Quidditch Breezes, Brooms and Dancing in the Rain

AN: Written for the ever-brilliant Don't Diss Einstein, challenge response. ENJOY!

It was raining. Hard. I hadn't seen a storm like this in years. There wasn't a single patch in the sky that wasn't covered in a dark could, pelting down little, but strong, droplets of water. So, naturally, in a storm like this, there was only one place where I could find solitude, one place where I could find peace, one place where my mind could rest.

The library, obviously. So that's there I went, that's where I picked out some random book of the shelf, and that's where I buried my thoughts into for the next hour or so...until I saw it. I was sitting at my favorite table by the window. If I looked outside, I had a perfect view of the Quidditch pitch. So, in between flicking the pages over, I happened to glance up and see the most ridiculous thing I'd witnessed since Ginny was dared to run around the Slytherin Common Room, half-naked; there was a boy there, possibly in my year, maybe a bit younger, in his full Quidditch uniform, getting ready to mount a broom.

My eyed widened and I slammed the book down onto the table, I jumped up and raced out the door, ignoring the curious looks from the Ravenclaws and Madam Pinch. I managed to reach the Quidditch pitch a few minutes later, completely out of breath. Luckily, the idiot boy hadn't lifted up into the air yet, so I could still yell at him, which, after all, was my job as Prefect.

"Oi, you! What in Merlin's name are you planning to do with that broom?" I flagged him down, waving my arms around like a fool.

The student turned and looked at me, slowly, he started walking towards me. A few steps and I realized he was in Gryffindor, another few steps and I noticed the red hair.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm practicing." He stopped a few paces in front of me.

My heart softened, but my expression stayed hard.

"Have you not noticed the rain, genius?" I asked skeptically, my eyebrow raising in a typical Granger look.

"Are you unaware of the game tomorrow, Granger?" He asked back, folding his arms and letting his broom drop to the ground.

"As it just so happens, I am 'aware'. But that doesn't oblige you to a death wish. Do you have any idea how easily a lightning bolt could hit you from two clicks up?"

"Yes, we wouldn't want me dying, now would we?" He sauntered closer to me until he was literally looming over me, I could feel his breath on my forehead.

I looked down, blushing. "No, we wouldn't."

"Tell me, Granger. What were you doing out here?" He started walking circles around me, stopping behind me.

I didn't turn around, I stayed with my back facing him.

"Isn't it obvious? Underneath it all, I'm truly a free-spirited wood-nymph whose greatest and most fulfilling hobby is to dance in the rain. And a storm like this, well, it was just too tempting to resist. It's not even possible that the reason I'm out here is because I happened to have seen you from the library window, and immediately thought you were some idiot first-year, trying to kill themselves."

"I knew it. I knew there was more to you." I heard the smile in his voice and couldn't resist the grin myself.

He slipped his arms around my waist and rest his chin on my shoulder. Oh, and now may be a good time to tell you that we were completely soaked by this point, like literally, dripping wet.

"Of course you did."

Fred Weasley kissed my neck, slowly moving towards my jaw bone.

"Fred..." I warned. "Not here."

"Why not?" He murmured against my skin.

"Because anyone looking out of any of those windows could see us." I pointed upwards to where I knew the library was.

"Screw them."

"And your brothers? Not to mention your sister."

"Them too."

I giggled and mustered up all of my willpower to move away from him, it was hard, and it took a lot.

"Come on, they're going to find out sooner or later." Fred whined.

I raised an eyebrow at his tantrum.

"Later sounds more appealing." It turned and started walking back to the castle. I glanced behind me and saw him roll his eyes, he picked up his broom and started following me, his long strides catching up to me easily.

"You know, it's your fault I was out here in the first place."

"My fault? How was it my fault?" I feigned offense, though I was pretty sure I knew what he was talking about.

"You've been taking up all of my free time for the past week, so I haven't had any time to practice. And since tomorrow is the game, I'm probably going to let half our team get hit by that bloody Bludger."

"Well, you're just going to have to let George handle it. Would it help if I wasn't there?"

"How would that help?"

"I wouldn't be there as a distraction."

"No, I need you there. You're my good luck charm, remember?"

"Of course, how could I forget? You haven't been to the Hospital Wing since -"

"Since we started dating, exactly. So you see my point of view here?"

"Absolutely."

We had reached the shelter by now and were heading back up to the Gryffindor Common Room. But before we reached public, I couldn't resist reaching up and giving him a quick peck on the lips, they just looked so inviting.

As it turns out, he couldn't resist either. He grabbed me by the waist and pulled me closer. Deepening the kiss, opening his mouth, and searching into mine.

"Fred," I moaned.

"Mmhmm?"

"Stop. Fred, someone will see us." I rest my hands on his chest and pushed him away, ever so gently.

But he pulled away, nonetheless.

"You worry too much, 'Mione."

"Fred, Ginny is my best friend. I can't lose her over something like this."

"You won't, trust me." He smiled and took my hand, pulling me along.

But once we reached the staircase and were in the sight vicinity of just about everyone, he let go of me and we started up a chat out of no where, pretending like we were just friends. It was the same pretence we've had to keep up for months now, and neither of us could deny that it was getting irritating.

I sat in my favorite armchair by the fire, soaking up the heat after the cold rain chilled my skin. I had changed out of my Quidditch gear and was wearing a thin shirt and jeans, it was Saturday, and once again, like how I usually spent my free time these days, I pondered about what things would be like if anyone found out about me and Hermione.

It was no secret that Hermione was closest to Ron, Ginny and I out of all the Weasley children, it was also a pretty widely known fact how Ron felt about her. But rumors spread like wildfire in this school, if even one person, one measley little first year, were to see us, within the week, even the teachers would know about us. It was the one downside to trying to keep a secret in Hogwarts.

