Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling might own all the really great characters, but at least I've got Grace and Max!

Chapter 7: Fred's Surprise

Spending time at the apartment in London without Fred was a little weird, George had to admit, but nice at the same time. He could watch whatever he wanted on their television, sing as loudly as he wanted in the shower, and walk around completely naked if he so chose. Though he wanted to spend all his time until Wednesday talking to Hermione, he realized that they both had jobs to do. When he walked into the London office on Monday, Max greeted him with a mischievous smile.

"I just wanted to let you know that every single move you make is being carefully noted and relayed to my darling future-wife and they didn't make her gossip columnist for nothing you know, so I would watch your back," Max said as he followed George to their conference room, coffee in hand. George scratched his head a little uncomfortably.

"Um, listen Max..." George started, more than a little embarrassed.

"Oh don't worry, I've already been threatened with my life by both Grace and Hermione if I say a word about her to Fred. I don't completely understand the situation, but I do know that it's pretty important to her. So I'll keep my mouth shut. In fact, just saying this to you might be a major breach of contract," Max said with a laugh. George found that he liked the man more and more every day. It sounded like he knew how to put up with Hermione and that crazy Grace pretty well. Before starting their meeting, George stopped by his desk to look over his messages and jot a note to Hermione asking if he could come by the Prophet around 12:15 to take her out to lunch.

As Hermione sat at her desk looking over the transcript of the latest political press conference, Grace came banging through her door. She waved around a small piece of parchment.

"Looook, he owled you! First thing this morning!" Grace said jumping around excitedly.

"He who?" Hermione said, still absorbed in her transcript.

"George!"

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed with surprise, looking up at Grace. Her eyes narrowed a bit, "How come you always get my messages before I do?"

"I'm the gossip columnist, Mione, it's my job," she explained. "Now read it and tell me what he says."

"I'm surprised you didn't read it yourself," Hermione laughed. She opened the parchment that was stamped with an official looking seal of three interlocking W's. "He wants to take me out to lunch, are you satisfied now, Miss Gossip?" Grace smiled smugly and her eyes lit up.

"What are you going to wear?"

"Grace! I'm going to wear this! It's not like I keep a change of clothes here." Hermione looked down at her plain black robes.

"Really?" Grace asked incredulously, "What do they teach you at Hogwarts? At Beauxbatons we learned that a lady should always be prepared for a romantic rendezvous." Hermione rolled her eyes, but did look down at her rather drab robes doubtfully. "What do you have on underneath there?" Grace asked, looking at Hermione appraisingly. Hermione bashfully disrobed. "Ahhh," Grace squealed. Hermione looked at her, a little frightened to be honest. "Hermione Jane Granger you are adorable!" Hermione blushed. Under her robes Hermione was wearing a yellow cardigan with capped sleeves and a knee length skirt with yellow, green, and white stripes. Though she felt a little like a daisy, she felt feminine and pretty. Hermione would never admit it, but she had dressed extra carefully, you know, just in case.

After making Hermione spin around a couple times to get the full picture, Grace got to work fixing up Hermione's hair. Hermione tried swatting her away, explaining that she had work to do, but Grace could not be averted. After ten minutes of fiddling with Hermione's hair, she stepped back to appraise her work. "Ahhh, perfect," she cooed. She had done a marvelous job straightening Hermione's hair and pinning it back into a half ponytail, tied with a yellow ribbon.

"Do they teach you this, too, at that school of yours?" Hermione joked, despite being quite pleased with her best friend's hair styling ability. Grace just beamed then crashed onto one of the chairs in Hermione's office.

"So what do we do now?" She asked, looking up at Hermione expectantly.

"Um Grace, I don't know about you, but I have work to do," Hermione said, trying to politely kick Grace out of her office.

"Oh fine, but I'll come visit again before he shows up to make sure you didn't mess up your hair or anything else." With that, Grace swept out of the office and down the hall, undoubtedly to find someone to gossip with.

George tapped the eraser of his pencil anxiously against the edge of the conference room table. It was beginning to irritate everyone in the meeting, but no one had the guts to tell him to stop.

"So what do you think?" One of the men on the marketing team asked. George looked up surprised, not noticing that the presentation had stopped.

"Erm…hm…well," George stammered. Quite honestly, he had not seen much of the presentation. George caught Max's eye who was smiling at him, quite aware of where his mind was. George blushed guiltily. "Wow, that was…great, I think. Before we make any decisions, though, I should talk to my brother Fred." With this, the meeting was dismissed and George looked at his watch, wondering what exactly he could do until 12:15.

At noon, George decided he had wasted a sufficient amount of time and could head over to the Daily Prophet offices. He stopped by to tell his secretary that he had reservations at the Raspberry Tearoom for 12:15 and that he should be back by 2, then dashed out the door. He apparated to the street outside the Daily Prophet and looked at his watch. It was only 12:03, so he still had some time to kill. Suddenly he wondered if he should have brought some flowers. He looked down the way where some street vendors were set up. Though he passed stands full of magazines, vegetables, and glowing amulets with magical powers, he found no flowers…unless broccoli counted. Deciding broccoli was not suitable for the occasion, he headed back to the Prophet office. Once inside he was directed to the third floor by a sweet, grandmotherly old witch.

In Hermione's office a very nervous girl was pacing the floor and munching on her fingernails.

