It had been a week since Fred and the rest of the team had saved Hermione from the cursed broom, Malfoy had been taken in for questioning, and from what McGonagall said, no matter how much he threatened to tell his father about all of it, he would be punished. Along with the older students who had helped him.

They all knew he had received "darker" help from outside of school, but McGonagall was unable to bring those wrong doers to justice. Yet.

Fred and Hermione were in that awkward and embarrassed phase, where they both knew the other liked them, but they were too shy to act on their feelings. They shot each other little sweet smiles when they saw each other in the hall, sat next to each other at lunch and dinner, and blushed madly as the rest of the common room made jokes at their expense. But they were both happy.

0-0-0

'Freddie' George asked as he slid into the chair next to his twin

'Mm?' Fred replied pulling his mind off the cute smile Hermione had given him as they pasted each other in the hall just before lunch; her blushing cheeks were very adorable.

'What is going on with you and Hermione?'

'What do you mean?' Fred looked at him quickly.

'Dude! Come on, you got the girl! Your dream girl for that matter'

'Yeah?'

'And you're sitting over here while she is doing homework…over THERE!' he almost yelled at him

'Yeah, well…'

'Hang on a second…you're scared!' George gasped

'Am not!' Fred went pink

'Are too! Ha!' George laughed 'What's the matter, you've never been scared of girls, or Hermione for that matter'

'That's just it…she's THE girl George…I can't screw things up, she is too...too innocent and kind hearted…I don't want to stuff up…'

'You haven't done anything, have you?' George asked.

'No, not lately...but look at how I messed things up with the posters! I thought I was showing her my 'romantic'' he made air quotations 'side, and look how terribly that turned out…What if I screw up again and she hates me for it?'

'Fred, honestly, do you think she could hate you. You know how kind hearted she is, now if you were Malfoy or a broom stick maybe you wouldn't be so lucky. But I am telling you, she knows you well enough to understand when you are trying to be sweet and you accidentally give her sneezing daisies instead of nice ones, you weren't meaning to'

'You think?'

'Yeah, she's a keeper' he grinned 'Go and talk to her you moron'

'Ok'

'And give her a kiss from me' George winked 'kidding!' he laughed at the look on his brothers face.

0-0-0

'Hermione, would you like to go for a walk with me?' Fred blushed crimson as he asked

'Ok' she blushed back; the wolf-whistles from George made her want to chuck him out the tower window...

Fred held the portrait open for her as she climbed out and he followed.

'Where do you want to walk?' she asked

'I don't mind' He grinned sheepishly 'Library? You seem to like it there'

Hermione chuckled, she took a deep breath, calming her butterflies and held out her hand

'How about we go to the lake?' she asked, as he took her hand with his

'Anywhere' Fred smiled at her warmly.

0-0-0

'Do…do you find it a little strange how we were constantly at war…and well now we can hardly look at each other' Hermione asked bravely.

'I'm sorry' Fred muttered

'No I.. I just meant...' Hermione started to blurted out, they were standing by an old twisted tree that looked over the lake

'I'm just…nervous' Fred admitted sheepishly, where had his cool calm and awesome persona gone?

'You're nervous?' Hermione goggled at him, she didn't think Fred Weasley could even feel nervous; he was always so confident and funny

'Yeah…Hermione, I really like you, I don't want to screw this up…'

'How could you?' she asked looking at him closely

'I embarrassed you in front of the whole school with those signs' he groaned

'But I showed the whole common room you…you talking in your sleep' she blushed

'But only because I was a prat and showed people you in the shower, that was very wrong, I'm SO sorry'

'Yeah not the wisest of moves' she chuckled

'Katie told me you sang in the shower' he groaned covering his face.

'We've both don't stuff we aren't very proud of'

'I certainly have' Fred honestly.

'You know what, let's move on'

'What?' Fred suddenly looked scared and hurt

'No no, not from us, from the past...' she said quickly, he relaxed

'Clearly, I'm nervous too…I don't know how to act around you Fred Weasley, and I end up saying the wrong things' she blushed

'Just be yourself' he smiled

'Is that enough?' she asked, being strong and looking him in the eyes.

'Yes!' he exclaimed at once, pulling her into his arms 'You are perfect Love'

'I'm not...'

He cut her off 'You are the smartest person I know! You are funny; hey if you had done those pranks on George I would have died from laughter. You're brave and strong - look at the way you stand up to all those people, Malfoy, Umbridge…and if I remember correctly, you were not shy in the room of requirement when we were stuck together with tape…' he grinned at her and she blushed in-spite of herself 'I like every bit of you Hermione, the fun side, study side, your shy side and your evil side' he wiggled his eyebrows at the last part making her grin

'I like you too trouble maker'

'Trouble maker?' he asked, slowly walking her backwards so that she had her back against the old tree

'Yeah' she grinned 'you are extremely…'

But what he was extremely, he didn't find out, as it was then that he kissed her tenderly and she wrapped her arms around his neck, wiping their conversation from their minds.

0-0-0

Fred walked over to Hermione as she stared out of the common room window down into the grounds, a book in her hand.

'Hey Beautiful' He said in her ear, wrapping his arms around her waist

'Hi' she smiled and leaned back against him

'What are you looking at?'

'Nothing really, just trying to remember some study notes' she felt his chest chuckle

'Always the perfect student'

'Perfect?' She turned in his arms and looked at him

'Yeah, you're a goody two shoes' He grinned affectionately at her

'Oh you have no idea, do you?...' she grinned then lent up and nipped his bottom lip playfully, leaving him stunned and very interested.

'Just because you saved my life, doesn't mean I won't win' she grinned and walked off towards the girls dormitory, her hips swinging just faintly enough for him to mutter

'Oh it is on Granger' with a delighted evil grin

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Apples and Beckett

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