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Summary so far (for those people who just have the worst memories EVER!):

Hermione is staying at the Weasley house for the summer due to the fact that she got amazing OWL results and has won an award – so a trip to the ministry will be coming up soon! Harry and Ginny have just come out as a couple – a fact that makes Hermione want to die inside, due to her strong feelings for Harry. Ron is pestering her for her attentions, but he is not the only Weasley boy – Fred has shown explicit interest in Hermione since he sent her a letter at the beginning of the summer, a fact that is rapidly making Hermione change her views about a guy she has never really taken any notice of. However, big sibling rivalry between George and Fred has come up when it came to light that Fred had stolen Katie Bell (George's long term girlfriend) from him recently, and then finishing her in light of 'someone new'. Hermione is confused when she realises that she is Fred's new love interest, and hatches a plan with George to get Fred back for attempting to 'use' her like he used Katie. By pretending to come out as a couple with George, can Hermione make Harry notice her? And more importantly, make Fred pay for what he's done? Fred is definitely sort of paying for it, as when he spotted George and Hermione kissing he made a run for it…

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Hermione stared silently at the doorframe, willing Fred to come back into the room so she could tell him the truth, how she really felt about him. Ron had sat down in desperation on the chair he was tidying away, and his head was in hands – obviously unable to take the sight of Hermione 'in love' with his brother. Harry was looking suspiciously at Hermione's crestfallen face, which was still staring silently where Fred had been moments before. In his eyes he knew that his relationship with Ginny would never be the same now that he had seen how he reacted to the sight of his best friend with another guy. Hermione seemed blissfully content with George, yet deeply heartbroken and hurt that Fred had seen them kissing. He didn't understand what was going on, but he knew that he would get down to the bottom of it later. He and Hermione had to talk, and talk soon.

Hermione felt George's warm breath on her ear. "Did you see his face!" He whispered excitedly. "That should teach him to steal my girlfriend! I don't think he'll be bothering you much anymore 'Mione! A close escape for you I think, don't you agree!"

Hermione hardly heard him. What had she done? She wasn't in love with George, she wasn't in love with Ron, and this encounter had proved something important to her that she hadn't realised before.

She loved Fred. She loved him more than words could say – the way he made her tingle with excitement by simply sending her a letter, the way he could aggravate her beyond words with his mannerisms and joking demeanour… yet entice and captivate her with his words and feelings. He hadn't been trying to 'use' her as he had used Katie… or at least she couldn't believe that he had… the look on his face just now had been pure, unaltered hurt and betrayal. He wouldn't have shown that for anyone other than the person that he cared for the most in the whole world.

"But how can I love him when he did such an awful thing to his own twin?" Thought Hermione desperately. "When he betrayed his own flesh and blood for a simple fling with a girl that he wasn't particularly interested in!"

She had never felt more torn than she did at that moment, but she knew that if she didn't take this chance now then her chance to be with the one guy that she truly liked would be gone forever. Turning her dark angry eyes to George, she pushed him away suddenly and disentangled herself from his arms. Without even a glance at either of her best friends, she ran from the room in search of the twin she'd lost forever.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

As the pouring rain battered against his freckled face, Fred ran blindly towards the large oak tree in the back field. This is where he had always come if something had upset him in the past – or just when he needed time alone, sick of being seen as a twin all the time. As he leaned back against the tree's comforting nooks and indentations, he closed his eyes as the rainwater fell down his face, hiding the tears that were threatening to spill out of his dark, hurt eyes and down his heartbroken face.

"Hermione…" he murmured desperately. The image of his twin kissing the girl that had haunted his thoughts for months flashed in his mind again. He grimaced and sunk his head into his hands as he pleaded for the image to disappear. George knew full well that Fred was infatuated with Hermione to the largest extent; they'd spent numerous nights talking about her under the pretence of laughing about Ron's none-existent chances with the one girl he'd liked for years. Why would George want Hermione? Could it be possible that he liked her too? It seemed impossible. George loved Katie Bell more than anyone else in the world.

