Finally! Finally she had returned to the Burrow! Fred had been so miserable all day that he at one point had contemplated visiting her in the office because he had missed her so much. The day had gone by slowly, and Fred was sick of looking at his watch all the time only to realise that only a couple of minutes had passed since last time he had looked. Not even quidditch could take his mind off of her and the wonderful kiss they had shared the night before.

At five p.m. Hermione had finally walked through the door, and much needed relief washed over Fred. At the mere sight of him, Hermione had flung herself into his arms and had it not been for his family's audience, he would have repeated last night's passionate kiss.

To Fred's satisfaction, however, not even ten minutes had passed before him and Hermione had met up in his old bedroom.

Currently, she was being nursed by him on all fours on his old bed. She was stretched out in front of him, moaning into the mattress while he had a firm grip around her wrists, keeping her hands behind her back. She was strutting wonderfully for him as he slid in and out of her with well-placed strokes.

Hermione was moaning his name loudly while her inner walls tightened around him, sending him over the edge too with the wonderful feeling of regaining his motor skills.

He gradually slowed down until he came to a complete stop.

Hermione turned around, facing him with a large grin, "that was wonderful!" She smiled up at him.

Fred was still panting but managed to say, "like you wouldn't believe," before he threw himself down on the mattress next to her. He was enjoying the full mobility of his left hand while moving his fingers vigorously - something he always did when him and Hermione had finished.

They regained their breaths while lying on their backs, staring up at the ceiling.

"Uhm, Fred?" Hermione said after a few minutes of silence.

"Mmh.." he said, still enjoying the feel of his moving joints against his thigh.

"There's this galla-thing at the Ministry tomorrow."

"Oh yeah?" He could feel the excitement build inside him: Ever since he had overheard Ron and Ginny talk about the Ministry's Annual Ball a couple of days ago, he had waited for Hermione to bring it up.

"And I need a date.." she continued.

"Mmh..." Fred answered as if he didn't care. In reality, he hadn't been this nervous in ages.

"Well, I've spent a lot of time thinking about who to take and such, and I just really wanted to take someone...fun."

"Yeah?"

"And I thought to myself; who do I have the most fun with? And...well, yeah. The answer seemed obvious," she smiled at him.

"Love, are you asking me to come along as your date?" Fred chuckled, feeling all warm and fuzzy.

"Yeah.." Hermione said slowly, "would you like to come as my date?"

"Yeah," He chuckled, "yeah, I would love to," Fred said.

She looked relieved and Fred leaned closer to her, closing the distance between their lips. Just like last night, the kiss was sweet and tender and lacked the desperation that their other kisses had been filled with. Fred felt the warm feeling in his stomach spread throughout his body.

As they had kissed tenderly for a couple of minutes, Hermione added: "...just to be clear: it's a friend-date, right? And not a date-date?"

The warm feeling that had held Fred's organs in place was gone in the matter of a second and now his insides were on fire. What the hell was a friend-date?

He didn't want to lose his cool in front of Hermione, however, "friend-date... Of course, yeah," he managed to get across lips before he started losing the motor skills in his left hand again.

-oOo-

Fred stared at himself in the mirror; it had been a long time since he had worn a suit but as he took in his mirror image, he had to wonder exactly why. The green suit accentuated his red hair and green eyes, and made him look 'dapper' as his mum would have put it. Maybe him and George should start wearing suits at the shop again. It might bring in more ladies than slacks and a shirt.

Fred ran his hands through his long hair, applying a bit of gel to it to keep it in place. His eyes immediately caught the red marking on the back of his left hand and he suddenly wondered if he should do something to hide it. Even when he was wearing his blazer jacket, you could easily see the vertical scar extending from his elbow to the back of his hand.

He gave himself a mental kick; the battle scar was part of who he was and he shouldn't hide it just because he was nervous about what Hermione might think of him in a suit. She had seen both the horizontal and the vertical scar a million times - hell, she had even traced his horizontal scar with her fingers on numerous occasions. The only thing he should worry about was whether she would like him as a date or not. Well...friend-date. Fred squirmed.

He looked at his watch (four minutes until showtime) and downed the rest of the firewhiskey that he had poured to calm his nerves. With fast-paced steps he went to the kitchen to grab the box of chocolates that he had bought for the occasion.

"Georgie!" He bellowed, "I'm off!"

"Hey, have fun!" George called from his bedroom. Although he hadn't seen her, Fred knew that Angie was in there too. He had heard her giggle occasionally all afternoon.

"Thanks mate!" Fred grabbed his wand and put it in the inner pocket of his green blazer. He looked at his watch; two minutes.