"Grace sit down, he won't be here for another ten minutes," Hermione said looking up briefly from the story she was writing, "You're going to wear a hole in the floor."

"Well Hermione, someone's got to be nervous for this date," Grace reasoned.

"For the last time Grace, this is not a date," Hermione scolded her. There was a light knock at the door and the secretary peeked her head.

"Miss Granger, your date is here," Olivia whispered with a hint of a smile.

"Don't call him that!" Hermione hissed. She straightened her skirt and turned to ask Grace if she looked all right. "Grace?" Hermione asked, wondering if she'd apparated out. Then she heard Grace's overexcited voice on the other side of her door.

"Hi, I'm Grace, Hermione's best friend. I think you're working with my fiancée, Max, on a marketing project at the moment? I know we were probably introduced at the party Saturday, but at the time I had no idea that you were part of Hermione's dear Weasley family, of course the red hair made me a little suspicious." George was nodding along as she babbled, but seemed relieved when Hermione showed up at his side ready to go to lunch.

As they walked out of the office (with everyone's eyes staring holes in the back of their heads) George was suddenly quite unsure of what to say.

"You look nice," he said quietly. "Do you always dress so…prettily for work?" He asked awkwardly. Is prettily even a word? he wondered. Hermione cringed, not knowing what to say.

"Um, sometimes?" It came out as more of a question than an answer, but it wasn't like she could say "oh I only dress this prettily when I have a hot date with one of my closest friends."

"Oh, well it's nice," George said. He was not sure why this was so awkward all of a sudden. Maybe because it was that she was dressed so prettily. Her hair was so straight and the yellow sweater was so… friendly? sunny? buttery? George wasn't exactly sure but it was nice.

"You look nice as well, I think it's the only time I've ever seen you wear a tie," Hermione pointed out. George touched the tie self-consciously.

"I had an important meeting this morning, so I sort of had to dress up. Company policy or something, which is complete rubbish because I own the company, I should be able to dress however I like." Hermione still had a hard time believing that George and Fred's little prank shop had turned into such a corporation. Luckily, Hermione was saved from having to think of another thing to say because they had arrived at the Raspberry Tearoom. "Do you come here often?" George asked, noting how close it was to her office.

"Um, no, actually it's my first time," she responded. She did not mention to him that she had never been here because it was more of a "date place" and she only ever ate lunch with Grace and sometimes Max. A very young, blonde witch showed them to their table with a lot of hostility, shooting George a dirty look before stalking away.

"Do you know her?" Hermione asked curiously.

"No, never seen her before. Maybe she went out with Fred once and he never owled her again," George said with a shrug. Hermione laughed a little.

"I guess you guys do look a lot alike," she astutely observed.

"Come to think of it, he went on a date with some blonde girl Saturday night, but she was horribly boring so he took her home early. He was back when I got in," George remembered.

"You haven't, um, told Fred, have you? I mean I know you probably tell him everything, but I mean, um," Hermione mumbled.

"No, I haven't told Fred, just like I promised. Plus, I heard about the death threats you gave Max in the event that he said anything, and I've decided not to get on the wrong side of you two," George explained. Hermione blushed a little but told him that Grace might look little but she was not a witch to be reckoned with.

They quickly eased into more comfortable conversation as the meal progressed, until a young boy came running through the restaurant and stopped at their table, panting a little.

"Mr. Weasley?" He asked, George nodded. "You've got to come right away, there's an emergency at the office!"

"It can't wait?" George asked hopefully.

"It's an emergency!" George sighed and looked at their half eaten meals.

"Look Hermione, I'll just run there, find out what's going on and get back here as soon as I can alright?" Hermione nodded as he took off with the little boy. She looked around awkwardly, realizing that the other patrons of the restaurant must be wondering what was going on.

Outside the shop, Fred Weasley watched the scene unfold. Knowing that his brother must have been staying in London for a far better reason than Max, Fred decided to sneak back to catch George in the act with his secret girlfriend. Knowing that apparating such a long distance was dangerous, Fred had floo'd back to the office around 12:30 and found his suspicions confirmed by George's secretary.

"The Raspberry Tearoom?" Fred asked the secretary, "Merlin he's turning into a total sap," he sighed before apparating outside the restaurant. He watched through the window as George and his secret girlfriend ate their lunches. Fred could tell immediately why George had said she was too "nice" for their pranks. She had her long brown hair pulled back with a yellow ribbon tied in a demure bow. It reminded him of Ginny when she was about seven years old, still sweet and innocent. That was when he sent his plan into action. Slipping a sickle into the outstretched palm of the little boy standing by his side, Fred snuck around the side of the building so he wouldn't be seen when George left the restaurant. When the coast was clear, Fred tapped his chest a couple times, making his shirt and tie the same color as George's had been, then strutted into the restaurant.

George's girlfriend looked so lonely sitting in the big booth, with her head down while she stirred her tea, that Fred figured he was doing her a grand favor by keeping her company for a while. He slipped in beside her as he said

"I think I forgot my goodbye kiss" and grabbed her chin and kissed her roughly on the lips. She pulled back sputtering and Fred finally got a good look at her face.

"FRED WEASLEY!"

"H-Hermione?" He shouted back.

A/N: Hello all my darling readers! I really hope you like this chapter because I worked very hard on it! Please let me know what you think! And thank you to all those who have reviewed already, you absolutely made my day!