Work Text:
In the name of love
When Ginny stops by at the twins’ store in Diagon Alley on a Monday afternoon, she only finds George. George is being frustratingly vague about Fred’s whereabouts and she can’t get anything out of him. Annoyed at her brother’s behaviour, she leaves the store a short five minutes later, huffing and frowning. The only other time George hasn’t told her where Fred is was when Fred was on a date and he didn’t want Ginny to tease him. And she only got that out of him after a fair amount of Firewhisky shots.
So, Ginny comes to the conclusion that Fred must be on a date.
It turns out she’s not wrong. It’s just completely different than she (or any of the Weasleys) expected.
-
Tuesday evening is an evening like any other. When Hermione gets home, Fred has a cup of tea ready for her and he’s on the sofa waiting for her. George is in the kitchen making dinner because, let’s be honest, Fred can’t cook to save his life and he knows it. After one failed date where he had attempted to make them dinner and it had ended with Hermione putting out the fire on the stove with her wand and ordering Thai for dinner.
She doesn’t mind that Fred can’t cook – she lives with both twins and fortunately, George can cook so there’s always dinner on the table when she gets home. Fred knows she loves a good cup of tea when she gets home and always makes sure it’s exactly the way she likes it – with a swish of milk and two sugars.
“Hey darling, how was work today?” Fred asks. He looks tired, Hermione thinks, like he had an extremely busy day at the shop. He holds out her favourite mug and she takes it from him, setting down her briefcase and taking a long sip of her tea with her eyes closed. When she swallows, she feels like she can breathe again.
“Very busy,” she finally answers Fred and she kisses his cheek as a greeting. It never fails to make him blush just a little bit and she loves it. Fred is rarely shy or embarrassed, and he’s usually the one to initiate public affection but he’s still not used to Hermione being the one to show affection. Of course, he knows she loves him, but she doesn’t often show it in physical touches. “Ron had an incident with a Muggle girl in central London and they had me sort it out and it took ages.”
Fred rolls his eyes at the mention of his younger brother. “That does sound like Ron. You’ve been sorting out his messes since your first year at Hogwarts, I’m not surprised.”
Hermione chuckles. “Your brother isn’t that bad. He’s just still not really used to Muggles and tends to use non-Muggle words around them and today, it escalated.” Fred throws her a dark look as she shakes off her coat and pulls the elastic out of her hair, letting the curls spring free from her bun. Before he can say anything else about Ron, she asks “And how was your day? You look tired, was it busier than usual?”
Fred sinks back into the couch and sighs. “Apparently a lot of people misunderstood the date on those flyers we released for the launch of our new Wonder Witch range. They all thought it was today and they flooded the shop and drove Verity almost insane with all kinds of questions. We had to send her home early so we were one man short.”
Hermione sits down next to him, placing her hand in his. “At least dinner’s almost ready.” Fred smiles at her as George calls from the kitchen that the spaghetti is ready. They eat as they chat about their days and Hermione recounts the story of Ron and the Muggle girl, much to the twins’ amusement.
“Oh, by the way,” George says, stuffing a forkful of spaghetti in his mouth, “Ginny stopped by yesterday.”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Hermione scolds him and he rolls his eyes.
“Yes, mum. Ginny stopped by yesterday when you two were on your mysterious date.”
“What did she want?” Fred asks, glancing sideways at Hermione when he remembers he has his mouth full but she doesn’t comment on it.
“She wanted to know where you were,” he shrugs. “Don’t know if she wanted something from you but she wasn’t happy when she left.”
Fred snorts. “Of course. Don’t ever tell her I said this, but she’s even nosier than mum sometimes.”
“If I were you, I’d give her a satisfactory explanation soon before she starts digging,” George suggests.
“Why can’t we just tell her?” Hermione asks, her fork paused halfway between her plate and her mouth.
“Telling Ginny is telling Mum and Fleur,” Fred explains, putting down his fork. “They will start planning a wedding, I tell you.”
“So we start with the boys,” Hermione says. “George knows and Molly hasn’t stopped by yet.”
“’Mione, are you sure about this? We’re a loud bunch, especially on Sunday dinners and Christmas,” Fred warns.
“Oh please, I’ve handled Ron and Harry for years,” she huffs. “I can handle you two on a daily basis. I can definitely handle Molly.”
“She’s got a point,” George says, mouth full of spaghetti again.
“Shut up,” Fred says, smacking his twin. “If you’re sure, ‘Mione.”
“I am. Trust me.” She smiles at him and intertwines their hands. “Besides, I’m tired of not being able to tell Harry and Ginny about us and exchange embarrassing stories about our significant others. Merlin knows we got plenty of those.”
“Should we tell them separately or just all at once?” Fred ponders out loud.
“All at once,” George says loudly. “Unless you think our dear siblings can keep their mouths shut around mum.”
“He’s probably right,” Hermione replies, “We could do it at Sunday dinner this week.”
-
On Sunday, Molly is pleasantly surprised Hermione shows up. She’s been inviting her to Sunday dinner since the end of the war, but Hermione has only shown up about three times. It’s not that she doesn’t like Sunday dinners, but she had a pretty boring life before Fred and there was really nothing to tell at the dinner table, whereas the other Weasleys all had exciting stories and tales to share.
