"I thought we were going to your house," Hermione whispered. The fact that they weren't at the Burrow probably explained Sirius and Lupin's presence. They were waiting near silently at the park for all the Muggles to clear out. It was a quiet part of London, if there was such a thing, but it was the time of day where many people were out and about. They'd walked nearly 10 blocks, circled the park twice, and almost walked into three pubs (Lupin having to drag Sirius out by the scruff of his neck) in an effort to throw off 'pursuers.'

"We came here last night," Fred mumbled. This particular set of houses did not look very welcoming. Hermione loved the Burrow, it was warm and busy, bright. The houses before her looked cold and grey.

When the steady stream of Muggles finally ebbed, Lupin smiled and sighed, "Finally, we can get in to headquarters."

At first, there was nothing to show for headquarters, as Lupin called it. Lupin dug through his pockets for a few moments as Padfoot barked with laughter. George whispered something in Fred's ear that no one but him caught. Fred turned, the tips of his ears red, and punched George in the shoulder. But when he turned back around he was grinning again. Then Lupin handed her a small slip of paper.

The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.

She recognized Professor Dumbledore's handwriting from the letter she'd received. Hermione frowned, for there hadn't been the number twelve. She looked up to check and gasped. Lupin took the paper back and set it on fire.

"There's another house," Hermione said, smiling a little bit, "That's ingenious. And then there's the Fidelius Charm on it too, and Dumbledore would have to be the-"

"Just go inside," Lupin said, smiling as Sirius ran across the road and sat, looking very well trained, at the doorstep, waiting for someone to come over to and open the door. George half sprinted across the street, bowing and opening the door for the large dog. Hermione followed, staring up at the old building, amazed. It must have been a tricky bit of magic to hide a house this size. George held the door for her but tried to shut it on Fred, which earned him nothing but a swear word and an eye roll. It was as if someone with a tendency to have migraines had lived there. Windows were covered by thick, dark drapes, in fact several things were. The lights in the ceiling looked as if they'd been half torn out. Dust spiraled listlessly through the air, and the carpet and most things were covered in the stuff. It felt abandoned and hopeless. Lupin pointed up the stairs and whispered, "2 flights, first door on your right. Ginny's right across from you. Don't touch anything and try to be quiet."

Hermione smiled politely, climbing up the stairs as quietly as she could. She heard soft mutterings as she passed the first floor, however, and caught the words 'Mudblood,' 'filth,' and 'blood traitors' before she hurried away. She hugged her arms to her chest, telling herself it must have been a portrait or something. Fred got a murderous look on his face, as did George, but she shook her head and put her finger to her lips. Fred gestured to her room when she got there. She opened the door to her room, stumbling into it. She barely managed to find the light switch through the dark. Not surprisingly, it didn't work.

"No, no, let her settle in. You go on up to bed," Mrs. Weasley's scolding voice was much quieter than normal. Though she hadn't been aware that she was going to get a visit from Fred, Hermione was sad to discover she wasn't.

Hermione stumbled around in the dark, stubbing her toe on her trunk. She jumped away and tried to stand very still, looking at the outline of what looked like a fairly large bed tucked away in the corner. She could smell the freshly laundered sheets from where she was, it was the first smell that wasn't damp, dust or rotting wood. Hermione stumbled over, slipping off her shoes, taking off her jeans and removing her bra. She didn't trust herself to get changed in the dark, not really. She pulled her shirt over her head, thankful she'd worn a tank top beneath it. Hermione had seen the Muggle weather reports, and they looked to be in for an extremely hot summer.

However, Hermione doubted she'd ever recover from being left in the Black Lake at Hogwarts for 3 hours in the month of February.

Hermione woke blearily, panicked for a moment at the thought of an already fading dream. She wiped a tear from her cheek, grateful she couldn't properly remember the dream. She sat up and cracked her back, a bad habit she'd formed last summer. She glanced at her things, and slid out from under her covers and opened her trunk. She pulled out a plastic hair brush and ran it through her wavy hair.

She already felt the need to tell Harry everything, but one of Dumbledore's conditions had been that she tell her friend nothing. She didn't even know why, but it seemed unfair. So much more had happened to Harry. Perhaps Dumbledore was trying to shield him-

There was a loud crack behind her, and Hermione threw her hair brush at its source without thinking, bending down to grab her wand from the top of her trunk.

"Ow! Merlin's beard, 'Mione!" Fred exclaimed, in a whispering shout, shaking out his injured hand, "Jus' wanted to say-"

They noticed Hermione's state of attire at roughly the same time. She wasn't wearing pants. She wasn't even wearing a bra. Hermione straightened, blushing crimson, and grabbed a blanket from the end of her bed. She hurriedly wrapped it around her waist.

Fred looked startled, but smiled mischievously nonetheless. He stepped closer to her and, if it were possible, and Hermione didn't think it was, Hermione blushed deeper. He extended his injured hand in front of her face, far enough away that Hermione could see it clearly, but too close for her pulse to recover any time soon. A red mark was already forming on it, Fred swallowed, looking nervous for a moment, "Kiss it and make it better?"

"That's a Muggle thing," Hermione said quietly, "Now get out before your mum finds us."

"You just want to put more clothes on," Fred said perceptively, lowering his hand to the side of her arm.

"It's not fair if you get all your clothes and I'm barely dressed," Hermione said, risking a one armed push against his muscled chest. He barely even moved.

Fred winked devilishly, "I can take my clothes off too if it'll make you feel any better."

"Fred," Hermione said, leaning closer to him, almost against her will, but certainly against her better judgement. She tried to say firmly, "Get out."

