowled.
"Yeah, but you didn't calm mum down when she discovered that George and I opened the shop instead of going to university." Fred grinned at Hermione. "For that we are forever in her debt." Hermione cringed. That had been a stressful afternoon.
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The next day found Hermione sitting in her living room with Fred and, thank God, George. She had no idea what she would have done had she been alone with Fred for the whole day. The twins were unpacking her new bookshelves and studied the manual, while Hermione started to unpack the boxes with her kitchen supplies. She watched the twins goof around through the hatch between kitchen and living room and felt oddly remembered of their school days.
After the kiss on the cheek at the Yule Ball Hermione has become oddly shy around Fred. She couldn't place this feeling, plus Viktor Krum served as another distraction. The Bulgarian exchange student was nice and attentive, he spent time with her in the library and was never pushy. Viktor never tried to push beyond her boundaries or persuade her to do something she didn't want. She did get her first kiss from him, sometimes they even snogged and she found that Viktor was really tender with her. But at the end of the year they both decided to stay pen pals instead of a couple.
OOO
All Weasley children, Harry and Hermione were invited to spend the summer after that year at Sirius family home at Grimmauld Place. It was partly a trick so that the Dursleys couldn't oppose Harry seeing Sirius when they thought he was with Ron. Plus, Molly and Arthur were away for a second honeymoon and Sirius and Remus had offered to take care of the children.
"Granger!" Two grinning twins jumped down the staircases and looped Hermione into a hug.
"Wonderful to see you-" George threw his arm on her shoulder while Fred's arm rested on her waist.
"-and excellent timing." Fred whispered conspiratorial. Then she heard a stomping and Ron bolted down, his face an angry red and his hair a deep black.
"YOU TWO!" He yelled but stopped when he saw Hermione. Involuntarily she started to laugh as she felt how the twins sought refuge behind her back.
"You better hope this will wash out." She scolded but Fred's arm on her waist was quite distracting.
OOO
During the summer Hermione could be often found in the old Black library while the twins incidentally where there to work on their business plan. On one evening Fred flopped down beside her on the old sofa.
"So, Granger, any suggestions?" He grinned casually.
"What?" Hermione spluttered and blushed.
"Any book you can recommend? You spent so much time in here I figured you know it inside out." A lazy smirk danced on his lips and Hermione felt terribly embarrassed. Damn, why was she so awkward around Fred.
"Well, maybe a few of the ancient cookbooks are interesting? And I think I saw a book titled The Fine Art Of Cocktail Mixing." She blushed even more as Fred raised an amused eyebrow.
"I will look at it." He winked. Damn. Why. Was. She. So. Awkward. Around. Him?
OOO
"YOU TWO!" Hermione stormed into the common room, waving a flyer. "Are you completely insane?"
"Of course we are-"
"-why do you even ask?
"You're advertising your illegal parties? You can't do that!"
"Why not?" Fred crinkled his nose.
"Because you're selling alcohol to underaged children. You could be expelled."
"Ah, don't worry, we don't care about that." George waved her argument away and snatched the flyer from her hand
OOO
"GRANGER!" Fred and George ran after her as she stalked off with their whole stack of alcohol and party flyers.
"What the hell are you doing?" George tried to grab the box with the liquor bottles.
"I'm going to throw a party." She spat sarcastic. "What does it look like? I'm confiscating your illegal alcohol and I'm putting an end to your parties."
"Why the hell would you do that?" Fred asked flabbergasted and Hermione felt how the whole room was looking at her. Everyone loved the twins and their parties and she knew it wouldn't make her popular to hinder them.
"Because your selling alcohol to underaged children. It's against school rules and it's against the law."
"Good God, Granger," George groaned. "Do us all a favour, come to one of our parties and get drunk. Let your hair down. Relax a bit."
"I don't need to relax!" Hermione snapped and stormed off. For the rest of the year Hermione and the twins carefully avoided each other. She knew their parties were still going on but she didn't catch them anymore. And she still had that awkward, dumb shyness and in a way she was relieved to know that Fred was graduating. Because no matter how smart Hermione was, at that time she just couldn't understand what was wrong with her.
OOO
"You know, that really is extraordinary." She said to Ginny, who also marvelled at the colourful products.
"For that, Hermione," said a voice behind them, "you can have one for free." Fred joined them and handed Hermione one of the bubble bath products she had complimented.
