This takes place after the war, but kind of disregards some of The Deathly Hallows.

1. Fred is alive.

2. Ron and Hermione didn't get together right after the war nor did they kiss during the battle.

3. Fred has liked Hermione for a while and has been trying to get her to accept him for nearly as long.

There are some Ron Bashing in this, but it more like Romoine bashing than anything else. I've never liked the way they treated each other in the books (she insults him, he insults her, etc.) and really don't understand why people think they make the perfect couple. I do like Ron, don't get me wrong, but I don't think him and Hermione would be good together. Just a warning, so Ron fans please don't hate me.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Hermione walked into Ginny's room and slammed the door, startling the redhead who was lying on her bed flipping through Witch Weekly. She looked up at the fuming brunette and asked, a little wearily, "You alright Hermione?"

"Fine!" she snapped back.

Ginny frowned. "For some reason I don't think that's true."

Hermione turned to glare at her, but the look wasn't quite to 'Molly' level yet. Close, but not quite. After about a minute, she visibly deflated. "Your brother is driving me up the wall."

One of Ginny's eyebrows rose. "Well, Ron is a prat. I thought you would have figured that out by now."

Hermione sat on the second bed—her bed—in Ginny's room. "Not Ron. Your other brother."

The redhead blinked. "Um, you're going to have to narrow it down a little more."

The brunette sighed. "Fred—he makes me crazy!" she exclaimed, lying back on the bed with her hands covering her face.

Ginny quashed a grin—she should have known. "Ah yes, the second half of the twin terrors. What did he do this time?"

"He's just…so insulting! And crude!"

Insulting?! That was new. He had always just done harmless teasing—trying to (ineffectively) get her attention and to make her start taking him seriously. He's liked her for years but she always blew him off whenever he asked her out, thinking he was joking (like always).

He must be getting frustrated.

"What did he say?" Ginny asked. Maybe Hermione was wrong?—or in denial…

Hermione sat up again in order to look at her. Scowling deeply, she recounted what he said. "He said I was irritating and blind and that I can't see what's right in front of me. The jerk. What does that even mean?"

Ginny knew, but figured Hermione meant that to be rhetorical.

Unexpectedly, the older girl started laughing bitterly. "Oh, and he also said that I was stupid."

"What?!" Ginny exclaimed. That was unexpected.

"Yeah, can you believe that?"

The redhead could see self-doubt behind the forming tears in her eyes and hurried over to Hermione's side. The tears started falling almost as soon as Ginny's arm went around her shoulders. When Hermione spoke again, Ginny was not expecting what came out.

"What is so wrong with Ron anyway?"

It took just a moment for Ginny to grasp the sudden (apparent) change in subject. "Wait, what?"

"Why shouldn't I go out with Ron? He's a good guy," Hermione said.

Ginny pulled away in order to look at her friend better. "Where did this come from?"

Hermione started picking at her fingernails—a habit she had when she was feeling insecure. "That's what Fred said—that I was stupid for thinking I should go out with Ron."

She really had no idea how to respond to that—except to say she agreed with Fred, but Hermione would react badly and wouldn't listen while Ginny tried to explain why. But she couldn't really let her go after Ron. Not while Fred wanted her—and really he was the better choice. If only she would just give him a chance!

Her eyes lit up with an idea. She had to do this delicately though. "Hermione…why do you want to go out with Ron?"

Hermione looked at her in confusion—probably thinking that it was obvious. She opened her mouth to state her reasons, but seemed to stumble over her words. "Well…he's my friend. He's nice…" she paused a little bit as if thinking over that word being in conjunction with Ron. "…funny, charming, good looking," here Ginny made a face. "and he's smart—"

Ginny cut her off. "Okay, Hermione." For a moment, the brunette had a slightly triumphant look, but Ginny squashed that. "You are not stupid, but you are delusional."

Hermione's mouth fell open. "Excuse me?"

"Think about it Hermione! Ron being charming? That is rather farfetched, but nowhere near as saying he is smart." The brunette's face showed she was getting ready to defend her friend, but Ginny hurried on. "Yes, he has his moments, such as chess and quidditch, but for nearly anything else he was and is not motivated to learn. Something I know is important to you."

Hermione huffed. "Well, maybe I can change that about him."

Ginny sighed—this explains what her mom was talking about when she had started dating. 'Don't date a guy because you want to change him, because he won't.' She sighed and grabbed Hermione's hands. "I want you to do something for me, please?"

