I Caught Myself - Chapter Eight
Fred's POV:
Mum hasn't stopped crying. She thought that Percy being back was the answer to all of our problems, so when he left two days ago without so much as a 'Cheerio', it broke her into a million little pieces. Personally, I think Percy's a bit of an idiot. I was all set to forgive and forget and it was going great! It was just fantastic. But then he just disappears!
"Fred, hurry up with your packing, you've got to pack for The Plan and for Hogwarts remember," Ginny whispered, poking her head through the door.
We had started to call going to rescue those people from the Death Eaters, The Plan. I was sick hearing about the stupid plan. It's all they ever talk about now and I can't get a moments peace. Usually I would be talking to George about it but he still isn't speaking to me.
"Ginny, I know, okay?"
"Just making sure," she said, turning away and skipping down the hall, probably to Harry's room.
I flung the last of the stuff I was going to need for The Plan into my rucksack before starting to pack for Hogwarts. I made sure that I had everything in there because I knew that when we got the people from the Manor that Hermione would make us go to school.
Hermione's really pretty. I could get used to having her closer to me. Good set of lips too.
I shook my head, trying to get rid of all dirty thoughts I had about her. She's sixteen for Christ's sake!
"Fred, sweetheart, come on down for dinner please," Mum called from the kitchen. I sighed and made my way down, narrowly avoiding tripping over Crookshanks on the stairs.
"Damned cat," I muttered, continuing.
"There's no need to curse my cat, Fred," came a low growl from behind me.
I turned around and looked at the owner of the voice. She was wearing a white summer dress with navy blue slip-ons, her hair curled around her shoulders.
"Sorry, I'll remember to be most pleasant to him the next time he tries to kill me."
"He did not try to kill you. Honestly, you're getting as bad as Ronald," she huffed, overtaking me.
I watched as she walked away, gently swaying her hips. God I love her.
I entered the kitchen just after her and sat down beside George and Harry.
"Hello young ones," I smiled, helping myself to roast potatoes.
"Young ones? I'm your older brother, dimwit," Bill smirked.
"Sadly."
"Boys, stop arguing please. Now, you are going to Hogwarts in five days, so I want to see you all as much as possible," Mum cooed.
"What about me? You'll have me the whole time, Mummy," Bill joked.
Mum hit him with a dish towel.
"Enough of your lip, young man. Anyways, I want you all to take extra precautions whilst at Hogwarts please. I don't want any of you..." she tailed off, unable to think of any of us dead.
"We will Mum, don't worry about it," Ginny reassured her.
"Promise?"
"Promise," we all chorused.
"Good. Well, now that's over, your father and I have big news," she said, indicating to Dad, who was sitting at the head of the table with a mouthful of pork.
He swallowed quickly and gave a quick cough.
"Arthur, would you like to tell them?"
"Yes, yes of course. Well, kids, I'm sorry that we went ahead without you but we came to a decision about Charlie."
Bill slammed his fist down on the table.
"Bill, sweetheart..." Mum tried unsuccessfully.
"What did you decide?" George cut in, his voice strained.
"To keep the spell running," whispered Mum.
Percy's POV:
I gently rocked Perrie backwards and forwards, trying to lull her to sleep whilst Amilie got changed into her night gown.
"Is she going down okay, dear?" Amilie's mum asked, looking up from the pullover she was knitting for Perrie.
"That's her asleep now, I think."
"She's such an easy baby! Nothing like Amilie was. That girl was a handful," she said lovingly.
Amilie's family is lovely. Her mum is a small, slim woman with curly brown hair, a bit like Hermione's, and her father is a tall, porky man with very little hair and a happy smile. Amilie herself, is tall with straight brown hair that reaches her waist. Perrie on the other hand, has her mother's nose and my blue eyes. The best part is though, she has tufts of red hair growing in. She truly is a Weasley.
"Thanks for getting her to sleep, she just won't do it for me," Amilie smiled and took the baby from my arms.
"No problem, I love to do it," I answered honestly.
Now that I'm here, I can see myself marrying Amilie and moving into a nice little house with her and our daughter, maybe having more little kids one day.
"Want to head up to bed?" Amilie whispered.
"Sure," I said, picking the baby up and following Amilie up stairs to our room.
I put Perrie into the small cot we have for her, then climbed into bed, putting my glasses on the table and turning my lamp out. Just as I was about to doze off, Amilie's voice sounded.
"Perce?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think that you'll ever tell your parents about me and Perrie?" she asked timidly.
"Of course I will. But I want to get to know you better before I do. We've wrote a few times over the past year or so but we've only saw each other three times. I just need to sort everything first," I reasoned.
"But what if we don't work out? Will you still see Perrie?"
"Yes. Even if we don't work, I'll want to see my daughter...but I think we will work," I smiled, leaning over and planting a kiss on her nose.
"Promise?"
"I promise. Now get some sleep so we can be up bright and early tomorrow."
I fell asleep about fifteen minutes later and for the first time in six months, I got a sound, sound sleep.
Hermione's POV:
After we found out about Charlie, everything went silent. We ate the rest of our meal in stony silence and then everyone dropped off. I went upstairs with Ginny and hopped into bed beside her, then began to help her paint her nails.
"Hermione?" she said, once we'd finished.
