He felt the rush of wind as Draco Malfoy's broom settled just behind him, his voice drawling, dripping with delight. "What'd Weasley do, Mudblood? Ride you hard and put you away wet?" He laughed as Ron and Harry hurried out of the castle and stopped behind Hermione. "Oh, excuse me, Ron Weasley."

Without a word, Fred started walking, continuing past her. As he moved beyond Ron, his younger brother grabbed his arm. "Fred, I can…"

Fred swung around, hitting Ron squarely in the jaw. Ron reeled back, his hand automatically moving to his face. "All right," Ron nodded once. "I deserved that one." He launched a quick left, jabbing Fred in the nose. "You deserved that."

"Did I?" Fred pressed his hand to his nose to staunch the flow of blood. "How's that, Ron? Did I fuck your girlfriend?"

"You knew how I felt about her."

"Did I?" They began moving slowly, circling each other. "You didn't even know, little brother. You were so determined not to feel anything where she was concerned; you would have latched on to anything I said. But you were more than happy to spend the nights I was with Hermione learning all the tricks of the trade with Luna, weren't you? She wasn't hard to kiss or feel or finger or fuck, was she?"

Ron feinted left then swung right, missing Fred but winning a hard blow to his stomach as Fred connected. "Leave Luna out of this."

"Right. This is about Hermione, isn't it? Let me guess, Ron, you made your move on Halloween, right? Took your shot as soon as she was vulnerable?"

"Because you lied to her." Ron swung again, hitting this time, the fleshy sound ringing out over the grounds. "Because you lied about everything, you stupid…"

Fred hit him hard, sending Ron stumbling back toward Harry. "I told her the truth because I love her."

"Yeah?" Ron sneered, shoving Harry off of him. "Well she loves me. So fuck off."

"What's not to love, Ron?" Fred smirked. "You're self-involved, stubborn, you always say the wrong thing, you're blind where she's concerned."

"And you're so much better, Fred?" He swung at his brother, his first shot grazing him, the second landing solidly. Fred shook his head to clear the ringing from his ears. "You used her. You asked her out when you didn't even like her and you used her to try and hurt me."

"And I'm sure your motives were pure as the driven snow when you fucked her, eh, Ron?" Fred landing two punches, sending Ron sprawling on the ground. "Was it romantic, Ron? Did you make her first time special?" He grinned bloodily at the look of guilt that flashed across Ron's face. "Must have been a treat for her, huh? You rutting away like some sort of animal, too busy getting off to give a shit that you'd just taken her virginity."

"Shut up." Hermione said softly.

"And you'd have done it better, huh, Fred? You'd dated her for three months and you couldn't manage to get into her pants."

"Shut up."

"What she and I did is none of your fucking business, little brother."

Ron roared and launched himself at Fred, hitting him hard and sending them both to the ground. Hermione wrapped her arms around her body, watching them as they rolled, fighting for dominance. They stopped arguing, conserving their breath as every punch seemed to land, to connect with solid flesh and muscle.

Harry glanced around at the gathering crowd and moved toward them, trying to grab Ron's arm. He swung back, shaking him off, knocking Harry's glasses to the ground. He stopped and started to apologize, the moment lost as Fred flipped him onto his back and hit him hard, blood trickling from the corner of Ron's mouth.

Ron grabbed Fred's leg and shoved him off him, pinning him to the ground, his knees resting against the inside of Fred's elbows. He licked the corner of his mouth, tasting blood. "Enough."

"Fuck off."

"I love her, Fred." Ron closed his eyes for a moment, hiding from the anger and hurt and pain and hatred in his brother's eyes. "That's what you wanted me to say that day, wasn't it? That I love her?"

"Get off me."

"I love her, Fred." Ron glanced at Hermione who was standing to the side, tears glistening in her eyes, refusing to look at them both. "And she loves me."

"Get off me, Ron."

"You can't even argue it, because you know it. She was biding time with you…"

"Fuck off." Fred heaved Ron off of him, kicking him in the stomach as he twisted off, the move well honed from hours of Quidditch practice with Oliver. "You don't know the first thing about what she did with me. What she was with me."

