Had a few more followers after that last one, so that must mean I'm still doing something right.
***Warning: I'm beginning to use a bit of fouler language. Ye have been warned.
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It took Hermione and Fred over an hour to destroy the green slime he had mistakenly created, and they didn't walk away unscathed. Hermione was sure Fred would have green slime in his ears for a week, and her hair still felt decidedly gooey after three separate cleaning charms. Instead of going back to the Burrow and facing questions from the family, Fred took Hermione upstairs to he and George's flat so they could shower and rid themselves of the creepy goo.
The door opened with a loud creaking, which Hermione figured the boys had ignored fixing because they enjoyed the sound too much to bother. She followed him inside, taking her time to look around at the previous bachelor pad. It didn't strike her as 'homey' but it was most definitely 'Weasley Twins'. The walls were four different shades of purple, one decidedly magenta with waves of puce, making for a vomit worthy combination. But the deep olive green, over-stuffed couch in front of it threw the colours into a better perspective, complimenting each other quite well. The rest of the room was in the like; a mahogany red wall with two different tones shelves, holding different tomes of spells and jokes; one wall pushing on pink, with an open doorway leading to a kitchen; and a burnt orange wallpaper with two doors and a small hallway on the right. The center of the room had a large throw rug in purple and cream swirls and two wonderfully orange armchairs facing the green couch, and aimed opposite the kitchen doorway. Hermione decided it was perfect.
"Home sweet home, yeah? George and I apparently don't agree on as much as everyone thinks; I did not want the pink wall." Hermione giggled at him and took one more look around at the weirdly harmonious room.
"I think it works actually. Very chic," Fred gave her a strange look at the muggle terminology, but took her hand again without comment and brought her over to the orange-ish wall, where the unknown door where, and opened the one in between the other and the small hall. Once it was opened to her, Hermione discovered this was the washroom, complete with a surprisingly large bathtub, walk in shower, and full vanity sink. It was luxurious for a shop flat.
"Washroom is here; take a shower first while I make us tea. If you want a bath, I must warn you that George may or may not have used it to house a randy pack of Pygmy Puffs. Call if you need anything, love." He turned and gave her a very chaste kiss on her temple, trying to avoid the slime surrounding her hair.
"Thanks Fred," she said just before he shut the door, leaving her in peace to wash up. She decided against the bath, and played it safe with the shower. She stood in the warm water, letting it relieve most of the mess in her curls before she decided to attack it with soap. The twins' shower was filled with different odds and ends, and amusingly, were each labelled with different threats to one another from the both of them. It took her a moment to decide but eventually went with the 'use this one and you'll permanently become the less attractive twin' or the less appealing 'It'll give you warts, I swear it'. Squeezing a large dollop in her hand, the shampoo came out an awful maroon, and Hermione put it into her hair before she could over think the colour. She rubbed it through every strand on her head; filling the shower with mint infused steam and making her feel better immediately. It took another few minutes of moving back and forth under the hot spray before Hermione could talk herself out of getting out of the shower.
Dressed and fresh faced, Hermione left the steam filled room with wet hair and a smile, and walked in to see slime covered Fred, nursing a cup of tea while trying to pick slime out of his short red hair.
"Showers open now," Hermione said aloud, catching the laugh before it escaped as she watched him hide his hand like she had caught him picking his nose.
"Thanks, your tea's in the kitchen. I'll only be a minute," he passed her quickly, though she evaded his hand that had reached out to graze her arm as he passed by. He gave her a saucy wink, which she thought of returning but chose instead the hot tea waiting for her. The kitchen was more relaxed than the rest of the flat, a soft warm yellow with black counters and mostly red appliances. She rather fell in love with the ruby red gas stove, but forced herself to the four stools surrounding the island cupboard, which seemed to act as their dining table. There was in fact a steaming cuppa, which she snatched gratefully and took a bit sip, relaxing into the hard stool. Fred came out only ten minutes later, rubbing a small towel through his hair in an effort to dry it some. Hermione smirked and waved her wand at him in two quick successions, mumbling 'Inaquosa' under her breath and watched a small wind sweep up the water from his head. He gave her a grin and sat down on the stool across from her.
