"Ah, there you are Ms. Granger," a dry, soft voice drew the couple from their private little world as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Simultaneously, they looked over and saw one of the managers of the book store staring at them expectantly. He was an odd looking, stooped old man who's gaze seemed to be glued on their clasped hands. Fred was immediately unimpressed, sweeping his eyes coldly to take in the old geezers half hunched posture and heavy, ridiculously frilled old black cloak. Vaguely, he heard Hermione greet the man respectfully as she tried to subtly pull her hand away, quickly cementing his dislike for the man. "I had thought I saw you come in early and wondered where you'd wandered off to. It's not like you to hide among the stacks without a saying hello," the man finally raised his beady black eyes from their clasped hands to meet Fred's growing glare head on. His tangled, wild brows fell heavily, nearly obscuring his eyes completely as he watched Fred tighten his hand and pull Hermione closer to his side possessively.

"You're right, I'm so sorry Mr. Grimes," Hermione flushed prettily as she was pulled against Fred, the side of her breast now pressed against his arm. She swallowed hard, stubbornly forcing her mind to focus more on the elder and less on the toned muscle she could feel clearly through her shirt and thin bra. Fred fought off a chuckle, seeing her struggle, and intentionally flex more. She turned even redder, feeling the muscles ripple and chastised herself for mentally molesting the seemingly innocent man next to her.

"I'm afraid it's my fault for… distracting her," Fred subtly emphasized, smirking not so innocently. Given how reactive she was, his little witch wasn't nearly as unaware of him as he previously thought. The new discovery nearly pleased him enough to let the badgering old man off the hook for the judgmental way he'd looked at him. Though not quite enough to leave the matter alone entirely. "If you'll excuse us, we have plans for dinner."

"Not to worry my dear," the old man disregarded Fred entirely, focusing instead on Hermione with a smile. It irked Fred to no end to see his teeth were perfectly straight and white. For a moment, he wondered how heavy of a book he'd have to throw at the man to make the smile as ugly as the rest of him. "I just wanted to let you know that there will be a new book from Mr. Briggs coming out in about a month. I've already taken the liberty of putting in a pre-order for you," Mr. Grimes' perfect smile grew even wider, obviously proud of himself.

"Oh! Oh thank you! Leave it to you to remember she's my favorite" Hermione bounced excitedly, too distracted by the prospect of the new book to realize her bouncing only succeeded in pressing her breasts further into Fred's arm, providing both men with a tantalizing show. "Shall I pay now or would you prefer I waited until the book arrived?"

"Whichever works best for you my dear."

'Old fucker is lucky I don't hex his bollocks off right now,' Fred gritted his teeth, wondering just how angry Hermione would be if he did throw a hex at the man. Maybe he could time it just right. Throw the book at the fuckers head and the hex when everyone's distracted. In the end, he knew it wasn't worth having her any degree of angry with him - a pissed off woman was not a woman easily seduced. "Brilliant, you can send it to The Burrow. I'll send along payment and make sure she gets it," he couldn't resist. It was fairly obvious Hermione didn't notice the old man's old school flirtations, and he doubted she'd be interested regardless, but that didn't do anything to curb his possessive instincts.

"Don't be ridiculous Fred, it'll just take a moment for me to pay now," Hermione rolled her eyes. "Besides, you're flat maybe cleared out and ready by then."

The old man chuckled openly, ignoring Fred's sour look. Completely oblivious, Hermione had managed to obliterate his pretty attempts to mark her as his. Nonetheless, Fred went along peacefully as they followed Mr. Grimes to the register. The book was quickly rung up, but Fred refused to release Hermione's hand when she tried to pull away to retrieve the necessary cash. Instead he reached into his own pocket and handed over the payment, brushing off her protests. "Shush and let me spoil you a little," he grumbled too quietly for her to hear. From the way Mr. Grimes' eyebrows shot up, he'd heard perfectly clearly though.

"Don't argue with the young man my dear," he admonished her affectionately, acknowledging Fred for the first time. "My Gertie used to be the same way. It's much more fun to surprise her with little treats when she doesn't argue over them with me."

"How is Mrs. Grimes doing?" Hermione flushed slightly at the implied comparison and quickly changed the subject. For the first time Fred noticed the rather large, sparkling wedding ring on the Mr. Grimes finger.

'You stupid wanker,' he winced realizing he'd be feuding with an evidently very happily married man over the completely oblivious witch.

"Doing quite well. She was actually the one who reminded me the book was coming out and to put in an order for you," amusement radiated off Mr. Grimes. He grinned at Fred this time, knowing Fred had only just realized the older man wasn't competition after all.

"Please thank her for me," Hermione smiled freely, "I've been looking forward to Patrica's new book for ages."

Silence reigned supreme for a moment as George and Ginny stared at Luna. They undoubtedly wanted to snap. Shout something along the lines of what fool wouldn't find their brother attractive. But unfortunately, they saw the logic of her question.

"Well," Ginny finally ventured. "She did like Ron for a bit didn't she? So… it can't be that far of a stretch for her to like Fred."

"Unless dating Fred would be too weird after having dated Ron?" George questioned, unsure how the female mind would work in this case.

"No," Ginny shook her head, "they were very compatible. Intimately."

George flushed at her explanation, not wanting to picture the two of them intimate. He wasn't sure if he'd be sharing that bit of information with Fred. Not because Fred was likely to be turned off by the tidbit. But because, knowing his twin, he'd take that as even more reason to go all out in his pursuit of her, and he really didn't want to add to the risk of walking in on the two later on. Fred wasn't exactly the type to let venue stop him when the mood hit.

"She went out with Krum too though," Luna leaned back thoughtfully. "At the least she was very attracted to him."

"But that doesn't rule Freddie out," George felt the need to defend Fred. "He's not as bulky as Krum but he's no slouch. And their personalities mesh much better than hers and Ron's."

"He's her best friend!"

"Best friend is different from a lover Gin." George pointed out the obvious. For a moment he questioned if he wanted to have this conversation with his little sister. Thankfully Luna rescued him from the impending psychological horror.

"He's right. Best friend and lover are two different things. In the best of cases, lovers become an intimate best friend. Just like in the best of cases best friend become akin to family. I have to agree with George… Fred is a much better fit for Hermione in that sense. His playful nature will balance out her serious one and bring her out of her shell. She'll be a grounding force for him. They're both smart, leaders and very driven professionally… as long as she hasn't placed him too far into the friend zone to be able to move into the lover zone like she did with Ron, it should work rather nicely."

"... I keep forgetting you were in Ravenclaw," Ginny deadpanned. Luna grinned, taking the comment as the compliment it was.

"That may be hard," George copied Luna, laying back to get comfortable. "Fred doesn't usually waste time going after birds he likes, but he wasn't in love with any of them."

"You think he's too afraid to make a move?" Ginny rested her head on her knees, finding the concept a pretty strange one. The twins were always the impulsive ones in the family, going after they wanted full force.

"I think he's afraid of pushing too far too quickly," George corrected her. She nodded - that sounded like a much more likely scenario. "You saw how he was looking at her before Gin. I think if it were up to him, they'd skip dinner and he'd have her to eat instead," he ignored Luna's delighted gasp, and Ginny's gagging. "But I don't think he wants a relationship based purely on sex. He'd more likely to take forever trying to seduce her into love with him first."

"Ginny and I will have to talk to her later," Luna mused after a few moments of silence stretched between the trio. "If she's as attracted to him as her blushing hinted, then you'll have to encourage him to speed up the process a bit. Seduce her physically faster and take his time with the romance. She may be more likely to fall for him with her guard down if there's already intimacy between them."

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