Chapter Six
Finally Across TheBridge
Hermione strung a string of pearls around her neck and tried not to look over at Fred. They were both in the bathroom, using the mirror at the same time. She was dressed in a nice slinky black dress and dark blue robes, while he was currently brushing his teeth; shirtless. Hermione had seen Ron in this state before and wondered about the difference between the two brothers.
One quick peek out of the corner of her eye, showed Hermione Fred's tanned and freckle dusted skin which made her blush and try not to think of naughty thoughts. She really would like to play connect the dots with him one day. 'Snap out of it,' She angrily berated herself.
Fred was unfazed and instead brushed his hair and then finally put his shirt on. It was a cream colored button up, and his robes were dark chocolate. They went well with his new hair color, but Hermione still longed for the old Fred Weasley. The one, she now realized, that she hadn't known all that well. Thank heavens, she knew him now. She smiled to herself and checked her reflection.
Her hair was in a pristine bun, slightly low on the nape of her neck. Her make-up was simple, and only used to highlight her features instead of drowned them. She'd carefully selected her jewelry. A pearl necklace her mother had given her, a silver watch and also large chandelier earrings, where her adornments. Fred ruffled his hair in an attractive way and set down the brush.
Hermione subconsciously looked over at him and their eyes locked in the mirror. Hermione gave him a weak smile and hurriedly went into the main room. Fred shook his head, confused by Hermione's behavior and followed her, making sure to turn off the bathroom light.
The day before had been strange for both of them, and now they were back to the old routine, of Fred making a witty comment and Hermione holding her side and glaring through tears at him, because it always ended up making her side pinch painfully. Now they were getting ready for dinner. Nothing was out of the ordinary, but Hermione felt oddly closer to Fred as they lounged in the hotel room waiting for six o'clock to roll around.
She'd never felt quite the same connection to anyone else, she didn't feel embarrassed like she had around, his brother, Ron, or foreign like she had around Victor Krum. She felt comfortable, like he would never judge her. Fred was hanging haphazardly off the bed, his face a merry color from the blood rushing to his head, but he stayed that way for a few more moments. Hermione on the other hand was sitting primly on the other side of the bed, her hands folded in her lap properly.
Fred pulled himself up and looked at Hermione she was sitting ram-rod straight, but she was smiling slightly as she read through a newspaper that had been delivered earlier. Fred crawled along the length of the bed to rest himself behind Hermione, his head resting on her shoulder, he read the paper along with her.
"Still no capture of Malfoy or Snape," Fred said grimly and Hermione shrugged, moving his chin up and down.
"Snape will get his and Malfoy is only a silly little boy who flounders in the real world. I'm sure that they are on the run not only from the Ministry, but also from the Death Eaters. They may have succeeded in killing Dumbledore, but they botched it right up," Hermione said levelly and Fred's eyebrows shot up, although she couldn't see it.
"You have a very odd view point," Fred said and he moved away from Hermione.
She looked like she had been hit in the stomach when she turned to look at him.
"You think I'm stupid?"
"No! I think you're very rational," Fred said sliding off the bed, but Hermione still felt put out even with his reassurance that he didn't find her moronic.
"What do you think then?"
"The same as you, I'm not quite the dashing hero type, not like Harry," Fred said and Hermione smiled.
"Well that's alright with me. There's already a Harry in my life and thank goodness there is not another," Hermione said getting off the bed as well, because she'd seen the bedside clock and it was now time for them to head down to dinner.
"Harry's a good kid."
Hermione let his statement hang in the air. She had nothing to say to that, it was true. In silence, they went out into the hall and got into the lift.
Hermione awkwardly cleared her throat and played with the pearls around her neck. Fred wasn't about to feel uncomfortable, so he grinned when he saw Hermione fidgeting and grabbed her arm. She jumped slightly at the contact and look up at him.
"Mud bars!"
She got a little cross-eyed at his ridiculous statement, and especially because he was laughing so hysterically about it.
"What in the world is wrong with you?"
Fred couldn't stop laughing though, he gasped and held onto his gut, but the peals just kept coming.
"I see kissing up to Mrs. Henderson has left you deranged," Hermione sniffed, but couldn't help cracking a smile.
"No, no. George sent me an owl earlier. He's come up with this idea for mud bars... of course made out of mud, but they look like chocolate... so your enemy takes a bite and let's just say he get's more vitamins then he's ever going to use," Fred gasped and Hermione looked amused.
"I'd love to shove something like that in Malfoy's face," She said smirking in an eery imitation of the boy in question.
"That boy deserves to be stranded on a remote island, his only company a huge infestation of mosquitoes," Fred said in a funny travel guide sort of way. "Then when he tries to swim off the island there are sharks out in the water, loads of them! Maybe he'd lose an arm, or some other more important body part, although it might be hard to find."
Hermione laughed and it was at that moment that the lift's door slid open revealing the gilded lobby.
"Ah Mrs. Henderson, may I escort you into the dinning room?"
