31 August 1996
"So business is going well, then?" Mr. Weasley asked, passing a basket of rolls down the line.
"Better than we projected," Fred affirmed.
They were all sitting around a long table, arranged in the garden both because the weather was nice and, though it went unsaid, because it would be rather cramped were they all to eat inside. In addition to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny, they were joined by both Weasley twins and Luna, who had walked over from her own home.
"With the current proceeds, we should make it through winter just fine," George said. "There's already a fair amount of interest coming in for mail orders as well, which will only pick up once everyone is back at school."
"That should make my job nice and easy," Hermione huffed from a few chairs down.
"Oh, don't be so boring, 'Mione," Ron scoffed, rolling his eyes. "The world won't end if you turn a blind eye to a prank here or there."
Fred coughed, sputtering into the top of his water glass, and Hermione pursed her lips but otherwise remained silent.
"So," Ginny said a moment later, over the sound of forks scraping on plates, "How is Verity settling in?"
"Fine," George shrugged. "She's been training with Lee mostly, so we can focus on product development and inventory and such."
"She's quite pretty, isn't she?" Mrs. Weasley asked leadingly, looking between her sons.
George made a face. "Angelina will turn me inside out if I even think about answering that question. Nobody is pretty enough for that."
Everyone chuckled and Hermione relaxed, thinking they'd dodged a bullet.
"And Fred? How are you getting along with Verity?" Ginny inquired innocently, tossing her hair over her shoulder as she rounded on her brother. Hermione, who was sitting beside her, reached beneath the table and dug her nails ruthlessly into the top of Ginny's bare thigh. Ginny, to her credit, didn't flinch.
"Alright," Fred replied, narrowing his eyes at this sister. "Like George said, she's mostly been working with Lee."
"You know," Mr. Weasley said, clearing his throat, "Wilkins at work has a daughter that graduated last year, a Hufflepuff I think. She just moved to London a few weeks ago – maybe you could show her around the city, Fred?"
Fred seemed to realise then that he wasn't getting up from the dinner table without offering some sort of insight into his romantic affairs, and Hermione wasn't sure what she wanted him to say; if they outed themselves like this it would feel like they did it because they were cornered, not because they wanted to. Plus, she was already rather emotional about leaving to go back to school, so she waited with bated breath, the same as everybody else.
"Actually," Fred sighed with all the enthusiasm of a man faced with a firing squad, "I've recently started seeing someone."
Hermione thought inwardly that eight months might be stretching the definition of 'recently.'
"Who?" Mrs. Weasley asked eagerly, forgetting her plate entirely and leaning forward, elbow nearly toppling her wine glass.
"Just a friend," Fred said evasively. "Someone from school."
Luna giggled, looking directly at Hermione while she squashed her roll into what looked like a duck with her fingertips, but nobody paid it any mind. She had a tendency to do that sort of thing, unnerving though it might be.
"Oh, you kids," Mrs. Weasley tutted, looking a little put-out and turning back to her food. "Casual shagging with a friend is not the same thing as a relationship."
"I suppose you're right, mum," Fred admitted in mock-defeat, raising his waterglass in her direction and tipping his head. "But either way, you can inform Wilkins that I'm not available."
oOoOoOo
"Casual shagging, huh?" Hermione asked, meeting Fred in the orchard after everyone had gone to bed. The moon was creeping across the sky, painting everything in pale blues and greys.
"Wait, is it more than that?!" Fred conjured an expression of horror and she rolled her eyes, pressing onto her tiptoes to kiss him. He leaned back against a tree and Hermione stepped between his feet. "So, I take it Ginny knows?"
"Mmhmm," Hermione confirmed. "And she's covering for me now as retribution."
"And Luna?"
"I guess?" She shook her head. "I mean, I didn't tell her, but I'm not surprised."
He nodded understandingly and then pecked her on the nose. "How long do you have?"
"A couple hours. I do need to get some sleep; I have prefect duties on the train tomorrow, so I won't be able to nap."
Fred nodded again, taking her hand and leading her through the trees to a small clearing. In it there was a grey, fleece blanket set on the ground at the base of one of the larger apple trees and a small ring of glass jars with bluebell flames in them. Fred sat down, putting his back to the trunk and Hermione settled between his thighs, reclining her head on his chest.
They looked at the stars overhead, peeking and flickering through the gaps in the trees, and listened to the crickets chirping in the tall grass.
