~Prologue~

Hermione didn't know when exactly she started noticing George she would have to say it was sometime around the end of the war. Right when he was most upset and miserable over the loss of his other half. She did know that she never really cared for either of the twins they were always to playful taking their jokes way to far and not really thinking about the consequences. They were the ones who were there to give you a good laugh when you were down or lesson the tension if someone was being a git. Every time you saw them they each had giant unmistakable grins on their faces. Those grins always signaled that they did something or was about to do something unimaginably horrible.

She never thought she would say she missed those smiles but watching George lately moping around his shop and the burrow with that distinct piece of him missing made her want to cry herself. She didn't like the way that George was so absent, hollow almost, he was there but at the same time was not. She worried for him more than she should, Ron has been more than helpful with pointing that out on several accounts.

Every once in a while she will receive an odd look from Mrs. Weasley as well. George seemed to be the only one not to notice her sudden infatuation with him. He didn't even seem to care when Angelina Johnson broke up with him, and before they had seemed so in love. He was just a walking talking shell, an animation of his former self. She knew others saw this and that they worried to but what she could not fathom was why they did nit try to do anything about it. He could not go on living this way, if you could even call it that.

That's it she had to do something about it, and whether she got the support of her friends or not, or whether he was willing or not, she will make George Fabian Weasley better. And help him find a way to make peace with his brothers death, because she knows there is no way he can forget it.

~Chapter One~

Hermione was reading a muggle romance novel about vampires and pirates in the sitting room of the burrow when the fire place flared to life. She jumped and gripped her wand tightly with her right hand waiting to see who would come through the floo. These were all bad habits from the war, even though she knew the likely hood of some deatheater using the floo was slim to none but she still worried about it constantly.

She straightened up from her slouching position when she saw the tall sickly frame of George, he had gotten thinner as each day went by, and Hermione just knew there was no way that was even remotely healthy.

"Hi George, was there something you needed?" he normally doesn't visit so early in the day unless his mum asked him too or to fetch something he remembered being here.

He looked over at me as if he was surprised to see me there, "Oh hi Hermione, didn't see you there." he replied but did not answer my initial question, just walked into the kitchen and out the door.

He does this a lot, and his mum often said it was because he did not hear what was said. She remembered the first night after the war, after the excitement of having won, when it was all sinking in that their loved ones were dead. Hermione had walked in on a serious conversation between George and Mrs. Weasley, and George had sounded so heartbroken and miserable that Hermione even started aching in her chest at the sound of his voice.

He had said, "It just doesn't seem real... He was just coming up with a prank with me yesterday to play on Harry and Ron once we saw them again... How can a person be here with you whole and alive one second and literally the next dead on the ground, just an empty shell of someone who once was.. I-I just don't under-unde" he broke off what he was trying to say and the next instant Hermione heard loud sobs coming from the other room and Mrs. Weasley's soothing shushes.

Hermione walked away and went to the room she was supposed to be sharing with Ginny but Ginny was not there. She had collapsed on the bed and cried herself to sleep, she cried not only for the loss of her loved ones but for the loss of other's loved ones as well. She didn't or couldn't understand how one man could be responsible for so much heartache and blood shed. One horrible evil man.

She got up off the chair she was sitting in and went out back where she last heard George run off to, she opened the door and saw him in the garden. He was just sitting with his head tilted upwards and his eyes closed tight. She approached him from behind and put her hand on his shoulder, he jerked away from her touch and looked up at her. Now that she was closer to him she could see the obvious tear tracks running down his pale cheeks.

She didn't say a word even though thousands of questions were running through her head. she knew if she did then he would close off and leave. She hadn't spoken to him much out of all the time she had spent around him the past couple of months. She was always too scared she would say something wrong, or hurt him more than she would help him. So she kept her distance but someone needed to help him before he wastes away. She sat down next to him and just turned her face upwards and closed her eyes like she saw him doing and just let the breeze run through her hair.

After a couple of minutes George began to speak but his voice had a far away tone to it like he wasn't speaking directly to her but just to the wind itself. "When we were little we used to get into so much trouble with mum Bill, and Percy, we just couldn't wait to learn all the things the boys were learning at Hogwarts. Then one day Bill and one of his friends had left their brooms outside while they went somewhere with dad and we snuck out back while mum was cooking in the kitchen. We each grabbed one of the brooms and looked at each other and at the moment we both knew that this was going to be one of the biggest mistakes of our lives but neither of us cared. We desperately wanted to learn something new so we kicked off and willed ourselves to fly at the exact same time and we both crashed and burned. Mum was furious at us both but at least we went down together like we always did..."

He dropped his head when he said this and his shoulders began to shake a little before he raised his head and wiped at his face. "At least we did before I left him hanging for the first and last time." his voice got softer at the end.

"George.." she began but he straightened his shoulders and stood up.

"I should go," he said, "I have lots to do back at the shop. See you soon Hermione yeah?"

"Yeah," she mumbled.

Then he was gone and she drew her knees up to her chin and watched as the sun sunk lower and lower below the horizon. Wondering if her parents were watching the same sunset. She had been to see them and tried to get their memories back but it was almost impossible and if she tried to reinstate it the risk was her parents not being able to function on their own anymore and she couldn't do that to them. Especially since when she saw them her mother was pregnant and was excited to deliver her "first" child.

This is one of the reasons she believes that George needs to let go of the past even if the past was two months ago, because what if two months from now someone else in his family is dead or something life changing happens and he didn't get to have as much time as he wanted with them. He would never forgive himself.