Hello! I would like to let you know I am posting this for the sole reason of finding a beta-reader. If you're interested, PM me, if not just read along and enjoy. Review please as that tends to fuel my fire - I can get a bit procrastinate-y sometimes.

Thanks again.

Elven wine in hand, Hermione gazed across the small but raucous Weasley-Brown reception, propping herself up on the bar by her elbow.

There were many things better left unsaid at her ex's wedding, but Molly Weasley was never good at leaving things be, meaning Hermione had been subjected to hours of the proud matriarch's awkward observations.

"Oh Hermione, isn't Lavender so beautiful?"

"Yes Molly, very."

"It could have been you, couldn't it? Mrs Hermione Weasley. If only you hadn't gotten so involved in your work…" she would trail off, looking pointedly at the silver bracelet that rested on her slight wrist, the healers' symbol of St. Mungo's glinting. It seemed that Mrs Weasley was determined to forget the fact that she had been the one to leave Ron, not the other way around.

"Yes Molly, of course."

"Oh well, we'll find you someone yet, won't we dear. Though you best be hurrying about it, you're not getting any younger, are you?"

"No Molly," she would nod, seething internally. She was twenty-three, not fifty!

"My Ronald, finally settled down with a nice young girl!"

God she was a pain. Hermione knew she meant well, but considering this was her fifth glass of wine - at least she thought it was her fifth glass - it perhaps wasn't going as well as Molly seemed to think it was. It was actually a lot worse than that, she thought as she eyed up an unopened bottle of gin sitting on the bar shelf.

"And just how drunk are you?"

She didn't bother to look round, not recognising the voice entirely, but having an idea.

"Ron?"

"I'm not Ron," whoever it was laughed, helping her to her feet, "I best get you home Granger."

"If you're not Ron…" she said curiously, before turning to see his familiar cheeky grin, "Oh, you."

"Oh, alright then, if you don't want to speak to me," he huffed mockingly, starting to walk away.

"No wait," she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him back, their faces suddenly very close.

"Hermione," he sighed, putting a hand on her cheek, "You're drunk."

"Not drunk enough to regret this."

"Regret what?"

She grabbed the back of his head and pulled him toward her, crushing their lips together as the deep scent of the Firewhisky he'd been drinking in celebration hit her nostrils, "That."

"Alright, you're coming with me," he chuckled, kissing her chastely before apperating them both.

Hermione groaned as the morning birds invaded her subconscious, scrunching her eyes in an attempt to keep to the sunlight out. She still felt quite groggy from yesterday and it was a good job she'd got Mondays off as there was no way she was getting into the hospital today.

Irritated by the brightness of the light behind her eyelids, she went to turn away, but froze immediately as a hand wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer to the very warm, very naked body she'd obviously slept with the night before. Now she knew two things: the foggy memory of last night probably included drunken ramblings to some poor bugger she'd pulled into her bed and she had to get out of there quickly before he woke up.

Forcing her eyes open, she managed to fully open both only to see something entirely different to her own flat. The large window that was usually by the side of her bed was around half the size and there was a chest of draws underneath it where her wand was laying.

'Where the hell am I?' she thought, testing the anonymous arm to see if she'd been released. Sliding out of his grasp, she stood up. She could see her bra hanging on the curtain pole and went over to them, reaching up and grabbing it quickly, then bending down to pick up her dress.

'Now all I need is my wand,' she thought looking around, 'Where did I put it? Ah!'

Hermione had a desperate urge to apperate away as she saw the blinking eyes of Fred Weasley looking over to her, but she needed her knickers.

'Merlin, where are they? He's waking up!' she worried, scrabbling round the room for them. She heard a chuckle and turned to the bed where he was sitting up, his toned chest distracting her for a second before she snapped out of it to look at his smug face as he twirled the lacy black knickers on one finger.

"Looking for these Granger?"

"Give them back, Fred," she warned, stepping toward him, her wand stretched out, "Give them or so help me, I'll-"

"You'll what? Shag my brains out again?"

"Stop being an arse about it," she huffed, crossing her arms and looking away, still feeling awkward about the whole affair, "We were drunk, but trust me it's certainly not happening again."

"Oh really? I seem to remember you wanted it 'all night, every night'," he winked, standing up and grabbing his boxers as she squeaked and turned away, "Oh please you've seen it all," he stalked toward her as she held her hands over her eyes and whispered into her ear, "and felt it all."

"Yeah, well it was a mistake, wasn't it?" she said, ignoring the tingling heat of his breath as he went to find his trousers, "All your bloody mother's fault."

"You shagged me because my mother told you to?" he laughed, "That's weird, even for you Granger."

"Will you stop calling me Granger Fred," she moaned.

"How do you know it's not George?"

"Please, it's so easy to tell the difference," she said, rolling her eyes as she took her thumb and traced it over his left eyebrow slowly, "You have a small scar right here."

They both paused as her honey eyes met his, but she quickly averted them and stepped away, "And, you know, you do have both ears too."

