TW: Minor infertility struggles. It's not a large part of this fic and is only mentioned once, however, I completely understand that this is a difficult topic for many and I would never want someone to be harmed by anything that I write. If this is not a topic which you can comfortably read, don't read this.
TW: Infidelity. Infidelity is why this fic exists, but there is no depictions of actual cheating in this fic.
Somewhere on a Beach
Chapter One
Hermione Granger scoffs down at the parchment in her hands, rolling her eyes at the words on the page.
"Bloody ridiculous," Hermione grumbles under her breath as she balls the parchment up and chucks it onto the counter in the kitchenette of her hotel room with probably a bit more violence than is strictly necessary.
"What's bloody ridiculous?" a voice asks from somewhere behind Hermione as the redheaded owner of said voice comes up to lean against the counter beside her.
"Your idiot brother," Hermione huffs, crossing her arms over her chest.
Fred Weasley mirrors Hermione's pose, raising a copper eyebrow at her and eyeing her with disappointment.
"No, no, 'Mione. We made a deal. No talking about Ron this week."
Hermione sighs.
"Yes, but we made that deal before he– evidently– showed up at Harry and Ginny's and demanded to know why I wasn't answering my floo," Hermione explains, forcing her voice to stay level. "As if he has any right to know where I am, what I'm doing or with whom anymore."
Fred places two steadying hands on Hermione's shoulders, craning his neck down slightly to meet her gaze.
"You're right. He doesn't have that right anymore," Fred agrees. "But there's nothing that you can do about him right now. Don't let him ruin your honeymoon."
Hermione rolls her eyes again, this time at the Weasley brother in her immediate presence.
"Promise me that you will not give him another thought. We have a whole week ahead of us," Fred insists, flicking his shaggy hair off of his forehead and leveling Hermione with an unusual look of seriousness. "We are on an island. Ronald Weasley doesn't exist on this island, okay?"
Hermione exhales a heavy breath, closing her eyes to refocus herself before nodding in acquiescence.
"Fine," Hermione mutters, fighting a smile when Fred shakes her shoulders to and fro in an attempt to force a laugh. "Fine. Fine."
Fred beams in response, squeezing Hermione's shoulders once more before releasing her.
"Go get dressed. I'll take you out for dinner," Fred states, stepping back from Hermione in order to give her a path out of the kitchenette.
Hermione wants to argue, but stops herself when she realizes that this is exactly why Fred is here. He's here to remind her not to dwell on things which are out of her control. He's here to be her comedic relief during an otherwise not funny time in her life.
"Thanks, Fred," Hermione smiles a half-smile– and given the smile which Fred returns with, Hermione knows that he knows that she's thanking him for more than just dinner.
Up to this point, Hermione had not considered the ramifications of not canceling this trip– and furthermore, of continuing on with the aforementioned trip as planned, despite the obvious differences in intention.
"Ah! Mr. and Mrs. Weasley! We were wondering when we might see you two!"
Hermione winces, smiling uncomfortably at one of the two proprietors of the small hotel in which she and Fred are staying.
"They're on their honeymoon, Linda," Linda's husband– who Hermione believes is called Daniel– chuckles, coming up to stand beside where Linda is positioned at the front desk. "It's a miracle that we're seeing them at all."
Hermione should've expected this, but now that she's in the moment, she doesn't know how to respond– though, it seems that Fred has his own ideas.
"Yes, well, we seem to have worked up quite an appetite," Fred bloody winks down at Hermione, slinging his right arm over her shoulders and tugging her tightly into his side. "Any chance that we could get a table for dinner?"
Linda claps her hands together excitedly, likely exclaiming some sort of affirmation, but Hermione doesn't hear it over the ringing in her own ears. There's no way that this is the first time that Fred Weasley has draped his arm over her shoulders. It's probably not even the first time that he's winked at her, but it is the first time that he's insinuated that they might've been upstairs in their room doing anything other than watching old, animated children's films and playing Scrabble.
Hermione can't even be upset with Fred for doing so. As far as Linda and Daniel know, they are here on their honeymoon. He's just playing into the role which Hermione assigned to him for the week.
"Did you hear that, love?" Fred's voice sounds like something akin to sugar syrup as he squeezes Hermione's shoulder to subtly get her attention. "Linda here is going to walk us over to the private dining room and get us a table."
Hermione thinks that she mutters some sort of 'thank you' to the still-beaming woman, following behind her with the guidance of Fred's arm still around her shoulders.
