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“Did you get my note?”
Hermione did not even try to hide her eye roll as she looked up from her book, pinning Fred Weasley with a deadly squint.
“Will this ever get old for you?”
“No,” Fred replied with a shit-eating grin, flopping down on the couch next to her, jostling her well and good before he settled in. “Not so long as you will react in such a beautiful way.”
Knowing from experience that Fred would not shut up until she had answered him, Hermione thought it was better to get it over with.
“Yes, I would love to join all of you on the trip to Hogsmeade we all agreed on yesterday.”
“Hey, I just thought it would be nice to officially ask you. Group thing or not, this could still be our first date.”
Huffing in annoyance, Hermione closed her book and got up. When she realised that Fred’s legs were blocking her exit, she growled at him - which only earned her an eyebrow wiggle. Rolling her eyes once more - seriously, Fred Weasley was just. so. childish! - she decided to ignore it and step around the other way, even though she would have to walk around the whole coffee table. It was the lesser of two evils.
“Oh, and by the way,” Hermione said, turning back to him. “You ever tape one of your notes on a page of one of my books again... and I’ll kill you in your sleep!”
Without waiting for a reaction, Hermione turned back around, leaving the common room in the direction of her bedroom. At least here, Fred Weasley would not be able to bother her.
“Did you get my note?”
Trying her hardest to ignore him, Hermione kept writing, the quill scratching on her parchment. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Fred’s hand moving and instinctively, her hand shot out to cover the book next to her, glaring up at him.
His grin told her that it was too late though. He had read the cover.
“You did get my note then.”
“Yes, I did,” Hermione bit out. “Thanks for the tip but I’m sure I would have found this book myself, sooner or later.”
“Yeah, but now you found it much sooner.”
Rolling her eyes, Hermione went back to her Charms homework, wondering when Fred would finally grow tired of his little game.
Though to be fair, the book had been so supremely helpful that Hermione had to wonder if Fred only played at being the fool he seemed to be. Now that she thought about it - which she did not, of course! As if she was wasting any time thinking about that annoying, insufferable, absolutely amazi--- no! She was not thinking about him!
But if she was... she might have to admit that all those pranks he sometimes pulled and all those inventions he had going with his brother did indeed warrant a certain level of brains. Maybe there really was more to him than meets the eye.
But, that is if she was thinking about it. Him. Which she wasn’t. Not at all!
Hermione shoved any thoughts of Fred Weasley aside and turned her attention back to her scroll. There was homework waiting for her, after all.
Homework that had gotten a lot easier after a certain book recommendation… from a certain Weasley... dammit!
“Did you get my note?”
“Oh for God’s sake, Fred!” Hermione exclaimed, quickly cleaning up the pumpkin juice she had spilled over her hand at his sudden appearance. “Why do you even leave me a random note if you keep asking if I found it anyway?? Why not just tell me directly?”
“Tell you directly?” he repeated, sounding surprised as if this was the first he had heard of such a novel concept. “But… where would be the fun in that?”
Once again, Hermione had to roll her eyes at his antics. As she turned back to her food, she found the eyes of her two best friends on her, apparently surprised about the exchange between the two of them. It was only then that Hermione realised that so far, Fred had never asked about his notes in public. More than likely, her two thick-headed - and at times completely oblivious - friends had not even known Fred and Hermione talked from time to time.
A poke into her ribs distracted her from her thoughts. Squirming away on reflex, her head snapped back around to Fred. She wanted to glare at him again - but was caught off guard at the warmth in his hazel eyes and the soft smile he gave her. As if they were alone in the room and she was the center of the universe.
The gaze took her breath away.
“So, did you get it?”
Ridding herself of her momentary stupor, Hermione once again turned back to her breakfast - but answered nevertheless.
“Since I find it ridiculous that you ask me all the time, I will not answer this. You’ll just have to wait and see if I’ll be coming down to watch the game.”
Even though she did not look at him directly, out of the corner of her eyes Hermione could still see his smile growing wider. Of course, with her reply, she had already given the answer to his question… but seeing this smile… his smile.
Totally worth it, she thought, surprising even herself.
“I’ll make sure to keep my promise then,” Fred replied, getting up to likely leave for the Quidditch field already. He was always one of the first ones down there - and wasn’t it just telling that Hermione knew things like this about him by now?
“Hey,” she called out, once again surprising herself. Her call stopped Fred in his tracks immediately and as soon as his gaze was back on her, she gave him a mischievous grin. “Make sure to hit his nose.”
With a mock salute and a wink, Fred took a few steps backward before turning around and sprinting down the aisle.