"Ah yes, my ears," Fred said, ignoring the slight redness of his face as he watched her look for her knickers - the same knickers he had stuffed in his back pocket, somewhat of a souvenir, "Glad to know you can tell the difference. It means you won't be going after my twin next time you need a piece of my amazing body."

"Fred for Merlin sake, it was just a one-time thing, because I'd had about two bottles' worth of elven wine and was sitting alone at my ex boyfriend's wedding as your bloody mother told me all about how I was too old to find a husband and that basically I was going to die alone."

"Surely she didn't-"

"Oh, isn't it too bad that you'll never be Mrs Hermione Weasley, isn't Lavender so pretty, much nicer than you are, leaving my Ronald all alone," Hermione mimicked, growling at the grin on Fred's face, "Yeah, no, Molly really wasn't saying anything at all to me."

"Well, you could be a Weasley yet, there's still me and George, Charlie," he said, sitting down on the bed, "Hell, even Percy's available if you're that desperate."

"George is seeing Angelina and Percy's got Audrey," she pointed out, checking under the duvet, "Charlie's determined to be the eternal bachelor and we'd never work; we're complete opposites."

"Hey, you could steal Percy away," he wiggled his eyebrows, "Who wouldn't want a stuffy, arrogant ministry drone as a husband?"

"You never take anything seriously, do you?" she said, giving up on finding her pants and taking her wand out, "I'm going. You best not tell anyone about this, Fred. It's not something I usually do, alright?"

"Yes Ma'am," he said, saluting with his left hand, "Not a word."

"Not even to George," she warned, pointing her wand at him, "If Ron or Mrs Weasley found out…"

"Yeah, don't think Ron would be too happy. Mum would either congratulate us or call you a 'scarlet woman' again."

"Right, I'll see you and George tonight at the Burrow for dinner," she nodded to herself, preparing to apperate.

"Oh, and Hermione?" she looked up to him as he winked, "You're great in bed, love."

With a pop she was gone and Fred just stared at where she had been for a few seconds before getting up.

'Well that was surreal. Imagine if mum knew I'd' shagged little miss prefect,' he thought, getting up and heading out of his room, past George's room and into the kitchen, 'Ooh, how about a poached egg? Can I make a poached egg?'

Whatever he and Hermione had done the night before, it had definitely tired him out. He sniggered at that and grabbed the battered, slightly rusty pan from under the counter, filling it with a quick aguamenti and tapping it quickly as it began to boil, steam clouding around the hob.

"Everything is great, everything is grand, I've got the wizarding world in the palm of my hand," he hummed as he cooked up some toast. He heard the quiet steps of his brother coming down the hall and called without looking, "Do you want some eggs, Forge?"

"Why not," he smiled, coming to sit at the table, "So, who was it that put you in this good mood?"

"No one," he denied, trying to hold down his smug feeling, "Er, just a good wedding."

"A good wedding. Hmm…" George said, looking suspiciously as Fred jigged around the room, plating up their breakfast, "I seem to remember there weren't many single witches around yesterday."

"Just leave it," Fred frowned, putting his twin's plate in front of him and coming to sit across from him with his own. He knew that George could quite quickly work out it was Hermione from yesterday's guest list - what with Ron only wanting a family affair - and he really wanted to respect her wishes. Also, he was starting to feel a little bit guilty about the fact that he was far more sober than her and it felt like he'd somewhat taken advantage of that fact.

"There was Audrey, but she was Percy's date and you wouldn't steal a bloke's date - even if it was Percy; Luna was definitely snogging Longbottom under the buffet table by the end of the night, so that's her out of the way; Pavarti Patil is to no one's taste, not even after a bottle of Odgen's finest; and aunt Muriel-"

"Please, just stop," he sighed, "It's really not a good idea."

There was a slight lapse as George thought hard and Fred fought the blush rising to his face as his brother's filled with realisation, "No!"

"Yes," he grumbled, ignoring George's shock.

"No? Please no! And at Ron's wedding?"

"Yes, yes, I'm a complete arse," he said, chomping on his toast grumpily.

"Just how drunk was she?" George chuckled, unable to imagine their little 'Mione doing anything remotely dirty.

"Hey, there's no need to be mean! But yeah, she was pretty trollied," he said.

"You're in so much trouble when mum finds out!"

"Well she doesn't have to, does she?" he said intently, raising his eyebrows in question, "Look we were both legless, but it wasn't forced and we're not planning on doing it again, so…"

"Alright, I'll say nothing," George agreed, before smirking, "So, how was she?"

"To be quite honest it's all a bit blurry," he admitted sheepishly, "But she's an amazing snog."

"Right, so is this going to get awkward when we go for Sunday dinner now, or what?"

"I don't think so," Fred shrugged, "I mean, it was just one night."

"Yeah, nothing's going to come of it," George agreed, "Just don't mention it to anyone and I'm sure you'll forget about it soon."

