Damn line is at it again, or rather, not.Anyway, was inspired to update this as well - so even though it's only a short installment, I hope it satisfies. The next is massive - to the point that I haven't actually finished writing it yet. Shouldn't take long, however, just need to.

Won't prolong it any more; thanks all who reviewed:-)

2nd October, 2001

5:29pm

Upon returning to her flat, Hermione dumped all of the things into the cupboards and the fridge.

Oh shit. I'm having tea at Mum and Dad's and I bloody well nearly forgot.

She wondered whether it was worth inviting anyone there with her for dinner and concluded that no, it wasn't. She would have liked to, given that she hadn't taken anyone over there since Johann (forgetting the fact that when she stayed there for her birthday, her friends came over) but she couldn't think of anyone who she really cared to invite. At least not at this stage.

Fred Weasley had not really entered into her mind during the last week due to her pending lab work that had kept her entire days busy. Now that she had a bit of time and had written that letter, she found herself thinking more about what to do. Did she feel anything for him? She knew that it was always fun to be around him. She had found his practical jokes on the unbearable side of brilliant at one point during their school years but now that he was older, his jokes were done few and far between but executed to near perfection. They were well-thought out and even the person on whom they were played marvelled at the way that they were created.

She couldn't deny his ingenuity, his and George's alike. Yet it was strange that while two brothers, twins mind, had grown up creating the perfect joke to play on someone, one had started to mature more and leave his practical joke days behind. It was George who usually thought up jokes nowadays, not so much Fred, unless he very much wanted to piss Percy off, but who didn't want to do that?

Fred was the more mature one when it was he who used to be the more adventurous of the two, the so-called "evil twin". Perhaps his days were catching up to him, Hermione didn't know but what she did know was that since she saw him that night for her birthday, he hadn't ever quite left her mind. She initially put it down to his lingering kiss on the cheek at the end of the night because no matter who it was, most guys usually had that effect on her.

But that didn't explain the way she felt when she remembered the conversation that she had had with him and hearing the concern in his voice as he thought that her drink was over-vodka'ed.

Okay, so maybe she did think more about him than other guys, but was it just because of how he felt about her?

She thought back to their other encounters at either The Burrow or the nightclubs. She remembered seeing him a couple of times with Angelina. The first was at The Burrow one weekend and they both seemed to be smitten with one another. At the time, she couldn't help but feel happy for the two of them but at the same time, sad because she had just broken up with Sean. Another time was when it was the twins' 21st and she saw that there was slight tension in the air between them. Thinking back now, she realised that she had been concerned about them. She thought that they were going to be together for a lot longer and when they broke up not long afterwards, it hit her more than she thought it would. It meant that two people who were seemingly in love could drift apart. It also meant that Fred was now back up for grabs.

What the fuck?

Hermione knew that she had never thought that at the time but she was certainly thinking it now. Fred Weasley, ex-Beater at Hogwarts (who obviously kept working out despite his ban), Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes co-founder, multi-millionaire (not that that was important), not bad-looking either since he cut his hair short again and who also happened to be interested in her, was occupying her thoughts in ways that she didn't think would ever happen with another Weasley.

I think I should talk to Ginny about this.

Her mind drifted back to his cologne, something that she knew was frightfully expensive although she couldn't put a name to it. She knew it was something by Flamenté, the Spanish Wizard cologne genius but couldn't remember what. Not that details were important, although it smelt fantastic.

She knew that her decision was made on the second topic for the day. It was just a matter of how to tell him. Perhaps she should just think about it a little bit more, at least until after dinner with her parents, which incidentally was meant to start in half an hour.

Fuck.

She quickly ran to the shower, quite forgetting a towel ("Fuck!") so that she had to make a mad dash across her loungeroom floor in the nude to grab one, finally managing to do a quick once-over afterwards with her wand before heading out the door.

Comments:

A bit of swearing, I know but remember, Hermione is 21 now. If anyone has a problem with it, I'll be more than happy to up the rating. Otherwise, I'll leave it be.