Hermione Granger stared in confusion at the boy across from her. Well, not boy. Supposedly he was a man, as he was the new chemistry professor. Still there was a boyish quality to the very poorly portrait mask of guilt he wore. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it once more when words yet again failed her.

"You-?" She paused and shook her head. "I'm sorry. This is rather unconventional."

"Well, possibly. I did blow up the science lab. Well, it's not blown up, per se. More rather it caught on fire, a bit." He splayed his hands out before him as if the situation had been completely unforeseeable. "Wasn't me, really. Actually, it was Seamus, here."

She watched in wide eyed wonderment as the charcoal covered ginger pat the equally scandalised student on the back. The student in question shifted uncomfortably and raised his terrified eyes to her. The idea that Seamus could catch a whole room on fire wasn't beyond the realm of reality. He'd mysteriously managed to catch many things on fire during term over the 5 years she'd been dean at Sir Godrich's Acedemy.

On the other hand, she'd accepted the professor's application on the recommendation of his twin. Both of whom were members of the very same brood her ex was a part of. Should she have hired him on a probationary basis? It was appearing that had been the very wrong gamble.

"Mr. Finnigin." He gulped, audibly. "My predecessor, as well as the dean before her, left notes on special cases. Given your history with unplanned and almost fantastical pyrotechnics I can only assume Professor Weasley-."

"Call me Fred, pet." He winked but nonchalantly said to Seamus, as an aside, "not you, mate. You call me Professor."

"Professor." She leaned back a fraction as his eyes shifted from playful to something almost scathing at the sound of her reprimand. "As I was saying, given your well documented history, I will have to put you on probation. The year has barely started and now we have extensive damages to repair. We'll work out how much in damages with your parents later. For now, clean yourself as best you can and get to your next class."

She watched him scamper off. He wasn't a bad kid, none of them really were, but he was incorrigible. The professor hadn't taken his gaze off her since she'd chided him. It made her squirm nearly as much as Seamus had under her own scrutiny.

"As for you."

"He didn't understand the assignment. We were making candy." She blinked, once again being stunned into silence by him. "Most kids, especially the boys, think chemicals are about explosions and stink bombs and radioactive reactions. I wanted to do something fun. Thought it would get the girls more involved since they tend to space out during lectures."

"Oh." She hadn't been prepared for him to take the situation, or truthfully the job, seriously. "Well, that does sound plausible. Mr. Finnigan has had issues in the past with following instructions. I believe I saw something in his file left by the previous chemistry professor."

"That greasy prat probably had notes on all of us." She shrugged but nodded, having found her old folder and seen the rather harsh comments about her conduct during his lectures. "I didn't think it was that difficult of an experiment. Baking is essentially chemistry. Shows what I know."

She relaxed her shoulders. "Professor, I appreciate your desire to take the courses a different route. Standard curriculum can be rather dull. You're also painfully correct about the girls not being vested in the subject." She shook her head, forcing a laugh to try and break his serious mood. "But, honestly, what do you know of candy and baking?"

"Again, call me Fred." His stern brow relaxed and humour returned to his eyes. "Also, Ronniekins never told you? Prior to our foray into education, George and I owned a very successful cafe and hobby shop. Sold fun knick-knacks and coffee and house made candies and such. Weasley's Wondrous Whittles."

"Whittles?"

"Cause of the knick-knacks."

"That's not entirely a word, Professor." She sighed and rubbed the frustrated crease in her brow. "I don't understand. Why are you teachers then? Academia can't possibly afford you the income you had before."

"Oh, most assuredly not." The man chuckled and began playing with his cane which had been resting against her desk. "We still have the majority of shares in the business and our position is essentially a non-job. We started expanding and the shop business just stopped being ours. Well, like it was. So, we manage things on the paperwork side still, the franchise is in our name and we come up with new products, promotions and such. We just sort of took a big step back."

"So, you reached a mid-life crisis in your early 30's and just figured, "you know, what? I'm going to apply at my baby brother's ex's school. For kicks." She quirked a brow and tapped her finger on her desk absently. "Just run around my corridors, being cheeky and adorable and wreaking havoc on my calm."

"Firstly, you have never been calm. Not even when you lot were wee babes and getting used to your mischief legs. Secondly, I'm not cheeky but clever. You said so yourself when you were 15 and sneaking rum at my parent's end of summer shindig." He lay his cane across his lap so he could lean toward her. "Lastly, ma'am, you called my adorable."

She stopped tapping her finger and found herself looking anywhere else in the room but at him. "Not possible. You misheard."

"Nope. You said it and you can't take it back." He artful pulled his cane from his lap and rose from the chair as if his right leg weren't almost useless. "I'll file that away for later, Ms. Granger."

She tried to gather her wits before he left, but then he paused at her door and stunned her further. "I like that you went back to your maiden name, Hermione. Makes it like you get a second chance, right?"

He saluted with his cane and was out her door at last. She fumed momentarily that he got the last word. Once the shock of that died down, she realised that Fred Weasley may have been flirting with her.

"Oh, Ms. Granger." Her gaze shot to the door to see the very irritating man leaning halfway through, carefree smile lighting his face. "I was most definitely flirting with you."

A/N: I haven't written a Fred and Hermione story that wasn't tied to a series in a while. I just kind of felt like I needed to write a cute one off. Hope you liked it. Reviews give me the warm fuzzies. Much love from this cheeseball writer.