Chapter 6
“Fred! What the hell?” cried Hermione. She wasn’t best pleased at being yanked about so unceremoniously.
“We need to talk, Hermione. I need to know. Why did it hurt you when you found me kissing Katie?”
“Uh, w-what?! I wasn’t…that’s crazy! Why would it bother me!?” Hermione spluttered, floundering on the spot. “You’re perfectly free to kiss whomever you please.” She wasn’t entirely certain she had been successful at keeping the sharpness from her tone.
“Stop it. Stop hiding the truth from me. I saw your face! You looked as if I had physically struck you! And you were crying! Not to mention you ran away from me. Please, Hermione, talk to me,” Fred implored. His hands were grasping the tops of her arms, his eye searching her face. He looked so open and vulnerable. “Please?” he uttered so quietly it was almost a whisper.
Hermione dropped her gaze to the floor between them. She couldn’t seem to breathe properly, her breaths choppy and short. She shook her head slowly, her hair providing a veil between them. A large hand, slightly calloused from gripping a beater’s bat, slid up to cup her cheek, so unexpected it made her jump. Gently, Fred tipped her head up to look at him again, his fingers entwined in her hair behind her ear, his thumb cradling her face.
“Shall I tell you what I think? What I want so desperately to be true?" He didn't wait for a response. "You like me. You were upset because you wanted it to be you that I was kissing.” His eyes never left hers. “Please, Hermione. Please tell me I’m right?” His voice cracked, so full of raw emotion. Hermione, confused beyond belief and not wanting to admit her feelings to him, but not seeing she had any other choice, closed her eyes, and nodded slowly.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I’m sorry”
“Sorry? Why are you sorry?”
“Because I’ve ruined everything. I love being your friend, Fred, and now you know how I feel about you, it will change everything.”
He dropped his forehead to hers and slid the hand still holding her upper arm down to rest on her waist. “Oh, Love. If people could hear you now, they would be revoking your ‘brightest witch of her age’ title,” Fred chuckled softly.
She drew her head back sharply. “Don’t you laugh at me, Fred Weasley! I know it’s stupid, okay! I know how you feel about me, and I still want you. I can’t turn my feelings off, but you don’t get to laugh at me!” Her eyes flashed dangerously.
Fred’s arms dropped to his sides, stepping back slightly. “And how do I feel about you? Go on, I guessed your feelings correctly. Let’s see if you can guess mine,” he challenged her, all amusement absent.
“Well, I don’t need to guess. I know how you see me because I heard you, alright! I heard you at Grimmauld Place, talking to George in your bedroom about how I’m just like a little sister to you!”
Fred looked pensively at her for what seemed like hours, brow furrowed. Then, he was shaking his head at her. “Sorry, Sweetheart. Swing and a miss.”
“That’s a muggle phrase. No, I heard you! You can’t deny it!”
“Wrong again, my dear. It’s a beater’s phrase and no you didn’t, so yes I can deny it.”
“I did!” Hermione only just managed to stop herself from frustratedly stomping her foot like a toddler throwing a tantrum.
“I believe you might have heard me saying that I’m like a big brother to you,” Fred explained, as if he’d cleared everything up.
“So! That’s exactly the same thing that I said!” shouted Hermione, throwing her hands up.
“Nope.” He popped the ‘p’, his eyes sparkling. “It’s actually the opposite. See, I’ve never seen you as a little sister, Hermione. I’ve fancied the pants off you since the moment I first laid eyes on you and my feelings for you have only gotten stronger as the years have passed. You’re amazingly clever and astonishingly bright. You’re devastatingly beautiful, your smile lights up any room you're in. Your hearts as big as that brain of yours. You’re kind and generous and funny and strong. Your hair has a personality all of its own, there's no better music than the sound of your laughter and your eyes, Hermione, your eyes are everything.”
Hermione wasn’t aware she was crying until he brought his hands up to cup her cheeks, his thumbs delicately wiping away her tears as if she was made of the most fragile porcelain. She was trapped in his eyes as he looked at her reverently. Slowly, they floated closer together, as if they had their own gravitational pull. Hermione’s brow suddenly creased in confusion and she stepped back, out of his reach yet again.
“No," she said, shaking her head forcefully. "No that can’t be true. You kissed Katie! Why would you kiss Katie if you felt that way about me? You’ve never shown any indication you liked me. Trust me, I was looking for it, I would have seen it. No, you must be lying! But why, Fred? Is this a game to you? Do you have some kind of bet on or something?!” She could feel herself getting hysterical now. It didn’t make sense. None of it. The words he was saying was everything she’d ever wanted to hear but how can it be true. Something wasn’t adding up.
“No, no no! I promise. I promise I’m not making this up, Love,” Fred pleaded. He started to look a little sheepish, rubbing a hand to the back of his neck while avoiding her glare. “I thought you were with Ron! And ah, you see, I, err, may have overreacted to something you said.”
“What? What do you mean?” Hermione was getting a headache and was starting to feel drained from her emotions flying all over the place.
