Huh, so I had half a story ready to go a couple days ago, my dad took my computer to share my sister's pictures, and I hadn't closed my window. You shall see, judging by the content in this chapter, why I freaked out. I quite literally pulled a cartoon style flail, slipped on a blanket, landed on my cat and my dad, and lost the story. It was very well done.

So it's had to start over again, hopefully it still works out lovely.

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She still hadn't let go of his hand. At this point Hermione wasn't even sure if she could let go now, it would be too obvious she was freaking out. Obviously, she had not thought this through completely. This wasn't like her; she didn't know how to do this. She thought from all those years of bunking with Lavender and Pavarti she would be a lot more prepared for this situation she had put herself in. There was even a small, miniscule piece of her brain that wished she could go back and actually talk about boys like a normal teenage girl. With a small pang in her chest, Hermione realized just how deep she was. She knew Fred was much more experienced with this, while she had barely snogged anyone before. George and Fred Weasley were known around Hogwarts as more than hearty pranksters. Distantly, she was aware Fred was removing their hands from one another and moving to lean against his dresser, opposite from his suddenly imposing bed. Still quite unable to speak, Hermione took to watching the red head try and look relaxed, and very carefully stay away from her eyes. It took another moment of silence before Fred finally had enough and cleared his throat loudly, forcing Hermione to move about, feeling uncomfortable about this whole situation.

"This is your idea, 'Mione. It's up to you." He didn't sound nervous at all, and it grated a bit on Hermione's pride. But she was a Gryffindor after all, and there was a large amount of bravery still left in her system. And he was right, she started it, and Hermione Granger doesn't back down from anything.

"Right," that definitely came out breathier than she wanted. Fred chanced looking at her, and she saw he was very curious about this as well. He couldn't possibly know what was going on in her head right now, but the comforting smile drifting across his lips seemed to say otherwise. "Can we, um, try to, uh," She stuttered out; He smiled at her fully now, his teeth showing happily.

"Whatever you'd like," She didn't smile back, much too nervous to look at him properly anymore. Her legs had begun to shake, and her face felt a hundred degrees warmer than the rest of her body. He sat down on the bright red comforter first, scooting back against the pillows on the headboard. With only a second hesitation, Hermione sat down next to him, moving to sit so her leg was laid right against his. He didn't say anything, and she did nothing to break the tension. Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Fred let out a strained laugh. It melted her stiff muscles, but the tight coil in her belly wouldn't leave.

"This is going well I think," He chuckled again, just a little harder when she groaned and put her face in her hands.

"I have no idea what I'm doing." she mumbled out, trying to ignore the dying laughter grow once again.

"Really? I thought it was real smooth up until you froze in the doorway." She couldn't help the snort that slipped through, muffled horribly by her fingers still encasing her face. "What did you want to do? Maybe I can help."

Hermione brought her head up, looking up at him hopefully, "You could take over? That way I won't end up assaulting you, or something." He smiled slyly, but shook his head.

"I don't know what you want 'Mione. You're the one that came here, you obviously wanted something, or had something in mind. Just, do it." She roved her eyes over his face; aware he didn't flush or seem upset about any of this. A new awareness settled over her, the knowledge that Fred was rather content where he was, and wasn't planning on running away from her awkwardness. Not for the first time was Hermione glad the Weasley boys where the epitome of Gryffindors.

