The Confrontation

Now

"What the... Hermione?! Fred?!"

The two in question broke the passionate kiss they had been in the middle of at the outburst. Looks somewhere between guilt, nervousness and embarrassment on their faces, Hermione and Fred turned to face Ron and Harry.

"Were you two... you were..." Ron trailed off, unable to form a coherent sentence at the moment.

Harry glanced nervously between the people in the room, noting that the color of Ron's face was quickly changing to match his hair, before taking the safest course of action in this situation. Slowly, so as not to attract the attention of the other three, he backed out of the Gryffindor common room. If he hurried, he could catch Malfoy and get into a fight so he wouldn't have to be back anytime soon. He wanted nowhere near what was about to happen.

No one noticed Harry leave. In fact, they stared at each other in silence for almost a whole minute trying to register the situation they were in. Then suddenly, before Fred or Hermione realized what was happening, Ron was across the room and pulling Fred off the couch and to his feet.

Hermione immediately jumped up to stand beside him, but it was too late. Ron brought back his arm and swung his fist forward, hitting Fred in the face and sending him sprawling to the floor.

Her eyes wide, Hermione looked between the two in shock. Ron was standing glowering down at his older brother with his hands in fists at his side and anger rolling off him in waves. Fred was slowly pushing himself up to rest on his elbows while licking the blood from his split lip and glaring at Ron.

Coming to her senses, Hermione quickly moved to kneel beside Fred, helping him to sit up while worriedly studying his face for any more damage. Finding nothing but the split lip, she nearly sighed with relief. Fred, noticing her reaction, gave her a small, but slightly painful, grin to reassure her.

Meanwhile, Ron stood staring at them and silently seething.

Watching Hermione fuss over Fred, helping him to his feet and then wrapping an arm around his waist, was the last straw. Ron couldn't stay silent a moment longer.

"What the bloody h*** do you two think you're doing?" Ron ground out angrily.

Fred smirked slightly at his younger brother. "Before you interrupted us, we were snogging, though you obviously noticed. Finally."

Ron's eyes narrowed at the word. "What do you mean 'finally'? How long has this... this... I don't even know what to call it, been going on?"

"On Saturday it'll be the two month anniversary of our first date," Fred answered, voice calm even though he wanted nothing more than to hit his brother for all he was worth.

"You've been hiding this from me for two months! I can't believe the two of you are... god, I don't want to think about it or I might be ill. But to hide it from me all this time!" Ron snorted derisively before adding, "Of course, with what you two are doing, I'd be ashamed to admit it if I were you, too!"

Hermione had remained silent up to this point. Ron was one of her best friends, and they had known when he figured out what was going on he'd be upset, but he'd definitely crossed the line.

She quickly placed herself in front of Fred to prevent him from attacking Ron for his last comment, something she knew Fred would do, as she could tell he'd just completely lost control of his temper. Turning her head slightly, she gave Fred a look telling him she would handle it, to which he nodded reluctantly. Once assured Fred would behave, Hermione turned back to face Ron, a dangerous glint entering her eyes.

Hermione Granger was not a person who let her emotions control her actions very often. In general, she didn't let anger or any other emotion get the best of her. However, when she was pushed to her limit, the object of her fury received it in spades.

Right now, the object of her rage was none other than an unsuspecting Ronald Weasley.