The thought of Katie caused Fred to groan loudly. He felt as if he was drowning in confusion and heartbreak, yet a niggling voice was telling him that Katie seemed to be the root cause of his despair. His thoughts flew back to an evening two months earlier, as clear and broad as if Fred was immersing himself in a swirling pensieve…

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The knock was tentative and quiet, but Fred could still hear it easily even though his bed was on the far side of the Hogwart's dormitory.

"It's how George and I can get out of trouble so easily," he thought to himself with a smirk. "We have the best hearing in the whole of Hogwarts!"

As he was alone in the dormitory, Fred quickly stuffed his handiwork – the new firecrackers he was developing for Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, which were scheduled for release in the school the following day – under his bed. He grinned as he thought of the look on Umbridge's face when she'd see the firecracker destroying her office. Pulling on his Hogwarts robes over his pyjama shorts and bare chest, he padded over to the large oak door and pulled it open to reveal a slim, attractive blonde with a sly smile on her tinted lips.

"Katie…?" Fred threw her a confused look. "Are you looking for George? Because he's at dinner, along with… well…" He paused. "In fact, why aren't you at dinner?"

Katie smiled up at Fred's confused face and walked into the dormitory, causing Fred to stumble backwards hastily in order to avoid intimate contact with his twin's girlfriend. He pulled his robes around his body quickly, realising that his bare chest was clearly visible through the folds of heavy fabric. Katie smiled at his reddening face.

"Don't feel you have to cover up," she said quietly. "I have been dating George for almost a year now, I do realise what you look like below that robe." She paused, a sly grin playing around her lips. "RIGHT below that robe," she added with an afterthought.

Fred's eyes widened as she began to walk towards him slowly, her movements resembling those of a predator stalking its prey. He felt a blush running up through his neck to his ears, which reddened obviously, and he backed away from her quickly. With a bump he backed into his bed and fell back onto the bedspread. Katie laughed.

"You know, even though you look exactly like George, you're quite a bit clumsier than him aren't you?" She joked, revealing her dazzling white, even teeth.

"Em… Katie, what are you doing here?" Fred replied in desperation. "You know that you're not allowed in the boy's dormitori-"

"Don't even think about lecturing me about rules, Fred" Katie exclaimed, sitting down on the bed next to Fred. "You're hardly one to talk, Alicia told me that you're the only boy in the whole of Hogwart's history to have learnt how to get up the girl's dormitory stairs. For everyone else, it just turns into a slippery one way slide! You haven't even told George how you do it!" She smiled widely at him, pulling her legs up on the bed so she was lying next to him.

Fred jumped in shock at the sudden physical contact, and rolled away from his twin's attractive girlfriend. Teetering dangerously close to the side of the bed, he swallowed and composed his face into a guarded smile.

"Its just a matter of knowing how to get what you want, isn't it?" Katie continued. "And I know exactly what I want. The question is, do you?" Her fingers trailed over Fred's red face, and moved down to his neck.

"Katie!" Fred jumped suddenly, a movement that pushed him right off the bed. He groaned as he landed with a loud bump on the hard stone floor. "You're going out with George! I'm Fred! What are you doing?"

Gingerly rubbing his underside, Fred was suddenly pinned down by another body landing on top of him. His eyes widened and he cried out as Katie's knee dug into his side. The harder he tried to get up, the stronger Katie seemed to become. She pulled out her wand and pointed it straight at his body.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Fred rolled his eyes as his body became rigid. Fred Weasley, being immobilized by a girl? The rest of the school would laugh at him for the rest of his life! Katie had gained a mad glint in her eye as she lowered her wand and placed her feet either side of Fred's torso.

"I'm sorry I had to do this Fred, but you just weren't listening!" She whispered as she bent down close to his face. "So listen now, and listen good. It's not George I want, its you! It's always been you, and it will always be you. Surely you must have noticed the number of times we've flirted? Even George knows deep down that you are my soulmate…"

If Fred wasn't immobilized, his jaw would have dropped down somewhere near his open cloak. As it was, he was forced to convey in his eyes the complete astonishment he was feeling.