Fred nodded absently and returned to his abandoned breakfast, his mind wandering to the warm comfort of Hermione's slim figure against him in his bed. He hadn't imagined it'd happen with his little brother's know-it-all best friend, but this was the first time waking up to a witch snuggled in his arms had been something he'd wanted to repeat - though he'd never tell anyone that.

Mrs Weasley bustled round the kitchen preparing dinner and bobbing along to the wireless. A huge pot simmered on the stove and her chopping board was full of chopped up carrots as pea pods shelled themselves into two bowls. A flick toward the cupboard and a large saucepan flew toward the veg as the carrots and peas hopped in and the final pods deposited their peas into the pan.

Ron and Lavender wouldn't be here as they were in Spain for their honeymoon. Bill would be arriving back from the bank in time for dinner, Charlie was at home anyway, Fred and George had owled to say the joke shop was closed because of the wedding so they could come over, Ginny was coming with Harry and Percy was even bringing Audrey to join the family for supper. Hermione was coming alone as usual.

Molly did feel quite bad about what she had implied at the reception. In retrospect, she knew there wasn't anything wrong with Hermione for being single and she knew that her and Ron made the right decision in splitting up, it was just that she was such a special girl, and she knew that if she even tried to find a nice man to settle down with, she could have a family and bring the kids round. It would be like having more grandchildren - she was an honorary Weasley just as much as Harry was, even though neither of them would be Weasleys by name now.

She waved her wand as the back door opened and the water in the pots vanished, leaving the potato to be mashed in the pot and allowing the vegetables to settle in a bowl on the table. She then set down her knitting and moved to the potatoes.

"Hey mum," she glanced back from her mashing to see her two eldest sitting down at the table, Bill smiling over to her.

"Oh dears, how lovely it is to have you both at home," she sighed, finishing off the mash and scooping it into another bowl, "Will one of you grab the dish from the oven?"

"Is smells delicious, mum," Charlie told her, getting up to help, "What're we having?"

"Toad in the hole."

"Isn't that Hermione's favourite?" Harry asked as he joined them at the table, Ginny following close behind.

"Oh mum, what've you said?" she frowned, knowing her mother only made someone's favourite if she'd done something wrong.

"Nothing, nothing," Molly waved her off, putting the large dish on the table, "I just felt like making something special for her."

Just then, Hermione popped into the room, frowning at the scrumptious meal on the table, "Oh Molly, you didn't need to do this, I knew you were only worried."

"Do what dear?" Molly played innocent, sitting down just as the twins strolled in with Arthur.

"Molly, I may not be a Weasley, but I know what it means when my favourite meal is on the table and it's not my birthday," she laughed, shaking her head at the sheepish look on the normally stern and in-control matriarch, "Don't worry, I'm sure I'll find someone."

"You never know Granger," they all looked over to George as he sat across from her, a glint in his eye, "Your knight in shining armour may be sitting at this very table. Or maybe a court jester, perhaps?"

"Ah George, ever the joker," she said, forcing a smile as Mrs Weasley grabbed Fred and forced him down in the seat next to her, gritting out, "Just like that gobby brother of yours."

"Now everyone, tuck in!"

Hermione piled a small amount of everything onto her plate, whispering harshly, "I thought we weren't telling anyone."

"I didn't," he bit back, "He is my twin, 'Mione."

She didn't reply, stabbing a piece of sausage with her fork and looking down.

"So Fred, where did you head off to last night?" Charlie said, both of them looking up to him with glares on their faces, "Actually, I didn't see much of you either, Hermione."

"Er, I went home early!"

"I took her home early," they replied at the same time, both glancing to each other before looking back to a confused Charlie.

Everyone looked up from their conversations to the two. Hermione elbowed Fred to keep him quiet and said, "What we meant was, Fred took me home because I'd had a few drinks, but I believe he went back to the party once I was home."

"No, actually I went home as well."

"But Hermione I flooed you this morning and there was no answer," Ginny added.

"Oh, er, well-"

"I put a silencing charm her room," Fred interjected, "I thought she needed the rest."

"Oh, okay."

The others turned back to their own conversations and the two went back to their meals, ignoring the awkwardness between them. Hermione didn't want to look up from her plate to him, but she really wanted to make sure he knew she was serious about this. Molly had only just gotten over the face she wasn't planning on marrying her precious Won-Won, never mind seducing one of her only single children.

Fred, however, was more worried about the look in Charlie's eye. He was definitely suspicious and there was no way he was letting this go before he got every single detail. Charlie was one of Fred and George's favourite brothers along with Bill, but he could sniff out gossip from miles away and there was only one way to get him to leave it alone: ignore him till he went back to Romania. Then he and 'Mione could get back to normal and go back to being friends.

"Look, we never talk about this again. It never even happened," she blushed lightly.

"What never happened?"

"Exactly. It never happens again," she nodded, looking over to see him grinning, "What're you so happy about?"

"It can't happen again if it never happened in the first place."