Fix You
Written for the Coldplay Challenge by Allie Caulfield—just about my favourite challenge ever, as I got one of my favourites!
Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter or the song 'Fix You', they belong to J.K. Rowling and Coldplay respectively.
When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse
Ever since Fred had died, it was like the world had ended for Hermione, and although she could feel her heart beating in her chest, it felt empty, as if it were just a shell of its boisterous, normal self. She had never known that a person could feel so exhausted. Was it even possible?
When the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?
She had insisted that she go to work in the shop once, but it had ended disastrously. She had ended up knocking over the cages filled with Pygmy-Puffs unleashing them upon the poor customers, causing a rather violent explosion whilst trying to create a new product and shouted at Verity until she was at the point of tears.
A wonderful start, eh Hermione? she had thought. Her and George had agreed to let Ron take over after that. It just hurt too much to be there, seeing all the things he had left behind. His magenta robes still hung on the hook, the pocket still held the same picture it had from the beginning: A picture of Hermione.
At night she would go and sit out by the pond, just sitting there, looking at the stars, wondering if Fred could see her. When it began to grow light, she would go back to the room that she had once shared with Ginny, and crawl up into a tight ball, hoping that she would evaporate.
George had it even worse. Every time Molly looked at him she would immediately get tears in her eyes and run out of the room. He slept even less than Hermione, and blatantly refused to come out of his room during the day. Hermione was the only one he allowed to bring him the trays his mother had prepared for him.
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
Hermione had been so looking forward to being with Fred forever. While she was on the run with Harry and Ron searching for the Horcruxes, she wasted away many hours picturing their life together. When they'd get married, where they'd live, how many children they'd have. Now every time she pictured those smart, mischievous little children her heart burnt, as though someone had filled it up with acid, and it was slowly eating away at her. Mocking and teasing her, as Fred had once done in a loving way.
And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth
She knew that this funk of hers couldn't last forever. She would have to get up and face the world sometime, but whenever she tried to do something normal some miniscule little detail would remind Hermione of him.
One night George joined Hermione by the pond, his arms wrapped around her in a loving gesture.
"He really loved you y'know," he told her, in voice cracking, seeing as it had barely been used for weeks. "He was going to ask you to marry him."
At that her heart both soared and sunk. It was the thing she had desired most, and the one thing she would never have. More tears began to well in her eyes.
"I loved him too George. So damn much." she whispered.
He hugged her tiny form even closer to him, placing a kiss on the top of her head
"I know Hermione," he said.
"We're going to have to get through this, aren't we?" she asked.
"Yes, we are." he replied simply.
"We have to. For Fred. We'll help each other." she declared.
"Yeah," he verified "We will."
Over the next few weeks Hermione and George began a slow transition to their normal lives, George now helped out at the shop twice a week (maybe more if it was a particularly good week) and Hermione would work a couple of shifts at Flourish and Blotts.
The first time George had come down for a meal had been unexpected, to say the least. Molly was just handing over the tray to Hermione when they all heard a voice say
"I don't want the tray mum. That bloody flowery pattern was driving me bonkers." Perhaps not the most perfect of things to say, but it was what they all needed to hear.
Molly almost dropped the tray in shock, and everyone at the table were just sitting there with rather shocked and gormless expressions upon their faces. It was almost laughable. Then Molly went and hugged her son like never before.
As he took a seat between Hermione and Ron, his family gave him reassuring smiles, excluding Ginny who went and hugged him, exclaiming "It's about bloody time you git!"
She was quickly shushed by her mother, but George just chuckled, it was nice to be surrounded by the rest of his family, it made him feel more secure.
He glanced towards Hermione, who smiled at him, and it was a proper smile as well. She squeezed his hand under the table and whispered "Well done"
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
That night he met her by the pond again. He stood there for a while, just taking in the view until Hermione said "I wasn't expecting that."
"Neither was I to be honest," he admitted, running a hand through his hair. "I was just tired if staring at the ceiling all the time. It was driving me insane."
"I know what you mean, it's as if I finally understood that this wasn't what he would have wanted for us. He would have wanted me to go and conquer the Ministry, and free all the house-elves, get married and have tons of kids." she chuckled at the thought.
"Yeah, and he would've wanted me to go back and run the shop and invent things, so that there could be more pranksters going wild at Hogwarts." George said.
"They'd never be as brilliant as you two thought. That swamp you created is still there. Even McGonagall admitted it was brilliant work." she mused.
Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I
That night the pair of them wasted the night (and most of the next morning) laying down in the cool grass just talking about Fred and the pranks he and George had pulled, or the places he had taken Hermione. She even admitted to being behind one of their pranks.
"That liar!" George exclaimed "I knew he couldn't have thought that up alone! He told me he'd spent weeks planning that."
Hermione snorted in a very un-ladylike manner and said "Well he didn't. He asked me and I quote 'So, my darling Princess, if I intended to pull a prank on a certain pink-wearing, toad-resembling woman rather angry with me, what would your royal Highness suggest I do?'"
George laughed, that sounded just like Fred.
Then he had an odd thought. If you'd told him a few years ago that his twin would be dead and Hermione Granger would be the one helping him through it he'd have laughing in your face and told you that you were even stupider than ickle Ronniekins, but now, as he looked down upon her face, that showed loss, even though she tried so desperately to hide it he decided that maybe she was the perfect person to help him. She was Hermione Granger, the smartest witch of her age, she was kind and patient, and she knew what he was feeling. Admittedly not on the same level, but ones that amounted to the same type of loss that he was feeling.
Tears stream down your face
I promise you that I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I
Hermione turned towards him, he'd gone awfully quiet.
"What's the matter?" she asked, concerned, had he remembered something that had hit a sore spot, had she said something wrong?
"Nothing," he murmured "I'm just thinking about what a brilliant witch you are."
"Don't be silly," she scoffed "If I didn't have you, I think I'd have lost myself." she placed his hand in hers and together they lay until Molly called them in for lunch.
They had each other, even if they no longer had Fred.
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
I actually wrote this in a surprisingly short time, and I think it's one of my better fics, so please let me know what you thought!