I own nothing.
Chapter 17
The next few weeks flew by for Hermione. Her schedule had never been so full, but she hadn't ever felt more happy...or confused. She had been spending time with both Charlie and Draco on the grounds of Hogwarts, getting to know both of them better.
She'd also been writing letters to the twins; about one every other day. Hermione had grown addicted to the notes she was receiving from George and she had learned more from her correspondence with Fred than she had in all of the years she had known him. She desperately wished that she could see the pair. So, when she received a letter from both of them asking if they could take her to Hogsmeade on the last weekend of September, she jumped at the chance to spend time with the two, even if it was both of them together.
The Friday night before she would be meeting the twins, Ginny and Luna showed up in her room to help her decide on what to wear. She had been so worried about it all day; she hadn't been able to think about anything else, which was not like her at all.
"What am I going to do?" Hermione groaned as she threw herself on her bed dramatically.
Ginny shook her head and laughed. "You sound like Lavender."
"Oh, Merlin," was the brilliant witch's reply as she stood and walked over to the closet that held her clothes. "But seriously. I have nothing to wear for tomorrow."
Luna pulled something small from her pocket, as did Ginny, both girls laying it on Hermione's bed before enlarging the items.
"With all the groaning and panic you did today, I figured you didn't have anything," Ginny said, holding up the long, white skirt and dark purple top for Hermione to see.
"Are you sure?" she asked her friend, knowing that both items were new to Ginny's wardrobe.
"Of course you can borrow it," she shrugged as if it was no big deal.
"And I brought some shoes that you can borrow," Luna chimed in, enlarging the simple pair of wedged sandals.
"Their gorgeous," Hermione said, smiling at her friend. She picked up the shoes and examined it. "They are a bit small for me, but I think I'll manage."
Luna grinned, and with a flick of her wand, the shoe grew a size. "We do have the ability to do magic, don't we?"
Hermione laughed and hugged her two friends, grateful for their help. "Thank you so much."
"You're welcome," Luna said.
"Not a problem," Ginny agreed. "Just one more way to try and marry you off to one of my brothers," she added with a smirk.
Hermione grinned. "What should I do with my hair?" she asked suddenly, catching a glance of her unruly hair in the mirror across the room.
Ginny and Luna exchanged a look with one another, grinning. "I had a feeling you would say that," the red head replied, pulling out yet another package from her pocket.
"You think of everything, don't you," Hermione grinned.
"Someone has to," was Ginny's reply as she and Luna sat out helping Hermione decide which hair style to use and how to do her makeup for her date with the twins.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Hermione barely slept that night. Even though Luna and Ginny had helped her with what she would wear and how she would do her hair and such, there were certain things that they just couldn't help her with. She knew that she felt something strong for George and Fred. She just wasn't sure exactly what it was.
As she walked down to breakfast that morning she felt a hand grab her and pull her into an empty classroom.
"Hey, what are you doing?" she demanded, whirling around and pointing her wand at the person who had forced her into the classroom.
"Tell you good morning," a voice replied, arms encircling her. Before she could respond, her lips were covered in a passionate kiss that made Hermione forget her own name.
"Now that's how every morning should begin," the man replied, with his signature smirk.
"Indeed," she agreed, grinning, her hands still wrapped around his neck. "What brought that on?"
"I saw you looking so beautiful and just had to show you how beautiful I think you are," Draco replied, leaning down to kiss her gently. "I wish that you were accompanying me to Hogsmeade"
"Draco," she started, pulling her hands from around his neck slowly.
"I'm not upset," the boy insisted, pulling her arms back to where they had been. "I have no problem what so ever with you spending the day with the twins. You need to spend some time with them too. I just wish you were going to be with me today, that's all."
Hermione smiled at the man who stood in front of her. "How about we spend tomorrow together? We need to work on more details for the ball at the end of next month anyway."
Draco grinned at her suggestion. "And maybe I can persuade you to do something other the planning," he smirked, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
"Don't you wish," she flirted.
"Oh, but I do. I really, really do," he said, leaning down to capture her lips in another mind blowing kiss.
"We had better go down to breakfast," Hermione said, at the moment wanting to do nothing of the sort.
Draco nodded, opening the door of the classroom for Hermione to exit. They walked hand in hand down the hallway in comfortable silence.
"I hope you have fun today," Draco said as they approached the doors to the Great Hall.
"Thank you," she replied.
Draco kissed the brown haired with on the forehead and hugged her tightly before releasing her hand and walking toward the Slytherin table.
Feeling a little lonely without the comfort of Draco's strong, comforting hand, she made her way over to her own table.
"Where've you been?" Ginny asked, grinning knowingly at her friend.
"Nowhere," she replied blushing, picking up an apple.
"How's Malfoy this morning?" Harry wondered, smirking.
"Fine..." was Hermione's reply.
"He looks like he might have just a bit of lip gloss right here," Ginny teased, pointing to the corner of her mouth.
"Honestly," Hermione huffed, turning beet red, standing to leave.
"Oh come on, Mione, we're just teasing," Harry said grabbing a hold of his best friends arm to pull her back down to sit beside him.
"Didn't mean to upset you," Ginny added.