Chuckling, Hermione finally took another bite of her food.
“What the hell was that about?”
A part of her was satisfied to find a hint of jealousy in Ron’s tone of voice. A bigger part, however, was annoyed about Ron’s question in general.
“What, Ron? Can’t I be friends with your brothers?”
Something in her voice must have at least set off Harry’s alarm bells. As Ron was about to reply, he quickly interrupted their friend and stood up.
“I think it’s about time. I need to get to the field as well. Ron, wanna come with?”
She could see the confusion on Ron’s face at such a request and had to hide a snigger at Harry’s intense gaze back as if he wanted to implant the words of warning directly into Ron’s brain. Somehow, their connection must have worked because even though he still looked confused, Ron got up without further comment and followed his friend.
“See you later, Hermione,” Harry called out and then quickly moved the two of them out the door of the Great Hall.
Chuckling once more, Hermione finished off her breakfast in peace, leaving with just enough time to arrive as the game started.
Later that day, one Draco Malfoy was found in the hospital wing with a broken nose, courtesy of Fred Weasley and a very well-placed bludger.
“Did you get my note?”
“Fred?”
Looking up, Hermione found the common room as empty as she was used to at this hour of the night, no sign of anyone. Certainly not of Fred Weasley. Not that she would have been surprised if he had used his knowledge of the Hogwarts grounds to sneak back into the castle.
“Down here,” came his voice again.
Looking over to the fireplace, Hermione was unable to hold back a peal of laughter as she saw his face in the slowly dying flames.
“Merlin’s beard, what are you doing?” she asked, unable to hide the amusement in her voice. Putting her book aside, she got up and kneeled down in front of the fireplace.
Even in the flames, she could see his eyes dancing with mirth.
“Checking in on you. You didn’t answer my note yet.”
Fond smile still on her lips, Hermione rolled her eyes. “That’s because you sent it last night and I only got it this morning. My owl is still on its way.”
“Does that mean you replied right away?”
“Don’t get cheeky on me or I’ll throw an aguamenti at the flames.”
“Sorry, sorry,” Fred hastily replied. “But waiting until your owl gets here? That sounds like torture.”
“I guess you’ll just have to get used to pain then.”
“Ouch, good one, Hermione.”
As they both chuckled, Hermione summoned one of the blankets and got comfortable in front of the flames.
“Not even a hint though?” Fred meanwhile begged. “I really wanna know if rumours are true.”
“They are,” Hermione gave in all too soon. “Flitwick pretends not to know how to get rid of the portable swamp and all the other professors play along.”
“Nice. And the part about him calling it ‘impressive magic’?”
“Fred Weasley, I will not fuel your ego.”
“So it is true.”
Shaking her head at his enthusiasm, Hermione gave in once again. “Of course it’s true, dummy. Even I think it is impressive.”
Instead of replying, Fred’s smile turned bashful and if it had not been for the flames, Hermione was sure she would have been able to see a blush on his cheeks. Showing mercy, she did not point it out. Instead, she decided to switch the topic.
“Tell me, what are your plans now, Mr Dropout?”
“Did you get my note?”
Her butterbeer went down the wrong pipe the moment the unexpected voice appeared right next to her and Hermione had to cough several times to be able to breathe again. Once she managed to, she sent daggers at the person now unexpectedly sitting next to her.
“What in Merlin’s name are you doing here?”
“Business trip,” Fred replied with a wide grin, pointing towards another table in the Three Broomsticks.
Hermione followed his direction to find George sitting there, deep in discussion with a balding elderly man.
“The shop’s running so smoothly, we’re already thinking about expanding. Maybe open another one right here in Hogsmeade.”
“Fred, that’s amazing!” Hermione exclaimed, momentarily forgetting about her annoyance.
To her big surprise, his constant grin turned a tad more demure - even shy. The way it often did whenever she would praise him in some way or another. It looked so good on him, Hermione was tempted to praise him more often.
“Thank you,” he said quietly in reply, momentarily looking down at his hands.
“In that case, shouldn’t you sit over there instead of here?”
“Oh, I will be in a sec. But I saw you sitting here, all by yourself and I thought I’d seize the moment.”
Something about that statement warmed her heart. Still, even though she knew he did not mean to point out her loneliness, she felt the need to explain.
“Harry has one of his super-secret meetings with Professor Snape and Ron…”
“Is on a date with Lav-Lav?”
Hermione did not reply to that, only pressed her lips together. When Fred spoke again, his tone of voice was different once more. Much more serious this time. And lower. A warm rumble that sent pleasant chills down Hermione’s spine.
