A/N: Hello everybody! I'm having such a good day I thought I'd update and make all of you happy too.
padfootmoony: You'll just have to wait and see.
c-dog: I agree, I'd marry him and he's not even real.
thamker: I don't want to give anything away, but I wouldn't count on it.
Mizfit Faerie: You're welcome. He'll show up later in the story. I wasn't planning on it, but I've had so many requests for him I've decided to write him in.
Preetoaka Raven Potter Weasley: You're welcome, I'm not sure who's gonna be paired in the next one. Maybe I'll write one about the two of them for you. Just have to wait and see. Maybe another Fred/Hermione?
EmailyGirl: I know just what you mean-and I didn't make him adorable, I just expanded on it. : )
Tania25: No offense taken. But I wouldn't count on that being the last Fred sees of Mr. Granger. : )
DarkRaven-04: Sorry, no meanness (is that a word?) intended.
SnowHedwig05: Thank you, thank you. I'd like to thank the Academy…
Ashley579: Who knows?
chibichibi386?
Katrina Tonak: Oh, I'm sure you will.
silver gaze: Evil? Thank you.
Everybody Else: Love, love, love you all!
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Disclaimer: Ha, ha.
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Adjustment Period
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Fred woke up the next morning and thought he was being smothered. He started sputtering and swatting in an attempt to extract himself from whatever it was that was all over his face. He opened his eyes and realized that it was hair. Specifically, it was Hermione's hair. He raised his head up and looked at her. She was asleep practically on top of him. Not only was her hair in his face, but she had flung her arm across his waist, her ankle was tangled over his, and she was using his chest as a pillow.
This was not going to work. Fred could just feel that it was way to early and he needed some more sleep. But he couldn't fall asleep on his back. He shifted a little, trying to get Hermione to roll over or something, but it didn't work. Instead, she just scrunched up her nose and burrowed her head deeper against him. He sighed. He hated to wake her, she looked so peaceful. Hermione always looked so…intent, so focused. This was the first time he could remember not seeing her look like she was deep in thought about something.
It looked like falling asleep on his back was something he was going to have to learn to do.
-
Hermione woke up feeling extremely comfortable. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept so well. She snuggled against her pillow, trying to go back to sleep. Then her pillow moved.
Her eyes shot open. She wasn't on a pillow at all. She was on Fred. And her leg and arm were both wrapped around him. Not good. How could she possibly explain this? She didn't even know how it had happened. She slowly tried to disentangle herself from him, desperate not to wake him up.
"Morning." Fred's voice, husky with sleep, greeted her.
Hermione looked up. Fred was grinning down at her; obviously he knew what she had been trying to do, and how she had been sleeping. She felt herself go red.
"Morning." She said back cheerily. She quickly jumped out of bed and threw on her robe. "Breakfast?"
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"I don't like them." Fred repeated stubbornly.
"How can you not like them?" Hermione cried in exasperation.
Fred shrugged. "They're boring."
Hermione screamed in frustration and threw the paint samples against the wall. She had been trying for the last half hour to get Fred to choose new color schemes for the flat. So far, he had vetoed all eight of her choices.
"Couldn't you pick something more interesting?" Fred asked her.
"Like what?" she yelled.
"I don't know…just…different." He answered slowly.
"Well that really clears it up. At least I consulted you first. I'm not the one who decorated the whole place without thinking of what anyone else would want!" she screamed at him.
Whoa. Had she really just said that? As many times as she had caught Fred and George doing stuff at school, she had never actually yelled at either of them before. The room had gone eerily quiet. Fred was looking at her like he didn't recognize her. She noted that his ears were turning a dangerous shade of red. That was not a good sign. Ron and Ginny id the same thing right before they blew up at someone. Hermione prepared herself.
Just as Fred opened his mouth, the door opened. George popped his head inside. "Bad time?" he asked jokingly.
That was when he noticed that both of them were rather red in the face and breathing heavily. Uh-oh. "Listen," he began, "I heard the yelling downstairs and decided to come up to keep you two from killing each other. What's going on?"
"She...she wants to… redecorate!" Fred yelled pointing a finger at Hermione.
George just stared at his brother before bursting into laughter. "That's what all this is about?"
"Do you have any idea how long this took me?" Fred said to his brother.
"Yes I do. I helped you, remember? And I told you not to do anything without Hermione." George replied, crossing his arms over his chest.
Hermione nodded in satisfaction. "Thank you George." She said. Then she turned to Fred. "How about a compromise?"
"Like what?" he asked suspiciously.
"Well, we keep the furniture you got, but just change the colors so everything matches. And we can keep some of the pictures. But you let me put up some that I like, too." She explained.
"Sounds reasonable to me." George said.
Fred glared at his twin.
