Hello my lovely, amazing readers!
I hope you guys have been having a great start to 2013 and as promised a (late) update is finally here!
I would just like to thank all of you guys who have been following this story as I now have over 350 reviews; I'M SO HAPPY IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO EXPLAIN IT WITHOUT THE USE OF CAPITALS.
And as for why this chapter was late, usual crap like work and snow :D But I have also planned out the rest of this story and am writing up future chapters as we speak so hopefully updates won't take forever anymore!
And one last thing, check out my sexy new cover for this story ;)
(Don't mock, it's the best I could do)
Chapter 26-
A faint ringing woke Hermione up from her peaceful sleep. She groaned and stretched a lazy arm in what she hoped was the direction of her bedside table which was currently housing her mobile phone.
A glimpse at the clock told her that it was only 8am, which meant Fred, George and Nate shouldn't be up for another hour or two.
With a pained expression she looked into the bright screen of her phone to see the name SHANNA flashing across it.
With another small groan Hermione pressed answer.
"Hey Aunt Shanna," she murmured into the device.
A happy and incredibly loud voice replied with, "Hello Herm, I didn't wake you or anything did I?"
Hermione laughed and gave a silent nod as she answered,
"No of course not Shanna,"
A small chuckle came from the other end, "Ahh, you must have mistaken me for a fool Herm," another chuckle, "I can tell when you're lying from a mile away so I'm sorry for calling so early but I thought I'd better warn my favourite niece."
Hermione's brow furrowed as she replied, "warn me about what?"
"We're on our way back home now so we should be there in a few hours, which gives you and Fred some time to…umm, finish anything you may have started while we we're gone if you know what I mean. We wouldn't want your parents walking in on anything now would we?"
Through Shanna's soft laughs, Hermione could be heard spluttering on her own words. She couldn't believe her Aunt of all people was saying this to her!
"Shanna!" she exclaimed, "there is nothing going on with me and Fred, I can't believe you thought that, what if my mum or dad overheard you, they would have Fred buried 10 feet under the snow if that's what they thought we'd been doing all week!"
Hermione's panicked rant had definitely woke her up. 'What if anyone had heard Shanna talking to me? What on earth my mum would say, I have no idea and my dad…well he's a completely different story…'
"Whoa! Relax Herms; I was only kidding about the last bit no need to get your knickers in a twist! And your mum and dad are outside just loading up the car, they haven't heard anything, so don't worry your bushy little head,"
She scowled at the bushy hair reference (it had calmed down years ago!) but let out a sigh of relief that Shanna had been smart enough not to say that around her parents.
Shanna however must have heard the sigh and mistaken it for a relief of a different kind,
"Your sounding incredibly relieved there Herms, nothing actually happened between you and Fred did it? You're not secretly going out or something stupid like that are you?"
The joking tone was quite obvious to Hermione but she just couldn't help the surprised breath she took or the stutter that filled her next sentence.
"N-n-no, W-why would you think something silly like that? I mean me and Fred, come on?"
She prayed Shanna believed it and thankfully she did. Or more likely she decided to drop it and question Hermione when they got home.
"Well if you say so, anyway I need to get going Robert's shouting at me to get in the car, see you later Herms," and with that the phone disconnected.
Hermione laid her head back against her pillow and groaned.
She had no idea why she had been so nervous to admit to Shanna about her and Fred. Shanna was an amazing person and more of a friend than an aunt so surely she wouldn't care, right?
But Hermione just couldn't do it.
She wasn't ashamed of going out with Fred and she didn't really care if people didn't accept them. What she did care about however was what people would say.
'What if they say Fred can do so much better? Or ask why someone as cool and as funny as him would go out with someone like me? What if he starts to believe them?'
She knew she was scared about going public and now she truly understood why. She and Fred had a perfectly good thing going now and nobody, except George, knew about it so when other people were added to the equation she was terrified of the results.
After thinking through several different scenarios of going public with Fred ended either in tears or horrific embarrassment, Hermione decided she needed to get up and ready for her family's arrival.
She walked groggily towards the bathroom and turned on the shower before stepping in and letting the water cascade down her back. Her worries and tiredness seemed to wash away with the water and fifteen minutes later she was dressed and ready for the day.
The same however could not be said for the boys in the house.
She walked downstairs to find George still spread out on the sofa mumbling softly and Nate still curled up in her parents' bedroom. Hermione smiled and made her way to the kitchen to fix up some breakfast.
She made herself some toast and made some eggs for the boys. She loaded them onto a tray and made her way to the different rooms.
