Two Can Keep a Secret

Chapter 7- The Talk

Fred and George were showing off some new inventions in the court yard after a DA lesson when Professor Umbridge stopped them with a flick of her wand. Fred folded his arms and glared at her as he started to go after her. Somebody pulled him back though, and he looked down and saw that it was Hermione. The other students around them looked disappointed, but they were starting to disappear.

"She'll only put you into detention again. I don't want her slicing up your hand again," Hermione muttered, grimacing at the memory.

George was standing next to Fred, and Fred grinned at him. "She cares," he said teasingly, looking back at Hermione.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm going to the library," she said with a huff, though she held Fred's gaze a little longer as she said that. She had no intention of going to the library, but most people didn't try to look for her when she went there.

Fred caught what she meant and looked at his twin. "I'm going to look up some stuff for our inventions. I'll see you at dinner?" he asked as he started to walk away.

It was George's turn to roll his eyes this time. "You don't have to keep secrets from me. I know there's something going on. I'm not going to tell anybody," he answered, glancing at both of them.

"There's nothing going on," Hermione answered truthfully.

Fred nodded in response. They had kissed on Christmas day that evening, but they hadn't had a chance to talk about it yet. He hoped that this meant that they would finally talk about it.

"Whatever," George said, though he grinned at Fred to show that he wasn't really annoyed.

Fred's attention returned to Hermione when George walked away. "You want to go for a walk?" he asked her.

Hermione nodded. "Yeah... let's go by the lake though. Nobody will bother us there at this time of the night," she answered.

It was starting to get dark out then, though Fred didn't care. He didn't let curfew keep him from doing what he wanted to do, unless if they were dire circumstances. He actually followed it when students were being petrified and when Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban. Professor Umbridge's detentions didn't scare him though.

They started walking toward the lake quietly, and Fred moved closer and reached for her hand. He was pleased when she wrapped her fingers in his. When they reached the lake, they sat down next to a tree. Silence formed between them and Fred cleared his throat nervously before he began speaking. "We need to talk about the kiss."

Hermione hesitated when he said that, though she nodded. "We kissed more than once that night," she pointed out, grinning.

A chuckle escaped Fred's lips as he ran a hand through his hair. "That we did." He gazed down at her seriously. "I just want you to know that those kisses meant something to me. I didn't see it as a onetime thing."

Hermione squeezed his hand lightly when he said that. "They meant something to me too," she admitted shyly. Fred grinned as his stomach flipped when she said that. "But that scares me," she finished finally.

Fred gave her a questioning look. "Why does that scare you?" he asked her gently.

She shrugged her shoulders. "They scare me for lots of reasons. You're older than me. We're complete opposites. We've already fought loads of times. And I've never felt this way about anybody before. I really like you."

Fred laughed softly before answering. "Well, they say girls mature quicker than guys do. We're probably on the same maturity level. I am a kid at heart still though. I don't know if you noticed, but I love pranks and jokes." He paused as they laughed together.

"Age doesn't bother me. Sometimes opposites attract each other and help balance the other person. I could make you laugh more and loosen you up, and you can show me when to be serious. I think we fought so much before because you were trying to ignore your feelings for me," he added, winking at her. This caused Hermione to roll her eyes at him and to smack him lightly. "And for the last part... I've never felt this way about anybody before either. So we'd both be new at that."

He reached up and ran a hand through her hair lightly before placing a kiss on her forehead. "I really like you too. I think we should go out on a date and see where this leads," he finished. Fred studied Hermione's expression as she sighed and looked off somewhere across the lake.

"I don't know, Fred. I just... don't want everybody knowing that we're dating. I hated the publicity I got when I was dating Viktor last year," she said, shuddering at the memories.

Fred narrowed his eyes at the mention of Viktor's name, though he decided not to say anything about that. Ron often got jealous of Viktor, and those two usually ended up fighting over it. "Yeah, but I'm not Viktor. I'm not a famous Quidditch Seeker. I might run a joke shop one day-" Sooner than she knew, he added silently to himself. "But at the end of the day, I'll still just be Fred Weasley."

"Who happens to be an older brother of one of Harry Potter's best friends," Hermione reminded him.

That thought hadn't occurred to Fred, and he winced. "Blimey," he cursed, kicking at a rock. He could see what Hermione meant.

"And if we date, all eyes would be on us because I'm Harry Potter's other best friend," Hermione said. "We're in a war. You-Know-Who could use you because he'd know that you were close to Harry through me. I couldn't bear the thought of him torturing you. He's already gotten Ginny once."

Fred wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on hers. "What if we dated in secret?" he asked a few moments later. His eyes lit up as sat up. "We could date and not tell anybody about it. I'd eventually have to tell George because he's my twin, but we could make it work!" Fred said as he looked down at her.

"We'd be living a lie," Hermione said quietly. "Could you do that? Could you lie to everybody you care about? I don't know if I could keep this from Harry and Ron."

Fred thought about it for a few moments. "If George knew, I could live with it. I can't keep secrets from him, but I could keep it a secret from everybody else. Especially if it meant that I got to be with you." He lifted her chin and kissed her slowly.

Hermione pulled away after a moment. "Is this what you really want?" she asked him seriously.

Fred's answer came without thinking twice about it. "Yes. It's what I want," he said in a determined voice.

Hermione sighed, though she studied his expression again. She ran a hand through his hair before nodding finally. "Ok. I'll go on a date with you," she answered finally.

Fred's heart leaped in his chest when she said that, and he couldn't stop grinning.

"George can know...but I don't want anybody else knowing. We're already going to be figuring us out ourselves, and there's You-Know-Who..." she trailed off as Fred hugged her.

"That's all right. One date is all I ask for," Fred said happily. He already couldn't wait until he told George about this!

Hermione laughed as she shook her head. "I have no idea what I'm in for, do I?" she asked, as her eyes danced.

Fred shook his head. "No. You really don't. You're in for an adventure." He wagged his eyebrows up and down before he laughed and took her hand. "Come on. We should get back. I don't want you to get in trouble by Professor Umbridge or anybody else. I've got a short cut."

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A/N: Thanks for reading!!