Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/favourited/followed this story. I'm really sorry it has taken me so long to finish. You were what has kept me going after all this time, and I would love to know what you think of this final (most likely) installment.

Hermione crept up the stairs, making sure to avoid the creaky one at the top. She scanned her eyes over the corridor in front of her, looking for small giggling bodies. Hermione sighed, for little kids who usually made so much noise they certainly could be quiet when they wanted to be! She tip-toed into the first bedroom on the right, which just so happened to be Fred and George's. Glancing in she flashed back to when Fred and herself had been attached by wrists and had to share that uncomfortable bed. I swear he was awake that morning when he trapped me, no one sleeps that deeply. She chuckled; well at least we'll never have to be stuck like that again. Searching the room, she failed to see any hiding bodies; she closed the door carefully and approached Bill and Charlie's old room. Upon entering she was met by the sight of a massive dragon enveloping the entire side wall, giving a small gasp she hit the door frame. Merlin, so Charlie has had a passion for dragons for a while! Quiet as a mouse she entered the room and walked over to one of the beds before checking under it. She stuck out her hand to feel for any hiding children but found no one, standing up she went over to the other bed and repeated the process. Her hand outstretched, she gasped as she touched something furry. She backed away from the bed before resolving,

"You are a Gryffindor" she muttered "You have faced trolls, werewolves, acromantulas, deatheaters, dragons and so many other dangerous things. You are not going to be frightened of a furry thing underneath a bed."

She furrowed her eyebrows and bent down to her knees once again, reaching out her hand she once again found the furry being. She crawled so that half her body was underneath the bed and began trying to determine the object. She grabbed the fur and started to crawl back out under the bed before she felt something light run across the back of her knees. She gasped and her entire body involuntarily tensed. The crawling went down her left leg and slowed down to her ankle. Blood pumping through her head clutched her hands together, abandoning the unknown being in front of her. This is it, I'm done for. Good on you Hermione Granger, you're definitely going to be remembered, and it isn't going to be for being the brightest witch of your age or even for being in the front of the war against Voldemort. You are going to be remembered for being murdered whilst crawling on the floor and lying under a bed like a big idiot. She frowned, for Merlin's sake, this is ridiculous. You are not going to die this way'her consciousness reprimanded her you are the brightest witch of your age are you? Then prove it! Grab your wand out of your pocket and stun this thing Hermione reached down slowly and wrapped her fingers around the vine wood. Pulling it out of her pocket she turned the top half of her body and looked behind her to spy her attacker. However before she knew it the silky texture of the thing that had trailed over her legs now wrapped tightly around her ankles and tugged, pulling her out from under the bed.

Hermione struggled and spun around with her wand out, ready to attack when she spied the familiar glint of scarlet. "You have got to be joking"

"Sorry Princess" Fred grinned

Hermione scoffed "I officially hate you" she said whilst standing up and brushing dust off the front of her dress

"You don't mean that" Fred said cockily

"I'm very close to meaning it"

"What were you doing under there anyway?"

Hermione cocked her head before delving beneath the bed again before retrieving the object, no longer afraid

"This" she said and held up a very old and scruffy toy hippogriff

Fred exclaimed and grabbed the toy "oh my gosh, I haven't seen this in ages. Why was it underneath Bills bed?" he said accusingly

"Don't ask me" Hermione raised her hands "I was just searching for Teddy and Victoire" she raised her eyebrows "weren't you supposed to be hiding too?"

"Yeah…" Fred scratched an ear "that was dull, I thought messing around with you might be more fun…" he wiggled his eyebrows "and it was. Your expression… priceless" he messed her hair with his hand

"Well, I'm glad I amuse you" Hermione grumbled.

"Come on" Fred took her hand "I think I know where to find the little munchkins"

.

Two months later

Hermione swung her cloak around her bag and over her head. Once again London was in a downpour of rain. Running across the street trying to avoid the rapidly forming puddles, she covertly slipped her wand out of her pocket and opened her front door. She had a set of muggle keys to keep up appearances for her neighbourhood but not wanting to spend any more time in the weather than she had to, alohomora seemed the better alternative.

Stepping into her warmly lit living room she draped her cloak and bag on the hooks by the door and slumped down heavily on the settee. A meow sounded beside her and a disgruntled Crookshanks appeared from behind the cushion, lids heavy from his nap.

