Disclaimer: If I was J K Rowling, I'd own Harry Potter. Am I? No. It was really hard for me to accept that. What was even worse was when I found out that I make no money from writing this.

A/N: One chappie left! That will be posted tomorrow (fingers crossed)! If anyone is interested in an epilauge, please leave a review.

Chapter Seven: Sometimes Reality is Better Than Dreams

This was the second time that Hermione woke without nightmares- but this time it wasn't to an obnoxious tune. It was to the sound of a camera clicking. Hermione sat up sleepily- where was she. She followed the arm that had been holding her close up to it's owner- Fred. Realization overcame her as she saw Ginny with a camera and her still staying snuggly in Fred's arms.

"Good morning sunshine! You are sooooo lucky that I convinced Lav to stay upstairs last night. So this is where you snuck of to- to be with my brother! So- do you think that you actually are going to become a Weasley? We need more women Weasleys..." The redhead added as an afterthought.

"Weasley?! I'm not getting married for Merlin's sake! And for your information this was an accident!"

"The kind of accident that leaves you sleeping on the couch in your best friend's older brother's arms?" The girl drawled, smugly. So maybe Hermione wasn't getting out of that.

"I meant that I was going to go right back up, but then I had a bit of cocoa and we talked a little and you girls were being so nosy so Fred suggested I wait another minute and then that minute turned into another, then another, then-" Hermione was interupted by the arm around her pulling her back down from her sitting position. She blushed a brilliant shade of scarlet and tried to get back up, but the unconscious Fred was having nothing of that, and snuggled closer.

"So...what were you saying?" Ginny asked between sniggers.

"Okay Gin- you can't tell anyone this. Promise?"

The younger girl raised her eyebrows incredulously.

"Are you honestly asking me-"

"Promise?" Hermione insisted. She trusted the girl with her lifw, but she wanted to hear it from her friend's lips.

"Of course!" So Hermione then briefed up her tale of what was going on between her and her sleeping crush. She told Ginny everything about how close they had been after the war, how Fred made sure she was sleeping well and she made sure he was eating enough, about how she had slowly (but surely) fallen for her friend. The real reason Hermione had broken things off with Ron. After Hermione's story was done, Ginny smiled down at the pair.

"You really love him- don't you?" Ginny asked suddenly.

"I- erm- I mean- I-" Hermione stuttered stupidly. She did. She knew she did.

"Hermione." Ginny prodded gently.

"Yes. I do." The bookworm confessed. She loved him. She loved the man who held her close, she loved the man who wouldn't stop trying to make her laugh, she loved the man who made her feel whole inside, and then even more. Hermione Jean Granger loved Fred Gideon Weasley. And now she was 'dating' him. And she decided then and there, in his arms, that she would tell him exactly how she felt after their Valentine's dinner.

"That's a lot to take in so early in the morning." Ginny declared.

"Coffee?" She asked.

"That would be wonderful, love. You're truly the best, Gin."

"I know. You are too- it must be a Weasley women thing."

xoxoxoxo

Fred Weasley woke up to a conversation he knew he wasn't supposed to hear. He feigned sleep, yet listened with rapt attention.

"You really love him- don't you?" This was it- this was the moment he found out how she felt about him. Did she care about him as much as he cared about her? Could he actually be that lucky?

"I- erm- I mean- I-" His heart dropped like a stone- she didn't

"Hermione." He heard his sister try to get a coherent answer from her.

"Yes. I do." The words echoed in his mind. She did. She did. She did!She did! Fred wanted to do nothing more than pull the witch of his dreams into a passionate kiss, yet refrained. He allowed her to slowly pull herself away from him and follow Gin into the kitchen where he couldn't hear their voices. What they said now made no difference- all that mattered was that hermione Jean Granger loved Fred Gideon Weasley as much as he loved her.

xoxoxoxo

Fred 'awoke' a little while later and joined the pair in the kitchen. Ginny and Hermione (but really it was Ginny) decided that because Hermione didn't spend the evening together, then she would just have to go shopping with them. As much as Hermione loved them (she truly did) shopping was not something she wanted to do. Ginny promised she could go after lunch, but the glint in her eye probably meant it would be much later. Hermione tried everything: she had to feed Crocks! Molly would go over later. She had to go to work! Ginny had already talked to them and pulled Hermione's 'Order-Of-Merlin-First-Class' card. Needless to say, Hermione was going to shopping no matter what. So Hermione spent as much time as she could trying to think of ways to tell Fred that she wanted what they had to be real- not fake. But how does one go about telling their fake boyfriend that she wanted him to be her real boyfriend? It was a good thing Hermione was the brightest witch of her age and a Gryffindor to boot- that meant that she'd come up with something...she hoped.