Inell's Fanfiction Archive

The children were laughing as they threw snowballs at their uncles, seemingly delighted every time they hit someone. Hermione shivered and pulled her coat tighter around her as she watched the children play. She was standing far enough away to avoid being drafted into the Weasley War, as the annual snowball fights had become known over the years, but she was privately supporting the children.

"Why aren't you out there?"

The voice near her ear startled her, and she jumped slightly, nearly slipping on a patch of ice as she turned. "Fred Weasley, if you sneak up on me like that again, I'll not be responsible for my actions."

"You're getting old, Hermione. A few years ago, and my bollocks would have been on fire from a well aimed hex before I got close enough to surprise you," he said, smiling slightly.

"A few years ago, the war was still fresh on our minds, and you'd not have dared sneak up on me," she reminded him, looking back at the snowball fight. "And I'm not out there because I have enough sense to avoid being attacked with cold snow on one of the coldest days of the year. Why aren't you out there?"

"Are you insinuating that I have no sense, Hermione?" he asked with mock outrage. "For that, I should hit you with a snowball myself."

"It's not insinuation if it's stating a fact," she said primly. A mischievous smile crossed her lips as she listened to him mutter.

"You are a cold, hard woman, Hermione Granger," Fred said with a sigh. "You need to take me out to dinner for that cutting blow to my ego. Maybe even chocolate cake, since it was very hurtful."

"Your ego will survive."

"Heartless wench."

"You'll not get free dinner out of me, Weasley, so stop trying."

"I can't stop trying. Wish I could, but it's complicated."

"You're such a complex man," she said dryly, glancing at him. Her smile faded slightly when she saw the way he was looking at her.

"Not everything in life is a game, Hermione."

"What?" Oh, that sounded brilliant.

"You have a snowflake on your cheek," he murmured, reaching up to brush his gloved thumb across her cheek before he traced her jaw. "You know, you're really annoying sometimes. I had it all figured out, you see, and you were supposed to agree to take me to dinner after insulting me, as I figured it wouldn't take much to get one of those prim verbal barbs from you, and then I was supposed to charm you until you forgot that you didn't think of me as anything but a friend. But you messed all that up, infuriating woman that you are, and I can't even be arsed to care because you look smashing with snow in your hair."

"That's not my fault," she finally said after her mind ran through his words and analyzed everything as well as she could when her heart was beating so loud. "It was an awful plan, which shouldn't be too surprising considering you're usually a man of action."

"It wasn't awful. I spent a lot of time working that out, I'll have you know. What should I have done differently?"

She licked her lips and shifted, glancing at the snowball fight before looking up at Fred. "You could have saved us both a lot of wasted time if you'd just kissed me."

He blinked at her, his cheeks flushing before he started to smile. Leaning down, he brushed his lips against hers gently. "Like this?" he asked before repeating his actions a bit more firmly.

She smiled and leaned up to whisper, "It's a good start," before she kissed him.

End