"Oh, sorry Crookshanks, I didn't see you there" she ran her hand through his soft fur, scratching behind his ears until he purred "you are the same colour as the settee, maybe I need to buy some new cushions." The cat padded towards her lap, his side leaning into her arm before settling on top of her legs "or maybe…" she teased "I could turn you bright pink!" Crookshanks harrumphed, turning onto his back showing his belly looking at her in disgust. "Don't worry fluff-ball, I wouldn't do that to you… Fred on the other hand" she chuckled

Speaking of Fred, Hermione acciod the letters beneath the door that had been delivered and picked out the envelope with the signature Weasley's Wizard Wheezes seal. She and Fred had spent the last month sending letters back and forth as he and George had been snowed under with orders and product productions, and turns out being head of the department of Destruction of Dark Magical Artefacts wasn't the most easy-going job either. The two had agreed after the first month of spending whatever little free time they had, trying to organise the next time they could meet, that perhaps they should spend a little more time apart. The day after they had made this decision Hermione had come home to a small parcel with a letter attached, hoping she had had a good day at work and to enjoy a curse-free custard cream enclosed in the adjacent box. Since then, the two had written to each other every few days, and Hermione found no greater pleasure than curling up on the sofa in front of the fire and reading what Fred had been up to.

However, the letter today was different. Instead of finding the usual page of his and George's progress at work, and cheeky flirtation, there was instead a riddle.

It has been announced we are to house a dog, and his roguish friend too,

They arrive three days from now, and I hope you won't leave me in lieu.

Meet me at the rabbit's house at five, where Snow White met her fall,

Wear what you like, or nothing at all…

So don't dilly dally, I'll be a-waiting,

If you come alone I'll be yours for the taking.

Hermione grinned as her mind whirred to figure out the true meaning behind the text. It seemed Remus and Sirius were to arrive at The Burrow – the Rabbit's house. However, before she arrived properly Fred wanted her to meet him by the apple orchard for them to chat privately before seeing everyone. Wear what you like, or nothing at all… Hermione scoffed, trust Fred to make Molly's instruction of dress code into something sexual.

Hermione bit her lip as she re-read the last line, considering a plan. It would only work if George was willing to help her. She grabbed a quill and piece of parchment and began writing to the other Weasley twin.

.

Fred leant against a tree, careful not to get sap on his suit jacket. He stared out at the warmly lit burrow, looking to the entrance as Remus and Tonks knocked on the wooden door while Teddy sprinted away back up the path to a man with messy shoulder length hair. Sirius gave a raucous laugh before lifting the boy up and chucking him onto his shoulders, before giving both Tonks and Remus a bear hug. He was so busy watching the group of friends he almost jumped out of his skin when a hand slid into his.

"Alright stranger" Hermione asked, sparkling brown eyes looking up at him, a mischievous twitch at the corner of her lips.

Fred felt his face light up as he bent down to wrap his arms around her waist and swung her around a couple times until she started laughing, before holding her up against a tree so her face was level with his.

He kissed her on the cheek "I see you chose to honour the first option of the dress code" he said, tugging gently on the hem of her red jacket.

She poked him in the side, poking out her tongue "so did you. Although, might I add you are looking very debonair in this midnight black."

"Ditto, Princess" his gaze strong

"You going to put me down now?"

Fred sighed "If I must." He gently lifted her away from the tree so her coat didn't get caught on the bark and slid her to the ground

She ran a hand over his upper arm, "I've missed you, Plonker"

Fred leaned in close, cheekily waggling his eyebrows "I'm afraid I have that effect on all women"

Her caress turned into a pinch and Fred gave a mock sound of agony "Of course I missed you too," he leaned back, taking her hand and urging her to walk around the garden with him "so, how has work been Miss Head of Department?"

Hermione squeezed his hand back "It's been a little stressful trying to get to know everybody whilst dealing with the inquests flooding in, but I think people are starting to like and respect me"

Fred nudged her side with his arm "you would have had that from day one"

"Not from Cheyanne"

"You mean that hag is now being nice to you?"