"Why are you so surprised?" Katie continued. "Don't tell me you haven't wanted me ever since George and I started dating! Don't tell me that there is anyone else in this world that you'd want more than me!"

Involuntarily an image of Hermione flashed across Fred's mind. Hermione tending to him when he was sick the year before at the Weasleys. Hermione's heartbroken face as she heard the news that Harry had kissed Cho at the end of a DA meeting last year. Hermione's angry look at Fred as he tested out his Skiving Snackboxes on willing first years. Of course there was someone else he wanted more than Katie! There was someone that he'd give up everything in the world to be with!

Suddenly a warm sensation tingled across his body and he realised that Katie had muttered the counter curse to the immobilization charm. Angrily he pushed Katie away from him so she sprawled away onto his bed. She laughed playfully and tried to pull him down with her.

She grinned up at him. "I knew you couldn't resist," she whispered.

"Katie, you are my twin brother's girlfriend for Merlin's sake!" shouted Fred, holding her down so she would stay and hear what she had to say. "I have no interest in you romantically whatsoever! Hear that? Ever! You think that I could just go and go behind George's back like that? What is wrong with you?"

He pulled away from her and walked over to the door, pulling his cloak around him once more to cover his bare chest.

"There is someone else isn't there?" A dangerous voice came from behind him. Fred didn't turn round, and stared solidly at the wall.

"I'll find out who it is Fred!" Katie continued menacingly, and Fred felt her warm breath behind his neck. "Who could there be that you like more than me? You've never shown any attention to anyone else, everyone knows that!"

Again Fred stayed silent, his eyes staring, willing his face not to give anything away. There was a sudden intake of breath from behind him. Fred closed his eyes in desperation.

"Surely she can't have guessed," he pleaded with himself mentally. "No one knows except George…"

"Surely," began Katie, with a triumphant snort, "you can't like that hoar Hermione? Bookworm Hermione? Plain, ugly, buck toothed Granger? You think she'd truly ever like you Fred? For Merlin's sake, everyone can see that she's in love with Potter! You're crazy if you even think that someone that ugly deserves you!"

The overwhelming anger that was filling Fred cracked as he heard Hermione insulted for the last time. He spun round and grabbed Katie around the shoulders.

"DON'T EVER TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT AGAIN!" He screamed at Katie, his freckled face reddening. "You're not half the person she is!"

Katie's face stayed placid, not even flinching as Fred shouted at her, his lips inches away from her face. Instead, her eyes glinted dangerously.

"This is your last chance Fred. I won't ask again," she whispered into his eyes. "You can have me as your girlfriend, or as your enemy. There is no other way."

"Fred stared deep into her malicious eyes and let go of her shoulders. "If you think I could hurt George like that then you're deluded," he finished.

Katie's eyes flashed a look over his shoulder, but only for a split second. Sliding her slender arms around his waist, she smiled into his face.

"If that's the way you want it sweetheart," she said loudly, planting a kiss on his lips before Fred could react. "I've always loved you too!"

Fred's complete confusion was interrupted by a sharp intake of breath from the open door. Realising his compromising position, being inches away from Katie, Fred's heart sank as he realised what Katie's last few sentences had meant and who they had been aimed at. Turning round quickly, he only had a brief glimpse of George's face before it had turned away and ran down to the deserted common room.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Fred's eyes popped open as he heard his name called from the Burrow. The voice sounded distant and familiar, but Fred felt so disjointed from the world that he ignored it and stood up, out of the welcoming oak tree. Realising he must have fallen asleep, he glanced at his watch and groaned as he realised it was much too early to return to the house. The first glimpses of the morning sun were appearing over the top of the trees, their rays of sunlight bearing hope and new life for the whole of the world. For Fred however, it was the end of the world that he was feeling had come more than the former. Stretching his arms and shaking his wet hair, he set off towards the broomstick shed, without even glancing at the house. If Hermione was with George, then he refused to be forced to witness it. He'd made his decision.

He was leaving.