Waking Nate up was easy enough; he stirred for a minute and then sat up and ate his eggs. Breakfast in bed was a special treat for him so he didn't complain about having to eat before playing like he usually did; instead he sat quietly eating his eggs as Hermione slipped back into the living room.
George needed a little more force to be woken up. Hermione tried the whole, "George, wakey wakey!" but when that created nothing more than a mumbled "Noooo" she tried another tactic.
"Fine I guess I will have to give these eggs to the lovely girl at the door, Lucy I think her name was? She is very pretty I must admit, she even mentioned you,"
With the mention of the squib girl George had been staying with over the last few weeks, he shot out of the bed.
"Lucy's here?! As in hot, muggle tutor, Lucy?"
"The very one," Hermione replied with a smirk.
George beamed and rushed to the door still in his pyjamas, which only consisted of dark blue boxers. 'Wow, the twins are even more alike than I thought, they even wear the same pants to bed… stop staring Hermione and give the boy his damn eggs!'
George walked back into the living room with a scowl on his face.
"You, Granger are one very cruel witch,"
She laughed as he fell back onto his makeshift bed on the sofa.
Ever since George had arrived a few days ago he had been staying of the sofa, Hermione had rung her parents the night he arrived to ask if he could stay and her parents eventually agreed.
He may have turned up out of the blue but Hermione was not about to spring that surprise on her parents when they got home, the good-first-year-girl inside her just had to ask first. Luckily her parents didn't mind too much.
"Well, would a cruel witch make you breakfast in bed?" Hermione smiled.
George attempted to bury his face back into the pillow.
"They would if they were poisoned,"
She let out a disbelieving laugh and set the eggs and orange juice down on the table before heading to the stairs on her last breakfast delivery.
Just as she left she heard a still muffled, "Thanks Hermy,"
Hermione climbed the stairs rather strategically, two glasses of orange juice in one hand and a plate of eggs balanced on top of her cereal in the other. She had left George with the tray and had to carefully take the rest of the food to Fred.
When she eventually arrived at his room, she lifted her leg up to try and push the door open. A few failed attempts later and little bit of spilt orange juice led to her finally putting down the food to open the door with her hands.
By the time she entered the room Fred was already sitting up in his bed laughing at her dishevelled form.
"What are you laughing at mister? I was being a caring girlfriend and made you breakfast in bed,"
Fred just chuckled softly as he patted the bed next to him, "I was laughing at the fact you nearly kicked my bloody door down before you had the sense to put something down and use your hands! It wasn't the nicest wake up I've had, I must say. Scared the living daylights out of me until I realised it was just you,"
Hermione smiled bashfully and handed him his food before climbing under the covers next to him.
She was blushing terribly the entire time she climbed in next to him. Even though they had slept next to each on the sofa, they had never been in a bed together before and the mere thought made blood flow straight to her cheeks.
And it didn't take long for Fred to notice.
"What's got you all rosy? Is being in a bed next to me just so unbelievably tempting that you can't help but think of all the," he leant down and blew on her ear slightly before continuing in a sexy whisper, "Naughty things we could do,"
If it was even possible Hermione's cheeks became redder. She felt like she was on fire, she knew Fred was joking but the way he whispered it and blew on her ear made a shiver fly down her spine.
"S-s-stop it Fred, don't be so ridiculous, if I was thinking any of those things, which I wasn't, it doesn't mean I was thinking about you doing those things,"
Fred laughed before putting his now empty plate on the floor next to Hermione's bowl.
"Oh that's fighting talk Granger,"
"Yeah well two can play at your game Weasley, I was not nor will I ever think about you like that," she challenged.
In one smooth movement Fred rolled over so he was hovering above Hermione, all of his weight resting on his arms that were placed on either side of her head.
"Are you sure about that Granger?" he whispered.
"P-p-positive," she stuttered.
"Well I'm just going to have to change that then aren't I?"
Hermione felt the mood change almost as quickly as the blood had rushed to her cheeks. They were still being flirty but there was a scary feeling of lust layering each word.
Before she even had time to respond Fred's lips were crushed onto hers.
It was rough and passionate; more passionate than any kiss they had shared before. He traced her bottom lip and she whimpered slightly before allowing him access. Their tongues fought for dominance and before long Hermione had completely given in to his skilled mouth.
His simple touch set a roaring fire straight to the pit of her stomach and she felt herself melt into him.
Fred broke the kiss, much to Hermione's disappointment. He looked at her intensely for a moment almost as if he was deciding something. Obviously he chose to go through with his thought as not even a second later he bent his head again.
Hermione closed her eyes and waited for his lips to touch hers again, instead she gasped as she felt his lips gently kiss her neck, just below the jaw.
