Setting up for Ginny and Harry's wedding actually wasn't as bad as everyone thought it would be. It was to be at the Weasley's and they already had everything. It just needed to be set up.
And Adam and Aleks proved to be extremely helpful. Every time you turned around, there they were, together, doing another thing Mrs. Weasley had asked them to. They enjoyed helping, obviously. Aleks had been truthful in saying that he hadn't done much. Neither had Adam, most likely, because they were completely entertained. In fact, it was mostly done by the time lunch came around. Adam and Aleks, surprisingly, were nowhere to be found. Neither was Fred or Hermione. But Ginny said Hermione had gone on a date Fred an hour ago, so no one worried about them. But everyone worried about Adam and Aleks.
"Mum, you worked them to death. They're probably gone and died somewhere." George joked. Mrs. Weasley shook her head. "Charlie," she said, ignoring George, "Eat quickly, then go find them, please." Charlie nodded. He had already devoured half his lunch. He finished quickly, then stood up from the table, and went off in search of Adam and Aleks.
Fred smiled as Hermione ran towards the dock. She looked gorgeous. She had disappeared from wedding set-up earlier, and he was glad she did. She was wearing jean cut-offs, and a red t-shirt that fit her nicely. She had simple gladiator sandals, as well. Her bushy hair had been pulled into a pony-tail. He tried hard to not stare at her too much, but he failed quickly enough. She slowed as she got to him.
"Hello, Fred." She said, smiling. They hadn't seen each other all morning. Mrs. Weasley had Fred out with guys, while Hermione was with Ginny, Katie, and Luna in the house. Fred grinned, and held out his arm. "Care to join me, love." he said. She took his arm, he disapparated away, her holding on tightly.
They appeared beside a shady river. Hermione took in her surroundings. It was absolutely beautiful. The river water was so clear you could see the colorful pebbles that decorated the bottom. If you looked closely enough, you could see small fish darting around. There were full trees on the bank, creating a refreshing coolness to the area. The land on either side of the river was green with perfect grass. Hermione was in complete awe of the natural beauty of the area.
Fred smiled at his fiancé as he finished setting up. He had done as much as he could before bringing her, but time had been cut a little short. There wasn't too much left to do, thankfully, and Hermione had been preoccupied staring at the water. When he was positive he was ready, he stood up, coming up behind her.
"Beautiful, right?" he whispered in her ear. She jumped a little, but then nodded, still looking at the river.
"It's a gorgeous place, Fred. Where'd you find it?" she asked. He ignored her question, wrapping his arms around her.
"I was talking about you, love." he said, kissing her sweetly. She blushed, smiling. He pulled on her hand, leading her toward his set-up.
"C'mon, love." he said. He had set up a picnic blanket in the grass under a willow tree. Even under the leaves, Hermione could hear the trickling of water rolling over the rocks. She smiled. Fred sat down, then pulled her down beside him. "Mum taught us all to cook, so I've got a few things here I know you like." He said, pulling out different plates from the picnic basket. She smiled, and selected one. Smiling, they both began to eat.
While they were talking, Hermione repeated her question.
"How'd you find this place, Fred? It's breath-taking." She asked. Fred shrugged.
"Just kind of, you know, came across it one day. It's pretty special to me now."
"You just came across it?"
"Yes, love."
"So are we close to the Burrow?"
"No."
"We're far from it, then?"
"Very."
"Oh." Hermione thought for a moment. "Will you tell me why it's special to you?" Fred shrugged again.
"Because you're the first person I brought here. And you're special to me." He said simply, flashing her a shy smile before looking back at his plate. Hermione blushed.
After they finished eating, Fred put everything away, while Hermione sat quietly beside him. They hadn't said too much, but just being in each other's presence had been enough for the both of them. But now, Fred seemed to have something on his mind.
"Hermione," Fred started, and she gave him her undivided attention. "Hermione, I don't know a lot about you. A little bit, yes, but not a lot. And I have a feeling you don't know a lot about me." She nodded.
"Yes, Fred, you're right. I don't know much about you. So tell me some of your favourite things." She said, taking him by surprise. He shook his head.
Without asking, he picked her up, and set her in his lap, leaning back against the tree.
"No, Hermione, maybe later, but right now, I want to know about you." She nodded. "Um," she couldn't think of anything important. He smiled at her, and she blushed.
"I'm sorry, I can't think of anything." She said. He shrugged.
"Lemme make it easy for you then." He said, "Tell me your favourite color, your Patronus, the side of the bed you sleep on, your least favourite Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we had, what you like for breakfast, and whether or not you're a virgin." She looked at him, giving him an 'are you serious' kind of look, and he nodded, encouraging her to answer. Hermione sighed.
"Dark grey-blue. It was an otter but after meeting Charlie, it became a dragon. I sleep on the left. Umbridge –no brainer. I usually have Muggle cereal when I'm by myself. And yes, I am a virgin, thank you for being blunt." She said, blushing a little. Fred grinned.
"That was informative, thank you." He said. "Let's see, what else could you tell me about yourself?" he said, pretending to think.
"Are you ticklish?" he asked, tickling her sides a little. She giggled. "Please don't, Fred." She said. He stopped. "You're ticklish." He said. She turned to him. "I will bite you." She said. He shrugged.
"Go ahead, love. Nothing you do will ever hurt me…. I'm more worried about hurting you, actually." He said. The statement caught her by surprise.
"How would you hurt me?" she asked. He shook his head.
"So many ways, love." After that, he didn't say much on that particular topic. But he did tell her about himself, and she did that same about herself. They knew each other pretty well when she asked him to tell her a story. He grinned, and began telling the first one that came to mind.