Hermione frowned, but nodded slowly. "Alright…"

"I want you to think about how your parents treat each other. Then think about how my parents treat each other. Then I want you to think about how Ron treats you." Ginny waited until Hermione's eyes softened and met her own again. "I'm sorry to be the one who has to make you see it, but Ron really doesn't treat you like you deserve." Tears started falling down both girls' faces. "He does have his moments, I'll give him that. But for the most part he's a git. Don't you agree?"

Hermione couldn't help herself and started giggling while she wiped at her face. "Yes, you're right. I just…I just wanted somebody, you know? You have Harry; Luna and Neville are getting married soon—even Lavender, Padma, and Parvati have long-term boyfriends. And I haven't had one." She looked down at her lap. "What's wrong with me?" she whispered to herself.

"Nothing is wrong with you," Ginny protested.

Hermione scoffed. "Yeah right. There has to be some reason why no one likes me."

Ginny tried to hide a grin, but wasn't very successful. "I wouldn't say no one."

Hermione's eyes shot up to meet hers. "What? Do you know someone… Who?"

Ginny crossed her arms in front of her and gave her friend an 'are you serious' look. "You're kidding right? He hasn't exactly been subtle about it."

The other girl rolled her eyes. "You mean Fred? He's not interested in me like that. He's just making fun of me because I don't have a boyfriend."

Ginny grasped her shoulders. "No, Hermione, he's not. I don't know how else I can say this so you will understand. He. Is. Serious. About. You," she emphasized.

Hermione still shook her head, but Ginny could see a smidgen of doubt—finally! "But…its Fred. He's never serious about anything."

The redhead sighed in mock defeat. "Fine, don't believe me. I mean, he's just been in love with you for about four years now. I guess it is nothing serious if it's been such a small amount of time," she said sarcastically.

Hermione's face was priceless. Ginny wished she could capture a picture of it—it'd make perfect blackmail. "Go talk to him," Ginny advised. "Make him promise to be serious or something—he'd do it for you. He'd even make a vow of honesty for you." She gave her friend an encouraging smile. "I know he would."

Hermione was nervous. Ginny had given her a great pep talk after convincing her to give Fred a chance, and she had been all prepared and ready to confront him. But now…she couldn't make herself go out there.

She had walked down the stairs with Ginny following. Hermione had told her she could do this on her own, but when she got to the doorway to the kitchen she froze. Before anyone could turn to look at her, Ginny pulled her out of the sight of those inside getting ready for dinner.

"You alright?" Ginny asked quietly. Hermione didn't answer, just shook her head. She couldn't talk to Fred with everyone there. Ginny seemed to understand that. "Do you want me to go get him?" she offered. Hermione nodded, still slightly shaking. "Alright, you go upstairs to their old room. I'll come up with an excuse to make him go up there."

She didn't move—not until Ginny gave her a little push. She stumbled for a bit, but made her way upstairs, listening to Ginny tell Fred she had found a prank item in their old room. She also heard her say she needed George's help setting the table (She wouldn't find out until later that George had actually seen her in the doorway to the kitchen was able to guess what was going on).

She wanted to start pacing around the twin's room, but forced herself to remain calm and sat on one of the beds instead. She couldn't stop herself from rubbing her hands until they started feeling burned, however. Hermione could hear him coming, muttering about weird but wonderful little sisters who gets him out of doing chores, and nearly started hyperventilating. She couldn't do this. Maybe she could disillusion herself before he came in and he wouldn't see—

He opened the door as she was reaching for her wand. Hermione clasped her hands together instead and stood. His smile was gone. In its place was a frown that was so unusual on his normally cheerful face. Neither spoke for a while, but eventually she gave him a small sort-of wave. "Hi…"

He didn't respond back, instead turning to look around the room for the so-called 'prank item' that wasn't there. Hermione bit her lip, wondering what she could do next…should she apologize? "I'm sorry…?" she whispered, a little unsure.

"Is that a question?" he asked gruffly.

Her eyes widened. "No—" she started, but he cut her off.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked, turning to look at her.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but the words didn't come. She tried again—looking very much like a fish—but still nothing. She shifted on her feet before finally turning around away from him and closing her eyes. This time she could speak. "Were you actually serious about everything?"

She could hear him walking around and could feel his eyes on her, but she didn't open her eyes. It must have been two minutes before he started chuckling. Her eyes shot open to gape at him. "You know, 'everything' doesn't exactly narrow anything down," he said with a grin. "Not that it matters because I'm never serious about anything, remember?"

Hermione felt a spike of pain in her chest. She knew it… She was going to kill Ginny! But wait…that grin looked strained. And there was an emotion in his eyes that Hermione had noticed before—whenever he spoke to her, actually—that she could never determine. She could now.

Pain.

Something was hurting him. Was it because of her? She frowned and stepped closer, more confident now than she was before. "Fred, please be honest with me," she said lowly.

