Just A Harmless Joke

Chapter 22: Epilogue

The student body of Hogwarts, for once, had no idea what had happened. They couldn't even begin to come up with any idea what the truth about Fred and Hermione's past and present relationship was, and neither of them was willing to share. So Fred and Hermione just sort of went from the most talked-about couple to the most confusing couple at Hogwarts, and, in time, they all decided to leave it at that.

Harry did shout quite a bit at them both when they went to apologize for the whole near-death thing on the Quidditch pitch, but he was so relieved that their fight was over that he couldn't stay angry for long. He gave them his blessing, and so did Ron (though slightly more reluctantly), which surprised both Fred and Hermione. Ginny, of course, was ecstatic for them, and Lee and George were so grateful for an end to the miniature war that to celebrate they threw a party in the common room that became one of the best in Gryffindor history.

Fred and Hermione spent the next month in detention, thanks to Snape (who became even more vindictive after the Stunning incident) and their inability to keep their hands off of each other. They used the time to talk, get to know each other more, and grow even closer as the school's bathrooms grew cleaner than they'd ever been before. For the rest of the school year, Fred could be seen walking her to classes and carrying her books (which was no easy task when it came to Hermione) and Hermione could be seen laughing at his jokes and occasionally even helping him with some rule-breaking scheme.

She spent most of the following summer at the Burrow with Fred or at the joke shop he and George opened upon leaving Hogwarts, though she made it a point to spend plenty of time with Harry, Ron and Ginny as well. When term started again, Fred, who had completed his final year, became quite depressed and Hermione felt his absence as well. Fred's solution to this was to sneak into Hogwarts, which almost got him killed. Security spells were high, thanks to Voldemort, so three minutes after he'd arrived in Hermione's dormitory through the window, McGonagall, Snape, Dumbledore and half a dozen other teachers burst in on them, certain that a Death Eater had broken in. While Fred smiled and waved, Hermione nearly died of embarrassment. Dumbledore decided to remedy their loneliness (and prevent any more false alarms) by giving Fred permission to visit the school during the day on weekends, and this cheered both Hermione and Fred greatly.

By the time the Christmas holidays rolled around, Fred and Hermione had never been more attached to each other. Even Ginny was starting to make gagging sounds whenever she saw them together. Hermione and Fred agreed to cool it a little over the holidays to spare their friends, and as such they decided to get together before Harry, Ron and Ginny also returned to the Burrow for Christmas.

Hermione, having turned seventeen during September of her sixth year (and therefore able to use magic), decided to forgo the Hogwarts Express trip on the last day of holidays, and she Apparated straight to the Burrow to spend some much-needed alone time with Fred. Fred met her in the snow-covered garden and kissed her hello.

"About bloody time we got some alone time together," Fred grumbled. "Hogwarts has way too many students. Although our experiences with people walking in on us has led George and I to trying to invent a new locking spell. A more foolproof one."

"Well, at least it's just the two of us now," Hermione said, smiling. "Unless—are your parents home?"

"No, no, Dad's at work and Mum's visiting friends of hers," Fred said dismissively. "I thought we might go out, though, you know? We've only ever been to Hogsmeade together on dates. Maybe we could go to Diagon Alley or something—hey! Where are we going?"

Hermione had seized his hand and begun marching towards the house. "To be alone together," she told him with a mischievous grin. Fred was so startled he nearly fell over, but he caught himself quickly. Hermione dragged him through the house and up to his room. After she shut the door behind them, it didn't reopen for hours. (Well, unless you count those few seconds when they realized George was in the room, and they were forced to ask him politely to leave—i.e., Hermione drew her wand and marched him out of the room like a pirate brandishing a sword at a prisoner walking the plank.)