And despite Fred’s propensity for teasing, no one seemed to tease either of them about this.

Maybe they could tell how much both of them needed it, and therefore simultaneously let it happen.

Or maybe they could see that they’d always sort of been heading in this direction and they were just relieved it was finally happening.

Whichever it was, everyone already treated them as a couple. And neither Fred nor Hermione discouraged it.

She squirmed in his lap as he wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and she could feel just how interested and pleased he was that she was where she was.

It was pressing rather unrelentingly against her bum and the more she moved, the more prominent it became, and the more stuttered Fred’s breath became.

“I really just wanted to help you get warm,” he confessed before he nibbled on the shell of her ear.

“You’re doing a wonderful job,” she replied, squirming once more and liking the reaction she got. His hand tightened on her leg in a vain attempt to keep her still. “I’m becoming quite warm indeed.”

He pressed his hand down on her knee. “Just there, Mione...”

“There?” she asked, pressing herself down a bit more.

He inhaled sharply and nodded, lowering his head to kiss her neck. His arms tightened around her waist, holding her in place as she leaned back against his chest, her head resting on his shoulder as she concentrated both on the way he was breathing, and also the actions of everyone else at the bonfire.  None of whom were looking at them. But that didn’t mean anything. Plus, she was a rather impatient person. What with all the dancing around this they’d done in the recent weeks, between snogging until neither could breathe and keeping enough distance for Merlin, Godric Gryffindor, and his mother to fit between them, she was more than a bit anxious.

She tilted her head up, pressing a soft kiss to his jaw and noting how his skin erupted in gooseflesh the second her lips touched him. “Fred?”

“Hmm?” he asked, his voice impossibly low and breathy.

“Would you like to go inside?”

“Yes,” he said quickly, shifting somewhat. She rose from his lap and he remained still for a moment, looking nervously around before standing and wrapping the blanket around his shoulders.

She half expected someone to stop them. To ask where they were going, but not even Mrs. Weasley seemed interested. She was currently gulping down what had to be her third cup hard cider of the night with Bill and Charlie across the yard.

Hermione bit her lip and reached for Fred’s hand only to have him tug her to a halt just inside the door, the blanket falling from his shoulders as he gently twisted her around and into his arms. His lips caught hers in a very firm and very aggressive kiss, but one that pulled back slightly at the end, as if he was asking her if this was alright.

“Was thinking we’d head to your bedroom,” she said, grinning a bit as he did the same.

“We could apparate,” he whispered.

Not that he’d ever admit to something as cheesy as that.

But her smile was cute. She had a gap in her teeth and pink streaks in her hair.

“I’m Darcy,” she said. “And you said you’re ‘Fast’? Is that a first or a last name?”

“No, no, my name is Pietro... and I *am* fast, just a fact, not what I’m called...” he said, trailing off when he realized she was grinning a little wider than before. She was joking. “Ah, but you’re kidding. Very cute, Darcy.”

“Kind of my thing. I mean, that and like... graduate school.”

“Graduate school, huh?” Pietro suddenly felt very out of his league. Not only was she cute, she was smart. Smarter than him, anyway.

“Yeah.”

“What do you study?”

“Astrophysics.”

“Really?” he asked, eyes wide.

“Yeah... does that intimidate you, Pietro?” Darcy asked.

“Definitely. But that’s kind of my thing. That and being fast.” He grinned and her cheeks pinked. “I enjoy being intimidated by women who are clearly too good for me.”

When she laughed this time, her cheek dimpled. His heart fluttered a second time, and he had to swallow thickly to stop it. “So, um... you have seats?” he asked, gesturing towards the amphitheater beyond.

“Nope. Didn’t you hear? I’m in graduate school. And therefore broke. I got lawn seats.”

“Me too... you wanna... share my blanket?”

Wanda harrumphed from behind him. “It’s *my* blanket.”

“My sister’s blanket,” Pietro said, rolling his eyes. “But I bought our tickets so...”

Darcy peered around Pietro, waving and grinning at Wanda. “Hi! I’m Darcy. Do you mind if I join you?”

“Not at all.” He heard Wanda start to shift and he mentally thanked her, turning back to give her a grateful look before returning his attention to Darcy.

“So you’ll join us?”

“Definitely. Beats sinking slowly in the mud, yeah?

“Yeah,” he said, stepping back while she maneuvered around him to perch on the edge of the blanket, her muddy shoes keeping well clear of the fabric.

“This is old,” Pietro said, moving to sit down beside her. Next to, not too close. Close enough she could hear him  though. “Our dog had at least five litters on it. So don’t worry about messing it up.”

“This is your heirloom puppy blanket?” Darcy asked, reaching down to slide her shoes off and leave them together at the edge of the hem. “I definitely don’t want to mess this up, then.”

Pietro grinned, his face flushing as she scooted up right next to him, but back a ways, her legs crossed out in front of her.

He moved so he was adjacent to her once more, and she shifted closer, leaning over to murmur, “You’re sure your sister doesn’t mind?”