“When will you finally see that my brother’s not good enough for you anyway?”
Looking up, Hermione found herself closer to Fred than she had thought he would be, his warm hazel eyes focused intently on her.
She was unable to pinpoint the exact moment she had found his attention focused on her like this. It was somewhere in between the Yule ball debacle in fourth year and their time together at Grimmauld Place before the start of her fifth year. Maybe it was the teal scarf she got for Christmas a few days after the ball, with a post-it note saying it was her colour.
She was even less unable to pinpoint when her feelings about his attention had changed.
It had started out with annoyance, obviously. It was no unknown fact that the Weasley twins were shameless flirts. Not in a bad way, no. As far as rumours went, they were far from being Casanovas or players or any such thing. They just liked to flirt. But Hermione had hated the attention, hoping it would pass soon.
It didn’t.
At one point, annoyance had turned to familiarity.
The notes had become such a strong part of this familiarity and finding one of them would soon make her smile and even warm her heart. She would never admit to that though, still not sure if maybe all of this was a huge game for Fred. It was a possibility after all, even though she did not think that he had anything bad in mind. A game maybe, but certainly not a ploy or a huge joke, of that she was sure.
In the sanctuary of her mind, though, she had to admit that she was missing those stupid notes this year. Now that Fred had left school… she missed them.
She missed him.
But in the end, he had found other ways to give them to her.
“Of course I got your note,” she said out of the blue. “The owl was very insistent that I take it.”
“Good,” Fred replied, not making any move to pull back.
On the contrary. Hermione had quite the feeling he was leaning in closer.
And she could not find it in herself to pull away.
She didn’t want to pull away.
A sudden call across the room halted them in their movement.
“Fred, come on. It’s getting important now.”
A soft sigh left Fred’s lips as he closed his eyes and mumbled under his breath, “Perfect timing, George.” Once he opened his eyes again, they were full of regret. “Gonna have to leave you now, love of my life. But you’ll hear from me soon.”
As Fred left, Hermione tried not to think too much about what had her heart racing the most.
His words?
His smile?
Or his mere presence?
“Did you get my note?”
Maybe it was a sign of their grown familiarity that by now Hermione did not even jump anymore as Fred let himself fall on the couch next to her. Yet, there was also a spark of her old annoyance - but for different reasons now than it had been at the beginning of their… well, whatever it was they were doing here.
Sure, the Burrow was packed with all the guests for Bill’s wedding tomorrow but that surely was no reason for Fred to sit this close.
Trying her hardest to ignore her racing heart, Hermione closed her book.
“Of course I got it,” she replied with a forced sweet voice, looking directly at him. “You taped it to my forehead while I was sleeping.”
Without warning, she smacked the book against his shoulder, satisfied when Fred yelped, most likely more in surprise than in pain, seeing how she had not hit that hard.
“How dare you come into my room while I’m asleep!”
For good measure, she smacked him once more, this one a bit harder.
Instead of taking it as the punishment it was supposed to be, however, it seemed to amuse him. A soft chuckle left him as he raised his hands in defense.
“Come on, Hermione,” he replied, still keeping his hands up to ward off any more attacks. “It’s not like I was being a creep, watching you while you were sleeping. Although I do admit, you look cute in bed.”
“Urghhh,” Hermione growled, smacking him once more.
She hoped very much that her face was not as red as she was sure it was due to the heat in her face. Or if it was, that Fred would chalk it up to her anger rather than her embarrassment of Fred seeing her in bed.
“Fred Weasley, you’re incorrigible!”
“Yes, and that’s what you love most about me,” Fred replied with an eyebrow wiggle, dodging the next smack by catching the book and taking it from her hands in one swift move.
Not letting his words get to her head, Hermione reached for the book right away but stood no chance against his long arm with which he was holding it far over his head.
“Seriously? Fred, give it back!”
In a half-hearted attempt, Hermione reached for the book again, making damn sure to keep her distance to Fred’s body. Knowing him, he would use any excuse to turn this into a flirty situation. Since she was unable to reach it this way, she sat back, crossing her arms over her chest, glaring at him.
After a moment, Fred sighed and held the book toward her, but pulled it back when she reached for it. “No more hitting,” he demanded and only let go of the book once Hermione nodded.
“Thank you,” Hermione replied. After a moment… “And thank you for your note. While your form of delivery was lacking, the note itself was… sweet.”
“Yeah?” Fred asked, eyes growing wide in wonder. “I was afraid you might think I was joking or something.”
