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For leaving reviews for the previous chapter!

As for Ron's reaction to Fred, we'll see now I guess ;)

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CHAPTER 45.

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"Fred! Why isn't he saying anything?" Hermione whispered into her boyfriends ear.

"I think his face is puffing up so much, his tongue is trapped. I'm sure there's a lot he wants to yell... err... say..." Fred replied back in a hushed tone.

Hermione gave him a worried look. She looked around.

George looked amused yet alert, probably in attention, in case Ron tried to fling himself on Fred or try something violent.

Bill, Fleur, Percy and Audrey looked completely confused.

Ginny and Harry looked confused too but mainly Ginny and Charlie looked as if they wanted to ask the most questions.

Nikita stood beside Charlie, her hand on his waist. She seemed quite at ease now.

Luna had the same passive, non controversial look on her face. She took a look at her husband and sighed.

Maybe it was time to calm him down.

Gently rubbing his arm up and down she said, "Ron look, Hermione is not with Charlie. She's with Fred! Isn't that just wonderful?"

Ron looked at Hermione then at Fred and then accusingly looked at his arm pulling her waist to him and looked back at Luna dejectedly.

Letting out a long breath he didn't know he was holding, he said, "What in all of this do you find wonderful?"

"Well, for starters, I think it's wonderful that Charlie has found someone. Welcome to the family, Nikita." She said nodding towards the girl. "And now even Mione has found someone! And so has Fred! Even if it is each other they have found! It was only a matter of time really. They got along so well when they lived together."

"Hermione is this true?" Harry asked. "Is this for real this time?"

Hermione nodded. "I promise Harry, its Fred. It's always been Fred."

"Fred!" Ron bellowed again, "Bloody hell! How could you? It's Hermione!"

Fred rolled his eyes, "Ronnie, at least use some new dialogues. It's like déjà vu here."

Hermione nudged him in the side and Fred fake pouted at her. Still glaring at him she turned towards Ron with a softer expression, "Ron please. Listen to me. I wanted to wait till you came back before telling you..."

"How long?" Ron asked.

"Excuse me?" Hermione asked, not understanding what he meant to say.

"How long have you'll two...?" He trailed off.

"A week before your wedding." Hermione said softly.

"But it's Fred!" Ron repeated.

"So what's the excuse now? No offence Charlie, but I don't have a new girlfriend every night and I have had few decent relationships. I'm not the fling types as you put it. So what is your problem?" Fred asked.

"You're Fred!" Ron said eloquently.

"That's not going to be enough, Ron." George said.

"You're my brother!" Ron said softly.

Fred scoffed. "I think we've established that all of us do not consider Hermione a sister. And it's great that you do. But please, do not try and pull that card on me."

"But... But ... She dated me for a while and now you ..." Ron began.

"And yet you have the audacity to call her your sister! Double standards don't become you Ron! Don't be such a hypocrite! People don't date their sisters! And it seems to me that you just like to call her as your sister to get over the guilt of dating her after you realised that it was a mistake." Fred gave back.

Ron stood quiet for a while.

"Ron, Luna is my best friend, like a sister to me. Yet here you are today, married to her. And I'm immensely happy for you, for her. I didn't have any issues when you'll started dating. It's not really a valid argument even." Hermione said gently.

"She's right Ron. Hermione deserves to be happy. You were there to see the kind of people she dated. We didn't like any of them. And we trust Hermione. If she trusts us with the knowledge that she's with Fred, it means she loves him." Harry pointed out.

There were a few gasps at this mention and Hermione didn't need to look around to see that Fleur, Audrey and Percy were the ones to loudly exclaim their surprise.

"You love him?" Ron asked her, almost grudgingly.

Hermione nodded.

"I love her too, Ron" Fred said assuringly.

"But how?" Ron asked, looking at Hermione almost with a resigned expression. "You hated him in school. And you went on and on about how impossible he was going to be before shifting into George's flat with him."

"You hated me in school?" Fred asked incredously.

Hermione rolled her eyes. Trust him to ask this question in the midst of everything important.

"I didn't hate you hate you. I just hated how you and George disturbed the calm and peace and quiet and the discipline that's supposed to be maintained in a place of learning. Not to mention you do the same thing in my school as well." Hermione retorted.

Fred was still pouting.

"But I loved all your pranks in my fifth year. I loved that you could annoy the hell out of Umbridge." Hermione said lovingly.

Fred smiled widely.

"See? That's what I meant. Fred is a lifelong prankster. A joker! He will prank you till your hair is grey or any other colour he puts in your shampoo. And you on the other hand are the complete opposite. There will be moments you will absolutely want to kill him." Ron ranted.

"That's who we are Ron. And in spite of all that we love each other. I've survived Fred through a bloody prank war and won! I think I can handle him." Hermione said confidently.

"And I've survived through countless hours of essay gradings and lectures; I think I'll live too." Fred grinned. "Hey... What do mean you won? We didn't discuss that!"

Hermione rolled her eyes again! Really how hard was it for him not to stray from the topic in discussion?

"Really want me to iterate how I won the last time? Maybe I could demonstrate." She said suggestively.

Fred almost blushed at the memory of Hermione playing footsie with him under his parents table.

"Maybe we could discuss it later. In private." He added emphasis to the last two words.

Hermione chuckled.

"It doesn't matter how different we are Ron. What matters is the good it does us to be different. We bring aspects into each others' lives that were obviously missing earlier." Hermione said.

Fleur was openly sobbing by now and a resigned Bill was holding her, calming her down a bit.

