Whispers in the dark

Chapter 34: A lifetime

A/N: I own nothing except my mistakes

Groaning, she felt her arm being yanked down abruptly as the leather strap from her schoolbag had slipped off her shoulder without her noticing, the heavy weight of all her books now forcefully landing on her lower arm.

"Bloody hell," Hermione grunted to herself, having a bit of a struggle to lift the bag back on her shoulders whilst at the same time trying not to drop the set of books she was balancing on her other arm.

A couple of students called out to her and told her to watch out, as she was solely focused on her own books instead of the people ahead of her, having almost walked into multiple students if they hadn't dodged in time.

That was the least of her worries, however. Her priority at the moment was to succeed in a mission that seemed almost impossible: lifting a single schoolbag.

A sudden airy wind relieved her of the heavy weight that had been pressuring on her arm just a second before, replacing it to her shoulder where it belonged. "Y'know, if you want to endanger all of these poor students, you could have just asked for one of our products instead of blazing around the corridor yourself." A cocky voice followed the movement, and Hermione groaned softly to herself.

Hermione might have been avoiding Fred ever so slightly lately. Yes, she still communicated with the twins whenever others were around, but whenever Fred and her were left alone, she would always find an excuse to make a run for it. Thus far she had been successful for two weeks. Until right now.

"Thanks," Hermione spoke absent-mindedly, planning on picking up her pace to lose him in the crowd, but he clearly wasn't having any of that.

Within a couple strides he was back at her side, turning his head to her with an annoyingly big grin. "You'd actually have to take a sprint for it if you ever plan on outwalking me," Fred advised, then broke out into a snicker.

Straining a smile at him, she tried not to keep the eye contact for too long, fearing that she would give into his presence. "Duly noted," she thanked, and quickly averted her eyes.

Right before they had gotten the chance to round a corner that would lead them to the Entrance Hall, he cut her off by quite literally shoving his entire body in front of her face, leaving her no choice but to make an abrupt stop and quietly swear at him under her breath.

"What did you do that for?" Hermione asked when she had overcome her shock. "You finally want to talk about that kiss?" Fred asked, then shot her a big grin as she quickly looked around her in panic, watching in horror as a couple of people shot curious glances their way, before getting back to their own conversations.

Nudging her head to the open wall behind her, he took the hint and followed her, casually taking place on the low wall, looking at the people passing by.

This was the exact reason why she had been avoiding him the past few weeks. Why she had tried to not be alone with him, because she knew this conversation would happen at one point. Although, right now she wondered if it hadn't been better to have had this conversation a bit earlier so it would have been a little bit more private than a school corridor.

Hermione wasn't sure why exactly she was dreading the conversation so much. Maybe it was because she had never really had a romantic relationship before. All of this, the kissing and flirting was very new to her. Sure, she has had physical interactions with guys before, but that had been merely platonic. And only with Ron and Harry.

Besides, it was an unknown territory to her. She didn't read about it in books, because in her opinion it was a waste of her time all those romans. Yet, lately she felt really unprepared as how to act. That was what frightened her the most.

"Why do you?" Hermione finally answered him when she felt like she could trust her voice a bit, feeling how her heart was beating rapidly.

Fred slowly turned his head around so he could look at her, the grin no longer present on his face, but instead a hint of a lazy smile laid easily on his lips. His eyes dropped slightly from hers to lower on her face, before looking back up at her.

"Because," he began, his eyes now completely focused on hers instead of the crowd around her – there way too many people in this corridor for Hermione's liking – as he jumped off the low wall he had been sitting on.

"I want to know if I ever do this," he continued, and Hermione felt a tingling and a sudden warmth in her right hand – the one that wasn't carrying a bunch of books – and looked down to see him grabbing her hand softly.

"Or this," Fred went on, releasing her hand and easily rested it behind her back, pulling her even closer to him, the only thing preventing them from completely being pressed together were her books that were now resting against his chest.

"Or kiss you," this time he breathed his words as he pulled his face closer to hers, their foreheads almost touching. "That you won't jinx my head off."

Hermione let out a shaky chuckle, feeling her breath hitch in the back of her throat. She had to swallow first before she could speak, her throat having dried out from the anticipation.

"Why does it matter to you?" Hermione asked, and had some trouble trying to not restrain as Fred popped her a lopsided grin as he took the books out of her hands and laid them on the open wall next to them so she now had both of her hands free. Not only that, but there was now a lot more space for him to close if he felt like it.

"I didn't just kiss you for fun," Fred spoke, his voice sounding honest as he had dropped the lopsided grin. Hermione gave him a challenging eyebrow, as if not believing that he wouldn't do something that had some entertainment value.

"Then why did you?" Hermione countered rather bossily, but he wasn't faced by it. "Because I want to be able to do it again." He said simply, then grinned as his eyes broke away from hers for the first time since they had begun to properly speak, letting them glide over the people that were passing by.

Hermione, too, looked around her for a second, beginning to feel really awkward right now as she noticed that multiple students were shooting them some curious glances.

"Whenever I feel like it," Fred continued, bringing her focus back to him. It was only now that she began to see a little bit of uncertainty behind his eyes, although he covered it up well with a careless demeanour. It was almost as if he was nervous, but didn't want to show it.

Why would he be nervous, though?

Feeling her throat dry out, she licked her lips to prevent her voice from breaking. "What are you saying, Fred?" She had a pretty good idea what he was hinting at, but she didn't dare assume it. It possibly couldn't be..

Fred gave her a short smirk, clearly regaining come confidence from her awkwardness. Funny how that works. "I think you know what I mean," he said and without a warning he let his lips connect with hers.

At first Hermione wasn't sure whether to push him away or not, being reminded that they were currently in a corridor with many other students around (lunch was commencing in a couple of minutes), but decided against it.

She'd be lying to herself if she'd say that this isn't what she wanted. Because it was. Though she had been avoiding him, this had been all that she had been craving for. To feel his arms tangle around her wait again like they did now, the soft nibble on her lip before she would grand him access.

"Atta, Freddie!" was all that the two of them heard before breaking apart with a laugh, watching Fred's beloved twin disappearing around the corner, carrying a big grin on his face as he whistled at them before completely disappearing out of sight.

Before Hermione had a chance to die of embarrassment, he picked up their previous conversation with an easy smile resting on his lips. "So, what d'you say? Wanna have some fun for the rest of your life?"

Hermione couldn't help but chuckle despite her awkwardness. "The rest of my life? That's quite ambitious, don't you think?"

At this Fred full on smirked again, shrugging his shoulders as he handed her the books back. "What can I say, Hermione? I'm an ambitious guy," he joked as they began to walk, her heart beating fast in her chest.

"Well, I must admit it's tempting to see how ambitious you really will be," Hermione drawled, shooting him a grin. "I'll take that as a yes," Fred spoke, a hint of excitement clinging on his words.

"A yes it is, I guess," Hermione spoke, then bit her lip as she felt her grin widen, unable to believe that she had just said yes to a relationship with a wicked prankster.