"I know it's over." Ron managed to sit up, holding his stomach. He looked at his brother, noting the deep gash over Fred's eye, the swollen knot on his forehead. "I do know that."

Fred got to his feet and glanced at Hermione. He met her eyes and held them, despite the rapid swelling that threatened to close one of his. "Is he breaking up with me?"

Her tears spilled down her cheeks and she didn't say anything, her lips pressed together to keep any sound from escaping as Fred nodded once and moved past her, walking calmly until he was out of sight.

"You okay?" Harry asked, squatting down next to Ron.

"Dunno. How do I look?"

"Worse than he did." Harry stood and reached down for Ron's hand. "Physically at least."

Ron bowed his head as the crowd dispersed, everyone talking, casting curious glances back in their direction. Looking over to where Hermione was standing, Ron sighed. "Shit."

"I don't think that was exactly how she planned on telling him, huh?"

Ron hissed as Harry touched his shoulder. He glanced down and noticed blood staining his white shirt. "Shit."

"So…are you guys…?"

"Well, until my brother showed up, yeah. I think so." He glanced at Hermione again. She was frozen, staring in the direction Fred had gone, tears still tracking silently down her cheeks. "Now I'm not so sure."

"Maybe you should talk to her?" Harry suggested. The moment the words left his lips, Hermione shook off her reverie and started running in the direction Fred had disappeared in. "Or maybe not."

Fred chuckled bitterly as Hermione walked into the small clearing. Darkness settled around them, the sounds of the Forbidden Forest full of shadows. "Guess I know now why you wouldn't take my letters."

"It wasn't what you're thinking."

"Oh? It's not that you got upset with me, ran to Ron and had sex with him? It's not that you were guilty so you just cut off all contact with me and made me wonder if what I'd done was so bad you were going to hate me forever?"

"It wasn't quite that."

"Oh? Were you not guilty then?"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, sitting tentatively beside him. "I'm not sure what I was. Guilty. Scared. Sad. Hurt. You hurt me, Fred."

"You left me long before I hurt you."

She looked at him, her eyes shocked. "What?"

"Maybe you don't see it. Maybe it's just so much second nature that you don't even notice. You don't notice him touch you. Don't notice when you brush his hand with yours and neither of you move." He didn't look at her, didn't need to to sense her processing his words, seeing the truth in them. "You know what the worst part is though?"

"No." She bit her lower lip and closed her eyes. Her voice was soft. "What?"

"It wasn't bad enough that I had to see you like that. Like that with him. That I had to know that you'd just come from…" he got up and walked a few feet away, needing to put distance between them. "It's that I had to hear that poncey git Malfoy get off on it. I had to listen to his smug, sarcastic voice tell me that my girlfriend was had just finished shagging my brother."

"I'm sorry, Fred."

"Did you ever…" He stopped and brushed at his face, wiping away blood, smearing it with an escaping tear. "No. You know, I don't want to know.'

"You seem inordinately calm."

"Considering I just beat the shit out of my brother?"

"Considering everything."

"Would it do any good for me to rage and scream, Hermione? I saw you two together. You didn't deny what he said. You've obviously made your choice."

"That's not…"

"And it's fine. It's fine. It's what I wanted, right? What I was trying for?" He laughed, hysteria haunting the sound. "My goal was to make Ron notice you. And he did. And I knew the minute I told you the truth that it was over."

"That's not true."

"Isn't it?" He snarled. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "The second you started running, we were over."

"I was hurt. Confused."

"I just made it easy. I gave you the reason you needed." He shrugged. "Maybe I knew it too. Maybe that's why I couldn't let myself, let us, go beyond what we did. Maybe I was saving you for Ron."

"I didn't leave you because of Ron."

"You did though. You could have run to anyone, Hermione. Harry or Ginny or a dozen other people. But you ran to him." Fred shrugged. "It's as simple as that."

"It's not." She got up and walked to him, facing him, shocked at the pain on his face, in his eyes. "Fred."

He jerked away before she could touch him. "I would really rather you didn't."

"Ron and I…"

"Do you love him, Hermione?"

"Pardon?"

"Do you love him? Do you love Ron?"

"I don't…"

"Just say it. You know that you do. I know that you do. The whole of Hogwarts knows that you do." He moved away again, trying to avoid her. "How can they not?" He touched her hair then the tie that hung loosely around her neck. "Look at you."

