I Miss You

Hermione sighed as she surveyed the happy dancing couples at the Yule Ball. She was in her seventh year at Hogwarts, and she was Head Girl. She should have been enjoying herself as she talked with her friends, but there was a very large void in her heart, the one her boyfriend should have been filling. In her fifth year, she had started dating Fred Weasley, and they had been together ever since. Once he had graduated, he had started the joke shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, with his twin brother George in Hogsmeade.

It really irked Hermione that she couldn't see the man she loved more than every few weekends and when she ran errands into Hogsmeade. She had gotten used to being able to see him every day during her fifth year, and she still hadn't readjusted to not seeing him that much. Sure, they owled almost daily, but it wasn't his face, his voice, his smell, and the million other things she loved about him. She had asked Fred to the Yule Ball, as guests were allowed, but he'd had to take a business trip to France with George.

"Are you okay, Herm?" Harry asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. He and Ron knew exactly how much she missed Fred, being her best friends and all.

"I'm fine," she said despondently, resting her chin on her hand.

"Do you want to dance? It'd be a shame if you'd wasted all that time getting ready just to sit there," Ron said, holding out his hand. It was true; she had spent a lot of time getting ready. Her dress robes were cut in the new sleeveless style, and were made of a beautiful gold satin. She had left her hair down, wearing it in soft, shiny curls. Fred had always told her that he liked her hair best that way, and she had to agree. It framed her face perfectly, and her long locks cascaded down past her shoulders like a chestnut waterfall.

"No thanks," she said, shaking her head sadly, "Why don't you go dance with Parvati, Ron? And Harry, I believe that you are supposed to be Ginny's date. I kinda just want to be alone."

"You sure?" Harry asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah, you guys go have a good time," she replied, "Maybe I'll dance later." With a last look of worry directed at Hermione, they slowly walked back to their dates, taking both of them onto the dance floor.

"Okay," said the lead singer of the band, "I'm going to hand the mic over to a friend of mine now. The song is called, I Miss You."

Hermione gave herself a half-smile, knowing the song that was about to be played. It happened to be one of her favorites. She stared intently down at the glass in her hands, feeling even sadder than she had a moment earlier.

When the singer gave they opening notes in the song, Hermione's eyebrow arched slightly. The voice was so familiar. As the first lyrics were sung, she had no doubt as to whom it was behind the microphone.

Hermione looked up at the stage to see an extremely well-known shock of red hair above the crowd. Fred was standing on the stage, singing and looking out through the sea of students. He was dressed in a set of emerald dress robes, which complemented his light-green eyes beautifully.

As Fred approached the chorus, Hermione waved out to him, at which point he spotted her. He stepped down from the stage, walking towards the back of the room, where she was.

Hermione could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as Fred worked his way through the crowd, and she bit her lip to keep them from spilling. He stopped in front of her, smiling hugely as he continued with the song.

As he started the next chorus, Fred cupped Hermione's cheek in his hand, looking intently into her eyes.

Hermione started laughing slightly in joy, the tears now falling down her cheeks. Fred took her hand, holding it tightly as he sang.

As Fred sang the song to Hermione, she marveled at the fact that it perfectly described how she felt. She missed him terribly when they were apart, and hated not being with him more.

Hermione smiled more than she had in days as Fred serenaded her, loving him more than she ever had.

"I just miss you

Yeah, it's true, I miss you baby

And when you're walking out the door

I know I miss you

You make me wanna ask for more

I just miss you

Yeah it's true I miss you baby

Yeah it's true I miss you baby"

As Fred stopped singing and the instrumental outro played, he set the microphone down on a table, where it was Summoned back to the front of the room by the lead singer of the band.

"Hi," she said simply, temporarily incapable of intelligent speech.

"Hi," Fred repeated. He immediately took her into his arms and kissed her passionately. Hermione locked her arms around his neck, kissing back with an energetic fire. She felt Fred move his lips slightly to deepen the kiss, and she gladly obliged. Only for the extreme need of oxygen did she pull back. When she did, she heard the cheers and catcalls coming from around the room. Her face flushed, but she was still grinning. She pulled Fred back to the table she'd been sitting at, not letting go of his hand.

"I thought you were in France for another four days," she said, wondering why he'd come back.

"Well, I decided that George could handle the last couple of meetings without me," he replied, grinning.

"You skipped your meetings for me?" she asked, her eyes betraying what she was trying to tell him. Hermione always tried to be stern about him keeping up with his responsibilities, but she was too happy that he was there to try and scold him.

"Well, I couldn't very well let you spend the ball without me, now could I?" Fred asked, placing a small kiss on the back of each of her hands. "And besides, it's Christmas!"

"Oh yeah," she said, leaning in and planting a small kiss on his lips. "Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas, my Hermione," he said, brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she replied, giving him another kiss. As she sat back in her own chair again, she heard the opening of the new song. "Oh, let's dance!" The two of them hurried out to the dance floor, where they began to dance quite exuberantly.

"You know," Fred said, turning Hermione quickly, "I am really glad I didn't miss this."

"Me too," she replied, slightly out of breath. They had always been one of the best dancing couples at Hogwarts since they had gotten together, and their reputation still wasn't threatened.

