Chapter Twelve

Chewing on the end of her quill, Hermione pondered for a while before she deliberately inked the last sentence of her Potions essay. She measured it with a sigh of relief, smiling as she realized that she was a foot over the required inches of parchment. Rolling it up, Hermione grinned as she reflected upon her life. Things, for once, were going wonderfully. She was, as usual, top of her class, NEWTS didn't seem so scary, Voldemort hadn't attacked anyone in weeks, and she had a boyfriend.

Hermione blushed a little as she thought about tonight. It was the beginning of April and today was their three month anniversary. So far, she couldn't ask for more in a relationship. Fred was considerate, charming, devilishly handsome, she thought with a grin, and all together wonderful. Her smile slipped a little as she thought about how their relationship was still a secret. Fred had wanted to go public for quite some time, but Hermione still insisted on keeping it undercover. She knew that he didn't like it, but he saw how the idea of revealing it to everyone made her uncomfortable.

"Look Fred, everyone would be really mad that we'd been lying to them all this time!"

"They're going to find out eventually, 'Mione, and I think it's best that we tell them ourselves!"

"I know, I know…"She demurred. "Just, not now, okay? Soon, I promise."

Fred sighed and kissed her gently. "Take the time you need."

They never talked about the real reason Hermione didn't want to reveal their relationship. While she and Fred had been becoming closer and closer, Ron's feelings towards Hermione were equally becoming more apparent. It made her feel rather uncomfortable and ashamed when she thought of all the hours she spent sneaking around seeing his brother, but she tried to push the thought out of her mind.

No matter. If anyone had noticed that Fred was coming up to the castle quite often to visit his little siblings, or that Hermione was always conspicuously absent on Sundays, no one said anything. Sometimes, she wondered if Harry knew. She didn't have to ask him for his cloak anymore, he just handed it to her on Sunday morning with a knowing smile. This reminded her, she would need it again tonight, despite the fact that it was a Friday.

She exited the library and made her way to the Gryffindor Tower, humming softly to herself. As she passed through the common room and up to her dormitory, her good mood did not go unnoticed.

Parvati and Lavender exchanged looks and followed her up to the special room that was reserved for her as Head Girl. They cornered her by the door.

"Spill."

Hermione glanced up, startled as she regarded the stubborn expressions of her two friends. "What?"

"Oh, come off it Hermione. Ever since Christmas you've been acting all giddy and un-Hermioneish. We want answers."

"Who is he?" Parvati asked, her eyes twinkling.

"What? I-I have no idea what you mean!" Hermione tried to dash in her room and shut the door, but Lavender caught it before it could close. The duo forced their way inside, pushing Hermione onto her bed and sitting on either side of her.

"Hermione, Lav and I are the two most experienced girls in Gryffindor about this stuff. We know when someone is in love."

"Love?!" Hermione's voice came out as a squeak, and she cursed at herself mentally. "Really, you guys have some strange notions, and this is one of the strangest."

Parvati and Lavender shook their heads, smiling patronizingly. "Who is he, Hermione?" Lavender patted her hand gently. "You've been gliding around everywhere, singing love songs, murmuring poems. You go all blushy over certain letters you receive at breakfast that you don't show to anyone, and you go missing at the strangest times. Who is he? Or she."

"He's not a girl!" Hermione said indignantly, before she realized her slip. The other two girls grinned wickedly.

"So, are we going to get some answers? Is it Ron? Justin? Neville? That Ravenclaw boy who always tries to catch your eye?"

The predatory gleam in the two girls' eyes reminded Hermione of a hawk circling it's prey. She gulped and leapt up.

"Nothing! There's no one, I have no idea what you're talking about! You two are acting ridiculous!" With a huff, Hermione quickly exited her room, leaving Parvati and Lavender giggling behind her.

Cheeks burning, Hermione descended into the Common Room. Spotting Harry sitting in a corner with Ginny, she was reminded of her other mission.

She walked over to the pair. They didn't notice, engaged as they were in…other activities.

"Ahem…" She coughed softly. They didn't look up. Hermione rolled her eyes and decided to try different tactics.

"Oh my god, Harry, is that all of Ginny's brothers watching you guys snog?"

Harry leapt about a full foot in the air, Hermione judged. Ginny glared at her best friend. "I wish you'd stop doing that, 'Mione."

"As long as Harry is paranoid, it's a fair weapon to use." She turned to the visibly shaken boy. "Harry, can I ask you something really quick?"

Harry sighed. "It's in my trunk, the trunk is unlocked, just make sure you put it back when you're done. You know the drill."
Hermione smiled with relief, gratitude and amusement flooding her features. "Thanks so much. I'll give it back to you tomorrow." She ran up the stairs to the boy's dormitory, Ginny watching her with a puzzled look.

The redhead turned to her boyfriend. "Should I even ask what that's about?"

Harry shrugged. "Hermione's being sneaking out to 'the library' every week. I think she's seeing someone."

His girlfriend's face lit up and she squealed with delight. "Really! Oh, I wonder who?"

"I think I have an idea."

Ginny turned to him quickly. "You better tell me, Harry Potter, or you'll regret it."

He grinned. "What will you do to me if I don't?"

Ginny looked very pleased with herself, twisting one lock of hair around her finger. "What will I not do with you, that's the real question."

Harry gulped. "Fred. I think it's Fred."

