Hermione finally managed to get her blush under control as Fred accepted his change from Mr. Grimes with a nod of thanks. However, she couldn't help looking down, still too shy to risk meeting anyone's eye just yet. Fred had been acting strangely all day. She wanted to chalk it all up to their talk earlier, but couldn't forget what had happened at lunch. The dark, intense staring. And after they'd all fallen, he was there lifting her clear up and out of danger in seconds. Her blush pushed back at the unbidden memory of the thrill of being lifted so suddenly and easily… and the way it felt when he ran his fingers through her hair.

Hermione subtly shifted, pinching the hip not glued to Fred's side as hard as she dared in public. The quick, sharp pain made her bite her lip. She bite it harder, once again succeeding in fighting back the blush and forcefully pushing her silly perversions aside.

"Ready?" Fred asked softly, breath brushing against her ear, making her jump. She looked up sharply at him, leaning back to his surprisingly close proximity. There was a questioning look on his eyes. Needing space from the intimate bubble he was weaving, she turned her gaze to Mr. Grimes, who promptly raised an eyebrow at her. Either it wasn't the first time Fred had asked her that, or her inner struggle had been noticed. She dearly hoped it was the former.

'That's what I get for listening to Ginny and Luna so often,' Hermione chastised herself. 'Next time Ginny's out late I should probably do something about it.' She decided. 'A fast masturbation session should curb these ridiculous fantasies.'

"Thank you again Mr. Grimes. To you and your wife," she smiled brightly. Conceal and control and everything would be fine.

"Not at all," Mr. Grimes nodded. "Have a wonderful rest of your day Ms. Granger."


George, Ginny and Luna sat in silence for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts. A whole lot had happened in just a single afternoon, and more than one of them felt the need to process it all. For a while they laid back and simply stared at the clouds, enjoying the moment of peace.

"Do you think we could be overthinking this?" George was the one to break the silence as he plucked up an errant leaf and held it up to the sunlight to peer through it.

"Nah," Ginny answered after a moment, adding the simple explanation, "we love them."

"Think we should tell the boys?" George twirled the leaf. 'Please say no. That's not a conversation I want to have,' He prayed. 'All this bloody girl talk's gone to my head. Should have just kept my mouth shut.'

"Definitely," Luna was faster with her answer. "They may work against us if we don't get them in on the plan with us."

"What plan?" George turned onto his stomach and stared at the girls, hit with the sudden realization that he'd just had his patience tested to the limit and went through enough girl talk to last the rest of the year… and they never came up with a plan.

"I'll tell Harry. He can figure out how to break it to Ron," Ginny tilted her head back to look at George. "Don't tell Fred. We'll smooth the path but she's gotta fall for him, not our scheming."


"You really didn't have to do that," Hermione managed to wait to resume her protest until they'd exited the shop and had begun to make their way to Ginny's favorite clothing store intent on meeting up with the others.

Fred paused before answering, not entirely sure if she was referring to his possessiveness or the fact that he'd insisted on paying. 'She'll have to just get used to it,' he thought mulishly. As far as he was concerned, it was a man's job to take care of his woman. And Hermione was as good as his. She may not realize it yet, but that didn't mean he couldn't make sure other men knew it. 'Just let me be selfish in this,' he sent out to the universe. 'Most anything else I'll share. But not her.' He added a silent promise to himself that he would have her; once he did keeping her satisfied and happy would be his top priority. One that he'd see with utmost diligence… and pleasure.

"At least let me pay you back," Hermione persisted when it became obvious he wasn't going to answer anytime soon.

'Well that answers that question,' Fred thought. He wondered if his little standoff with Mr. Grimes had gone completely unnoticed, or if she'd just been so flustered at the register she'd forgotten.

"Not a chance Ah… 'Mione," Fred caught himself before the pet name could slip out again. Best get her used to hearing it when she wasn't so laser focused on him, or there'd be questions he wasn't quite ready to answer yet.

Silence reigned yet again, Fred sneaking glances at the now fuming Hermione. It was sort of amusing getting her riled up at him. He'd always enjoy the way she never hesitated to go toe to toe with him. It was a driving force that kept his and George's pranks from going too far. Sure they toed the line, but between her nagging and a healthy fear of their Mum, they always stayed on the right side of that line.

"Consider it a small thanks for listening earlier," he finally took pity on her. The book was hardly an equivalent to the conversation and promised help; he'd be sure to repay that ten-fold later. But he didn't like the growing discomfort showing on her face.

Hermione bit her lip thoughtfully. Listening to someone in pain was only natural after all. Nothing all that special. She still didn't like him spending his money on her. She looked over at Fred, about to say just that, when he speared her with a dark, demanding look. This was one fight she wasn't going to be winning. "Thank you," she murmured instead.