"Good?" he nodded to the mug in her hand, and she nodded back, glad for the warmth, "so, how did the trial go?"
"Fine; Lucius is officially stuck in Azkaban while Draco and his mother are going to be reassessed by the Wizengamot at a later date." Fred wrinkled his nose up in distaste but decided against saying anything; he hadn't been there.
"Does this mean you're free for the rest of the day?" Fred asked her suddenly, pepping up like a kitten.
Hermione smiled kindly, patting his hand as she took another sip, "Technically, I'm always free. You're the one with a real job and things to do." Fred smiled and preened a bit, actually puffing out his chest.
"I'm so grown-up," Hermione snorted into her mug, watching him deflate and pout.
"Says the man with pink walls,"
"Oi! I picked magenta! Not pink!"
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The next morning at the Burrow was much less tense than the day before, the stress from the Malfoy trial behind everyone. Harry actually ate his entire plate Mrs. Weasley had set out for him, and even grabbed seconds of the eggs. Hermione only pushed most of her food around, nibbling on her pieces of toast in substitute. Ron had never had a problem with food, especially his mothers. Ginny was the only other Weasley home, besides her mum and dad; everyone else was at work. Or in Charlie's case, had an 'appointment' of sorts this morning that he had run out of the house for. Mrs. Weasley had been mumbling about it for the past hour, trying to figure out what it could have been for.
Ginny had received her Witch Weekly from Pig this morning, which had recently, and enthusiastically, taken over post delivery from Errol. The Weasley girl hadn't said much this morning besides giving her mum and Harry a kiss on the cheek and a hello to Hermione and Ron. She had taken her seat and read for the whole morning, giving Hermione small tidbits of information if she deemed it important to share. As Hermione decided she could have another piece of toast without upsetting her stomach, Ginny gave a rather girlish shriek, clapping her hand to her mouth.
"Ginny?" Hermione asked the younger girl, shaking her shoulder to gain her attention. Ginny looked at her friend and didn't say anything, giving her a grimace instead.
"You've got another column in here 'Mione." Hermione groaned and reached for the magazine to see it herself.
"It's not another one of me and Ron is it?" Ginny didn't exactly shake her head.
"Not entirely." Hermione saw what she meant immediately, seeing the three separate pictures her spread had covered on a full page of the magazine. The column was affectionately named, 'Granger Gab' with her face in every photo. The first was of her and Ron sitting in the Malfoy trial, catching the moment Ron reached over and grabbed her hand in his, and their shared smile. She skipped over the small article to look at the other pictures, both shockingly in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
"Oh Merlin, this is bad." The photo after Ron's was her and George sitting up on the counter, George grinning at her and chucking her chin, though the unfortunate angle just made it look like he was holding her. She groaned and looked at the last, already knowing how this one would look, though in retrospect she figured this picture wouldn't cause as much of a buzz as the others. Fred had her hand in his, both dripping in green slime as they went up the stairs to the twins flat, but Fred kept grinning at her over and over as the photo reset itself to show their grins at the door closing shut behind her.
"You little tramp," Ginny giggles at her friend, watching as Hermione looked over the pictures and skimmed the articles. She shot the younger girl a glare, but stuck her nose back into the post a second later, gorging on the stupid article.
"How do I get rid of them?" Hermione finally asked the group, resorting to asking their opinions. Ron only shrugged, helpful as always; Ginny tapped her head a bit, like she was thinking as hard as possible; and Harry grinned and pointed at the articles author, a Rudker Tollins.
"Get an interview with your number one fan,"
"What? I don't want to talk to them! I want them to leave me alone! They're bothering me more than either of you two." Hermione pointed accusingly at Harry and Ron, accidently poking Ron right in the ear, but ignored him and instead tried to hide her grin.
