As Hermione lay in bed that night, she tossed and turned, but couldn't fall asleep. She kept thinking about what had happened almost eight months before.

Flashback

It was Easter weekend. Hermione's parents were staying with family in Scotland, and Hermione had been invited to the Weasley's for the holidays. It was the first year that Hogwarts was having a Spring Holiday, so it was something new to them all. Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Ginny all stepped off the train at Platform 9 ¾ and looked around for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. They couldn't find them anywhere. Instead, Fred and George stood about 12 yards away looking fidgety and bored. It turned out that Mr. Weasley was working and Mrs. Weasley was too busy cooking, so she sent the twins to pick them up from the station. Fred and George led the four students, Crookshanks, three owls and four (heavy) trunks to their Muggle Cars and loaded the gang in. Since there wasn't enough room for everyone in George's car, Hermione got stuck with Fred in his. On their way to the Burrow, they talked about unimportant subjects, but both sensed a tension that had never been there before when they talked. Neither one could put a finger on what it was, but both knew there was something different in the air. As they reached the Burrow, Hermione helped Fred carry the luggage into the house and up to his room, which was where she and Ginny would be staying, since Ginny's room had been turned into a nursery for Charlie and his wife Colette's new baby, little Annielle. Fred put Hermione's luggage down onto his bed and turned around to face her. She looked up at him and smiled, which he returned, then scurried out of the room before either one had a chance to speak. Hermione was shocked. What was going on? She and Fred never had problems before, why now? After dinner that night, when everyone was in bed, Hermione lay in Fred's bunk, above a snoring Ginny, and couldn't help feeling comforted. She was in his bed. And sure—he may not have slept in it for almost 6 months, since he was living above the store, but still—it was his. For the rest of the holidays, Fred and Hermione snuck sly glances in each others direction and shared quick smiles and quiet laughs. The night before they were going to leave, Fred cornered her and smiled. They talked for awhile, and when Hermione said it was time for her to go to bed, he'd kissed her hand. Hermione beamed as she hurried up to bed.

END FLASHBACK

Seeing Fred again had triggered both of their emotions. Hermione looked forward to seeing Fred every morning when she got up. And she really enjoyed the long night talks where she got to sit close to him and watch him while he joked around with everyone. Plus—he'd just kissed her. Hermione smiled and she felt a splash of warmth wash through her body and her hand tingled at the spot his lips had been. She squealed excitedly into her pillow before falling asleep.


The following night Fred, George, Katie, Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione sat around the fireplace once again. They talked and laughed as the boys ate Animal Crackers—Wizard style, of course. As they ate a cracker, they could make a sound like that animal. Ron popped a lion shaped cracker in his mouth and growled. Everyone laughed. Harry was next; in went an Elephant. A great bugle-sounding blast echoed through the room. They laughed again as George and Fred both took their turns. After the crackers were gone, they all sat around and stared into the fire. Katie was curled up next to George on one of the couches with her head lying on his shoulder. Ginny sat on Harry's lap in one of the armchairs. Fred sat on the floor at Hermione's feet. Ron sat next to him. They sat in silence for awhile, all enjoying each other's company before George spoke up.

"Dumbledore invited Katie, Fred, and I to go to the Yule Ball." He said.

"Really?" Ginny said, squeezing Harry's hand in her own. She gave him a sly wink and said,

"Wow, I'll have three of my brothers protecting me from my big, bad boyfriend." They all laughed as Harry turned redder than Ron's hair. Ron stood and sat on the arm of Hermione's chair. He subtly put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her towards him. She looked over at him with a questioning expression on her face. He grinned at her and whispered in her ear.

"Go to the Yule Ball with me, 'Mione?"

"Um…" Hermione stalled, turning to look at the arm draped around her shoulders. As she turned to look back at Ron, she saw Fred staring at her with an understanding smile. He shrugged, and then looked at the floor. She reached around her, grabbing Ron's hand and gently pushing it away.

"No thanks Ron, I've already got a date." The result of her statement was immediate. Harry and Ginny looked at her and grinned, both knowing Ron wasn't going to be too happy about the latest development in his and Hermione's "relationship". George and Katie, who'd seen her glance at Fred, looked at them both curiously. Ron on the other hand, didn't take her statement to heart. He looked shocked for a moment, but laughed it off.

"Good one Hermione. You've always had a great sense of humor. I'll pick you up at eight." He stood, stretched and said good night to everyone. Hermione just stared at him. As he was walking towards the boys dorms, she jumped out of her seat.

"Ron, I'm serious. I have a date already." She stood and stared at his back as he stopped and went rigid.

"Hermione stop joking around."

"Ron, I'm not joking. I told you I'm serious."

"Who is he?"

"That's none of your concern."

"None of my concern!" Within a moment he'd crossed the room, grabbed her elbow and dragged her upstairs. Fred jumped to his feet and started to follow her, but Harry held him back.

"He won't hurt her mate…she'll probably beat the tar out of him instead." He tightened his grip on Ginny. "We knew this would happen sooner or later."

"He shouldn't have waited so late to ask her," Ginny started, "But then, he's always done that. She did look like she was looking forward to the ball, though. I wonder who the guy is—I hope he's better looking than that Krum fellow she brought a few years ago…" Fred blushed slightly, but no one noticed. George and Katie stood up after a minute or so and excused themselves, heading down to the 2nd floor. Ginny did the same after a moment, saying:

"I wish I could stick around to see the drama, but I'm so exhausted I can't even see straight." She pecked Harry on the lips quickly and smiled at Fred. "'Night boys."

"Night Gin."

"Goodnight Love." They watched as she walked up the stairs. Fred stood up and took Hermione's seat opposite Harry. They could hear Ron and Hermione arguing upstairs and every once in a while they'd look at each other and grimace. Hermione came downstairs eventually, red in the face and breathing heavily. She walked towards the fireplace and pointed towards the boys' staircase.

"You—go upstairs and see if you can talk some sense into your mate before I beat his bloody brains out." With that, she turned and walked towards the girls' staircase. Harry grinned, shrugged at Fred, then took the boys' stairs two at a time and soon disappeared from view. Fred stood up and started to follow him, but was stopped by a hissing noise coming from behind him.

"Fred," He turned and saw Hermione leaning on the doorframe.

"I thought you'd gone upstairs."

"Nope. I wanted to talk to you without Harry around." She walked over and sat on the couch. He joined her and they both started speaking at the same time.

"Hermione—are you okay with this? You can go with Ron if you want—"

"Fred, I don't want you to think that I want to go with Ron, because I don't."

They both laughed and went silent for a moment.

"Hermione, it's not that I don't want to go with you, but if this is going to ruin things between you and Ron—I just don't want to get between you two."

"Ron needs to grow up. I'm never going to be Ron's girlfriend…he needs to know that. He just found out the hard way is all. He would get tired of me eventually anyway…"

"There's no way." Fred said, looking over at her and shaking his head as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"There's no way what?"

"There's no way anyone could ever get tired of you Hermione." He said quietly, and then flushed a deep red.

"Yes they can…I'm a know-it-all and a frizzy haired fake."

"You're not frizzy haired, and you're not a know-it-all, and you're not fake. You're you. That's what I love about you." They both hesitated for a moment, shocked by Fred's statement.

"I better—" Hermione pointed up towards the staircase.

"Yeah…" He took her hand and kissed it as he had the night before, but this time, instead of releasing it, he pulled her towards him and kissed her on the cheek, fairly close to her lips. She blushed, smiled, and ran up the stairs.