Disclaimer: I hereby declare that I own Harry Potter and everything affiliated with it…..says JK.
A/N: sorry this took so long to post. I had it done around the posting of chapter 2, but I'm having a major writers block on Chapter 7 and I didn't want to post this until it was done. I'll warn you that chapter 7 is nowhere close to being done, and I decided to give you all chapter 6 as a gift.
Chapter 6 Harry's Birthdays
"Happy Birthday mate," said Ron as he entered the kitchen. Hermione, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley were currently in the kitchen with Harry. Mrs. Weasley had made him a birthday breakfast that could have fed a starving country, and Harry was looking clearly uncomfortable, as Mrs. Weasley wanted him to eat it all. Hermione was starting to pity him when Ron saved him, pulling half of Harry's plate onto his own empty one.
"Ronald Weasley, that was for Harry!" admonished Mrs. Weasley.
"Jeez mum, the whole Order can't eat that much," replied Ron, rolling his eyes.
After a few minutes, Ginny pulled Hermione from the room, and out into the garden.
"I never told you why I was so happy yesterday," started Ginny. "Other than the discovery of your new bloke, that is."
"Oh yes," said Hermione, blushing a bit as she thought about how Ginny had 'discovered' them. "You seemed really excited, Gin. What was that about?"
"Harry," said Ginny grinning, and blushing a pretty shade of pink.
"Oooh, what happened?" squealed Hermione, jumping up and down like a two year old. "Tell me!"
"George and I went into Florean Fortescue's to see about some food for tomorrow, and Harry and Ron were in there. I walked over, and I was going to say hi, when I heard Harry mention that he was going to ask me out today!"
"Ginny that's great," cried Hermione, hugging her friend. At that moment Harry appeared at the door. Ginny blushed, and Hermione giggled, before announcing that she needed to head inside.
Once inside the Burrow, Hermione helped Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen, washing dishes and the like, while watching out for Harry and Ginny to return to the Burrow. She supposed they might want a snog afterwards, so Hermione wasn't expecting them back soon, but she was looking out all the same.
Three quarters of an hour later, Hermione was sitting in the living room when Ginny burst through the door looking flushed and rather pleased. Hermione jumped up, and ran over to her friend, not hearing the two people step out of the fireplace. Ginny hadn't noticed either.
"Did he Gin?" asked Hermione excitedly.
"Yes!" screamed Ginny with glee. Hermione hugged her, and they both jumped up and down squealing.
"I can't believe it Gin, that's great!" said Hermione, excitedly.
Someone cleared their throat behind them, and both girls spun around to face the intruder on their happy moment. Fred and George were sporting identical curious smiles. "What might we ask is so great?" asked George looking at them. Before anyone could answer, Ron entered through the kitchen, and Harry through the door from which Ginny had come a minute earlier.
"What's going on?" asked Ron, looking around. His eyes moved from Harry to Ginny, and Hermione, then back to Harry. Hermione could see his mind working furiously, then his eyes widened.
"No way," he whispered still looking intensely at Harry. Harry was beginning to get uncomfortable, and Fred and George were looking from the girls to Harry, putting the pieces together. "Go away Ginny, we need to talk with Harry."
Ginny raised a challenging eyebrow, but George ushered her and Hermione out of the room.
"So Gin," said Hermione once they were alone in the kitchen. "What exactly took you so long outside after Harry asked you out?"
There was a hint of blush creeping up Ginny's face, but none of the usual Weasley red. "Well," she started. "Today's his birthday you know, so I gave him a bit of a birthday snog." Se paused then grinned. "You should try it with Fred sometime."
"Ginny!" cried Hermione, blushing. She couldn't deny that the idea was a good one though.
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Later that night, after Harry's small birthday dinner (they couldn't let him think they'd totally forgotten his birthday after all, considering his history with the Dursleys) Hermione and Fred were headed out to Pixies. Excited to try out her new skill, they apparated to the club. It was Hermione's first time apparating since she had passed her test nearly two weeks ago, and found that she liked it very much. It was a much smoother mode of transportation than portkeying or flooing, and didn't leave the traveler dizzy or dirty afterwards.