"Fine," Fred whispered in her ear, before stepping away a step and pouting. "I'll be back in less than 2 minutes though."

Then he grabbed Hermione's protective blanket as he turned on the spot and with another loud crack, was gone. Hermione put a hand to her chest. Breathe, she thought. Normally. She opened her trunk and pulled out a pair of denim shorts, dressing herself quickly, though very much distractedly.

True to his word, Fred reappeared with a telltale crack no more than 120 seconds later. Not that Hermione had been counting. Hermione turned her back and pulled a shirt over her head, muffling a shriek.

"Frederick Weasley, will you knock it off?!" Hermione asked, facing him with her arms crossed over her chest. She had to put a strong defense up now, before-

Fred looked dazed for a moment, blinking, before he said, "I've noticed Rita Skeeter hasn't been in the Prophet attacking Harry like everyone else."

"Oh, she hasn't?" Hermione said, feigning ignorance. She was still unable to stop the triumphant grin that sprung up whenever she thought about the wretched woman, "I think I'll be keeping that page from your book, Fred."

"You didn't!" Fred said, stepping forward to touch both his hands to the sides of Hermione's slim waist. She smiled wider than ever, "You did!"

"Yeah," said Hermione happily, stepping a little closer. The last thing they needed was to be caught by his mum, but still, Fred was... "Ron told you then?"

"Just me and George, don't worry," Fred nodded and brought his face closer to Hermione's, "It's bloody brilliant, if you ask me."

"Hermione, George just said-" Ginny stopped halfway through the door, frowning at Fred.

"Shit," Hermione murmured as Fred practically flew away from her, holding up his hands.

Ginny shut the door, "What the hell?"

"Um, you can take this one," Fred smiled weakly, starting to turn. He disappeared with a crack. Ginny sent Hermione a pointed glare and reopened the door as footsteps thudded down the hall toward them.

"Hey, George, mind grabbing Fred for me?" Ginny asked, her voice dripping with a strange combination of fierce determination and sweetness. Hermione sat down on the bed.

She closed her eyes, "Don't tell Ron. Please, please, don't tell Ron. Ron'll tell Harry because we're not allowed to tell him anything else, and it's all I'll hear all sum-"

The Twins appeared with a pop, one of them having the other in a headlock. George was clearly winning this fight.

"Let him go!" Hermione hissed, standing.

George dropped Fred dramatically, "One twin, as requested."

Hermione offered Fred a hand and pulled him to his feet. Fred murmured, "I think we might've been caught."

"Krum?" Ginny asked.

"He hasn't written," Hermione shrugged, "I haven't written."

"Well, that's good news," George said.

"How long has this-" Ginny waved her finger at Fred and Hermione, "Been happening?"

"You're going to have to be a bit more specific," Fred said.

"How long have you been sneaking around making out?" Ginny said.

"We haven't started," Hermione said. George raised his eyebrows, "I mean, we haven't. It's not like that. Well..."

"It is like that, kind of," Fred said looking down at her.

"Yeah, it is," Hermione admitted. She looked up at Ginny, proud that she didn't blush when she said, "It's hard to explain, Ginny-"

"You were with him while you were with Krum?" Ginny asked, her voice icing over.

"No, things with Krum ended, for me at least, with the Yule Ball," Hermione said.

"I tackled him," Fred said proudly.

"What for?" George asked.

"He kissed you at the end of the term!" Ginny said angrily.

"Will you keep your voice down!" Hermione hissed, "I didn't want him to, he just did!"

"Which is why I tackled him at the Yule Ball," Fred smirked slyly.

"Between you yelling at him," George pointed to Ginny, then to Fred, "you tackling him and Ron in a love-hate relationship with him, it's a miracle Krum hasn't hexed the lot of us."

"Hermione-" The door opened and a dumbstruck Ron stood there. He frowned suspiciously, glancing between the four of them, "What are all you doing in here?"

Hermione said a silent prayer to all things good and holy.

"Mum said I have to move into Hermione's room, the Order needs the one I'm in right now," Ginny said.

"And we were just trying to clarify what the Order is," the twins lied together.

"You don't even know what it is," Ron said, "Now get out of her... their room."

"Like I was saying-" George said.

"Perfect Prefect material," Fred nodded, and the two Disapparated.

"You know that's not an insult," Hermione said, "I would be proud if I was a prefect. You'd finally have some-"

"I don't want to be like Percy," Ron said abruptly, then left.

"What's wrong-"

"Percy left," Ginny said quietly, "He and Dad had a row, and Dad, well, he yelled. That's the first time I've ever seen him yell like that. Percy doesn't believe Harry or Dumbledore; he's sided with the Ministry."

"Why?" Hermione asked. She'd never disliked Percy the same way the others had, though he was responsible for the whole Divination fiasco.

"He got promoted."

And those three words changed Hermione's mind about the older Weasley brother.

.o0O0o.

Right so, close call there for Ron's precious ignorance. Assuming that he still likes Hermione in a romantic way during 6-7th years, how do you think he would react to discovering Hermione and Fred's relationship just after the Battle of Hogwarts?

Irianna Marie: Great idea! I probably will end up using that later, but I already had this done so... I had a very normal, very American Thanksgiving, thank you!

brownie-123: Thank you so much!

jinx delrio: It took me 4 times or more that time to write it so props to you! Fremione is pretty infallible, I must agree, and thank you! The Battle will probably be predominantly cannon, whether Fred dies or not, Hermione will have a major freak out about it. The Toad will get what she deserves, trust me.