This is my entry for the January 2012 Twin Exchange Challenge. Make sure you go to the Twin Exchange profile on January 20th and vote for your favorite entry!

Prompt: Soup and wind

Pairing: Hermione/George

Quote: "Do I have to answer that?"

Theme: New Years

If it belongs to JK Rowling, then I don't own it.

It was a particularly windy New Years Eve and Hermione Granger was sitting in front of the Burrow's fireplace doing what she did best: reading. It was a new book; she had just gotten it that morning and she was already nearly finished.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise from the front door. Hermione jumped a mile and looked over her shoulder. When she saw that everything was fine, she blamed the noise on the wind and went back to her book. Seconds later, however, there was another thump. Hermione jumped again and her gaze flew back to the door. The war had made her overly jumpy and alert, and she told herself again that it was nothing to worry about. Although in the back of her mind, she knew that the noise had been made by something other than the strong wind.

Setting her book down on the table, she stood up and slowly headed towards the door, her wand held out and her heart racing. If she was being reasonable with herself, she knew it wasn't a Death Eater. They had all been killed or thrown into Azkaban. But on the other hand, she knew it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Is anyone there?" she called as she inched closer to the door. She doubted anyone would hear her over the wind and through the door, but it was worth a try.

Just as she reached the door, it flew open, hitting her roughly in the shoulder. She let out a small scream and due to the shock and the force of the door, she found herself falling to the ground.

"Oh, sorry, Hermione," said a voice.

Hermione looked up at the tall figure in front of her. "George," she gasped, trying to catch her breath.

"Me," he said calmly, reaching out a hand. "Need some help?"

She took his hand and let him pull her up. It didn't slip by her that he held onto her hand a moment longer than necessary before dropping it and clearing his throat. "So," she said to break the silence, "what are you doing here?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" he countered, stepping further into the room and throwing his jacket haphazardly across the arm of the couch. Hermione instantly picked it up and neatly hung it on one of the many hooks by the door.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean," he said with a tiny laugh, "you're sitting alone in the living room of my house on New Year's Eve. So, I guess my first question is why are you here instead of at your own flat? Not that I don't want you here, of course, but you did nearly send me into cardiac arrest. I wasn't expecting you, you know. Anyway, my second question is why are you here alone on New Year's Eve? Shouldn't you be out with everyone else?" He was rambling, but he didn't care.

"Shouldn't you?" Hermione asked. "I asked you first."

George's expression grew serious and he folded his arms across his chest. "I was this close to going out." He unfolded his arms and held his thumb and index finger slightly apart to show her just how close he had been. "Ange, Katie, Alicia and Lee invited me to a party at Angelina's place. Apparently it was supposed to be the 'party of the year'." He made quote marks in the air and smiled. "I'm sure it would have been too."

"So why did you change your mind?" Hermione asked, leaning against the back of the couch.

George shrugged. "I decided I wasn't in the mood anymore. I don't know. Sometimes I feel like being in crowds and sometimes I don't."

Hermione knew what he meant and didn't say anything more. Ever since the war and losing Fred, George hadn't really been the same. Nobody had, but George's change had been so significant it had been a little scary. Now, he was getting better, but there were still moments when he was different. Moments like these.

"So," George said, bringing a cheerful expression to his face again. "Now that you know why I'm here, it only makes sense that you tell me why you're here. Why are you here, Hermione?"

"Do I have to answer that?" she sighed. "It's really kind of stupid."

"Yes," George answered. "I told you, so it's only fair." He smirked at her and Hermione knew he wasn't going to let up.

"Well, I originally came over to help Ginny decide what to wear. She's at a party with Harry, Ron, Luna, Neville, Seamus, Dean, Lavender, Parvati-,"

"Okay, I get it, lots of people," George said, holding up his hand.

"Anyway," Hermione said, "I helped her decide on an outfit and she kept pestering me to go out with them and I said no."

"Why?" George asked, wrinkling his nose. "Why would you want to miss out on a party?"

Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.

"Okay, I know I'm doing the same thing," George said, "but you don't have a reason to not want to go out."

"I just decided that, well, this is going to sound petty compared to your reason, but I didn't want to be alone."

