This is part one of a two part chapter;

Enjoy.

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Fred and I grab a horseless carriage along with Lee and Ken, all of us quite tired from the previous night.

"You enjoy last night?" Ken asks me. He had come back late from spending time with Trish and I was already in bed by the time he got back.

"Yeah," I reply. "It was a nice break from schoolwork."

We're quiet for the remainder of the carriage ride and Fred and I leave Lee and Ken as we make it to the train, putting our belongings away and finding our typical compartment, closing the door behind us.

Fred and I both throw ourselves down on the compartment benches, looking at each other in exhaustion. "Mum's going to freak about your eye," Fred says with a frown. "It looks worse now then when you first got it."

I shrug and lean my head against the window. "It's nothing she hasn't dealt with before. Look at the spats that Bill and Charlie used to get into."

"You going to tell her about your O.W.L.s?"

"No," I reply, looking back at Fred. "Until I get my N.E.W.T. results, I'm not telling her anything."

He nods at me and the compartment door opens to reveal Hermione. "Do you mind if I join you guys? I had a small argument with Ronald and I don't feel like being in a compartment with him for the entire train ride."

"Go right ahead," Fred states as the train lurches forward, making Hermione fall onto my seat, the door sliding shut behind her.

"What happened between you and Ron?" I ask, not sure that I really want to know the answer.

"You," she replies with a small awkward smile. "He left me alone about you for a while but it seems he though it was just going to be a short phase. He says that I'm making a mistake," she states softly. "That you're just using me and there are things about you that I don't know."

I look quickly to Fred who is looking at me with concern evident on his face before turning back to Hermione. "I promise you, that I am not using you, Hermione," I state, placing my hand over hers. "And on the topic there being things that you don't know about me…well that's true. While I am unsure as to what exactly Ron is referring to, I do agree with him. As I am sure, there are things that I don't know about you."

"Ron's just mad that you chose Georgie here over him," Fred states with a frown, knowing as well as I do, that Ron was referring to my past sex life.

"I know," Hermione says with a smile. "But he's just so frustrating."

"I do think we should talk though," I state, looking down at our hands. "When we get situated at the Order."

"Okay," Hermione replies as I do my best to repress a yawn, failing miserably. She smirks at me as she pulls her hand away from mine and moves as far down the bench as she can, pressing against the door-side wall. Patting her hand on her lap, she tells me to lie down, with only a very slight hesitation, I do.

0o0o0o0o0o

I wake up as the train slows to a stop, amazed at how long I had been sleeping.

"Hi sleepyhead," Fred says with a grin as I sit up, rubbing my eyes.

"Enjoy your nap?" Hermione asks from beside me.

I lean towards her and place a kiss on her cheek. "Very much so, thanks."

She blushes and I can't help smiling to myself. "So how are we getting to Grimmauld Place?" I ask, not sure I was previously told.

"Portkey from the station," Hermione answers as we stand up to retrieve our trunks. "I'll see you outside, I need to go get my stuff."

I nod at her as Fred and I leave to grab our bags and exit the train, meeting our mom and Tonks on the platform.

"What on earth happened to your face?" My mother asks me, placing her hand around the bruise on my eye.

"Nothing," I reply. My mother is cut off from asking anything more when Ginny joins us, engulfing my mother and then Tonks in a hug. Ron, Harry and Hermione soon join us and Tonks holds out a portkey. Within seconds, we're in the middle of Grimmauld Place's parlor, and my ex-defense against the dark arts professor, Remus Lupin, is sitting across from where we appeared.

"Got get your stuff upstairs," my mother calls out. "And meet back in the kitchen for lunch."

Fred and I grab our bags, and as tradition whenever we get home for a holiday, we race upstairs to where we will be staying, throwing our trunks on our beds.

"Gonna talk to Ron?" Fred asks as we change out of our school robes into muggle clothing.

"At some point," I reply, pulling a shirt over my head. "Not that I feel like it. I thought we were cool about it."

"You know Ron," he says as we exit the room, joining the rest at the kitchen table. Hermione has saved me a seat between her and Sirius and Fred sits across from me, between Harry and Ginny who seemed to be leaving space in between themselves on purpose. I'll have to ask Harry about that later.

"So who punched you, George?" Sirius asks with a small smirk. It amazes me after how little we've been around each other that he can tell Fred and I apart.