He matched her frown and forward step. He still had that strained grin on his face, though it looked more like a self-deprecating one now. "I've been honest with you for years, Hermione, and you've brushed it off. Why do you think I'd still be honest now?"

She felt tears prickling at her eyes. She had brushed him off, thinking he was mocking her and telling herself all sorts of things to keep from hoping it was true. She had built a wall around the growing feelings for this Weasley twin instead of letting go of her insecurities.

She looked down and bit her lip, trying to think of something to say. She decided the truth would be best—the worst that could happen would be he'd scoff at her and walk away. At least then she'd know for sure. "I am sorry. I…I didn't think you were being honest with me. I thought you were being sardonic. I kept thinking that…well, why else you would be…complimenting me so often and so…thoroughly. I'm just the rule abiding know-it-all and nothing to look at and…" she trailed off, seeing his eyes darken. He was getting mad at her. "I'm sorry. I'll leave." She turned to walk away and go cry herself out on her own bed but Fred caught her arm.

He pulled her back to him, making her face him. "Don't say things like that about yourself," he whispered rather menacingly. Hermione blinked but otherwise didn't move. "You are so much more than just a know-it-all." Fred's eyes bore into hers and she felt the world falling away. She bit her lip again and his eyes left hers to gaze upon her mouth. Jerkily, he pulled away and she could feel her lungs again.

"You need to stop doing that," he said, half turned away from her.

"What?" she asked, still a little dazed.

"The lip thing."

Hermione's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Lip thing? Did he mean biting her lip? Why did she need to stop it? Yes it made her lips even more chapped, but it wasn't that bad of a habit, was it? She walked around to face him again, but his eyes were closed. "Why?" she asked.

Fred's eyes opened and bore into hers again, but this time there was something else it them. Something…smoldering. She felt goosebumps form on her arms and legs. She went to bite her lip again, but pulled it from her teeth quickly, remembering what they were talking about. …how exactly did they get from talking about him being serious and honest with her to her not biting her lip?

Apparently she didn't remove her lip from her teeth quick enough, because he stepped closer—closer than ever before—with a slight growl. "Because I want to be the one who bites it," he whispered against her lips. Before she could think about what to do next, he was kissing her.

Fred was kissing her! Wow…it was nothing like she expected. Sure, she had been kissed before, but they were always so lackluster. This was exhilarating, passionate, arousing, and so many other words she couldn't think of right now.

Oh! He bit her lip! He had said he wanted to, but she honestly wasn't expecting him to do it.

Hermione, you need to stop thinking now and kiss him back, she told herself. Perfect timing too because she felt him start to pull away. Nope, she couldn't have that.

She grabbed the back of his head and pulled him even closer than before, if that was possible. His hands grabbed her waist and she could feel fire spring from them—even through her clothing. She vaguely felt him walk her backwards, never breaking the kiss, until they could sit on one of the beds. One hand reached out and pulled her legs up to rest on his to give them a more comfortable angle, leaving one hand to travel along her outer thigh.

She didn't know how long they had snogged for before someone cleared their throat from the doorway. She might have preferred to ignore whoever it was in favor of continuing with Fred, but he pulled away from her to look (glare) at who decided to interrupt them.

Ginny was standing there, looking very pleased with herself, and they could see George behind her doing some kind of victory dance. "Mum wanted me to let everyone know that dinner is ready," she said smugly. Hermione could almost hear the unspoken words, "Although I'm sure you two could find something elseto eat..."

Fred nodded in response. "We'll be down in a minute."

Ginny grinned and walked away while George gave his twin a thumbs up and shut the door. Fred looked back at her with a real smile on his face—Hermione realized she hadn't seen him with one for a while—and gave her a short kiss. "So do you believe me now?" he asked lightly with an edge of seriousness.

She put a hand on his cheek and gave him a peck back. "Yes, I do." She looked at him wryly. "But…" she trailed off looking a little disappointed and Fred's smile wavered. She couldn't keep a straight face for too long thought—not with how happy she was. With a teasing grin she continued, "You still called me stupid."

Fred blinked, not expecting that, but he recovered rather quickly. "Yes I did, didn't I? I guess that makes me the stupid one."

"Oh no," Hermione countered. "You are sweet." Kiss. "And funny." Kiss. "And rather difficult at times." He gave her a pout, but she kissed him anyway. "But you are not stupid."

Fred beamed, his ego growing at the praise. His expression became thoughtful. "So, if neither of us are stupid, who is?"

The looked at each other and said at the same time, "Ron," before they both started laughing.

With one last passionate, but short, kiss; they went down stairs for their family dinner.

Review please!