He paused after the first kiss almost as if he was waiting for some sort of complaint or objection but when Hermione gave no sign of resistance he continued.
His lips traced the shell of her ear and he soon became more daring as Hermione began to sigh and her breath became heavy.
He licked the line of her jaw making Hermione moan out loud. He travelled down her jaw and neck, kissing, licking and nipping softly at the tender skin.
Fred soon came to a particularly sensitive spot near the crook of her neck. He sucked on it softly causing more moans and mewls from Hermione. She didn't even know she could make those sorts of noises but when Fred's tongue had found that spot she couldn't help it.
He began to suck the skin softly, occasionally scraping his teeth across the surface, something Hermione found extremely enjoyable.
She knew there was going to be a mark there and started to panic slightly. She had never had a 'hickie' before and she wasn't sure a t-shirt would be able to cover it.
She was however forced to stop thinking about anything when Fred's teeth grazed the sensitive spot again.
"Have I changed your mind about thinking about me like that yet?" he breathed into her neck.
Before Hermione could reply the heart stopping thud of the door swinging open made the words catch in her throat.
"Fred! Hermy! You still alive in ther-"
The sound of George's booming voice made Fred snap his head away from Hermione so quickly the force nearly flung him off of the bed.
Hermione was lying frozen underneath Fred's slightly panting body. For a second there Hermione had thought it was Nate or worse her parents but instead a smirking George was standing in the doorway laughing his head off.
"No, no c-c-carry on," he said through tears of laughter, "don't mind me,"
Fred grabbed a pillow and tried to lob it in George's direction, it landed just short of his feet making George laugh twice as hard.
"George, get out!" Fred shouted as he started to get out from under the covers.
George shielded his eyes with his hand as he started to back away to the door.
"Whoa! Please don't get out of the covers; we may be twins but you naked is not something I want to see so early in the morning!"
"I am not naked, George! And I will give you three seconds to run before I come and make you a personal tester for our new WonderWitch hair removal spells!"
George laughed once more before shutting the door behind him; his heavy breath could be heard going down the stairs a few seconds later.
Fred looked down at Hermione's beet red face and smiled sheepishly.
"I am so sorry about him, I swear mum threw him down the stairs or something like that," Fred joked as Hermione began to smile.
"No it's fine, I'm just glad it was George and not my parents or Shanna,"
"Trust me, you will regret saying that later when he starts singing again, and why would it be your parents? They're not here remember,"
Hermione chuckled softly as Fred kissed her on the lips quickly in a chaste kiss.
"I forgot to tell you, they're coming back in a couple of hours, Shanna phoned me this morning,"
"Damn, that means we have to be even more careful now if I want to do this,"
Fred lent down and kissed her again, not as passionate as earlier but a sweet and loving kiss that left Hermione beaming.
"So you call what just happened being careful?" she replied incredulously.
"I'm a Weasley twin, that's as careful as careful gets,"
"Oh Merlin what did I sign up to?" Hermione smiled as Fred rolled off of her and they began to get up.
Nearly two hours after the little incident and many threats later, George had finally stopped teasing them about it.
It took one mention of "remember when I walked in on you and Katie Bell, we wouldn't want anyone to find out about that now would we?" to make George shut up.
He had protested that that was a "low blow" but Fred was just relived that he had finally agreed to stop talking about it and just in time too.
At just after 1 o'clock Shanna and Hermione's parents had finally arrived back.
They asked the usual questions of "How's Nate? No problems? Did anyone ring?" and Hermione replied with the usual "He's good, it was all fine and nope,"
Through the entire conversation she was flicking her attention between George and Shanna. She was sure George wouldn't say anything on purpose but you never knew what was going to slip from his mouth and after the phone call earlier with Shanna she wasn't sure when she was going to get questioned either.
Her parents had taken a liking to George which was totally unexpected seeing as the hate her father had for Fred was through the roof. Obviously George's charm had managed to soften him more than Fred's had.
"Would you like any help unpacking Shanna?" Hermione's mother asked as they unloaded the suitcases from the car.
"Unpacking?" Hermione echoed as she watched Fred and George help lug the cases to the living room.
"Yes, we decided that Shanna and Nate might as well stay here until Christmas seeing as the snow is set to get heavier and travelling will be a nightmare," her father replied.
"Umm, dad where are they going to stay? Fred's in the guest room and George was on the sofa, that doesn't exactly leave much room," Hermione asked as she thought of the sleeping arrangements.
There had never been more than four people staying in her house at one time and now with only 3 bedrooms and 7 people sleeping was looking incredibly cramped.
