Weasley Charm | Fred Weasley

Chapter 5-15: The Christmas Star

"Hermione, wake up," Delaney whispered, gently shaking Hermione's shoulder.

"Delaney? What time is it?" Hermione asked, rolling on her side to look at Delaney.

"It's a quarter till eight. The train leaves in forty-five minutes, remember?" said Delaney, walking over to her trunk.

"Ugh, I despise getting up when it's cold out," Hermione groaned, throwing the covers off of herself and getting out of bed. She quickly walked over to her trunk and threw on a jumper and a pair of jean trousers.

Delaney had already gotten dressed before she woke Hermione. She had woken up just before sunrise, not on purpose like she had on Christmas though. The truth was she was worried, she hadn't heard any update about Mr. Weasley or anything from Fred.

Nonetheless, it was finally time for the girls to ride the train back to Headquarters. The walk seemed much longer than it had in the past years, likely from the cold temperatures, but Delaney thought it was also because she didn't have Fred with her. He would always come up with these off-the-wall things to talk about on the long walks to and from the castle.

"Do you want to sit in this one? It appears this is the only other one empty." Hermione pointed to the open compartment next to them.

"Yeah, why not?" Delaney shrugged. They walked in and sat down across from each other just as the train began to pull out of the station. Delaney pulled out one of her books from the extra bag she brought and began reading.

"So, how long?" Hermione asked, giving Delaney a skeptical glance.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, looking up from her book with furrowed brows.

"How long have you and Fred been shacking up?" Hermione asked, now raising one of her eyebrows with a knowing smirk.

"How do you-" Delaney began.

"Oh please, it's not that hard to piece together. You two suddenly disappear in the night and 'go to sleep' in the early hours. You two are lucky if you go to sleep by eleven every night," she chuckled.

Delaney exhaled, "The first time we did anything was at Headquarters but the first time we did everything was my birthday."

"I'm guessing George knows."

"He's covered for us a few times," Delaney nodded. She oddly felt relieved now that Hermione knew and it wasn't this big secret that she and Fred had hooked up. "Hermione, do the others know?"

"Oh please, you'll have to actually spell it out for Harry and Ron because let's face it, they can be a bit thick sometimes," she chuckled. "I think Ginny suspects it like I did but she doesn't know for sure. Wait," she paused. "If you've done it twice and both times were around people, how did no one you know. . . hear?"

"Oh, remember those Muffliato charms?" she chuckled.

"Of course! Why didn't I think of that?" Hermione said as if a light bulb went off in her head.

"Probably because you aren't shagging Ronald, so you don't have to think about it, "Delaney chuckled.

Hermione's face went beat red, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh please, everyone can see that you fancy each other. Both of you are just too chicken to do anything about it," Delaney countered.

"I don't want to talk about this right now." Hermione shook her head.

"Alright, suit yourself. But we will talk about it another time," she grinned. "But tell me, are there any other guys that have caught your attention?"

A blush crept on Hermione's cheeks, "Well, I have kept in touch with Victor Krum a bit. I saw him over the summer before I got to Headquarters."