He glanced back at Wanda, who had her phone out, grinning at the screen, likely texting Bucky and telling him how she wished he was here.

“Nah, she doesn’t mind.”

“That’s cool, because I’m about to get embarrassing when my fave plays my song. Just FYI.”

“Define embarrassing.”

“Like, my voice will raise several octaves and I may cry.”

“Cry?” Pietro repeated, chuckling a little.

“Look dude. I LOVE Blink okay? Don’t second guess my love.”

“I would never make that mistake,” Pietro assured her.

“Okay, cool.” She leaned over and bumped his shoulder. “Thanks for catching me when I fell.”

“Thanks for falling,” he replied. “Best thing to happen all day.”

“Wow, you are a cheeseball if I ever heard one,” Darcy laughed. “No worries though. Cheese is my fave.”

“I thought Blink was your fave,” Pietro countered.

“I can have more than one fave.”

She glanced down at the mustard-coloured jumper and widened her eyes in surprise. She’d also colour charmed the cardigan so George wouldn’t recognize it when she got here first thing to go over their payroll and the rest of their books, and she wasn’t yet used to the shade she’d chosen.

She’d snuck out behind George’s back that morning, hiding behind Fred as he pretended to go out to get the paper. And then they’d snogged at the front door for a bit too long after that. She hoped George hadn’t figured it out or he’d never let her hear the end of it. And she sort of wanted to keep this between herself and Fred for a bit longer. It was nice being in a bubble with no one to answer to.

Read Mrs. Weasley.

She was a wild card, that one. Molly would either be ecstatic or furious. Hermione didn’t fancy finding out just yet.

“Morning, Hermione,” George called.

She smiled and lifted her hand.

“Morning, Mione,” Fred said, standing just behind his brother and giving her a once over, frowning a bit because she had done all the charmwork after she’d left him that morning. His cardigan was still miles too big, and she hadn’t quite mastered tailoring charms yet, so she’d just left it, wearing it as a sort of an oversized duster sort of thing. She pushed up the sleeves and charmed her hair to stay up with only a pencil sticking through it. She supposed that the look was like a sexy librarian or something.

She grinned at him and quickly schooled her features because if she gave Fred more of a greeting than George, he’d absolutely figure it out. And as far as she could tell, George hadn’t figured out anything yet.

“Where are the books?” she asked, glancing back at the desk.

“Oh, over here, we got something on the desk just now,” Geroge said. “Not to worry, we’ll keep our spells contained and away from you and your numbers, love.”

“Like you did for the desktop?” she teased, pulling out her wand and opening the books to the correct pages.

She looked up and down the columns, fixing this, and balancing that.  She kept glancing up at Fred, who in turn, kept glancing over at her.

Once she had to shoot him a look. One he mirrored. Hers said, “Stop staring at me, you nutter!”  And his said, “You only know that because you’re staring at me.”

She stifled a smile and looked down at the pages again.

“Oops, bloody hell,” George swore. Hermione looked up just in time to get splashed from head to toe with blue goo.

She spat it from her mouth and reached up to rub it out of her eyes. She cleaned out her ears just in time to hear George cry out a counter charm. One that did the equivalent of stripping every charm and spell from the immediate area. She couldn’t stop him quickly enough and soon stood there in Fred’s maroon cardigan, yesterday’s skirt, now on inside out, and her hair in a shambles.

Blowing out her breath she shifted her weight and crossed her arms. “I wish you hadn’t done that.”

“Clearly...” George said, snorting. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you stayed over at someone’s last night. Got a good shag, did you?”

Her eyes flew wide and George started laughing. “Nice. Great job, Granger. Isn’t that great, Gred?”

And Fred, bless him. Wasn’t prepared for being dragged into this. He stammered a few times before he managed a weak smile. “Amazing. Forge.” The last bit was added as an afterthought.

George took one look at Fred and knew exactly who had been shagging Granger the night before.

“Blimey, that’s your cardigan, Fred! Caught you on the walk of shame, Granger! What, you couldn’t give her enough time to swing by her flat? Wait... you were at ours this morning?” he asked a twinkle in his eye.

Fred turned a shade of scarlet that rivaled his cardigan and Hermione took a deep breath.

“Oh come off it, George. You know I share a flat with Angelina. I’ve seen you slink home in things of hers. You wore her jumper once, remember that?”

George swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, uh... we should put in a Floo connection upstairs.”

“Finally,” Hermione breathed.

“I’ve been saying that for years,” Fred said, piping in.

“And you,” Hermione said stiffly. “Now, you’re talking? But you had nothing to say while I was being raked over the coals before? For shame, Fred Weasley.  For shame.”

He quickly crossed the floor, apologies jumbled together and making him look quite ashamed indeed.

She rose and pulled on her housecoat to trudge out to the kitchen.  There was a cup of tea with a spoon charmed to keep stirring it on the counter.  She knew it was for her, Theo never made tea without also making some for her.

