Weasley and Granger

Chapter 42: Valentines Day

Soon Valentine's Day arrived, and as Hermione came down to the Gryffindor common room, she saw love heart shaped parchment charmed to fly around the room, and there was couples everywhere sitting with each other.

Thanks to some miracle, Valentine's Day had fallen on a weekend where the students were allowed to visit Hogsmede. There was snow in the sky and it was coming down in a flurry.  When Hermione came down stairs to the front doors of Hogwarts, many other students were already walking through them in a rush to get to Hogsmede.

But Hermione beamed with excited as she saw Fred standing to the side of the door, with a beanie pulled over his head and a large knitted sweater that was clearly made by Mrs Weasley. He was standing next to his twin, and they were obviously telling jokes because Hermione could see them laughing their heads off.

As she walked closer to them, she could feel the chill from outside already. For that, she was glad that she had on a thick scarf, a warm coat, her beanie, winter snow boots and even gloves on her hands.

When she was only a couple of metres away, Fred turned and their eyes met. His face lit up only like a Christmas tree would. He opened his arms wide and Hermione ran into them. He whispered into her ear, as he pulled her closer, "You look beautiful."

This only made her cheeks turn as red as Fred's hair, an effect that was common for her when she was around him. From there, Fred and Hermione's day seemed to fly by.

They went to Hogsmede, hand in hand together, and their first stop was Zonko's joke shop. The second home to the Weasley's. This was part of Fred sharing his world more to Hermione. They went around the shop, with Fred pointing out all the things that he loved seeing the most, and he really couldn't help himself. By the time they walked out of there, Fred was carrying a heavy bag of products that he 'just couldn't go on without'.

From there, the pair spent most of the day sitting in a booth together, in the Three Broomsticks. Well, there wasn't a lot of talking. Just Fred wrapping his body around Hermione and kissing her.

If the universe thought that Hermione's smile could be wider, it was wrong. She giggled, laughed and loved the way that she felt adored by Fred. While he loved to adore her.

They almost resembled a ying and yang sitatuion. One being the rule following bookworm while the other was a rule breaking prankster. One Valentine's Day was enough.

It was enough to give them a break from their lives, their responsibilities (even the little few that Fred had), and their fears for the future.

For Hermione her fears included the fate of Harry and how involved with Voldemort he was, her future as a witch, being able to protect the people that she cared about and the innocent. She wanted to make her parents proud, she wanted the praise from her teachers like she did every year, she wanted the good grades, most recently she wanted to pass her OWLS. With Fred she was able to let some of those things go, it was a strange phonomonom that he was able to bring out in her.

With Fred, his dream was to open a shop with George and to sell their products to not only the students at Hogwarts but to witches, wizards and all sorts of creatures who enjoyed the mischief that magic was able to create. With Hermione, she made him pay more attention to the important details of life. But this just made him notice the details about her.

The way she scrunched up her nose when she would read something that felt off to her. The way her eyes twinkled when she had done something right, or even when the light hit her right and she was smiling shyly at Fred. The way she would roll her eyes when someone had done something stupid, normally when he and George were going to get caught doing something they shouldn't have nessecerily done.

Valentines Day, was a day that Fred tried to get Hermione's mind, and his distracted. From the truth. The harsh truth that out there, out in their world was the 'Dark Lord'. Someone that was against anyone who wasn't a pure blood wizard.

Someone who had no fear of killing others. Someone who was prepared to cross lines, end lives and do whatever it takes to get what he wants.

So that's what he did. Fred made Hermione laugh and smile and forget all about the tough world they live in.

Because on that day, they were just teenagers. On a date. On Valentines Day. In love. Young love, and isn't that the best kind?