"Fred," Ginny answers with a large grin. From beside her, Fred elbows her in the side.

"Fred?" Mum asks, and we both cringe at the astounded tone in her voice. "What happened to cause that?"

"Just an argument," Fred replies, looking down at his plate of fish.

"George?" Mum asks. "Do you have anything to add to that?"

I shrug at her. "I deserved it."

From under the table, I feel Hermione clasp my hand in her own, and turn to smile at her, ignoring the look that Ron was sending me from the other side of the table.

When we're done eating, Sirius asks me to help him clear the table and do the dishes. I give him a slightly confused look but he ignores it until the room clears out.

"Why'd you ask me to help?" I ask him, collecting dishes from one end of the table.

"I was curious as to why Fred would punch you. I'm stuck in this house and I don't get much gossip."

I can't help smiling at him. "Then sit down, old man."

He glares at me over my statement, but sits down at the table anyway and I sit across from him. "I had lied to Fred about my O.W.L. results because he's wanted to own a joke shop since we were little."

"I don't understand why he hit you, though."

"I've wanted to be an Auror just as long. He thought I had given up on it because of my grades."

"I take it your grades were high enough?"

"You could say that," I reply. "I'd appreciate you keeping this quiet though. Only Fred and Hermione know. I'm planning on taking all the N.E.W.T.s needed to be an Auror, but I don't want to say anything in case I don't score high enough."

Sirius nods at me. "No problem," he replies, raising his eyebrows at me. "So does Hermione have something to do with why Ron was sending you death glares all during lunch?"

"I guess we're kind of seeing each other," I reply. "There are a few things that I need to tell her before I actually ask her out."

"Like what?"

"Past girl stuff," I say, standing up and gathering plates up and bringing them over to the sink. "Nothing I'm too proud of."

"Need any advice?"

I scoff at him. "From what I hear, the only relationship advice you would be able to give me, is how to end one."

"Exactly," he states. "I've pretty much done wrong in every way possible, and I only have one real word of advice for you."

"Yeah?" I ask, turning the faucet on. "What would that be?"

"Be honest."

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"Come in."

I open Hermione and Ginny's door slowly, dreading what I am about to do. "Gin," I say slowly. "Could you please leave me and Hermione alone for about a half hour, I really would like to talk to her."

Both Hermione and Ginny look at me in confusion, but Ginny stands from her bed and walks out of the room. When the door shuts behind her, I cast a locking charm on it and sit down where Ginny had just stood from, Hermione looking at me carefully.

"What's wrong?" she asks me slowly, not sure if she wants to know the answer.

"Well," I states, looking around the room. "I had wanted to talk to you about possibly becoming my girlfriend."

Before she can talk, I put my hand up to stop her. "But there are a few things that I should tell you myself before you might hear them from someone else, like Ron."

She nods at me and I breathe in deeply.

"I think you should know about my past relationships."

Hermione laughs and I look at her in surprise. "I really don't see how that's important."

"Believe me," I say with a sigh. "You might not hold that same view in a few moments."

"Okay," she replies. "So tell me…what's so bad? I don't ever recall you actually having a girlfriend before."

"That's certainly part of it…I haven't ever had an official girlfriend before, but Fred and I have had a somewhat relationship with Alicia, Katie and Angelina for the past three years."

Hermione is silent so I begin to explain. "This is really not something I'm proud of, but I would hate for you to get the wrong idea of who I am, and look at Fred with scorn when we're really not as different as it may seem lately. We've both done things in the past that we're not incredibly proud of, and this happens to be the biggest.

"Starting in forth year, I started hooking up with Angelina, which was started by being incredibly drunk, but continued otherwise. The same thing had happened with Fred and Alicia…none of us wanted anything official and it wasn't long afterwards when Angelina mistook Fred for me, and Fred didn't say anything…I don't particularly remember how Katie was brought into it, but the three of them didn't care that we swapped partners, and neither did me or Fred. So much so, that it wasn't always a one on one occurrence."

I close my eyes tightly and then look back up to Hermione, who is wearing an expression that I can't quite read.

"When was the last time?" she asks in an even voice.

"Hogsmeade before Halloween. I suppose that was reason for Lee's comment last night. I was with Alicia."

She nods at me, without saying anything for a few moments. "I think I need some time to think about this," she finally says and I stand up, moving to the door.

"I'm sorry," I state as I walk out, shutting the door tightly behind me.

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