"My pleasure," Fred responded sincerely, impulsively throwing an arm over her shoulders and pulling her against his side as they approached the shop.


Soon after Ginny's latest command, the trio was alerted to the couple in question's arrival. Quickly, they jumped up and turned the soft cushion back to rocks and twigs. Gathering up their masses of bags they moved quickly. As the couple came into sight, it was a struggle for the three to act casually, having taken quick notice of their intertwined hands. Most likely sensing the excitement, Fred spoke up first.

"There you all are!" He tightened his hand around Hermione's. A clear signal he wasn't about to let go just because their friends were around.

'Maybe they haven't noticed,' Hermione didn't fight him, not wanting to cause a scene and call attention to it.

"We just got here," George lied easily as he rattled the bags weighing down his arms. "The girls took so long at the store, we figured you guys had already left and come home."

"I told you Hermione always takes forever when there's books involved," Luna said, adding to their false alibi, and unknowingly giving Fred and Hermione one as well.

"Sorry guys," Hermione apologized just as she always did after holding her friends hostage in Flourish and Blotts. "Can we help?"

"Yeah -hang on," Ginny pawed through the bags and pulled a handful aside a few. "These are yours Fred. Me and Luna have yours 'Mione."

"I can take some of hers too," Fred held out his hand for more.

"What… all of those?" Hermione looked appalled.

"Most of yours are ruined anyway. Don't argue," Ginny handed a few more bags to Fred. He was more than a little shocked to see Hermione nod and smile weakly.

"Thank you."

'Okay. Add learning how the fuck Ginny does that to the list of things to do.' He shifted the new load easily, only mildly curious by the lack of reaction to their hand holding. Shopping always distracted Ginny.


Mrs. Weasley was all bright smiles and cheer when they all entered the house, distractedly kissing them each on the cheek and waving them off to put their purchases away. Hermione tried several times to offer to help prepare dinner as she was herded up the stairs by the masses.

"I've got it all prepped and ready to go already dear," Mrs. Weasley waved her off with a bright smile. For a moment, Hermione thought she caught a glimpse of a gleam in her eyes, rather reminiscent of the man currently tugging her hand up the stairs.

"Come on 'Mione, you should try everything on before dinner," Luna said, grabbing Hermione's hand.

"Let's put this stuff away," George spoke at the same time, grabbing Fred's arm. "I may have thought of a way to get the shop cleared up faster."

Moving in tandem, they smoothly separated Fred and Hermione and pulled them into their separate rooms, sharing a quick, devious look. Fred glared at his brother as he was pulled away, biting back several choice curses. He stumbled into the room after his brother, catching himself in time to look back at Hermione before George slammed the door shut behind them. His ire was cooled only when his eyes met Hermione's when she turned back to look at him.


"You went way overboard Gin," Hermione began her previously unstated protests as she watched the girls proudly unpack the multitude of bags.

"You shrank most of your clothes 'Mione. A new wardrobe has been needed for a long time," Ginny smiled brightly, so blatantly happy with the surprise that Hermione couldn't say no to her. Instead, she just sighed in defeat and began to help sort through it all.


As soon as the door latched, Fred turned to punch George in the arm. Already anticipating his brother's move, George neatly dodged and pulled Fred into a headlock. Growling, Fred kicked out his leg to knock into George's ankle and dug his shoulder into his abdomen, knocking him off balance. Determined not to go down alone, George grabbed Fred's hair, yanking it painfully and pulling his head down with him as he fell, forcing the rest of his body to naturally follow.

They landed in a heap on the floor with identical grunts. For a moment they continued to wrestle on the floor, landing rough sucker punches in the stomachs and tugging each other's hair like little girls. Finally, Fred got the upper hand, flipping their bodies yet again and pinning George's arms roughly. Refusing to be beat, George upped the ante and slammed his knee up, managing to hit him roughly in the ass and clip his balls in the process.

The sound that escaped Fred's lips was barely human. A wheezing whimper and he fell over to the side, dry heaving as he curled up on his side. George sat up panting, watching his brother for any signs of a ruse. "That," he managed to gasp out, "was for Hermione."

"The fuck?" Was all Fred could whimper between dry heaves. George flopped down on his back next to the curled up Fred. After a moment to catch his breath, he began to outline what Ginny and Luna had told him after what they'd witnessed earlier that afternoon, carefully sketching around how he'd come about that information.


The was a disturbing theme to the clothing Hermione was seeing as they sorted through it all. Everything was much more fitted than she'd normally wear, low cut tops and even a few rather tiny looking skirts. All together, the clothing promised to leave lots of skin showing and not all that much left to the imagination.