Hermione and Fred walked into the club and sat at their usual table, and waved over their drinks. Hermione and Fred sipped on their firewhiskeys before going out for a dance. Suddenly Fred ran over to the stand where the DJ was holding court, and handed him something. The next second he was by her side again, and the muggle song, the Macarena was heard throughout the pub.
Fred dragged Hermione out to the middle of the dance floor and started doing the dance she had taught him a few days ago, when they were together. He motioned for her to begin to dance with him, and Hermione just looked at him thinking 'hell no Fred.' He just rolled his eyes, and put on a puppy dog face. She sighed. It's not like anyone I know is here to see this anyway. What the hell. She went out and joined him, doing a dance that had most of the pub staring confused for five full minutes, before the song ended, and much to everyone's surprise, started up again. This time they were joined by half the club, and Hermione found herself laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes at the attempt of some drunken wizards to complete the dance.
Fred himself was very into the song, and probably wouldn't have noticed if the walls fell down around him. When the song ended the second time Fred grabbed Hermione and pulled her into a very fast dance. She giggled as he lifted her off her feet and swung her around. She wrapped her arms around his neck to keep herself from falling.
"Fred, put me down," she giggled. This was what she liked about hi. Everything was so unexpected and spontaneous. Viktor hadn't been like this, and Ron certainly hadn't. Fred agreeably set her down after one last spin around, and continued dancing, or trying to. All the spinning had made them both dizzy, and they swayed into one another, trying to support themselves. Suddenly they both fell to the floor with a thud. Fred looked around and burst out laughing, shortly followed by Hermione. The other dancers stepped around the couple on the floor, continuing their fun.
"Perhaps we should rest for a bit," said Fred, looking amused.
"Whatever gave you that idea?" asked Hermione playfully. They got up and made their way back to the table, unaware of three pairs of shocked eyes watching them. They talked and joked for a bit longer, and then Fred moved over to give her a quick kiss on the lips which escalated into a passionate snog before either of them could stop it. Hermione felt him run his tongue over her lips, and she opened to it. Her arms circled around his neck, and his hands found their way to her hair. Hermione was feeling lightheaded from his kisses, a feat Ron had never managed, and her stomach would not stop fluttering. Finally when they both pulled away, gasping for air, Hermione looked at him blushing.
"We're in public, and this is supposed to be a secret," she said, half seriously.
"Oops," Fred grinned. "I just couldn't resist, and I know you're not complaining about my manly charms."
"Manly charms indeed," giggled Hermione as she looked up at him again. Suddenly her eyes widened, and she let out a gasp before she grabbed her purse and jumped up. "Fred, I'm going to the loo, alright?" Then without waiting for an answer, she leapt up and rushed off towards the loo with out another word. She turned to look back at Fred when she got to the door to the witches toilets, and saw a look of comprehension come across Fred's face as two figures swooped down on him. His glance flickered over to her for a moment before she disappeared into the loo. Once she got inside, she found it empty with the exception of one person. Hermione gasped.
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"H-hello Angelina," said Hermione nervously, praying to Merlin that the older girl hadn't seen her and Fred.
"Hey Hermione," she replied. "I just discovered this little club. It's fun isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is," replied Hermione.
"I'm here with Alicia and Katie," announced Angelina looking at Hermione oddly for a moment. "We've decided to have a girls' night out, since we won't be able to get the boys to give us two minutes at Harry's party tomorrow night. What about you?"
"I just passed by this place on my way from the Three Broomsticks to talk to Madam Rosemerta about some butterbeer for the party actually," lied Hermione.
"Oh," replied Angelina. "Alright then."
Hermione nervously went about fixing her makeup in the places where it had been smudged from her brief snog session with Fred moments earlier. Angelina stood at the sink next to her for a few moments, doing much the same thing before abruptly turning to stare hard at Hermione. "Hermione, why don't you trust me?"
