Work Text:
It is friday night and Hermione is trying to finish her rounds. She walks down the corridor and hears the bubbling of a cauldron. Deciding to investigate she walks closer to the classroom and looks inside. Seeing no one around she goes in hoping to find who was irresponsible enough to leave the potion unattended in the middle of brewing.
As she gets closer to the table she sees a stack of notes. Reading a few lines she recognizes what is being brewed and who likely is brewing it. She looks into the cauldron. Based on the color something is off, not wrong exactly but maybe a slightly smaller portion of the last added ingredient.
With the assembled ingredients Hermione realizes that the potion is nearly complete. Unable to stop herself she adds the correct amount of the previous ingredient causing the potion to reach the intended color and moves onto the next step. Hermione continues to work on the potion until it is nearly finished, while scanning the notes. Just as she finishes stirring she heads movement behind her.
Hermione spins around, wand ready only to see Fred leaning against the wall watching her.
"Hey Granger"
"How long have you been standing there?"
"A while."
"Why didn't you say something"
"You were so focused I couldn't interrupt." He says as he walks toward her. "Looks about finished. Why did you do it?"
"The color was off and I knew what could fix it. Your notes were very thorough." Hermione begins to lecture him about leaving a potion unattended in the middle of the brewing process.
"I was monitoring it. I was only gone for a moment or 2 because I thought I heard someone in the hall. When i returned you were here and i decided to wait until you noticed me."
As they speak he begins to clean up the workstation and she joins him.
"Why are you brewing alone tonight? Where is George?"
"He and Angelina went out down to the lake earlier this evening. I decided that I would get this done and then walk back to the tower to relax. What about you? Any plans for the rest of the evening?"
"No, I was just finishing up my rounds then heading back to the tower."
"In that case let's walk up together?"
"Sure."
They finish cleaning up and leave the classroom. As they walk toward the tower they hear footsteps coming toward them from further down the hall. On instinct he grabs her hand and pulls her into a small dark passageway.
They are pressed against each other as the footsteps draw closer. He is still holding her hand. She looks up at him and notices he is staring down at her. Her eyes flick to his lips then back to his eyes. His eyes do the same.
They lean a little closer. Neither daring to speak. Their lips meet, slowly they share a kiss before they break apart. Her eyes are wide.
He smiles and whispers, "you have no idea how long i have wanted to do that."
She doesn't know what to say to him. Instead she pulls him into another kiss. This one is just as sweet as the last. As it ends he says "We should probably get back to the tower. I don't hear anyone in the corridor anymore."
She nods her head. But before he can move she says, "i like you. I have for a while."
"Yeah? So have i. Will you go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow?"
Her eyes light up and they share another kiss before they finally leave the passageway. He grabs her hand and they walk toward the tower both smiling and chatting about where they plan to go in the village tomorrow.