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“He fancies you. You know that, right?”
Hermione looked up from her plate of toast to see Lavender smiling as she took the seat across from her that Fred had just vacated.
“Fred?” Hermione laughed at the absurdity of the idea. “You think that Fred Weasley fancies me?”
“It’s rather obvious,” Parvati agreed from her seat next to Lavender as she unwrapped her scarf from around her neck and folded it neatly before setting it on the table.
“And what makes you think that?” Hermione asked, incredulous. This was just about the last conversation that she would have imagined she would be having today. Although, at least it wasn’t about Quidditch, which had dominated the conversation before her roommates arrived. Given that it was Gryffindor’s first match of the year - and against Slytherin, at that - she really shouldn’t have been surprised when that was all anyone wanted to talk about this morning.
“Have you seen the way that wizard looks at you?” Lavender asked, rolling her eyes before sharing a look with Parvati. “And he always makes a point to talk to you.”
“Plus we overheard George poking fun at him about it,” Parvati said with a smirk. “It’s kind of cute how he’s so confident around everyone else but gets nervous around you.”
“Oh, for Merlin’s sake - he’s not nervous because he fancies me,” Hermione replied, shaking her head. “He’s nervous that I’m going to follow through on my threat to send an owl to his mum about him and George testing their products on first years.”
“If that’s what you think…” Lavender said as she and Parvati shared another look. Hermione could tell that they were not at all convinced by her statement and that they thought she was being purposefully dense.
“It’s what I know,” Hermione said, a little annoyed that they were still even talking about this. It was absurd. There was no way that Fred fancied her. She was just...well, her - a know-it-all bookworm who made it her mission this year to make them stop testing their products in the common room and was best friends with his younger brother.
Fred on the other hand was funny, smart, and popular. Plus, she could admit he was fit - years of playing Quidditch had certainly seen to that. He could probably have his choice of just about any witch at Hogwarts, so why would he want her?
It made no sense.
Clearly, Lavender and Parvati seemed to believe what they were saying, but that didn’t mean that she had to play along for their sake. She knew the truth.
Hermione had never been so relieved to see Luna as she approached the Gryffindor table wearing a hat topped with a lion eating a snake, of all things. She gathered her things quickly, said a hasty goodbye to her roommates and went to meet Luna to head out to the pitch for the quidditch match.
“Hermione. What are you still doing up?”
She looked up from her spot by the fire as Fred finally stumbled into the common room and sank into the sofa next to her, cradling his left hand to his chest. It was late and the common room was empty aside from them. Hermione had waited up, knowing that he had a detention. She knew this may be a bad idea - knew that he would probably just want to go straight to sleep - but she couldn’t bring herself to go upstairs to bed until he made it back.
During her Prefect rounds a few nights ago, she smelt what was undeniably a Dungbomb. Hermione had rounded the corner, ready to dock points and send the culprit away before Filch or Umbridge could show up. Insead, she saw Fred pushing aside a tapestry for a younger student, who went through without protest. Then Filch was there, forcing Fred towards Umbridge’s office to receive his assigned date for detention.
It had happened so fast that she was unable to help at the time, but she would do what she could now.
Hermione wasn’t positive - she had only seen the tail end of the incident - but she was pretty sure that Fred was innocent and had covered for the other student so they wouldn’t get in trouble. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it - about him.
Really, she had found her mind drifting toward Fred more often than not since her conversation with Lavender and Parvati. She also found herself watching him more and more, and if she was being honest, she liked what she saw.
She found herself hoping that somehow Lavender and Parvati were right - that Fred did fancy her. Because she had certainly fallen for him.
“Waiting for you,” she replied, sitting up and grabbing the small bowl from the table in front of them. “You should soak your hand in this. It’s Essence of Murtlap - it’ll help”
Fred nodded and accepted the bowl from her, letting out a relieved sigh when he lowered his left hand to soak in the liquid. Hermione watched with a sad smile as his face relaxed and the pain started to ease.
They sat together in silence for a few minutes, both of them watching the fire, lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Hermione couldn’t take it anymore and broke the silence.
“Why did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Cover for that student.”
He turned his head to look at her, studying her for a moment before he shrugged. “It was the right thing to do. I’m pretty sure that kid was a first year - they shouldn’t have to deal with this .” He removed his hand from the bowl for a moment, making what he was referring to quite clear.
A heavy silence fell between them. She understood where he was coming from - she would have tried to do the same thing. Godric, she had intended to cover for the student herself, even if Fred hadn’t been involved. She just wished that he hadn’t gotten hurt in the process.
“I don’t think that any of us should have to deal with this,” she replied quietly after a long moment.
“You won’t hear me arguing with you about that.”
“Great job, Hermione!” Harry exclaimed, watching her otter Patronus swoop around her playfully before disappearing. It had taken her several meetings before she had been able to cast her corporeal Patronus, so she was quite proud of her little otter. “Would you mind seeing if anyone on that side of the room needs help?”