This new outlook had her moving before her brain had fully caught up with her body, and quickly found herself straddling Fred's thighs. She peeked up through her eyelashes, making sure he was still staying. The incredulous wide eyes she was met with caused a satisfied smirk to grace her lips, and the nervous butterflies to die down. This time she didn't lose eye contact with him, leaning in the few inches between them and capturing his bottom lip between hers. She had to position herself slightly lower to accommodate his height, even while sitting, but it didn't seem to bother him. No, his eager hands kept her legs right where they were, a small grin breaking their contact for a moment before he took one hand and occupied it in her hair. A thrilling flutter wouldn't stop moving from her chest to the pit of her belly, and teasing her lowest point delightfully. Not wanting to be left behind, Hermione slowly removed her hands from the bedspread, her fingers tingling from the relieved pressure, and trailed her hands from his neck down to the inch just above his belt line. The shiver she felt run through his chest only made her happier in herself at doing something so right. She didn't; move her hands about any more than that, keeping them those few inches above his trousers; she had decided that was a safe enough place without becoming overwhelmed. Fred had other ideas, moving his hands erratically from her hair, to her neck and jaw, to the backs of her shoulder blades, and stopping as low as the dip in her back.

"I whole heartedly give my permission for you to assault me like this at your leisure." She pulled away, giving him a disapproving eyebrow raise, a smile following quickly behind.

"You're a bit of a prat, Fred Weasley,"

"Ah, but I'm your prat now, Hermione Granger." He grinned up at her, allowing her to this time lean down to kiss him once more.

"Yes, I suppose you are." She couldn't help but smile back at him, a wonderful warm feeling spreading through her middle all the way to her toes. They enjoyed each other for minutes more, Hermione wondered at one point if it had hit the next hour yet, but couldn't be bothered to check. By now, Fred had coerced them both gently to lie atop his bed and they had stayed there, neither of them concerned with trying to get under the covers. She couldn't stop herself from continually nipping at his lips, overwhelmed by the fact that she could do this. He in turn wouldn't stop tugging at every single curl in her hair, pulling her head closer or away so he could reach her neck.

"Fred," Hermione whispered after a few lost minutes.

"Hermione?" He teased her quietly, not bothering to detach his lips from the corner of her shoulder. She condoned it for a moment, but had to pull away once he reached her ear, the nerves in her belly about to explode.

"I need to stop," Fred didn't hesitate another second, lifting off of her and shuffling to the side to allow her space. All source of heat disappeared and with it, the feeling of a thousand butterflies fluttering low in her belly settled down, leaving both of them breathing heavier than normal. Once their wheezing had stopped, Fred propped his head up on his hand, looking down at her lying on his pillow. She felt him flick a strand of hair back, so she peeked up at him and noticed how close he still was.

"Are you alright, Granger?" Hermione nodded an affirmative and shuffled over to allow Fred to spread out his legs more. They stayed silent a few minutes more until their breathing had steadied.

"Well, even if the marriage doesn't work in other places, at least we can manage an excellent snog." Fred quipped, resulting in a sharp back hand smack to his chest, and giggles from both of them.

Hermione managed to settle first, "I think we'll be okay." Fred was still chuckling but looked back at her, a smile lingering in his eyes.

"Yeah?" Hermione nodded, her own happy smile reaching her eyes.

"Absolutely," she sat up and placed a quick peck to his cheek and another to his lips before falling back into the pillows, and decided to snuggle under the covers. Fred tried to hide another happy grin and moved underneath the sheets with her, kicking off his socks before encasing them in the fluffy red comforter. He settled right away, ready to pull her closer when she tried to stay on her side. What he hadn't been prepared for, was the full five minutes of tossing back and forth, and wiggling from the bushy haired witch.

"'Mione? What are you doing?" She didn't blush or scoff at him, again surprising him.

"I hate sleeping in so much. I'm trying to get comfortable." This time it was Fred's turn to blush, but she didn't notice it from her constant thrashing. He didn't think before saying,

"You could get, uh, undressed, if you'd like. If it makes you more comfortable," Hermione paused in her moving, looking over her shoulder with a strange, wrinkled look about her face. "No, I mean you're sleeping here, and I want you to be comfortable, you know, and if you sleep like that at home, you know you could do it, uh, here." Her nose had unwrinkled by now, and he could barely see the compressed smile she was keeping held back.