They danced for quite a while, finally deciding to sit down and have drinks. They went back to the table Hermione had previously been occupying, finding Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Parvati. Fred sat down in one of the chairs, quickly pulling Hermione onto his lap. She giggled for a moment before settling down, pulling Fred's arms around her waist.

"Very smooth, Fred," Harry said, giving him a small grin.

"Well, I try," he said, looking pleased with himself. They all talked for a bit, chatting about this and that.

After a while, Ginny said to Harry, "Oh, I love this song!" Harry reluctantly got up to dance with Ginny, at which point Fred turned to Ron.

"Did you have that talk with Harry yet?" he asked, looking over Hermione's shoulder.

"Just this morning," Ron replied, nodding.

"What talk?" Hermione asked curiously.

"The 'You-better-treat-my-little-sister-respectfully-or-I'll-rip-out-your-spinal-cord' talk," Ron told her, making Parvati giggle.

"Do you actually think that Harry would try anything with Ginny?" Hermione asked skeptically.

"That talk goes to any guy who takes Ginny out," Fred told her.

"Hey, if Harry wasn't my best friend, aside from you, Herm, it would have been a lot worse," Ron informed her. She grinned, knowing how protective all of Ginny's brothers were of her.

Later, towards the end of the ball, Fred held out his hand to Hermione. "May I have this dance?"

"Certainly," she told him, placing her hand in his. They walked to the dance floor, a slow song playing, where Hermione put her arms around Fred's neck as he wrapped his own tightly around her waist.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear a few moments after they had started dancing.

"I love you, too," she whispered back.

"Herm, can I ask you a question?" Fred asked, pulling back slightly to look at her face.

"Anything," she replied, giving him a small grin. She nearly fainted of shock as Fred lowered himself to one knee and pulled a small velvet box from a pocket on the inside of his robes. He took her left hand into his, kissing the back of it once.

"Hermione, you are the most incredible woman I've ever known. You are sweet, intelligent, funny, beautiful, kind, brave, and everything that I've ever wanted in a woman. You are my soul mate; I was never complete until you came into my life. I know, we're both young, and you aren't even out of school yet, but I love you with all my heart, and then some."

Hermione's breath caught in her throat, tears filling her eyes as Fred quietly said the greatest words that she had ever heard in her life while he opened the box, revealing a golden band with small diamonds glittering in the low light. "Hermione Granger, will you marry me?"

Her mouth opened in surprise, a huge smile soon replacing it. "Yes, Fred, I will," Hermione said, tears streaming down her cheeks again. His face broke into the largest grin she had ever seen on it as he slipped the ring onto her finger. Fred then stood up and framed her face in his hands, kissing her deeply.

For the second time that night, applause broke out all around them. Everyone around Fred and Hermione had heard his proposal, and they cheered them on. They had been one of the 'it' couples at Hogwarts before Fred graduated, and everyone was glad to see that they had gotten this far.

When they finally stopped kissing, they walked quickly to their table, holding hands. As they sat down, Hermione held the engagement ring close to her face, admiring the subtle beauty of the small, delicate band.

Ginny came running up, throwing her arms around both of them. She squealed as she caught sight of the ring. "Oh my gosh!" she cried, wrenching Hermione's hand to her face.

"Well, glad to see that you're happy, Gin," Fred joked, putting his arm around Hermione.

"You know what!" Ginny cried suddenly, "This means that we'll be sisters!" Hermione smiled happily as Ginny once again enveloped her in a tight hug. She hadn't thought about that. She was going to be marrying into the Weasleys, and she would be a part of a very large family, something she hadn't experienced growing up as an only child.

Harry caught back up with Ginny, giving Hermione a hug and shaking Fred's hand. "Congratulations," he said brightly, smiling as well.

Soon enough, Ron got away from Parvati and her group of friends, coming to see what was going on. "What's up?" he asked, looking around curiously. He had been too far away to hear what had been going on.

"I asked Hermione to marry me," Fred said proudly, not a trace of embarrassment in his voice.

Ron's face lit up as he pulled them into a hug as Ginny had done. "Alright!" he said, the group's infectious smiling affecting him.

As the ball wound down, Hermione walked with Fred outside. They strolled around the lake aimlessly, just basking in the happiness that both of them felt. At 12:30, a half hour before curfew, they walked back to the entrance to Hogwarts.

"I love you," Fred said as he kissed Hermione deeply.

"I love you, too," Hermione replied against his lips. She was very sad that she and Fred were being taken away from each other again.

As if he was reading her mind, Fred said, "Don't worry, we'll see each other next weekend."

"I know, but I can't help feeling like this. I just miss you so much," she said, looking at the ground.

After a moment, Fred said, "Well, look at it this way." Hermione looked up, and he continued. "In just a few months, you'll graduate, and we can be together all we want."

A small smile played on Hermione's lips when he said this. "I guess so."

"I've got an idea," he said. "Whenever you start feeling sad and missing me, why don't you work on wedding plans?" Hermione's entire face lit up at that.

"Great idea," she said, sharing one last, intense, passionate kiss.

"I love you," Fred said as he walked down the steps.

"I love you, too," Hermione called back. Sad as she was to see him go, a part of her heart was happier than she'd ever been before.