Hi there!

So thankful for all of the Followers, Favorite-ers and Reviewers for last chapter. Maramalolz, magiceverywhere, Jily71102, GInnyPotter6891, Shiki de Uchiha, and Angels-hear1; you guys are WONDERFUL!

And here we go, just because I love you all so very much...

Fred's POV

The last two weeks of captivity within the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black were almost unbearable.

Fred had to physically pull George away from their mother when she found a handful of one of their new prototypes in a jacket that she was washing, "And I thought you were always the level headed one, Georgie."

"That's bullocks, and you know it," George huffed as he paced the room trying to remember every ingredient in the new versions of the Fainting Fancies that had just been tossed out.

There was a faint knocking at the door but George didn't seem to have heard anything.

"Who's there?" Fred called from the small desk where he had settled down to wait for his twin to remember the revised recipe for the skiving snackbox sweet.

"It's Hermione," the witch opened the door as she answered, "Is George alright?"

Hermione and Fred shared a brief smile and both turned their attention to the tall ginger that was still pacing and muttering to himself, "Only time will tell. What have you been up to?" He motioned toward the bed and Hermione sat down comfortably on the edge of it.

"Nothing productive I'm afraid. Just trying to calm Harry down still; he gets terrible headaches and then gets all ill-tempered afterwards." The witch chuckled a bit, "I feel like we deserve it in some way though. Since we still haven't told Harry about the link the Order thinks he has with You-Know-Who."

"Well, it might be better, for everyone involved, if you let go of that little secret then," Fred gave her a small smile and tried to resist taking her hand. They hadn't had much time to themselves still. Mrs. Weasley had immediately resumed the excruciating cleaning schedule after Harry had been cleared.

George suddenly stopped, "AH! I think I remember everything, give me the parchment."

Fred handed over a slip of paper and a quill. George took them without a word and sat down on the floor before beginning to scribble wildly across the paper.

"Do you think I should tell him I nicked one from the bin?" Hermione held out an unassuming thing wrapped in white parchment paper.

"You didn't?!" Fred felt his eyes grow wide with shock and a smile began to creep across his mouth.

George looked up from his seat on the floor and lunged at Hermione, locking her in a tight hug and knocking her over onto the bed, "Merlin… I think I love you Hermione Granger. And if you weren't dating my brother, I would kiss you!"

Hermione was giggling horribly as Fred stood up, frowned and wretched his twin off of the witch, "Get off her George. You're going to suffocate her, you idiot."

"What's wrong Freddie? Afraid your girlfriend will realize she chose the wrong twin?" George waggled his eyebrows suggestively as he stood up from the bed.

"Shut it Georgie, or I'll hex your eyebrows clear off your face," Fred had meant it as a real threat, but he couldn't help laughing at the absurd image that jumped into his head of an eyebrow-less George.

Before George could retort, they were all called down to lunch by Mrs. Weasley.

As everyone was making their way through turkey and cheese sandwiches and crisps, six owls swooped into the kitchen and dropped thick envelopes in front of all the Hogwarts students.

Fred stuffed a crisp into his mouth before grabbing the letter and ripping the seal. The list seemed fairly standard; just seventh year level books for the few N.E.W.T.'s classes that he was taking and a reminder that his testing would be conducted by Ministry officials at the beginning of June next year.

George leaned over to quickly compare lists, "Everything seems in order. Can you believe this is our last year?"

"No, I have a feeling this year's going to be interesting though," Fred shared a chuckle with his brother before looking over at Hermione, "Hey, you alright?"

The witch was so still, she could have been mistaken for a statue. Hermione didn't meet his eyes as she began to speak, "I… I was made a pre…"

But Mrs. Weasley interrupted, "I don't believe it! I don't believe it! Oh, Ron, how wonderful; a prefect! That's everyone in the family!" The older witch came around the table and hugged Ron very tightly as she continued to offer her son congratulations.

"What are Fred and I, next-door neighbours?" George looked utterly bewildered but wore a lopsided smile to abate the glare that Fred could see hiding behind it.