"He we go," he whispered to himself as he walked to the hallway. With a nervous breath, he closed his eyes and spun on his heel, apparating to Hermione's flat across town.

When he opened his eyes again, he was standing in the narrow hallway of her apartment building. His eyes immediately fell on a wooden door with the letters "H.J. Granger" inscribed in gold. He knocked twice.

He felt himself getting slightly more nervous as he waited for her to open the door, his hand constantly running through his hair.

"It's open!" He heard Hermione call from inside.

He took a deep breath before he turned the brass doorknob and stepped inside.

He was met by a cosy setting: The living room was full of hovering candles and Hermione had put on some jazz music. All-in-all very romantic. Fred felt his pulse quicken; was this still a friend-date? It obviously didn't feel like it.

"Hermione?" He called out as he couldn't see her.

"I'm in here," she laughed from the bedroom.

With a few fast-paced strides, Fred walked across the living-room and towards her bedroom. His eyes landed on Hermione immediately: She looked gorgeous! She was wearing a small figure-hugging black dress with spaghetti straps. Her hair was done neatly and her make-up was subtle yet festive.

"Errrrr..." he said as he took her in.

"Too much?" She asked him while putting on earrings.

"No! Not at all! You look very nice," Fred cleared his throat, "very, very nice!" His ears were getting warm.

"Thanks, Fred," Hermione smiled.

"That dress is just...wow," he laughed, lost for words.

She looked impressed with herself, "oh thanks. I had a bunch of dresses tailormade last spring."

No wonder she has looked amazing all summer, Fred thought to himself.

"You look very nice yourself," she continued, "Or dapper as your mum would've put it."

Fred chuckled at her words. His thought exactly, "yeah, thanks! Look, I brought you a box of chocolates - and I didn't even tamper with them!"

Hermione laughed at him, "I'm very proud and very impressed with you!" she accepted the box from him and pulled him in for a tight hug, "these are my favourites!"

Fred leaned in to the hug. Her intoxicating scent was filling his nostrils, and he could feel her wonderful breasts pressed up against torso. His hands slowly wandered downwards from between her shoulderblades before they reached her buttocks. He wanted to grab her tight - maybe sneak a hand under her dress - but Hermione suddenly let go of him.

"Would you like a drink before we floo to the party?" she asked him.

Fred nodded eagerly. He had to have a strong drink if he was expected to keep his hands to himself.

"Would you mind grabbing something for the both of us? I still need to finish up," she smiled at him, "you can just go through the kitchen and take whatever."

Fred nodded and left Hermione to get dressed. He had to give himself a mental shake as he walked to her small kitchen.

First he had to find something to drink. Anything. He opened the metal handle to the fridge and had a look inside. Bingo - pumpkin juice. Perfect.

Next; alcohol. He looked in every cupboard and drawer but didn't find anything to mix with the pumpkin juice.

He shot his head back in defeat and looked upwards in the process; three bottles of liquor; something in a red bottle that he had never heard of before, firewhiskey, and vodka - double bingo! He reached up and grabbed the very dusty bottle of vodka. As soon as the bottle left the shelf, however, he was hit on the forehead by something small, yellow-ish, and pointy.

He looked around for what had hit him and found a small envelope on the floor in front of his feet. He picked it up and read the title 'to my love, Hermione'. A breath hitched in his throat as he looked over the cursive handwriting. Another man's handwriting. Was it a letter from the bloke she fancied? The one whose attention she hoped to grab tonight? To be honest, after their passionate kiss in the living room the other night, he had completely forgotten that he had competition.

Fred knew that he shouldn't be reading other people's mail but he couldn't help himself. He looked over his shoulder and craned his neck to make sure that Hermione was in the bedroom still. Well at least he couldn't see her in the living room.

Fred carefully pulled the letter from the small envelope and started reading:

"Hermione, my love

Thank you for your last letter. It's always wonderful to hear from you. I loved the enclosed quill. I use it almost every day and think of you.

I hope you follow through with your plans of visiting in the fall. Showing you around in the beautiful mountains would be a great pleasure.
If you can't make it work, I would love to visit you in London soon - maybe at Christmas?

I hope this letter isn't too long on the way as I can't wait for your reply.

V.K."

Fred immediately regretted that his curiosity had gotten the best of him. He realised that Hermione would go crazy if she ever found out that he had read her personal mail - and with good reason! But he also couldn't help but feeling a bit happy about it too because now he knew who to look out for at the party; some bloke with the initials V.K..

By knowing who the other bloke was, Fred would suddenly be able to ward off any attempts of the bloke wooing Hermione. He might even be able to steer Hermione completely away from the other bloke and towards himself instead.

Perfect.

V.K... Fred thought to himself, the game is on.