Hermione had urged George out the door. She couldn't have him be a part of this. She needed to sort out her thoughts on her own. She was pacing back and forth in her small living room trying to figure out what to do with all the information that she had obtained over the course of the last thirty minutes. Fred was in love with her. Fred was in love with her. Fred. Was. In. Love. With. Her.

Hermione had no idea what to do with that information. He was in love with her. She felt the same sexual attraction to him, sure, but she wasn't in love - was she? The feelings she had realised over the past couple of weeks were only due to a crush. But then again; if it was nothing more than an innocent crush, why was she so jealous of Valerie? Not to mention all the girls that had ever flirted or spent the night with Fred. She recalled the weird feeling in her guts that she had felt numerous times over the last couple of years whenever Fred had gone on a date. Maybe it wasn't a crush after all. Was she in love with him too? And if so; for how long had she been?

Hermione tried dissecting her memories to realise when - and if - she had fallen in love with Fred but only one memory stood out more than the others; the day he had made her the ointment to conceal her scar. The day she had realised that he wasn't just handsome and funny but he was also kind, protective, and attentive. The kind of guy you wanted to spend all your time with. And from there-on out, she had slowly but surely fallen more and more for him. At first, their friendship had been sweet and innocent but the blowing strike and point of no return had obviously been seeing Fred wearing nothing but a towel on his 25th birthday - the day she had realised that there was sexual chemistry between them. And apparently their attraction to each other had been obvious to everybody apart from themselves.

Hermione suddenly realised that she had never been able to keep a steady boyfriend because she had compared them all to Fred. She had ended many dates telling herself that the perfectly sweet guy sitting in front of her wasn't mischievous enough, or reckless enough, or not adventurous enough, when in reality she could've just told herself that he wasn't Fred enough...

She stopped pacing around her flat. She had to see Fred. She had to talk to him. Now! Quickly, she grabbed her wool coat and thumped down the stairs of her flat as fast as her legs could move. She ran across the street to his building thinking of what to do and say when she saw him. The only thing that really came to mind was "sorry" but that didn't really seem to be sufficient.

She was panting and sweating uncontrollably as she finally reached the door to Fred's flat.

"FRED?" She called while banging the door loudly, "OPEN UP!"

When he didn't come to the door, Hermione did what was considered very rude but what she also considered necessary under the given circumstances; she apparated directly to Fred's living room.

"FRED?" She called once more, searching every room of his flat for him only to realise that he wasn't home. She took the narrow stairs down to the stock room but realised that it was just as empty as the flat upstairs.

"Where are you?" Hermione whimpered into the dark room while spinning on her heel to try her luck at the Burrow instead.

She landed right outside the shed in the backyard and half-ran to the front door, nearly tripping over Mrs. Weasley's flower pots while running up the narrow pathway from the yard to the front door. When she finally reached the big wooden door she took a deep breath before she went inside. She poked her head in the kitchen and immediately saw a tall ginger figure by the stove. Relieved, she exclaimed "thank Merlin you're here-"

The tall figure almost jumped a foot when he heard her voice. He spun around only to reveal that it wasn't Fred but Mr. Weasley holding a spatula, looking very frightened, "Hermione, dear!" he exclaimed, "what are you doing here?"

"Mr. Weasley," Hermione panted, "I really need to see Fred. Is he here?"

"I'm afraid you just missed him; he left about twenty minutes ago. I'm helping Molly with dinner - would you like to join us?"

"Where is he?"

"Well, he's at King's Cross with Lee. Didn't they tell you?" Mr. Weasley said with furrowed eyebrows, "are you alright? You look a bit pale..."

Hermione felt the blood drain from her face as she understood that Fred was probably sitting at the train station right now waiting for his train out of London.

A small smile erupted on Mr. Weasley's face and he opened his mouth saying, "Hermione, sweetheart, he's not-" but Hermione interrupted him without really listening to him. She didn't want to waste more time, "do you know what platform? I really need to talk to him," she pleaded desperately.

Mr. Weasley eyed Hermione suspiciously and she could see Fred's facial features so clearly in him, "Why do you have to see him so badly? Why can't you just wai-"

Mr. Weasley was interrupted once more but not by Hermione this time, "Oh for heavens sake, Arthur! Just give the girl the number of the platform," Mrs. Weasley emerged with her hands on her hips, "it's clearly urgent!"

"Right Molly," Mr. Weasley smiled before he turned back to Hermione, "I believe he said platform 7 2/3."

"Thank you so much! I'm sorry for barging in like this but I just really need to see Fred before he takes off," Hermione yelled before she turned on her heel and ran to the apparition-spot behind the shed. As she was running, she could hear Mr. Weasley yelling something to her but she didn't stop to listen. She had no time to waste.

With a crack, Hermione disapparated from the Burrow and emerged at the designated apparition spot outside King's Cross station a moment later. She fought her way through the crowd, ran down a staircase leading her to the platforms, and ran into a brick arch inscribed with the number seven. The platform on the other side, however, was devoid of any train and was only occupied by witches and wizards.

