A/N – So I think that this is the best chapter yet… Enjoy

Chapter 13

Hermione was anxious for February the 14th. She was worried that Fred was just playing with her because he knew she was supposed to end up with him. However she still found herself standing outside the girl's dormitory in her best jeans and top waiting to go down stairs. She stood there not really sure why or when she was going to go downstairs, but she stood there standing in the way and blocking the hall.

"Any time today Herms, hear you've got a date" George came down the stairs behind her, pushing her shoulder and making her move down a step.

"Yeah I have" Hermione said sounding lost and confused.

"Come on Herms it's not that bad" George gently pushed her down the stairs, guiding her through the crowded common room.

"Yeah it's not that" She stumbled slightly and took a few steps back "I just like him so much but I don't know how he feels about me"

"He loves you Herms, underneath the curse he's the same old Weasley you love" Hermione pushed him slightly, a smile growing on her face.

"That was the cheesiest thing I have ever heard"

"Really? Because I know Fred says cheesier things" Hermione blushed slightly and pushed George away from her. "You're lucky you know, to have found each other. Despite the curse you two have been really happy together" Hermione nodded and carried on walking. They walked to the main staircase in silence. "Fred's already in there, I just couldn't get out of bed this morning" George gestured towards the Great Hall.

"Why?"

"It's Valentine's Day"

"And…"

"It's a sad day for people who are alone"

"Oh yeah it is, just don't think about it too much; if you get too lonely I'm sure the girl over there who keeps looking at you wouldn't mind" Hermione pushed him in the direction of the geeky looking Ravenclaw and winked "You have fun"

"Fred's cockiness has really rubbed off on you" And with that he walked away. She walked towards the doors and stopped slightly but then carried on walking towards where Ron and Harry were sitting. She noticed that Fred wasn't there.

"There's a letter for you" Ron said not looking up from his plate

"And about time! If it hadn't come today…" she said, eagerly tearing open the envelope and pulling out a small piece of parchment. Her eyes sped from left to right as she read through the message and a grimly pleased expression spread across her face.

"Listen, Harry," she said, looking up at him, "this is really important. Do you think you could meet me in the Three Broomsticks around midday?"

"Well… I dunno," said Harry uncertainly. "Cho might be expecting me to spend the whole day with her. We never said what we were going to do."

"Well, bring her along if you must," said Hermione urgently. "But will you come?"

"Well… all right" Harry turned to look at Ron "Are you coming?" Harry asked Ron, but he shook his head, looking glum.

"I can't come into Hogsmeade at all; Angelina wants a full day's training. Like it's going to help; we're the worst team I've ever seen. You should see Sloper and Kirke; they're pathetic, even worse than I am." He heaved a great sigh. "I dunno why Angelina won't just let me resign."

"It's because you're good when you're on form, that's why," Hermione said helpfully. Ron looked up at her like he would rather stick pins in his eyes. Hermione hid her shame by eating toast.

"App! Don't eat that!" Fred came up behind Hermione and grabbed the toast that she had taken a bite of and ate it himself. Hermione gave him a puzzled look.

"Why not? You did!" She sounded annoyed but caring.

"Because I have a bigger stomach than you" Hermione looked more puzzled "Come on"

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked. Fred smiled and took her hand, leading her out of the hall.

"You'll see" They walked towards the main entrance and handed over their permission slips to get signed out by Filch.

"Come on Fred, please tell me" Hermione asked. She smiled up at him but he just shook his head. "Oh so the future mother of your children can't know where she's going?" Fred grabbed her quickly from behind and whispered.

"Not so loud, that would sound bad out of context" Then he quickly kissed her on the check. She smiled and blushed. They continued to walk in comfortable silence occasionally pointing out people and making comments about who they are with for Valentine's Day.

"Speaking of, I think I set your brother up this morning" Fred looked around at her confused.

"Okay but the only girl friend that I know you have is Ginny and that's just wrong" Hermione laughed and shook her head.

"No when he saw me this morning there was a girl looking at us so I told him to talk to her" Fred stopped and looked at the shop on the street. The shop was crowded and had people walking in and out of it every second.

"Honeydukes?"

"Hey! I said spend time with me, not go on a romantic date with me" protested Fred

"Really, because when Lee asked you didn't want him to know" Hermione smiled happily thinking she'd won.

"Because he wants me to meet him a Zonko's"

"Because you don't want him to know"

"Because this could be fun"

"You're changing the subject" Fred sighed and grabbed her hand, leading her into the already cramped shop. "We're not staying long anyway." Fred walked around the brightly coloured shop like he had been in there far too often. Hermione didn't notice what he was pulling off of the shelves but she could tell it wasn't the normal 'Chocolate frog'. He walked over to the long queue to pay, Hermione followed silently. She was still very scared that he'd leave her, however she could tell he was getting his memory back, but she was still worried that he had a long and painful road ahead of him to break the curse. She had been so lost in thought she hadn't noticed that Fred had paid and started walking out of the shop; she followed helplessly and tried to catch up with him. Fred smiled down at her.