Harry got up from the table, taking his and Ginny's mugs to wash up. He and Hermione had been told multiple times to leave it, as the table usually cleared it's self, but their Muggle upbringing had drilled the motion into them.
"Mione, if you talk to him and give him a few details about you and Fred, I swear they'll stop bothering you so much. They just want to know who you've been paired with." Hermione huffed but promised to consider the idea, leaving the four friends to pick up a happier line of conversation. Hours passed, and the group found themselves moving outside into the sun. Ginny procured them all a large quilt to lay across in the field, while Hermione set to making a light picnic for them. Harry and Ron left the girls to their missions, going off instead to throw a quaffle around until they were called in. Molly was sent off to the patio to enjoy some sun herself, leaving the girls alone in the spacious kitchen.
It didn't take Ginny long before she sidled up to Hermione, her sly smile giving her away, "So how was your visit with my brother?"
Hermione snorted, "Which one? Apparently I've got a few to pick over." Ginny rolled her eyes, and nudged her bony shoulder against Hermione.
"I mean your little rendezvous with a certain twin. Hope you didn't get into too much trouble Miss Granger," Ginny winked, enjoying the blush moving across the other girls cheeks.
"We had to shower, Gin. That slime was horrid." Ginny gave her the eye, and Hermione immediately altered her statement, "Separately Ginny! Merlin, you're as bad as George." Ginny only laughed, and the girls continued on in small bouts of silence and laughter. Eventually, Ginny got bored of the small talk and entered Fred territory once more.
"Honestly Hermione, and tell me the truth," Ginny leaned in; whispering now, "is it good?"
Hermione wrinkled her nose at her friend, unsure of what she meant, "Is what good, sorry?" Ginny rolled her eyes and faux whispered,
"The shagging 'Mione. Is it actually good? Because I'd always wondered if Fred and George were always bragging to compensate for their utter lack of being a good shag. 'Cause as their sister, I can't really ask the other girls, but you're my best friend, so I think it's alright to ask, right?" Hermione was staring at her, causing Ginny to break out in a peel of laughter.
"Oh the look on your face! Honestly Hermione, I grew up with six brothers, you should be used to me."
Hermione delivered a smack to Ginny's side, aware the girl was teasing her, "There is no shagging, Ginerva Weasley. I just got used to snogging him," Ginny didn't seem as disappointed as Hermione had expected, instead, she squealed rather girlishly and stopped pretending to make sandwiches all together. She faced Hermione and pushed for more information immediately.
"When did this happen? And how am I only hearing of this now?" Hermione rolled her eyes at her friend, and finished off the abandoned sandwiches, packing them up into the small basket she'd transfigured from an old bowl.
"A couple days ago. Actually, the night before you found that first Witch Weekly article about me." Ginny was grinning so hard her cheeks were beginning to turn white with the pressure.
"And?"
"And what? We snogged, and went to bed. Then we came over for breakfast and ran into you."
Ginny looked ready to burst, "You went to bed? Together right? Please tell me he didn't sleep on the couch 'Mione!" Hermione rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop the happy smile she had now on her face, matching Ginny's saucy grin.
"Definitely not," Ginny cackled, but Hermione shushed her, "but nothing else happened Gin, we really did go to sleep." Ginny waved her off, but accepted that she wouldn't be getting any more information, and stood to help Hermione gather the jug of lemonade, following her outside to where the boys were just landing.
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The calming day at the Burrow was not reflected at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. The twins hadn't seen each other most of the day, constantly being dragged between customers and Lee and Verity. Fred couldn't see why it was so incredibly busy on today of all days, but he went with it, no matter how exhausted he really was. His short visit with Hermione earlier had set him in a good mood, and it showed as he jubilantly helped the young witches and wizards who were browsing through their store. But he was also so tired, he was ready to drop and leave his share of the store to George to handle. But that was unfair, and George would end up hating him for the week.