"I'm sorry for being so sensitive," Hermione replied, knowing she had over reacted.
"No worries," Ginny insisted.
"Where's Ron?" Hermione wondered, changing the subject.
"He and Luna left earlier this morning. They got special permission to meet mum in Diagon Alley to make some purchases for the wedding," the red head answered.
"Oh, that's right," Hermione remembered the Ravenclaw talking a little about her wedding the night before when they had all been in Hermione's room. Luna had asked both of the girls to be bridesmaids and they all had plans to go look at dresses the next weekend if McGonagall would allow. Ron and Luna had decided to get married the day before Halloween so that their friends would be able to attend both their wedding and the ball. Hermione looked down at her watch and stood up.
"I should be heading down to Hogsmeade or I'll be late."
"We'll walk with you," Harry offered, standing as well.
"That would be nice," Hermione replied.
The three friends walked the familiar path down to the wizarding village discussing all of the upcoming weddings. It was amazing to Hermione at some of the couples that had come together and how quickly some of them were getting married. Seamus Finnegan and Cho Chang had decided to get married the following weekend while there were rumours that Lavender Brown was marrying Terry Boot the first day of October, which would be tomorrow. With all of the rumours and such flying around, it was difficult to know what was true and what was false.
As Ginny was just about to tell them who she had heard Susan Bone was going to marry, an arm snaked its way around Hermione's waste, while another circled her shoulders.
"Hermione!" exclaimed two identical voices. She found herself in the middle of an awkward, yet comforting bear hug.
"If you two don't give her some air, you're going to smother the poor girl to death," Ginny warned her overly excited brothers.
The pair stepped back just a bit, their arms still around her arms and waste.
"Lovely to see you little sister," George replied.
"I do hope that you won't be joining us on our day with Hermione," Fred said.
"Not that we don't enjoy your company," George informed his little sister.
"We love both you and your dear boy Harry here," Fred promised.
"But we really," George said.
"Really," Fred added.
"Want Hermione to ourselves today," they finished in unison, causing Harry to laugh, Ginny to roll her eyes and Hermione to blush they colour of a ripe tomato.
"We planned on joining you actually," Ginny informed her brothers, smirking, folding her arms over her chest.
"I believe that you need to change your plans, then," Fred replied, eyeing Harry.
"Come on, love," Harry said, gently taking his fiancée's hand. "Didn't you want to go look for a dress to wear to Seamus wedding?"
"I suppose I did," she admitted reluctantly, accepting his hand. "And we can go look at the little lingerie shop that just opened down the road too and let you pick something out for me to model for you."
"Oi!" The twins exclaimed together, removing their arms from around Hermione and taking a step towards Harry.
Ginny grinned, leading her fiancée away from her irate brothers. "Bye Hermione," she called to her best friend.
Hermione shook her at the red head and her constant need to get her brothers going. Which she's done very well, she thought, watching as the twins still looked as if they wanted to follow after the pair that was walking down the street, no doubt planning the demise of the boy who lived if she stepped on toe into that shop with their sister.
Hermione stood there for a moment, waiting for the twins to calm down and begin their day together. "You know, Harry would never step foot into that store," she finally informed the pair, smirking. The boy that was like her brother would almost faint from embarrassment if he did.
George and Fred turned toward Hermione, almost as if they forgot she was there.
"Hermione," George breathed her name, stepping close to her once more.
"We're so sorry," Fred said, following his brothers action.
"This isn't how we wanted to start out day with you," George replied, shaking his head angrily, hating that his sister had distracted him.
"Maybe we could start over," Fred suggested to his twin, who nodded and grinned removing his arm from around her.
"Where did you go?" Hermione asked, looking all around, no sight of the twins anywhere, waiting to see if they would reappear.
"Hermione," a voice called behind her. She turned to see a head of red hear, but not who she had been waiting for.
"Hey Charlie," she said, smiling half heartedly. It's not that she wasn't happy to see him...she was. But she saw him every day, sometimes more than once. She hadn't seen the twins since they had left one another at the train station.
"You're looking beautiful today," he complemented her, kissing her on the cheek in greeting.
"Thank you," she replied, smiling a bit more brightly at him.
"She doesn't look beautiful," a voice said next to her ear. She turned to see George standing beside her once more.
"She looks stunning," another voice supplied. Fred beamed down at her, making her heart skip a beat.
"Breath taking," George added.
"Ravishing," they said together, grinning as a deep blush took up the majority of her face.
"Now, if you will excuse us, big brother," George started, taking one of Hermione's hands.
"Today is our day with Hermione," Fred said, taking her other hand.
"And we must be off," they finished together, apperating away, leaving a very angry Charlie Weasley.
I'm not even going to say I'm sorry for not updating for a few weeks. Lets just say that life happens beyond our control and just leave it at that, shall we? I hope you like this chapter. I already have the next two chapters written. I hope to have them sent to my new beta and have two more chapters up for you within the next week. :) Yes, I do have a new beta, WannaberelatedtoaGod. Thanks for getting this back to me so quickly. Please leave a review and tell me what you think. I REALLY want your opinion. Please. They really do help me write quicker. I got a really wonderful review just the other day that helped me get through the last few chapters. :) Anywho, Happy Reading.