The war was over, good had won, and all was well. Or so we were led to believe. Hermione had lately not felt that way. She should have been considered a moderately happy person. She had helped defeat Voldermort, found her parents, and was able to finish her schooling over the summer with Harry and Ron. However while she was finishing up her schooling her and Ron had ended their relationship. It seemed that they were truly destined to be just friends. It hurt her so much to have to let Ron go in that sense, however them as a couple just didn't seem to be working out.
It has been about two years after the war had ended, at the end of August and Hermione decided to go into Diagon Alley to get some things to keep up with the magical world. She really did love magic and the whole world itself. She was walking through the different shops and kept getting stopped in the streets being asked for her autograph. It was cute when little kids and elderly people asked her. However it became a little strange for her when people who were as old as her were asking to take a picture with her or for her autograph. She smiled for another picture thinking, i Why would anyone want a picture of me? Is this how Harry felt all those years in Hogwarts. Wow. I couldn't imagine living with this for that long. /i
She waved goodbye to the couple that she had just taken the picture with and ducked into the nearest store. She leaned up against the store door and sighed in relief. She looked around the store she had stepped into and realized that she was in Fred and George's store. Well now it was just George's. Hermione was still in a little bit of disbelief that Fred was gone. She kept thinking that Fred was just hiding around a corner waiting and biding his time. Waiting to pounce out and scare Hermione.
She tried to block those thoughts out of her mind. She looked up and saw George stocking things on shelves. He hadn't seen her come in and must not have heard the bell ring to say someone had entered the store. However he could have heard it and just didn't care. George seemed to have changed a little bit since Fred's death. He seemed harder on the inside. It made sense, George hadn't only lost his twin brother, he also lost his best friend.
She stepped forward and smiled. "Hi George. Long time no see." She watched George turn around and his eyes went wide in happiness.
"Hermione!" He ran to her and hugged her. He picked her up and spun her in the hug. She laughed and hugged him back. She had missed him so much over this couple of years. "I missed you Hermione." He put her down and looked at her. He had a smile on his face that soon turned to a frown. She looked at him with a sense of not understanding the change in emotion.
"George what's wrong?" She cocked her head to the right with concern in her eyes.
"Hermione I'm just sorry to hear about you and Ron. I always thought that you two would last. Ever since your second year when you were petrified, well he was so torn up about it I could see that he had cared about you since then. When I heard that you two broke up I was really shocked and sad about it." Hermione placed her hand on George's arm to stop him from speaking.
"George, stop please. When Ron and I broke up," She paused and sighed. She looked down and took her arm that was on George and placed it on her opposite arm. "We did it because we loved each other so much that we couldn't be together." She looked down at her feet. "We just grew apart in that way. We are still the greatest of friends we just weren't meant to be in that way." George shook his head in response as if he understood what she had said. Hermione did care about Ron a lot but they just weren't meant to be together in that way.
She looked up at George slightly. He had changed in the years since she had seen him last. He seemed harder in a way almost. As if he wouldn't pull another prank on someone else even if he wanted to. It was as if when Fred died so did his desire to play pranks. He was also more built from the last time she had seen him. She understood that death would change anyone but she never thought that anyone close to him or her would die. She sighed and decided that she had to do something not to look at him. She started to look around the shop. George walked up behind her. "It's not the same without him." He was talking about Fred and Hermione knew it.
Hermione looked up at George and saw the sadness in his face. She wasn't sure exactly why even though she did have an idea of why. She didn't want to know if she was right or not. She looked around the empty store and found a box of products. As she walked over to the box she turned to him and smiled. "The store looks really good George." She smiled and turned back to the box.
"Thanks Hermione. What are you looking for?" He asked her with confusion in his voice. She laughed and looked inside the box.
She pointed with her thumb to the inside of the half filled box. "Love potions?" She looked back down at the box, and picked up one of the pink and gold boxes. "Make your own love potions never the less." She laughed and shook her head. Out of the corner of her eye she could see him coming up beside her. He grabbed the box out of her hand and as she turned to him she could have sworn to see him turn red. Fred and George were the only Weasley's who seemed to never blush. It was slightly entertaining to her that she had made him blush. She put her hand to her lips and laughed. She looked up at the half stocked shelf. "Can I help?" She asked as she pointed to the shelf.
