"Fred?" Hermione called out upon flooing into the living room of his flat. Much like in London, he lived above the Hogsmeade WWW store. Unlike in London, however, it was small and surprisingly tasteful in its decor. While Hermione knew Angie redecorated after Fred left, the bright greens and purples and oranges hadn't made the move with him either.
The flat was, in a word, cozy. The living room had a sofa and overstuffed armchair in a darker tone of Gryffindor red, with a round coffee table set in between them. On the wall to her left hung a gift Hermione had made for Fred for his birthday earlier that year with Ginny's help. She'd dug all of their original product designs, recipes, packaging sketches and WWW logo drafts from storage at The Burrow and pasted them together in a collage. Fred had immediately framed it and hung it proudly on the wall, much to Hermione's outwardly subdued delight. Every time she came over and saw the piece, it made her feel as if their friendship was something permanent in his life.
Against the other wall, framed by two windows overlooking the street in the village, was a small dining table with two place settings and a lit candle. There were other lights on in the apartment, but the candle still made Hermione's stomach flip-flop.
"Fred?" she called again, a bit louder this time.
"Kitchen!" he responded, voice coming from the hall beside the sofa. Hermione set her bag on the arm of the chair and kicked off her boots, leaving them beside the fireplace before padding across the wood floor, clutching the bottle of wine she'd brought.
"Whatever you're making smells wonderful," she commented, rounding the corner and being pleasantly enveloped in the aroma of basil and garlic. Fred was beside the stove on one wall, having exchanged his jumper from earlier for a dark blue button-down that had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
"Pasta in tomato cream sauce – that one I made last month that you insisted was 'the best thing you'd ever eaten,'" he said over his shoulder with a cheeky grin.
"Mmm, I think you're remembering incorrectly," she said, setting the bottle of pinot noir on the counter and retrieving two glasses from the cupboard. There was a comfortable familiarity to the act; it was something she had done perhaps a hundred times in the past year.
"No way, I distinctly remember you making some rather erotic noises while you ate it."
She huffed out an embarrassed laugh and swatted him on the shoulder before uncorking the bottle of wine and pouring them each a glass.
"I'll drink both of these myself," she threatened, holding them out of range when he reached for one, still stirring the pan of simmering sauce on the stove with one hand.
After a moment of contemplation and several more failed attempts to grab it from her, he surrendered, and she handed him the wine before jumping up to sit on the counter beside the sink and grabbing an errant chunk of tomato off the cutting board.
"So did Theo survive craft day?" Fred asked, taking a sip from his glass.
"Barely," Hermione replied, "I swear, one of these days he's going to run away from that school screaming and never come back. I won't even be able to blame him for it."
"I doubt it. I know my experience is limited, but they all seem like good kids."
"Good kids are still very messy, very loud kids," she joked as she took a draft from her own glass, the subtle undertone of black cherry rolling across her tongue.
"Taste," Fred instructed, turning from the stove and cupping his hand beneath a wooden spoon coated in sauce, presenting it to her. She leaned forward and parted her lips, taking the edge into her mouth and sampling the offering, failing to notice that his breath hitched a bit.
"Needs a bit of salt," she concluded, smacking her lips lightly and leaning back again as he returned to the stove.
Several adjustments later, they had migrated to the table in the other room, each with a steaming bowl of pasta in front of them.
"I can't believe you still haven't set up your tree," Hermione chastised, taking a bite of her food and pointedly suppressing a moan. It truly was amazing. "Christmas is less than two weeks away."
"I know, but the store has been absurdly busy. Today was my first day off in weeks! George had to lend me Verity from the Diagon Alley shop. She's still downstairs as we speak."
He had a point – the shop closed at eight and their dinners had been pushed back to accommodate in the past several weeks. Usually he could leave the store in the hands of Jeremy for the last couple hours, a recent Hogwarts grad that was living in the village and had been brought on several months ago, but with the influx of holiday shoppers, one person simply wasn't enough most of the time.
"Why don't you bring on someone seasonal to help out? Christmas and back-to-school are always so chaotic."
"Maybe; Ginny offered to lend a hand since she's back at the castle for the holidays, but her and Harry don't get all that much time together as it is."
"I mean… I'm finished with the kids on Tuesday. There's a bit of cleaning to be done, but I can come help man the till for a few hours a day if you'd like."
