Hermione felt someone looking at her as she huddled over her essay with her quill working furiously on the second rough draft. She didn't pause in her writing, knowing what she was saying, but she lifted her head and glanced around for whoever it might be. Harry and Ron were playing chess in front of the fireplace, Harry already getting frustrated. Fred, George, and Lee were sitting on the couch talking low amongst themselves; plotting something she was sure. Parvati and Lavender were going over the newest- it was Fred.
Fred wasn't actively talking to Lee and George, looking at her instead. She smiled back. He winked when she did, making her blush and look away back to her essay which now had scribbles and such from not paying attention. She sighed, crumbling the parchment into a ball so she could start over fresh.
"Why don't you two just get it over with?" Ginny sat down at the table next to her with an exasperated huff. "Everyone knows you two are into each other."
"Wh-what do you mean?" Hermione asked, pursing her lips in vain hopes it would postpone her face reddening further. "We're just friends."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Well, I know that. If you were official I would be the first to know, right? Right. But everyone knows you like each other, we're just waiting for you two to get it. There are bets!"
"I'm not going to jeopardize- did you say bets?"
Ginny grinned. "Yep."
"And I suppose yours is coming up?"
"Tomorrow. I think McGonagall's got today."
Hermione looked quite scandalized. "McGonagall! B-but she's a teacher! If this has anything to do with George, you'd better give him a fair warning now."
Ginny crossed her arms on the table. "What's the big deal? He does more with you these days than he does George anymore. He went out picking Potions ingredients with you."
"Those were specific, and that potion was temperamental without fresh ingredients."
"You've been going on long walks around the lake together."
"He wanted to be sure I wasn't locking myself in a dark library without any fresh air."
Ginny smiled. "It's okay to admit it, you know."
Hermione glanced at Fred again. He was talking to George now, excitedly, like when they were discussing a new prank or wheeze. Her heart always beat faster at that smile, but she could feel Ginny looking at her.
"We're just friends," she said with a smile.
"If you say so."
*
Always. How was it she always got stuck outside in the rain? She'd gone to the greenhouses to check on her assignment and while there, a sudden downpour came without warning. She groaned in frustration, wrapping her robe tight around herself and her books to keep them dry.
She was going to have to make an undignified run for it.
She swung the door open and began charging up the wet, grassy hill towards the castle. Hermione wasn't the only one to have been caught in it; people were running past with their books over their heads- poor things. No respect for the authors.
"Need a roof?"
Hermione turned to see Fred, damp and holding out an open umbrella. She quickly joined him under it and sighed in relief. "Thank you. You're probably the only one that thought to bring one. I think the rain took everyone else by surprise."
The umbrella, a simple sun-faded thing, made it feel like their own private bubble in the rain.
"I was inside, actually. Gin said you'd gone out, so I borrowed her umbrella and thought I'd rescue the fair damsel."
"Oh did you?"
"Well, I'd been looking for you anyway."
Hermione's heart threatened to leap from her chest, and she felt like her affection for him should shine from her and light their private bubble. Light the entire castle. "Oh? Whatever for?"
Fred shrugged with a mischievous smirk, just the quirk of one corner of his mouth. "Well, I was thinking I'd kiss you and ask you if you wanted to go on a date to Hogsmeade this weekend. I thought I'd been clear with my intentions, but George said I may have been too subtle."
Her eyes widened. "Y-your intentions?"
His smirk grew into a full-blown grin. "I don't go picking Potion ingredients with just anyone, you know."
"It was a very temperamental potion!"
"And you're a very temperamental witch," he said. "So I'm giving you fair warning to say no before I kiss you, for fear you might deck me otherwise. What do you say?"
Hermione smiled and leaned up to meet his lips halfway. She stopped just before their lips met, whispering against his, "Does this mean Ginny won the pool?"
Fred let out a wonderful, wholehearted laugh and pulled her to him.
A/N: Another that I wrote for a gift exchange, this time for sophh- whose stories I absolutely ADORE! I love Fremione, and I was so happy to write this.