"Where are we going?" She asked, again Fred shook his head. Hermione sighed and continued to walk. After a few minutes of comfortable silence and Fred laughing at Hermione tripping and stumbling in the snow, Fred stopped outside the station.

"Fred, why have you stopped?" Hermione asked confused. Fred looked at the station like it was obvious. "Fred we can't leave" Hermione took a sharp intake of breath quickly "Fred we have to finish our education and I have to take my owls and I can't fail" Hermione continued to ramble on. Fred grabbed her by the arms and sat her down on a bench.

"Hermione" Fred murmured. She continued to ramble. He tried again. Hermione … Hermione… GRANGER!" Hermione shut up instantly. "This was the first bench that wasn't occupied. Unless you want to sit on the floor, be my guest" He laughed and sat down with her "As much as I'd like to leave… Hermione I would never leave George, or Ginny. Maybe I could live with leaving Ron. Mom would never forgive me" He sighed and pulled out a sweet from his bag, it was wrapped in colourful paper and looked like something puked up by a unicorn, it was brightly coloured and full and sugar.

"What's this?"

"This is non-melting Ice Cream" Hermione looked perplexed

"Fred it's the middle of February, it's a bit cold for Ice Cream"

"And people still drink coffee in the summer" Fred unwrapped his Ice Cream to reveal a bright blue Ice Cream in the shape of a fish placed on a stick. Hermione smiled and opened hers; it was bright pink and was the shape of a Unicorn.

"I'm eating a 5 year old girls dream on a stick" Hermione smiled and started to eat her Ice Cream "Fred? What's the point of non-melting Ice Cream in winter, it's too cold to melt!" Fred looked at her and placed his stick in a nearby bin then took Hermione's from her.

"A very good point, but it's the magic of it otherwise it would have been boring muggle Ice Cream"

"It tasted the same"

"No it didn't"

"Yes it did"

"It looked different"

"And… it's called a mould and food dye"

"Food die like death

"Changes the colour of the food"

"By killing it again? Why would you kill something that's already dead?"

"No not Food DIE, like dyeing your hair"

"Muggles kill their hair?"

"I give up" Hermione looked at Fred and he stuck her tongue out at her, she smiled and shifted her feet in the snow making funny patterns with the bottom of her feet. Suddenly her face flushed and she realised she was being watched.

"Fred are you watching me?... Again?" She asked

"No… Wait! Again?"

"Christmas eve"

"Oh" There was an uncomfortable silence. It had started to rain, the drops of water hitting the ground fast and hard, splashing and getting rid of most of the snow. It sped up quickly and it was soon chucking it down.

"It's raining, maybe we should get inside somewhere" She turned to look at Fred who was watching her and had been for a long time.

"Now I'm watching you" Fred said quickly, afraid anyone would hear. Hermione smiled and tried to hide her blush beneath he frizzy hair. Fred moved her hair out of her face and tucked it behind ear, he went to lean closer his eyes focusing on her lips, Hermione blushed even more and felt the butterflies creep up from her stomach and infect her, making her nervous and agitated.

"Fred?" There was a figure standing in the rain- he moved closer

"Lee?" Fred sounded surprised and shocked.

"Hermione?" Lee looked at the two of them close together and seemed to figure it out "You're her new man, that's why you asked all those questions…"

"Lee this is bigger than…"

"Yeah a one night stand, Hermione I hope you know what you're getting into" And with that he stormed away.

"Hermione I'm sorry he gets like this with George…" He paused and stood up quickly "I've got to… you understand… right?" Hermione nodded, and with that he walked away. Hermione stood up slowly and walked down the street to where she said she'd meet Harry. She sat in uncomfortable silence with Luna and Rita Skeeter.

"Do you not own an umbrella?" Hermione shook her head.

"Pity"

"Leave her alone she's lost" Luna said in her mystical voice.

"Lost?" Asked Rita

"Oh yes, maybe not in the way you'd expect but she is most certainly lost" Hermione looked around nervously until she saw Harry. She called him over and watched him make his way through the crowd.

"You're early!" said Hermione, moving along to give him room to sit down. "I thought you were with Cho, I wasn't expecting you for another hour at least!"

"Cho?" said Rita at once, twisting round in her seat to stare avidly at Harry. "A girl?"

"It's none of your business if Harry's been with a hundred girls," Hermione told Rita coolly. "So you can put that away right now."

Rita had been on the point of withdrawing an acid-green quill from her bag. Looking as though she had been forced to swallow Stinksap, she snapped her bag shut again.

"What are you up to?" Harry asked, sitting down and staring from Rita to Luna to Hermione.

"Little Miss Perfect was just about to tell me when you arrived," said Rita, taking a large slurp of her drink. "I suppose I'm allowed to talk to him, am I?" she shot at Hermione.

"Yes, I suppose you are," said Hermione coldly.

"Pretty girl, is she, Harry?"

"One more word about Harry's love life and the deal's off and that's a promise," said Hermione irritably.