"Oh, you'd be fine with that, huh?" He didn't seem to know if he should nod, but ended up giving her a helpless look anyway. "I got it, Fred."

Without any preamble Hermione shuffled around, squirming out of the dungarees she was wearing and tossed them to the bedroom floor. Amazingly, her face wasn't burning and nervous shakes had long since disappeared. Fred was completely shocked; Miss Bookworm was shocking him every moment of their night together. Once finished and quite settled, Hermione tossed over to face the shocked red head, and smirked at his dropped jaw.

"Much better, thank you."

"Yup, okay, good." she pretended there wasn't a hitch in his voice, instead fluffed up the second pillow to bunch under her head.

Hermione looked Fred over once she was finished and tried to give him a softer smile, but wasn't sure if she managed it over the smirk, "Are you comfortable?" Fred nodded but stopped and looked her over first, like he was trying to judge a pie eating contest. Seemingly satisfied with what he found, Fred sat up and stripped his tee off, throwing it in the same vicinity as Hermione had tossed her trousers. He settled himself back in the bed covers, the both of them facing each other with a bit of challenge sparking between their eyes.

"Well good night then," Hermione quipped, not closing her eyes or turning away. Fred adjusted his head to peek over the pillow case.

"Night,"

Silence followed for an hour, where Hermione eventually gave up and tried to sleep, thinking she had pushed him a bit too far. At the exact moment she began to drift off, her middle was tugged away from her warm spot, and pulled into a wickedly warm chest.

"Now it's a good night,"

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Ginny stormed into her mother's kitchen moments after Hermione and Fred had arrived through the front door. Hermione had wanted to Apparate to give them a few more moments to fix their appearance before appearing before his family. Their morning had been full of a sleepy red head being dragged about by a bushy haired girl, pushing him to shower and change, while his twin stood in the doorway of the flat giggling at the pair. George had woken the two fifteen minutes before they were expected at the Burrow for breakfast, which had Hermione jumping about the flat in her underwear for the first five minutes, trying to tidy and push Fred out of bed.

Hermione shouldn't have worried too much, as Ginny's red hot temper was the only thing anyone was paying attention to. The rest of the table was filled with every other Weasley, who all either watched Ginny or waved quickly to the pair before turning back to the young witch.

"Have you seen this?" The Weasley girl all but screamed out, and Hermione wasn't sure if she was even speaking to her individually or venting to the whole room. The magazine being shoved into her arms was the quick answer. Taking a quick look at the glossy pages she now held, Hermione noticed it was the newest edition of Witch Weekly, the wizarding world's gossip magazine.

"No, why?" But she didn't have to ask really, the blown up picture moving about was completely recognizable. "Is there a reason I'm on the front of this?"

"What?" Fred asked from right next to her, snatching the mag out of her hands to peer at it his self. Hermione couldn't help herself, and pulled his arm down to allow her shorter stance a peek at the magazine. The cover photo was a candid photo of her strolling away from the known Ministry entrance, Harry and Ron's arms just barely visible on either side of her. A large, happy grin was on her face, the picture her looked decidedly happy, her strut could even be deemed hopping. Every time the photo restarted with her bouncing out of the Ministry doors, the headline unwound in a flash, declaring 'Granger Wedding Bliss' and smaller headlines speckling the sides. Some were this week's favored beauty spells, including her favourite hair tamer. Others were unfortunately about her as well.

"Granger ditches Weasley. War Ravages Young Love. Marriage Law Kind to the Golden Trio? Find out all inside!" Fred announced to everyone, and Hermione didn't miss the twitch of his lips, his enjoyment of her humiliation put to the side for later.

"Where exactly would they have found this out?" Hermione questioned aloud, snatching the brazen gossip rag back from Fred, who pouted back and leaned over her shoulder to continue reading. Ginny scoffed at the cover, folding her arms over her chest.

