#9 - "Don't ever do that again!"

Christmas at Hogwarts had always been one of Hermione's favourite times of year. The decorations were beautiful and she found herself wishing she could enchant her parents tree when she got home just so she could keep a little bit of the magic and be able to bask in it on Christmas day.

She was extremely pleased to be staying at Hogwarts this year even though she missed her parents terribly. She had asked to stay on with Harry and the Weasley's and so far it had been wonderful.

It was Christmas Eve and Hermione was returning from the library having checked out a few books to read over the holiday. She was looking forward to sitting up in one of the towers windows in her dorm, watching the snow fall, drinking hot chocolate and reading some of her favourite books.

She'd just managed to drag her bag through the portrait hole when she bumped into someone's chest and stumbled back slightly. If it wasn't for the warm hands that reached out to steady her she probably would have fallen straight back out of the portrait hole.

Hermione looked up to thank the person in front of her, smiling in recognition when she realised it was Fred. Her stomach gave a little flip, something it had been doing a lot more in his presence lately.

It was then that she heard amused chattering and a few whistles. She was aware of Fred dropping his hands and stepping back slightly but she was mostly focused on the fact that he looked extremely nervous and slightly embarrassed.

She was about to ask him what was wrong when George bounded into view, a mischievous gleam in his eye and a grin so big she actually worried someone had miscast a cheering charm.

"Alright, Hermione?" George smiled.

"Err, yes." Hermione was starting to get a little nervous with the way he was looking at her.

"Enjoying the holidays? Personally I've always loved this time of year. So many traditions bringing us all together, spreading cheer and all that. What's your favourite tradition?" He asked, practically vibrating with laughter now.

"I hadn't really thought about it…" She trailed off uncertainly.

"Mine's Mistletoe. Wonderful little plant, almost perfect really. What other object could prank so brilliantly just by existing. Of course, all it really needed was a bit of Weasley magic and it was sure to be a prime addition to our Christmas range." He winked at her and she felt Fred shift uncomfortably next to her.

"What are you talking about?" She became aware that there was quite a crowd gathering around them as George continued his little speech and her nerves doubled as she realised this looked exactly like the beginning of one of the twins' Wizard Wheezes demonstrations.

George turned to address the crowd and began to speak louder.

"Ladies and gents, I present to you the latest addition to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Christmas Specials; Mistletraps."

He pointed to a spot just above Hermione's head and she noticed to her growing horror that she was stood underneath a glowing bunch of Mistletoe. Even worse, as she glanced back down she realised that she and Fred were stood inside a faint, shimmering red circle.

She reached her hand up, already suspecting what would happen if she tried to cross the line, and found that an invisible barrier seemed to be preventing her from moving anywhere outside of the circle.

"Traditional mistletoe with a twist. When two people stand beneath the mistletoe the spell activates and will only be released with a kiss. My less dashing twin has kindly volunteered to demonstrate, with Miss Granger here being the first person to walk under it with him."

George continued explaining the ins and outs of the process behind their latest invention but Hermione was too busy trying not to freak out to pay much attention.

Hermione felt Fred lean down to whisper in her ear.

"Sorry about this 'Mione. I never would've agreed to this if I'd known it would've been you." Fred seemed flustered and unsure.

Hermione felt sick. Not only would she have to publicly kiss someone she'd had a crush on for the past year but he didn't even want her to kiss him at all. She wished the ground would just swallow her up.

"It doesn't have to mean anything, obviously. We designed them so any kiss would lift the spell. Really all you have to do is…"

Hermione had turned around to look at him as he'd continued to explain, growing more and more pink as he did, when she'd suddenly had the urge to just get it over with so she could forget this mortifying day had ever happened.

She grabbed Fred around the back of his neck and pulled him towards her. She'd meant to just quickly brush her lips against his but she'd misjudged the force with which she'd dragged him forward.

His lips clumsily met hers mid sentence and he let out a surprised huff as he caught her by the waist to steady them both.

She made to pull back but his grip tightened and his body began leaning into hers, his lips moulding more securely against her mouth.

Hermione lost herself in the sensations he was creating and pressed herself more forcefully against him. They were almost rocking into each other, pushing and pulling, each trying to control the kiss and themselves.

She wasn't sure how long they'd been wrapped up in each other before the sounds of wolf whistling and raucous cheering caused them to come back to their senses and break apart.

They stared at each other, both breathing harshly, before Hermione spun on her heel, dropped her bag and fled the common room.

She ran down the corridor, ignoring Fred as he called after her and darted into one of the empty classrooms, slamming the door behind her and throwing herself down on to one of the empty chairs. She dropped her head into her hands and leaned against the desk in front of her.

Why had she done that? Why had she let herself get so carried away? She'd never be able to look at Fred again after that, let alone have a conversation with him.

She groaned then jumped as she registered the door handle being pushed down behind her. She opened her mouth to yell at whoever was trying to come in before she realised who had opened it.

Fred stood in the doorway, a sheepish yet determined expression on his face. He was still breathing slightly raggedly but she couldn't tell whether that was because he'd run down the hall after her or if he was just as affected by that kiss as she was.

