Fred hated portkeys. Mainly he hated that he had yet to master the landing. Instead of graciously landing, he found himself thudding painfully against the ground as he watched his fiancé seem to walk down to him. He scowled when she laughed and offered her hand to help him up. He reached out to grasp the offered hand and pulled himself up. "I don't know why you're laughing, if memory serves me correctly, you had trouble the first time we took a portkey."

"But this isn't our first time, is it?" She noticed that he was still scowling and placed a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry, just a bit tired and I am seeming to find everything funny."

Fred relaxed under her touch and instantly felt guilt at her words. "I'm sorry, too. I seem to be annoyed at everything because of the lack of sleep we got." He pointed to a shorter man who was sporting orange board shorts, a blue shirt that by no means matched, and sandals with socks. "Exhibit A, that man's wardrobe is annoying."

She laughed, "While I never took you to be a fashion expertise, I do have to agree. His outfit is a bit horrid. Especially since we are in the Wizarding Ministry of Australia."

Fred chuckled and slung an arm across her shoulders, "So where did good ol' Harry say that your parents should be?"

He watched Hermione as she accioed a piece of paper out of her extendable purse. "It looks like they found them in Adelaide which is on the coast of Southern Australia."

Fred nodded, "Should we get going then?"

"Yes, I reserved a room in one of the hotels in the town. Maybe we could go there first and take a nap?" As an afterthought, she added, "We'll be sharing a bed since I hand reserved the room with the mindset that I was going to coming alone. Would you mind?"

Would he mind? Hell no, he wouldn't mind. Instead of this; however, he voiced, "Of course not. But if you find it uncomfortable, then I'll sleep on the floor."

Hermione gave him a hesitant smile, "Thanks for the offer, but I wouldn't have sleep on the floor."

Fred smiled, "Okay, so how are we getting to Adelaide?"

"By car." She replied.

A little over eight hours later and Fred believed that he was ready to collapse. He couldn't believe that it took so long to get here. Hermione had explained to Fred that it would have been faster to fly to Adelaide, but since the two of them were going, she couldn't get tickets. So, she just rented a car instead. Thus, created the very, very long day that they had endured.

As soon as they reached the room, Fred flopped onto the mattress. "I'm not sure, but I believe that this would count as one of the longest day of my life," he groaned into the sheets. As an afterthought, he added, "Up until this point anyway."

He felt the bed dip as Hermione laid down beside him. "I would have to concur," She said sounding just as exhausted as he. "How about we order room service and call it a night?"

"Room service?" He questioned, turning his head so he could see her.

Hermione looked to the red-haired man. "It's a service provided by the hotel. In our case, we'll order food and they'll bring it to us. We don't have to go anywhere."

"Sounds like the best thing ever invented by muggles."

Hermione chuckled and accioed the pamphlet that was laying on the table. She handed it to Fred to look over it. He sat up and reached for the pamphlet. He looked over the menu before deciding on the chicken parmigiana. Hermione called in the order and looked over at him, "I'm going to take a shower, if they knock just hand them the cash I put on the table. Tell them no change."

Fred smiled and nodded before asking, "Are you sure you couldn't use the company?"

"A tempting offer, Mr. Weasley, but I must decline. Someone has to be able to open the door."

Fred pretended to pout at her and watched as she rolled her eyes. She turned around and went to the bathroom, swaying her hips more than usual, and closed the door. Hermione was something of a surprise to Fred. Never in a million years would he have thought that he would have been matched with the brightest witch of her generation, and yet he was. And he was genuinely happy about it.

In the past, Fred would have never allowed himself to think of his younger brother's best friend in a romantic way. She was everything he wasn't and up to this point, he believed her to be off limits. Now that he can think about her as more than little Ronniekins' friend, he criticized himself for not doing so earlier.

To him, Hermione was (obviously) brilliant, beautiful, thoughtful, kind, and intimidating at time. But she was also, funny, sexy, persistent, stubborn, and endearing. She was his opposite. She was becoming a very prominent person in his life and it was happening oh so fast. It was scary, but it was thrilling, and he never wanted that feeling to go away.

He was in love with her. And that was why he decided, that despite this insane law, he was going to propose to her. He had bought her an engagement ring that he had meant to give her Christmas. That plan; however, did not go as planned. So, when packing, Fred made sure that he placed the ring securely in his bag, hidden away from onlooking eyes.

Fred heard a knock at the door, pulling him out of his thoughts. He swiped the money off the table and made his way across the room to open the door. The man standing outside asked him if he had ordered room service, Fred nodded and the man told him the cost of the food. Handing the man the money in exchange for the tray – telling him that no change was needed – Fred closed the door and went back to the bed, laying the tray on it.

Fred stood outside the bathroom door and gently knocked. He heard a soft voice coming from the other side, "Yes?"

"I just wanted to let you know that the food is here."

"Alright, I'm almost finished, I'll be out in a minute." Hermione's soft voice replied.

Fred went back to the bed to wait for his witch. He heard the water turn off and after a couple of minutes, he heard the knob turn. Fred looked over and immediately felt his jaw slacken as he greedily took in the sight of Hermione in nothing but a towel wrapped around her slim frame. Her hair was damp and clung to her neck, drops of water lined her body, and the towel stuck to every curve – not leaving much to the imagination. Her cheeks were slightly rosy as she noticed his stare and she pulled the towel closer to her body in a vain attempt to cover herself more.

"I forgot to grab my clothes and bring them in the loo with me." She nervously said, glancing at the said bag sitting on the chair in the corner of the room.

Fred smirked and patted the empty space beside him, "That's okay love, I'll keep you nice and warm."

Hermione allowed a small smile to show and shook her head, "Not tonight, dear. I'm awful tired and I smell food."

"Alright, but if you change your mind…" Fred wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Hermione laughed, walking to chair to retrieve her bag. "I'm going to change really quick. You go on and start eating, I don't want your food to get cold." With that, she went back in the bathroom to change.

Fred did everything he could not to think about Hermione in the state that she was just in. He would've given anything for that towel to fall just a little so he could see more of her cleavage. Fred shook his head, ridding his thought. He was a gentleman after all.

When Hermione came back out, she noticed that Fred hadn't touched his food yet. "Honestly Fred, you should have started eating already."

Fred just held out his hand and shook his head, "I think not. I, my good lady, am a gentleman and was waiting for you. As gentleman do."

Hermione laughed and sat down beside him. "Well," She told him, "Dig in."

"With pleasure!" Came Fred' reply as he began lifting the lids off the platter.

When they were finished eating and set the tray outside the door to be picked up, Hermione turned to Fred, "Are you sure you don't mind sharing a bed? I can sleep on the floor."

Fred stared at her incredulously before replying, "I am perfectly fine on sharing the bed, unless you are uncomfortable with it. In which case, while I appreciate your chivalry, I will politely decline to you sleeping on the floor and must insist that it should be me to do so."

Hermione smiled, "Well then, I suppose it's time for us to go to sleep then. We have another long day ahead of us tomorrow."

Fred nodded his agreement and turned off the lights. He settled down in the bed, feeling Hermione do the same, and pulled her to his chest. Hermione was tense at first, but quickly relaxed into his touch. "Goodnight Fred." He heard her mumble.

"Night love." The last thing Fred remembered before succumbing to sleep was hearing what sounded like a whispered "I love you" escape his lips.