Chapter Twenty Four

A gentle nudging on George's cheek brought him to consciousness. He strained his eyes open to see what was determined to be so rude as to disturb his enjoyable sleep. He sat up and rubbed his eyes to make sure he was fully awake. Less than six inches from his face a paper air plane hovered mid-air, as though waiting to be acknowledged. George raised an eye brow before plucking it out of the air. He smiled at the familiar scrawl across the piece of paper.

Stop snogging and open the damn door, you stupid git!

~F

Stretching a bit first to wake up, George carefully disentangled himself from the small child lying between him and the bed's third occupant. Little Freddie whimpered in his sleep at the loss of the warmth his uncle had been providing before rolling over and snuggling into Hermione. Almost instinctively, the completely asleep witch wrapped her arms around him and pulled the child close. The red head smiled lovingly at the pair. They both instantly stilled and went back to their motionless peaceful slumber. George could get use to this.

Sometime last night, after a few glasses of wine and some cuddling on the couch, George figured it was time to leave. Hermione, not approving of the idea of George Apparating home with a child after having been drinking, insisted they both just stay the night. She tired to convince George to take her bed with little Freddie, while she took the couch but George wouldn't hear of it. It was HER bed after all; he wasn't going to uproot her out of her own bleeding bed.

After much arguing, and a few heated kisses in attempts to cease the arguing, they came to a compromise. They would both take the bed with little Freddie between them. The bed was plenty big enough for all of them and neither Hermione nor George was willing to risk waking the toddler up by moving him.

George couldn't remember the last time he slept that well. He slowly got out of the bed, careful not to disrupt Hermione or Freddie and tip toed out of the room. Once the bedroom door was gently closed, George hurried to the front door. Opening it, he smirked at his twin standing in the hallway.

"You coulda knocked you know."

"I did. For almost twenty minutes. Finally had to wedge that damn note under the door."

"Well you know most people are usually fast asleep about now," he playfully chastised. "Do you even know what time it is?"

"Time for you to hand over my son so he can come meet his new baby sister."

George laughed heartily and pulled Fred in for a tight hug. "Congratulations, Mate."

"Thanks," he beamed with pride. "Eight pounds, seven ounces, twenty inches long. Can you believe it? Freddie was barely six pounds."

"Well don't leave me in suspense, you tosser, what's her name?"

"Roxanne Georgia Weasley."

"Love it," George smiled widely and led Fred into the flat. "Merlin, a girl? What are you gonna do with a girl?"

"I have no idea," Fred laughed tiredly as George offered him a chair at the kitchen table.

"Mum's probably over the moon," George said as he went about making his twin some tea. Poor Fred looked exhausted. Elated beyond imagination, but exhausted. "She at the hospital with Angie?"

"Yeah, she's there cooing over Roxi waiting for me to get back with Freddie. He'll stay with her and dad for a few days so you don't have to worry about balancing him and the shop by yourself. I'm going to stay home with Angie for a week, or two depending on how bad the holiday rush gets."

"Gryffindor's honor, I won't call unless it's an emergency."

"Thanks, Mate," Fred took a deep gulp of the tea. "Speaking of homes, you seem cozy in Granger's flat. Making tea and sleeping through door knocking. I hope you two haven't been snogging in front of my kid."

"Nah, he was asleep by then."

"Good," Fred chuckled. A contemplating look crossed his face and he set the mug of tea on the table gently. "You sure about this, Georgie? I mean, is this what you actually want?"

George grinned and motioned for Fred to follow him. "I want to show you something."

He led his twin to the bedroom and opened the door quietly. George knew the instant Fred saw what he saw, because the knowing smile that crossed his face was unmistakable. George slowly closed the door again to keep from waking either Hermione or Freddie.

"Swap the curly brown haired kid with a curly red haired kid and yeah," George smiled at his twin. "I'm pretty sure that right there is exactly what I want. Seeing her with Freddie like that, how can I not?"

Fred nodded, "Can't say I blame you, Mate. You know I'd never begrudge you a family, I'm just letting you know, you'd better be in this for the real haul not just messing with her. Harry and Ron will murder you if you hurt her."

"They'd have to get creative because I doubt that secretary of her's would leave enough of me behind for them to get a chance."

"Point is, Hermione's a great girl and she means a lot to the family. Don't hurt her. I'd hate to have to help Ron and Harry beat my own twin to death."

"I'd probably let you," George chuckled softly. He looked up at his twin with a bit uncertainty in his eyes. "Fred, I'm not quite sure why I'm a little anxious by the fact I actually started to like her this much this soon but I sort of am. When I started this I wasn't actually sure if it'd work, but now it is working and with out any sort of real problems aside from that evil beast of hers trying to eat me. The snogging was fantastic but it's not just the snogging its everything, and everything about her is fantastic so now I really properly like her and I'm not sure how to handle it anymore!"

Fred blinked for a moment before laughing, "Wow… I'm rather impressed you got that whole last bit all out in one breath."

"Shut it, Git, I'm serious."

"Oh you're serious alright," Fred winked and side stepped George to reenter the bedroom. "You're seriously about to fall in real proper love with Granger."

George froze for a split second. In love? They had gone on three dates. You don't fall in love after three dates. He followed Fred back into the bedroom before helping him gently pull Freddie out of Hermione's arms. Fred hoisted his son into his arms and nodded thanks to George before pulling a small bottle cap out of his pocket. The makeshift port key activated and the two Freds disappeared. Hermione jolted awake at the sound. She reached out for her small snuggling companion but only found fistfuls of empty bed sheets. Panic shot through the witch as she bolted upwards.

"Freddie!" she looked around frantically in her sleepy haze. "George! Freddie's gone!"

George was by her side in less than a second hushing away her alarm. "No, no, no, shh Hermione, lookit me. Calm down, Freddie's safe."

Hermione focused of George as best she could.

"Fred just stopped by and picked him up. They left not seconds ago."

Hermione turned and looked at the clock on the night stand with a frown, "Its three thirty in the morning. Surely he could have waited till sunrise."

George grinned. "Well I suppose they wanted him to be the first one other than mum to meet his new baby sister."

"A girl? Molly must be ecstatic."

"I have no doubt."

Hermione yawned and closed her eyes again before lying back down into her pillows. She was relieved to know their young charge was safe and sound and giddy for the news of another healthy Weasley baby. George shifted awkwardly on the edge of her bed and she pried an eye open to look at him.

"George, whats wrong?"

"Well, erm…" George blushed and ran a hand through his hair. This had been a lot easier with the wine in his system and a false sense of slight aloofness. "I guess I'll just go home then."

"What ever for?"

"Uh… well… er…"

Hermione rolled her eyes and rolled over enough to make room. "It's three thirty in the morning, George. Lie back down and go to sleep."

George blinked owlishly for a second before all but diving back into the bed. They were both fully clothes in pajamas, his transfigured of course, but it seemed so right. As George snuggled down underneath the covers next to Hermione he hesitated for a moment before wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her tightly against himself. He felt her stiffen for a moment then relax fully against his frame.

"This alright with you still, Luv?" he whispered in her ears.

Hermione chuckled tired, "Go to sleep, Weasley. We can feel awkward about this later. Too tired right now to care."

George waited for awhile until he heard Hermione's even breathing, He placed a gentle kiss on her shoulder before closing his own eyes and allowing himself to drift on back to sleep as well. Fred was wrong, he wasn't about to start falling in love with Granger.

He already was falling in love with Granger.

TBC

A/N: Well not to terrible of a wait this time I hope. Life got better, then worse, then better again so que sera sera I suppose. As always R&R, Dearies. Ta!

~Chupip