Right, my lovelies, I'm so so so so so sooooooo sorry for leaving an update for this story for so damn long! I'm terrible! I hope it'll be what you have been expecting, and I'm hoping it'll be a longer chapter, I just go where the muses take me when I write, which is why some chapters are short.

Also, this chapter does have a lemon in it, and not like in a previous chapter. This is not overly descriptive and intimate, but mostly passionate and romantic and based on emotions. I wrote it while listening to "The Scientist" by Coldplay, so if you have it on iTunes or whatever, put it on repeat – you'll see what it was like for me when I wrote it – it's my first proper sex scene.

Let's get on with the story; most of you have probably bypassed this ramble anyway!

Chapter Seven

I dashed through the school like a man possessed; through corridor after corridor, down staircase after staircase, pushing aside first-years and students milling around, my only thought being George's last words to me, going round and round in my head like a mantra: "make her yours". I had to find Hermione, I just had to. Ron had a considerable head start to the library, and I'm sure that's where she was. Where else would my love be, despite the fact that she had probably read every book in the library at least twice?

I stopped by a window on the third floor to catch my breath, my face parallel to the floor, chest heaving. I finally raised my head when my heart rate had returned to normal and my chest was no longer going up and down like Pansy Parkinson balanced on Draco Malfoy's groin; and then I saw her. Hermione was out in the grounds, being accosted by my little brother, Ronald Shut Up You Little Bastard Weasley. That was it then; I thought as I experienced that terrible sickly swoop you can get in your stomach when you experience something unpleasant. I hadn't got to her, and I couldn't tell her that I wanted her to be just mine. It wouldn't be good to tell her at any other time. I hung my head, but this time dejectedly. When I raised it after a few shaky seconds, I saw Ron holding her upper arms. Whatever he was telling her, it must have been intense. Tears sparked in my eyes when I realised how stupid I was. How could I expect her to pick me over Ron, one of her best friends, and ultimately end her friendship with Ron and Harry? They'd been friends since they began at Hogwarts (well, since Ron and Harry decided Hermione wasn't so much of a pretentious, stuck up know-it-all when she saved their skins from McGonagall after that Halloween troll in the bathroom thing), and I expected her to give all that up for me? For a little fling she'd been having for a few weeks with her boyfriend's brother? I looked again, and Hermione looked like she was really giving Ron a verbal going-over. She pushed him away from her, and she ran inside, Ron looking after her, from what I could say from my experience of him dealing with girls, albeit hysterical girls, he was pretty damn bemused. I knew now I wouldn't be able to tell her when she was in a state like that, and the moment for revealing everything had long gone.

I didn't know why, but I found my feet carrying me down one more flight of stairs to the library, where I sat on a bench with my head in my hands. It was eerily empty, the library, and I highly doubted that Madame Pince would allow me to be sitting in the sacred room of books without one in my hands. I pushed the whole me-Hermione-Ron triangle out of my mind and concentrated on making myself as small and unnoticeable as possible. The noise of the library door opening started me. I heard a soft voice greet Madame Pince, and the librarian replied "Good afternoon, Hermione." I glanced up, and saw her heading down an aisle of books. Hastily, I stood and followed her down the aisle.

"Hermione," I said softly, due to the library noise restrictions, or maybe because I was in a bit of disbelief seeing how close I was to her after I thought I'd lost her forever. She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes met mine and once again I got that swoop in my stomach, but this time a good one; it's always a good one when it comes to Hermione. I repeated her name, but louder this time.

"Fred, hi," she replied. Her eyes looked red and swollen, and there were wet tear-tracks on her cheeks. Obviously what happened with Ron was intense.

"Ron came looking for you earlier. I was in my dormitory with George and he came in asking for you."

She laughed. "I wonder why he thought I was in your dormitory?"

It was my turn to laugh. "We never did in my dormitory. Yours though… I know the steps to the girl's tower turn to a slide when I guy goes on them, but I like a challenge." Hermione smiled again, albeit slightly sadly. It dawned on me suddenly. "Hey, he doesn't know about us, does he?"

She shook her head. "No, but it doesn't matter if he finds out." I opened my mouth to answer her, or ask her a question, but she beat me to it. "It's over between us."

I almost started to beg her, plead her not to leave me, but she opened her mouth when she saw the startled, panicky look on my face. "Not with you, with Ron." She sighed. "Why would I end it with you? It's so exhilarating to be with you. You're so much more unpredictable and fun, and we never argue. When you touch me, I tingle all over, and when you kiss me –"

I cut her off. "Do you want me to touch you now?"

She opened her mouth. The beginnings of her response of "What?!" escaped, but I cut them off with a kiss I hoped made her melt inside. I pulled away after a while, knowing that if she let me kiss her, she'd at least listen to me.

"Hermione, there's something I've got to tell you," I said, my throat constricting out of nerves.

"Fred, we're in the library," she whispered, emphasis on the word 'library' showing to me that this room, out of all the hundreds at Hogwarts, was her sanctuary.

"I know, I need to tell you this now. Ju-just listen to me," I said as she showed signs of interrupting again. "Let me talk, just don't interrupt, wait until I'm done until you ask questions, I need to get this all out without distractions."