Fred and Hermione made the deal last night to wait with their announcement until after dinner so no one (Ron) could choke on food in shock. It was a real possibility, as Fred assured her. Hermione, having spent pretty much every meal time at Hogwarts with Ron, believed him immediately.
“Hermione dear, it’s so good to see you!” Molly exclaims when she Apparates just outside the Burrow, Fred and George right behind her.
“Hi Molly.” She embraces the older woman shortly before moving inside the house as Molly hugs the twins and scolds them for not stopping by more often. She imagines Fred rolling his eyes behind her back and smiles. When she looks back for a second, she sees George trying to free himself from his mother’s grasp and Fred, having escaped her already, rolling his eyes as she predicted. She shakes her head fondly as she greets Ginny.
“Hermione, I haven’t seen you in ages!” Ginny exclaims. “You should come over more often!”
“Well, she will be coming over more often,” Fred chimes in and Hermione gives him a warning look. “Because-“ There’s a long silence when Fred forgets his train of thought and Hermione spots the panicked look on his face. Knowing Fred, he probably forgot they would wait until after dinner.
“Because what, Fred?” Ginny asks. The look on her face resembles Molly’s at her worst and Fred’s face shows how scared he still is of his little sister. Hermione secretly thinks it’s kind of funny.
“Because-“ He looks desperately at Hermione and she gives him an amused smile, trying to convey the message that he got himself in this mess and he should fix it himself.
“Because they’re dating,” George yells from somewhere in the house, probably the kitchen. Ginny’s mouth fall open in stunned silence and Hermione pulls out her wand and rounds on George, but he’s nowhere to be seen.
“Jerk,” she mumbles, putting her wand back in her jeans pocket.
It’s almost unnaturally silent in the Burrow when Ginny asks “Is it true, Hermione? Are you and Fred dating?” She looks over to Fred, who is uncharacteristically quiet and frozen in place.
Hermione smiles bravely, taking Fred’s hand in her own and answer with a clear “Yes.”
This seems to nudge Fred back into action, who pulls her into his side. “Yes, we are. We were actually going to wait until after dinner in case ickle Ronniekins was in danger of choking on his food, but George had other plans.” He shoots his twin, who’s sneaked back into the living room, a dark look. George doesn’t look apologetic in the least when he mumbles a quick sorry.
The first to go over to them is, unsurprisingly, Charlie. Hermione has a suspicion that he knew all along or that either of the twins told him a while ago, because all he does is welcome Hermione to the family officially and give her a hug. Bill and Fleur are next, Fleur already looking way too excited about a possible future wedding and blabbering about flowers and dresses. “Ignore her, just take it as slow as you want,” Bill whispers in her ear as he hugs her and Hermione remembers why Bill is her favourite. “And you,” he adds, releasing Hermione and pointing a finger at Fred, “you better take good care of her or I will know where to find you.”
“I second that,” Charlie calls and Harry waves a hand in agreement as well.
Hermione chuckles at them and says “He’s treating me just fine, guys. Besides, I’m perfectly capable of handling myself with a wand.” Ron shudders at the memory of the little birds that attacked him in sixth year and Harry grins to himself.
Percy congratulates them in his usual stiff manner, but she appreciates it nonetheless.
Ron and Harry both warn Fred that they know where to find him should he ever do anything to hurt Hermione. “I’m your brother, aren’t you supposed to be threatening her?” Fred whines but he intertwines his fingers with Hermione’s and squeezes gently.
Ron and Harry share a look before chorusing a loud “No.”
Ginny recovers from her shock next, wrapping Hermione in a tight, crushing hug. “Oh Merlin, I can’t believe we’re finally going to be actual sisters!” She keeps squealing in Hermione’s ear until Harry gently pulls her away and steers her towards the kitchen.
“What do you think, mum?” George asks from his place in the corner of the room, where he has been hiding in hopes of not getting beaten by Hermione. He seems to think he’s safe now, but Hermione isn’t quite ready to let him get away with it yet.
“You,” she says in a threatening tone to George, “I will get you back later.” He cowers back just as Molly enters the room.
“What do I think about what, Georgie?”
“About me and Hermione dating,” Fred answers and Molly, like Ginny not too long ago, freezes in place and her mouth drops open.
“That’s nice, Fred,” Arthur says distractedly, studying the Muggle toaster Harry bought him for his birthday last week.
“Are you saying that Hermione is finally a part of the family?” Molly says breathlessly and when Fred nods, it’s not Hermione but Fred she hugs first. “Oh Freddie, you finally did something right!” she exclaims and Hermione bursts out laughing at the downright offended look on his face.
“Mum, I daresay I did more than one thing right in my life,” he starts but Molly just shushes him and turns to Hermione instead.
“Hermione, dear, I’m so glad Fred finally decided to get his head on straight and do something about that crush he’s been harbouring for ages! I can’t wait to show you the old photographs!”
Hermione smiles gleefully as she pokes Fred in the side when he goes to protest. “I can’t wait, Molly. I want to hear all about what he and George did as kids.” Molly claps her hands together happily and dashes off to find the photo albums as Fred and George collectively groan. “Don’t you complain, George Weasley. You started this. Merlin, I hope she has some good blackmail material.”
Bill laughs. “Oh Fred, you have no idea what you’re in for.”
Fred pulls Hermione in for a short kiss and smiles at her. “Maybe I don’t, but man, am I excited to find out.”