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CHAPTER 15.
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Hermione, Fred and Lee closed the shop soon after 5 pm and Lee winked mischievously at Fred before leaving and saying goodbye.
Fred and Hermione popped into George's flat and placed themselves on the couch, tired.
"Wow. You guys work really hard. Especially with George and Verity gone, it must be tight." Hermione said.
"Well, yeah. It is a bit busy. But this is nothing compared to summer holidays after Hogwarts has closed. You should see the shop then. Aisles of products empty faster than Ron's plate of food and we actually hire more help during that time." Fred said, his face beaming with pride.
"I'm so glad that www is doing so well. Your mum was so worried when you'll dropped out of school. I bet she's downright proud of you'll", Hermione said looking at Fred fondly.
Fred felt himself going warm at the compliment.
"How about I make my new helper some tea?" he asked.
"Oh that would be fabulous", Hermione answered. "I'll freshen up and then prepare dinner. Would you mind floo calling Fleur and checking on Danny and Brucie?"
"Sure. You go ahead. I'm sure you want to wash off the soot off your nose", Fred laughed.
"What soot?" Hermione questioned, conjuring a hand mirror to look at her nose.
"Oh dear!" She lamented. "How did that happen Fred Weasley?" She asked glaring at him.
"Umm. When you put the binocular glasses on they leave a bit of soot on the nose. Still have to figure out how to prevent that." Fred said sheepishly.
"What? This this patch has been on my nose since we came out of the back room and you're telling me NOW?" She glared with her hands on her hips and for a second Fred thought she'd give Mrs. Weasley and Ginny competition if glaring was a contest.
Luckily her wand wasn't in her hand or Fred would definitely be diving for cover.
"Even Lee didn't say anything. And all those customers. I knew so many of them. Oh dear. They must think I'm so foolish", she said blushing.
"Relax Hermione. You were working in a joke shop. Things like this are bound to happen. Merlin knows, George and I have been through worse and much less presentable sometimes in front of our customers" Fred tried calming her.
Hermione laughed. "But why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you looked cute. And besides, I'm telling you now. Earlier I'd planned to see your reaction when you saw for yourself. But I didn't want you blaming me for not telling you at all", he said cheekily.
"Oh yeah. Because telling me 2 minutes before I'd eventually find out on my own is so much better." She said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"Hey the longer you wait, the tougher it'll get to clean." Fred said.
Hermione glared at him again and went towards the bathroom while Fred prepared tea.
She returned, nose clean and looking fresher. She had changed into a simple blue and peach sundress and Fred couldn't help thinking how adorable she looked.
"What? No pajamas today? Are you going out?" He asked with slight trepidation.
"No silly. How will I go out? I just told you I'm preparing dinner." She said. "I just felt like a change of clothes today."
"I didn't think you'd own dresses. You're always wearing such teacherish clothes", he teased.
"I'll have you know that I own plenty of clothes that I normally wouldn't. And although I may have been coerced to purchase them by a certain younger sister of yours, I still own them." She said haughtily.
"Well then. You'll just have to prove me wrong then I guess." He said trying to look innocent.
"I will then." she said in the same haughty tone as she sipped her tea.
"The twins are staying over at Bill's today. Some cousin of Fleur's is visiting with her daughter's and all the kids are getting along quite well. So Fleur is having a kind of slumber night." Fred explained.
"Good then. I hope she makes them go to bed soon. They have school tomorrow" Hermione said with concern.
"I'm sure she will. Now come on. Tell me what you'd like for dinner milady.", Fred asked with a bow.
"Are you cooking? But I'm supposed to be doing that." Hermione said.
"No. You helped out so much today. You must be tired. I'm not that bad at cooking you know." He said.
"That's not what I'm worried about. If you cook, who'll make dessert?" She questioned cheekily.
Fred smiled broadly. He had missed his dessert making sessions and nightly talks with her. And today seemed promising.
"Hmmm. Ok. We'll both cook and both make dessert. Would you like some flambé?" he asked teasingly.
"Certainly not." She replied.
Fred laughed. "I was joking. Let's make chocolate cupcakes."
"Yumm. Let's." She said excitedly, rubbing her hands.
They prepared dinner and finished it while watching TV. Soon the cupcakes were ready and Hermione wondered when she would actually stop feeling surprised at Fred's dessert making talents.
They finished off the last of the cupcakes and continued watching TV. They were watching a movie called 'Shall we dance.' And it was almost nearing its end.
When they started playing the dance song in the end, Fred got up and offered his hand to Hermione.
"I don't know how to dance." She said confused.