"FRED!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs, looking desperately for a tall, ginger man. She searched the crowd for what felt like hours until she finally heard someone behind her say her name.

"Hermione?" The familiar voice said. Hermione spun on her heel and was met by a grinning Lee, "what are you doing here?"

"I need to see Fred!" Hermione said desperately and out of breath, "Where is he? "

"He just took off," Lee smiled.

Hermione felt her stomach drop. She was too late. But then a thought hit her; why would Fred and Lee travel separately if they were supposed to end up at the same destination?

"Fred left? But aren't you going there together?" she asked him confused.

"Going where?"

"To Scandinavia of course. Why aren't you on the same train as him?"

"Fred's not on any train," Lee furrowed his eyebrows, "in fact, he said he would stop by your flat on the way home."

"What?" Hermione said confused, "my flat?"

"Yes - look, you seem out of it. Are you alright?" Lee asked her concerned.

"Lee, are you telling me that Fred's waiting for me at my flat?" she asked him to confirm his words.

"Yes - that's what he said anyway."

Hermione turned around without another word and immediately started running the same way she came. No time to spare. She ran as fast as her legs could, bumping into several muggles in her desperation to reach the disapparition spot outside King's Cross as fast as possible. When she had reached the familiar spot, she spun on her heel and emerged on the pavement outside her own flat building with a loud crack. She opened the heavy door and ran up the crooked staircase until she reached the top floor sweating and panting.

She was relieved to see that Fred was sitting with his back up against the wooden door that had her name inscribed with golden letters. His hair was a right mess and his eyes were red rimmed as if he hadn't slept for days. While trying to catch her breath, Hermione blinked a few times as if to make sure that he was really sitting there. That he wasn't a hologram.

"Hermione," he said in a hoarse voice, "are you alright?" He shot her a concerned look and got up from the floor, brushing his hands off on his jeans.

"I thought you had left," Hermione said, looking at him with huge eyes.

"What? Why?"

"Your parents said you were at King's Cross."

Fred shot her a sad smile, "don't worry. I've learned my lesson... I'll never leave without saying goodbye again."

"Of course. Right," Hermione said without really knowing why those exact words escaped her mouth. There were so many things that she wanted to say to him but those were the only words that she managed to get across her lips.

"Are you alright love? You seem... off."

Hermione send him a curt nod but didn't speak.

Fred looked at her with a puzzled expression and said, "Let's go inside and I'll explain it all."

Hermione fumbled with her wand, but managed to open her front door after a few failed attempts.

"I ran into Lee," Hermione said as soon as Fred had closed the door behind him, "He said that you had just left the train station - did you change your mind at the last minute and decided to stay?"

"What? I was never going to leave. I only went to help Lee with his trunks."

Hermione could've kicked herself; of course he had taken Lee. She realised that George would have definitely told her if Fred was leaving today. In her state of mind, she just hadn't been able to put two and two together.

"So you took Lee to the station?" Hermione repeated to make sure that she had understood everything correctly.

Fred nodded and Hermione let out a relieved sigh, "- and you're not leaving?" she asked.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Fred asked her again, "you look like hell."

"You should see yourself," Hermione gestured to his unruly hair that was sticking up in every possible direction. He tried combing a hand through it, but it only made the flaming strands of hair look even more unruly, "I went looking for you all over," Hermione said, "your flat, your shop, the Burrow. I completely panicked when your dad said that you were at King's Cross..."

"What were you in such a hurry to talk to me about?" he finally asked her.

"George stopped by," Hermione bit her lip.

"Oh," Fred said and cleared his throat, "What... what did you talk about?" he asked nervously.

"You know what we talked about," Hermione said in a small voice.

"Yeah," Fred said while blowing out some air, looking everywhere but directly at her, "I can imagine..."

They were looking at each other for a while, both unsure of what to say next. Hermione wanted him to know that she knew how he felt. That she understood everything. However, she didn't know how to phrase it. "He told me... about you. About us," she ended up saying softly.

Fred's eyes darted towards her and he nodded slowly, "and?" he asked as if he wanted Hermione to comment it.

"It's a lot to process,"Hermione said slowly.

"That's understandable," he said while smiling sadly.

Hermione felt the tears well up in her eyes, "I feel like a fool, Fred. I'm so sorry for everything!"

"You're sorry?" he asked her, looking perplexed, "sorry for what?"

"For literally everything! For acting like a prick! I'm sorry for not understanding all the signals back then. Merlin, everything is just so clear now," Hermione sobbed and wiped away the tears from her eyes.

Fred nodded, "I just hope you know that I didn't ignore you because I wanted to. I had to - for my own sake. I was going crazy just being around you those few times a year. I'm so sorry that I didn't handle it better."

Hermione nodded slowly, "I can't believe I didn't see it before - everyone knew. Even Lee saw. And Angelina. Your mum. George."