“No,” Hermione admitted.
Sensing the heat in her cheeks growing, she let her head sink down and her bushy hair fan out around her in the hopes of covering the blush from Fred’s view.
“I know you by now, Fred Weasley. And you know... you know what would hurt me. And I know you wouldn’t say something like this in ridicule or to make fun of me so… well, the only conclusion is that you really mean it. So, thank you. It’s been a while since- well, since someone has said something this nice to me.”
“What a shame,” Fred replied, all joking gone from his tone of voice, enticing Hermione to look up again after all. When their eyes met, she was caught by the intensity of his gaze.
For how long they were looking at each other like this, she had no idea. She did not even let her eyes stray when Fred slowly raised his hand, brushing a lock of her hair away in a tender gesture. One she was not used to receiving. One she had not known Fred was capable of.
Maybe she should have, seeing how amazing he was with words as well.
When he spoke again, it was with a whisper, his hand still lingering on her hair.
“You should be told how beautiful you are every day.”
She was lost.
Lost and so damn captivated by those warm, hazel eyes.
Eyes that looked at her like she was his whole world.
A crash in the kitchen and some immediate cursing had them jumping apart. All of a sudden, it was as if their little bubble had been burst, all the noises of the Burrow crashing back in on them, footsteps drawing closer, laughter ringing around the house, conversations close by.
It was all a bit much and while she could still hear Fred swearing, Hermione got up, book in front of her chest as if it was her shield. She took a few steps, only to stop short, turn back around - and her voice stuck in her throat. She wanted to say something - anything - but she had no idea what it would be.
His eyes were glued to hers so full of wonder and… something more. Her heart was still racing and he seemed just as breathless.
And speechless.
They were both frozen for an endless moment until Hermione finally turned around for good, rushing away from the room.
“Did you get my note?”
Hermione’s head snapped up from where it had rested on the side of the hospital bed. For just a bare moment, she was without orientation in the dark room. But right away, her vision cleared, focusing on the occupant of the bed. A relieved huff bubbled out of her as she saw his eyes opened - barely, to be honest, but open nevertheless - and focused on her.
“Fred,” she breathed out as she got out of the chair to quickly get closer to him. “You made it.” She could feel tears well up in her eyes but did not move to brush them as she took his hand in both of hers, holding it close to her lips as she whispered, “You gave us such a scare.”
Gently, she pressed a kiss to his fingers as she sank down on the side of his bed.
“Sorry ‘bout that,” Fred whispered back, his voice barely audible. “The others?”
“We won,” Hermione assured him right away. “We… we had a few losses. But none of your family. And Harry’s fine as well.”
With her admission of their losses, Hermione let her tears run freely. She had kept it together for so long now and she was tired. So tired of it all and of being strong and keeping it together.
“Where are they?”
“George is right here,” Hermione told him with a nod to the other end of his bed where his twin was sprawled in a chair, softly snoring. “And your mum and Harry are over there,” she went on, nodding to the bed on the other wall, directly across from Fred’s.
They too had passed out at some point, Harry still gripping Ginny’s hand, even in his sleep.
“Ginny got hurt as well but she’ll be fine. The others are either catching up on sleep or helping around the castle and with the injured ones. We took turns sitting by your and Ginny’s side. I’ll go wake George and your mum now and tell the rest.”
“Wait,” Fred said, catching her hand as she made to loosen her grip and get up. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Fred, your family-”
“Can wait for a moment longer. Please, Hermione.”
Looking down at him, at his honest gaze, his warm eyes, and soft lips, Hermione decided that he was right. They could wait for just a second longer.
Without further hesitation, she leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips, careful not to hurt him. A soft gasp of surprise escaped him before Fred responded to the kiss. Eager. Careful. Desperate.
All too soon, Hermione pulled back, her conscience not letting her enjoy this moment for too long, knowing his family was as worried about Fred as she herself had been.
As she slowly pulled back, she let her forehead rest against his, then pulled back further, just far enough to be able to look at him clearly.
“Yes, I got your note,” she whispered, pulling out the now crumpled paper she had received while the trio had been hiding at Grimmauld Place, so many months ago.
Dear Love of my Life,
I hope this finds you well. I know you never fully believed that I was serious about my intentions for you. But I guess you will agree that even for me, the time for joking is over. So maybe you will believe me now when I say:
I love you!
I have fallen so deeply in love with you, it rips me apart not to be with you right now. But I will wait for you, be it weeks or months or even years. When all this is over, I hope you will give me a chance to show you just how serious I am about you. About us.
