Now You Know, a harry potter fanfic

I own nothing but the plot!

The air of the bar was surprisingly clean, and Hermione began to feel less apprehensive about allowing herself to be dragged here. She wasn't fond of bars or clubs, and it wasn't – contrary to popular opinion – because she for some reason disapproved of drinking and dancing and general merriment. Quite the opposite, actually, she enjoyed all those things in the comforts of her friends houses and sometimes even her own. No, the reason that Hermione disliked bars was because of something very few people knew about her. Hermione Granger was afraid of big crowds of strangers, and she was most definitely afraid of being compressed in the middle of all those strangers when they were drunk and handsy and most definitely not thinking of things such as scruples or morals.

Tonight, however, she was relieved to see that the bar she had been convinced to accompany her large group of friends to wasn't packed, and it wasn't as dirty as some others she had gone in to on occasion. The air was free of cigarette smoke, which she was thankful for, and the floor looked as if it might have actually been washed sometime in the last month or so. Comforting. Most of the patrons here hadn't gotten so far in to the drink that they were at the screaming and stumbling stage, so it was fairly easy for their group of eight to make their way towards a couple of tables by the far wall. The tables were pulled together and soon everyone was seated, Harry and Ginny at one end across from Hermione and George, who sat next to Ron. In a move that had surprised everyone they knew, Ron had started dating Alicia Spinnet, and of course wherever Alicia went so went Katie and Angelina, who sat next to their best friend, across from each other.

The drink orders took a while as people kept forgetting they were supposed to be deciding what to have, getting caught up in chitchat instead. Eventually, however, they all had a brightly colored beverages sitting on the tabletop in front of them, and the conversation picked up with a smooth flow. Ron and the three chaser girls he was sitting with were deeply involved in a discussion of the tactics of the last game Ron had played for the Chudley Cannons, a job he was absurdly proud of securing. Harry and George discussed the continuing growth of Weasley Wizard Wheezes, which continued to flourish despite the death of one of its owners three years previously. Hermione and Ginny were discussing who would be the best candidate to fill the recently vacated spot of Minister for Magic. Their latest 'leader' had only been in office for six months before he'd been accidentally trampled by ceremonial hippogriffs at a publicity rally.

"Let's just hope it's someone with brains this time," Hermione was saying when the band on the tiny little stage in the corner of the bar suddenly stopped playing. Their table, along with the rest of the bar's patrons, looked over to see what was the matter. They saw a portly man in his mid-forties puffing up the side stairs and waddle his way over to the microphone the singer had been using to belt out his indiscernible lyrics. When he reached it he had to pause for a moment and catch his breath before straightening up and greeting the crowd with a cheery wave and a smile that looked as if it might be a bit too big for his face.

"Hello, hello, hope your evening is going splendidly! Yes, we have somewhat of a treat – a surprise if you will – planned for tonight! Yes we do indeed!" Hermione giggled as she was reminded of the odd way Dumbledor used to speak when she was a young first year at Hogwarts. He'd grown more serious as the threat of Voldemort increased over the years, of course, but her first memories were of a queer old man whose thought didn't seem to ever make it from one end of a sentence to the other. She found herself smiling as the portly man on the stage patted his own paunch in his excitement. "I am ever so happy to tell you that we've decided tonight should have a spin! A twist! Something a little different from the norm, wot? Karaoke! Hurrah, yes, tonight –and only tonight, mind you – we shall allow any patron who so wishes to come up and serenade us with a song of their choice!"

"Excellent, we should make Ginny do it, she's got a fine voice on her she has," Ron commented to Alicia. Down at the other end of the table, Ginny blushed a furious shade of Weasley red and grinned widely in a modest manner.

"Now," the fat man on the stage continued, "lets begin! Can we have any volunteers?" He looked out over the crowd with a face so full of enthusiasm it would have been a shame for no one to offer to go first, but when George stood up and waved his hand with an equally enthusiastic grin their whole group took in a breath of surprise. George, sing? To their knowledge George had never sang a chord in his life beyond Christmas carols and taunting chants. The announcer clapped his paunch again in joy when he spotted George and waved him up, his hands blurring in the air they moved so fast. "Jolly good of you!" he exclaimed as he thumped he redhead on the back.

The seven friends left sitting together all looked on in amazement, but none of them were really as surprised as they looked. It was George, after all, a Weasley twin. He had made an amazing recovery after the death of his second half, and only one person knew the true secret behind the miraculous turn around when he suddenly began to rise out of the deep depression he'd been in. No one had ever gotten around to asking how he managed it; no one wanted to bring up the memories. They were completely unaware that they were about to find out exactly what had saved him.

After a short little talk with the musicians, George walked up to the microphone, tapping it a couple of times curiously to see if it was tuned. Then he grinned that lopsided grin of his and cleared his throat just as the music started.

You looked at me as you walked in the room
Like the red sea you split me open
Somehow I knew these wings were stolen
All you did was save my life

Tried to run but I couldn't move
Well I paid for these concrete shoes
Like a singer that sings the blues
You saw hope in the hopeless

I'm not dying
All you did was save my life
Pulled me out of that flat line
Put the heartbeat back inside
I'm not dying
All you did was get me through
I owe every breathe to you
Heart and soul unparalyzed
All you did was save my life
Save my life

They noticed that he seemed to be looking at their table, not just to see if they were amused, but rather he seemed to singing to one of them in particular. And only that particular person knew who they were. She wore a warm, secretive smile as she listened to him, as calm as she always was about his random antics.

I'm not for sale but I've been sold
The more I hear the less I know
And the lies are swallowed whole
In there insignificance
The story's been told a million times
But it's different when it's your life
I won the lottery tonight
The lottery tonight

George smiled almost tenderly as he beckoned to someone in their group. Everyone looked around to everyone else as if to say "does he mean me? Does he mean you?" but they were still surprised when Hermione stood up and started to make her way through the crowd.

As Hermione hauled herself up next to him on the raised wooden platform George hooked an arm around her waist and sang right to her, their faces close together. And she didn't even look surprised! She just kept smiling, and it seemed that neither one of them was able to look away from the other.

I started to come around
The dogs are backing down
I'm not afraid to see

The devil's gone underground
This tightropes been cut down
And I can finally breathe

You looked at me as you walked in the room
Like the red sea you split me open
Somehow I knew these wings were stolen

I'm not dying
All you did was save my life
Pulled me out of that flat line
Put the heart beat back inside
I'm not dying
All you did was get me through
I owe every breathe to you
Heart and soul unparalyzed
All you did was save my life

As the song drew to a close, Hermione's eyes twinkled mischievously, and she raised her voice next to his, providing the backup the song required that would have otherwise been missing.

All you did was save my life
(Put the heart beat back inside)
All you did was save my life
(Put the heart beat back inside)
All you did was save my life

The song ended to animated applause from the bar's patrons, who had probably only enjoyed it as much as they had because they were all drinking. Now that one person had paved the way, there was a sudden clamor for others to secure the next spot to sing their own songs. Already forgotten by the crowd of strangers, George and Hermione exited the stage and made their way back to their friends, hand in hand. As they took their seats they took a look around at the faces staring at them, then they shared a long meaningful look, and then they both burst out laughing.

"You honestly didn't know?" George demanded. "I thought we were pretty obvious!" Hermione only laughed harder, knowing that she would have a lot of explaining to do later. For now, though, she was content to sit here with her friends and with the man she had been quietly dating for somewhat close to a year and a half. He had the quaint opinion that she had saved his life, but she knew better. Really, they had saved each other.

Song used is "All You Did Was Save My Life" by Our Lady Peace