"Right. Night you two. Please keep all bloodshed out of the shop." George told them before disappearing down the stairs.
Hermione looked at Fred expectantly. He sighed. "All right." He agreed.
"Thank you. We can go shopping tomorrow." She said happily before gathering up her paint samples.
"Save me now." He muttered under his breath.
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"I'm dying." Fred cried from the bed.
"You are not dying." Hermione said crossly from the other side of the room.
"Tell that to my feet." He murmured.
"Oh, stop it. We have work to do."
"Work?" he cried.
"Yes. We've picked everything out, now we've got to put it up." She explained.
"Hermione, we're magical. Just charm the pictures to hang themselves."
"Fine." She agreed. "Lazy." She said under her breath.
"I heard that."
She ignored him. Saying the incantation, she pointed her wand at the pictures. Immediately, the ones she disliked floated under the bed, and the new ones went up in their places. She nodded in approval. Then she walked over to the bed. With another spell and one more flick, the comforter turned from neon orange to deep red. After a few minutes, everything in the room was redone in red and pale yellow, accented by cherry stained wood.
"Gryffindor colors?" Fred asked amused.
"I thought it would be…comforting." She replied.
"Very. Thanks for letting me keep those two." He pointed at a poster of the Cannons next to one of Wendelin the Weird, both now encased in cherry frames.
"Well you do like them. Besides, they match." She said. "Now for the living room."
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The next morning Fred sat at the newly redone oak table in the kitchen, pondering how he had ended up here. He gazed around at the now green and cream kitchen that Hermione insisted accented the navy and gray she had used in the living room. Like the bedroom, she kept up the pictures he had chosen that matched. Though he wouldn't admitted it, he really liked the one she had hung over the couch. It featured stars swirling over a little town, by someone named Vingoe or something. As good as the place looked, he was still uneasy.
Never in his life had he imagined he'd be pretend married to Hermione, living in a flat she decorated. Certainly not one over his shop. He always thought that when he got married, he and his wife would get a big house in the country near the Burrow. They'd have a Quidditch pitch in the backyard, and lots of trees. Plus he had always planned on being in love with whoever he married. So what had led to this? He knew what, his parents. Now he was married to his little brother's crush, trying to get out of arranged marriage to some deranged French girl. But as far as fake wives went, Hermione wasn't too bad.
Suddenly Hermione came out of the bedroom fastening her robe over his Cannons shirt that she had slept in every night. He silently thanked…whoever. He didn't know if he could take seeing her in that 'outfit' of hers again. It did strange things to him. "Morning." He said.
"Good morning. How long have you been up?" she asked as she poured herself some cereal.
"Not long." He replied. Actually, he had been up for over an hour. He woke up with Hermione asleep on him like she had been that first morning. In fact, he woke up like that everyday, for Hermione had slept like that every night. It was starting to get to him. But he'd be hanged, if he could figure out why.
"How long will you be gone?" she asked, breaking into his thoughts. She knew something was bothering him, but what?
"Until five." He answered. He and George were opening up a branch of their store in Hogsmeade and they had their first consultation with the realtors today. "You?"
"Probably the same." she answered. For some reason Ginny had the desire to buy new robes, and had enlisted Hermione to go shopping with her. "Dinner's at seven." Ginny, along with Ron, George, and Harry were coming over for dinner that night. They were both nervous. They were still getting used to pretending to be married, and a whole dinner was unnerving them both.
"Bye." He told her as he headed towards the stairs. "I'll let you know if I'm going to be late."
Fred continued down the stairs wondering why he suddenly felt as if he and Hermione were really married.
Back inside, Hermione was getting worried. Why did it feel like she and Fred were a real married couple having a fight? And why did it bother her so much? She sighed as she got up to go get dressed. She would find out what was wrong with Fred later. For now, she had robes to buy.
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Hermione apparated into the flat around three o'clock, thoroughly exhausted. She was so tired, that she didn't even mind the apparating. Ginny had drug her to every shop in Diagon Alley looking for just the right green robes. Hermione drew the line when Ginny had suggested going to Hogsmeade.
Hermione wandered into the bedroom, ready for a shower and a nap. She had to fix dinner, than pack for the trip back to Hogwarts the next day. She undressed, letting her clothes fall to the floor. Knowing that Fred was in Hogsmeade until five, she didn't bother putting on her robe. She walked over to the bathroom door and pushed it open, ready for a long, hot shower…
…only to see Fred standing there towel drying his hair. Apparently, like her, he had expected to be the only one home.
And like her, he was completely naked.
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A/N: Ahh! (Author ducks various flying objects) Don't hate me-I promise this is necessary to the plot. In the next chapter: Bill needs a favor, Ron is up to no good, Neville and Luna come into the story, and Hermione and Fred deal with their newest 'situation.' See you next time.