"Yes?"
"Would you mind if I went to see Harry?"
My heart stopped.
Went to see Harry? What if something happened between them? What if she tried something on with him? I know he can't resist her! Plus, Ginny can be extremely persuasive when she wants to be.
"For how long?"
Ginny rolled her eyes, "All night, silly."
"Then yes. I do mind."
"What?! Are you kidding me? Why not?"
"Ginny it's not a good idea. What if your mum sees again? She was not pleased the last time, she'd be absolutely livid if she caught you two again."
"I don't care. I'm going!" she snapped.
This was the last thing I wanted. I didn't want her to be mad at me. I was just trying to look out for the two of them. But I knew she wouldn't listen to me now. So I done the only thing I could think of that would make me feel a bit better. I got up out of bed and threw my black zipper on, before arranging the pillows to look like we were both still in the bed. Then I padded out into the hall and up the stairs to Fred's room.
Fred's POV:
I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Shadows from outside were bouncing off the walls in all different shapes and sizes. When George and I were little, we would lay beside each other and try to figure out what the shadows could be. Thinking about George gave me an ache in my chest, so I turned over onto my other side and tried to get to sleep. A moment later, I heard a knock at my door. I sighed and got up, opened the door a couple of inches and peered out. The sight that met me was stunning. Hermione stood there, with striped bottoms and a black hoodie, her hair up in a pony tail.
"Hermione?" I questioned, puzzled.
"Can I come in?"
"Sure, sure, of course," I said, opening the door wider and stepping aside to let her in.
She came in and sat on my bed, putting her face in her hands. I knew something was wrong.
"Hermione, honey, what's up?" I asked soothingly, sitting down beside her and putting my arm around her, pulling her in closer.
"Ginny went to Harry's room. She can't understand that this could end badly! She just won't listen! And I miss my dad. It just seems to be getting harder and harder. And then there is this one problem that I can't tell you because it's pathetic and I am just being silly and..."
"Hermione, you can tell me anything, no matter how stupid," I told her gently, putting my hand under her chin and tilting her head up so I could look her in the eye.
"It's embarrassing."
"I don't care, just tell me."
"Well, ever since we kissed yesterday we've been getting really close. You keep kissing me as if I'm your girlfriend, not that I'm complaining," she added hastily,"but I don't know what we are. You are so popular with girls so I know you don't want to settle with someone as plain and boring and swatty and ugly as me but I've never saw you act like this with a girl. If it's a joke it really isn't funny. But I feel cheap and dirty because I've never done this sort of thing before."
I sighed. Is she being serious?
"Hermione, are you kidding me? Okay, let's take this step by step. Yes, I do keep kissing you like you're my girlfriend. I wish you were. You are perfect to me, Hermione Jean Granger and I swear I'm not lying. It's not some practical joke. I love you. And I mean love. You are not ugly or swatty or plain or boring. You are the complete opposite of that! You are the most beautiful girl I have ever met in my life, I promise you. I love the way you throw your head back and show all your teeth when you laugh, I love the way you flip your hair over your shoulder when your busy, I love the way you bite your lip when you're nervous, I love the way your eyes sparkle all the time, but I love all the imperfections as well. I love that you hate flying because you don't like heights, I love all of you. Like that song, All of me. Love your curves and all your edges, all your perfect imperfections. You're not plain! You're colourful and wild and great. You're not boring either. You interest me so much and The Plan was all your idea and that's very adventurous. And swatty? Seriously? There is absolutely nothing wrong with having brains. Seriously, I love that you're smart and you're not some bimbo. It's one of the things I love the most about you and any guy would be lucky to have you. Never think anything different of yourself. I can't take away the pain of your dad but I can only try. As for Ginny, she's a headstrong girl, just leave her to it."
Hermione laughed.
"Thank you, Fred," she said, giving me a genuine smile.
"You are very welcome. Now it's getting late. Do you want to stay here tonight?"
"Would you mind?" she asked timidly.
"Course not! C'mon," I wriggled under the covers and pulled her in after me.
We spooned in the dark, her being the little spoon and just lay there happy together.
"Oh!" I yelped.
"What? What's up? What happened?" Hermione turned around, making sure I was okay.
"I forgot something!"
"What?" she asked, relaxing a little.
"Hermione?"
"Yes?"
"Will you be my girlfriend?"
Her face was a picture. She gasped and her eyes grew twice as wide as usual. Suddenly, I was very nervous.
"I...I'd...I'd understand if you, umm, you know, you don't want to, you know. I know there are probably loads of guys after you. Oh God I'm an idiot! Why would you settle for me when you could have any guy you wanted?"
Hermione laughed.
"I would love to be your girlfriend, Fred Weasley."
Author's Note: Well hey there! I am sorry that this was pretty short. I don't know if any of you read the reviews that have already been left for me but I checked them this morning and there was a review from someone (I won't name names) that was quite rude! They called me an ass and said something else I don't really remember but I reported it anyway. If you are going to leave me a review that isn't exactly positive, I don't mind, as long as you are polite about it and give me a reason, then I will respect your opinion and try to fix the problem. It was just downright rude!
Oh well, on a brighter note, I can reveal that George's secret will be out in the next chapter! Some people have guessed it already but please don't spoil it for others!
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-Beth xx