"Oh, you don't have to do that," Fred said quickly, reaching to refill his wine glass and, after receiving a nod, doing the same to hers. "I know it's your time off."
"I don't mind really. I just have a little admin work to get sorted, but classes don't resume until January. It's not like I have much else going on anyway."
If she was honest, the holidays were always a little hard on Hermione. Last year was overshadowed by George and Angelina's wedding, which had been held on 26 December, but prior to that Hermione had a tendency to self-isolate while others partook in festivities, typically succumbing to Christmas dinner at The Burrow and little else.
It wasn't that she disliked Christmas, quite the opposite, but it reminded her of spending the holidays with her parents, who were still in Australia and blissfully unaware of her existence; even as the years passed, that wound still smarted a bit.
"If you're sure you don't mind," he said, giving her a doubtful look. "This time of year, we're busiest between five and closing."
"Consider it done," she said, taking another heavenly bite of her dinner. "And we are decorating this flat tonight."
"Are we?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her proclamation and smiling.
"Yep," she affirmed, the wine going to her head ever so slightly. "You said it's your only day off, and this place is in desperate need of a properly trimmed tree."
He studied her face, noting the pink tint to her cheeks, and in that moment, he couldn't imagine a universe in which he denied her anything at all.
"As you wish," he said, dipping his head. "Are we conjuring a tree, or traipsing into the forest to retrieve one?"
"Ordinarily I would say we should get a real one, but it's terribly cold out tonight…"
"Conjured it is."
They finished their dinner and Fred cleared the plates and retrieved a second bottle of wine while Hermione shifted the furniture around to make room for the newly minted evergreen that stood perhaps seven feet tall beside the crackling fireplace; she even charmed it to smell faintly of pine. The conjuration wouldn't last forever, but it would survive the next week and a half at least.
"Decorations?" Hermione called out.
"I think they're in the attic?" Fred mused, striding back into the room and levitating their glasses with the new bottle of wine. "I'm not certain. I didn't even get around to putting a tree up last year with everything that was going on."
After some hunting, they unearthed a couple dusty boxes of garland and ornaments from the crawl space in the hallway.
Hermione flicked her wand at the radio in the corner when they walked back into the living room; it wasn't muggle like hers, so rather than Silent Night or Jingle Bells, Celestia Warbeck's voice floated through the speakers as they unpacked the decorations and set them on the sofa.
Out of all the charms that ring my bell
There's nothing like a holiday spell!
She stole a glance sideways to see Fred's head tilted a bit in concentration as he began to strategically hang ornaments on the tree, and she couldn't help but smile. There was just something about the man, a warmth that would keep even the coldest December night at bay, and she wanted nothing more than to wrap herself in it. Would that be fair to him though?
"Are you planning to help at all?" he teased after a moment, looking over his shoulder at her still form.
"Of course," she said with a breathless laugh as she remembered herself, stepping beside him and placing a glass ornament that looked like an icicle on the tree. They continued on like this, idly chatting and drinking while the music changed every few minutes, until all but two bulbs were left. Fred hooked his on an empty branch and turned to see Hermione on her tiptoes, trying to place hers on another that was just out of reach.
After rapidly debating the options at his disposal, he stepped behind her so his chest brushed her back. She smelled like peppermint and cedarwood, and something heady that was uniquely Hermione.
"May I?" he asked, and she stilled for a second before nodding. Rather than simply taking the ornament, he reached a hand around and placed it over hers, muttering a wandless levitation charm so it floated the last few inches to the branch she'd been trying to reach, looping neatly over the needles. She could have done it herself, but both their heads were a little fuzzy from the alcohol.
But as long as we're together, the weather can put on a show
'Cause we'll be safe and warm beneath the mistletoe
She twisted, still on her tiptoes and caught between him and the tree. Warm brown eyes collided with deep blue, and she drew in a shaky breath, acutely aware that his hand was still wrapped around hers. Then everything stilled; just as he began to lean in, there was a knock at the door. He looked as if he debated ignoring it but ultimately broke away to answer, leaving Hermione to release a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.
"Hey Verity," he said as the door swung open to reveal the blonde woman at the top of the stairs that lead down to the shop.
"Hey Fred – hi Hermione," Verity said, catching sight of Hermione in the room and offering a little wave before turning back to her provisional boss. "Just wanted to let you know everything is locked up downstairs before I head out. Money is in the safe and shelves are restocked."
"Thanks again for coming to help out," Fred said in a purposefully friendly tone, trying to suppress his frustration over the interruption.
