You belong with me

Chapter 9: The first date

"We should do a scavenger hunt type of date!" Hermione said suddenly as her eyes lit up at the thought.

Fred frowned as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "A scavenger hunt date? What's that?"

"You know, where one person gets to surprise the other by picking one activity, and then the other gets to choose the other, and so on."

He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "That's not a bad idea...you since it's your brilliant idea, you get the first pick."

Hermione blinked. She hadn't expected being forced to choose first. "Oh... uh. I'm not good with coming up with actual date things... you should go first," she stuttered.

Fred chuckled. "Come on, surely you can think of something. You're Hermione Granger."

Hermione turned pink at his words. "Oh. Um...ok." She looked around nervously. What on earth was she going to come up with at this time of the night?

Fred gave her a pleased smug.

"Oh, stop giving me that look. You're making me nervous!"

"I know."

Hermione glared at him before she sighed. "Follow me."

"And where are we going?"

"The surprise is part of the date, is it not?"

She wandered toward the kitchens and an idea began to formulate in her mind. Fred tried to ask her questions about where they were going a few times, but she shushed him each time. Merlin, he was impatient.

Fred's eyes widened when they arrived to the portrait that lead to the kitchens. "Hang on," he said slowly. "You're trying to rope me into that S.P.E.W. stuff again, aren't you?" he exclaimed, horrorstruck. "You're my girlfriend but I still think they are happier how they are right now."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh, honestly. This has nothing to do with S.P.E.W. Though you could be more open minded about that. I thought we agreed to disagree about that for now though."

"If this doesn't have to do with anything for S.P.E.W. then why are we here?"

Hermione's eyes sparkled with mischief. "We're here to cook food."

Fred stumbled in surprise. "C...cook? As in actual food? We have house elves to do this though."

"But cooking is fun!" Hermione argued.

"You've never tasted my cooking. I can't even boil water!" Fred argued, panicking.

Hermione giggled at the look on his face. "Relax. This'll be fun," she said.

"Fun," Fred whispered in a hollow voice. "FUN!! I almost set fire at our house when we were nine-years old."

"So? You were 9. Think of it as a potions lesson. You are good at potions, right?" She grabbed his arm and lead him in.

"But... but-" Fred sighed, feeling helpless. He had a feeling this would be a disaster.

"We can't use magic?" Fred moaned as Hermione shook her head.

"Come on, this'll be fun. We can cook each other's favorite dishes. I'll give you an easy dish, macaroni and cheese."

"But... you have to boil water for that," Fred moaned. He really hated boiling water. It wasn't like potions at all. Why did it have to get so bubbly and hot? He hated it when it sprayed at him too when he tried to check on it.

Dobby the elf walked over to him and grinned. "I'll help you, sir!"

"Can he help me? Please, Hermione. Pleaaaase."

Hermione frowned at this. He knew she didn't like the idea of Dobby doing extra work. "I suppose he can assist you in this. But only assist. Don't make him do all of the work for you."

**

Fred was feverishly stirring noodles into a pot when it exploded and sent several noodles flying into the air. His face was covered with ashes, and Hermione had covered her mouth to giggle slightly.

He frowned at her. "You think this is funny?"

She giggled and shook her head quickly. "No! I... your face! The look on it was just priceless." She dissolved into giggles again, and the house elves around them exchanged small smiles.

Fred's eyes gleamed mischievously as he wandered over to her and peered into her bowl. "What's this you're baking?"

"Chocolate chip cookies," Hermione answered, barely able to contain her laughter.

He looked thoughtful as he picked up the spoon. "I wonder what this would look like on your face..."

Hermione's eyes widened in shock when she realized what he was about to do. "Fred, no. I promise I'll stop laughing, I-" she gasped when he flicked a spoonful of batter at her.

"You look cute with cookie dough on your face," Fred said with a grin on his face.

"Yeah? Well...I think you'll look good with some... on your hair!" Hermione scooped up a handful of it and plunged it on top of his head.

"Oh, no you did not just put some in my hair..." He quickly grabbed some dough and Hermione backed away, laughing. "Yeah, you better run," he said as she took off.

Damn, that girl was fast on her feet. He couldn't find her for a good five minutes, and when he did she was hiding in a small cupboard on the floor.

She held her hands up in mock surrender when he found her and his face softened. He motioned for her to stand up and helped her up on her feet. His arms wrapped around her and he kissed her forehead lightly.

Hermione relaxed in his arms and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

Fred couldn't explain the emotions that were going through him then. He just knew he had never felt this content or happy before...and he knew it was because of her. He couldn't put it into words at all. He closed his eyes. He wanted to hold onto this moment a little longer.

But it wasn't his style to give up a good competition. He opened her eyes and looked down at her face before he smashed the cookie dough in her hair.

Hermione squealed when she realized what he did. "FRED!"

He laughed when he ducked as she tried to smack him. She tried to pull away from him, but he pulled her close to him.

She glared up at him, but he lowered his head to kiss her lips. He tried to show how he felt for her through the kiss. Hermione moved closer to him and kissed him back deeply.

When they pulled away he gave her an affectionate look. "Best first date ever," he murmured.

Hermione giggled. "But our cooking and baking attempts failed tonight."

"So? It was still the best first date ever."

Hermione's eyes danced as she looked up at him. "Yeah... it was. We should clean up our mess now."

A/N: Thanks for reading! I own nothing you recognize.