"Oi, at least pretend that you like me," Fred whispers into Hermione's ear once Linda gets a few feet ahead of them. "I'll have you know that I'm quite a catch. I'm over here being the best fake-husband ever and you're zoning out and making horrified faces at the mere idea of shagging me."
If there's one thing that Hermione could ever trust Fred Weasley to do, it would be to make her laugh. She can't help it. His faux-affront at her apparent disinterest in sleeping with him is more than enough to make her laugh– as if he would ever want to shag her either.
"Here we are," Linda chirps as she gestures to a small alcove off to the side of the main dining room with a singular, semi-circular booth within. "This table is especially popular with our honeymooners. Enjoy."
As Linda disappears back through the dining room, Fred drops his arm from around Hermione, gesturing for her to slide into the booth first. Fred immediately joins her, passing one of the two menus already on the table to her with a half-smile.
"You're a much better actor than I ever gave you credit for," Hermione says, her voice quiet, lest anyone overhear her.
Fred nudges Hermione's foot under the table, as if in response.
"I'm determined to make sure that you have a good time this week, 'Mione," Fred explains, setting his menu down in front of himself. "After all, that's why you invited me, right?"
Hermione bites her bottom lip, pausing for a moment before nodding in agreement.
"Then it's decided. You'll let me act like a dutiful husband if it'll ensure that you have a fun story to tell when we get home, yes?"
Hermione nudges Fred's foot back under the table, though, decidedly does not respond verbally.
Sometime after dinner– and the two glasses of red wine and the chocolate cake dessert which Linda insisted was on the house– Hermione and Fred retire back upstairs to their hotel suite. Their honeymoon suite.
"I know that I promised not to talk about him, but I'm still just so frustrated," Hermione frowns, curling up on the sofa underneath a throw blanket on the opposite side from where Fred is sitting. "First, he cheats on me three weeks before our wedding and then demands to know where I am? Of all of the ridiculous, egotistical–"
Hermione's words are interrupted by a large, warm hand closing down over her left foot, as if to divert her attention. It catches her attention alright as Fred's long fingers completely envelop her foot, the pads digging in almost pleasantly to the arch.
"Yes, yes, we've established that my brother is bloody ridiculous, 'Mione," Fred laughs lightly, shaking her foot gently. "Do you have any new thoughts to add or just a restatement of the same facts?"
Hermione rolls her eyes at her friend, slumping back against the arm of the sofa dramatically.
"I'm angry," Hermione states quietly. "I'm angry and I'm hurt. I was prepared to marry him, Fred. I was going to spend the rest of my life with him– and he cheated on me with Harry's secretary. I– You don't know what that feels like."
Fred sighs, squeezing her foot once more– this time, in a way which feels akin to reassurance.
"You're right. I don't know what that feels like, but what I do know is that his choice to be an idiot is not a reflection of you. It's a reflection of him that he would rather waste his time with a twenty year-old secretary than marry someone who has been by his side since first year."
Hermione huffs an indignant breath.
"Yes, but–"
"No. No 'buts', Hermione," Fred cuts her off, scooting closer to her on the sofa. Fred seldom uses Hermione's full first-name, so she knows in this moment that he is either very serious or very drunk. "Listen to me. Out of respect for both you and my mum, I haven't shared my exact thoughts on the absolute fuckery that is my younger brother, but I'm a little drunk right now, so I'm possibly a bit more loose-lipped than usual."
So, very serious and very drunk, then.
"Ron has never deserved you, Hermione. He's never been particularly nice to you and he's consistently taken advantage of your intelligence and your heart since the day that he met you. If he thinks that he can do better than you, then he's even more of an idiot than I thought," Fred explains, his blue eyes boring into Hermione's with set determination. "Then, of course, there's the matter of the fact that surely you don't want to marry someone who would have any interest in any woman who wasn't you. You dodged a massive, freckly bullet, 'Mione."
Hermione tries to fight it– really, she does. She attempts to press her lips together tightly enough to not allow the laugh bubbling up in her chest to escape, but she fails… which was likely Fred's intention in the first place.
"I know that you're right, Fred. It still hurts though."
Fred nods, reminding her of his hand which is still on her foot by squeezing it gently again.
"Of course it does. It'll probably hurt for a while, but not more than being married to my brother would," Fred winks again, earning him an eye-roll from Hermione which seems to delight him. "I'm serious, 'Mione. Let me at least try to take your mind off of it this week. This is now the third time today that I have made this request. I know that the wound is fresh, but it'll never heal if you keep picking at it."