Forever yours,
The Incorrigible One
Leaning down once more, Hermione brushed another kiss to Fred’s lips.
“I missed you too. Of course, I’ll give us a chance. Because I’ve fallen for you too.”
The smile that spread over Fred’s face was the most beautiful she had seen yet. Returning it, she gave his lips one last peck and his hand one last squeeze, before finally leaving his side to inform his family that Fred had pulled through the night.
“Did you get my note?”
Fred looked up in confusion.
“Ehm, no?”
“Seriously, honey,” Hermione admonished, leaning over the back of the sofa to press a kiss to his cheek. “I am so much better at finding your notes than you will ever be.”
With a cheeky grin, she moved towards the floo and Fred could not help but let his eyes wander over her body. Over three years together and he was still crazy about this witch. Caught up in a dirty daydream, it took Fred a moment to realise that Hermione was grabbing a handful of floo powder and tossed it into the fireplace.
Right before stepping in, she turned back towards him with a shit-eating grin.
“You better hurry. Once you have it, come and find me.”
The next moment, she had called out for the Burrow, stepped into the fireplace, and was gone on a whoosh.
“What the-?”
Contemplating for a moment what to do - follow her right away, search the note, ignore it all? - he quickly scrambled up to start his hunt for a note. Knowing her, the Burrow was just a trick and she would be long gone again from there before he even arrived.
Looking around the living room of their cottage on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, he contemplated where to start. Plan in mind, he moved over to their library.
It took him three tries and about ten minutes, but in the end, he found her note in the photo album of their first vacation together. He had seen her browse it last night and now it was not in its rightful place. So after checking in their two favorite books - Hogwarts: A History for Hermione and The Hobbit for Fred - this was his third option.
Quickly, he took out the note and unfolded it.
Dear Love of my Life,
I cannot even begin to tell you how happy I am that we not only found each other but that you never gave up on chasing me. I love you and I know I always will. If you are as sure about that as I am, come and find me.
I’ll be waiting for you.
Forever yours,
Hermione
PS: I will never forget any of our firsts ;)
Right away, Fred thought of their first date and the restaurant they had gone to. He was halfway into an apparation spin - when he realised that the wording might have been a bit off for that. Reading the postscript again, he thought through all the firsts he could.
Until his gaze wandered back to the photo album and a huge smile spread across his lips. Surely, Hermione would not run off to Denmark right now, but he still remembered where he had surprised her with the idea of going there for their first holiday as a couple.
Not hesitating a moment longer, he turned on the spot, apparating right to the little meadow about a mile away from the Burrow.
Turning around, his smile grew wider as he saw Hermione standing there, surrounded by the blooming wildflowers, her smile brighter than the sun shining above them.
“I knew you wouldn’t keep me waiting,” she said in greeting, reaching out both hands for him to take.
And take them he did, without an ounce of hesitation.
“It was a good one though. Took me a moment. So… what’s all this about?”
He simply had to ask, even though a small voice in the back of his mind told him he knew exactly what was about to happen. But he did not want to get his hopes up too much. Maybe he was dreaming.
But if he was, he never wanted to wake up. For Hermione was gazing up at him with so much love in her eyes that it made him drunk on happiness.
“Fred Weasley, you’re the most chaotic, most annoying, and most incorrigible fool I have ever met in my life.”
“Wow, thanks,” he replied with a cheeky grin, pressing a quick kiss to her lips.
Hermione didn’t let him distract her for long. “But you’re also the most wonderful, loving, smart, funny, and simply amazing person. And you’re crazy hot, so that’s a plus as well.”
This time, he huffed out a laugh that made Hermione smile even wider - probably because she knew how he loved it when she made it clear how much she desired him.
“While I know that there will be days I’ll want to kill you; or days I know you will flee from all my talking and general pushy behaviour; I still know that I simply cannot fathom a future without you in it.”
This time, Fred’s laughter was accompanied by the first prickling of tears in his eyes and he swallowed hard. Merlin, he loved this woman so much. They weren’t perfect, and true, sometimes they were at each other’s throats. But by God, he would love her until the day he died and he knew she felt the same about him.
“So, I want to ask you,” Hermione continued, tears welling up in her eyes as well. “Fred Weasley, will you marry me?”
His lips found hers before she had even fully finished her question, hands letting go of each other as he cupped her face, her fingers digging into his chest instead.
“Yes,” he breathed out between kisses. “A thousand times yes.”
In the years to come, not once, not ever, did they stop leaving notes for each other. Even for the simple reminder of I love you.