"I don't mind sharing with Fred, we used to do it all the time at home, that means you guys can have the sofa bed," George suggested as Shanna smiled appreciatively.
"Thank you George, me and Nate would be perfectly happy on the sofa, that means you guys all get to stay in your rooms apart from George, sorry,"
"It's no problem at all, thank you all for letting me stay, Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without my poor twin here," George smirked as he grabbed Fred's shoulders.
"Yes well it was no problem at all George, you're more than welcome to stay, now off with you guys while we set up Shanna's bed and unpack,"
And with her mums dismissing hand Hermione and the twins headed back upstairs.
After a nice family meal with all of them settled around the dinner table it was time for bed. Nate had already curled up on the sofa and Hermione's parents were about to retire to bed as well.
Shanna, Fred, George and Hermione were all sitting in various positions in the living room watching TV. Shanna was on the sofa next to Nate, George was on the floor resting his back against the arm of the sofa and Fred and Hermione were sitting close on the opposite sofa.
Hermione was panicking. She had moved herself slightly away from Fred when they had sat down as to not cause any more suspicion but she could tell Shanna was not falling for it at all.
When it was nearly 11 o'clock they decided it was time for bed, Fred and George hurried up the stairs to get changed and Hermione walked to the kitchen to get a final glass of water before hitting the hay herself.
As she sipped the drink quietly, she found her self sighing with relief that Shanna hadn't brought up the subject of her and Fred again. God knows what she would have done if it had been face to face this morning, the blush that had tinted her cheeks would have been a dead giveaway.
Just as Hermione turned to put the glass in the sink she heard Shanna walk into the kitchen and lean against the counter.
"So when were you going to tell me that you liked Fred?"
Hermione was kind of glad she had finished the water otherwise she would have most definitely spit it out.
"W-what?" she asked out of lack of anything better to say.
"You like Fred. Your not the most subtle Herms, its just a good thing my sister married someone as oblivious as her," Shanna joked as Hermione racked her brain for something to say.
'anything, just say anything…'
"I am to subtle, it took you this long to notice!"
'…Anything but that'
"I totally knew it! Don't worry Herms, I won't tell him, but I'm sure he likes you back,"
'Well if earlier was anything to go by I'm pretty sure he does,'
"Herms?"
Hermione realized she had been lost in her thoughts when Shanna's voice brought her back to reality.
"Oh yeah, sorry and I umm hope so too, now if you don't mind I think I'm going to head up to bed, good night," Hermione mumbled sheepishly as she tried to end the horrifically embarrassing conversation.
Thankfully Shanna seemed to get the hint.
"George for Merlin's sake stop kicking me!"
That was the fifth time Fred had whisper-shouted at George in the last hour alone. It was just gone midnight and Fred wasn't sure he could deal with this for much longer.
Even though his bed was a double, with both of the lanky twins in it, it suddenly felt a lot like a single and seeing as George slept like a bloody starfish it was getting smaller by the minute.
"Well if you didn't take up all of the bed I wouldn't have too!" George whispered back.
"Me take up all of the bed?! Are you even serious George? Now I know why mum never let us stay in the same bed as kids," Fred gave George a small shove which then turned into a small shoving war.
By the time Fred had been pushed 4 times they were starting to get a lot rougher. The twins never fought that often and when they did it was never serious just a little bit of frustration every now and again.
They must have been pretty loud as soon the door opened and in stepped a sleepy looking Hermione.
"What on earth are you guys doing?" She mumbled as a small beam of light poured in from the hall way.
"This idiot can't sleep if he's not taking up the whole bloody bed," Fred groaned.
George huffed and shoved Fred again so he was balancing very precariously on the edge of the bed.
"Right, you come with me, it's too late for this," Hermione replied as pointed to Fred and wandered back to her bedroom.
She climbed into the bed and not a minute later Fred came in the room in just his boxers, much like George this morning.
"Mione, are you sure? What if someone comes in?" Fred asked as he slipped in next to her.
"Then we can explain about George, just no funny business Weasley, I'm not good with late nights," Hermione whispered as she heard him laugh and felt his arms wrap around her waist and his legs tangle with hers.
"Good night Mione," Fred whispered into her hair as he kissed her neck lovingly.
"Good night Fred," Hermione smiled back as she slipped in a peaceful sleep wrapped in the arms of her boyfriend.
:D
Well that was definitely a long one!
I hope that makes up for the wait, I guess after not writing for a while it just all comes out at once :D
Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW!
I would really like to know what you guys think of this chapter as it was a little different in the middle there with the fluff and I want to know if you like/hate.
Love, SophieSolemnlySwears.