"Mr. Weasley!"Verity's voice rose over the din of customers, waving at him from behind the cash counter. He pointed at himself stupidly, ensuring he was the correct Mister Weasley, to which Verity gestured to him impatiently. Grinning at already making his employee frustrated, Fred skipped over with expressive enthusiasm, making a few young witches in line giggle at him.
"Hullo my beautiful, smart, and wonderfully capable employee. How may I be of service to you, lovely?" Verity only rolled her, used to his and George's strange behaviour by now.
"There's a gentleman over there that's being not so gentlemanly. He keeps asking to speak with you and then causes a ruckus with the Flying Fangs." Fred looked over to where Verity was pointing, seeing there was in fact an older man standing by the Flying Fangs display, poking his finger into the cage and startling the creatures inside enough to have them try and attack. His too large pasty robes would billow out and knock over the smaller cages used to handle the Fangs, which caused another pile of the product beside them to topple over as well. Fred nodded to the younger girl, and headed over to the man, draping his arm casually across the cage, effectively blocking anymore chance of the man poking the creatures.
"Can't read the sign mate? The bites on these things sting a while." Fred managed to startle the man so hard he yelped and pulled his whole arm away.
"Er, yes, sorry. Didn't mean to, well," the flustered man stopped and seemed to shake himself off, "Rudker Tollins," he suck his hand out for Fred to shake, and grinned like he was bestowing upon him the greatest honour.
"Sure, nice to meet you. Verity said you wanted to speak with me?" Fred asked politely, though his patience with the man was already thin, his good mood deteriorating. Tollins looked mildly put out, but jumped ahead like he was desperate to keep Fred's attention.
"Yes Mr. Weasley, I actually work with Witch Weekly," he paused, like he was giving Fred he chance to congratulate him. Fred instead waved his wand out with a flourish, righting the toppled displays. "I'm the author of the newest column, Granger Gab?" This caught Fred's attention. He looked over his shoulder at the balding man, who was grinning once more like he'd found the last living dragon. He looked over the reporter, taking in the oversized robes, shabby boots and not-so-discrete camera hanging off his shoulder.
"You'd be the one stalking Hermione, then?" Fred straightened up, sizing this man up. Tollins was grinning like a fool, missing the death glare being shot his way.
"Not the word I would use, but following her story, yes, that's me!" Tollins grinned at Fred, both staring at each other for completely different reasons. Fred couldn't understand how this man was so incredibly dense, while Tollins continued to wait for praise from the red-headed man.
"All right, what did you need me for?" Becoming agitated and quite angry with the reporter, Fred moved them away from the front of the store and to the back, hoping to get away from prying eyes. Tollins followed happily, practically skipping at the fact he was getting an interview.
"Well, I've been unfortunately denied any interviews with Miss Granger, and have decided it would be fortuitous to seek answers from a few of the men in her life. You know, get an inside scoop!" Tollins was too happy to notice Fred freeze up and glare so hard at the man, his ears were turning red.
"What do you mean, 'a few of the men'? In case you forgot, we've been shoved into another Marriage Law, you dolt. Hermione has to marry her chosen wizard. It's literally the law." Tollins seemed to have finally picked up on Fred's ire.
"Well, that's just it, isn't it? The Golden Trio haven't come out and said who they've been paired with. The world wants to know about their Saviours; it's my job to tell them."
Fred was getting pissed with the ignorant man now, "No, you're job is push yourself into other people's lives. And I'm telling you; Butt out." Tollins tried to glare, and push his face up to the Weasley, but Fred had an obvious five inches on the portly man, and Tollins eventually gave up, huffing instead. Fred watched him pat his pocket quickly, like he was reassuring himself he hadn't lost anything.