"Hey, Fred. What's up?" My twin sat down on the couch next to me, his vibrant and jubilant demeanor immediately lifting my spirits.

I shrugged. "Worried about the game tomorrow." I lied.

I was getting good at that, lying I mean. I had to lie to make up for all the practices I missed, I had to lie every time I covered up for spending extra time with Hermione, I had to lie about why my homework standards have dropped even lower, I even had to lie to my twin brother about what I was thinking about.

"Yeah, Angelina's stressing about it, losing to Ravenclaw will most definitely not be fun to endure."

It was then that I noticed what he was chewing on.

"Um, George?"

"Yeah?"

"Since when do you like carrots?"

"Since I found out they're good for your eyes."

"Yeah, for rabbits."

He ignored that last comment and continued. "Think about it, mate, we need to see where those Bludgers are going, don't we? That way, we can intercept it and whack it away at those know-it-alls before it hits our teammates."

"You know, even if they did help our sight, which they really don't, they don't give us the magical power of precognition, we can't look into the future and analyse where the Bludgers are going to go."

George shook his head. "You just don't have faith, young one. You'll see, because I've taken up this habbit of carrot-chewing," he held up his half eaten orange stick, "I'll play the best I've ever played tomorrow. Just wait and see." He grinned and bit off a chunk.

My lips twitched as a smile fought it's way to my mouth. I turned to look back into th depths of the fire. My mind wandered, I hadn't told George yet about me and Hermione. I knew that wasn't fair, he'd tell me, I knew he would. I felt like I was betraying him in a way, lying to him more than he deserved. I glanced back at him, he was studying me, I could tell that he knew something was off.

"I don't know what it is, but I'm not going to ask. Tell me if you wish." He held his hands up in surrender, I suddenly had a lot more respect for him than I have in a while, considering the conversation we just had about carrots.

I leaned forward, closer to him, my voice dropping. "George, if I told you something, you have to promise me three things."

"Go on." He looked at me with a mix of suspicion and curiosity.

"One, you can't tell anyone."

"Given."

"Two, you can't over-react."

"I'll try."

"And three, you have to act exactly as you would around this person. You can't do that annoying thing you do when you start winking at me when you think no one's looking but they actually are."

"Fine, fine. But it's good fun, you should see how red your face turns."

"George..."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, continue."

"Okay, so here it is..."

They walked hand in hand across the grass. They were truly a couple in love, anyone could see that.

The way his thumb caressed the back of her hand, the way they would randomly kiss each other on the cheek at certain times, and especially the way they looked at each other, the pure devotion in their eyes. It was enough to reduce single girls to tears, and jealous guys to aggression.

Fred told George. George over-reacted. George told Angelina, Angelina told Alicia and Katie, Lavender (oh, the horror) and Parvati of all people happen to over-hear them, and things just sort of spiraled out of control. 10 hours later, after the storm had completely disappeared and taken every trace of it away, Fred and Hermione strolled across the grounds by the lake, no longer caring about who saw them. Anyone who didn't know soon would anyway, it didn't matter.

As it turned out, Hermione didn't actually have all that much to worry about, Harry and Ginny were happy for her, the other Weasley children were ecstatic about it, save for Ron of course. As she predicted, he was her worst problem. He hadn't spoken to her much the entire day, having Lavender herself be the one to tell him. She felt bad about it, she knew how nervous he got on Game Days and she wanted to be there for him, but if he was going to be such a baby about it, then there was really nothing she could do to stop him.

A strong breeze suddenly blew past the couple, tousling their hair a little more than before, even though the reason it was messed up didn't really have much to do with the wind. They made their way to their favorite tree, Fred sat down first, resting his back against the bark and stretching his legs out. Hermione sat on his lap sideways, resting her head against his chest.

She could feel his muscles underneath his thin shirt, they were hard, yet somehow soft as well. He wrapped his arms around her and rest his head on hers.

"Good luck today." She whispered, her voice gentle and loving.

"Thanks. You're sitting in the usual spot, right?"

"Right where you can see me." Hermione giggled, it was music to Fred's ears.

He kissed the top of her head.

"Hermione?"

"Hm?"

"Have I told you that I love you?"

"Maybe once or twice. Have I told you that I love you more?"

"Yup."

"Well, good then." She smiled and silence lapsed on them.

The storm reappeared minutes into the game, Fred, Katie and a Ravenclaw player got hit by lighting, Fred got the worst injury. All three of them made it to the Hospital Wing and had to stay for over a week. Katie and the Ravenclaw got to leave before Fred, he stayed for half a month.

"Fred, Fred, Fred, FRED!" George came bounding into the Hospital Wing.

The Weasley twin sat up in bed, his smile weak and his posture saggy.

"What is it, George?"

"You have to see something!" George grabbed his twin's hand and pulled him up.

Fred yelped at the sudden movement, but George proceeded to drag him to the window.

The twins looked outside at the storm. Yes, there was another storm, by this point, everyone was convinced that there had to be some magic involved in this unruly weather situation.

But Fred's eyes were drawn down to the Quidditch pitch, where, if he wasn't mistaken, a girl was spinning around, dancing in the storm.

A knowing grin spread across Fred Weasley's face as he recognized the swift, graceful movements, the ease with which she moved. He knew it, underneath it all, Hermione Granger truly was a free-spirited wood-nymph whose greatest and most fulfilling hobby was to dance in the rain.

It didn't matter that maybe she wasn't the best good luck charm in the world, he loved her, he knew that much.

AN: There wasn't all that much of a point to that, just a little drabble, I managed to fit in all the prompts though :)

Hope you liked it!

=3

XD