"Why yes, Arnold. That would be lovely," Mrs. Henderson said smiling in a distracted way.
Hermione smiled as best she could and started to follow Fred and Mrs. Henderson.
"Rachel, there you are," Fred said turning around and grabbing Hermione's arm and pulling her along, so she wouldn't feel left out.
They walked into the dinning room and just were about to approach the table, when they were stopped by a middle aged gentleman, who was grinning from ear to ear.
"Mrs. Henderson, I just got WG today and I wanted to discuss with you the article they printed on Hybrid Worm-Weed. I happen to have a patch in my very own garden and I noticed you had a small bit cultivated out back," The man said and Mrs. Henderson looked at him with disdain.
She looked at Fred longingly, as though he could save her from the boring conversation she was sure to be dragged in.
"Yes, Mr. Hubert, that sounds wonderful," Mrs. Henderson said through tight lips and she let the man lead her to the table where he sat eagerly at her elbow, chatting loudly even though his hostess was stony faced.
"I suppose that means we can sit where we like," Hermione said and Fred nodded distractedly.
"I was just warming up to asking her about Lucius too," Fred said sounding disappointed as he pulled out Hermione's chair for her.
"Yes, well you have asked to be her escort to the ball, right," Hermione questioned and Fred nodded.
"Then don't worry about it," She said primly placing her napkin on her lap.
Fred smiled charmingly and put his own napkin in his lap, but not with as much grace as Hermione had. Leaning over so his mouth was next to her ear he whispered softly to her.
"I guess it's just us tonight."
Hermione blushed and looked at the tablecloth in front of her. The way he'd said it was so seductive, she hadn't expected anything like that from him.
"So how does it feel to be on an adventure without your two best friends?"
"It's very different, I don't have to bail their behinds out of any trouble," Hermione said lightly and Fred laughed.
"Well you were always the brains and magical ability behind you three, right? If it would have been just Harry and Ron they would have been dead in five seconds, most likely," Fred said.
Hermione shrugged. When she was younger she had entertained the same thoughts, but now she didn't begrudge her friends their idiocy.
"I'm sorry if we ever seemed to trample over you in school. I think we might of said a few unkind things, but we never meant harm," Fred said and Hermione shook her head.
"You don't have to apologize. I was never that put out with you," Hermione explained, "You were always there to relieve the tension, I got a laugh out of your pranks, even if I pretended to be sour."
Fred grinned in a self-satisfied manner. Leaning back in his chair he crossed his arms over his chest and licked his lips.
"Well I always knew you had the hots for me," He said jokingly and Hermione turned bright red and let out an indignant huff.
"Right," She finally said with a hard sarcastic voice.
"I'm only joking, no need to break out the hexes," Fred placated.
Hermione started laughing.
"You reminded me of Malfoy for a moment there," Hermione said and Fred looked startled and then angry.
"He's told you that you fancy him?"
Hermione burst out laughing and several people at the table looked at her oddly.
"No, he's never said that I meant you sounded like that arrogant prick," Hermione said and Fred noticeably relaxed.
"Thanks for the compliment, doll."
They both laughed and when they were finished with that their food was being served. Dinner was a quieter affair, with Hermione and Fred too busy entertaining their mouths to talk. Once or twice Hermione caught him staring at her, and every time it took him a moment to notice she'd caught him.
He was totally unembarrassed though and only went back to eating as though nothing had happened. When dinner was over, Hermione got up from her chair and threw her napkin on top of her plate. She smiled at Mrs. Henderson, who's mouth was set in a grim line as the same old man was still chattering enthusiastically at her elbow.
Fred led Hermione out of the room, his fingers felt like fire on her arm, but she tried to concentrate on just walking in a straight line.
Once they were alone in the elevator Fred threw caution to the wind and bent down to kiss Hermione softly on her cherry red lips.
She smiled, pleasantly surprised with this sudden move.
Even with such a sweet gesture there was a moment of silence in which Fred berated himself for being so bold and Hermione's thoughts flew out of her mind and all she felt was pure bliss.
"Did I ever tell you about the time I pulled a prank on Ron?" Fred asked chuckling nervously.
Hermione only murmured that she hadn't. She wasn't really listening. She let Fred ramble on for a bit as she thought of what her next move should be.
"And then when he wasn't looking, I stole his toothbrush and swabbed the shower drain with it, he didn't notice the brown gunk hanging off it and popped it right into his mouth, it was the grossest thing I've ever seen," Fred rambled turning bright red with embarrassment.
"You talk too much," Hermione said smiling coyly and stepping up onto her tip-toes she grabbed Fred's head and kissed him with all her might.
A/N: I am so sorry it took me such a LONG time to get this chapter up, I actually have quite a bit of the next chapter written, just because I could see it so clearly in my mind. But that's no excuse and now here it is. Hopefully you'll be happy because this is the chapter everyone's been waiting for. Thank you to everyone who reviewed... it'd take too much to directly answer all the questions I got and comments right now.