"Just come on. Let's have some fun. The song will get over." He coaxed.
She got up hesitantly and Fred took her by the waist. She wasn't lying when she said she couldn't dance. But Fred turned and twisted her in funny random steps and soon she was flailing her limbs according to the music without adhering to any formal steps of dancing whatsoever. Both of them did a wild dance around the living room, and to any audience, had there been any, they would have looked like a couple of African jungle dancers.
The song ended and both of them collapsed on the couch in a pile, still laughing from all the nonsensical dancing and breathless.
"You're right." Fred said once his breathing returned to normal. "You are a terrible dancer."
"I never said I was terrible." She glared looking indignant." I just said I didn't know how to dance."
"Well adds up to the same thing, doesn't it?" He teased.
That earned him a slap on his arm and Hermione tried getting up from the couch. Fred pulled her down and scooted closer to her.
"I think we should change that though." He said.
"What?" Hermione whispered. She suddenly was very aware of how close they were on the couch and she could almost feel the heat radiating off Fred's body, still warm no doubt from the dancing.
A sheen of sweat had appeared on his forehead and his upper lip and for some reason she couldn't take her eyes off it.
"Your pathetic dancing abilities obviously. What did you think?" He asked wiggling his eyebrows comically.
"And how do you propose we do that Mr. Fred Weasley ?" She asked, shaking herself from his proximity.
"Let me teach you. It's very easy. Besides, you wouldn't want to dance like how you did at Ron's wedding would you? I wouldn't mind though. It was positively refreshing. But I doubt Maid of honour's are supposed to go wild at weddings." He smirked.
"Oh. So dancing is another added secret skill you possess?" Hermione asked. "My my. You really surprise me Weasley."
"What can I say? I'm like an onion." He replied, shrugging his shoulders casually trying hard to look modest but unsuccessful at it.
"Onion?" She quizzed.
"Yes of course. An onion." He replied. "Like an onion, I have many layers. You've got to peel them slowly to realise what lies beneath." He said solemnly as if he was delivering a sermon.
Hermione burst out laughing and Fred joined her.
"I'm glad I've to peel only layers to figure out what lies beneath and nothing else." She said cheekily.
Fred almost blushed but recovered quickly. "Well if you do want to know what lies beneath thoroughly, I suppose peeling in all possible forms can be allowed." He winked at her.
Laughing, she shook her head and said. "You're incorrigible you know."
"Hey. You started it. I still can't believe Hermione Granger would indulge in double entendres. You are a bad influence on me." He said pretending to look scandalised.
"I am a bad influence on you?" She asked in mock disbelief. "That's rich".
"Ok. Let's call it a truce. Let's say I'm a good influence on you." Fred said.
"And that's your idea of a truce?" Hermione asked.
Fred shrugged and smiled and offered her his hand.
"But there's no music." She said.
"Are you a witch or what?" He asked, conjuring a radio which had started playing a soft number.
She resigned and took Fred's hand.
He taught the basics of waltz starting with the stance and moving on to the steps. She had to admit; he was a good dancer and was extremely patient with her, considering she had stubbed his toe twice by now.
"When did you learn to dance?" She asked him.
"Yule ball" he answered. "McGonagall taught me."
Her eyes widened. "You're saying our Transfiguration professor, Minerva McGonagall taught you to waltz?"
"Yup. Same one." He smiled. "Well I was surprised that the old cat could even dance, let alone teach. But during her common lesson with us, I grew interested in dancing and convinced her to give me private lessons to get better. Actually, Neville did the same you know. For the klutz that he is, he sure was good on his feet. So the two of us took lessons from her and didn't breathe a word about it to anyone."
"Even George?" Hermione asked.
"No of course not. George knew. He could not for the life of him imagine why I wanted to traipse around in choreographed steps when we could all move our limbs in the way you did today and have a good time." He laughed.
"I cannot believe you took private lessons from McGonagall. Neville I can imagine. But you?" She shook her head disbelievingly.
"Well what can I say? I like raising a few eyebrows." He said twirling her.
She giggled and said, "You really are an onion, Fred Weasley."
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Hope you liked it!
I know it's going slow and both of them can't put a finger on what they're feeling. Fred more so than Hermione.
But you have to be patient.
It'll get better, I promise.
Just bear with me :-)
I know quite a few people are adding this story to alerts, so I'm sure you'll are reading it, but I won't know if you like it or not unless you'll review!
And I really do want to write better. So constructive criticism will really help too.
I update faster if I know people are looking forward to it! :-)
Thanks for reading!
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