Being Assertive by WeasleyForMe
Could Hermione be the demanding, bossy, assertive woman of George's dreams?
Thanks to Grande.Vanilla.Skim.Latte for beta reading for me and being lovely!!
Hermione's eyes narrowed into slits. "Exactly what do you mean by that, Ginny? How can Fred be the sources of my romantic problems when I've never been out on a date with him in my life?"
After taking a deep breath, Ginny muttered to herself, "Well, you're the only one." When she noticed the angry look of puzzlement growing on her friend's face, she sat on the floor in front of her, preparing to explain. "Hermione, Fred has a habit of dating a number of girls at the same time."
"Once again, that tells me nothing," Hermione said, crossing her arms, sinking lower in her armchair.
Ginny chewed on her lip. "Well, it kind of does. I think George agreed to go on a date with Alicia as a favor to Fred." Ginny's insides turned to knots at the look on her friend's face. "Only, it really wasn't a date at all, Hermione. It was just a favor!"
"Why would Fred need George to go on a date for him?"
Ginny decided the only way to save Hermione and George's relationship was to tell her everything. "Because Fred had another date scheduled for the same time. It was all just a mix-up, and George agreed to get some food with Alicia so Fred could still take Luna out for dinner."
Hermione sat frozen in place with an odd expression clouding her features. Ginny looked up at her from her spot on the floor, hoping she would understand. "So you're telling me that I'm not going out with a two-timer?" Hermione asked slowly.
"Right," Ginny answered brightly, glad that Hermione was being sensible. She knew her friend could be rather stubborn at times.
"But you are telling me that I've been dating an unassertive berk?!" she exclaimed. "Why didn't he just tell me? I'm not irrational!"
Ginny swallowed back her retort; she thought Hermione was being irrational right then, but she wasn't about to mention it. "Hermione, if anyone is to blame here, it's Fred, not George. You see that, right? It wasn't George's-"
Hermione cut her off. "No, Ginny. That doesn't really excuse George at all! Besides, he hasn't tried that hard to contact me; he could have come to my apartment," she said, before pausing. "Wait, exactly how many girls is Fred dating?" she asked, leaning forward in her chair so she was more level with Ginny.
"Three. No, four. I'm not sure, Hermione. There might be more than that. I know for sure that it's Luna Lovegood, Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, and Katie Bell," Ginny said, ticking each name off on her fingers.
A small, almost devilish grin grew on Hermione's lips. "Ginny it's getting late, and I have some things I need to attend to."
Ginny stood. "I understand, but please talk to George. I think he deserves another chance."
Hermione sighed. As angry as she was, she knew deep inside that George hadn't done anything wrong. But now she was convinced more than ever that he might not be right for her; she needed someone who would be mature enough to avoid this type of dramatic nonsense. "I'll talk to him, Ginny."
Smiling for the first time since she had arrived at Hermione's apartment, Ginny flooed out of the apartment. After stretching and feeding Crookshanks, Hermione gathered her thoughts and settled down for some hot tea and a slice of revenge. She pulled some pieces of parchment out of her desk and found her favourite quill and some blue ink. Sipping some tea, she carefully scrawled out four nearly identical letters to four different people. She sealed them up and gave them to her owl with specific directions to each of the recipients.
Hermione went to bed, patiently waiting for the following day to arrive. But her sleep was plagued with images of George looking at her with a disappointed frown before turning his back on her. By the time she woke, she was beginning to feel apprehensive.
All throughout the morning, Hermione began to feel slightly guilty. She sat at her desk, waiting for the minutes to tick away until it was time for lunch, and she began to realize that she was that much closer to witnessing the reaction to the letters she wrote.
Meanwhile, George was moping around the shop while Fred rambled on about his dates. He really missed Hermione and wasn't too happy to hear how Ginny's visit had turned out. He was just hoping that she would decide to talk to him, because he was certain he could explain himself.
