Mr. Wrong by WeasleyForMe

Chapter Two

Hermione sighed from her seat behind her desk. She found her job at the Ministry to be exceptionally mundane. There was not enough work in the Improper Use of Magic Office to keep her occupied for an entire eight-hour shift. As she yawned and stirred her cup of rapidly cooling tea, her mind wandered back to the previous evening. She was immediately reminded of exactly why she felt exhausted. Fred had made her pay in full for mentioning Ron in his presence. A small smile swept across Hermione's face.

"This is ridiculous," Hermione whispered. She thought about him whenever she was bored at work, which was much more often than she wanted to think of him. He was all wrong for her.

"Hermione?" Ginny's voice pulled her out of her trance. She nearly dropped her tea as her friend wandered into her office. "Ready for lunch?"

"Of course!" Hermione responded, happy to have an excuse to leave the office. "Leaky Cauldron?"

Within minutes, they were seated and ordering sandwiches for lunch.

"Gin, you never told me about your last date with Harry," Hermione prompted her friend. It was very convenient that both women worked in the Ministry of Magic and shared lunchtime together most days.

Ginny blushed. "It was really great. But it's getting difficult to spend time with him since he's so busy with work." Ginny began to look slightly nervous as she said, "Harry said he'd seen Ron lately. We kind of think it's a little odd that the two of you broke up a few months ago but never mention each other."

"It's not that weird. People split up all the time," she said with a shrug. She wished that Ginny would drop this topic of conversation.

"Yes, but the two of you seemed to fit together perfectly. You could have had the white picket fence, the perfect twin babies and everything else that women want. What happened?"

Hermione took a deep breath. "I don't actually want any of that, Gin. This is so difficult to explain," she said as she started to play with her napkin, avoiding eye contact. "I'm only twenty-two years old, and I was never going to have the passionate experiences I want in my life if I was with Ron," she said quickly. "He's too safe and sweet and perfect," she said finally meeting her friend's eyes. "All I had to do was sit at my boring job for a few hours, and then return home to our flat where he was undoubtedly waiting for me with some dinner and stories about Quidditch practice. We never did anything exciting. I'm sorry… I know he's your brother, and I must sound terribly selfish."

Ginny looked at her friend for a moment before responding. "Well, if it's passion that you wanted, you were definitely in the wrong place, unless you wanted to talk about Quidditch day and night," she said with a small smile. Hermione was relieved that she wasn't angry. Their food arrived, and conversation returned too much less exciting topics.

As Hermione returned to her desk for the afternoon, she realized that her conversations with Ginny were becoming a little awkward, and it was all Fred's fault. Their relationship, if one could even call it that, was strictly a secret. The fact that Ginny was occasionally around was making it uncomfortable. As Ginny was gushing about how fantastic Harry was, Hermione began to regret keeping things with Fred a secret. "Oh, who am I kidding," she thought. "Our affair means nothing to him. It shouldn't affect me this much, either."

It had meant more to Hermione than she wanted to admit. She thought back to the beginning. After she had broken up with Ron, she and Ginny would occasionally stop at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes for lunchtime entertainment. At first, both Fred and George would flirt with Hermione, because they thought it was funny to make her uncomfortable. The truth of the matter was she wasn't so uncomfortable as much as she was flustered at having two attractive men fuss over her. Pretty soon, it was only Fred who was flirting with her when they'd visit the shop.

"Hermione, you're looking quite fetching today," he would say with a wink as he stood entirely too close for comfort.

"You say that to all the girls," she would reply as she blushed.

"Only the prettiest ones," he would promise her.

After several visits and conversations like that one, Ginny began to question what was going on, and Hermione would have to tell her it was only Fred's usual flirtatious behavior. In actuality, it wasn't, because Hermione soon began to flirt back.

She would sneak up behind him while he was bending and shelving items. "Gee Fred, you're hardly leaving anything to the imagination. All the ladies in the store are checking out your arse."

"Including you?" he would ask coyly.

Hermione would merely smirk as she thought, "Especially me." She could hardly believe she was flirting with Fred… he wasn't even her type!

During one visit, the twins invited Ginny and Hermione to a party at their flat. "Come on! Lots of music, dancing and Firewhisky! It's on Saturday. It'll be fun." Hermione accepted their invitation, but decided to show up late to avoid Ron. When she arrived at their flat, Hermione was both surprised and pleased that Fred spent most of his evening with her.

"Would you like a drink?" he'd asked her as his eyes swept over her body.

"Maybe just one," she had told him, fully aware of the path his eyes were taking. "I don't hold my alcohol very well."

He grinned evilly. "Well then you should be pretty entertaining in a few hours." He talked her into having three drinks, and although Hermione felt a little giddy, she wasn't too drunk.

"You look fantastic, by the way," he had told her. Hermione tried to deny that she looked special at all, but Fred halted her with his lips against hers. He pressed her up against the wall, out of sight of the other guests. Slowly he threaded his fingers through her curls and treated her lips to firm, self-assured kisses. After just five minutes of snogging Fred Weasley in the hallway of his flat, she was certain that she wanted much more from him.

"Fred," she had moaned. "Where's your room?"

His jaw dropped. "Are you serious?" When Hermione had nodded vigorously, Fred took her hands and guided her to his room. "Are you sure you want to? Are you pissed drunk?"

Hermione laughed and assured him that she wanted to. They had nothing in common, but she still wanted to. She might regret it later, but she still wanted to.

Now as Hermione was sitting in her office three months later, she realized that she and Fred still had nothing in common, but she still wanted him. And she had yet to regret her decision. That had been the most amazingly passion-filled night of her young life. Fred's confidence had been a huge turn on, and it still played a major role in their relationship.

Hermione was pleased to note that she had spent the entire afternoon thinking about Fred, and it was now time to return home. She packed her briefcase and Apparated to her flat. As she set her bag and jacket down in her living room, she heard his voice behind her.

"I've been thinking about you all day," he whispered. The low tone of his voice sent fire throughout her body. She turned to see him sitting on her loveseat smirking at her.

"I'm here now. What do you plan to do about it?"

Well, because of many requests/threats, I've decided to extend this story!! I'm really very sorry if you don't like this one!

If you read this chapter and liked it, please please review!!

Fred/Hermione- They are involved together, but aren't they completely wrong for each other?

Thanks to Beneeta for input and for beta reading this, and wishIwasHermione for input!