*~Swearing, yay!~*

Brought on by the fact that today has been a very long day and I just wanted to yell "Fuck you!" But, obviously, I couldn't, considering I was either at school or at home. So Hermione's doing it for me.

So, yeah, a little bit of cursing in this chapter. Or a lot. Depends on whether you count this [&*?#$^] as cursing too. That could be a moderate amount of cursing. And if you count this whole author's note in it as well. Or if you're in another country and don't speak a word of English except for 'fuck.' Then maybe you think I'm just cursing you out here. I don't know.

The dull throbbing was soon becoming a continuous ache in her skull, but the throbbing continued as well, going on and pounding out in rhythm 'why, why, why, why….'

Why did she have to help Fred and George out once Verity got married and moved to Japan?

Why was it just them, her and Lee working at the store?

Why did the store have to be so popular?

Why was she friends with Ginny?

"Aww, Hermione, are you mad?" Ginny pouted at her as she swung her legs against the counter, where Hermione was leaning against with one of her legs sticking out and propping her up.

"Shush, Ginny," Hermione murmured, "Be a good ginger and shush."

"Aww, but it's so much more fun to terrorize you!" she grinned as Lee poked through the cash register dully.

"Hush, Ginny," Hermione said again, the pain spreading to her eyelids as well.

"You need to fix your hair – I could do this really pretty braid for you, I did it on a reserve girl for her play," she said, "It's looking pretty grimy too, maybe you need to go up and wash it before I – "

"Fuck you."

Lee and Ginny looked over at Hermione quickly, seeing the horror on her face before looking at each other with their own eyebrows raised. The two suddenly howled in laughter, Hermione rubbing her temples and groaning.

"What did you do to Hermione?" Fred asked, frowning at his friend and sister as he walked forward, placing a hand on Hermione's back, "Listen, Love, go get some sleep. We'll be fine now – we can rope Ginny into doing things."

Blinking from the contact and being called 'love' by Fred, she nodded and went out to the backroom to go and flop on the couch.

It was infinitely quieter in the backroom once the door was closed and there were no potions bubbling and threatening to explode. Very nice, in fact.

And that wasn't because the pillow her nose was incidentally pressed into smelled exactly like Fred.

But that was an upside, of course.

Fred had, actually, been knocked unconscious, with his pulse slow and quiet. He had sat up and yawned and stretched, looking over at his gaping family and asking what was wrong, that they looked as if they had seen a ghost. George had tackled him and ordered him not to scare him like that ever again as he squeezed the breath out of him. Molly had quickly followed to do the same, followed by Ginny and the others, minus Harry and Hermione.

Fred had grinned up at them from the mass of his family. "What?" he asked, "I'm not worthy of hugs from the Harry Potter and the Hermione Granger?"

Harry had given a weary smile, while Hermione looked as if she was about to burst into tears. She finally did, startling the boys, aside from Arthur and Bill.

"I - I thought you were dead," she quietly sobbed, "And after all the times I yelled at you and George, and I felt horrid, and I actually did like a few of your jokes, you're both bloody brilliant and I – " She hiccupped as Fred stood up, pulling her gently into him and hugging her as softly as he could, as if he were afraid she'd break into pieces.

"It's alright, Hermione," he'd murmured to her, "I'm fine now, and we appreciate the sentiment, just not the tears. Please quit crying for me."

She'd rubbed at her eyes and muttered into his shirt, "I'm sorry. A lot has gone on."

He chuckled a little, weakly, as if the action were programmed into him, "I know. Believe me, I know."

She sighed as the ache subsided a little – not much, just a little. She shifted so she was on her side, her hand coming up to clutch the pillow. Her eyelids closed and she was pleased to find that they no longer hurt.

Verity had married in August, her wedding held at the church her parents had gotten married at. She'd begged for Hermione and Ginny both to be her maid of honor, and Fred and George to be the best man – her husband had let her pick everything out for the wedding. Guys are just weird like that.

"You look gorgeous, Verity," Verity's one bridesmaid, Amber, said as she flicked her own gold curl away from her face.