It was almost noon, and the store was very quiet. Fred was leaving to eat lunch in the stockroom, giving George time to relax behind the register. He turned to look at the door when the bell sounded. Luna Lovegood and Katie Bell were walking inside, one after the other, making awkward chitchat.
"Hi, George," they called in unison. "Where's Fred?" They turned to look at each other, thoroughly confused as to why they were both looking for Fred.
"Um, he's eating lunch," George responded, not quite sure how to handle more than one girl looking for Fred at the same time. Just then, Angelina came strolling purposefully through the door, and before it had a chance to close, Alicia followed her through. Angelina waved to George at the same time that Alicia smiled brightly at him.
"Hey, is Fred around?" Angelina asked George. "I got a letter telling me to meet him today during my lunch break."
"So did I!" Katie exclaimed.
"Me too," Alicia said skeptically.
"Wow… what a coincidence… I got a letter that said exactly the same thing," Luna told the group as she gazed off into space, lost in thought.
George's eyes went wide. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew it probably wouldn't end happily. He cleared his throat a few times and muttered, "Well, hang on a minute while I go look for him." George quickly ran into the stockroom where Fred was devouring his lunch.
"What's up?" Fred asked before stuffing a cooking into his mouth.
George ran his hands through his hair. "You have some visitors."
"Visitors? Who?"
"Perhaps you should just go and see, before someone gets killed."
Fred cocked an eyebrow, and set down his food to go see what was going on. As soon as he opened the door, he wished he could make himself vanish. There were four sets of confused and annoyed eyes focused on him.
"Fred, what's going on?" Alicia asked.
Luna ran her fingers through her long hair as she said, "I would like to know as well."
Fred froze in place with George next to him; he was too afraid to move.
Angelina waved a piece of parchment in the air. "What is this letter all about?"
"Yeah," Katie continued, "it said I should be here to learn about your 'girlfriends', plural. What is that supposed to mean?"
"Uh, well, I-I actually, I d-didn't send that," Fred stammered, trying to find a means of escape. Just as he was about to run away, the shop door opened one more time, and Hermione can rushing into the store chewing on her bottom lip.
"Hermione," George said dreamily when he saw her. He wanted to run over and scoop her into his arms, but he knew they needed to talk before she'd trust him. Hermione cast a sad smile his way but focused her attention on the girls who were starting to seethe.
"Fred!" Angelina exclaimed. "Are you dating all of us?!"
Fred's face turned white as Katie sadly whispered, "Just tell us the truth, Fred."
George sharply elbowed Fred in the ribs; it was about time his brother came clean to everyone. "Y-Yes," Fred sputtered.
Angelina's jaw dropped. "You are dating all of us?!" Hermione stepped forward, hoping to calm everyone down; she knew it was her fault that everyone was yelling. Before she could speak, Fred began again.
"Yes, I am," Fred announce and then took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, but I like all of you so much, I couldn't choose one of you over the others."
Katie looked like she was on the verge of tears, and Angelina looked like she was going to destroy everything in their store. Alicia looked slightly annoyed, but oddly enough, Luna didn't look angry at all.
"I can't believe you're dating Katie, Alicia, Luna, Hermione and I! You're such a pig, Fred!" Angelina yelled.
"Oh, I'm not dating Hermione," Fred said, hoping to lighten everyone's mood. "So that's only four of you." Hermione opened her mouth to speak but was cut off.
"Fred, I can't believe you. I thought we were friends," Katie sobbed as she wiped a tear from her eyes. Fred could almost feel his heart ripping apart.
"You made one of your oldest friends cry, arsehole!" Angelina screamed. George glanced at Fred, trying to figure out what to do as everyone started talking, crying and screaming at the same time. But he didn't get a chance to do anything as Hermione raised her voice over everyone else.
"I'm sorry!" Hermione shouted over all the yelling. "This was entirely my fault." She looked around at everybody's tense expressions and winced.
Oh no! Fred and his women have exploded everywhere! The next chapter will most likely be the last one... so last chance for suggestions!
Thanks for reading along! I hope you'll leave a review :)