"Thank you," she whispered and felt herself blush when Fred winked at her.
Hermione blushed as she remembered their constant fighting and bickering. The sixteen-year-old Hermione would have never believed that the twins would one day sit in her flat peacefully and built her furniture for her. Nor would she have believed that she would fall in love with Fred one day. It had taken her an awful long time to acknowledge it herself, to admit it. If she had been a bit smarter it would have saved her so much grief. It would have saved her that pointless affair with Cormac McLaggan, who admittedly was smoking hot and a bloody good shag, but in the end not worth the time.
"You're staring." Hermione jumped at the voice of George right beside her. He had such a fat smirk on his face that she was itching to wipe it off his face.
"Don't know what you're talking about. How is it going?" She lied easily and threw a last look at Fred, who was working on her sofa table.
"You know, I will never understand why you rejected him when you're clearly so into him." For a minute Hermione and George fought out a silent battle, then she averted her gaze.
"I haven't told him yet. The thing about Ron." George tilted his head. "That's the second secret I've ever had from Fred. Funny, that both secrets have something to do with you. I also never told him that you were at the hospital." George looked like he had a thousand questions and Hermione didn't like that he was slowly transforming into Blaise. Entirely too curious and interested in her feelings for Fred.
"Well, I never said that you should keep that a secret." Hermione busied herself with placing plates into the cupboard.
"Oh of course I could have told my heavy wounded twin that the girl who broke his heart came to the hospital while he was asleep and cried because of him. That wouldn't have confused him at all."
"Look, George, I don't know what you want to hear and frankly I don't think it is your business." George snorted a sarcastic laugh.
"Yeah, try to tell that to yourself, Granger." He shook his head and left to help Fred.
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Fred was browsing through his wardrobe when he found an old shirt. It wasn't used or shabby, but he hadn't worn it till the day Hermione had rejected him. Had banned it into the deepest corner and never looked at it again. He had never been angry at her for rejecting him, but this thing he just couldn't look at. It was the shirt he had lend her.
Fred opened the door and looked at Hermione, smiling at him shyly with a bag in her hand.
"Uhm, I'm here to return your shirt. I washed it of course and here is a thank you gift and I think I will go now." Hermione rambled on and on and tried to hand Fred the bag.
"Come in for a moment," he pulled her into the flat. "I just cooked dinner. Do you want something? It's just pasta, but I swear it's good." Fred walked off to the kitchen, hoping that Hermione would follow him. And thankfully she did. It only took two more request for her to stay and eat with him till she gave in. Fred could have jumped from joy as she sat down with him and they managed to hold a normal conversation.
"So, how was Paris? The pictures on Ginny's Instagram looked like fun."
"It was fun. Gabrielle showed us the most amazing places. I think I've fallen in love with a city, if that is even possible." Hermione's eyes sparkled and Fred fell for her even deeper. If George had been there, he would have taken the mickey out of his smitten twin. They talked about Hermione's trip, the shop and her last school year and somehow they ended on his sofa with a bottle of wine.
Fred watched how Hermione talked about some museum they had visited in Paris, how she smiled and was so enthusiastic. And without thinking much about it he leaned forward, placed one hand on her cheek and then kissed her lightly. He kissed her like he wanted to since he had kissed her cheek on the yule ball three years ago. It was short kiss and featherlight. He didn't even give Hermione time to react. He pulled back and looked at her wide eyes and her blushing cheeks and suddenly she was kissing him. Fred's lips curled into a smirk on their own as he kissed Hermione back, as he felt her hands on his shoulders and he buried his fingers in her hair. For a small eternity there was nothing in his mind but the warmth and the taste of her lips.
"Hermione," he tenderly pulled back. "Will you go on a date with me?"
"I have to go back to school tomorrow. And I'm staying there over the spring holidays, to learn for the finals." Hermione answered, biting her lips sheepishly.
"No problem, I will wait. How about after your graduation?" Fred asked and hoped that he didn't sound to desperate, but he worried without reason. Hermione nodded with the sweetest smile and seconds later they were kissing again.
Fred snapped out of his memory when someone knocked on his bedroom door. Slowly the door opened and Ron walked in, a nervous expression on his face and a piece of paper in his hands.
"Fred, we need to talk."
So, this was the new chapter. Next time Ron and Fred will talk and perhaps we will see more of Fred's and Hermione's memories.