Her face was now expressing worry. "Fred, what is it? Is something wrong?" I took a deep breath and started.

"Hermione, these past few weeks have been absolutely amazing for me. I love being this close to you, and being able to be myself around you. You make me feel so alive and wanted when I'm with you, and you can always bring a smile to my face. Truth is, I've liked you for so long now that I can't believe that what's happening between us is real. I truly do love you, Hermione. I've never felt this way about anyone before. I don't ever want this to end. I never want to lose you, and earlier I was so sure that I was going to lose you to my git of a brother, and now I know that that isn't going to happen, I feel so great. You're all mine now, if you want to be."

She looked at me, evidently shocked. "Fred… me and Ron have just split up. I can't get into a serious relationship now –"

"And you've obviously just came out of a 'serious relationship'," I said with sarcasm. "When you and Ron didn't lose your virginities to each other like we did. Would you have preferred it if your first was Ron?"

"No, I always wanted to lose my virginity to someone I loved, and for the last time, I didn't love Ron!"

"Okay, okay!" I said my hands up in mock surrender. "I just wanted to let you know that I didn't want you to be his, I wanted you to be mine. I love you, Hermione. I want this to work between us."

Hermione rubbed her forehead and pushed the hair off of her face. "It will! One day we'll be together as a couple. You won't be the other guy; you'll be the only guy. You are the only guy I've ever felt this strongly about, Fred."

I didn't know what came over me. Maybe it was Hermione accepting that we'd be a proper couple, even if it was "someday"; maybe it was her opening up to me like I'd opened up to her. Maybe it was her saying I would only ever be the only guy for her. Before I knew it, my lips were on hers, our bodies pushed up against a sturdy bookcase, her hands in my hair, my hands gliding over her arms, face and back. Our tongues danced and our teeth nibbled. We were in an aisle so far away from Madame Pince's desk, an aisle that was so unused and carried only the oldest books Hogwarts had to offer that we both knew we'd never be disturbed, and no one would hear us. She bit down on my lower lip and I moaned. This spurred her on to pluck at my shirt and my flies, and in retaliation I undid some of the buttons on her shirt so I could massage her breasts. She moaned at me touching her soft porcelain skin and I withdrew my lips from hers to kiss along her jaw line, down her neck, across her collarbone and down to her chest. It started to heave in desperation against my lips, and Hermione bent her head back in pleasure.

When I came back up to her height to kiss her lips, her fingers undid my shirt, and slid down my chest to rub over the bulge in my trousers. I sighed against her neck, where my head was resting from her opening my shirt. She struggled with my flies and once she had managed to undo them, I lifted her, my hands on her thighs, so our groins met. Her back was against the bookshelf which must have been uncomfortable, but she showed no signs of protest – quite the opposite, in fact, as she wrapped her legs around my waist and grabbed hold of my shoulders.

Suddenly, we were together, moving as one person in an act of true love. She breathed heavily, and so did I. I hardly realised this time, the second time, was what the first time should have been like – passionate, romantic and serious. I was showing her how much I cared for her, how much I needed her. I could never, and would never be without her. She was my everything, my one true love. My soulmate. Her legs tight around my waist drew me closer into her, making it more pleasurable for the both of us. Our exposed skin soon started to glisten with sweat; our kisses soon became more and more urgent as we neared the end. We murmured to each other as we moved faster, incoherent noises were being expressed as we both got closer and closer. It was drawing to a close now; we were both desperate for release, Hermione was begging me to keep going, and I was begging her not to stop moving with me. Almost at the same time, we were both moaning, calling to each other as we pulsated around and over each other, our passion finally subsiding.

We both held each other, her legs still around my waist, our heads on each other's shoulders, panting into each other's hair. Hermione looked me in the eyes and smiled, a true smile that lit up her face and warmed mine.

"I love you, Fred," she whispered, still out of breath. I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and kissed her gently.

"I love you too, Hermione," I replied simply. She smiled again, and so did I – a smile so euphoric it could have been blamed on triumph over the situation or from the effects of the oxytocin now coursing through our systems. "I'll never leave you. I'll always love you, my darling."

"And I'll never leave you either. I don't know what I'd do without you."

We were both oblivious to the approaching footsteps throughout our heart-to-heart.

"I knew you didn't really get along with me, Fred, but you are unbelievable!"

Hermione and I both looked over to the source of the voice, and found to our displeasure, the one person we never wanted to find us like this.

Ron Shut Up You Little Bastard Weasley was glaring at us both, pure and utter hatred in his eyes.

Well, there you go! I'm completely beaming at this chapter! My longest and most detailed, I think. Looking back on it, the sex scene was similar to Cecilia and Robbie in Atonement, I only just realised, with it in a library and an interruption. I'm so sorry it's been a year since I last posted, and I have great ideas for the next chapter already. However, AS exams are in two months, so you will be in for a wait, I'm sorry in advance. I'm almost finished with this story, only one or two chapters left after the one after this, and I need ideas as to how to finish it! Happy ending or sad ending? Contributions are very very welcome!

R&R, and if you're a newbie to this story, don't forget to put it on your story alert list!

Love to you all,

Lulu.

xxx