Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Harry Potter. It is all JK's. I'm just making them do what my imagination wants.

Aurthor Note: I have been a terrible updater. I haven't published anything on this for five years. For this i apologise to those who have been following this story. I am finally attempting to finish this during my uni holidays.

Summary: The year is 2004. Hermione is 24 and a successful woman. She has a nice apartment and a great career in healing ahead of her. Her perfect content life is about to be shattered when Fred Weasley comes knocking on her door. Now she's in way over her head.

Chapter 1

BANG BANG BANG!

Hermione shot up, eyes wide open.

BANG BANG BANG!

"What on earth?" she mumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes. She blearily looked at the digits on the clock.

"3 am? Who in Merlin's name is knocking on my door at three am?" she grumbled. BANG BANG BANG!

The person sounded quite desperate. She stumbled out of bed slipping on her fluffy pink slippers. She shuffled down the hall, stifling a yawn.

BANG BANG BANG!

"All right I'm coming!" she shouted groggily. Hermione unlocked the door and yanked it open.

"Listen buddy! It's 3 am and I AM trying to slee- Fred?" asked Hermione, confused, shaking her head as if to clear it.

Standing on her doorstep looking upset and desperate was Fred Weasley.

His hair was a mess and deep circles were under his eyes. He looked absolutely dishevelled.

"Fred, what on earth are you doing here? I have neighbours you know and I have to work tomorrow" hissed Hermione worriedly.

"I'm sorry but Hermione you have to help me!" he croaked, his eyes pleading for her help. Hermione grabbed his arm and pulled him in, closing the door behind her. She led him to the couch and sat down beside him.

"Fred seriously what is wrong? I'm sorry to say it but you look awful!" said Hermione with concern. Fred shakily ran a hand through his hair.

"You- you have to help me" he repeated.

"I can't help you if I don't know what you want help with!" she said gently.

"Will you marry me?" he said with wide, frightened, desperate eyes.

Hermione spluttered, "What? You can't be serious….." she trailed off as he took her hands in his.

"Please Hermione. You're the only one I trust to help me. If you don't I have to marry Karlene Nott! She's the daughter of a death eater, she's pure evil and she hates me. I'm on her to kill list! I have to get married before the end of the month or I'll be forced to marry her!" ranted Fred crazily throwing his hands in the air.

"I don't understand. Fred you can't possibly want to marry me. Please calm down and explain" Hermione said slowly. Fred took a long slow breath.

"The ministry had this law for old pure-blooded families. They paired them up for arranged marriages when they were born. Fortunately just before Ron was born they decided to dissolve the law."

This time Hermione interrupted, "But that means you don't have to take part than." Fred shook his head.

"That's not true. They said they wouldn't make any more arranged marriages, but any made before they took away the law still had to take place. They have to participate in the marriage if each partner in the contract is not married to another person by the time they are 26 years of age. For most people that's not really worry. Wizards marry quite young you know? It was more of a back up to ensure breeding. I received a notification last year stating if I wasn't married by my 26th Birthday I would be forced into marriage with Karlene because both of us are not married. I've tried to think of every possible way out of this, but there isn't one and now I only have a few weeks left. You're the only person I could think of. I can't marry her, Hermione. I can't." said Fred dejectedly, slumping his shoulders in a manner of defeat.

"Hold on there must be a way out of it! Charlie isn't married and he's 32. How did he get out of it?" asked Hermione suddenly.

Fred shook his head solemnly.

"Remember Julie? That girl he married during your seventh year of Hogwarts? Ever wondered why he rarely talked about her and they divorced after two years?"

"No! That was a fake marriage!"

"Well... They liked each other but not enough to last, but yes he only married her to get out of having an arranged married. So please Hermione help me out"

"Oh Fred, I don't know what to say".

"Please just say you'll marry me. It doesn't have to be permanent. I did extensive research. We only have to stay married for two years and we don't even have to have kids" said Fred hopefully.

"I don't know Fred….." said Hermione uncertainly.

"You're the only one I can go to. You're a close friend and we get along. I know I can trust you not to let it slip that the marriage is a fake." Hermione's mouth hung open,

"You mean you want me to pretend that we're really in love. Not even tell your family the truth!" she said shocked.

Fred nodded, "I know that it will be hard but if anyone can convince my family it's you. They don't believe you would lie; it has to seem totally real. What happens if one of them slipped up"?

"I suppose…." Trailed off Hermione.

"Hermione, I'm begging you. As my friend, advisor and best friend who is a girl, will you please do this?" He said his eyes full of pleading and hope. Hermione looked away for a second. She knew she would do anything to help her friends so her choice was already made. Not looking at him she found her voice,

"All right I'll do it." She whispered.

"Really? Oh thank you Hermione. You don't know how much this means to me. I swear I am forever in your debt. I will do anything you say!" cried Fred in relief flinging his arms around her. Hermione patted his back awkwardly.

Suddenly he pulled away and searched through his pocket producing a small box. He opened it and gently took out a diamond engagement ring. It was a simple white gold band with a fairly large diamond set in the middle. He gently slipped it on her finger.