"Here, start trying some things on," Ginny urged, tossing a pair of shorts and a top at Hermione.

"Erm…" Hermione hesitated. Ginny had spent a lot of money on these clothes, and was obviously proud of what she'd picked out. 'I should at least try them on,' she finally conceded. She could always try and reason with Ginny about them after, when she could show how revealing everything was on her.


"... next time maybe just punch me in the face," Fred was finally able to breath without feeling the need to puke everything he'd eaten since he was three. To his credit, he didn't try to argue the rough treatment, despite the fact that he hadn't known the full story before using the promise of helping his Mum to lure Hermione away with him. If anything, it helped cool his blood and reassured him that George would stop him if he got too aggressive in his pursuit of the gorgeous little woman.

"Let's try and not have a next one," George patted Fred on the shoulder and stood, putting out a hand to help his brother up. In tandem, they shuffled over to their respective beds and sat heavily. "Looked like you made your decision though," he ventured after a moment, referring to their entwined hands earlier.

"I'm playing for keeps," was the simple, not unexpected reply. Fred grinned dopily at George, equal parts proud of the decision and eager to finally get the girl.

"Does she know that yet?" George was carefully casual as he began unpacking their bags, separating the piles of clothes between the two of them. Most of it was just the essentials, expect for the few things Ginny insisted on picking out for Fred.

"A little soon to be telling her she's stuck with me for good, don't you think?" Fred chuckled as he refolded the clothing George tossed at him neatly and began to put it away without even looking at it.

"Maybe…" George reached for the final bag on his bed and began sorting through it. Fred glanced at him and raised a brow in question.

"Maybe?" He prompted.

"Well… I know you don't want to come on too strong," George gave a half shrug. "But you don't want to go too slow either. I mean, this is 'Mione we're talking about. Remember what you said this morning. She's so… unpracticed… she may not catch on if you're too chivalrous about the whole deal."

Fred half sat back on his bed, staring at George. His expression was unreadable, making George just a little nervous. "I'm not saying don't play the slow game," he was quick to add. "I'm just saying maybe step it up a few notches. Make sure she knows you want her. Like… want her, want her."

Fred tugged at his hair and scrapped his fingers over his scalp, unconsciously trying to replicate what Hermione had done earlier. He knew George was right, but he wasn't sure what to do now. It felt like he'd been pushing it earlier just holding her hand and pulling her close. He'd been planning on pushing a little bit at a time over their time together during their research. But what if that was too slow still. He couldn't afford to lose her to something as ridiculous as the fucking friend-zone. "Well I can't just throw her down and…" Fred waved his hand and let it drop on his knee with a smack in frustration.

"Yeah, you should probably save that for after snogging the shit out of her," George rolled his eyes, unable to hold back the sarcastic response. Fred predictably grabbed the closest bag still left on his side of the room and chucked it hard at his brother's face.

"Don't talk about her like that, asshole." Fred grumbled as George caught the bag laughing.

"Seriously man. Just step it up a bit," George glanced through the bag. It was all things they'd gotten for Hermione. He set it aside and gestured for Fred to toss the last two. "Flirt more, compliment her, be more touchy feely," he caught the bags with ease and pawed through them. They were all for Hermione too. "Get her thinking about you as more than just her best friends' older brother and your whole seduction process will go that much smoother. Kissing her isn't the worst of ideas actually. That's one signal no one can misunderstand." George tossed the three bags back to Fred. "These are hers."


"Oh, definitely another keeper!" Luna announced, ignoring Hermione's pained look. They'd managed to make it through the majority of the clothes, and so far there wasn't a single item the other two girls hadn't declared keepers. Hermione had tried her best with the first few outfits to reason with her friends, pointing out how tight the shirts were. She even argued that the weather would be cooling soon and it was silly to have so much skin revealed. But they remained unmoved. She looked over herself in the mirror, feeling conflicted. The shorts were practically painted on, and practically up her ass. The camisole was cute, but the back was open and Ginny and Luna insisted she couldn't wear a bra with it. And so damn thin… she leaned forward and eyed it critically. A little tighter and her nipples would be on full display.

"Guys," Hermione started at the same time as there was a soft knock on the door. Without waiting for a response, the door opened revealing Fred standing there, holding out a few bags. Without thinking, Hermione turned from the mirror to face him. He was staring at her, gap mouthed, his eyes darting over her form as his face reddened.


Special thank you for those of you that reviewed and let me know that the last upload came out looking funky. Hopefully it works this time.

Reviews make the pen flow faster...