"I doubt they really know anything. They're just guessing, making people talk about you again." Hermione wrinkled her nose up in distaste at the idea of being in the spotlight once more, but knew it was inevitable being the Chosen One's best friend. She flipped the pages about casually, peeking at what else may have been said about her. There were a few pictures of her and Ron from last year before disappearing with Harry, and others of her walking in Diagon Alley with Ginny. She frowned, flipping back a few pages and realized they didn't have a picture of her and Ginny going into Weasley Wizard Wheezes. She felt silly saying it aloud, but she was a tiny bit upset they hadn't thought to pair her with Fred.

"I'm sure you'll be harassed by reporters soon, 'Mione. Especially when you actually have to get married." Harry spoke up, breaking into their conversation. Ginny relaxed her tense stance, forgetting about the magazine in favor of sitting to visit with Harry. Fred didn't forget it so easily, taking the wicked thing to the table and sitting down to read it thoroughly. Hermione couldn't read it anymore, and walked around to sit across from him instead, pointedly ignoring the studious reading in front of her.

"There hasn't been anything about you yet though, has there?" Harry shook his head in the negative, "Why not? You're much more important than I was! There's nothing special about me!" The incredulous looks she received from the whole table had her confused quickly, "What?"

"Uh, you do know you basically kept us alive for the last seven years, Hermione?" Ron said first, rolling his eyes at his friend who blushed lightly, and looked to Harry to receive an agreeing nod.

"And it doesn't hurt that you're a babe," George spoke up, not bothering to conceal his crudeness. Fred only winked at his twin and went back to reading, while Hermione clutched her wand quite firmly in her sleeve, deciding what sort of frog George would look best as.

"That's true. Not many gorgeous war heroes in the wizarding world. Most have beards or just turned a hundred and one." Charlie piped up as well, shovelling another large spoonful of porridge into his mouth. Hermione debated on a mouse for him. He threw a quick wink at her and added, "Not the same as a brainy looker."

"Charles!" Mrs. Weasley scolded her son, who really didn't seem ashamed of himself. One look at the other males around the table seemed to gather Hermione the same consensus. Fred caught her eye from the seat across from her, and waged his eyebrows quickly, setting off a quick flush to her cheeks. The kitchen was filled with the sound of everyone eating and barely speaking without something in their mouths before an hour later, Mrs. Weasley was beginning to clear everything. Fleur tried to help, but was pushed back down by her mother-in-law and told to rest, but Hermione rolled her eyes and waved her wand quickly underneath the table, clearing everything efficiently. Mrs. Weasley glared quickly at Fleur but noticed she was just as surprised. Hermione instantly received the next glare, but only smiled at the lovely older witch, not apologizing for helping her out.

"What am I going to do with you, Hermione?" Mrs. Weasley finally sighed out in something resembling compliance.

Fred sighed as well, though his came off as much more light-hearted, "Believe me mother dearest, I'm asking myself the same thing." He received a sharp slap from his mother behind him and another from his sister-in-law next to him. The breakfast party broke apart as most of the family had to go off to work. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were the only ones without work, and were left to fend for themselves for the rest of the day. Mrs. Weasley was heading off to do grocery shopping, and Fleur had elected to go with her. It only took a few minutes for Ron to work up the nerve to tell everyone else he had been thinking of going to visit Romilda.

"Ron, that's a good idea. I don't know why you haven't brought it up yet?" Ginny questions her brother, his ears turning a bright red from the positive attention.

"Figured someone'd take the mick out of it," He mumbled, shoving a biscuit into his mouth as a distraction, but his sister was not swayed.

"Well let's grab Pig and owl her, quick before you talk yourself out of it. She's technically your fiancée, which means you do have to speak to one another." Ron grumbled and stood with Ginny, off to grab Pig and quill and paper. Their new errand left Harry and Hermione alone, something the two friends hadn't ha much time for. Hermione almost immediately flipped about to face Harry, who smiled at his friend and got ready to listen.