George bit his lip. He was struggling with himself. He didn't know if he wanted her to help him out or not. He wasn't sure why he didn't want her to help; he just didn't feel right putting her to work when she had come. He did have to get it done before he went up to his flat above the store. The flat that he walked into every night by himself. The flat that still had two beds in it. The flat that was meant for two people, not one. Finally he sighed and gave in. "Ok sure." Hermione beamed and picked up a box and started to place them on the shelves. George walked over to the door and flipped the sign from 'open' to 'closed'. He turned back to her and laughed a little bit. "You can leave through the back." She looked over at him and nodded.
For the next hour stocking the shelves took longer then it normally would. George was very much taller then Hermione. As she stood in front of the box he wasn't able to get to it. He did what any normal person would do. He picked her up around her waist and put her behind him. "Hey!" She said as he picked her up the first time. She laughed and smiled as he did so.
"Sorry but you were in the way. You do want to get it done don't you?" He smiled down at her as he picked up some boxes and put it on the shelves. Hermione stood behind George for a second with her lips pursed, much like the way Professor McGonagall did for so many years. The only difference was that you could see traces of a smile on Hermione's lips. A smile was almost never present on the elderly professors. She put her hands on her hips as George continued to stock the shelves. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and laughed at the way she was standing. As he continued to stock the shelves she slipped herself in between him and the box. She laughed under her breath and put a few products on the shelf.
George turned to find Hermione in the way once again and smiled down at her. He sighed and playfully rolled his eyes. He put his arms around her waist and transferred her to the other side once more. She laughed as he did so and continued to block his path. Neither of them would openly admit that they were enjoying this. Hermione wasn't sure why she was having so much fun, but George had always found Hermione attractive. He would never let her know though. George knew Ron's feelings for her even though Ron would never admit it out loud George always knew it.
Once again George put Hermione on the other side of him and she burst out laughing. He looked over and saw a few people staring at them through the window. They both looked at each other and couldn't stop themselves from laughing. George was the first to regain his composure as he walked over to the window. He pulled down the blinds and turned to find Hermione still laughing in the spot George had left her in. He smiled and leaned up against the wall smiling and laughing a bit at her.
Hermione finally calmed down and looked over at George smiling at her. Confusion filled her auburn eyes. "What are you smiling at?" She asked with a laugh in her voice. George just shrugged and looked down at his feet.
"I don't know. You're just," George paused as he looked up at her. "You're different. In a good way I mean." As he said this Hermione's lip curled into somewhat of a smile. She shrugged and spoke in a somewhat serious tone.
"The war changed a lot of things George."
George nodded in agreement and looked down as he whispered softly to himself. "Don't I know that?"
Hermione perked up. "What's that?"
George shot his head up. "Nothing. Nothing. Never mind." Hermione walked up to him and looked up into his eyes, her auburn eyes staring up into his blue ones. He couldn't believe how amazing her eyes were. He was getting lost in them and he was slowly starting to realize how much that was scaring him. He took a deep breath and looked away from her eyes. She bit the inside of her bottom lip and put her hand on his upper arm. She was trying to catch his eyes again.
"George. You know you can tell me anything. What is it?" She found his eyes again and he tried to think of anything to get away from the subject they were on. He walked around her and started to stock the shelves again. Hermione dropped her arm and turned as she watched George walk around her. She bit the inside of her bottom lip wondering what she had just felt for the Weasley in front of her. It was almost the same thing she felt for; dare she think it, what she had felt for Ron?
No it couldn't be. She had loved Ron and this was George. He was the prankster that disrupted class and made her job as a Prefect extremely difficult. And yet when she touched his arm she felt something. She had felt a little bit of something when she hugged him but she really didn't think about it. At least she didn't really think about it until now.
George's voice was speaking to Hermione while his face was talking to the shelves in front of him. "So where have you been staying Hermione?" Hermione looked up at him and took a deep breath once again.
"Over at the Leaky Cauldron."
He turned to her. "You aren't staying with your mum and dad?" He asked surprised. She shook her head in response. "Why?" He asked as sadness started to fill her. She didn't want to tell him the real reason she was staying in a hotel room. She felt tears starting to fill her eyes. A single tear started to roll down her face. She tried to push it away with her hand before George could see it. It was too late for that however, he had seen it and he walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. He rubbed her back in a circular motion. It was calming her as she wrapped her arms around him. She broke from the hug and smiled up at him. Her eyes were glazed with more tears but she sniffled them back.