"Hey." He said, moving into the room and closing the door behind him. "So…that happened…"

Hermione scoffed and shook her head.

"Yes, that happened. Now could you please just leave me alone, I'd rather not be embarrassed any more than I already have been today."

"I swear, I didn't mean it to be you."

"You've made that very clear, thanks."

"No, I didn't mean it like that…"

"I'm well aware that you never wanted to kiss me and I'm completely fine with that." Hermione tried to push past the grimace her words brought her.

"Will you please just listen, I'm trying to explain…" Fred walked closer, hands up as if to calm her down.

Hermione suddenly found herself overwhelmingly angry. She was the victim here. She'd been minding her own business before she got caught up in his stupid prank.

"No, you listen! You can't just do this to people! I get that everything is just one giant joke to you but I won't be messed around with. I don't appreciate being made to kiss people. It's embarrassing and awkward and just…don't you ever do that again!" She was shaking in an attempt to quell her anger.

"You're not a joke to me, Hermione! I never wanted to kiss you for the first time like that! If you'd just waited instead of pouncing on me I was going to tell you that any kiss would've lifted the spell. I could have kissed your hand and it would've released us." Fred finished, stepping closer, a pleading expression on his face.

"Oh." All the anger seemed to seep out of Hermione like air being let out of a balloon. Well this certainly complicated things. If she'd known it didn't need to be an actual kiss it wouldn't have been nearly as bad. She'd daydreamed about kissing Fred and this wasn't exactly what she'd had planned for their first kiss either, not that it had been bad, quite the opposite actually, wait…did he…? Did he just say that that wasn't how he'd wanted to kiss her for the first time either?

"Hang on. What do you mean you 'never wanted to kiss me for the first time like that'?" Hermione moved forward slightly. They were almost close enough to touch now and she found herself scanning his face, trying to figure out exactly what he was thinking.

"Well…" Fred scratched the back of his neck as he trailed off awkwardly. He looked out of place and Hermione was almost shocked to see how nervous he actually was. She'd always thought he was so confident and self assured, she couldn't remember him ever being anything less than calm and collected no matter what the circumstances. She had to admit that she found his nerves rather endearing.

He cleared his throat and looked at her. His expression softened and he smiled at her. She smiled back and suddenly they were grinning like fools. She had no idea why but the atmosphere seemed to change as they slowly collected themselves.

Fred reached towards her and tugged her gently forwards. Hermione tilted her head back and kept her eyes on him, both of them still smiling softly.

"Hermione?" He asked quietly.

"Yes." She replied. Her mouth had gone very dry and she was struggling to control her rapidly accelerating heartbeat.

"Can I kiss you? For real this time, no tricks, no audience. Just us." He bent towards her until their foreheads touched and then closed his eyes seemingly content to stay that way forever.

Hermione leaned into him and closed her eyes too. The stillness of the room and the warmth of his body next to hers felt so comforting she almost didn't want to reply and break it. She knew however, that a chance to kiss him again was something she'd never pass up, especially now she knew how right it felt.

She whispered a gentle 'yes' as she leaned forward and captured his lips with hers.

This kiss was different. It was heat and longing mixed up with a safety so sweet Hermione felt like she would collapse without it. She'd never felt this sort of connection with anyone.

Her kisses with Viktor hadn't even come close. Fred seemed to know exactly how to get her body to respond.

The hand that was resting gently on her waist rubbed soothing circles into the sliver of skin just below her pushed up jumper. He cradled her cheek with his other hand and tilted her head to find the best angle for them both.

They were laughing as they kissed, almost as if their happiness was too big to contain. He huffed against her lips as she tugged him closer, winding her arms around his neck and stroking his hair gently.

The kiss grew more heated as it went on and Fred's hands seemed to wander everywhere at once. Hermione fought to catch her breath as he pushed her backwards and lifted her slightly until she was sat on top of one of the desks.

He pulled back and opened his mouth to say something when a loud bang sounded just outside the classroom. It brought them both back to reality and Fred took hold of one of her hands and tugged her back upright, winking as he did so.

"Want to go somewhere a little more private so we can talk?" His face held uncertainty and she couldn't imagine how there was any doubt in his mind that she wouldn't want to continue this after their kisses.

"I'd like that." Hermione smiled as Fred's face broke into a grin and he began leading her towards the door.

"I may have to get George an extra special Christmas gift for deciding to test the new products in the common room." Fred laughed, squeezing her hand as he tugged her back towards Gryffindor tower.

"I don't know," Hermione smiled, "maybe he deserves to be pranked for all the trouble he's going to have caused. We'll never hear the end of this."

"What did you have in mind?" Fred's face lit up as he tugged her closer.

"That depends…how many school rules are you willing to break?"

"For you I'd break them all."

a/n: this chapter gave me so much trouble, it's been pretty much written for ages but I just couldn't write it in the way I wanted to and the smut just did not flow properly with the story so I cut it and decided on a better way to write it for the next chapter which hopefully will be up much quicker :) Hermione is just not the kind of character who would jump into sex at school so I'm thinking a post-Hogwarts Hermione would be much more open to it, anyway review and let me know what you thought and thanks for reading!