A/N: Oh my- I've gotten so many great reviews I can't even believe it. You guys are the best. To answer the questions-the reasons why the Weasley children are betrothed and to whom will be explained in later chapters as well as Bill's decision. He he. So without further ado…

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You all know it.

Huh?

To say Hermione was floored was an understatement. She stood staring at down at Fred with her mouth hanging open for so long that he was beginning to wonder if she'd fainted while standing up. If that was even possible.

"Hermione?" Fred asked shaking her hand which he still held.

"Huh?" she said in a dazed voice.

"Aren't you going to answer me?" he looked up at her expectantly.

It took several minutes for her to regain her composure. "Are you mad?!" she screeched wrenching her hand away from his.

Fred stood up. "Shh. Do you want the whole house up here?" He hissed.

"Calm down?" You j-just asked me to marry you. What-what are you thinking? She sputtered. "Are you thinking?"

Fred promptly clamped a hand over her mouth to prevent any more yelling. She glared at him and pulled away. Then he replied in a calm, even tone, "I'm thinking of how unfair this whole thing is. And the only way I can think to get out of it is to marry someone else."

"Why me?" she inquired.

He shrugged. "It makes sense. You're friends with my brother and my sister; you stay with us almost every break. No one would think it was so weird if we got together."

Hermione snorted. "Not unless they knew us."

"Haven't you ever heard the expression opposites attract?" She raised her eyebrows. "Okay. It'll be hard to convince people but we can do it." He stated.

Hermione looked up at Fred. Here he was proposing as if it were some business deal and sounding as if it were the most logical thing in the world. She reminded herself to ask Mrs. Weasley if she ever dropped him on his head as a baby.

"No offense, but why should I even consider this?" Hermione asked.

"Because I need your help." He whispered.

Hermione looked into Fred's blue eyes, pleading with her and felt her resolve crumble. He was right-it was unfair. Who someone marries shouldn't be decided by their parents. Her heart went out to him, but she didn't think she could do it.

"Why not ask Angelina? Or Katie?" she asked desperately.

"Angelina's too busy with Quidditch and Oliver would render me unable to have children if I asked Katie." Fred replied. "Besides, you're the smartest person I know. You'll figure out how to get us out of it eventually. Please Hermione. I need you." His voice cracked at the end. So did her heart.

"What about Ron? This'll kill him."

He looked at her. "He'll be alright. So will everyone else. I promise I would never ask you to do this if I thought it would cause problems with my family or Harry."

Hermione bit her lip. She wasn't so sure about Ron getting 'over it' as Fred put it. She may have pretended she didn't know about Ron's feelings, but he wasn't very subtle. The rest of Fred's promise was more believable. He would never purposely hurt his family or her. And she loved the Weasley's, all of them. Even Percy. They were like her family. If there was a way she could help one of them shouldn't she do it.

"Alright." She told him.

A huge grin spread across Fred's face. He whooped and scooped Hermione off the ground and up into his arms, spinning her around.

At that precise moment George decided to open the door. The look on his face upon seeing Hermione in a shirtless Fred's face was priceless. Under any other circumstances they both would have found it very funny. Fred quickly put her down.

"Am I interrupting something?" he asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"No. I was just saying goodnight and now I'm off to bed." Hermione replied. Blushing scarlet she fled to Ginny's room as quickly as possible. George watched her go, then turned back to find Fred had vanished.