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione genuinely puzzled at the odd question. "I trust you Angie."
"Obviously not," she replied angrily. "You thought you had to hide you and Fred from me just now."
Hermione paled. Angelina was angry with her, understandably so, and she hadn't any idea what to say.
"Remember what I said to you after Fred and I broke up?" asked Angelina still angry. "I said that Fred and I were better off as friends, and I would be happy to see him with someone else who wants more than that."
Hermione did remember this, and felt bad about not taking Angelina completely seriously. "I'm sorry Angelina," she said slowly. "I guess I jus felt weird about telling his ex girlfriend about me and him. I didn't mean I didn't trust you." Hermione sighed and suddenly realized something. "I guess I know how you feel though. You said you'd make better friends with Fred than anything else, and I understand that better now. I'm the same way with Ron. I think we'd make better friends than anything else, even if he doesn't think so at the moment. I know I wouldn't be mad if he started dating someone else. I'd probably be happy for them, knowing that I didn't completely break his heart, and I should've realized you felt the same way about Fred."
"That's right girl," said Angelina now with a slow smile appearing on her face. "And now-" but before she got to say anything else, Alicia and Katie burst into the room.
"Is everything alright in here?" asked Alicia.
"Of course Leesh," said Angelina grinning.
"Well, Fred kind of freaked out when he'd found out you two were alone in here together," said Katie grinning. "We offered to come in and asses the damage. He's right outside the door."
"Well," said Hermione grinning. "You should probably let him know neither of us has died, but I'll leave the rest up to you."
"Hermione Granger, I'm surprised at you!" cried Alicia. "Fred is certainly rubbing off on you."
"I know," replied Hermione. "You didn't think I would've come here on my own did you?"
"True," said Katie. "We shall give him your message. Come on Leesh." Katie and Alicia arranged their faces into grim emotionless expressions, and exited. Hermione turned back to Angelina.
"What were you saying?" asked Hermione. Angelina broke out into a grin.
"We get to compare notes," she said still grinning.
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Back at the table Fred was looking ready to storm back into the girls' toilet, and Katie and Alicia were getting nervous. They had all seen Hermione and Fred snogging, and afterwards Angelina had stormed off to the loo. When they looked in, things had seemed alright, but they had heard Angelina's anger, and Hermione's frightened apology. Luckily Fred hadn't heard, because that would have only made it worse. They had found out from Fred about him and Hermione for sure when they sat down with him right after Hermione ran off to the loo. He'd been worried when they told him Angie was there too.
They were trying, without much success, to have a conversation with Fred when across the pub, the door to the girls' loo opened and Hermione and Angelina emerged giggling. Fred looked up as they approached the table, and Angelina began to laugh at him.
"Really Fred," she said to him. "You look like you feared her life. I'm not that bad you know." Katie, Alicia, and Hermione all laughed at this. Hermione felt a bit bad for worrying him though, and sat down next to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Fred stuck his tongue out at Angelina. Their waitress, June came back over and brought them all a glass of firewhiskey. Katie, Angelina, and Alicia's eyebrows all shot up in surprise as they witnessed Fred and Hermione drain their glasses simultaneously.
"Fred really is affecting you, Mione," said Katie, watching the couple. "I never pinned you as the type of person who would drink before graduating."
"I bet you didn't expect me to date one of the Weasley twins either," said Hermione grinning. "But that happened, so I guess anything's possible."
"Hey," said Fred feigning hurt. "I'm not that bad."
"Sure," said Katie. "As the girlfriend of the other Weasley twin, I know for a fact that you are really that bad." Everyone laughed at this. When the DJ announced the dance contest, Fred and Hermione jumped up.
"Let's see if anybody worth their wand is willing to challenge the month long champions!" cried the DJ.
With that the dance contest began, and by the time the night was over, Fred and Hermione had won a night of free drinks for the next week.