Hermione frowns. She knows that Fred is right. She knows that she can't keep dwelling on the past. Ron made his choice and it wasn't her. Sure, it hurts a bit more knowing that she and the man in question had been in what she thought was a committed, monogamous relationship– albeit on-and-off on occasion, though, not recently off– for near-on a decade, but regardless, Fred is right.
"Do you remember what you said to me when you asked if I would come with you for this vacation?" Fred pauses for a moment, but not long enough that Hermione can use that time to respond. "You said that you were ready to move forward. You said that you wanted to spend this week somewhere on a beach with a strong drink in your hand. You wanted Ron to not even be on your mind."
Yes, Hermione remembers saying that. She remembers going over to Fred's flat the night that she found out that Ron cheated. She remembers Fred pulling out a bottle of Ogden's and helping her finish it. She remembers waking up the next morning on his sofa with the neck of the bottle still in her hand and a pounding headache.
Hermione knows that her coping habits these past few weeks have probably not been the most advisable. She knows that Ginny had been upset when she found out that Hermione was taking Fred on the reinvented honeymoon instead of her.
It's not that she didn't want to bring Ginny. The redheaded witch had, in fact, been Hermione's first choice of vacation-mate after the original plan had fallen through. However, Hermione also knew that she couldn't leave Harry alone for a week because she and Ginny would likely have returned to the aforementioned wizard rotting in Azkaban for killing his former best mate.
Harry had been livid when he found out about Ron's infidelity the week after Hermione had. He had fired his secretary on the spot and told Ron to 'get out of [his] sight'. Because of this, Hermione knew that Harry would need his wife this week and therefore made the decision to invite the similarly-to-her unattached Fred Weasley along for the ride in his sister's place.
Hermione and Fred have maintained a friendship since the end of the War when Hermione had lived at the Burrow for six months before moving in with Harry and Ginny at Grimmauld. Fred is actually, probably, one of Hermione's closest friends these days. She has always sort of looked at him as Ron's goofy older brother, and he is that, but Hermione also thinks that nearly dying in the War sobered Fred up a bit. He's more serious now– outside of his work at WWW.
Fred is still a prankster who thrives on making people laugh– alongside his twin– but perhaps there's just a bit of an air of maturity to him that wasn't there years ago.
"You're allowed to be hurt, Hermione. You're allowed to be angry. Healing isn't linear and you will have bad days, but please, for the love of Merlin and the four founders, let yourself enjoy this vacation," Fred continues, standing from the sofa and holding out his hands, presumably, for Hermione to take. When she does, Fred tugs her up along with him to stand, gesturing now to the cabinet beside the hotel television. "Now, pick another one of these films to show me and we'll deal with the rest when we get home."
Hi, friends! Welcome to Somewhere on a Beach! Or, as his fic has been affectionately calledthroughout the course of writing it, Son of a Bitch. Lol. When I write, I label each chapter/document by the acronym for the title of the story. In this case, SoaB- ergo, Son of a Bitch. :P
This fic was inspired, in part, by two Dierks Bentley songs- Somewhere on a Beach (shocking, I know) and Drunk on a Plane. The plot of this fic has deviated a bit from the songs, but I still wanted to give credit where credit is due for the inspiration.
This fic is my first attempt at writing a true multi-chapter Fremione. I've written some shorter fics with this pairing, but we're in for a bit longer of a ride with this one. My typical HP pairing that I write for is Dramione (Draco/Hermione) but I also love Fred/Hermione, so I knew that I wanted to write something long-form about them. I hope you enjoy it.
This fic is a total of twelve chapters (ten regular chapters, two epilogues). I have also started writing a prequel for this universe and have an idea for a companion piece in this universe, too. So, don't think we're done here, lol. :P
New chapters will be uploaded on Fridays. There may be some interruptions as I prepare for and recover from surgery in October, but I promise to do my best. I thank you in advance for your patience and support.
As always, thank you so much for spending a bit of your time here with me this week and thank you also for embarking on this journey with me. I am truly so grateful for your support and encouragement. It means more to me than you know.
If you feel so inclined, I would be so grateful if you would leave a review. Let me know your thoughts, opinions, observations and whatever else comes to mind after this first chapter. Reviews are like candy to me. (:
I hope you're as excited for this new journey as I am. See you again next week. (: