Title:
Just a Girl
Pairing: Fred/Hermione
Rating: PG-13
Words:
431
A/N: Written for sellthelie
in celebration of the Phelps twins' birthday. The prompt was "After
all... I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to
love her." – Notting Hill. Set in the freds_not_dead
universe.
"I can't believe we are having this conversation!"
"Me either."
"I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her."
"That's a load of rubbish," Fred exclaimed. "You could never be just a girl. You are the woman who helped Harry Potter defeat Voldemort. You are the smartest witch of her generation. You are the person responsible for freeing House Elves. Godrick H. Gryffindor, you are going to be the next bloody Minister of Magic! You are not just a girl. But I am just the proprietor of a second rate joke shop."
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Second rate?"
"Maybe first rate," Fred shrugged, but he still didn't look happy.
"What's really wrong, Fred? I know you don't give a piss about the rest of it."
"Damn it, Hermione. You were my little brother's first love, his soul mate, his wife! You are his widow. I know he was your one true love and I can't live with the competition. I can't be second best with you. It would tear my heart out."
Hermione's eyes got wide. She took a step toward him, but did not reach out – she did not touch him – realizing that to do so would undermine everything that needed to be said. "It's true that I loved Ron with everything inside me. From the time I was a girl, I knew he was what I wanted in a man. He was my entire world for a long time."
Fred took a deep breath. He wasn't surprised by her words. They were exactly what he had expected, but it was still hard to hear them.
"Ron, however, has been gone for years. What I needed and wanted as a girl, is not what I need and want as a woman. You have come to mean to me everything that he ever did. It's different with us, easier in some ways, but you are just as essential to me as Ron ever was."
Hope flared in Fred's eyes. "I love you with my whole heart, Hermione."
Hermione now stepped into his embrace, wrapping her arms around his waist. "I love you too, Fred Weasley. And I never thought I would say that to another man."
He grinned down at her. "Are you sure you're not just saying you love me so that you'll have access to a lifetime supply of Skiving Snackboxes?"
She giggled. "No silly. I'm saying it so I won't ever have to change my monogram."
Fred laughed before bending down to kiss the woman he never thought would love him as much as he adored her.
