The next morning, Hermione definitely regretted her many beers. She woke up with burning eyes and a sore throat, but it was nothing compared to her pounding headache. She had to force herself out of bed, and pulled on one of her work dresses with a yawn. She took a look at herself in the mirror and decided to just give up on her hair in advance. Within 10 minutes she was sitting down at her desk at the Ministry, ready for yet another hectic day.

During her day at work, she didn't have much time to think about the night before, but whenever she had just a minute to herself, she thought about Fred. She couldn't believe he had come back - and not only had he come back but he had also been friendly and welcoming. Not exactly what she had expected but she didn't mind. She had to admit that she was glad that he had come home and that they were on speaking terms again. She had missed him more than she had let on, and the thought of seeing him again soon made the day at work - hungover or not - pass incredibly fast.

She came home from work late in the afternoon, lit some candles, made herself a cup of tea and cozied up under a blanket with a good book. She was just about to doze off when she heard a tap on her window. She put down her book and went over to the window where a tawny owl with an envelope was hooting in her windowsill.

The way Fred had written her name on the envelope made her smile. Not that it was anything extraordinary, it was just Fred - and it was nice to have him write letters to her again.

Hermione, I hope the owl found your place.
...Also hope you're still alive. It was very nice seeing you again.
Had fun last night - paying the price today, however...
I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner together tonight? There's this new place in muggle London and they're supposed to have the best take-away pizza in town. I could pick some up.
/F

By the time Hermione was done reading his letter, she was smiling from ear to ear. Within a heartbeat, she had pulled out quill and ink and was writing him a reply.

Fred,
I had fun with you too.
Barely alive today. Felt like a zombie at work. Worth it though.
I will be over in half an hour. Excited to see if you remember my favourite pizza.
- Hermione

Hermione quickly went to the bathroom to wash up a bit before going over to Fred's place. Considering the amount of energy she had put into hating him all these years, she felt rather stupid for getting all excited just because he was bringing them pizza. But Fred bringing her a pizza funghi while he was drooling over his ghastly pineapple pizza was somewhat of a tradition they had had when they had just started becoming friends.

Hermione took one last look in the mirror before she flooed to Fred's flat above the first Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Elegantly, she stepped out of the green flames and was immediately met by a smiling Fred.

"Hey," he beamed at her, "I hope you're hungry," he held up two large pizza boxes.

"Starving!" Hermione smiled at him and grabbed the top box from his hands before she sat down at the dinner table.

"Moment of truth!" Fred winked at her as she was about to open the lid to the box.

She shot him a tentative smile before she opened the lid, revealing her favourite pizza, "you remembered," she beamed at him.

"Of course I remember!" He smiled back, "Funghi for you, Hawaii for me, and a pepperoni for George. The holy trinity," Fred took the seat opposite Hermione and grabbed a slice of his horrible Hawaiian-style pizza that he eyed lovingly before sinking his teeth into it.

"Bloody amazing!" he exclaimed incredulously, pizza flying everywhere as he spoke.

"Still the charming eater I see," Hermione said and wiped off a piece of half-chewed ham from her arm.

"Hey hey hey, I still have a killer sense of humour, amazingly good looks, and a fairly good business. Can't have everything," Fred shrugged with a smile, "that's why I have a dating rule; never take a girl out to eat on the first date!"

"So spitting food everywhere is only a turn-off if you're on a first date? How about the rest of us who have to endure you the rest of the meals?"

"You know me too well, Hermione," he winked at her, "You're immune."

Hermione chuckled at his remark before turning her attention towards the pizza in front of her. She took a bite and looked around Fred's living-room while chewing. She realised that she hadn't been there since before George moved out.

"What's it like being back here?" she asked him.

Fred looked around the room, "I love the flat..." he held a small break before continuing, "but it gets empty here alone. I was actually happy to leave the place when I went travelling."

"I thought you said that it was nice still having the flat?" Hermione recalled their conversation from the night before.