"How are things, Hermione?" Harry chuckled; watching as she basically unfolded and began to talk about anything, including which book she had recently picked up from Flourish & Blotts. She didn't give him much chance to say anything, but he was quite used to this, and reveled in the familiar flow.

"Are you and Ginny still doing alright? I haven't heard about any wedding plans from her, I'd half expected to be putting together a cake by now."

Harry shook his head in the negative, making sure to watch his friend as he mentioned as casually as possible, "No, I think she's been waiting for you actually. I'm pretty sure she wanted to ask you a couple questions, but she wasn't sure what you and Fred had talked about." the small blush covering the tops of her cheeks was enough answer for Harry, and he felt proud he would have something to tell Ginny this time when she harassed him for answers. "You have talked, right?"

"No as such," she said promptly, turning back to face the rest of the room and not just Harry. He couldn't stop smiling at her; this was a Hermione he hadn't seen in a while.

Oh, alright," He left it alone for a moment, allowing her to relax and believe they were finished, "Where did you disappear to last night?" Harry felt incredibly happy with himself for being able to hold in his burst of laughter at her obvious jump. Her body language turned incredibly nervous, and her hands went straight to her lap, where they clasped together tightly.

"To bed, I thought you went home last night?" Harry nodded, trying to act cool to not give himself away.

"Yeah, but Gin was still here. I left to take care of Kreacher," Hermione's cheeks went pale and she fidgeted more. "She mentioned you Flooed somewhere,"

"Yup," was all she said, but Harry didn't supply another subject of conversation, letting her stew on her own. He knew she would break eventually; it came with being Hermione Granger. She did eventually look at Harry again, a small glare set between her brows.

"You know where I went already, don't you?" Harry only nodded, finally allowing laughter to fall out when she relaxed and rubbed her head, like he was trying to rid herself of a headache.

"Kind of obvious when you showed up with the twins, yeah?" Hermione glared playfully at her friend, but they both eventually dissolved into giggles and laughter, falling easily into their familiar pattern. Ginny took this moment to return to the living room, but she was holding more than Pig. While the tiny owl sat perched proudly on her shoulder, a much larger, brown sleek barn owl was perched prettily on her arm. Harry immediately recognized the Ministry appointed owl, not dissimilar to the one Kingsley had sent.

"This one came just as Ron sat down to write. I don't think it's from Kingsley." Ginny said, allowing the Ministry owl to hop onto the window sill where it sat until Ginny tipped it one of Hedwig's treats, and it took off with an appreciative hoot. Harry took the official looking post from Ginny, bringing it back to sit right next to Hermione, the two opening it together. Hermione barely skimmed it before scoffing and looking at Harry incredulously.

"What is it?" Ginny questioned, curious what would make Hermione behave this way. Harry lifted the letter and read it aloud for Ginny's benefit.

"Dear Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Ganger,

Due to past instances with the Wizengamot's trial opportunities being endangered by past prejudices, the Ministry cordially invites you to attend the following trials;

Malfoy: The Offense of multiple muggles, witches and wizards, including but not restricted to, Miss Hermione Granger.

This summons is mandatory. Please promptly arrive at the Ministry on the twenty-eighth of April, half past the hour of ten.

Thank you for your cooperation. A return answer is not necessary.

Pennilynn Belby

Notary and Secretary to Wizengamot's Chief Wizard,

Vincent Ogden"

Harry stopped and put the letter down on the low table in front of Hermione, "It seems we're not done fighting yet,"

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Man, this took me such a long time, and I apologize. Every time someone followed or favourites, thank you! And I swear it doesn't usually take this long to get a new chapter out of me!

Before any one questions who these people are, I've made up the characters of Pennilynn and Vincent as Wizengamot members. I figured it would be easier to make new members then to resurrect so many old characters and lose the integrity of the loss these people went through during the war.

Hope you enjoyed, and get ready for the next one soon!

Thanks, AJ