She took it and removed the spoon, muttering a quick cleaning charm and frowning at the streaks that it left on the surface. She still hadn’t really mastered these spells yet, but it didn’t matter really, she guessed, muttering the charm again and leaving the spoon mirror-clean and she sent it to the drawer.

Hermione didn’t see Theo anywhere, but she did note that his boots weren’t at the door. Sighing heavily, she took a long hot sip of her tea and returned to the bedroom to dress. She chose a lumpy sweater and a pair of thermal leggings before pulling on a pair of insulated trousers and her coat. She didn’t bother with her hair, because it kept her warmer when it was allowed to go out on its own.

She slipped on her own boots and went outside, feet crunching in the snow as she made her way down to the lake. She knew that was where Theo was because of the footprints he’d left in the snow behind him.

She found him puffing on a cigarette and watching the smoke curl into the sky.  She nearly gasped at the lake. Normally a lovely place to swim and boat in the summer months, now it was frozen solid and smooth as a mirror on top.  It was gorgeous and she whispered it softly.

Theo turned to face her, smiling as he held out his arm. He took out his ciggie and held it out as far away from her as he could. They likely looked rather comical sitting there, with one arm around her and the other holding his cigarette as far out as he could so she wouldn’t have to smell it.

She still did a bit, but she didn’t really care.

“Good morning,” she whispered.

“Morning to you,” he replied, taking a deep breath and dropping the cigarette on the ground at their feet. “Say, Granger... can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” she said, smirking a little. She liked it when he called her Granger. He usually saved ‘Hermione’ for more intimate moments, so both names held a special place.

“How attached are you to that name?” he asked.

“What?” she asked. “What do you mean?”

“I mean when you get married. Are you going to take your partner’s name or hyphenate or what?”

“I mean, I’ll likely hyphenate if my partner wants to as well. Otherwise, I’d keep my name and they’d keep theirs.”

“Good to know,” he said, slipping his arm from around her shoulders and into his pocket.

“Why do you ask?”

He simply shook his head and took a step forward, bending down to fix something on his boot and Hermione went back to gazing out over the lake.

Theo cleared his throat and she looked at him, frowning as she spied him on the ground. What was he still doing there?

“Theo---“

He pulled something out of his pocket, a small velvet box. Inside, a ring with the biggest and most colourful stone she’d ever seen before in her life. She gasped slightly and he smiled.

“Granger, I’ll hyphenate my name if you hyphenate yours.”

Her stomach swirled excitedly and she felt herself bounce a bit on her toes before she nodded and took the ring from him. “Yes, yes, I think I will.”

He chuckled and stood up, slipping an arm around her and pulling her close for a kiss. “Surprised?”

“Yes and no,” she replied. “And that’s how I always imagined it would be.”

“He wants the puddings, James,” Remus stated, arching an eyebrow.

“I can’t do the puddings if I don’t do the roast. I’ve got to use the drippings.”

Remus rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath, the roast lifting again and the drippings floating neatly through the air and into the flour and milk and eggs that were currently whipping itself in midair.

“If you’re going to do it, bloody well do it and stop play-acting that you have no clue how to make a Yule dinner.”

“I never said nor did I imply I didn’t know how to do this,” Remus said with a smirk. “You’re the one who acts the supreme wizard of all home-crafts. I thought you’d want to do it.”

“Remus,” James said, reaching for a wooden spoon and handing it to Harry, who promptly put it in his mouth. “Do you know how to do a Yule dinner?”

“I might have done once or twice... or every year past,” he said with a smirk and James looked as if he either wanted to kiss him or wallop him one, so Remus ducked for good measure, which was good because Harry had grown tired of the spoon and had chucked it through the air.

It clattered to the floor and Remus went to the icebox. “What goes with a roast? Sprouts? And a mash?”

“Gravy,” James added.

“After I’ve gone and done the puddings? You want gravy too? The decadence.” Remus clicked his tongue and shook his head, but proceeded to procure a rich brown gravy out of seemingly nowhere. It flowed into their gravy boat just as Lily stepped through the door.

“How’s it going?” She leaned up to peck Remus on the cheek, then she crossed the floor to take Harry from James. She kissed James too but glanced at the table. “Where’s the rest of it? They’ll be here any minute! You know Petunia’s going to be looking for any little thing to nitpick.”

“Calm down, Evans.” James leaned over to kiss her temple. “Remus has it under control, don’t you?”

Remus answered with a self-satisfied flick of his wand to fill a bowl with mashed potatoes. “Almost done. What do you want for dessert? Pie or Gingerbread?”

“Both?” Lily mused. “Both is good.”

“She never could choose, this one,” James teased.

It earned him a swat, but a smile nonetheless. “I’ll go make sure the rest of the house is presentable,” she called over her shoulder. She stopped in the doorway, Harry on her hip. “And thank you. For taking the stress for me. I feel much better having not thought about it all afternoon.”

“Anytime, Lily,” Remus said with a smile.