Audrey was not weeping like Fleur, since her hormones had not kicked into full gear yet, but she sniffed a bit here and there and Percy looked distraught at the prospect of comforting his hormonal wife.

"Such love! Eet ees real Ron! So real! I can see eet in zeir eyes! Oh zey are made for each ozzer." Fleur exclaimed between sobs.

"Ron, it's not a crime to play pranks. We bloody make a living out of it. And Fred and Hermione have finally accepted it, just come to terms with it. I'm sure it doesn't matter and they don't need your permission, but I know that Hermione would be miserable if you disagree to consent to their relationship." George said.

"Ron, I don't think anything is wrong with Hermione and Fred being together. Fred is family. And what better person could we find for her! What's better than being a Weasley? I am one!" Harry joked!

"Hey! I kind of feel insulted here! I'm an unmarried Weasley too!" Charlie said indignantly but jokingly.

Nikita swatted his arm loudly. "But you're mine and you're engaged. So get over it."

Everyone laughed. Even Ron.

"You hurt her or upset her in any way and you'll find yourself at the business end of my wand, I promise you." Ron said seriously to Fred.

Fred wanted to make a joke about it, but one look from Hermione and the situation demanded that he just play along and humour his youngest and probably most dramatic brother.

"I wouldn't dream of hurting her. She's everything to me." Fred said.

"Finally!" Ginny exclaimed loudly. "It took you forever to admit it to your friends!" She said narrowing her eyes and glaring accusingly at Fred and Hermione.

"If you had just waited instead of playing games." Fred gave back.

"But you could have at least told me!" Ginny pouted.

Hermione laughed. "Well we really wanted to tell you and Harry along with Ron and Luna, you see, to buffer the situation in case it got heated like it did today."

"I think I wasted all my rage on poor Charlie. Fred you lucky dog. Charlie saved your ass. Sorry mate." Ron said, patting Charlie on the back.

"Umm... In case you've forgotten, there's still the minor issue of why Hermione was perched on Charlie's arm like his girlfriend for the first half of the evening." Percy asked, still looking irritated at the juvenile nature of it all.

"Yeah. I knew Charlie was pretending. Why were you pretending?" Ginny asked Hermione.

George, Fred and Hermione chuckled at this and they launched into a detailed description of how they found out and all that they did.

"Merlin!" Ginny exclaimed. "Well played Hermione. I must say. The twins' are an awful influence on you. Never would have pegged you as a good actor. "

"I second that. I almost peed my pants when Hermione began to accept my advances. And they managed to corrupt my poor, sweet, angelic Niki too." Charlie laughed.

"Angelic, my arse Charlie! You've found a right one there. She'll keep you reigned! Seducing Harry to rile Ginny was totally her idea!" George said with respect evident in his eyes for Nikita.

Nikita laughed and surrendered her hands in the air as a silent apology to Ginny.

Ginny narrowed her eyes first and then broke into a huge smile. "Well played! That is probably the only thing that kept me from realizing your secret that you'll too were pretending."

"Damn! And I thought this pretty lady was really interested in me." Harry said dejectedly with a pout.

Nikita laughed. "Ah, don't put me in a spot Harry, I told you my intentions were pure when I just wanted to pretend to seduce you."

Harry and Ginny laughed. "And yet you didn't stop her!" Ginny said looking at Harry dangerously.

"Why would I? She wanted to make Charlie jealous, although at that time I had no idea why. And plus, I really wanted to see your reaction too. Some spice is good for a marriage I've heard." Harry said.

"I'll give you spice. Just watch your back, Harry James Potter." Ginny warned him good naturedly.

"Such children you all are." Percy said distastefully, shaking his head.

Everyone rolled their eyes at the typical Percy behaviour.

"Oh, come now Percy. It all sounds so funny. And you should be happy for Fred and Hermione." Audrey admonished her husband.

"So that's why the other Fred was so weird when I asked him to be your date for my wedding. He knew." Luna suddenly said.

Hermione and Fred laughed.

"Yep. I could have killed you, Ginny for getting him to be my date. Would it hurt you so much to see me dateless?" Hermione said.

"Oh but I only thought I was doing you a favour. You went on and on and on about how remarkable Fred is, how was I to know you were talking about the cretin that is my brother, instead of the gorgeous, well muscled, smooth haired, learned and intelligent other Fred." Ginny said.

"Hey!" Said Fred and Harry both at the same time with similar indignant emotions.

Ginny and Hermione and Luna laughed.

"And by the way, if it wasn't for me arranging the other Fred and Estelle as your dates, you'll probably wouldn't have even realized that you'll love each other." Ginny smirked.

Fred and Hermione looked at each other lovingly.

"Okayyy... Enough googly eyes for one night!" Ron said, looking embarrassed.

"You better get used to it Ron! That's all they do when they are on the table together at the Burrow." Ginny laughed.

Everyone laughed along.

"Merlin!" Charlie yelled.

Everybody turned to look at him, questioningly.

"Mum! We've ... Um... I have yet to tell her about Niki!" He blanched.

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Charlie is finally going to tell Mrs. Weasley!

Why is he so scared? She'll definitely have a more positive reaction than Ron!

Scratch that. Scarily positive. She'll probably take the whole house on her head and scare the living daylights out of Nikita!

Is he brave enough!

And Fred has to brave his mum too!

Especially after her plans for setting Charlie up with Hermione fail miserably, only to find that Charlie already has someone and Fred's swooped in to claim Hermione !

Next up: Molly Weasley!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Thank you for reading! And reviewing!

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