"I'm really going to miss you this year," Hermione finally sighed, breaking the silence. She was bound and determined not to cry, but her throat was still tight.
"I know," Fred agreed, dipping to rest his chin in the crook of her neck. "But we can write now that old frog-face isn't running things, and you'll tell me as soon as you hear when the first Hogsmeade weekend is."
"I will," she promised. "I was also thinking – barring our semi-annual catastrophe – I'm planning to spend Christmas with my family this winter since I missed last year. Maybe the week after Boxing Day I could stay at the flat? Spend New Year's together?"
When he didn't say anything, she leaned to the side, turning her head to look back at him and finding a dazed, distant expression.
"Fred?"
He shook himself lightly before he looked down at her with a wicked grin.
"Sorry, just thinking about all the trouble we could get into with a whole week at our disposal."
She rolled her eyes and nestled down before remembering she'd come bearing gifts.
"Oh, hang on a tick." She wiggled out of his grip and stuffed her hand into her pocket, rooting around. Finally, she grabbed it and straightened again, sitting cross-legged across from him. "Here."
Hermione handed Fred a dark brown leather cord with a small metal plate fastened in the middle of it. He turned it over to see that the plate was blank and gave her an incredulous look.
"I'm going to need a bit of explanation, love."
She smiled, thrilled that she was the one getting to do this for once.
"Stick out your wrist," she instructed. He obediently extended his right arm. She took the ends of the leather cords and tied them, fastening a tight knot.
"Alright, that explains what it is," Fred said, examining it with a mildly entertained expression. "What does it do?"
"Nothing yet. You see, after the ministry… or, after after the ministry, I agonised for a long time about how I didn't have a way to contact you when things started to go downhill. I wasn't able to put the charm on them yet, obviously, but I figured if we can link these like I did the galleons for the DA, we'd have a way to get in touch quickly if something happens."
She pushed up the sleeve of her own jumper to reveal a matching one on her right wrist. Fred was already digging his wand out of his pocket.
"Protean charm, right?"
She nodded, watching as he began to mutter the incantation, wand in his left hand and their wrists laid together side-by-side in his lap. Once that was done, he added protective charms as well; one to make sure it didn't come untied and another to keep it from being damaged by the elements.
"Hermione Granger has the best ass in all of Britain," Fred said clearly, tapping his new jewelry with his wand. Her wrist warmed and, sure enough, the matching silver plate held his rather bawdy missive.
"I'm taking it off the first time you do that while I'm in class," Hermione forewarned, chuckling at his self-satisfied expression despite herself. "I'll take my chances with whatever danger is afoot."
The mood slowly turned serious at that because, offhanded as it might have been, she was in very real danger. They all were.
"Thank you. I hope we don't have to use them, but all things considered…"
"Yeah, I know. Probably have until spring term, though. Historically speaking."
Fred snorted ruefully. "If something goes wrong, or even feels off, you tell me. Don't wait. I'd rather explain to Dumbledore why I'm traipsing around the school in the middle of the night than risk something happening to you. I can't do this without you, Hermione. You're – please just be careful."
His voice held a sort of desperate edge and the tension returned to her throat with a vengeance as she leaned forward, resting her forehead against his. She raised a hand to wrap around the back of his neck and traced her thumb in light, slow circles beneath his ear as she met his gaze.
"I promise," she vowed softly, like a prayer. "Keep my heart safe, okay? I'm leaving it here."
Fred pushed a wayward curl off of her cheek and nodded, bluebell flames casting shadows on his face and making him look far older than his eighteen years. It was silent for a moment, the calm before a storm whose magnitude remained unknown.
And then she broke it, because this wasn't a night for wallowing; it was a night for goodbyes, and there wasn't any rule that said goodbyes needed to be sad.
"You know," Hermione began, dipping her head to kiss his throat, "I did say we have a couple hours…"
oOoOoOo
A/N: Alright kids, this marks the end of Part 2. Congratulations on making it this far!
If this is the future and you're reading this whole thing in one go, stop here. Get a drink, stretch your legs, blink a few times, then come back.
If you're reading this as I'm posting, we are going on a short hiatus for the rest of November through December, returning to kick off Part 3 in January 2022. I know, I know, but never fret!
I'll have another Fremione holiday piece dropping in December, as well as an extra-spicy Charlie/Hermione over on AO3 (hint hint, nudge nudge).
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