Later that evening, after Hermione had gotten her mangled hand fixed and told Madam Pomfrey the truth, (who willingly agreed to help her get better and not tell anyone, because it was in self defense,) she went back to the common room to relax in the quietness of the fire-light and think over the days events.

When she entered it though, she discovered it quite different than quiet and relaxing.

The atmosphere was excited and noisy – all attention centered on Lee Jordan, who had managed to talk back to Professor Umbridge in the hall and gotten a weeks worth detention for it. He was a hero.

Hermione sighed and tiredly pushed her way through the crowd all asking Lee what he had said for the hundredth time, and say down in a chair by the fire.

Fred had already flopped down in one of the oversized armchairs by the fire by the time Hermione had come over. His interview with Hooch had involved a great deal more lecturing and finger-waving, but all in all it had gone out without a hitch. They had spare bludgers, much to his relief, though they were relatively expensive and Hooch had a thing or two to say about his irresponsibility, first about practicing without the presence of any of the rest of the team, and then letting someone inexperienced fly on a broom without her presence.

He looked up with a tired sort of smile when Hermione settled into a chair nearby. He had already given Lee his congratulations and all that rot, and he was tired now and was actually just a few minutes away from trumping up to bed to get an early start tomorrow. He was sprawled, sitting the wrong way over his chair with his legs sprawled over one of the arms. He straightened, though, when he caught sight of her.

"'Lo, Hermione."

Hermione closed her eyes and nodded in an exhausted sort of way. – Exhausted, from thinking, that was.
She had done much of it the rest of the day, about arguing with Fred, (which didn't make her feel any better,) the game the next morning, and every else under the sun.
Which was why she was so tired – and why she murmured, "Fred," before putting her hand over her eyes and taking a deep breath.

Fred had done a bit of thinking, too. Yes, believe it or not, he was capable of premeditated thought sometimes, and did not rely entirely on his famous, spur-of-the-moment bouts of brilliance. So it was that he made a nervous sort of sound in the back of his throat, and sat up a bit straighter. He leaned closer to Hermione, eyes fixed on her, and he said slowly:

"Listen, Hermione. I wanted to tell you something..."

He paused, considering. Did he really have to do this? He already knew what she would say, and there really was no reason to go on about it when she was /obviously/ tired... He shook his head slightly. No, he had to say it, or he'd feel guilty forever.

"Well, I'm sorry," he mumbled quickly, as if hoping to get over with it as quickly as possible. "For being cross with you earlier. I now I shouldn't have, and I had no reason to badger you, either..."

Hermione did not speak for a few moments, then she shook her head. "No... you shouldn't apologize Fred," She said, rubbing her tired eyes. It really wasn't his fault, so why should she accept an apology that she didn't need to hear?
"You were just curious, like Ron and Harry always are. I was the one who shouldn't have snapped at you for it... I'm really sorry, I didn't meant to get so angry – I was just used to telling off Ron for his prying, but you're different, and I didn't mean to do that to you, oh – I..." She stopped and realized that she was rambling. So she settled for staring at the ceiling. "I'm really sorry for categorizing you under my problems with Ron and letting it out on you..."

Fred shuffled a bit uneasily, lifting a hand to rub at the back of his neck. A thought just occurred to him. He didn't like it, but he thought he might as well convey it to Hermione.

"You know..." he began hesitatingly, still keeping his voice low, incase /someone/ happened to hear him and take offense to what he was about to say. "Though I hate to admit it, Hermione, Ron /is/ my brother and... well, we probably have a lot more in common than I would like to think."

He offered her a slightly strained smile.

"You /would/ tell me if I ever started to act like such an insensitive prig, wouldn't you?"

Sure, Fred loved his family, and was loyal to each and every one of the Weasley's to his death, but there were certain attributes that were strictly Weasley-ish and were not very complimentary – priggishness, he was afraid, was one of them.

Hermione smiled to herself and pondered this for a moment.
/Would/ she tell him if he was being arrogant and priggish? Her first answer was no, because she would hate to offend him – but when she really thought about it, - yes. She definitely would tell him, and probably in a not- so- nice way too.
"Of course I would, Fred," She said to him quietly, deciding to answer rather than leave him in the dark. "But so far you haven't been one – and I don't think you ever will be. It's not like you."
Again, she spoke the truth. Fred was kind and caring, not to mention protective. She could never see him hurting her in a genuinely mean way.

Relieved, the Weasley twin grinned. He would never intentionally hurt Hermione, but it was comforting to know that she would let him down (probably none too gently, either) if he lost his head. Even if he wasn't prone to being nasty, /that/, at least, could be counted as one of his faults.

"I hope not..." he murmured. Then he yawned, and rose slowly to his feet. "I think I'll head off to bed now. Want an early start tomorrow, after all..."

He blinked at the load of Gryffindors still packed into the Common Room. He shrugged, and then stepped a few paces over to Hermione. Placing a hand on the back of her chair to balance himself, he leaned over to kiss her innocently on the forehead.

"Night, 'Mione," he said with a grin, pulling back and then walking off to the dormitories without further ado.

Goodnight Fred," Hermione smiled when Fred kissed her on the forehead and continued to stare into the fire when he left. He was very sweet, when she thought about it. It was no wonder that she had feelings for him.
With a sigh after a few minutes, Hermione got up and drifted into the girls' dormitories, thoughts dwelling on Fred all the way until her head hit the pillow and she fell asleep.