Good morning wonderful people!

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As promised...

Hermione's POV

Hermione had not slept well.

She had tossed and turned all night.

The image of the short-fingered hand, covered in those clunky out-of-fashion rings, set aglow by the emerald floo flames was still stuck at the forefront of her mind.

Hermione had given up on sleep rather early that morning. She got up and dressed quickly and sat on her bed as she tried to revise her essay from the night before. When her dorm mates began to rise and shuffle around the room, Hermione decided that it should be late enough for the boys to be getting up as well.

She threw her things hastily into her school bag and made her way over to the other dormitory tower. Hermione passed a few of the younger Gryffindor boys as she climbed the stairs. She also exchanged 'good morning' and smiles with a few of her own classmates before she reached the seventh year dorms.

Hermione wasn't sure what she was going to say, but she knew that she needed to talk to Fred. She knocked on the door before she could change her mind.

One of the seventh years she didn't know, she vaguely remembered him being addressed as Anthony once, answered the door. "Oi, Weasley number one; it's for you," He nodded his head politely and exited the room. Lee smiled and exchanged pleasantries before Fred stumbled out of bed.

For some reason, even just the sight of him helped Hermione relax. She breathed a little more easily as she took a few small steps over to Fred's section of the room.

"...I needed to talk to someone, could you spare a few minutes?"

Fred nodded, "Of course." He looked over the remaining occupants of the room and smirked, "You lot aren't going to have time for breakfast if you lag behind; clear out!"

Hermione felt her face flush slightly as she heard the other boys grumble as they picked up their pace. She hadn't noticed that they had slowed down their actions when she walked in.

When the other seventh years had left the room, Fred smoothed down his thick comforter and patted the foot of the bed. He then grabbed his desk chair and sat down right in front of the offered spot.

"Thank you," Hermione spared a small smile and settled herself onto the edge of his bed after dropping her bag to the floor.

"So, has something happened that you really need to discuss or can I kiss you?"

Hermione felt her mouth gape slightly before she composed herself and clamped it shut, "No… unfortunately something's actually happened… sorry…"

She felt a bit uncomfortable by the comment and Fred must have noticed. He grabbed one of her hands, "Hey… only joking. I realize now that this is apparently not a joking subject, so I'll use my serious face." Hermione watched as he adjusted his expression so he looked a bit grim, "Alright, Granger; what's happened?"

Hermione tried not to smile.

She wholeheartedly appreciated that Fred was trying to take this seriously, when it was much more in his nature to be carefree and jovial. Her smile turned a bit sour as she began to think about what she needed to discuss.

"Well, first of all; I think Umbridge is monitoring the post. Well, at least Harry's post. But who knows which other students she's suspicious of. With your father working in the Ministry and openly supporting Dumbledore, she might be keeping an eye on all of the Weasleys' post as well," Hermione scrunched up her face as she spoke. It angered her to no end to think about Umbridge abusing her station to spy on students. Hermione wanted to much to believe in rules and the established system, but this year was already trying her patients.

She looked at Fred and found that his jaw was clenched tightly and it looked like he was trying not to yell and lose his temper.

"I just wanted to warn you about that. In case you and George had to send off important things for the shop, make sure to use a different school owl every time you send something… less obvious that way."

Fred nodded, "I'll make sure to tell George." He seemed to shift into business mode; Fred leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked rather irritated now but his voice remained even; Hermione guessed that was for her benefit, "What's the second thing?"

"We were talking to…" She paused simply out of habit. The trio rarely said Sirius's name inside of Hogwarts for fear of people overhearing, "...Snuffles last night." Hermione stared pointedly at Fred as she exaggerated the nickname.

"Does Harry's godfather know you call him that?" Fred smirked, but Hermione was just relieved that he caught on quickly.

"Yes, he actually assigned himself the nickname last year," a small laugh escaped her, "Anyway… Snuffles told us why Umbridge isn't teaching us anything. It basically just confirmed what we all already believed, but it was still disturbing to hear."

"They really think Dumbledore is recruiting children to train and fight for him?" Fred chuckled darkly, "Ironically enough, that is vaguely what we're planning on doing… at least the training bit."

Hermione sighed and massaged her temple, "And that brings me to the third thing; I'm not sure if this defense club is really a good idea anymore."

To her surprise, Fred didn't jump down her throat. He didn't even laugh or show any signs that he thought she was being ridiculous, "What changed your mind?"

"Well… Snuffles sounded far too excited about the prospect of us breaking rules," Hermione's overbearing, worrisome side came out swinging, "I like Snuffles very much, I've even grown to care for him. He's been so wonderful to Harry and equally as welcoming to me… but I'm concerned that he's been stuck in that house for too long. I'm afraid that he wants to take risks just to confirm that he's still alive. He seemed overjoyed that we were breaking the rules and I'm just not sure we can trust his judgement anymore. He said that we'd all be better off expelled and able to defend ourselves than sitting around here without a clue."

Fred nodded his head in understanding, "That's probably all true. I mean he has been in that dreadful house for too long. And without Harry, you and the rest of the Weasley clan running about, there's probably much less to distract him from the fact that he can't escape anywhere. But… but this is something that we need to do. You may not have liked how he stated everything, but he's right. We are better off risking things so we can train ourselves up."

Hermione let his words sink in a bit. She decided she liked Fred's revision of the statement without the assumed threat of expulsion, though it had been the same sentiment. She took a deep breath. A smile spread easily across her face, "You're right... Snuffles was right… I guess initially, I was right… just don't tell anyone I had such a moment of doubt."

Fred mimed zipping his lips and locking them before tossing the imaginary key away.

"Thank you," Hermione slid off the bed and picked up her forgotten school bag.

"Do I get a kiss now?"

Hermione smirked and shook her head, "Afraid not. You might get the wrong idea if I kiss you in your dorm room while we're all alone."

Fred's jaw fell open, "Did you really just make a joke… but you pulled such a face when I… that is completely unfair, Granger."

She shrugged, "Thank you for talking to me. You are wonderful and chivalrous, like always."

Hermione wasn't sure if she did it to tease her poor boyfriend more or to actually thank him for the early morning conversation that had calmed her down so quickly. Her lack of sleep could have contributed to her actions as well...

She leaned down and moved her lips against his for a few long seconds.

Hermione couldn't help but smile at Fred's completely shocked expression, "See you at lunch."

I am sorry that last chapter was a bit short. It just seemed to naturally end there with Fred's POV... But hopefully Hermione's POV made up for it.

Thank you all SO much for getting this fic to almost 300 followers and over 200 reviews. OMG!

***Please continue sharing your opinions, they constantly inspire me...

Always,

Misha

Ps. Check out my other stories too! 'Thrown Back' and 'Penelope Jackson.' Or if you need more Hermione and Fred in your life, try out 'Begin Again,' which is now complete!