There was silence as Ginny digested this very interesting revelation. "Well," she finally said. "That would explain a lot." She shrugged and kissed her boyfriend soundly.

Hermione opened Harry's trunk quietly, removing the silvery folds of material from within. Resting back on her heels in front of the trunk, she fingered the silky cloak as one thought ran through her mind.

Lavender and Parvati said the word 'love'…

Love…

Surprisingly enough, Hermione as of yet had not even contemplated the possibility of being in love with Fred. She cared about him deeply, oh yes, and her heart still wrung every time he smiled the smile reserved just for her, and she was always giddy after his kisses. But did all that equal love?

She knew what love was. She loved her family, she loved her friends. Harry and Ron always had an extra special place in her heart, more than anyone else to be honest. As for Ron, well, in her fifth and sixth year she was convinced that she was in love with him. Now, she doubted whether she seriously was or if it was just a crush blown out of proportion. Still, she generally counted him as her first love.

But Hermione had never really experienced, not in her crush over Ron or her relationships with Seamus or a muggle boy, the kind of connection and emotion she felt with Fred. She felt simply whole with him, in a way she had never felt with anyone else.

However, thoughts of Fred flew out of her head temporarily as she realized that Ron was in love with her. It may have been a sudden connection of subtle signs she had been seeing, or it possibly was the fact that he just walked into the room.

"Hermione? What are you doing here?"

With a sinking heart, she noticed for the first time how his face lit up and his eyes filled with feeling when he saw her. Inwardly, she cursed herself for being so stupid.

"Oh, um…I was just borrowing Harry's cloak." She held the silver cloth up to show him.

Ron walked over to her and sat down on his bed. "Wow, Harry said you were using it a lot lately to sneak into the library, but c'mon, 'Mione! It's a Friday night!" He grinned lopsidedly at her. "Why don't you study tomorrow and come to Hogsmeade with the rest of the seventh years tonight?"

Oh, shit! Hermione thought. She had forgotten about the Hogsmeade night. It would make it all the more complicated for her to get to her date with Fred. First, however, she had to get out of going with her friends.

"Oh, the cloak is for tomorrow. But," She pressed her hand to her forehead and tried to look tired. "I have a pretty bad headache, and my stomach's kindda acting up. The sandwich I had for lunch was probably a little off. I don't think I'm going to go tonight."

A look of concern immediately appeared on Ron's face, and Hermione was filled with a sense of guilt.

"Do you want me to go to Madam Pomfrey for you? You should probably go lie down if you're not feeling too well."

Hermione nodded her head slowly, trying to keep up the pretense of illness. "Yeah, I just think I need to relax."

"Well," Ron's smile was sweet and caring. "I can stay with you if you want. You shouldn't be alone."

No! Her mind shouted. But she just shook her head and looked grateful. "Thanks, but I think I just need to be alone tonight. You know, take a bath, read a little, go to bed early, that sort of thing."

He looked reluctant, but he didn't press the issue, just like she knew he would. Hermione picked up the cloak gave Ron a quick, impulse hug before leaving his room, leaving him to sit behind a little surprised.

After most of the seventh years had left for the evening, Hermione began to get ready. She put on a small, black, muggle cocktail dress her mother had insisted upon her getting, and for once, noting how it showed off her figure, she was grateful for her mother's meddling. Performing a quick cosmetics spell to straighten her hair and put on a small amount of makeup, she slipped on her high-heeled shoes and put on her cloak. Hermione placed Harry's cloak in a satchel she was carrying along with a small jar of Floo powder. Surveying herself approvingly in the mirror, she stepped out of her dormitory.

Love…do I love him?

Hermione peeked around the corner and saw that no one was in the common room. Quickly, she dashed through and out the portrait hole. Hearing someone approach from down the corridor, she pulled the invisibility cloak out of the bag and threw it around herself.

She waited for the two unsuspecting sixth years to enter the Gryffindor tower, and then she began to swiftly and silently make her way to an abandoned classroom.

Ron loves me…I can tell. Why do I keep lying to him and Harry? Is it because I care more for Fred than I do for them?

Hermione cast a spell to light a small fire in the grate of the classroom, drawing the jar of Floo powder out of her satchel. Grabbing a small handful of the green powder, she cast it into the flames. They roared up and she stepped closer to them.

Or is it just because I want an adventure? Is that all Fred is to me…an adventure? Am I that shallow?

"Weasley's Wizardly Wheezes – Hogsmeade!" She entered the fire, feeling the familiar woosh of air rush past her ears and the splint second of blinding heat.

Then she was stumbling forward and was caught by a pair of strong, capable arms.

"Wow…Hermione. You look…wow." Fred said, breathless as he gazed down upon her.

Hermione looked up at his face and met his intense gaze. Suddenly, in a rush of heat and air that made her feel like she was still in the fireplace, she realized the truth she had avoided for so long.

She was completely, utterly, and desperately in love with Fred Weasley.

Swallowing back the lump that was forming in her throat and feeling the burning behind her eyes, she made her decision.

Hermione was going to end the relationship tonight.

A/N: Ooooh, cliffhanger! Sorry it took so long to post this chapter, but the internet has been down for the past several days at my house, and so I couldn't access the web! Ahh! Anyway, review, I'll be happy, and soon I will bring you the next chapter. (Told you it was going to get complicated. But this is still only the beginning. It gets much more…interesting.)