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The next morning arrived with a bang at the Burrow, literally, as Fred and George had let off a Filibuster Firework in Harry and Ron's room. It was part of the plan that the twins would find a way to get Ron mad. An angry Ron would lead Harry out onto the Weasley's Quidditch paddock, and they would practice all day, coming in at dusk. The twins figured Ron wasn't a good enough actor to pretend to be mad all day, so they had decided everyone would be better off if he was actually pissed. They had also decided that they would punish Harry since they had found the product of the competition in his trunk. It worked perfectly.
After breakfast, Ron was fuming still, and could be seen loading food into a basket, telling Harry that he was going flying for the day so he didn't kill his brothers. Harry, predictably being the nice friend that he was, told Ron he was coming to make sure he didn't do anything dumb. He kissed Ginny on the cheek, and they left. Ginny stood, watching Harry and Ron until they were out of sight before turning to them and barking orders.
"Okay everyone; it's time to get this party started! People will begin arriving at half past four, and Ron and Harry should arrive back inside at half past five if Ron can be counted upon," cried Ginny. "The first thing we need to do, according to Hermione is go get everything we need."
Hermione began to read off a list telling everyone what to do. "George needs to collect the products from WWW! Fred needs to go collect the sweets we have waiting at Honeydukes! Ginny is going to the Three Broomsticks to collect the 10 barrels of mulled mead and butterbeer! I'll go to Florean Fortescue's to pick up some deserts, and Mrs. Weasley will collect Bill and Charlie from The Leaky Cauldron. When you are there you will collect some food items for tonight. Mr. Weasley and Percy will return from the ministry with a clearance of underage magic for tonight. Does everyone know what they're supposed to do?"
There was a chorus of yes's and then Ginny moved to the fire place to floo to Hogsmeade, followed by Mrs. Weasley who stated she didn't have the energy to apparate this morning, and Mr. Weasley and Percy flooed to the ministry. George apparated out next leaving Fred and Hermione alone in the living room.
Fred walked up to her, and wrapped his arms around her waits. She looked up at him, and his lips lowered to meet hers in a quick yet passionate kiss. Hermione pulled away first, worried that Mrs. Weasley or one of the others might return forgetting something. "Some one could see us Fred," she whispered sadly.
"I guess," said Fred. "But that's just more fun."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Hurry and get to Honeydukes. If Ginny finds out that you didn't do everything perfectly she'll have your head. Then I'd never be able to kiss you again. So go on."
Fred winked at her, before apparating out, and Hermione let out a sigh of contentment before leaving as well.
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An hour later, everyone, with the exception of Mr. Weasley and Percy, were gathered in the living room of the Burrow, awaiting orders from either Ginny or Hermione on how to proceed. The two girls in question were currently huddled in the corner over a list and having a quiet argument over weather to set up the decorations, or prepare the food first. Finally they stood up, and Ginny announced that they should gather all the food items and bring them into the kitchen to prepare them on nice platters and things. Bill and Charlie were to stay in the living room and cast an enlargement charm so that everyone invited could fit comfortably inside of it.
Once in the kitchen, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley were staring at a mountain of food. Hermione and Ginny told Mrs. Weasley she could be in charge here, since she was the best cook out of all of them, and always prepared delicious food, and her face lit up.
"The first thing we need to do is separate the sweets from the actual food. Fred and George will be in charge of that. Hermione and Ginny, you need to separate the rest of the desert items from the other food," said Mrs. Weasley, holding Hermione's neat list of what they were to prepare. "And girls, do remember to set a freezing charm around the ice cream please. They nodded their heads and began their task as well.
Two long hours later, the food was all prepared and sitting in nice platters, each carrying at least one hidden Canary Cream, on nearly every surface of the kitchen. Just as Hermione was setting the last one down, a cry of "We've finished!" came from the living room. They all went in to see the regular living room of the Burrow enlarged nearly 10 times, which made it ideal for their large party. The next step was to set the decorations up all around the place, and create a dance floor, and DJ stand.