"George knew even before I did," Fred scoffed, "says he realised that there must be a strong magical bond between us for you to bring me out of a coma just by touching my hair - and I'm sure Crookshanks felt it too. At first I didn't believe George's reasoning because you and I were just friends. But one night, my feelings for you just hit me like a truck and I suddenly realised all the things I feel about you now. Only I couldn't figure out if you felt the same way too so I tried all these different stupid tactics in stead of just coming right out and ask you. It was stupid of me but I was scared that you'd run away and I would've ruined our friendship. The blowing strike, however, came at Christmas a few years ago. I, uhm," Fred looked embarrassed, "I overheard you and mum talking. You said that we would never be together - that you were far too serious for me. And when I realised that you'd never love me back, I retracted myself and stopped including you in my life. I had to," he sent her a pained look before he continued, "after the incident at Georgie's wedding my feelings increased tenfold and I had to take a break from seeing you altogether. I had to take care of myself and my broken heart. And everything just became too much for me when you suddenly showed up at King's Cross and started yelling at me... For months, George was on about the way I left you. Every time I had a quiet moment or when he could tell that I was thinking about you, he tried to force me to write you - but I just couldn't get myself to actually do it."

"You should have come back years ago. You should have written me. It couldn't have gotten any worse."

"I knew you hated me but my heart just couldn't bear getting that confirmed," he said, "George - the prick - only convinced me to come home and see you because he lied and said that you had a serious boyfriend. He knew that I wouldn't come home before you had completely slipped through my fingers. I really just came back to London to apologise and that was supposed to be it. But when you warmed up to me, I had to go just a little further and try and see if we could become proper friends again. And then you told me you were single, and you kept smiling at me or you showed up looking like a million Galleons, and fuck did everything just come rushing back to me instantly: all the long hot summers, swims in the lake, having a million butterbeers at The Leaky Cauldron, pizza nights at your flat, playing gobstones in front of the fireplace, goofing around at the Burrow," he said and Hermione could tell that his eyes were getting glossy.

"I can't believe you've kept your feelings hidden for so many years. I'm so sorry you had to do that," Hermione sobbed, "I'm so sorry that I broke your heart. I know that you wanted more than just a drunken shag."

Fred was breathing heavily, looking at her, "I should have said something the morning after. I knew I should. But I just couldn't get the words across my lips. I didn't know if you wanted me to speak or not. You were so quiet," he said while small tears were welling up in his eyes.

"I need you to know that I was in shock - that's the only reason why I didn't speak. It had nothing to do with you. But in the following months I didn't know how to handle what had happened between us and for some reason I waited for you to contact me when I could've easily been the one to do it. I would have said something had I only realised your side of it. I'm sorry if it felt like I was taking advantage of you."

"It felt like that for quite some time," Fred said quietly, "I was so disappointed in you; that you didn't stop by or owl me. Everything flew off the handle when I left because I was frustrated with the entire situation. I was frustrated with myself and my inability to tell you everything. Gods, I wanted you to know so badly. I wanted you to love me back," he said in a strained voice.

Hermione's heart was aching, "I'm glad you're telling me now."

"Several years too late," he said, looking away from her.

"It's not too late," Hermione took a step closer to him, "Fred, I think I'm in love with you. At first, I thought it was just an innocent crush but then I realised what all my feelings were based on. Why I hated you so much for leaving and why I never got over it. I'm in love with you. Have been for years probably. I know I kept laughing every time someone said something about us being together, but I had no idea that you felt the same way and I was just hoping that my feelings for you would go away if I ignored them long enough. It was stupid of me. I'm sorry."

Fred looked at her with slightly parted lips. Hermione could see everything dawn on him as the words she had just spoken slowly sinked in, "so, you're in love with me?"

Hermione nodded, "yes."

Then, he strode across the room but stopped right in front of her. His hand touched her cheek and he looked her over for a couple of seconds before he finally spoke, "I'm so sorry for how I've acted. And I'm sorry for dating Valerie - I only did it as a way to forget about you. I didn't think you'd care."

"I cared. That's why I kissed you the other night."

Fred blinked a few times, "It was amazing, love. I had been craving it for so long. I only broke it off because I didn't want it to be like last time again. I was so close to just say fuck it all and rip off your clothes but when you pulled away from me, I was suddenly scared that it would ruin our friendship all over. I almost didn't sleep at all that night but when I woke up the next morning, I realised that it wouldn't have ruined a thing between us because we still had fun and you were still showing me interest. So I ended up inviting you back to my flat... Had I known what would happen between you and me over the course of the few days that we stayed together at the Burrow, I would've definitely cancelled all dates with Valerie. She means nothing."

"I know she doesn't," Hermione whispered.

"Good," Fred said quietly, "I'm going to say something now that I should've said years ago."

Hermione looked into his beautiful green eyes, patiently waiting for him to go on.

"I'm so fucking in love with you," Fred whispered before his lips were on Hermione's, his hands snaking around her waist, pulling her close.