Hermione grimaced "well, she isn't trying to overrule my decisions anymore which lessened my stress level incredibly. I think she has realised that being on my good side could actually benefit her career more than the alternative"

Fred let out a grunt "well I'm glad she at least isn't giving you any more trouble"

"How about you?" Hermione nudged him back "you manage to finish your prototype for gibberish gum?"

"Not sure yet" he smiled looking forward to the Burrow they were walking back round to "thing is, Angelina gave it to George when he had just downed a few shots of firewhisky, so I'm not sure whether the gum worked, or he was just plastered"

Hermione laughed "George and Angelina are going well then?"

"Oh yeah, he can't stop going on about her whilst we are in the shop. I even heard him rambling on about her to a customer the other day. Told him he had to do something to take his mind off her, or he'd never get any work done"

"Maybe she could move in with him, they've been going out for about half a year now haven't they? Not to mention the fact they have known each other since early Hogwarts"

Fred gave her a sideways look "yeah… but then I would have nowhere to live. It's a one bedroomed apartment above the shop, that's why we got the rent so cheap"

"I have a solution to that" Hermione looked away and Fred felt something cold clip around his wrist.

He lifted up their joint hands and looked at the golden bracelets Hermione had placed on them "what's this?" he raised an eye brow, and Hermione couldn't tell if she was imagining the hopeful look in his eye

She licked her lips, suddenly nervous before blurting "move in with me!" then ducked her head letting her hair fall over her face

Fred pulled them to a stop, causing Hermione to look up at him "are you sure about this? We've only been official for a couple months"

Hermione took a short breath "I'm sure. I've been giving this a lot of thought and even though we haven't been dating for that long, we have years of friendship behind us, proven that we can be together even when we don't see each other for a month, and I'm not a fling type of girl and from what I know of you, your aren't afraid of thinking about the future either – at least, not since Hogwarts" she swallowed "and I love your family, and I am fairly certain they like me as well, and-,"

"Yes."

Hermione looked up "really!"

"Yes. For all the reasons you just said. I would love to live with you. However, you do remember last time we were in these…" he winked, "I don't recall you being too happy"

"We don't have to be handcuffed to live together" she stuck out her tongue "and I asked George to give me the finished product so we could get them off." Fred raised his eyebrows in disbelief and laughed. "What?"

He shook his head "George and I never got round to finishing the product, all we did fix the water malfunction"

Hermione's mouth dropped open "you mean…?"

Fred lifted up their hands "yep. We're stuck like this for two days Princess"

"This was supposed to be romantic symbolism" she growled "I'm gonna kill George"

Fred grinned "come on lets go see Sirius. I haven't talked to him since he was training those hippogriffs over in Ireland

.

Later that evening the inhabitants of the Burrow were all relaxing in various positions in the living room, making idle chat and playing games when suddenly a screech came from the kitchen followed by laughter. Two seconds later Molly Weasley hurried into the living room dragging Fred and Hermione by the bracelets and announced the news.

Ginny ran up to give Hermione a massive bear hug whilst simultaneously whispering "under no circumstances are you to stop coming round here because Fred is now with you. I forbid it"

Hermione kissed her on the cheek "of course I wouldn't. If anything I'll be round here a whole lot more, we're basically sisters"

Ginny wrapped an arm around her waist "we have been for years anyway"

Hermione's face turned into a scowl when George approached them from Fred's side wearing a wolf's grin

"You told me that you had finished the handcuffs George Weasley"

George put his hands up in defense "actually Mione, I think you'll find I said that Fred wouldn't find a problem with them" the room started laughing, Sirius the loudest

Hermione sucked her cheeks and narrowed her eyes, trying and failing to keep in a grin.

"Not so much the brightest witch of your age now, are you sister-to-be?" George winked

Fred hit him over the back of the head with his hand before whispering in Hermione's ear "on the contrary, I think she is the most intelligent witch in the world"

Thank you for reading till the very end, I've loved writing with these characters and playing with their personalities.

Any feedback, complimentary or criticism would be greatly appreciated!

Until next time,

CtheWalkingLibrary x

If you enjoyed this story and want to read more I have 3 other works.

Neville/Luna - Completed

Victoire/Teddy (Lily/James) - Ongoing

Draco/Hermione (Ginny/Blaise) - Ongoing