In all honesty, Fred didn't care about being named prefect or not and he knew that George felt the same. But it did sting a little to be forgotten by your own mother…

Fred forced a chuckle and elbowed his twin to calm him down. "Not worth it mate," he mumbled under his breathe.

Fred turned back to finish the conversation with Hermione, but he found her seat empty. He turned to Harry who sat across from him, "Where's Hermione?"

Harry shrugged and frowned, "Not sure. She ran off when Mrs. Weasley made that comment about your whole family being prefects." Fred noticed that Harry was fuming as he picked at the crust of his sandwich.

"Cheer up Potter. Being a prefect just means that all the fun is sucked out of your life," Fred flashed the boy a wide smile and sneaked out of the kitchen while Mrs. Weasley was still fawning over Ron.

Fred didn't need to think too hard about where Hermione would run off to, and he found her not three minutes later seated on the wide stone railing of the veranda, "Knew I'd find you here."

Hermione looked up briefly from her clutched hands and offered a sad smile, "Needed to get away from everything for a bit. I needed to think."

"About what?" Fred walked over and stood in front of Hermione's crossed legs. He hooked her chin and forced the witch to meet his gaze, "What's going on is that head of yours?"

"I'm sorry about what your mum said. And I'm sorry you were never made a prefect."

"It happens," Fred shrugged casually. "And I never had the ambition to be a prefect, so I don't mind that part. That job always seemed a bit stressful and never looked very fun."

"Is that your only opinion of it?" Hermione looked at him with a sad expression that Fred couldn't seem to place.

"Well yea. Most of the prefects aren't power-hungry prats like Percy was. And only the Slytherin ones ever give George and me problems. Why?"

Hermione opened her fist and revealed what she had been clutching in her hand. Fred smirked as he looked over the shiny silver badge stamped with a capital "P."

"Well, look at that," Fred picked up the badge and flipped it over in his hand a few times.

"Does this… does this change anything? Between us, I mean," Hermione's voice was so soft he almost didn't hear her.

"What? Why would it?" Fred began laughing until he realized that Hermione had been genuinely concerned.

She looked at him and took a deep breath, "I was afraid that you wouldn't want to date a prefect, or maybe you'd expect me to look the other way if you get caught breaking rules. I can't do that for you; I won't."

Fred creased his forehead in confusion, "I wouldn't ask that of you. And this doesn't change how I feel about you; though I am deciding if I should be upset that you think so little of me." He took her hand and laced their fingers together, "Hermione, please stop overthinking things. I'm happy for you. That's all you should be feeling too; happiness."

"I can't just be happy. There's you to think of… and Harry too. He looked like he was going to curse his sandwich when he heard Ron was a prefect," Hermione kneaded the side of her head as if a pain had just sprung up there.

"Well, Harry will come round; he'll be fine. And me," Fred pulled on her hand until she stood up. He wrapped one hand around her waist and tucked a stray curl behind her ear with the other, "I get to have a prefect for a girlfriend. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself."

"So George was right; I'm your girlfriend?" Fred noticed a little sparkle behind her stern eyes.

"Only if I can be claimed as your boyfriend; I won't be left without a label."

Hermione laughed and nodded her head, "Alright; if you insist."

"Good," and without any hesitation Fred leaned down and captured Hermione's lips with his own.

EEEKKKKK! They finally got that first kiss... and they worked out a little bump in the road too. What did you all think of that?!

Maramalolz - welcome!

magiceverywhere - I'm working on it, I promise.

Jily71102 - thanks!

GInnyPotter6891 - Thanks. I completely feel the same about your thoughts on Ginny and Harry too.

Shiki - we'll just have to wait and see I'm afraid.

Angels - thanks!

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***PLEASE! If you liked the chapter, please review. Even just a single word can be encouraging...

Always,

Misha

Ps. Check out my other stories too! 'Thrown Back,' 'Begin Again' and 'Penelope Jackson.'