A/N. First of all I must apologise most profusely in my lack of updates. For a year. Yes I know you all hate me just a little bit. It's been hideously busy but now I'm back – for the time being. And writing whenever inspiration hits me, or I get a chance. Also thanks all you awesome people for all the follows, faves and reviews! Big hugs to antisocialcrab, TheAngelOnYourRight, spazzydancer19, HalfBloodPrincess71, SerpentOfDarkness, cannonator, dragongirl2101, Rayne-Maloy10, The May Waters, farawaylongago, I'm Home, Erin, Lottielue1, and the guests! Here's the next chapter, it's quite a bit longer than the last one! Let me know what you think! – xx Skye

Chapter 2

It took very little time to erect the three, dusty tents. Before long the girls were piling into the smaller one. Giggles and shrieks issued from the thin fabric walls as Hermione and Ginny promptly flung themselves at the bunk beds in an effort to secure the top one for themselves. Hermione lost miserably to Ginny's athletic manoeuvres and found herself tossing her bags on the bottom bunk as her red-haired friend grinned triumphantly down at her. Lavender sidled over to a single bed in the corner, having thankfully avoided the tussle for the bunks.

In the, rather larger, boys tent there was a similar – yet decidedly rougher, more verbal – occurrence taking place as Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Harry and Ron each hurled themselves wildly and unceremoniously at the three bunks. After a brief struggle, Charlie and Ron were perched precariously on their top bunks as Harry and Percy, slightly bedraggled and glasses lopsided plonked themselves resignedly on their beds.

The only scuffle still taking place over sleeping quarters was between Fred and George. Fred was clinging to the higher bedposts of the bunk while George tugged at his ankles.

"Merlin's beard, Fred," George grunted, still tugging at his twin's feet. "I wish you'd just see sense. If you have the bottom bunk it'd be so much easier to sneak out to Hermi –"

Thump.

Fred had become dislodged and crashed to the floor. Seizing the opportunity, George leapt onto Fred's recently vacated bed as the latter picked himself up off the floor, tousle-haired and cheeks flaming – whether from exertion or embarrassment it wasn't clear.

He grabbed his backpack and pushed it under the bed with the toe of his sneaker before collapsing on the mattress.

"I wish we just got nice small tents each like Bill and Fleur," he said grumpily. "I asked mum and she just went off at me about finding a decent girl to marry before I'm twenty-five."

George grinned wickedly. "Well at this rate Freddy, I don't think that will be too difficult at all."

Fred shot an excellently aimed stinging jinx through the mattress above him and lay below, revelling in his brothers howls of pain which was now shooting through his backside.

Outside the sun was high in the sky, only just beginning its slow descent to the west. The company began slowly re-emerging from their tents, sweaty and complaining loudly of the heat. Charlie and Bill stripped off their shirts, revealing toned and slightly scarred bodies. The girls, more than used to this regular display of skin barely shot them a second glance as they too emerged from their tent, now clad in t-shirts and shorts in order to better bear the sweltering weather.

"Hey dad!" called Ron, whose neckline of his maroon shirt was soaked through with sweat. "Didn't you say there was a river nearby?"

Mr Weasley poked his head out of the flap of his tent. "I did indeed. Just about a five minute walk from here. What do you say we go take a dip?"

A general cheer arose among group of young adults and they shot back into their stuffy tents to retrieve bathing costumes and towels. In no time at all, the rather large group was trudging through the grassy grove and through a sparse thicket of trees.

Hermione, who hadn't been paying particular attention to her comrades and rather had been gazing at the gorgeous nature which surrounded her, found herself suddenly flanked by Fred and George. She blinked, recovered herself quickly and shot them a smile.

"Hello there, how are you two doing?" She had grown rather fond of the twins over the last few years, and indeed, rather particularly fond of one of them who – thankfully – possessed both of his ears. She would never admit it to anyone – since she could barely admit it to herself – but she had found her gaze wondering more and more often over to the tall, muscular, freckled, ginger, and indeed rather attractive being which was Fred.

It was no surprise then, how she found her heart flutter slightly as he strolled alongside of her through the sparse undergrowth.

"Simply fantastic and how about you?" replied George jovially, a grin splitting his freckled features.

Hermione laughed. "Great thanks. It's good to get away from the office."

"Yeah, I hear they've been giving you a bit of a hard time up there," said Fred sympathetically. They separated briefly as their path was obstructed by the large trunk of a tree.

She shrugged when they had resumed their leisurely pace. "It hasn't been all that bad but it is pretty demanding," she said. "They tend to want a lot from you."

"Well," said George casually. "If you ever need to let off a bit of steam Freddy and I are always around to –"

He was cut off abruptly by Fred's loud cough and Hermione's yelp as she almost tripped over a fallen branch. Recovering herself quickly she burst out laughing, leaving George grinning unabashedly and Fred uncharacteristically pink in the face.

"Thanks a lot," she managed to get out between fits of laughter. "I'll definitely look into that if I ever... need to let off some steam."

