Almond Shortbread
"I am not a chicken roll……"
Only then did Hermione realize that one of her feet seemed to be still in Fred's palm, she quickly pulled her foot free and coughed several times.
"What's the matter?" He let Hermione's ankle out of his palm, and smiled, "Coughing because of me?"
Hermione coughed again.
"George isn't here?"
"I thought Hermione agreed to meet only because of me."
Fred swam to the edge of the pool, and came out of the water with a stretch of his arms. He sat beside Hermione, water droplets flowing down his undulating abdominal muscles in a line,
"Have you had breakfast?"
Hermione shook her head.
"Here, just came out of the oven." Fred took out a piece of almond shortbread wrapped in a paper towel out of nowhere as if by magic.
He was so close that Hermione could almost feel his rising heat, not to mention the usual refreshing scent of shampoo.
His strong naked chest leaned towards her, it's so close.
"T…Thank you."
After receiving the almond shortbread, Hermione seemed to be hiding her shyness, lowered her head and blushed, biting the food silently. In Fred's eyes, this move was extremely cute.
"After eating, let's go over there to test the underwater fireworks." Fred pointed to the couple's swimming pool behind the banana leaf.
Hermione nearly choked on herself.
"W-What?"
"The water here is too shallow, so it's not suitable for testing this. There will be more people in the big swimming pool later, so it's not convenient neither."
"Then to the swimming pool with books?" Hermione turned her head and tried to save herself.
"I can't do that," Fred smiled happily, "Once we get to a place with books, I won't be able to attract little Hermione's attention anymore." There was a cynical smile on the corner of his mouth.
"But, isn't the water there full of pink bubbles? It will definitely affect the results of the experiment."
"A cleansing spell and a shielding spell can solve it." Fred tilted his head with a smile on his face. "But how do you know that the water there is full of pink bubbles?"
"That's what I just sat here and observed carefully. Didn't you know in advance as well?" Hermione asked with a tiny attitude, even she herself was surprised.
"What do you mean I knew in advance?" Fred put his arms on his legs and smiled lazily with his slightly bearded chin. "It's as if I've been there with someone……"
In the middle of his speech, he deliberately stopped to watch Hermione's reaction, his long and thick eyelashes cast a thick layer of shadow on both sides of the high bridge of the nose.
"Who cares whom you went with before……"
Hermione didn't notice the unexplainable sadness in her own voice, she turned her head suddenly and looked straight into Fred's deep pupils.
"Hermione."
"Y…Yes?"
Fred's narrow and long eyebrows were raised under the cover of messy hair.
"Nonsense," He leaned down, looked at Hermione at the same level, and gently brushed the corner of her mouth with his slender fingertips. "I know it only because George told me about the pink bubbles in that swimming pool."
Hermione froze in place for a long time without moving.
Did Fred just touch her?
He looks serious when he said that……
Fred - just - touched - her - mouth……
"What are you doing?!" Hermione reacted slowly, still resisting the urge to blush, folded her arms and forced her face.
Unexpectedly, Fred stretched out his hand to her with a pure and innocent facial expression, "You had some icing on your face."
Hermione suddenly wished that the towel on her body would roll her back all the way to her bed right now.
The two walked through large and small swimming pools, a few laughing Ravenclaw girls and two Durmstrangs who were doing fitness training hard, and came to the rest bench under the banana leaves.
"Would you like something to drink—"
"Hey! Fred!"
Fred was interrupted by a shout.
Hermione, still wrapped in a long towel, turned to see Angelina.
"Hey, Fred, may I have a word with you-Oh hi Hermione."
Angelina wore a tight-fitting bright red one-piece swim dress, showing her slender waist and light makeup on her face. Two of her friends giggled and waited for her behind a pillar not far away.
Hermione glanced furtively at Fred.
"Hi Angelina." He still had a smile on his face.
Angelina obviously hesitated for a while, then looked at Hermione.
Hermione quickly understood and she didn't want to be annoying, so she wisely proposed to get some drinks. But Fred stopped her.
"It's okay, Angelina, you can ask me now. Hermione will help me with my homework later. Let's not waste her time."
Angelina looked a little awkward,"Well okay……Fred," she puffed up her chest, "Would you like to go to the dance with me?"
Hermione felt that it was really inappropriate for her to be an outsider here on such an occasion, so she decided to back away quietly. Unexpectedly, as soon as her footsteps moved, she was gently pulled back by Fred's big hands behind his back.
He smiled politely at Angelina, "Angelina, thank you for your invitation, but I'm really sorry, I have already asked someone else and she said yes."
Angelina looked a bit down, but quickly recovered, greeted them before running off to find her friends.
Hearing the news that Fred already had a dance partner made Hermione feel a little blunt in her heart, and she pursed the corners of her lips.
"Why did you walk away?"
"Oh, it's nothing," Hermione pretended nothing happened, "I just wanted to get something to drink."
"What do you want to drink, I'll get it for you."Fred smiles.
"No……oh I suddenly don't want it anymore……Let's go test the product. I suddenly remembered that I have to meet with Harry in the library at noon."
Harry, who was snoring comfortably in the boys' dormitory, said that's a lie.
Hermione didn't understand why she said that, she followed Fred, pushed aside the big banana leaf and entered the swimming pool.