"What deal?" said Rita, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. "You haven't mentioned a deal yet, Miss Prissy, you just told me to turn up. Oh, one of these days…" She took a deep shuddering breath.

"Yes, yes, one of these days you'll write more horrible stories about Harry and me," said Hermione indifferently. "Find someone who cares, why don't you?"

"They've run plenty of horrible stories about Harry this year without my help," said Rita, shooting a sideways look at him over the top of her glass and adding in a rough whisper, "How has that made you feel, Harry? Betrayed? Distraught? Misunderstood?"

"He feels angry, of course," said Hermione in a hard, clear voice. "Because he's told the Minister for Magic the truth and the Minister's too much of an idiot to believe him."

"So you actually stick to it, do you, that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back?" said Rita, lowering her glass and subjecting Harry to a piercing stare while her finger strayed longingly to the clasp of the crocodile bag.

"You stand by all this garbage Dumbledore's been telling everybody about You-Know-Who returning and you being the sole witness?"

"I wasn't the sole witness," snarled Harry. "There were a dozen-odd Death Eaters there as well. Want their names?"

"I'd love them," breathed Rita, now fumbling in her bag once more and gazing at him as though he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. "A great bold headline: 'Potter Accuses… ' A sub-heading, 'Harry Potter Names Death Eaters Still Among Us'. And then, beneath a nice big photograph of you, 'Disturbed teenage survivor of You-Know-Who's attack, Harry Potter, 15, caused outrage yesterday by accusing respectable and prominent members of the wizarding community of being Death Eaters… '"

The Quick-Quotes Quill was actually in her hand and halfway to her mouth when the rapturous expression on her face died.

"But of course," she said, lowering the quill and looking daggers at Hermione, "Little Miss Perfect wouldn't want that story out there, would she?"

"As a matter of fact," said Hermione sweetly, "that's exactly what Little Miss Perfect does want."

Rita looked as though she would have liked nothing better than to seize the paper umbrella sticking out of Hermione's drink and thrust it up her nose.

"I don't suppose I've got any choice, have I?" said Rita, her voice shaking slightly. She opened her crocodile bag once more, withdrew a piece of parchment, and raised her Quick-Quotes Quill.

"Daddy will be pleased," said Luna brightly. A muscle twitched in Rita's jaw.

"Okay, Harry?" said Hermione, turning to him. "Ready to tell the public the truth?"

"I suppose," said Harry, watching Rita balancing the Quick-Quotes Quill at the ready on the parchment between them.

"Fire away, then, Rita," said Hermione serenely, fishing a cherry out from the bottom of her glass.

Hermione walked back up the steps of the castle alone. Harry had run ahead to see if he could find Cho, and Luna had some quills to send to her father made out of the horns of a cow. She carried her bag silently and didn't bother talking to anyone. She walked down a corridor to get to a stair case towards the back, knowing that the main staircase would be packed with students returning from Hogsmeade. She continued to walk down the abandoned corridor and suddenly heard running footsteps hitting the cobble. She turned the corner slowly and came face to face with a brick wall. She had landed on the floor in a heap, her eye sight cleared and she looked up, there was Fred pulling her up quickly.

"Come on!" He shouted taking her hand and starting to run.

"Where to now?"

"Do you want to get caught? Look we're too far behind the others now" He stopped in the door way of a class room, however the door was locked. He pushed Hermione towards it and she tried the handle again, but it was still locked.

"Alohomora!" He shouted and pushed against the door, it remained locked. He looked down at Hermione and grabbed her hand.

"I swear to god those twins" McGonagall's voice drifted down the corridor.

"Hermione do you trust me?" Fred asked quickly

"Ummmmm"

"We haven't got time, do you?" She nodded quickly. He wrapped his arms around her waist, at first Hermione thought he was going to throw her over his shoulder and start running but he pulled her closer and quickly leaned in, placing his lips on hers perfectly. She immediately flung her arms around his neck for support or because she was going to fall over. She ran her hand through his hair, pulling him closer to her and deepening the kiss. Fred smiled against her lips and unexpectedly felt better, as if all his worries about not knowing were gone. Hermione pulled herself closer to Fred allowing the pressure to remove itself from her chest as she felt better than she had in weeks.

There was a polite coughing sound from behind them causing Fred to turn round blocking Hermione. Umbridge was a second too late to know what the main problem was, but she spoke anyway.

"Mr Weasley, I thought you'd learnt your lesson in detention with me last week for disobeying my rules"

"Dolores it can't have been him who pulled the prank he was, shall we say, occupied with" She look around Fred "Miss Granger" McGonagall didn't look impressed.

"Oh well he'll still need one, public display of affection"

"Dolores, they're in my house, let me deal with them" McGonagall pulled Fred along away from Hermione and walked in-between them; she unlocked her office door and pushed them both in there.

"Sit" she paused looking for the right way to phrase her sentence "I hope you realise what problems you have caused"

"What?" Hermione and Fred said together.

"A true loves kiss breaks any curse"

A/N – Muhahahahahhhaaa

I really hope that you enjoyed this one, please favourite and review :D