Fred woke the next morning feeling woozy. The previous night's events had left him unable to sleep, his mind buzzing as he tossed and turned through the night. Finally falling asleep as the sun began to rise, he had little over an hours rest before he needed to be up again to open the store with George. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, holding his head in his hands for a minute as his eyes adjusted to the light. He decided he had no choice, he had to win over Hermione or he would never be able to live with himself. He couldn't bare the fact that he was so close to losing her, and that there was so little time to make amends before she'd fall completely in love with Barnaby.

Racing down the stairs, taking two at a time, Fred bounced into the kitchen, planting a slobbery kiss upon Hermione's head. Startled, she dropped her spoon into her cornflakes, causing milk to splash all over the table.

"Fred! What did you have to do that for?" Hermione rushed to clean up the mess on the table.

"Just trying to make you fall in love with me." He gave her a wink as he poured himself a coffee and raced back up the stairs.

Hermione frowned. Perhaps she had misheard what he said. Shrugging, she finished her cereal and headed upstairs to get ready for work. She had a big day ahead of her, followed by a date with William. She smiled, never had anyone made her feel like William did. No… that was a lie. Someone else had made her feel that way. But that was behind her now, she was with William and she was happy. She would not let anything or anyone jeopardise her relationship.

"Hermione?" Fingers snapped before her eyes, and her attention was brought back to reality.

"William! Sorry, you said something?" Running her fingers through her hair, she took a deep breath and smiled at her boyfriend.

"I asked if you wanted to come back to my place after dinner, we could watch cheesy Muggle movies and snuggle together on the couch?"

Hermione bit her lip and gazed at William. Why did she have a nagging feeling that by agreeing to something like this, she would be cheating on Fred? He had been acting strangely ever since she had announced she was going steady with William, of which over a week had passed. She remembered the first night she had gone out with William, after she met him at work. Fred had tried to hold her back and keep her from going out, even offering to take her out himself. Over the weeks she had concluded that Fred was only feeling as he was because he didn't have George around 24/7 anymore and Hermione was his next option. Still, she hadn't hung out with him properly in awhile and she felt perhaps that she needed to.

Taking hold of William's hand, she smiled and gazed into his eyes.

"I have some things I need to take care of tonight sweetheart, but I promise you tomorrow night we can do that, and we can have popcorn and wine, everything you'd like, okay?" She picked up her purse and stood up.

"I have to be heading home now, I'll owl you later." Giving him a quick peck on the cheek, she left the restaurant and apparated back to her flat. When she arrived in the living room, she found Fred asleep on the couch. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she made a beeline for her room and quickly shut the door behind her. What was she doing blowing off William for Fred like that? Checking the time on her watch, she realised it was still early in the evening and she could still message Will before she went to bed. She sat down at her writing desk and pulled out a spare piece of parchment, scrawling a quick note before sending it off into the night on the leg of her owl.

Hermione's mind was buzzing with thought. This wasn't right.

Fred woke with a thump, having rolled off the couch onto the living room floor. That was the sixth night in a row that he had fallen asleep on the couch while reading Hermione's magazines. All his nights had been restless, unable to shake the thought of Hermione with another man. Not that she had ever been his.

He could hear rain on the windows and decided that he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep anytime soon, and so decided to make himself a cup of tea. He had been avoiding Hermione for the better part of a week, although with the amount of time she was spending away from the flat it wasn't exactly a difficult job.

"Fred?" He jumped as he heard the sugary voice of Hermione from doorway.

"Hi." He said breathlessly. She had him trapped.

"What are you doing awake? It's 3 o'clock in the morning!" She shuffled over towards him and tugged on his ear.

"I couldn't sleep." She smiled at him.

"Seems like you were sleeping beauty on the couch earlier…"

"I err- couldn't get back to sleep, I fell off the couch." He felt slightly abashed admitting this. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful Hermione looked in the moonlight, her brunette hair in a messy plait, her big brown eyes staring into his blue, her pale skin looking flawless as ever. He had to do it. He had to kiss her.

He took a small step towards her and tilted her chin up. He was sure she knew what he was about to do, and if he wasn't mistaken, she looked like she wanted him to do it too. He leaned forward.

"Fred, I can't." He stopped dead, his heart hammering.

"Hermione…" He placed the look on her face as somewhere between sadness and guilt.

"I think, I think I should go back to bed. Goodnight, Fred."

Breathing heavily, he watched as she walked back towards her room. Although she couldn't see it, his heart had crushed the moment had she walked away. Making a quick decision, he wrote a quick note on a piece of parchment and sent it off with his owl into the night.