A smile came across her face. "I'm sorry George. I didn't mean to cry. Have you eaten yet? I want to make it up to you." She beamed a smile in the hope he would let her make it up to him.
Seeing her smile made George smile. "Ok. You can make me dinner. Let me just finish with the box, there's a couple more things in there." He walked over to the box as he said this. He put the last few products on the shelves and got rid of the box. He motioned to her to follow him and she obeyed. He opened a door to a narrow staircase that they started to descend. George stopped them at the top and turned to Hermione. "It's a little messy."
Hermione just laughed and smiled. "It's ok George. I don't care." He nodded and opened the door to the small two people flat. He rushed in and grabbed a pair of boxers that were on his bed. He quickly stuffed them into the hamper and turned to Hermione blushing a little. Hermione made her way into his kitchen. She just laughed and smiled as she shook her head. "It's alright George, really." She looked around the kitchen and then turned to him. "So what will it be for tonight?" She asked with a beaming smile.
"Well, I kind of only have eggs and a few drinks." He said with a laugh. She went into the fridge and took out the eggs and butter.
"It's ok. I'll just make the best eggs you will ever have. My dad made them for me whenever it was a special occasion. Especially for my birthday." She said as she made them both dinner. She took a quick look around the flat as she plated the food.
She placed the plates and forks on the counter that split the kitchen from the rest of the apartment. "It's cozy." She said in regards to the flat.
George looked over at the side that Fred used to stay in. "Fred used to sleep there. I just don't have the heart to clean it up or anything like that."
Hermione nodded and looked over at the other side of the flat. "I understand that." They finished their food in silence. As Hermione put the dishes in the sink and washed them she began to think. She thought about whether or not she should tell George about the past couple years. Heck, the past few months had been hard enough. She didn't want to explain why she had left her parents house.
George was worried about Hermione. She looked upset about something. "You ok, Mione?" He asked with visible concern in his voice and in his face.
The sound of her rarely used nickname made Hermione smile. She finished the dishes and turned around resting her weight on the counter behind her. She pursed her lips and shook her head. She hung her head as he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her once more. She started to sob into his chest and he just held her, letting her cry. He placed a soft kiss on her head in an attempt to calm her.
"If I had just kept my big mouth shut none of this would have happened!" She said, almost screamed in between the sobs to his chest. He pulled away from her slightly and tilted her tear stained face up to look at his, his blue eyes looking down into her brown ones with concern. He led her to the couch on the opposite side of the flat. He sat down and pulled her to sit next to him.
With Hermione's hand still in his, George simply asked, "What happened?"
Hermione took a deep breath trying to delay telling him the whole story. She also needed to figure out where to begin. So much had happened, so much pain and hurt. She let go of his hand and brought her knee to her chest. She rested her head upon her knee and looked over at George. "It's a long story."
George turned his body to fully face his former classmate. "I've got all the time in the world Hermione." He said simply. Hermione felt the comfort and smiled as she pushed some hair out of her eyes.
"Well the reason I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron is because my parents and I decided it would be best that I not live at home." She had said it. Finally she told someone the real reason she hadn't been living at home. Sure she had given the excuse that she was staying at the Leaky Cauldron until she could find a suitable home for herself. One that was close to the ministry, which she planned to work for. So sure she had been telling the truth, just not the whole truth.
"They kicked you out? Why?" George asked. Confusion read in his voice and his expression. How could i Hermione Granger /i have been kicked out of her parents home? "How come you didn't ask my mum if you could stay with her?" His voice remained confused but a hint of anger could be sensed. They both knew full well that Mrs. Weasley would have taken her in.
Hermione sighed and shook her head. She knew she would get this type of reaction at some point. "First of all my parents didn't kick me out. Second of all I didn't want to intrude on your mother." Anger could now be heard in her voice as well. She didn't mean for it to come out that way but it just did.
George stood up with anger rising in him. "You know my mum wouldn't have cared! She loves you like you were her own! What?! You think that my family is so poor that they wouldn't be able to support everyone!" The fact that he thought this enraged Hermione so much that she stood and got right in George's face.