"We…"

"You had sex with him, Hermione. Made love to him, right? Didn't fuck him. You wouldn't fuck him. You wouldn't fuck anyone." He laughed again, tears stinging his eyes, washing his face pink. "You wouldn't fuck me."

Hermione moved over to him, her voice soft. "What did or didn't happen between us has nothing to do with Ron." She put her hand on his arm and he jerked away again, almost violently.

"Don't touch me!" He looked away from her, lowering his head, his eyes closed in pain as he stumbled over to a fallen tree and sank down onto it. "Please. Don't touch me."

"I'm sorry." She knelt on the ground in front of him, her hands hovering over his knees, wanting and needing to touch him, afraid to do so. "I'm so sorry, Fred."

"I don't want you to apologize, Hermione."

"What do you want?" She pleaded with him. 'I can't stand…" She reached up, her fingers near his cheek. "I'm sorry."

"Tell me the truth."

"What truth?"

"Why'd you have sex with him? Why, when you knew he was the one person that would hurt me the most? When you knew that he'd love the chance to get back at me for stealing you away from him? When you knew, knew, he was the one person I couldn't fight for you?" His eyes implored her. "Why?"

"I just…I was hurting. I was upset and scared and I kept thinking that I thought I knew what was going on and then suddenly it wasn't the same anymore. And…"

"And you ran to Ron."

"I ran to my friend."

"No. You. Ran. To. Ron."

Hermione sank onto her heels and dropped her hands to her knees. "I was going to sleep with you that night. On Halloween."

He turned his head, his teeth clenched as his chest swelled. Pain fractured him and he squeezed his eyes closed. "Because you loved me?"

"Yes."

"But not enough to stay and listen? Not enough to give me a chance to explain?" He shook his head, still blinded, refusing to look at her. "You ran because I gave you the escape you'd been waiting for. You ran because you didn't want to be with me."

"That's not true."

"It is true." His jaw tightened. "Otherwise we'd have talked and worked things out. You wouldn't have run off and then," he shook his head and stood up, very carefully avoiding her. "I have to go."

"Why did you tell me?" Hermione asked him softly, her eyes following him as he started to walk away. He stopped but didn't turn around so she asked him again, just as quietly. "Why did you tell me the truth, Fred?" When he remained silent, she got to her feet and moved behind him.

He bent his head and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. "Because I loved you. And I didn't want to lie to you anymore. About anything."

"If you hadn't told me, we'd have…"

"And I'd be the happiest man alive." His shoulders shook with a quick laugh. "Until I looked at Ron." He glanced back at her and his eyes hurt her, the wounded blue lancing her heart. "Or until I looked at you, looking at him." She started to speak and he shook his head. "You're in love with my little brother. Always have been, probably always will be. And you knew that, because you're smart. Maybe you didn't want to admit it, because it hurts to love someone who just doesn't get it, who keeps hurting you, not knowing how deep even the slightest remark can cut." He breathed deeply. "Ron didn't get it and, to be honest, that pissed me off, because even before I fell in love with you, I knew that you were smart and beautiful and nice and sweet and had the fullest, supplest," he reached out and stroked her bottom lip with his thumb, parting it from the top one, closing his eyes at the too familiar, too painful gesture, "tastiest lips in all of Hogwarts. But now he gets it, in every sense of the word, and it worked. My plan worked."

She fought the urge to kiss him, unable to keep her hands from clutching at his robes. "It was a stupid plan."

He nodded. "So I've been told numerous times by almost everyone I've ever met. But actually, it was a brilliant plan. It was the bits I didn't plan on that cocked it all up." He stroked her lip, staring at her mouth. "The falling in love with you bit. The wanting you bit. The needing you so much it hurts bit."

"Fred…"

He shook his head and stepped away from her, out of her reach, her out of his. "Ron's probably paced a hole in the common room rug, Hermione. You should go back."

"We're not finished."

"I think we are."

"I love you," she shook her head, pleading with him, reaching out to touch him.

Fred turned to look at her, the light that normally lit his eyes extinguished, his gaze cold and lifeless. "More than Ron?"