"It is," Fred nodded, "definitely a great comfort to know that if all else fails, I still have the flat in Diagon Alley."

"Why would things fail?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at him.

"I don't know," Fred smiled, "I guess I just feel weird being back here," he looked around the room, "Maybe I only keep the place so I have an excuse to come back to London. I don't know what would happen if I gave it up."

Hermione felt her stomach turn, "are you saying that you've considered not coming back?"

"Well..." Fred shrugged, "not much for me here."

"Not much for you?" Hermione exclaimed, "what about your friends and family? What about me?"

Fred raised an eyebrow at her. She knew that he was thinking the same thing she was; were they still friends? He didn't comment on it, though. "Everybody seems to be growing up," he sighed and put down the pizza slice he had been holding in his hands, "All my acquaintances in London are either in committed relationships, are married, already have children or have babies on the way. And I'm not even remotely close to settling down."

"What about me?" Hermione piped.

Fred shot her a look.

"What?" she asked him.

"What about your boyfriend?" Fred said, a weird strain in his voice.

"My boyfriend? I don't have a boyfriend."

Fred looked at her with squinted eyes, clearly not believing her.

"I don't," Hermione said, laughing at him.

"George said you did?"

"What?" Hermione blinked a few times, "George said that?" She racked her brain for things she might've said to George that he could've misunderstood, but nothing came to mind. A few months ago, she had been on a couple of dates with her colleague's friend Matthew but she had deliberately not told George about him as he hadn't been anything interesting. "Well, to be honest, I don't have the faintest idea of who he could've meant..." she finally concluded.

Fred looked suddenly annoyed but he didn't say anything.

"Okay, what's going on?" Hermione demanded to know.

Fred just shook his head, avoiding her glance, "just surprised to learn that you're not seeing anybody. That's all.."

"Why does it matter?" Hermione was getting annoyed with him.

"It doesn't," Fred shrugged and sent her a small smile, "if you're done with your pizza, I have something I'd like to show you."

Still a bit annoyed, Hermione pushed away her pizza, indicating that she was full.

"Alright," Fred said and stood up. Hermione followed him down the narrow staircase to the stock room below his flat.

"New inventions?" She asked him curiously.

"Yep," he said and pulled out a box with small holes in it, "come, take a look!"

Hermione stepped forwards, craning her neck to see what he was holding. All she could see was some sort of red and golden fur. The thing in the box stirred slightly and a set of jet black eyes above a golden beak came in to view.

"Is that... a phoenix?" She gasped.

Fred crouched and tipped the box at an angle that made a ball of fluff roll out. A pygmy phoenix was staring at her, its normal feathers replaced by the softest-looking fur. Hermione crouched down next to Fred, taking in the small creature who was eyeing her with great interest. "I have never seen anything like it," Hermione muttered.

"Lee's idea," Fred winked at her.

"Wait - you made it?" She looked at him, perplexed.

"Yep, transfigured a feather from a real phoenix I had the pleasure of bumping into in Ukraine."

"This is really extraordinary magic!" Hermione exclaimed, looking at Fred incredulously, "how long do you reckon it'll live?"

"Don't know. I've had her for about three months. At first, I thought she would shed the baby-fur and grow feathers within a couple of weeks but for some reason, she's stayed like this. Like a small fluffy bird," he smiled lopsidedly at the bird who was playing with a ball that it had found in the cardboard box that Fred was holding.

Fred took a seat in the sofa behind him, clapping the cushion beside him twice, gesturing for Hermione to come sit down next to him, "I need a name for when we go into production - as I recall, you've always been quite good coming up with stuff like this."

"Furnix," Hermione shrugged immediately, "Furry phoenix. Furnix."

Fred looked at her with huge eyes, "how are you this brilliant?!"

They sat and looked at the cute bird playing for hours while talking about everything and nothing in particular.

Hermione could've stayed in the stock-room with Fred all night, but eventually last night's lack of sleep caught up with her and she fell asleep on Fred's sofa with her head on his shoulder and his arm wrapped around her body.