"George! You know I don't think that! I didn't ask because I couldn't be around Ron like that and I couldn't risk making people who were basically family feel like they couldn't be around me!" Her heart was beating fast with her anger pulsing through her veins. She gasped softly realizing she had said too much. Or at least more then she had planned. She started to fumble. She had to get out before George started asking questions. "I… I… I've got to go." She said clumsily as she tried to make her way to the door.
George stood there dazed as her last few words replayed in his head. She was almost out the door when he snapped out of his daze and almost ran to the door and caught her arm. "Hermione, what happened?" He asked softly with slight desperation in his voice.
She took a deep breath, not wanted to continue but knew she would soon have to. "I left home because my father can't stand to be around me."
"No, I'm sure that's not tru –"
"It is George! I heard him say it! He said 'I can't be around Hermione anymore.'" She relaxed her body at that moment. Her arm was no longer resisting in George's grasp. He let her go, knowing that she wasn't about to leave. "I don't blame him. I've been lying to them for almost a decade." At that George looked confused. She sighed in regret realizing that she would have to explain a large part of her life. She walked slowly back to the couch and sat as she returned her head back to its place on her knee. "I had never really told my parents everything that happened at Hogwarts. If I had, they would have taken me out during the middle of first year."
George listened as he made his way back to the couch. "Didn't they question you when you came home with cuts and bruises?"
Hermione smiled and scoffed in an almost reminiscent way. "I became very clumsy when I entered Hogwarts. Also Madame Pomfrey is amazing when it comes to cleaning a person up." They both laughed softly at the thought. "Plus when I got older I would just put make up over what she didn't cover. It worked great. My parents never knew a thing. I was also never home long enough over the summer for them to really ask questions." George wasn't looking at her. His upper arms were resting on his legs that were spread a little bit. His hands were clasped as he looked down taking in every word she said.
"How did they find out?" He asked slowly, tilting his head towards her so he was able to see her out of the corner of her eye.
Hermione swallowed hard. "I couldn't bare lying to them anymore. I finally broke." She let her leg down and crossed her legs under her. "I sat them down and I told them everything that happened. They were proud that I helped save the world but, they were hurt that I had lied to them the way I did and for as long as I did." She pursed her lips together and shook her head at the memory. She bit the inside of her bottom lip, a little scared to continue.
"So what? They just threw you out?" George asked a little confused. He was still only looking at her through the corner of her eye. He couldn't bring himself to look at her directly just yet. To him she had still insulted his family and he needed to find out more just before he could get up the courage to look at her.
Hermione shook her head. She wasn't looking at him and then she took a little peak. She realized he wasn't looking at her so she had to speak again. "No, no they didn't." a high-pitched noise came out of her mouth that was not her voice. She wasn't sure what it was but it certainly wasn't her voice. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath trying to figure out what to say next. "I just couldn't seem to do anything right. Whenever I came into the room they would go quiet. As if they had just been talking about me. I felt like I was back in school! It was ridiculous." She ran her fingers through her hair trying to regain her composure, knowing that she was about to lose it.
She leaned her head backward and let it rest on the back of the couch. She brought her knee up and held it close to her body with her arms. "Then I overheard my father and mother arguing one day. I had just come back from the market and I guess they didn't hear me open the door." A single tear started to roll down her face and Hermione pushed it away with her hand as she stared up at the ceiling. "My mother was saying that she was upset with me as well but she couldn't stand to be away from me. Then my father said that he couldn't be around me any longer. I was so upset. I walked into the kitchen, placed the groceries down and walked off to my room. After about an hour of thinking of where I could go and figuring out how much money I had I sat them down and talked to them." Her voice was cracking as she spoke. She was going to hold back tears no matter what. George turned around to listen to her and show her that in some way he now understood why she hadn't contacted his mother for help.
Hermione didn't know that George had done this and was a little shocked when he spoke and it didn't sound as muffled as it had been. "How did they react when you told them you were leaving?" he was calm now and just wanted to comfort her. He had a feeling that the only way to comfort her at that moment was just to let her talk. He would figure out another way to comfort her as he listened to her speak.
"A little stunned I guess. I don't think they expected me to leave. Then again I don't think they ever expected me to catch them talking about me either." George nodded as she spoke but still couldn't understand one thing that just seemed to be burning in the back of his head.