The group got to work, with Bill and Charlie charming the dance floor, and DJ stand, Fred and George placing Mystery Mistletoe everywhere, ad filling personal poppers with fireworks, fake wands, and some Honeydukes products. Ginny, Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley were putting up streamers, and other decorations for an hour, before Mrs. Weasley announced they should bring the food in. Fred and George were busy pouring disappearing drink in one of the three punch bowls, while everyone else placed warming charms over the majority of the food, and Mrs. Weasley placed another cooling charm over the ice cream.
THUD!
"Fred, George what did you do now?" cried Mrs. Weasley spinning around to face them.
"It wasn't us Mum," said George. He and Fred were grinning at the fireplace. Everyone in the room followed their gaze and met a very angry Professor Snape sprawled on the floor. He was glaring daggers at the twins.
"Hello Molly," he said, finally turning his gaze off Fred and George, which was lucky, as they both burst into silent laughter at that moment. "Albus seems to think it a good idea for me to be here, leaving me no choice on the matter, so here I am."
"Nonsense, Severus," said Dumbledore, apparating next to him, eyes dancing. There was another thud, and McGonagall was on the floor next to Snape. "Ah, someone seems to have placed a slipping hex in front of the fireplace. An accident I'm sure, so I'll just be removing it now."
His eyes were dancing in mirth as they passed over the Weasley twins, before helping the other teacher up. One by one the rest of the guests arrived, and soon the Burrow living room held nearly 40 people. Percy and Mr. Weasley had managed to secure a permit that would grant underage magic for the night. Ginny looked out the window, and saw Harry and Ron coming back down the hill. "Everybody drink!" she screeched. "Here they come!"
There was a scramble to grab cups filled with disappearing drink and quite suddenly everyone disappeared. "Harry I've got to got to use the loo, see you inside!" came Ron's voice, before he came sprinting inside. He grabbed one of the cups and drank, disappearing into the seemingly empty room. A minute later, Harry came walking in.
"Hello?" said Harry looking around the empty enlarged room. "What the hell?" His eyes fell on the decorations, and his eyes widened when the disappearing drink wore off, and the room was suddenly filled with people.
"SURPRISE!"
Harry nearly jumped out of his skin. Then he started to laugh along with everyone else. Hermione ran up to him and give him a hug, closely followed by Ron, and the twins. Ginny was next and to nearly everyone's shock, gave him a kiss. That made Mrs. Weasley squeal in excitement, and run up to Harry screaming "I knew it!" before drowning him in a hug. A smiling Mr. Weasley came to Harry's rescue, and the party was underway.
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The music was loud as Hermione carefully tested a bit of punch. She had already morphed into a canary four times, and was not looking to repeat the experience. The party was well underway as she looked out among the happy crowd. George and Katie were snogging in a corner, as were Bill and Fleur. Charlie and Tonks were dancing near Harry and Ginny. Angelina was with Oliver Wood, snogging, and Ron, having had a bit too much of Fred and George's homemade 'punch' was dancing wildly with Parvati Patil. Lavender and Seamus had disappeared outside together some time ago, as had Lupin and Emmeline Vance, another Order member. Snape was sulking in a corner, and Dumbledore was dancing with Professor McGonagall.
Suddenly a mass of red hair cut off her view of the two professors. "Want to dance milady?" asked Fred extending a hand, and sinking into a comical bow.
"But won't people see us?" she asked.
"Well sure, but I asked George to help me with that little problem earlier," said Fred with a mischievous glint in his eyes. When Hermione raised a questioning eyebrow, he elaborated. "They will assume it's the punch."
"Oh," said Hermione grinning. "Well, I could never deny a lovely gentleman such as yourself to a dance, when he has obviously worked so hard for it."
"Damn right," said Fred grinning at her, before sweeping her out onto the dance floor for the remainder of the night.
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This is kind of a filler chapter, but oh well. Hope you all liked it. I'm trying to get to work on Chapter 7 but I have been reading HBP and it's been distracting. I'll try to get it up soon.
Reviews make things faster!