"Why are you defending Miss Granger? Could it be you've been scorned as her lover now that she's been paired for the Law? Our viewers are well aware you've dallied with her over the last year." Fred was seething, whipping his wand out blindly and sending a stunning jinx to the man's left pocket, a burst of static going off and a small roll of parchment flying into Fred's hand. He took a look at it, and noticed it was a miniaturized version of a Quick Quotes Quill, shrunken to hide in Tollins pocket to record their conversation. Fred could feel the heat from his face now, well aware how red he must be.
"First off, how dare you come into my shop, and disturb my customers, just to piss me off and accuse me of something this petty. Second, I am extremely angry with you, but I think this thing is rather brilliant," he flashed the tiny quill at him before pocketing it, though Tollins tried in vain to snatch it back, "Thirdly, and I don't care if that's actually a word or not; you are to leave Harry, Ron and Hermione alone unless they express interest in speaking with your ruddy paper. We just got out of a war, leave 'em be for Merlin's sake!"
Tollins was gaping like a fish, rather scandalized Fred had found his hidden notes, "Lastly, and you had better be listening to this one Tollins, as I'm unlikely to repeat it for you. Hermione Granger is my fiancée. Mine, not Harry's, not Ron's, not my bloody twin's. So stop getting in her face, stop making up stories, and leave my future wife alone." Fred poked Tollins once in his chest, shoving the now broken Quick Quotes Quill into his hands, and stuffed the still tiny parchment into his purple work coat, stomping off into his store. He managed to reach his and George's office door before his brother managed to stop him, trying to find out what happened. Fred just shrugged him off waving behind him in the general direction he'd left Tollins, muttering something about a ruddy prick. Once the door had been shut, George spun around; a frown on his face as he found Tollins coming out from behind the shelving, a pouty sad look on his face, as he pet what looked like a bird feather to George. Without questioning it, George grabbed the reporters elbow and escorted him out of the shop, leaving him with a 'Prat' before slamming the door in his face. Tollins stared in wonder at the shop door, before scurrying away to find a quill before he forgot any of the conversation he'd just had.
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The group at the Burrow was exhausted. They had finished the picnic the girls had set out for them over an hour ago, and had adjourned to the pond after to enjoy the cool water in the growing heat. Ron and Harry were lounging just out of the water, the small waves lapping up to their knees as they lay in the grass. Ginny had laid out a blanket for her and Hermione, with which she had been sunbathing on after a few minutes in the water. Hermione couldn't figure out how the girl kept herself from burning. Hermione had laid out beside Ginny for half an hour before sitting up to grab her book, and had been reading it since. The sun made them all warm and lazy, barely speaking between them anymore.
"Did you hear that?" Ron asked them all quite suddenly, popping his head up to listen to something. Hermione raised her eyes from her book, but otherwise didn't bother. Ginny mumbled something about garden tomatoes, and Harry half heartedly listened with his mate before shrugging and flopping his head back into the grass, kicking his feet out to make a splash.
The next moment was filled with green and blue sparklers firing around them all, making a humongous amount of noise. Ginny rolled off the blanket into the pond with a yelp; Hermione threw her book up and just managed to save it from the water. Both boys had tried to stand and grab their wands, but slipped in the mud between the grass and the water, ending up with their faces full of dirt and pond water. Laughter filled the small bushel of trees just behind the group, and a stocky red-head stood up clutching at his sides.
"Charles Weasley! When I get out of here, you best get ready for the hex of your life!" Ginny screeched at her older brother, who didn't seem like he was trembling in fear of his baby sister. Charlie Weasley was one of the brothers Hermione had little to no contact with, having met him twice; the most recent being after the war. Once the Marriage Law had been announced, Hermione had noticed Charlie went AWOL for a bit, but didn't have the heart to ask Molly about it. She watched as he came closer to their group, seating himself a space away from her, effectively blocking himself from Ginny. He was built much like the twins were, shorter than Ron or Bill, but broad shouldered, and still too tall. His job of wrestling with dragons also gave him an incredibly intimidated figure, burly the first word coming to Hermione to describe him. His arms held more scars than freckles these days, and his face looked like it had been healed from burns more than once. But his grin was happy and friendly, as warm as the rest of his family, and was quite honestly a giant teddy bear.