"Angelic," Verity's mother crooned.

"Hermione?" Verity turned to the girl, who was surveying her appearance carefully.

Instead of answering, Hermione reached over and fixed the shoulders of her dress, got a sheer white ribbon from off a nearby table, tied it around her hips and curling it around her bun. Studying her once more, Hermione finally smiled, "Perfect, Verity."

Verity squealed before jumping up and hugging her, "This is why I need you. Everybody else would lie to me – you'd fix me! I love you, Hermione!"

"Then why are you marrying Davy?" Fred asked from the doorway, an eyebrow arched and his head tilted.

Verity huffed and walked towards him, although smiling a little, "You are not supposed to be here."

"But I am, so there," he grinned at her, "You look great though, Veri."

She wrinkled her nose at him at the horrid nickname, but instead waved a hand at Hermione and Amber, "Don't you think these two look marvelous though, Fred?"

Amber straightened herself and smirked a little at him, while Hermione turned her head and rolled her eyes at the other woman's actions. Fred saw this and grinned at her before finally looking her up and down.

Verity had chosen a royal blue to dress her bridesmaids in, but let them go crazy when it came to the styles of the dresses. Hermione had picked a dress with a skirt that flared a little at her waist and flowed to her knees, the bodice form-fitting and sleeveless. Her hair was a mess of curls pinned up to the crown of her head.

"Well," Fred smiled softly at Hermione, "Look at you…Feel like you're at the Yule Ball yet?" He turned to Amber, his regular attitude around women he'd failed to meet previously bubbling up, but not quite as if his heart was put into it, "And you look smashing as well."

"Funny you should mention Viktor Krum, Freddie," Verity grinned with the tip of her tongue peeking through her teeth, "I invited him and he came. He's looking for Herm-own-ninny right now."

Hermione gasped in delight as Fred look at Verity in shock and masked anger. "Viktor's here?" she asked, grinning at her, "I haven't seen him in ages!"

"Go for it, Love!" Verity called out, shooing her out of the room to turn to Fred and frown at him, "Go for love."

Fred was silent as he peeked out the doorway and watched as Hermione and Viktor hugged. He made a face and turned back to the bridal room, only to hear Ginny calling out an SOS for help with her dress.

Hermione shifted a little, letting out a tiny moan when the tension finally released its hold in her back. She frowned against the darkness of her eyelids as the shadows got darker. She peeked an eye open and saw Fred, kneeling down next to her, a hand outstretched to brush a wayward curl away from her nose. He blinked at her before smiling.

"Good morning," he said before the grin twitched up a little, "Or should I say good evening?"

"Hmm?" she questioned, blinking both eyes open now.

"You slept for two hours, its closing time," he smiled softly at her, finally getting rid of the curl.

"What?" she sat up a little, "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You had a headache and you were expecting me to wake you up?" he blinked at her incredulously, "What, was the wall not enough for me or something?"

She frowned at his bringing up of his near-death experience, but he rolled his eyes at her. She frowned at him now, more studying him than anything else. He arched an eyebrow at her.

"What?" he asked.

"I've just been thinking," she bit her lip now, looking from the collar of his sweater to his eyes, "About you, actually."

"Oh really?" he smiled a little, letting her sit up enough so he could sit where her head had been, "Do tell."

"Well, I've just realized…you've been acting a little strange around me for quite a while, like when you woke up and at Verity's wedding and just today," she answered as the smile faded and she was left with Fred just sitting there and staring at her.

He was silent for a few moments, "So you know?"

"I think," she muttered back, dropping her gaze to the dark purple fabric of the couch.

"About bloody time," he growled before his lips were on hers.

Her headache, she found later that day, had disappeared from that point on. She wasn't sure if it was from the fact that Fred had finally kissed her and started their ensuing relationship.

But it was an upside, of course.

Whoop! Okay, so that was a oneshot, let me know your thoughts and feelings – I'm even here if you want to complain about your day. 'Cause I'm so freaking nice. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must get up at five in the morning tomorrow morning.

Love,

Birdie