Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns everything I love.
Chapter 6: Grace and Fred
When Hermione finally managed to get George Weasley out the door with many promises that they could get together sometime during the week, she collapsed on the couch. Suddenly Hermione was aware of all the work Grace put into her Saturday night parties. Hermione could barely handle playing hostess to one guest, let alone fifty. Thinking about the parties, Hermione remembered the owl that had shown up this morning before George came for lunch. It had been from Grace, telling her to apparate over the second she had a free moment. Hermione took off the flowered skirt she had been wearing for her lunch date with George and slipped into a pair of old, comfortable jeans. She grabbed her purse and wand and apparated into the hallway outside of Grace's apartment. She knocked tentatively at the door, hoping she wasn't interrupting anything; she learned the hard way that apparating directly into Grace's kitchen once Max had moved in was a potentially mortifying experience. Suddenly the door swung open, almost violently, and Grace was yelling at Hermione.
"Hermione Jane Granger, you have had me worried sick!"
"What? Why?" Hermione asked, coming in and slipping off her sandals.
"Excuse me? Have you forgotten that you just DISAPPEARED from my house last night with some strange man who you have obviously had a very traumatic history with, AND THEN I owl you this morning at NINE O'CLOCK and you don't even show up until, what time is it? FOUR THIRTY!" Grace shouted, hands on hips. Max popped his head around the corner and smiled warmly at Hermione, he was used to his fiancée's wild outbursts by now.
"Ah, hello Hermione. Lovely day, isn't it? Can I get you a spot of tea?" He asked jovially. Hermione nodded back at Max and plopped down on their couch, preparing herself for some more shouting. She smiled serenely at Grace who glared first at Max and then at Hermione.
"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" Grace spat out.
"Darling, I'd like to remind you that the whole point of your little parties is for Hermione to meet a nice man. It looks like that is precisely what she did. You should be congratulating her, not lecturing her," Max said as he brought out a cup of tea for Hermione. She smiled appreciatively up at Max who just winked at her as if to say My goodness, my fiancée is such a lovely rational creature isn't she?
"Grace if you would just sit down and breathe for a moment I will tell you everything that happened," Hermione said, patting the sofa next to her. Max excused himself, not really caring to hear the play by play of what happened between his client and Grace's best friend, as Hermione launched into a very detailed account of her and George's conversations, both the night before and that afternoon over lunch. When she was finished, Grace sighed and fell back onto the couch dramatically.
"This is so romantic," she sighed.
"Romantic?" Hermione asked, a little alarmed. "No no no, there is nothing romantic going on. He's just my friend, he's practically like a brother to me."
"Oh yeah, you're definitely right. An incredibly sweet, charming, attractive, and good-smelling brother who you've already had two dates with and have another planned," Grace said sarcastically.
"They aren't dates!" Hermione insisted, "Did I really say he was good-smelling?"
"Yes!" Grace giggled.
"Oh," Hermione said, blushing a little. "But you don't understand how it is with them Grace. I'm like his little brother's best friend. And his little brother's almost-fiancée, I might add. At Hogwarts I was just Hermione Granger, know-it-all, goody-two-shoes prefect and they were like George and Fred Weasley, Quidditch stars and pranksters extraordinaire.
"Wait, they? Oh! They! There are twooooo of them!" Grace said excitedly.
"Yeah, they're twins," Hermione said, trying to hide a smile.
"Twinssssssss!" Grace squealed loudly, "Can I date the other one?" She shrieked, jumping up and down a little on her knees. Max cleared his throat loudly from the other room,
"I can still hear you, you know," he retorted.
"Sorry honey!" Grace said, giggling some more and blushing. Hermione should have known better, romance always turns Grace into a thirteen-year-old girl again.
"So what are you going to wear on your next date with him?" Grace said excitedly.
"It's NOT a date!" Hermione groaned. What did I get myself into? She asked herself as Grace started listing all of Hermione's clothes that were not acceptable date material.
George whistled a little as he meandered through the streets of London. He'd decided to walk, rather than apparate so he could enjoy the beautiful weather and think about his lunch with Hermione. It had been perfectly delightful. She had not run out like she had at the coffee shop. She had not burst into tears. She hadn't even freaked out when he mentioned her being at Harry and Ginny's wedding. And she'd agreed to meet with him again that week, though she had admitted she was worried they were going to quickly run out of things to talk about. George had reassured her that they would never run out of things to talk about because he could always regale her with stories from his "glory days" at Hogwarts. She had just groaned, but George knew she would secretly really enjoy it; all the other girls he'd dated had loved his stories! George felt a blush creeping into his cheeks. I'm not dating her! he scolded himself. Besides, Hermione was quite different from other girls he'd dated. Too bad I don't have stories about all the great times I had studying in the library and getting good grades to regale her with, he thought to himself. He was pondering their next date, er, meeting, when he got back to his flat that afternoon.
"Hey George," Fred called from living room where he was going over some files spread out over the coffee table. "It's about time you got home. You've only got 20 minutes to pack before we need to head out."
"Head out?" George asked, a little bewildered.
"Yeah, you know, for the train. The same train we take every Sunday night to get back home. You do remember we meet with the Hogsmeade division of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes every Monday? Merlin, what's this girl done to you?" Fred exclaimed. George blushed. He had completely forgotten about his business obligations.
"Don't you think I could just skip the Hogsmeade meeting this week? I've got some important stuff to go over with Max about the deal," George said nonchalantly, knowing that his twin would not fall for his lie.
"Ahh, right, stuff to go over with Max," Fred said suspiciously. "Hey! Max! How does this girl know Max? She was at his party right?"
"Um…" George said, trying to think of something reasonable to say.
"Now I can just ask Max who she is and not bother with you anymore," Fred announced happily.
"No! No, don't ask Max about it. I'll tell you about her, ok?" George said, his eyes wide, afraid Max would tell Fred about Hermione. Fred narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Just not today, because you've got to catch your train, and there's really just too much to say about her." Fred grumbled a little but decided to lay off his twin, who seemed very flustered by the whole situation. He must really like this one, Fred thought to himself.
"So when do I get to meet her?" Fred asked, with a twinkle in his eye. George knew that look well and shook his head adamantly.
"You're not meeting this one. I know what you're thinking. We are not going to switch places!"
"Come on, George, why not? We haven't done it in years and life around here is so boring. You never want to have fun anymore," Fred pouted.
"Oh come off it, Fred. Has it ever occurred to you that switching places is not the way to gain a girl's trust? It's not the way to have a serious relationship," George said angrily.
"Relationship? What the bloody hell is going on with you? It's like you want to marry the girl or something!" Fred shouted. George blushed.
"It's not that, Fred, it's just that this girl is nice. She's too good for tricks and childish games," George said, painfully aware that his face was redder than his hair at the moment.
"Well if you're going to marry her, she better be able to handle some pranks every once in a while. Now I'm heading to the station. I'll be back Wednesday morning and you better be ready to give me everything you know about this girl," with that Fred was gone. Feeling quite pent-up and anxious for some reason, George changed his clothes and headed back outside for a jog around the neighbor while the weather was still nice.
A/N: Ok, here's another chapter. I hope you guys are still enjoying it, I know there isn't a ton of action happening yet, but I think the next chapter will be a little more exciting. Fred will find out about Hermione and all sort of mischief will ensue. Yay! Hehe. Oh and thank you thank you thank you to those of you reviewing this story. I seriously jump up and down on my bed like a six year old every time I read another one! So I love you all dearly. Also, julyjules I've been reading "Didn't see that coming" and I really really like it! Ok well I hope to update again soon. Thanks for reading everyone!