"Oh Merlin, the looks on your faces! I wish Bill had seen that Gin-Gin, he'd be rolling around by now." Ginny glared at her older brother, but seemed to quickly forgive him when she sat herself right in his lap for a hug and snuggle.
"Where'd you disappear to Charlie? Dad was actually looking quite angry last I saw you." Harry and Ron had by now picked themselves up and joined them on the blanket. Harry was cleaning off his glasses, while Ron was only glaring at Charlie, slowly wiping his face off. Charlie looked guilty, hiding it behind a grin for his sister, but Hermione saw it.
"I may have blown up a bit after the Law was passed. Stormed my way into the Ministry I did, caused a bit of noise and set dad off a bit. But I got what I went for. Had to go let work know I would have to stay home for a year or so, grabbed a couple things and here I am."
Hermione was curious, and set her book down, "What did you ask at the Ministry?"
Charlie sighed, nuzzling his nose in Ginny's hair and he mumbled dejectedly, "If I was included in the Law. I was hoping because I hadn't lived here in a few years that I wouldn't apply. Apparently, it's for anyone born in the United Kingdom. So I received my name there," Ginny smiled at her brother, and asked her name. Charlie's face morphed into a sappy grin, making Harry chuckle at the tough man.
"Her name's Tessa Jones, she went to Hogwarts the year after me apparently. She's originally from Scotland so she does have a wicked accent, but it's quite cute actually," Ginny cooed at her brother, receiving a light smack to her hair, mussing the ginger strands.
"So you've already met her then?" Hermione asked, keeping the conversation on track.
"Yeah, well everyone should have met their partners by now; it's past the date from the Ministry to set up a visit." Harry and Hermione looked at one another at the same time, and glared at Ron together.
"You didn't tell us you spoke with Romilda already!" Hermione chastised her friend, while Harry basically pouted at Ron.
Ron sighed and rolled his eyes at both of them, "Yes, we met up for coffee in Muggle London. She still hasn't really been back in Diagon Alley, or Hogsmeade or anything since the war. And we didn't talk for more than an hour."
"Why?" Hermione and Harry both yelled. Ron got red faced, and flopped down onto the blanket with a groan, looking into the sky to avoid them.
"'Cause I hate this whole bloody law! Everyone seems to be okay with this, getting married when we're not even twenty yet! And it's okay with your matches, they're people you already knew! I thought I had Charlie on my side, but nope, he's already gaga over Tessa." Hermione watched her friend run his hand over his face and into his hair in frustration. "I'd only ever spoken to Romilda once through Hogwarts, and it was her asking after Harry. I don't know this girl; I don't want to marry her, but I have to, or she could be thrown into Azkaban with me."
"Oh Ronald," Ginny sighed and reached over, pulling him up to give him a hug. Hermione leaned in next, squeezing the remaining section of his torso. Harry reached over and wrapped his arm around Ron's shoulders, and kept it there. Charlie smiled at the four, waiting until they were finished.
Hermione was the first to lean away, causing Ginny and Harry to do the same, "I promise you're not alone in this. Do you honestly think I would have even noticed Fred was a good match for me if it wasn't for this stupid law? Besides Ginny and Harry, I haven't seen many matches that would have happened without the Ministry interfering. But they did it this way, and I've figured it must mean they matched us this way to ensure a magical child. We can't get around it Ron; but you still have us, and I know Romilda is a lovely person, you won't be miserable. Just remember we still love you, yeah?"
Hermione ignored Ron's wet eyes and leaned into her friends again, suddenly feeling wiped out. They stayed in silence until Charlie eventually interrupted, "So, did anyone want to meet Tess?"
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Hmmm.
I like it :]