"It wasn't any bother at all; you two have a good night!"
She departed and Fred shut the door behind her. He crossed the room back to Hermione, but it was as if the air had shifted. There was a cover of God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs playing now and Hermione had moved to untangle the garland on the sofa, keeping her eyes downcast.
Her mind was racing. He was going to kiss her. He had been moving in to kiss her. And the reality of the situation hit her like a ton of bricks.
Right now, when it was just the two of them, this made sense, but she wasn't sure it would when they got back to the rest of the world. Fred was arguably her best friend these days. She didn't know if she could risk losing him, and she didn't know if, or how, this would play into a life changing decision that she'd already set in motion weeks ago.
He seemed to sense the change too and silently began to conjure tiny balls of soft yellow light that rested between the branches while she wound the silver garland around the tree. When it was done, they topped the display with a star that was enchanted to glow and took a seat on the sofa. They extinguished the rest of the lights in the flat so the tree looked positively mesmerizing, twinkling and casting shadows.
The room was silent except for the fire crackling and soft instrumental music drifting from the radio in the corner. Snow had begun to fall outside the dark window and, once again, the rest of the world faded away.
"Fred," Hermione started tentatively, taking a sip from her nearly empty wine glass and steeling herself, "can I tell you something? Something I haven't told anyone else yet?"
"Of course," he responded immediately, looking a bit concerned as he turned toward her. She chewed the edge of her lip for a moment before speaking again.
"A couple weeks ago… I asked Draco about adopting Charlotte."
Fred's eyebrows shot into his hairline for a moment and Hermione held her breath.
"Wow, I didn't know you were… that's brilliant Hermione."
"Really?" she looked sideways, searching his face for any hint of the doubt she'd been feeling about the decision.
"Absolutely," he affirmed, forcefully stuffing down the tidal wave of emotions that threatened to overwhelm him. While he knew she was telling him this in confidence, as friends, he couldn't help but feel it was a way of saying 'not right now' to what had nearly just happened between them. "I can't think of someone that would be a better mum to her. To any kid really."
"I don't know the first thing about being a mum," she admitted, staring a hole in the coffee table and twisting the stem of her glass between her fingers. She'd been debating the prospect for weeks and, while she didn't have any doubts that she would love the little girl, she wasn't sure if she could be everything Charlotte would need her to be.
"Hermione, I've known you for nearly fifteen years now. I've never met anyone more determined to do something, and do it well, once they set their mind to it."
"I'm not supposed to take her until the new year," she said, shifting to curl her legs beneath her, "and Draco hasn't mentioned anything to her about it yet. We agreed to wait until after Christmas so I had time to be sure."
"If it's what you want, then I think you should do it."
Hermione couldn't help but feel that her decision about this came at a cost.
"I'm scared," she admitted, "I would be doing it on my own. Harry and Ginny have their own lives, Ron has his family, my parents are… and even Theo is getting serious with Neville."
"Geez, way to wound a guy," Fred joked, bumping her shoulder with his.
"I didn't mean – I didn't want to assume –"
"For someone so intelligent, you're being thick. Don't tell my half-dozen siblings, but besides George you're the most important person in my life Hermione. Of course I'll help you."
She looked over at him to find that he was looking at the tree again, lights twinkling in his eyes, but she couldn't ignore that there was a hint of disappointment on his face. And there it was, the thing she had been dreading; the reason she'd been ignoring whatever it was between them.
Hermione wasn't stupid, she didn't need Theo to point out that there was, in fact, something between them. Or, at the very least, the possibility of something.
He was her friend, of course he would help and support her, but that didn't mean he wanted to be in a relationship with someone that had a child. And Hermione couldn't be upset about that because it was an absolutely understandable stance. Fred had frequently talked about wanting his own children, of course he wouldn't be interested in a ready-made family with an eight-year-old and an overweight cat.
Furthermore, Hermione wouldn't be able to make their relationship the priority if she did this, at least not for a while. And that wasn't fair to him. Fred deserved the world, not whatever attention she was able to spare.
"Thank you, Fred," she said, trying to impart as much genuine appreciation for him as she possibly could in the words.
She budged over and let her head rest on his shoulder, feeling his cheek settle on top of it a second later. And as the snow fell outside and the night grew colder still, for a few blissful moments she ignored that it was unfair and simply let herself be enveloped in his warmth.