"You'd be going out with eight people to a party and you're worried about being alone? And then you opted to stay here where you were most definitely alone? Until I got back, of course." George was clearly holding back a laugh and Hermione pursed her lips.

"No, I just mean everyone's in a relationship. Harry and Ginny, Luna and Neville, Seamus and Lavender, Dean and Parvati…"

"Ron's single," George said. "Unless there's something I don't know and there's a new girl in Ron's life." He smirked and looked at her expectantly as if she knew everything about Ron's love life.

"No, he's single," she sniffed.

"So you could hang out with him," George shrugged as if it were no big deal. "He's your best friend and besides, didn't you two have a thing going on not too long ago?"

"It's not going to work out." Hermione nervously fiddled with a loose thread on the sleeve of her sweater.

"Oh, sorry," George said. "I didn't-,"

"No, it's okay, it's hard to keep up and I've only recently decided to give up on him." She gave him a small smile. "Anyway, I didn't want to just hang around with Ron. It wouldn't be the same. Plus, I get the feeling he's going to be on the lookout for other girls tonight. It wouldn't matter if I was there or not."

George nodded in understanding. "So after they all went on their merry way, you decided to stay here and house watch?"

"It sounds so lonely when you put it that way," Hermione groaned, "but essentially, yes, that's what I'm doing. Even your parents went out, so I guess we're the loners tonight."

"We are not loners," George snorted. "We were invited to parties, but we simply chose not to go."

"So what does that make us instead?"

George paused as he thought. "Give me a minute and I'll get back to you. By the way, are you cooking something?" He pointed towards the kitchen.

"Soup," she nodded. "I always find it's the perfect thing on a cold and windy day. Or night." She shrugged as she looked out the window into the darkness.

"Is it done yet? I'm starving." George set off for the kitchen with Hermione hot on his heels.

"It should be nearly done," she said, barging in front of him to get to the soup pot.

"Okay, okay," George said, raising his hands in defeat. "I'll just let you handle that."

"Yeah, you'd better," Hermione snorted. "If it was left in your hands, your family would no longer have a house to live in."

"Hey!" George exclaimed. "Don't underestimate me, Granger." He leaned on the counter next to her and folded his arms again, smirking at her. Hermione swallowed and tried not to notice the muscles in his arms, his adorable smirk, or his slightly messy hair that looked like he actually spent time making it look that way, even though he didn't.

"I don't underestimate you," she said in a whisper. The soup was finally done so she spooned some into two bowls.

George didn't answer right away, but he continued to stare at her. "No, maybe not," he finally said quietly. Hermione held out one of the soup bowls and he took it. She grabbed her own bowl and headed back to the living room with George right behind her.

"You know," she said as they sat down on the couch together, "if we change our minds we could always join the parties. We have until midnight to change our minds."

"I wasn't aware that you hated being in my company that much," George said with a wink.

"No, I like being with you. I'm just saying that you don't have to feel obligated to stay here with me."

"I don't feel obligated. I want to." George smiled at her and Hermione gave a shy smile back and stirred her soup. "So, things with Ron didn't work out, huh?" George asked a few moments later.

Hermione looked over at him. He was staring into his bowl and moving the spoon around absentmindedly. "No," she answered in almost a whisper. "Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering," George replied just as quietly. "I always thought you would end up together. This is excellent soup by the way."

"Thanks," Hermione said, blushing.

"Is this your book?" George asked, picking up the book lying on the table and starting to scan the summary on the back.

"Yes, it's very good. It's about a-,"

"You know what?" George said suddenly. "Let's have our own little party here! The idea literally just popped into my head."

"Really?" Hermione asked. "You don't have to-," she began, but George had already stood up and started fiddling with the wireless radio across the room.

"No, it'll be great. Look, we ate dinner, and now we put on the music and in," he glanced at his watch, "two hours it'll be midnight and we can ring in the new year like the loners we are."

"I thought we weren't loners," Hermione smiled.

"We're not," George answered quickly. "So, what do you say?"

"I guess that sounds fun."

"You guess?" George said, looking up from what he was doing. "You sound so wishy-washy about the whole thing."

