"A man does not recover from such a devotion of the heart to such a woman! He ought not; he does not." - Jane Austen, Persuasion

I had officially passed desperate with flying colors. I was now well on my way to frantic. Nothing was working for me, nothing was getting Hermione any closer to saying hello, let alone I do.

Failure, however, was not an option. I was Fred Gideon Weasley, I did not fail. Much anyway.

What I really needed was a new plan, a better, foolproof plan. Luckily I had all day to work on it, today was Friday, and Hermione was going to be picking up those pygmy puff treats. I was working in the backroom on potions, we'd run out of our wonder witch supplies. I was supposed to be making pimple remover but I was trying something different instead. I was trying out a new potion, my own invention, a defriz potion. Hermione would love it, and I'd finally get her to notice me.

I checked my ingredients again and added another, crumpet horn. It was explosive, but also had the ability to make things silky. A timer went off beside me and I jumped, tripping on the cauldron before I fell backwards into the shelf of potions. They crashed around me, covering me in thick liquid and causing a burning sensation to shoot across my body. I yelped in surprise and pain, and the door behind me burst open as another box fell on top of me.

Feathers. Why did we even have feathers back here, and why couldn't they stay in their box?

George let out a loud laugh, shaking with the force of them as he looked down at me. I stood up shaking my head.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Don't ask, I'm not even sure. Is she here yet?" I said, standing up and shaking off my robes. I froze when I brushed the feathers away and looked at my hand in annoyance, it was turning purple. Perfect, this so would not strike a positive note with Hermione. I looked like a git, and a dumb one at that.

"Yeah, she just got here. Some blokes with her, I recognized him but couldn't remember his name."

"What?" I yelped, pushing past him and heading to the actual store.

"Umm, are you sure everything's okay back here?" George asked following me out into the shop.

"Yes." Of course I wasn't, but some bloke was with my Hermione.

I ran out to the front of the shop, Hermione was at the checkout with her treats, Terry Boot, the little git, was right behind her, talking animatedly. Verity was checking them out.

"Hermione!" I said, trying not to make it sound upset. I slid in beside Verity at the checkout and smiled in my most winning way.

"Hello Fred, how are you today?" She asked, looking me up and down. I smiled again and tried to ignore the fact that I was turning purple. A slightly giddy feeling filled me up as I realized she had said 'hello' to me, I had actually gotten Hermione to say hello!

"I'm great, just working on some potions."

"How's that going?"

"Wonderfully."

"Great, well, I have to go. I've got to get back to Flourish's, I'm training Terry." She said, indicating the Ravenclaw. "We just stopped to get the treats before we went for a coffee." She smiled excitedly and grabbed the treats. She turned back towards the exit and started towards it. I jumped over the counter, knocking over a display of skiving snackboxes on George, he'd finally come out of the backroom clutching a broom and was trying to sweep up the feathers I was dropping.

She was walking towards the door, leaving me and my shop with Terry. He turned around as they left, giving me a smirk as he placed his hand on Hermione's back.

That was it, the last straw. I was not losing Hermione here, in my own shop, to some jerk faced little git. Not after everything, I was bruised, broken, and bleeding, and so help me, Hermione Granger was going to go out with me and she was going to say I do!

"Hermione!" I yelled after her retreating back. Half the people in the store turned towards me but I didn't care. I was turning purple, covered in feathers, and growing green hair, but I didn't care. I was past caring. I was madly in love with this witch, and she was going to hear me out. No more hints, not after this. I was going to come straight out and ask her. She stopped walking forward and turned back around to face me, her black robes swirling around her.

"What Fred?" She asked, her voice weary and worn out, so very different from her usual bossy, musical tone. She looked sad and wary.

"Will you go out with me?" I asked, finally following the advice of George and my mother. George was standing over to my right at the moment. He was still holding the broom and was still covered in puking pastilles. His mouth had dropped open and he was staring at me in complete shock. Smoke was billowing out the door of the back room and it was starting to swirl around me. I didn't move though, I wasn't moving until Hermione answered me.

"Are you joking?" She asked, her voice confused and disbelieving. I shook my head, smiling at the irony of all this. I'd been busting my butt to get her to realize I liked her this last month, and she thought I was joking. It was too much, this whole thing was too much.

"No, Hermione, I am not joking. I am crazy about you, I've been trying to get you to notice me this past month. Didn't you notice?" I asked, taking a small step forward. The entire store was listening to us now.

She took a step forward, a bewildered look on her face. "Fred, what are you talking about?"

I laughed at that, she'd not noticed. I'd been making a right arse of myself in an attempt to impress her, and she hadn't even noticed! "I invited you over to our house for dinner, I tried to talk to you while you were working, I tried to learn how to skate for you, I tried to referee with you during quidditch, and I even just tried to make a potion to defriz hair." I said, recalling all the disastrous plans of the last month. Had I really been that pathetic? Merlin, George was right about me. "I'm really crazy about you, Hermione Granger." I finished, cringing as an explosion sounded behind me. I really shouldn't have added the crumpet horn.

"Fred, I don't even know what to say to that." She said softly, still looking disbelieving, but slightly hopeful as well. I could be mistaken though, I really wanted her to look hopeful.

"Say yes, say you'll go out with me. One date, that's all I'm asking for." I responded quickly, taking another small step forward.

"I-" She started, looking unsure. Oh well, I was going down in flames anyway, I might as well go all out.

"I'm madly in love with you Hermione." I said. George dropped the broom and an audible gasp sounded from somewhere behind me. Merlin, I'd forgotten there were still customers in the store.

"What?" She stuttered, stepping back and looking shocked. Terry stepped towards her and set his arm on her shoulder. She shook it off impatiently and came towards me.

"Fred, are you being completely serious?" Her face was unreadable and her voice blank.

"Yes," I said without hesitation. She seemed to be finally getting what I was talking about.

"Then I have something to tell you." She said, stepping up right in front of me. She raised her hands and laid them on my shoulders, pushing herself up to her tip toes.

"I'm crazy about you too." She said softly, her chocolate eyes sparkling. She closed the distance between our faces and planted a soft, sweet kiss on my lips. It was pure heaven, I had found my new favorite past time, kissing Hermione. I brought my hands around her waist and gripped her tightly, pulling her too me as I deepened the kiss. My other hand found it's way into her incredible soft, curly, hair and I felt her move her own hand to finger my ginger locks. A catcall sounded to my right from George, followed by an outburst of applause all around us and I pulled back from Hermione, blushing and beaming.

"So," I said, smiling as she blushed. "was that a yes to the date?" She laughed at that and lowered her arms to my waist, hugging me.

"Definitely."