Still shaking her head at the two of them she sped up her pace to walk with Ginny and Fleur who here talking amiably, all former hard feelings long forgotten, leaving George still grinning and Fred still expressly flushed.

"Thanks a lot for that," Fred snapped at his twin. "She's not going to come near me after this."

"I wouldn't count on that, brother of mine," countered George amicably. "These things have a way of working out to everyone's best advantage."

They emerged shortly afterwards from the trees to find themselves on the shores of a wide, gleaming river. It's crystalline, undulating waters rippling temptingly in the breeze, luring them into its deliciously cool depths in no time.

The boys were the first in. Charging forth like a herd of rampaging rhinoceroses, the seven Weasley boys and Harry sprinted into the water, leaving in their wake discarded clothes, towels and a rather shocked group of girls and parents. Their shouts and bellows echoed off the distant mountains as they splashed in the cool water, kicking, dunking and churning up the muddy floor as only boys in their twenties could do without looking like complete lunatics or else very young teens.

The girls, after getting over the initial shock of it all – it seemed that no amount of history with them could properly prepare you for a weekend away with the Weasley boys – smiled fondly at the sopping, shirtless and rather attractive men before making themselves comfortable on the bank.

Hermione laid her towel down beside Ginny's lurid pink one – yet another badly-chosen gift from Percy in an attempt to gain his sister's after his antics during the war – and began to strip off her sweat-soaked shirt and shorts in preparation for a good swim.

From the water, Fred resurfaced from yet another dunking, courtesy of his regrettably much stronger brother, Charlie, just in time to see Hermione dropping her clothes onto her towel to reveal an orange-and-red sunburst bikini and making her way down to the shore where the water was lapping vigorously after their violent entrance.

He barely had time to fully take in her newly revealed body before his legs were pulled out from under him and disappeared beneath the surface with a plunk, receiving a mouthful of muddy water and a fistful of clay as he hit the shallow floor gently.

Hermione and Fleur made their precarious way to the river, stopping just as the water was lapping around their toes – unwilling to enter into the violent game that was currently being played by the eight young men. Sighing, they were just about to make their way a little further up the bank for want of calmer waters when a loud shout rang over the lake, halting everybody in their tracks.

"Stop! Stop!"

It was George. He was standing a little apart from the heart of the game, one arm still in the clutches of Percy who appeared to be frozen in the act of tugging him back into the water and was now staring at him, gaping slightly – just as all the others were doing.

"The ladies are coming in," announced Fred courteously, waving a gracious hand in the general direction of the bikini clad Hermione, Fleur, Lavender and Ginny – who had joined the former two on the bank.

"Oh... right," muttered Bill, straightening up and relinquished his hold on Ron's ankle, who surfaced seconds later, red in the face and spluttering. His furious howl was cut short as he noticed the sudden quiet. Charlie, however, made no move to release Harry, whom he had in a firm headlock, and merely smiled and nodded elegantly to the girls.

"In you come."

Hermione and Ginny both let out most un-ladylike snorts and waded into the water, diving beneath the surface just before they reached the still partially frozen men. Lavender and Fleur followed in their stead but remained with their heads above the water, contentedly splashing in the shallows.

A few seconds passed with very little movement on anyone's behalf.

"Where did those two go?" Bill muttered uneasily, voicing what all the boys had been thinking since Hermione and Ginny had submerged themselves.

He was answered almost immediately by a yell cut gurglingly short from Fred as he was yanked suddenly beneath the water almost at the same time as George.

"Ladies?" demanded Ginny she resurfaced in Fred's stead, her long red hair plastered to her shoulders. "And who says we can't be in on the fun, hey?"

And just like that the game was back on, perhaps a little gentler now that breasts and long hair were involved, but certainly just as animatedly. Splashes, yells and gurgles once again filled the lake area and Hermione found herself being repeatedly dunked beneath the water by George. Taking advantage of one of her submerged moments, she twisted around and swam away in the opposite direction, revelling in glee at her escape before her head collided with what was a decidedly impressive torso.

She broke the surface of the water, gasping for air and turning to find her hindrance only to see a broadly grinning Fred Weasley. Promptly swallowing a mouthful of water at her comprehension of exactly whose rather impressive torso she had just collided, she spluttered, "Oh sorry!" through a mouthful of muddy water.

There was a fraction of a second of awkwardly charged energy between them. His bright blue eye bored into her hazel ones and she felt herself falling deeper and deeper into them until –

"Oi! You two! Break up at cozy little mind-melding session and get back over here!"

Hermione found the blood rush to her face. This did not go entirely unnoticed by Fred who grinned again, grabbed her around the middle and flung her unceremoniously back towards the laughing, splashing group.

It wasn't long before Lavender and Fleur joined them. Mr and Mrs Weasley strolled off to find a rather calmer spot in which to swim and wash off the hot stickiness of the day. Eventually the young adults tired themselves out with their violent games and lapsed into weary wallowing in the shallows.