"No, I'm not. It was just kind of a surprise, that's all."

"Dance with me?" George asked, stepping back over to the couch and holding out his hand.

Hermione looked up into his face, half thrown into shadow and half bathed in flickering firelight. "Why not?" she answered with a laugh, placing her hand in his and allowing him to pull her up for the second time that night.

George led her around to the back of the couch where there was more room and placed one hand on her waist, keeping their already intertwined hands together and out to the side. Hermione placed her free hand on George's shoulder.

"See, this is nice," George said with a smirk.

Hermione looked up at him and smiled. She found herself getting lost in those clear blue eyes, made even brighter by the fire. "Mischief," she finally said.

"Come again?" George asked.

Hermione blushed at her current inability to form a complete and coherent sentence. "I just meant that your eyes always used to be so full of mischief and I thought it had gone away after…you know. But it's still there."

"Of course it's still there," George muttered. "I'm still me, just…slightly different I guess. If you break a chocolate chip cookie in half, it's still a chocolate chip cookie." He mentally cursed himself for thinking of such a terrible analogy.

"Just not as…whole as a whole one," Hermione said sadly.

"Thanks for stating the obvious," George said with a low laugh. Hermione couldn't help but giggle as well. She felt slightly bad about giggling, as if she was taking the whole thing a little too lightly, but George didn't seem to mind.

"See? It's still me," George said. "I can still joke. I still like to joke, it's just that lately I haven't joked as often. I'm really getting a little sick of people tiptoeing around me and watching what they say and do as if I'm a different person and as if I don't want to laugh again. I just need time and for people to understand. That's all. I'll be fine. It's hard, but I'll get through it. I have to. For him and for the rest of my family."

"I understand," Hermione whispered.

"I know you do," George whispered. After a few moments of silence, he let out another quiet laugh. "I'm a chocolate chip cookie with a chip missing," he said, removing his hand from Hermione's waist so he could gesture to his missing ear. Hermione blinked at him before giggling.

"I'm sorry, maybe that was stupid. I'm a little rusty." He put his hand back on her waist and Hermione couldn't help but realize that her insides jumped with excitement at the contact; they had been jumping excitedly ever since they had started to dance.

She shook her head. "I like that you can joke about your ear. Most people wouldn't be able to do that. I know I wouldn't."

"Sure you could," George said. "You've really changed over the ears." He smiled cheesily at her.

She laughed at that and when she had caught her breath she looked up at him. "In a good or bad way?"

"Definitely a good way," George answered in a low voice, bringing his face closer to hers. For a second, Hermione really thought he was going to kiss her, but he didn't. Instead, he just rested his forehead against hers. "Still want to go to that party?" he asked, pulling her closer.

Hermione smiled. "No, I'm having way too much fun here with you as we celebrate being loners."

"Excuse me," George said, "we are not loners."

"Oh that's right," Hermione said. "So have you figured out what we are if we aren't loners?"

"Not yet," George answered. "Give me some more time."

"You have until midnight," Hermione said with a grin. "Then, you turn back into a pumpkin." When George looked at her blankly, she sighed. "Never mind."

"Okay," George said two hours later, sitting on the edge of the couch and holding his watch in front of his face. He held one finger in the air and when the second hand of his watch reached the number ten, he brought his finger down, signaling Hermione to start counting down.

"Ten," they said together, "nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one!"

George stood up, let out a cheer and did a little dance as Hermione laughed. Before she knew it, George was grabbing her hands and pulling her to her feet. Keeping her hands in his, he looked down at her. "I figured out what we are if we aren't loners," he whispered.

"Okay, what are we then?" Hermione smirked as George dropped her hands.

"A couple," George answered. With that he brought his hands to her face, cupping her cheeks as he leaned down and kissed her. Hermione went from being shocked to excited in a matter of seconds. She rested her hands on his chest and found herself responding to this kiss that she was now realizing she had wanted for a long time.

"If you want to be," George said nervously. Hermione rarely saw him nervous and she smiled at how cute he was.

"Of course I want to be," she smiled.

"Happy New Year, Hermione," he whispered.

"Happy New Year, George." With that, she leaned up to kiss him once more.