It had been just over a month since Matt and Hermione had broken up, Fred had waited for her sad phase to hit, but it never did. She had focused on work and living her life as she always had. She was happy.

Late on a Thursday night they were both sitting on the couch, she was stretch out and he was at the other end, designing ideas for the shop in his head. She was reading a very large book for work the next day, every so often she would wiggle her toes in a way that looked like she was trying to stretch them in her fresh socks.

'Sore foot?'

'Just a bit tired, lots of walking and standing around today, it was a big day'

'Here, I'll rub them for you' He said

'You don't need to do that' she said with a smile and continued to read her book.

'I don't need to, but I want to' he said with a smile, he picked up her feet and put them in his lap, and started to work on her left foot. He moved his thumb into the tight arch of her foot then along the top of her slender foot. After a while, Fred noticed that she had lowered her book to her lap and her eyes were closed.

'The pressure ok?'

'Feels really good' she smiled, eyes still shut. Fred chuckled and moved onto her other foot. Soon she fell asleep, right there on the couch. Fred smiled to himself, it was only 7.23, she must have had a big day. He stopped, lifted her feet and slid out from under them, replacing them onto the couch. He grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch and laid it gently over her sleeping frame, just before he exited the room, he dropped a quick kiss her on the forehead.

Two months pass.

Ginny had encouraged Hermione to give Gavin a chance, they had met at one of the national Quidditch matches they had all attended, he was a friend of Lee's. Hermione had a agreed to the date, yet it had not really been that interesting, he as sweet, but a bit distracted with work thoughts through out their dinner. They parted and she walked back to her apartment in the still slightly bright evening light, her hands deep in her pockets to protect them from the chill.

'How was it' George asked from the chair by the fire, he was attempting to attach something to something else.

'Yeah' Fred said, he was on the couch, with what looked like the instructions for what George was trying to create. 'No, twist it the other way, it says anti-clockwise on here' he shook the piece of paper.

'It was ok' she said, pulling off her scarf and then flopping down on the couch next to Fred.

'That bad hey?' George grinned.

'No, it wasn't bad at all' Hermione said honestly

'It just wasn't good?' Fred asked

'It was fine' Hermione said 'what are you trying to build?' she asked them both.

'New mixer for the day dream charms, I am sick of standing over those cauldrons in my lunch break' George said.

'What about a charm?'

'Where is the fun in that?' George mocked a hurt expression. Hermione stuck her tongue out at him.

'Cold out? Your nose is a bit red' Fred said

'It is actually' Hermione said, touching the tip of her nose with her fingers.

'Come here' Fred said and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her too him. He wrapped the blanket he had over his lap around her too. She settled against his body, it was normal to sit under the one blanket, and even more normal to look over the same instructions and interpreted them differently.

'I'd try putting the red clip on first George'

'No the arrow is pointing to the blue one right next to it'

'It's pointing to the red one' She said.

It continued on in the way for a good hour, until they had successfully built the creation.

'Finally!' George said standing up and stretching his back, then he glanced at his watch 'blimey, I am meeting Lee at the bar in five minutes' and he bolted from the room to find his shoes and coat.

'Why doesn't he just have Lee meet him here?' Hermione asked

'No clue' Fred said resting his cheek on the top of her head 'you any warmer?'

Hermione touched her nose again and nodded.

'But its nice here, so I'll stay a bit longer' she chuckled.

'That's fine by me' Fred said, then added 'so you admit you like physical contact'

'Yeah, why?' Hermione asked

'So you at least miss that from a relationship' He said.

'Oh I see where this is going, you can't handle the fact that I don't need or want a relationship' Hermione said sitting up and looking at him.

'I am fine with it, I just think you might not know all of what you are missing' he said turning on the couch to face her.

'I don't miss it' Hermione said honestly.

'Ok I know you said the sex was bad…' he started

'I never said it was bad' she cut across him.

'But surely you miss that rush you get when you share a good kiss or one hell of an orgasm with someone'

Hermione just glared at him.

'Wait, sorry I forgot, he didn't get you off'

'Oh don't sound so crass' Hermione said, batting his arm 'He was sweet'

'Hermione sweet is great, but you should be writhing in the sheets wanting the bliss to never end'

'That sounds exhausting' she picked up a newspaper off the coffee table and began to look over it.

'Sure, but its worth it, a really good orgasm, can make you weak for hours.'

'I'll take your word on that' she said with a cheeky smirk. Fred thought for a moment then said.

'Have you tried giving yourself one?'

'One what?'

'You know' Fred wiggled his eyebrows

'See you later!' George yelled as he ran past them to the front door and slammed it behind him.

'Oh come now, I'm not interested, I told you that' she said flipping the newspaper up to read the full page.

That night as Fred lay in bed, he pondered why she wasn't interested in them, they were pretty damn great.

At the breakfast table, half way through their toast the next morning Fred asked her again.

'Why don't you give yourself one?'

'One what?' Hermione asked over the top of that morning's paper.

'You know' He grinned.

'Are you still on that, honestly, don't you have better things to occupy your mind?'

'Not right now' Fred admitted

'I am just not interested, or see the point to be honest' she said not even bothering to look up at him.

'The point' he muttered under his breath.

After finishing his toast he walked his plate over to the sink. He walked up behind Hermione and put his hands on her shoulders, and started to rub them.

This was rather normal; he would look over her shoulder at the quidditch scores. Yet he decided to be a bit cheeky this morning, just wanting to see what she would actually notice. He gently swept her hair across her back and over her shoulder so he could touch all of her shoulders. He worked his way up her neck and laced his fingers into her hair.

This caught her slight attention.

He gently ran his fingertips over her neck and shoulders, then he rubbed her earlobe between his thumb and forefinger. She continued to read but her breath started to get a tiny bit faster, admittedly confusing her. He continued to massage his fingers along the base of her head and back of her neck.

She finished the article she was reading and placed the paper down. Fred smirked; sure it was getting to her.

Yet she reaches for her tea and finishes it. Standing up she collected her cup and plate, and walked them over to the sink. Fred paused for a moment then decided to follow her, looking over her shoulder he saw her hand gripping the cup quite tightly. He grinned to himself.

He came up behind her and put a hand on her waist, the other hand steeped her hair back over her shoulder, letting his finger tips graze down the base of her neck, across her shoulder and down her arm. He leant close to her; she could feel his chest pressing against her pajama clad back. She could hear his breathing next to her ear, then he said softly

'The point? It feels incredible Hermione' she almost shuddered at the deepness of his voice, surprising herself. 'If you boyfriend couldn't get you off…I suggest you try it yourself, I'm pretty sure you'd enjoy it' he said, his lips just touching her ear. Her eyes closed and she sucked in a quiet breath.

'Think about it' Fred said in a husky voice, which made a spark shoot through all of her veins and down her spine. He dropped his head and kissed her shoulder, then walked out of the room. She stood at the sink for a solid five minutes trying to figure out what had just happened and why she suddenly felt like that.

APPLES AND BECKETT

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