The day seemed to slip away without them quite realising it. And before they knew it, the apples and sandwiches they had brought along to the lake were ancient history, and their hungry stomachs and the sinking sun drew them back to camp.

They took some time for reestablishment with their little homestead and to change into some rather warmer, dryer items of clothing. By the time Hermione emerged from the girl's tent, Harry and Ron were crouched around a little fireplace they had made within a wide circle of stones and piling twigs into the centre.

Rather than waste their time with the tricky business of matches – and ignoring Mr Weasley's disappointed protests – Harry whipped out his wand and soon had a cozy blaze going, which quickly drew the rest of the convoy with its warm light and merry crackle. Charlie was sent off in search of roasting sticks and returned shortly with an armful of sticks of varying lengths which he deposited next to the pile of roast-able foods which Mrs Weasley had supplied.

Hermione sat cross-legged on one of the picnic blankets they had spread around the fire, and skewered a sausage in the end of her stick before thrusting it into the flames and rotating it slowly.

Fred plonked himself down on her right, a stick in each hand – one with several sausages squashed down the tip and the other with a ball of dough he intended to cook into an accompanying roll. It was rather to his disappointment that he retrieved the smoking stick a few minutes later and began picking apart the charred crust in the hope that some decently cooked bread might be lurking within. When this proved wrong he simply turned to his slightly burnt sausages and began gnawing them off the stick.

Hermione laughed a little and retrieved her perfectly cooked sausage from the flames and bit into it. Fred was watching her enviously.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?" she asked, her mouth half full of sausage.

"Cook it so well. I can't see one scorch mark."

She shrugged. "I used to go camping a lot when I was younger, with my parents. We cooked like this every night. You get used to it."

Fred scowled slightly. "I've been camping just as much as you have."

"Yes, but I bet your mum did all the cooking then, didn't you, Mrs Weasley?" Hermione asked with an impish smile.

"Quite right dear," Mrs Weasley replied comfortably from her perch on a camping stool on the far side of the fire. "But it's about time these boys learned even the simplest means of cooking."

Her sons scoffed collectively at this, with the obvious exception of Percy, who was nibbling delicately on his – still slightly charred – sausage.

"So dad, what's the plan for tomorrow?" asked Ginny, busy skewering various vegetables onto a slightly thinner stick in an attempt to make a kebab.

Mr Weasley, who had removed his glasses and was reclining in an old camping chair, shrugged comfortably. "Oh, we'll just take it as it comes tomorrow. There's plenty to get up to around here. But I for one will probably be staying put at the campsite with your mother for some quality time."

The company hastily averted their eyes with grimaces as Mr and Mrs Weasley shared a rare kiss – or rather a chaste peck.

"So," said George, leaping to his feet and rubbing his hands together. "Who's ready for dessert?" He disappeared into the tent and re emerged seconds later with a large plastic bag which he tossed to his twin – who was still seated comfortably beside Hermione.

Fred caught it and tore the top open before raising the brightly coloured bag over his head in a character he only usually adopted when promoting a new product to the costumers of their shop.

"Ladies and gentlemen... I am proud to introduce to you to our very first batch of our brand new fireside sweet – marshmallows!"

Harry and Hermione burst out laughing. Fred and George turned to them indignantly.

"What?"

"Well, it's not as though its particularly new is it?" asked Hermione. "Marshmallows are a very common Muggle sweet for camping trips."

"Ahh..." said George, waving a finger at her. "But these aren't your ordinary marshmallows. These guarantee twice the flavour, twice the size and come in all the colours of the spectrum my dear friends."

Ginny eyed the packet doubtfully. "Are they safe?"

"Ginny," said Fred seriously. "When have we ever given you an unsafe product?"

There came a chorus of opposition from around the fire.

"Canary Creams!"

"Ton-Tongue Toffee!"

"That punching telescope," Hermione put in ruefully.

Fred and George simply shrugged off the complaints. "Well, not these," George informed them. "These have been tried and tested multiple times by both ourselves and Verity."

Bill shrugged, giving in. "You can't say fairer than that," he said, reaching over and plucking a bright yellow marshmallow from the bag. Before long each stick was adorned with a brightly coloured sweet which both swelled to abnormal size and tasted divine. True to the twin's word, this was as far as their abnormalities went and shortly after, most of the company retired to bed, stomachs full and content.

After a while it was only Hermione, Ron and Fred left beside the dying fire. Ron excused himself with a gigantic yawn and left Hermione and Fred staring into the flickering flames, their bodies mere inches from eachother.

Hermione was acutely aware of this close proximity. And as much as she loved it, it scared her too – filling her stomach with nervous butterflies until she was unable to stand it anymore.

"Well, I'm off to bed then," she said, starting to rise. Fred immediately jumped to his feet and helped her up, his hand lingering just a moment too long on her waist and sending spark of electricity flying through her veins.

Oh, the effect he had on her.

Without looking him in the eye she bid him goodnight and hurried off to her tent, leaving him standing alone in the darkness, watching her retreating form with a gentle smile.

A/N. Well that's it! Do please review! I always love to hear what you have to say x