"But Hermione that still doesn't explain why you didn't go and talk to my mum. She would have taken you in and you know that." Hermione listened to George and she knew what he was saying was true but she just couldn't. She turned his head him.
"George. Could you honestly live in the same house as your ex girlfriend. And not only was she your ex but she was someone that you thought about for god knows how many years and you thought you were going to end up marrying her?" George shifted his lips to the side and shook his head. "Plus at that time I felt like I could do no right. I didn't want to do that to your mother too. I couldn't risk losing another mother." George finally understood her reasoning. Hermione actually felt good about getting it all off of her chest.
"One more question. How long have you been staying at the Leaky Cauldron?" Hermione bit her lip. She didn't want to tell him, afraid that he might yell at her again. She knew if she denied him an answer that he would only keep asking her or worse yell at her. She took her head off of the back of the couch and looked down at the table that was sitting in front of them.
She could just lie and tell him a shorter amount of time then she had actually been there. She was obviously a good enough liar. However, something inside of her wasn't letting her lie to George. She couldn't lie to him. It was that same something that kept her from lying to Ron or to Harry. It was always a stronger feeling when it came to Ron because of the love she had for him.
Once again she was confused. This feeling that was stopping her from lying to Ron was at EXACTLY the same strength for George. Could she actually like George in the same way that she had liked Ron? "Hermione?" George's voice rang. She had to answer him and she couldn't lie. She just couldn't.
"Six months." She said simply and almost too quickly. She started to rub the back of her neck gingerly as she waited for him to start yelling at her. The yelling never came however. All that came was a set of strong arms hugging her, almost holding her. She wrapped her arms around the arm that was crossing in front of her. She placed a light kiss on his arm and she didn't know why she did. George felt the kiss and moved his head to place a small similar kiss on her shoulder.
A sudden rush of realization swept over Hermione. She realized that those feelings she had for Ron were the same as the ones she was having for George at that very moment. She turned her head to him and George raised his head to level hers.
Hermione closed her eyes and started to lean in, as George did the same thing almost simultaneously. Soon the clock that sat on top of Gringott's back chimed twelve times. The pair turned their heads to the direction that the chiming was coming from. Hermione slowly dropped her head and turned back to face George.
George wanted to kiss her, almost as much as Hermione wanted to kiss him. They both however knew that the chiming of the clock was the signal to the pair that Hermione should leave. "You should be getting back." George said softly with his arms still wrapped around the girl that he was slowly realizing he could quite possibly love. Hermione nodded and sighed deeply however it was silent. George unwrapped his arms from Hermione and the pair walked toward the door and back down to the store.
Once they reached the bottom Hermione started to head toward the front door. George grabbed her arm before she could go that much farther. He jerked his head toward the back door. "You can leave through back here. The first alleyway will lead you back to the main alley and you can get back to the Leaky Cauldron." Hermione nodded showing that she understood and George led her slowly to the backdoor as he loosened his grip on her arm. Before George's hand fell completely to his side Hermione caught it in her own and held it.
Feeling Hermione's hand in his made George smile. It was a small smile that couldn't truly be seen when a person properly looked at him but a smile never the less. They reached the back door and George opened it as Hermione walked through. As she walked through the door they broke the physical contact that they were having. Hermione faced the outside for a moment before she turned back to look at George.
She opened her mouth to speak as George stopped her to speak himself. "Come back and visit ok?" a smile broke across Hermione's face as she nodded.
"Of course I will George." She looked at George as he was turning to walk back inside. Before he could she grabbed his arm. George was a little shocked and turned around to look at the brunette standing in front of him. Hermione inched closer to him and put her hand on the back of his neck. She leaned in and kissed George. George's eyes popped for a moment and then he relaxed and closed his eyes as he returned her kiss. He placed his hand on her cheek and almost brought her head more towards him. To the both of them it felt like fireworks were going off in the background but nobody could hear them but the pair.
They broke the kiss and Hermione looked up into George's eyes. With her hand still on the back of his neck she smiled and simply said, "Goodnight George." With that she removed her hand and turned away from him as she started to head back to her room in the Leaky Caldron.
George watched her walk off and the corner of his mouth curled up in a smile. "Goodnight Hermione." He said to the deserted street. George then turned away and closed the door behind him.