“Well, you said to me that you wouldn't want to be anything but my sister. Do you remember? That day? After DA? And it sort of confirmed my biggest worry. You know, that you and me were never going to happen? And you were avoiding me again so I, err, sort of got a little drunk on Lee’s secret stash of Firewhiskey one night. It wasn’t planned! I bumped into Katie while I was wandering about and thought, fuck it, you know? Might as well try and get over you as you were never going to want me. It felt so wrong, but I thought I needed to sort of…push through it? And then you were there, and you were upset, and I couldn’t catch up with you after I’d apologised to Katie. I think I really hurt her feelings after shoving her off me so roughly and I felt bad so I stayed to explain and make sure she was okay. By the time I got back to the common room, you were gone. So I snuck back out and spent the evening sobering up down in the Quidditch stands, analysing everything and it all sort of clicked. I went over everything in my head and realised that maybe there was hope for me and maybe I was fucking everything up by hiding my feelings for you.”
“Oh,” Hermione murmured, rubbing her temple.
“Then George told me what happened with Ron in the common room this morning, so I tried to talk to you but you’re more slippery than the Giant Squid.” She couldn’t help but grin at that. “But when I saw you dancing all sexy tonight with that Irish git's hands all over you, I couldn’t take it anymore so I...” Fred stopped at Hermione’s raised hand in front of her.
“I…I just need a minute…to process…” She headed further into the Room of Requirement. They hadn’t progressed passed the doorway the whole time they had been talking and she needed to sit. The room that had appeared for them was small and only consisted of a large comfortable looking sofa, flanked by two deep armchairs, all facing a fire blazing in a large hearth, providing the only light in the room. Either side of the chimney breast were floor to ceiling bookshelves, crammed full of leather bound books. Sinking down onto one end of the sofa, she couldn’t help but feel cosy and safe. As she gazed into the fire, she sensed Fred had followed her into the room and had tentatively perched onto the armchair furthest from her. “What did you ask the room for?” she asked softly.
“Oh, um. Somewhere you would feel comfortable.”
Hermione chuckled. “Nailed it.” She looked across at him. He looked nervously back at her.
“So I can get this all straightened out in my head,” she began. “You like me?” He nodded. “You’re not seeing Katie?” He shook his head. “She knows that?” He nodded again.
“And you like me?” he asked moving slowly to join her on the sofa. She nodded. “And there’s nothing going on with Ron?” She shook her head and responded, “never was, never will be.” He reached out to touch her hands, turning them over in her lap before lacing her fingers with his.
“Hermione,” he sighed, leaning towards her, thighs pressed against hers.
“Fred,” she breathed across his lips. Then his mouth was on hers and the whole world stopped. His hands left hers, cradling her face instead and angling her so he could deepen the kiss. Her arms looped around his neck, pulling him closer. As the kiss built momentum, Fred wrapped a hand around her waist, pulling her to straddle his lap. She whimpered in approval as he sucked and nibbled on her bottom lip. Hermione felt euphoric; her stomach flipped, a feeling akin to riding a rollercoaster.
His lips left her mouth, trailing soft kisses along her jaw before drifting down the side of her neck. His hand tangled in her hair as she threw her head back. A soft moan left her as he placed open mouthed kisses to the slope where her neck met her shoulder. Her hips bucked instinctively, her core brushing fleetingly over his obvious arousal.
“Fred!” she gasped, pushing herself backwards, her tiny hands on his broad shoulders. “We need…to slow down.” They were both panting wildly, faces flushed and eyes bright. He nodded his agreement.
“Sorry,” he puffed. “Got carried away…been wanting to do that…for so long.”
Hermione allowed herself another moment to marvel at his strong, muscular shoulders under her palms before swinging herself off his lap and tucking herself into his side. He wrapped one arm behind her, holding her hand with his other.
“S’okay, same,” she said, sighing and leaning her head on his shoulders. She felt his cheek rest on to the top of her head. They both sat peacefully side by side, staring into the fire for a while; catching their breath at first, then just soaking in the contentment from finally admitting their feelings.
“Are we really doing this then?” Fred asked, breaking the silence. Hermione pulled back to look up at him “Us?” he continued.
She smiled widely at him. “I think we are.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “Would it be okay with you if we kept it between us for now?” Hurt seemed to flash across his face, so she quickly explained, “I just want to stay in our bubble for a bit. With finding out about what Ron had been saying and everyone talking about it behind my back, I want something that’s just ours for a bit. So we can get to know each other as a couple, without all the added pressure. I’m fine with telling people if you want to though, it’s not a deal breaker or anything.” She was rambling now, kicking herself for messing everything up already.
Fred laughed down at her. “You’re adorable, you know that?” He gazed at her in admiration before popping a kiss on to the tip of her nose. Butterflies fluttered in her tummy. “It’s fine, Love. I thought for a moment you were embarrassed to be with me, but it makes sense now you’ve explained.” She breathed a sigh of relief and leant up to give him a chaste kiss. “I would also like to add, that I don’t want to rush this. I really want this to work, you and I. I want us to take our time and not jump into the physical stuff. Is that okay?”
“That’s perfect,” Hermione replied. “Oh, but I might need to tell Lavender and Parvati something. They’re my roommates and they already know how I feel about you. They’ve been so sweet and helpful to me, I don’t really want to lie to them.” She worried her bottom lip between her teeth.
“You tell them whatever you need to,” he said sweetly, prying her lip from her teeth with his thumb and pulling her towards him with the fingers he had hooked under her jaw and placing a few tender kisses to her lips. “We should probably head back though. We’ve missed most of the party already and people will start wondering where we’ve gone.”
She agreed, reluctantly peeling herself away from him and heading towards the door. He caught up with her, spinning her round to face him. “One more for the road?” he asked, a cheeky grin spread across his handsome face.
“Now that definitely is a muggle phrase,” she giggled into him as he swept her up in his arms and kissed her so passionately she forgot her own name.