It wasn't long before she fell asleep leaning against his chest. Almost immediately after, so did he, his head resting on hers.
When Fred woke up again, the sun had mostly disappeared in the sky. Hermione was still asleep, a soft smile gracing her face. He smiled at it. Everything in his body was telling him to stay put, to watch his beautiful fiancé the rest of the night, but his mind was telling him to get up.
Ginny's wedding was tomorrow, and his mum and Ginny would both kill him if he and Hermione weren't there. Hermione was the maid of honour.
Against his want, he gently shook Hermione.
"Hermione, love, it's late, we better go home. Mum will kill me." He said. She woke slowly. Fred waved his wand, and muttered a spell. The picnic things quickly put themselves up, then disappeared. He stood up, pulling Hermione to her feet after him.
"C'mon, love, I'll answer any questions. You can go back to sleep when we get home." He whispered. She nodded. He thought hard, concentrating for the both of them, then disapparated. They appeared back at the dock. She stumbled a little at landing, but did not seem splinched. He led her up to the house.
When they got up to the Burrow, and inside, they immediately noticed a few things. One, everything was set up for the wedding. Two, the entire living room was buzzing with activity. The others (George, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Luna, Adam, Aleks, Charlie, and Katie) had waited up.
"Merlin, Fred! You could've told us you had Hermione!" Katie exclaimed, jumping up and hitting Fred.
"Ouch, woman! I didn't know we'd be gone so long!" he responded. Katie looked as though she wanted to fight him. Hermione smiled sleepily.
"Okay then, I'm tired. I'm going to bed. All of you should! There's supposed to be a wedding tomorrow, in case you didn't know." She said. She quickly kissed Fred, then went and hugged each of the others. Then she kissed Fred again before going up the stairs, followed immediately by Ginny and Luna. Katie also, after harshly whispering at Fred, went upstairs. The guys obviously had inclination of going to bed, and so Fred joined them on the couches.
They talked about everything they could think of. The guys hadn't had a good 'let's all talk and be friends and not care about hurting anyone's feelings because we all always got along' kind of night in a while. It had been hard to do that with Blaise and Draco. Anyways, they were all very interested to hear more of Aleks and Adam.
"So, Adam, what exactly did you do during the war?" George asked. Adam shook his head, but Aleks hit his best friend.
"No, Adam, you need to tell someone." He said.
"And if Hermione finds out?" Adam asked.
"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it." Aleks said. Adam sighed. "I was openly fighting the Death Eaters. Literally." He said. Charlie seemed the most shocked.
"Are you serious Adam? You could've gotten yourself killed!" He cried. The others looked at him. Adam put a finger to his lips, nodding at the stairs.
"I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with the term 'openly fighting'." George said. Charlie huffed.
"It pretty much means he literally went up to a Death Eater, and fought them. Didn't matter where they were, or who was around. If he saw one, and he thought he could take them, he would. It's incredibly dangerous. If he faltered at all, he would've failed his duel. He's lucky he's alive." Charlie said, turning to look at Adam. Adam immediately turned away.
"Okay, so what aren't you telling us?" Harry asked. Adam shrugged.
"I may have almost gotten killed." He said under his breath. Charlie inhaled quickly.
"You're joking." He said. Adam shook his head. "Nope. Right after the Battle of Hogwarts, I had attacked one of the Death Eaters who was trying to run away. I had him beat, but his buddy or someone came out of the forest. He sent me flying. A healer found me, mostly dead. Not all dead, mostly dead. I was in Mungoes until the end of March, when I was charged off. Aleks has stayed with me since then, to make sure I stay all right.1 I haven't told Hermione. She doesn't even know I was a part of the war. Before leaving her parents, she had asked me to stay in the woodwork, and out of the picture so I didn't get hurt." He said.
"Well, that obviously didn't go as planned." Ron said. Adam looked at each of them.
"You won't tell Hermione, will you guys?" he asked. Fred looked at him, surprised.
"You're not going to tell Hermione?"
"Not if I don't have to. The less she knows, the better. She's been through way too much to know I almost died." Adam said.
That dropped the subject, obviously, and no one tried to bring it up again. Aleks took attention by asking if any of them had ever tried to see what would happen if you put a band of Cornish Pixies in Snape's office.
With that story, and a few others, the guys went to bed. All of them, save Charlie, Fred, and Adam and Aleks, had forgotten mostly about what Adam had told them. It wasn't their problem, really. Charlie, of course, brought it up again once he and his two friends were in privacy.
Fred had no one to talk about it with, so he kept it to himself. He had agreed not to tell Hermione, but what if that's what needed to happen? He did not let the question lose him sleep, anyways. But what if Hermione needed to know that? Seriously?
Oh my jeez, guys, I made it through the date, and a secret, and all that in one chapter. Next chapter will be a wedding, Ginny and Harry's wedding. I might still slap myself because I meant to upload this chapter before now. So sorry. Anyways, if you guys still have questions, or anything to celebrate 100 reviews, which will be soon, let me. I'm personally really excited for it. But please keep in mind that you don't have to review, it's just greatly appreciated. And shoutout quietly to iLoveRomance2o11. I think she reviews on every chapter. I appreciate that, thank you. And I will answer your question when I have 100 reviews, so soon probably. Bro-fists all around, because you guys are great. :)
And if you noticed, I put a 1 beside 'all right' because I learned something about that phrase. If you say 'alright' instead of 'all right' then you are saying it wrong actually, and it is informal and will lower your grade on your English assignments. Just thought you guys would like to know.
Anyways, expect the 25th chapter soon. –Storm