Visual Memories

Fred had been sitting on Hermione's couch for the last fifteen minutes. If they didn't leave soon, they would be late for Lee Jordon's and Lavender Brown's wedding. "Granger," he shouted. "Get out here already! We have to go!"

"Just five minutes," she shouted back.

Groaning, Fred flopped back on the couch. He was bored and had already thumbed through all of the magazines she had lying out. When he opened up her coffee table drawer to look for something more interesting than Popular Potions for the Precocious what he found instead was her photo album. As he glanced through it, he had to laugh at the Muggle pictures of her as a baby and toddler. Even then, her hair and been wild and uncontrollable.

About one-fourth of the way through the album, wizarding photos began to appear. Pictures of Ron, Harry, and Ginny dominated this section. There were also pictures of the Burrow, of Fred's mum and dad, of Order members, and of Hogwart's students and professors. The end of the album contained post-war photos. There were pictures of George behind the counter at the Wheezes, pictures of baby Teddy and Victoire, and over a dozen pictures of Harry's and Ginny's wedding.

Fred was suddenly struck by an observation. He quickly scanned through the album again and was shocked that he was correct -- there was not a single photograph of him in Hermione's collection. He and the bright, brown-eyed girl had been seriously dating since the war ended two year ago, yet not one picture of him was in her photo album.

Feeling a bit insecure, Fred crossed his arms over his chest, plastered a scowl on his face, and waited for his girlfriend to emerge from the bathroom.

The smile slid from Hermione's lips as soon as she saw Fred's countenance. "What?!" she demanded. "We aren't THAT late."

"Why isn't there a single photograph of me in your in album?"

"Huh?" she responded, clearly confused.

"I just looked through your picture album and there isn't one photo of me," he informed her, in a partly outraged, partly hurt tone.

Hermione blushed. "Oh you noticed."

"Damn straight I noticed, Granger. There are tons of pictures of Ron, Harry, and even Victor-sodding-Krum, yet not a single one of your current boyfriend. Perhaps you think I'm not attractive enough to put in your album. Perhaps you are ashamed to have visual evidence of our relationship," he declared angrily, sounding a bit out-of-control.

"Fred, calm down!" Hermione demanded. "Of course, I'm not ashamed of you. If I was, why would I be going to this wedding with you? Why would I have dating you for the last couple of years? It is hardly like I've attempted to hide you away in the dark corners of restaurants and bars whenever we go out."

"Well, there was that one time at the Leaky Cauldron," he reminded her.

"Only because you kept sticking your hand up my skirt and I didn't want anyone to see what you were up to!"

He stood and stalked toward her. "If you aren't ashamed of me, then explain the lack of photos."

She blushed again, but stood her ground. "There aren't any photos of you, because when I am in a room with you, I want to be holding you, or talking to you, or doing things with you. Not standing across from you observing your actions and documenting them with a camera. If I have several of pictures of Victor, it is only because he was more interesting to watch than to actually talk to or spend time with."

Fred grabbed a hold of Hermione's chin and gave her the smile he reserved for when he found something absolutely brilliant. "Maybe we should skip the wedding and spend the afternoon making more non-visual memories," he suggested with a grin.

Leaning in to him and brushing her lips against his, Hermione giggled. "First the wedding and then we'll come back to make the memories."