This is a very short chapter just to get our hero and heroine together. I hope you enjoyed!

Chapter 3

Bright and early the next day, McGonagall's promised letter arrived, including a generous stipend from the Board to purchase books, supplies, and new uniforms. Since I only had two weeks before term started, I knew I needed to head back to Diagon Alley today. There was going to be a mad rush for parent's to get their kids ready, and I wanted to get ahead of that. I had just slipped my shoes on when there was a knock on my door, soft like they didn't actually want to be heard.

"Yes?" I called. The door opened a fraction.

"It's me. Can I come in?" Fred's voice asked, low and quiet.

I scraped my teeth over my bottom lip. Did I want to see Fred? Absolutely not. But also, I always wanted to see him. And that part of me won out. "Sure."

And then Fred was slipping in through the door and shutting it quietly behind him. "Most of the house isn't awake yet, so–" Those beautiful eyes looked me over, though not in the way I wanted. "You're fully dressed. It's barely 8 in the morning."

I shrugged. "I'm an early riser. I wanted to go for a walk and then head to Diagon Alley before it got crowded."

"Oh." He looked over at Ginny's bed and frowned. "Where's Ginny? She hardly ever makes her bed."

"Do you want the truth? You can't tell your mother."

Fred's eyes widened. "Harry's room?"

I nodded and couldn't help but smile at the discomfort in his eyes. "Harry's room."

"Well that's–"

"Inevitable?"

"–gross. Doesn't he share with Ron?"

"You know Ronald sleeps like the dead." Fred's eyebrows pinched. He clearly didn't think that should matter. "Besides, I don't think it's really about what you think it is. They're finally with each other, really with each other, with no war to come between them. I think they just don't want to say goodnight."

Fred's brow smoothed out. "I can understand that." Silence fell between us, awkward and unsure in a way it never was between us. I didn't like it at all, but I didn't know how to stop it.

"Hermione, I–"

Hermione? He hadn't called me my full name since he woke up from the coma. My heart was breaking and I couldn't let it break in front of him, so I said, "I'm going back to Hogwarts."

Fred paused. "What?"

"I ran into McGonagall yesterday and she told me they're reopening for start of term. The Board is inviting all the students who didn't get to finish their education back, and they even gave me a stipend for supplies."

"So you're going back." I met his eyes, but they were displeased. And despite everything, I didn't want him unhappy with me.

"I– Fred, I don't have a purpose here. I have nothing to do and nowhere to go. Everyone else is moving on with their lives. George and Angelina are going to get married, Bill and Fluer are trying to have a baby, Harry and Ron are applying to be aurors, Ginny just got invited to try out for the Holyhead Harpies, and even your parents are getting back into their usual patterns. But I'm still just here, stuck, with no idea what I want to do with my life and no one left to spend it with. If I go back to Hogwarts, I'll have a place I belong again, and maybe I'll be able to figure out what I want to do."

Fred's eyes were soft again as he took a step towards me. "You think you have no one to spend your life with?"

I swallowed down the emotion clogging my throat and forced myself to say, "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that, well, all the people I've spent that last seven years of my life with are going their separate directions. Obviously, we'll always be in each other's lives and the best of friends, but it's going to be different now."

Fred took another step toward me. I forced my feet to remain where they were. "What about me? In that list of people, you didn't mention me."

"I-I didn't think I had to. We just talked the other day about your life. You have your girl." Now I did turn away, unable to face him as I said, "She's beautiful by the way. You're very lucky. Not that she isn't more lucky, because she is. Of course she is, and–" I bit my lip to keep from saying more words. Then I picked up the letters from McGonagall and the Board of Directors, just to make it look like I had a reason for turning away. Merlin, but I hated this. Why was he even here? Why wasn't he spending his morning with the woman he loved? Why did he have to be here torturing me?

"You're right, Mione. I do love a girl, and she's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. And if I can convince her to give me a chance, then I will be, by far, the luckiest man in England."

I nodded, still unable to look at him. "Sure, yeah."

"But I've gone about it the wrong way, and now she won't even look at me. I've hurt her. I was trying to protect myself, but all I've done is hurt her and I can't stand myself for it. But I swear if she lets me, I'll make all of the pain go away."

My breath caught at the earnestness of his voice, the pain and the longing mixed in. "Oh, Fred, I–" My voice stopped as I looked up and found him standing right behind me, mere inches away. I hadn't heard his footsteps or felt his approach. His deep blue eyes were looking at me with that same earnestness and desperation I'd heard in his voice. He reached up and tucked that always errant curl away and then trailed the backs of his fingers across my cheek, my jaw. I sucked in a breath at the feeling, electric and tingly and perfect. Then he took my hands in his and pressed them to his chest.

"Hermione, my love, my everything, I'm begging you to give me a chance to make this right. I was a fool and I will forever regret making you think that there's anyone else in this world who could ever have my heart. I have been yours, body and soul, since we sat in a library together four years ago, and if you let me I promise I will love you with everything inside me for as long as I draw breath. If you d-don't feel the same, all I ask is that you let me try. Mione-love, please just let me try to show you what living your life with me could be like."

I felt a tear slide down my face. And when he brushed it away, I closed my eyes and shook my head. "Fred, you could try for a hundred years and it would never change my mind." His hand instantly left my face, but I captured it in mine and returned it to my cheek. I looked into his desperate, love-filled gaze and smiled. "I'm in love with you Fred, and I always have been. All I want is to live my life with you. You don't need to convince me; I'm already convinced."

He took a shallow breath, his fingers around my hand tightening. "You love me."

"I do."

"I love you, Mione."

I smiled. "So you said."

"We're going to spend our life together, from this moment forward."

"Sounds perfect." He inched closer, both hands going to my cheeks while mine rested on his chest.

"You're still going to go back to Hogwarts because I know you need to."

My smile somehow widened. "Yes, I do."

"And I'm going to get a flat in Hogsmeade for us to spend our weekends in. I'm going to be there when you graduate, cheering louder than anyone else. And then I'm going to marry you."

"Planning our whole life now?" I asked with a teasing smile, wrapping my fingers around his shirt.

"Mmm, Mione-love." He leaned forward until our lips almost touched. "And it's going to be better than you can possibly imagine."

"As long as you're there, I know it will be perfect."

"Just try and stop me."

And then he kissed me. And I kissed him. And it was everything. And we didn't come up for air until Mrs. Weasley called everyone to breakfast.