"We have to make it seem real," he said quietly.

"It's beautiful," admitted Hermione. "Were you that confident I would accept" Fred shrugged, grinning goofily.

"Well I thought if you wouldn't do it I'd have to resort to Amy, that girl at work that has a humungous crush on me".

Hermione laughed but it was interrupted by a yawn.

"You can stay the night if you want. I have a room you can stay in. We can discuss this tomorrow morning before I go to work". Fred looked at her gratefully. "Thank you Hermione" he said genuinely.

"You're welcome".

Hermione showed Fred where he was sleeping and then went back to her own room. She slipped under the covers of her bed and fell into a light sleep.

The next morning Hermione woke up with a slightly sick feeling in her stomach. 'Why did I agree to marry him' she thought as she entered her bathroom, turning on the shower. She mulled over her decision wondering if she did the right thing as she let the hot water wash over her. After her shower she quickly dried her hair with a spell and tamed it. She pulled it into a messy bun letting some soft chestnut curls fall out to frame her face and quickly pulled on clothes for work.

Hermione than went out to the kitchen to prepare some breakfast. She found Fred already sitting at the breakfast bar waiting for her. Fred looked up and smiled at her. Some of her uncertainty ebbed away at his grateful smile.

"Good morning" she said.

"Morning" he replied. He still had bags under his eyes but he was looking much better.

"When do you leave for work?" Hermione checked the kitchen clock,

"In about half an hour" she replied. "So what are we going to tell our families?" she asked, her heart feeling a sharp pang at the thought. Her face must have shown how she felt because suddenly she felt Fred's hand on hers.

"Are you all right Hermione?" he asked concerned.

"Yes, I was just thinking how my mother's going to take this, she hasn't been the same since dad died" replied Hermione sadly.

Her father had died in the summer before seventh year when death eaters attacked her family home. He was tortured to death and her mother was lucky to have survived. Her mother now lived alone in Brighton in a small townhouse in a gated complex, sometimes too paranoid to leave her own home in fear of being attacked, even though the war had ended six years ago. Hermione had employed a carer to visit her once a week to make sure she was all right.

"Maybe you should hold off on telling her than if she's... a bit fragile"

"No, I'm the only family she has left, she needs to know".

"All right then, if your sure", He squeezed her hand tightly before letting go.

Hermione turned away from him and busied herself with making coffee before she spoke again.

"So back to our original topic, what are we going to say?"

"That we've been dating for awhile, we've both been very busy with other things so we didn't have time to tell anyone .We also wanted to keep it low profile in case it never worked out and then in the end we just didn't get around to telling anyone." He answered straight away. She raised an eyebrow as she handed over his coffee, surprised at his immediate answer.

"I thought of that this morning. Thanks" he took it from her and took a sip.

'I wonder how Harry and Ron will take this… Oh no, Ron!' she thought and then she groaned out loud.

"What is it?" asked Fred.

"How will Harry and Ron take this? They'll be upset for sure" Fred shrugged.

"They'll get over it," he said.

"But Ron…."

"What about him? Look we all know that he loved you and might still do, but he hasn't done anything about it. He has a girlfriend for Merlin's sake! They've been together for seven months! If he really wanted to be with you he would have told you. He's had 6 years, or more actually, to tell you. You've had no boyfriends since school; you've been so involved in your work! There's been no guy in your life to stop him from professing his love for you. If you weren't marrying me some other wonderful guy would have snapped you up. It's his loss" said Fred. Hermione bristled,

"I have so had boyfriends," she snapped. Fred look taken aback,

"Oh well they weren't serious where they? If Ron really loved you those boyfriends would have made him jealous and made him tell you how he feels so you wouldn't end up with one of them" retorted Fred. Then he added, "I'm sorry I just assumed you'd had no guy in your life, I sometimes forget you're not the bookworm we used to know in school"

Hermione sighed, "I know. Your right about Ron and you're forgiven. He's had his chance and now it's passed". Fred smiled slightly,

"Did you ever have feelings for him?" Hermione stirred her coffee thoughtfully.

"I suppose so. I mean I had a crush on him in sixth and seventh year but after that I think all I felt, well feel for him, is sisterly love" she said. Fred nodded.

"Well I actually thought about his reaction this morning, which is why I believe we should elope" Hermione almost dropped her cup.

"What? We can't do that! Everyone will all ready be so shocked we are even together," spluttered Hermione.

"I know but it would be easier. No hassles of choosing everything. Just need to get witnesses, find a church and a priest. Then if we're already married and no one knew, than they couldn't have tried to stop it. I'm suggesting this in case Ron still has those feelings for you and tries to stop the marriage." said Fred. Hermione took a deep breath, downing the rest of her coffee.

"I'll think about it. Right now I have to go to work. For that matter shouldn't you be going to work?" asked Hermione.

Fred shrugged, "George doesn't know I'm back. I was in Australia discussing the options of opening a store there. I finished the meetings early when I realised I had less than a month left to find a wife and spent the last two nights in Australia stressing out. Last night I apparated directly from Australia to your apartment. Technically I was supposed to arrive back in three days time." Hermione sighed.

"Right, so I guess you can stay here than. I'll be back by six; I'll probably bring something home for dinner." Said Hermione and before Fred could answer she had apparated to work.

She re-appeared in the employee entry to Saint Mungos where she clocked on and proceeded to the elevator. A few minutes later she exited the elevator at the fourth floor. Hermione walked the corridors greeting colleagues as she walked past. She finally came to a plain white door embossed with a gold plate reading "Hermione Granger- Healer" and entered her office. After the final battle Hermione had decided to become a healer at St Mungos and began training under Augustus Pye. After being at the hospital for three years she had completed her Healer training and took another year to specialise in a certain field. For almost two years now she had been the Healer on the fourth floor- spell damage, specialising in dark spells and curses damage resulting in physical, emotional, mental and magical harm. She also had extensive knowledge in potion and plant poisoning.

The work was exhausting but it gave her a sense of purpose to still be helping those in need. As she pulled on her green healers robe and sat at her desk to look through her patients for the day her thoughts went back to her conversation with Fred. It had hurt her that he thought she hadn't had a boyfriend since school. In truth she'd had many but none of them were right for her. Most of them didn't care about her job and weren't interested in the things she was interested in. Of course she wasn't the same bookworm. She loved to dance, drink, play sport and shop. However, yes admittedly reading was still her favourite past time.

Her thoughts turned to her friends. Ginny and Harry had gotten back together after seventh year and where now married and expecting their first child. Harry was an Auror, a Senior Auror in charge to be exact, plus he was a body guard for the minister of magic, and Ginny co-owned a fashion store with lavender brown in Diagon Alley. Then there was Ron and his girlfriend Gabriella. She was Fluer's sister. They had been going out for seven months and seemed to be very happy. Gabriella worked at Flourish and Blotts and Ron was Keeper for the Chudley Cannons. Hermione realized even though Harry, Ron, Ginny and herself were close friends; they weren't as close as they used to be. They all had their own lives and jobs. Harry and Ginny were married and having children young like most of the wizarding community and Ron was in a long-term relationship. They wanted things Hermione didn't think about and now she was going to be like them. In a relationship that wasn't easy to get out off.

Hermione was interrupted by the door opening and quickly put her hand under the desk to hide her engagement ring. She looked up expectantly as her colleague entered.

"Good Morning Margot" said Hermione cheerfully.

"Morning Miss Granger, I mean Hermione" replied Margot softly; blushing as yet again she had called Hermione Miss Granger even though she's been told hundreds of times to just call her Hermione.

"Ready for another busy day?" asked Hermione gesturing at the stack of patient files. Margot nodded shyly pulling on her white healer in training robe.

Margot had been working under Hermione for three months now and was always so softly spoken and very shy around new people. She still got nervous around Hermione. Margot was quite young; she had just turned twenty and had been out of Hogwarts for two years. Before she had become a trainee healer she had spent a year and a half working for her father's company before deciding she wanted to be a Healer. Margot was very intelligent being in Ravenclaw at Hogwarts and took copious notes. She reminded Hermione greatly of herself.

"Excellent, shall we start our rounds than?" Hermione said.

Margot nodded once more and moved towards the door.

Hermione stood up and followed Margot out the door to start their rounds.

At one o'clock Hermione returned to her office to fill out medical forms and have her lunch while Margot took hers in the Hospital Cafeteria.

As she was eating lunch lost in her own thoughts an owl at the window interrupted her with its incessant pecking. Opening the window she recognized the owl as Hedwig, Harry's beautiful snowy owl. She took the letter, gave Hedwig an owl treat and sat down to read it.

Dear Hermione,

How are you Mia? I haven't talked to you in ages. By the way this is Ginny not Harry. All's well here. Happy days as usual! Bub's not due for another two months. Harry is doing great, he's got two weeks off before he has to go to Paris to give special training to the French Ministry's new batch of Aurors in training. How's work? I hope you're not wearing yourself out. Take a break girl. You haven't had a holiday since the end of year six. Don't protest! Those trips to Germany, America and Spain were business trips. I meant a REAL holiday Mia. Please think about it, don't push yourself to hard. You're doing a fantastic job.

Ron dropped in today, he looks very depressed and sad. I asked him what was wrong and it turns out Ron and Gabriella broke up! Sad isn't it? I thought they were going to end up married and with kids. I guess I was wrong. It seems that Gabriella thought her relationship with Ron wasn't going anywhere. She packed up and moved back to France. Poor guy, oh well plenty of fish in the sea, right? Maybe you could take him out to dinner to cheer him up. Might do both of you good. Hermione you really need to get out more, go out with some guys. How else are you going to find Mr Right? Just don't look too far because I know of someone who might be sweet on you.

Maybe we can catch up soon.

Love Ginny.

Hermione put down Ginny's letter rubbing her eyes tiredly. She wasn't so sure "all was well" at the Potter residence, Ginny certainly didn't look that happy the last time she saw her. And she knew what Ginny was trying to do. Set her up with Ron, but she didn't return Ron's feelings. 'Why does life have to be so complicated?'