Still half-asleep, Hermione reached her hands to both sides of her pillow and attempted to fluff it. When she felt that her pillow felt more like a solid (human) mass and a lot less like an actual pillow, Hermione let out a silent scream and began frantically searching for her wand. How could she let herself be so off guard?

She found her wand and quickly turned around to point it at her intruder, a hex on the tip of her tongue. But Hermione wasn't met with an intruder. Instead, she was met by familiar brown eyes that had a twinkle of amusement shining in them. The tall man had both of his arms raised and was wearing a small smirk. Hermione slowly lowered her wand as memories of last night rushed forward to the front of her mind.

An embarrassed Hermione went to get up, mumbling apologies in the process, when she felt an arm wrap around her waist and pull her back down. "What's the rush, Granger?" His lips were on her ear and she couldn't help the shiver that raced down her spine.

Hermione happened to look up, seeing a clock on the wall, and began her struggle to get up again. Fred was laughing behind her, his grip on her waist still firm. "Oh really Fred," She laughed, "I have to go. You're going to make me late for work."

"Skive work, spend some time with me," He protested.

Hermione wished that she could, but also knew that it was bad form. "Maybe," She bargained, "I can take off work one day next week and we can spend time together?"

"But next week is too long away and I have you right now."

"How about we have lunch at the Leaky Cauldron and I'll take off one next week?"

Fred slowly released his grip, "Lunch?"

"Lunch," She confirmed, "I'll even pay."

Fred gasped in mock offense, "You most certainly will not! I will be the one paying for our first date."

"You wouldn't want to go dutch," She questioned, already suspecting his response.

"No Hermione, I would not."

Hermione sighed, knowing that arguing over this matter would be futile and would make her late. "Okay, you win. You can pay for our lunch."

"Date," He added, "Lunch date."

Hermione giggled and agreed, "Yes Fred, you can pay for our lunch date."

"Brilliant!" He let her go completely. "I'll pick you up at noon."

"I think I can get to the Leaky Cauldron perfectly well on my own."

Fred shushed her, pushing her to the floo, "This will be a proper date, Hermione. I will pick you up at noon."

Once again, Hemione that arguing would be futile. So, with a small smile, she stepped in the floo and went to her flat.

….

When noon finally came around, she didn't think that she'd ever gotten down to the Atrium faster. She stood on her tippy toes, searching for familiar red hair. She was surprisingly nervous; her stomach felt like it was in knots and her heart was rapidly beating. At last she spotted the mop of red hair and took off to meet him. She was moving so fast that she bumped into him and fell.

Fred's arms wrapped around her, "Steady there Granger. I know I'm handsome, but I wasn't planning on knocking you off your feet so soon."

She chuckled, embarrassedly, and lightly hit him as he pulled her back up. "So," she cleared her throat, "The Leaky Cauldron?" He nodded and offered his arm to her. She blushed and accepted his arm, "Someone is being quite the gentleman."

He smirked, "Not quite. I just figured it would be easier to catch you this way when you swoon again." He laughed when she hit him. "Would you prefer to floo or apparate?"

"We can apparate, if that's okay?"

"Why of course my lady. Side-along apparition it is. Please hold on." Hermione rolled her eyes and mumbled something along the lines of, "What else would I do?" Before they were gone.

When they arrived, Fred led her to a small table in the back, away from public eyes. "You know, it has been my experience to wait and be seated by Tom."

"Well, sure. But I reserved this table particularly for us. No point in wasting Tom's valuable time."

"You reserved a spot for us?"

"Of course," He said smiling, "Only the best for my fiancé." Hermione smiled at this. He pulled out her chair for her and pushed it in. Two menus were summoned and they began to peruse it. Tom hobbled over to take their orders (one soup and one salad) and then left them alone. As he left Fred's slightly widened, "Oh, I forgot." He took out his wand and summoned flowers, handing them to Hermione, "These are for you."

"Fred, these are beautiful!" She closed her eyes and smelled them, enjoying their scent. "You really have outdone yourself. But be forewarned, I now have rather high expectations for all future dates."

Fred smiled, "Challenge accepted."

Hermione summoned a vase with water and placed the flowers in it, setting them on the table. She looked at Fred and was overcome with so many emotions. Here sat this handsome man in front of her, someone who she can call friend (and fiancé). He is a wonderful friend, brilliant, funny, selfless, kind, caring, handsome, and is genuinely a good guy. She found it odd that she had never seen all of this until they were forced into this situation. And she was happy that she was getting to see him for who he truly is.

She reached for his hand from across the table and Fred gave her a curious look, but didn't complain. "Fred," She began, "I am thrilled that you are the one that the Ministry chose for me." His eyes shone with happiness. "I don't believe that I could imagine going through this with anyone else but you. Thank you for being you."

Fred opened his mouth to say something, but Tom came back with their food, and he promptly shut it. They carried a light conversation as they ate and as they finished, Fred laid the money on the table and stood up to escort Hermione (she grabbed her flowers) and they walked out into Diagon Alley.

"Thank you for such a lovely lunch Fred." She smiled up at him.

He looked at her and smiled back. He led her through the crowd and they entered his shop. George saw the pair and greeted them. Hermione said hello and Fred nodded. "I'm taking the rest of the afternoon off, George." Hermione watched as the two men had a silent conversation.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" George called as he turned back and began to help a customer. Fred scoffed amusedly and walked Hermione up the stairs.

"Fred," She nervously said, "What are we doing?" Fred looked down at her and swallowed. He led her into his flat and took the flowers from her, laying them on the kitchen counter. "Fred," She tried again, "What are we doing?"

Fred walked over to her until their bodies were pressed against one another. He encircled her waist with his arms and leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Are you sure you can't take the rest of the day off?" His breath fanned against her ear.

Hermione almost moaned, but bit her lip. With a shaky voice, she replied, "Unfortunately I can't."

"I can't persuade you otherwise?" He bit her earlobe.

This time she did moan. "I – I – I can't. I want to, but I can't." Her arms slinked around his neck and her hands began to explore his scalp, her fingers weaving patterns through his soft hair.

Fred shuddered and Hermione felt him nod. He let go of her waist and backed a couple of steps away from her. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, "When can I see you again?" She could hear a hint of desperation in his voice.

"Soon," She replied.

Fred nodded, not trusting himself to say anything for fear it would sound too desperate, maybe even whiny.

"I should get going then," She hesitantly said, making her way to the floo.

Fred watched her as she stepped inside, "Wait, Hermione?" She looked at him expectantly. "I'm thrilled too." He waited for acknowledgement to show in her eyes and when it didn't he continued, "I'm thrilled that the Ministry partnered us up."

Her smile was infectious – even after she left, he found himself smiling too.