{Fred's POV}

I waited until after dinner. Harry and Ron had gone up to bed, along with everyone else. Hermione was in the corner pretending that she was reading. She is a lousy actress, honestly. George and I were playing exploding snap but I gave him the look then looked at her he nodded and said very obviously-

"I'm very tired now, Fred. I am going to bed. You may play by yourself." And he winked at me then walked upstairs.

Hermione waited till he was out of earshot before coming over to me

"Hey, Fred." She said quietly. I swear she can read my mind. She seemed guilty.

"Hi," I stood up "Come to the sofa with me?" I asked her with an even quieter volume

"OK,"

I took her hand; she looked at it, and then squeezed mine. We went to the sofa, she sat then I sat

"I'm not sure what I did to make you mad at me but I'm sorry," she said to me with tears forming in her chocolate eyes

What, she thought I was mad at her?

"I'm not mad at you. 'Mione, I could never be mad at you." I assured her "I do have something to ask you though,"

She shifted herself so that she was beside me, rather than facing me.

"What is it, Fred?" she asked quietly

I asked her in the most serious voice I had

"Why were you meeting Sirius Black in Hogsmeade?"

The look that crossed her face was unbearable; she looked like she was going to cry, she was trembling. I let go of her hand and draped my arm over her shoulder. She leaned into me it felt good

"You can tell me if he's blackmailing you. I'll go to Dumbledore. He'll know what to do. And he stole the hippogriff? How long have you known?" she had stopped trembling.

"You think that Sirius forced us to go?" she said turning her head to me, I my hand dropped to the middle of her back

Amusement and little bit of humour was dancing in her eyes

"Well, why else would you three meet him?" I dropped my voice "I don't know if you know but Sirius Black is the guy who sold out Harry's parents!" She giggled in response

I couldn't believe it she was giggling! I just told her that the man that they fed today had basically killed her best friend's parents!

"Hermione! Why are you laughing?!" I whispered incredulously

She looked up, she looked so happy. Why was she happy?

"Fred, you're wrong. On more counts than one" she began

{Hermione's POV}

There I was, about to cry that Fred thought I was consorting with a mass murderer. Then I realised he was worried about me. Not angry with me. He thought I was in danger and that's why he looked so hurt. He thought that I didn't trust his enough to tell him that someone was threatening me. Gosh, he was a little bit over protective sometimes. I looked up into his deep blue eyes and said

"Fred, you're wrong on more counts than one."

"Then why were you meeting him?" he demanded quietly

"I shouldn't tell you, Fred. It could get you in so much trouble. Especially if you're family finds out you knew before them,"

"Just tell me, Hermione. I need to know that you're OK." His eyes burned with the truth of his words.

"OK, but you can't tell anybody. Not even George. I need you to swear." I said seriously

"I swear." He replied quickly

"I need you to swear on my life." I said just as fast "I know how much you tell George and I need to know that you're the only one that will know"

"But, Hermione…" I trailed off

"Please, Fred, just swear. I want to tell you as much as you want me to tell you, if not more," I pleaded

"Alright, Hermione. I swear, on your life, that I will not tell anyone, including George anything that you are about to tell me." he finished; he grimaced at what he had just done.

"Thank you." I said

"Now will you tell me?"

"Yes," I lifted my legs and put the over his lap. He took his other arm and put it over them and I started from my 3rd year.

{Fred's POV}

I absolutely adored having Hermione this close to me. It made me feel like she wanted me as much as I want her even though I'm not really sure anymore. Nothing she told made any sense. Time-turners to get to classes, Firebolt, werewolf, Snape animagus, Scabbers being a man, the man that sold out Harry's parents, saving the hippogriff, helping Black escape, talking to him in the fire. This girl was far from the goody-two-shoes everyone thought she was.

"So he wrote to Harry and asked us to bring him some food, that's why we met with him in Hogsmeade." She finished the story.

We had been talking for 3 hours. It was almost 1 o'clock.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were doing something wrong-" then she cut me off

"I thought you of all people would encourage me to do something wrong!" she giggled

"Not something this wrong! I thought you were putting yourself in danger! I thought he was a killer!"

I was really anxious now, even though I knew Black wasn't dangerous, what else hadn't she told me?

"Fred," she placed her and on my chest, where I knew she could feel my heart racing "I'm fine. Sirius isn't dangerous. Crookshanks is more dangerous" she assured me

"Hermione, I'm not sure if you know how much you truly mean to me," I began she looked at me with earnest eyes

"If anything ever happened to you, I'm not sure what I would do."

"Fred, nothing is going to happen to me," She said, obviously trying to calm me down

"'Mione, in your 1st year when you were eleven you were attacked by a troll, almost met Voldemort in the forest, strangled by a plant, almost decapitated by a huge chess set and close to being poisoned in a stupid test." I listed her first year of problems

"I didn't realise you knew so much," she looked at the fire

"In your 2nd year you were turned into a cat and then petrified of all things!" I continued

She was still looking away

"Last year, you were forced to run from a werewolf, a flaming werewolf. Then you were attacked by dementors dementors – soul sucking creatures, they could have taken you from me forever!" I knew she was still listening

"And this year," I turn her head, and pressed my forehead to hers "You could have been murdered by Death Eaters, you attended the ball with a international Quidditch champion and you were almost drowned."

She looked into my eyes and said

"All those things don't matter, I'm still here, and I'm still me. I still tell you off for your pranks, if you ever try the aging potion again I'll still laugh when it backfires and I'm still here for you, Fred." She finished with the words I really needed to hear.

"You know, Hermione," I kissed her quickly on the cheek, earning a blush from her "I think you've grown on me a tad." I smiled at her. She was blushing out of control

"Fred, I know that you've grown on me," she said swiftly

Did she just say what I think she said? That I've grown on her? Does that mean she likes me? Oh, Godric, please that means she likes me. Otherwise, this could ruin everything…

I pulled her closer. She turned her head to see what I was doing; I knew that she would. I leaned in, I didn't know how she would react but now I knew that she liked me, probably not as much as I liked her but she still liked me. When our lips met it was like a shot of Firewhiskey. It was like nothing else mattered, not Krum, not Ron nor Harry, not Sirius or even the impending war. Just Hermione and I mattered. Everything else was irrelevant. Her lips her soft, and she was warm. From what I heard, she didn't have much experience. But she was perfect.

She pulled back looked me in the eyes and then smiled. I knew that things were great between us. I didn't exactly know what was happening between us, but it was something, happy and good. Something we both needed.

"I should go to bed now, I need to be up early tomorrow," Hermione said to me

"But tomorrow's Sunday," I said, becoming a little bit suspicious again

"Harry, Ron and I are sending a letter. Its contents require us to do it early." She explained

"Do I want to know?" I asked her, only half joking

"Probably not," she replied in the same tone

"You could always skip it and hang out with me tonight and tomorrow", I said, I knew it was an empty hope, but I couldn't help it

"Maybe tomorrow night," she kissed me swiftly on the cheek then got up and skipped up the stairs.

"Did that really just happen?" I thought to myself

I tiptoed up the stairs knowing that if I woke George he would want every detail and I didn't want to have to lie about anything, so best to just ignore any questions he asked.