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It was a perfectly normal day. Or, at least as normal of a day as you can have when you run a joke shop. Fred was working the register to cover for Verity while she was on her break when a whirl of brunette curls rushed past him and slid to the floor next to where he was standing.
“If anyone asks, I’m not here.”
“And just who are you hiding from, Miss Granger?”
“Shhh! He’ll hear you!” She shushed him as she poked his knee, causing him to laugh.
“Oh, you’re no fun,” Fred whispered with a smirk on his face. “That’s alright. I’ll just guess, then. Let’s see…” he started as he looked around the store to try to figure out who she could be hiding from. “Is it Dean Thomas?”
“No.”
“Finnegan?”
“No.”
“It’s not Lee, is it? Because you know he works here, right? So you can’t really hide from him in the shop.”
“No, it’s not Lee.”
“Alright then...is it - ”
“It’s Cormac, Ok?” Hermione practically shouted at him. He looked down at her in surprise. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand as her cheeks turned a lovely shade of red, seeming to realize that she had spoken quite loudly.
“McLaggen?” Fred replied with a grimace. “Well, I can understand why you would want to hide from him. He’s a prat.”
Hermione nodded in response. “A prat who can’t seem to take a hint that I am not interested. He didn’t hear me, right?”
Fred looked up and glanced around the store, his eyes narrowed when they finally landed on McLaggen. “I don’t think so. He didn’t do anything to you, did he?”
“No. No, nothing like that,” Hermione replied quickly. He relaxed a bit at her response but continued to glare at McLaggen all the same. “He’s mostly just pushy and asks me to join him for dinner or drinks whenever he sees me. I always turn him down, but the tosser just won’t give up.”
Fred was quiet for a moment, mind reeling. He found that he wanted to help Hermione get rid of her McLaggen problem. Not just for the moment, but for good. She was always helping everyone else with their problems, and he couldn’t help but think that it was about time that someone repaid the favor.
Then, inspiration struck. And it happened to be perfect timing because Verity had just walked back in from her break which meant he could leave the register in her capable hands.
“Come on, get up. No more hiding - I have a plan.”
“Oh Fred, I don’t know…”
“Do you trust me?”
“Of course I do! But that’s not really -
“Nope, no arguing then. Get your arse up off the floor and make sure McLaggen finds you. I will be right behind you,” he said as he offered his hand to her to help her off the floor. He grinned when she rolled her eyes but still accepted his help.
“Fine, but whatever plan you have had better work.”
“Don’t you worry, it will,” he replied with a wink. He was a little surprised to see a light blush return to her cheeks but chose not to comment on it. For now. He gently shoved her back around the counter and into the main floor area of the store. “Go on.”
“Do I want to know?” Verity asked with a smirk as she came to take back over the register, raising an eyebrow at Fred and cocking her head toward where Hermione had walked away.
“Shut it - “
“Hey, Granger!” Fred rolled his eyes. Could McLaggen be any more obnoxious? He was pretty sure that the whole store, if not all of Diagon Alley, could hear him. But maybe that was what he was going for.
“That’s my cue,” he said as he rounded the counter to make his way quickly across the store to where Hermione had been cornered.
“Come on, Granger. Just one drink - “
“Hermione!” Fred called happily, cutting off McLaggen. He pushed past him, maybe with a little more force than was necessary, and pulled her into a hug before dropping a light kiss on the top of her head. “I wasn’t expecting to see you until our date tomorrow night!”
“What’s this, Granger? You’ll agree to go out with Weasley but not me?”
If Fred hadn’t been annoyed before, he definitely was now. He released her from the hug so that they could both face McLaggen, but moved his arm around her lower back to rest at her waist. “Of course she agreed to go out with me. Last I checked, I am her boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend?” McLaggen scoffed and it took everything in Fred to not punch him. “You can do better than that, Granger. When you realize that and leave him, let me know.”
Fred felt Hermione relax next to him when McLaggen turned and stormed off, exiting the shop and letting the door slam behind him. Once he was sure that he was gone for good, Fred dropped his arm as Hermione turned toward him.
“You didn’t have to do that. But thank you, Fred.”
“It’s no problem at all. It was an honor to be your fake boyfriend,” he replied with a slight bow, causing her to laugh.
“Well, you saved me and I feel like I owe you. Do you have plans for dinner tonight? We could meet up later at the Leaky Cauldron - my treat.”
“That sounds great. It’s a date.”
“A date.” Her voice was so quiet that he wasn’t sure that he was meant to hear. “Hmm..but is this date real or fake?” Hermione asked, raising her voice to a normal level as another light blush colored her cheeks.
Fred felt his ears heat up, a sign that he was also blushing. He may project confidence, but he couldn’t deny that McLaggen was likely right about one thing. Fred also felt that Hermione could do better than him. But...if she was willing to give him a chance, and it seemed like she might…
“Real,” he answered quietly. “If that’s alright with you, of course.”
“I would like that,” Hermione replied with a shy smile.
Fred nodded in agreement. “Me too. We close at seven tonight. Meet you there at eight?”
“Sounds perfect,” she replied. Fred was pleasantly surprised when she leaned up onto her toes to give him a light kiss on the cheek. “See you then.”
He watched Hermione as she crossed the shop to the exit and gave her a small wave when she turned back around briefly at the door and caught his eye. As the door shut behind her, he felt a hand grip his shoulder and turned to see a knowing smirk on his twin's face.
“Wipe that silly grin off of your face and get back to work,” George said with a wink. Fred shoved him lightly before walking the floor to help customers. He found that he was unable to follow George’s request to wipe off that silly grin on his face for the rest of the day.