The couple pool is indeed a master at creating an atmosphere.
The smoky steam travels through the background of the tropical jungle, and the walls of the large pool are carved with various underwater mythical beasts. There are more white bath towels around, and pink bubbles come up from the bottom of the water one by one.
Fred blinked his eyes, "I'll go down and make the arrangements first, eat this, and you can breathe freely underwater, even have a normal vision. Take your time. Come down when you're ready."
Hermione received a lozenge-shaped blue jelly bean and watched Fred get into the water.
She waited for a few minutes, then ate the jelly bean. After waiting for a few seconds, she untied the bath towel and got into the water.
The water temperature is really comfortable.
Hermione took a deep dive and saw a lot of pink bubbles. Speaking of which, this jelly bean is really amazing. Her vision is very clear, and she doesn't have to worry about breathing problems at all. She paddled for a while and then began to look around for Fred.
No one was around.
Strange, where did he go.
Hermione turned around.
Could it be another prank by Fred?
She swears if this is some kind of joke again—
Hermione suddenly saw a growing milky white bubble slowly floating up from under her feet, and she touched it lightly with her toes.
Nothing happened.
The bubble grew bigger and bigger, and stopped suddenly when it reached Hermione's waist. She circled the bubble curiously and put her hand in it. Only then did she discovered that the bubbles were accessible.
Hermione is completely in the big bubble at this time, and the clear water inside was isolated. This feeling is amazing. She stretches out her fingers and walks back and forth on the wall of the bubble.
Suddenly hearing a rattling sound behind her, Hermione hurriedly turned her head.
The clear and flowing water instantly became brilliant in mid-air, and the entire bubble undulated slightly with the water.
Two lines of letters with bright orange sparks are quietly burning:
[Miss Granger, would you like to go to the dance ball with me?]
Hermione frozes.
Fred appeared from behind, still smiled so brightly underwater. He lightly touched Hermione's shoulder, pointed up.
Hermione is still in a state of shock until being pulled to the surface by Fred.
"What do you think, the underwater fireworks effect is not bad, right?"
No reply.
Noticing that Hermione's mood seemed a little off, Fred wiped water on his face and laughed: "Mad at me?"
Another few seconds of silence.
Fred immediately restrained his smile, "Did I scare you?" Water droplets trickled down his wet hair and down the bridge of his tall nose, "Little Hermione?"
Seeing that she still didn't speak, Fred's eyebrows paused. He rubbed the back of his neck and said with a soft smile, "It's okay, it's okay, don't feel bad if you don't want to, I was just—"
"Didn't you just tell Angelina that you have asked someone else to go to the dance and she said yes?"
Hearing this, the corners of his eyes were slightly raised, and those eyes are full of smiles again.
"That's correct."
"Then why do you still ask me……"
"That's because," Fred raised his hand lazily, rubbing the corner of his mouth with his thumb, "I have indeed asked Miss Granger in my heart. And she indeed said yes."
"……"
"But if Miss Granger doesn't want—"
"I haven't said anything yet." Hermione muttered without raising her head, "Don't make assumptions."
Fred laughed under his breath.
"Then let's talk about whether the product quality can meet Little Hermione's inspection standards?"
"It's alright."
He laughed so happily that the water patterns around him vibrated in circles.
"Look how pretty our little Hermione's swimsuit is, why do you hide it under the towel, eh?" Fred scooped up water in his palm, making a gesture to splash it on Hermione's shoulder.
Hermione immediately shrank into the water to dodge, but her knee touched his thigh during the movement, and she could feel the heat underneath through the thin layer of swimming trunks.
Her ears felt hot, and she leaned back uneasily, only to successfully choke on a few sips of water.
Fred rushed over immediately, firmly fixed Hermione in the water with his strong arms, and carried her directly to the pool steps.
"Are you alright, Hermione? Did you hit your ear? It's so red."
And who's fault is that. Hermione thought.
She took a deep breath, picked up the bath towel on the steps, wrapped herself tightly again, and said, "The products have been inspected, I better get going."
"Then can I consider little Hermione already accepted my invitation?" Fred is still soaking comfortably in the water, with his arms resting behind his head.
"Well……I-I agree temporarily only for the sake of that delicious almond shortbread."
The corners of Fred's mouth were raised, and after a few seconds of rapid diving, he suddenly emerged from the water. The warm light set off his gentle eyes with a smile, and the water light reflected in the side highlights of the bridge of his nose.
Hermione caught herself couldn't stop staring at him.
She quickly shook her head, "I-I have to go to the library now. You'd better clean up the fireworks in the water."
"Wear this to the library?"
"……"
"Remember to wrap it tightly," Fred leaned down, water dripped onto the ground along his ten fingertips, "I take back what I just said, the swimsuit should be hidden and tucked in at all times."
In the end, Hermione almost trotted away. Seeing her cute face tightly clutching the towel in her hand, Fred thought inexplicably when he hugged her earlier in the water.
Through the swimming skirt, the palm of the hand was inadvertently touched her round soft ass.
He tousled his hair carelessly.
After a long time.
Fred got up from the water with two firework sticks in his arms, and twitched the corners of his mouth happily.
In those hazel pupils, something were darkly flowing.