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Hermione had tried to make herself look different for her date with Fred. She wasn't sure why she felt the need to put so much effort into her appearance when she really wasn't that sort of girl, but for some reason she felt the need to look unlike herself that evening. She'd even gone to the lengths of dying her hair, which wasn't something that she had ever thought of doing before but as she stood in front of the mirror in Ginny's room admiring the way that her hair fell in waves around her shoulders and went from brown to blue. She didn't look like she normally did and that was kind of her point. She didn't want to go on this date as the girl who had once dated Ron; she wanted to go on this date as the girl who was now dating Fred (and tomorrow would be dating George too).
She teased out the blue ends of her curls and took a slow breath as she tried to prepare herself mentally for what was to come. She was excited, of course she was, but that didn't mean that she didn't have a little knot in the pit of her stomach that seemed to tighten the closer that it got to her going downstairs to meet with Fred. She had no idea where he was taking her, which for some reason only made her feel more nauseous.
If she wasn't stressed out of her mind then she would probably have been more concerned about how often she had felt nauseous lately, but she was able to rationalize it down to her nerves about her impending dates and the fact that she had no idea what the future had in store for any of them. Things had started to look up when both Fred and George had understood that she had feelings for the both of them, sure, but that didn't guarantee that things would start to go smoothly, nothing guaranteed that, and that scared her more than anything else.
She took another slow breath before she pushed herself to her feet and made her way downstairs after clocking the time she realised that she was in danger of being late. She didn't quite make it to the living room before she was stopped, however.
"Mione." George was in her path, standing on the stairs, his eyes wide as he took in her hair and the vibrant colours of it. "You - wow."
"Uh. Hi." She hadn't bargained on seeing him before her date with his twin and it made the knot in her stomach contract just that little bit more. "I.." She began but she trailed off as she found that she didn't actually know what she was doing to say. She needed him to get out of her way, really, but she knew that she couldn't say that either, especially not without causing offense in some shape or form.
"You look like a mermaid." He said softly, his fingers moving towards her hair before he dropped his hand to his side as he seemingly thought better of his actions.
"Thank you, I think." Hermione said with a small smile. She had seen a mermaid up close and personal after all, but she was hoping that George was referring to the ones in muggle media.
George returned her smile and kissed her cheek before he continued on his way up the stairs and past her. "Have fun with Fred." He called over his shoulder, his tone genuine as he disappeared into his room.
Hermione felt somewhat better as she went to find Fred downstairs. She didn't know why she suddenly felt as if nothing could knock her down, but she wasn't going to question it either. She shot Fred a grin as she walked towards him. He looked from her eyes to her hair and back again.
"I love your hair." He told her as he reached for her hand. "Are you ready to go?" He asked as she gave his hand a gentle squeeze.
"Sure." She nodded. "I'm excited to see where you're taking me." As nervous as she was about it all, that last part was far from a lie. She truly was looking forward to seeing what he had planned.
**
"That was amazing." Hermione hadn't ever been ice skating before and now she couldn't even take her eyes off of the rink. She might not have been any good at the skating itself and she hadn't managed to let go of the rail for more than five seconds at a time, but she had thoroughly enjoyed it, that was for sure.
Fred had surprised Hermione in more ways than one. The fact that he had chosen this as a first date was not at all something that she had expected from him, and then there was the whole him being able to skate without holding onto the rail. He wasn't amazing at it but Hermione quickly realised that he was a lot better than she was, but that didn't take away from the magic at all. Ordinarily, it probably would have, especially considering the fact that she hated anyone being better than her at anything. For some reason, however, her brain liked to make an exception for Fred. Fred who would continue to hold her heart in the palm of her hand and continue to surprise her.
"You had fun?" Fred asked as he nudged the hot chocolate that he had just bought her across the table towards her.
Hermione heard the gentle scrape of the glass tankard before she even really noticed it. She had been pretty much fixated on the rink up until that point but the sound snapped her back to reality. She took her spoon off of her napkin and scooped up some cream as she tried to think of the words that would best sum up how much fun she had actually had.
"It was perfect." She told him as she gave him a bright smile. She hadn't at all known what to expect when he had asked to take her out, but she was glad that this was the date that he had ended up choosing. "Thank you."
Fred shook his head slightly at her thanks. "You deserve perfect." He told her, and apparently not caring how cheesy he sounded at all. Hermione didn't care either. He was making her feel like a princess and that was something that she figured she could get used to. "If you're hungry, we can go and eat?" He suggested.
Hermione paused for a moment but shook her head slightly. "I'm not really, but if you want to go and eat somewhere?" She hadn't really managed to eat much of anything much all week, but she wasn't going to stop him from eating.
Fred shook his head as he reached across the table to take her hand into his own. "I'm happy just to sit here for a little longer with you."
Hermione let herself watch their joined hands for a moment and watched as he ran his thumb over the back of her hand. Tingles ran up and down her spine and through every nerve in her body. She hadn't been lying when she'd told George that Fred was like fireworks and lightning. The fire and electricity that she felt rushing through her whenever she was around him was a testament to that.
Although there wasn't a huge need for small talk between them, Hermione still felt the need to fill the silence that was starting to fall between them. She didn't want to waste any time with him and that was perhaps why she found herself asking him "so how long have you known that you had feelings for me?"
Fred blinked rapidly a couple of times; maybe he was trying to remember or maybe he had never thought about it before, but either way Hermione found his expression somewhat amusing. "Uh. Would it be too weird for me to say during my sixth year?"
Hermione gave a soft laugh. "No, I don't think that's weird at all. It's kind of cute, actually."
"Only kind of?" Fred teased, giving her hand a small squeeze. "I know George has probably liked you just as long. We - um - we talked about you once, but now I can see that he didn't again in order to let Ron have you…"
Hermione rolled her eyes at that. She hasn't intended to talk about George at all on this date but it would see that Fred was full of surprises and she would have to follow him for the ride that was this date. "I'm not a thing to have." She pointed out. "And I think I'm quite capable of deciding who I want to be with."
"I don't think anyone is questioning that." Fred said quickly, giving her hand another squeeze. "We thought you did like him. I mean, you did…"
Hermione guessed that she couldn't argue with that logic so she gave a slight nod and took a sip of her hot chocolate as she thought it over. The twins had both liked her a lot longer than she had even been aware of her own feelings. She ended up giving his hand a squeeze of her own before she turned her eyes back to his gaze. "I know it's still really early days, but I do think that we can all make this work.." She didn't want either of them to think that she was just dating them both until she made a decision, but she didn't exactly know how to make that clear to him.
"I know." Fred said with a soft smile, one that took Hermione's breath away for a moment. She wanted to ask how she had gotten so lucky, but somehow she didn't think that that question was going to be appreciated so instead she remained silent and let herself enjoy the moment.
Hot chocolate and ice skating was not the date that she had expected, but then maybe it was better not to have expectations of anything to fall back on. She knew now, more than ever, that she was head over heels in love with Fred, and that was not something that she had ever expected, after all.