“I don’t mind at all,” she replied easily, heading over to where Harry indicated. She walked amongst the DA members, offering advice when needed.
It was the last DA meeting before the winter holidays and Hermione was feeling a bit sad knowing that they wouldn’t all be meeting like this for nearly a month. It was exhilarating, all of them taking their education into their own hands and learning Defense for real - not the watered-down version that Umbridge tried to pass off as a class.
“Good work, George!” Hermione said, watching his magpie fly around him and Fred before disappearing.
“Thanks, Hermione,” George replied before turning to his twin, grinning. “Why don’t you give it a try, Freddie?”
She watched, interested as the two wizards stared at each other for a moment. They seemed to be having some kind of silent disagreement about something, leaving Hermione to wonder why George’s insistence that Fred try casting the Patronus charm would cause this weird tension between them.
“Fine,” Fred grumbled, glaring at George, seemingly unhappy about being put on the spot. Hermione noticed that the tips of his ears were a bit pink after she caught his eye. “Expecto Patronum!”
Hermione gasped as the silver whisps took shape and formed an otter.
“Expecto Patronum,” she whispered, not noticing the curious looks they were getting from those surrounding them. She watched her otter swim slowly around Fred’s before the two silvery otters linked hands and drifted lazily on their backs through the air, circling slowly around Fred and Hermione.
“Well, that’s certainly going to get people talking,” George said, winking at Hermione before turning back to Fred. “You should really do something about that, you know. Now seems like it would be a good time,” he clasped Fred on the shoulder briefly before joining Angelina, who was smiling broadly at them. Lavender and Parvati also stood nearby, grinning triumphantly as they whispered excitedly to each other.
Hermione’s mind was reeling. Could Lavender and Parvati have been right? From the looks on their faces, they seemed even more convinced than they had been nearly two months ago. Did matching Patronuses mean anything? Statistically, it made sense that some people would have the same Patronus - but were there reasons for that?
“Would you…could we talk? Somewhere away from this lot?” Fred asked with a slight waver in his voice as he rubbed at the back of his neck. She could practically feel the discomfort rolling off of the usually confident wizard, and her heart went out to him.
She nodded and followed him out of the Room of Requirement, only stopping to quickly let Harry know that she would meet up with him and Ron again later in the common room. Harry waved her off with the reassurance that they would all be fine and that she could fill them in later. When she exited the room, she found Fred leaning against the wall opposite the door, seemingly trying - and failing - to look casual and confident.
“Fred? You know that we don’t have to talk about it - whatever it is - right?” Hermione asked quietly, leaning against the wall next to him. Although she was curious - incredibly so - she could tell how uncomfortable he was and didn’t want to push him into anything.
He shook his head. “It’s not that I don’t want to,” he was quick to reassure her. “It’s just...of all the ways I imagined doing this, this was not what I had in mind.” She smiled slightly when he muttered something under his breath about George being a meddling git.
“The thing is, Hermione...” Fred continued after a moment, straightening up and turning his back to the still visible door of the Room of Requirement to face her. He cupped one of her hands with both of his before continuing. “I think you’re brilliant - have for a while now. You’re just... everything. You’re ridiculously bright, of course, but that’s not all there is to you. You’re loyal, brave, and the kindest witch I have ever met. You’re also not afraid to call me out for being a prat, which is something that I never knew I would appreciate until you started doing it. You are everything that is good in this world, and even though I know you could do better than a jokester like me, I selfishly hope that you’ll give me a chance.”
She nodded, butterflies fluttering in her stomach and her heart racing as she looked up at him through her lashes. “I don’t know that I’m all that, but I really like you, Fred.” Hermione smiled shyly as she moved her free hand to rest on top of their joined hands, rubbing her thumb against the back of one of his hands.
“Really?”
Hermione nodded again, happy to offer him whatever reassurance he needed after he had opened up to her about his feelings. “Really.”
Fred chuckled nervously before he dropped her hands and raised one of his own to cup her cheek. He lightly stroked her jaw with his thumb, sending a shiver down her spine. “Would I be pushing my luck if I asked to kiss you?”
“Hmm...I don’t think you’d be pushing your luck,” she replied with a grin. “Unless you think it would be too soon for me to agree to let you kiss me, I suppose.”
“Just to be abundantly clear, does that mean I can kiss you now?” Fred asked, matching her grin.
“Yes,” she answered quietly, the word barely out of her mouth before she had raised up on her toes and Fred leaned down to close the distance between them, their lips brushing together gently in a sweet kiss.
Hermione thought that she could happily kiss Fred forever. Of course, luck was not on her side at that moment because they were interrupted all too soon by the sounds of clapping and cheering coming from the DA members coming out of the Room of Requirement. Though she didn’t need to worry too much, as she would have infinite possibilities to kiss Fred over the years. And though their first kiss would always hold a special place in her heart, the memories of the kisses they shared on their reunion at the Battle of Hogwarts and then on their wedding day several years later were probably her favorites.