Author's Note

Thank you so much to funnybb, moonfairy13, Elena Zanettini, Sheila Marie1, Bookworm81, Sarah Taylor4 and, of course, the wonderful jlchetti, you have all made my absolute day by leaving reviews!

I love hearing from you all so please do leave me reviews if you can :)

Love to everyone reading,

Wishin' Girl

x x x

...

The pair chatted for a while longer before returning to the house and playing a few rounds of Wingardium, a magical board game developed by the twins and based on the classic muggle game Cranium but with floating pieces and triggered charms, with Molly and Arthur.

"Well, I think it's an early night for us" Arthur announced at the end of one particularly hard fought game of Fred and Arthur against Molly and Hermione.

The younger pair wished the older couple a goodnight, leaving a tense silence to grow between Hermione and Fred.

"I'm just going out to grab something," Fred declared after enduring several minutes of the quiet tension "want me to pick anything up for you?"

At the responding shake of her head, Fred wandered out to the apparition point at the edge of the wards and vanished without another word.

"Well, no balcony here but the roof is a lovely place to read in the evening sun." Hermione muttered to herself as she grabbed her book from her bag and began to ascend the many stairs to the very top of the towering house.

Settled very comfortably on a dip in the tiles Hermione soon became engrossed in her book, an old muggle novel called Pride and Prejudice, which was her comforting go to novel when she had had a long day. She was so engrossed in the comical, romantic tales of the women of the Bennet family that she missed the crack of apparition marking Fred's return and barely even noticed him climbing out of the slanting window and onto the warm tiled roof to join her.

"Did you get what you needed?" She asked kindly, feeling a lot warmer towards him now that he had convinced her it wasn't him that had pranked her usually delightful smelling home.

"I just went to buy this" he replied, brandishing a chilled bottle of white wine, the simple label read Gilbourg Chenin blanc, and two empty wine glasses "you mentioned you had planned on drinking wine this evening so…"

He trailed off self consciously until her expression of astonishment transformed into one of delight and she smiled warmly at him.

"Thank you" she said simply with a soft smile.

"My pleasure" and he poured them each a glass, his with only half the amount of hers so that she could have plenty more.

"You remembered." She whispered happily, so quietly that he wouldn't have heard her if he wasn't so tuned in to her voice, as she took her first sip and revelled in the taste of her favourite wine.

Fred just beamed in response and lay back against the roof's tiles beside her, enjoying the warm summer rays on his skin and watching her as she sipped her wine and buried herself back in her book. As the hour grew late and the sun began to fade towards the orchard Hermione found herself snuggled up beside Fred's warm body. At some point during the past few hours his arm had sneaked around her shoulder and the back of her head had come to rest on the side of his chest. With a shiver at the dropping temperature and growing darkness Fred wrapped her more tightly into his side to share his warmth and she happily put down her book to admire the peaking stars.

"Top up?" Fred asked rhetorically as he poured the remainder of the bottle into her empty glass.

"Thank you." She replied softly curling into his side.

They watched as the stars began to pepper the night sky until sleep claimed them both.

Dawn rose early the next morning and woke the snoozing pair. With great effort and grogginess they clambered back inside and retired to their own rooms, Hermione kipping in Ginny's, with a whispered goodnight from Fred and a kiss on the cheek from her.

The second time they both awoke that morning wasn't anywhere near as enjoyable. A ministry owl had arrived in the kitchen dropping off a letter for Fred and Molly's morning wake up call drew them both downstairs, sleepy eyed and pyjama clad.

"This came for you dear" Molly handed the sealed letter over to Fred and sat down beside him as he turned the envelope over and over in his shaking hands.

Both he and Hermione stared at the ministry seal in trepidation. It was Thursday 3rd June, the date he would be informed of his match. The name of the woman he had to marry and have children with was sealed inside this envelope while the woman he wished it could have been was sat nervously opposite him, so close but yet so far out of reach.

He reached out and she took his hand in solidarity as he popped open the wax seal with the other hand, drew out the letter and began to read.

Dear Mr Frederick G. Weasley,

Congratulations!

As per the details of the Love Law, no application has been made for a marriage licence or extension under clauses A to F. As such, the Department for Love and Families (DLF) has allocated you with a match of the opposite sex from the list of half blood and muggle born volunteers held by the DLF. You will find their name below and now have until Tuesday 3rd August, two months from today, to get to know your future spouse and either formally accept or reject this match and then until Sunday 3rd October, four months from today, to complete the marriage including consummation, for further details on consummation requirements see the attached pamphlet.

We encourage you whole heartedly to build a firm friendship with your match, however you do have the option to reject this DLF provided match if there is a serious issue. Be warned however that if you do reject this match without providing the details of an eligible alternative with whom you are applying for a marriage licence instead by Tuesday 3rd August, then you are legally required to accept your second DLF provided match and marry them by Sunday 3rd October.

Love based on friendship is a much more stable base for a family than any other, so we implore you to build a strong foundation now with your match.

Your future spouse and the mother of your future children will be:

Gloria Eloise Nott

Aged 21

Half blood

With love and the very best of wishes,

Madam Amouretta Pragma

Head of the Department for Love and Families