DISCLAIMER: I do own… nothing… everything belongs to J.K. Rowling! Everything except the plot and my influence on the characters… hehe… so, yeah… but I do own nothing… -repeats-
Chapter 1: The Letter
It was a sunny afternoon in the middle of summer holidays when Fred Weasley sat outside the Burrow, reading about some spells he and his twin George would need for their newest jokes – as suddenly a grey owl came flying towards the house. The owl stopped right in front of him, a small letter in its beak.
When Fred picked it up, the owl got up again and flew back to where it had come from. Puzzled, Fred opened the letter. He recognized the fast scribbled-down writing as Hermione's for he had often read Ron's mail when his brother wasn't looking.
Even more puzzled, he read through it. It said:
Dear… everyone at the Burrow.
Would please someone pick me up? I can't explain but it's very important. Please don't panic or anything, I'm fine. I just, please pick me up from my parents' house. It's urgent. I don't know to whom I should send this owl other than you…
Thank you so much! Hermione
Fred spotted water stains on the parchment. Had she been crying? What was this all about? She sounded terribly desperate. He folded the letter and put it in the pocket of his trousers before getting up, shoving the book he had been reading aside. He then entered the house, calling for his twin.
"George? I'm off!"
His twin showed up on the stairs.
"Where d'you wanna go?"
"Just flying around", he said with a wink.
He didn't know why he didn't say the truth right away. He just felt like doing so. He watched George give him a short nod before returning upstairs where he probably tested some of their newest inventions. For the twins where alone at home (because his mum and dad went on vacation along with Ron and Ginny, their friend Harry was supposed to visit them one week before the new school term) he grabbed his broom and went outside again.
He looked around and recalled Hermione's desperate words. He then mounted his broom and knocked off of the ground, flying straight to where Hermione lived with her parents, some suburb of London. He knew where she lived for he used to be flying above that area when he, George and Ron picked up Harry with the enchanted car of his dad.
When the first houses came into view, he slowed his broom and got ready to land. The streets were empty in this part of neighbourhood. He decided to walk the rest to her house for this was a Muggle area and seeing people flying on old broomsticks would distract the average Muggle a lot. When he made the last turn towards the Granger's house, he could already see someone sitting in the front yard of a neat little house, in the shadow of a willow tree. The garden was perfectly cut and looked the same like the one to the left and to the right of it and almost like every other garden in this place.
He walked slowly towards the figure sitting in the grass, shouldering his broom. He saw bushy brown hair and a Hermione that was terribly sobbing into her knees.
"Hermione", he called quietly, getting in earshot of the house.
She suddenly raised her head, wiping the last tears from her pale face.
Fred approached her, kneeling down beside her. "You alright?", he asked, watching her sympathetically.
She tried to say something but then tears were forming inside her eyes again.
"It's okay", he whispered, putting one hand on her shoulder. "What about a little walk?"
She nodded and took his hand as he got up and held it out to her. She washed over her face, her eyes red and swollen. He watched her with concern. After they left the Granger's house behind, she turned to look at Fred.
"Thank you for coming", she said, her voice nothing more than a whisper.
"No problem, Hermione", he answered, watching her closely.
"I… I'm so selfish, now am I? Calling for someone to pick me up? Like I couldn't handle my own problems… I'm so selfish…", she muttered more to herself, turning to stare at the far away horizon.
"You're not selfish", he replied. "Whatever happened you had your reasons to call one of us."
He watched her as they approached a deserted playground. He moved her towards one of the swings, sitting down on one of them. She sat beside him, burying her face in her hands.
"Do you want to tell me what happened?", he asked quietly.
She lowered her hands before started talking to her shoes.
"I… I had a very bad argument with my parents. With my mother to be certain. We always fight but this time she… she was so mean and I couldn't handle it anymore. She blamed me for everything and I couldn't but scream at her like a mad one… she was so angry she told to me to leave. She may think that I'm off and gone right now… but I hid in the garden and owled you. I… I didn't know where to go…", she said, pulling on the sleeves of her jumper. Then she turned to face him. "You know, it's so-"
"Don't mention it", he replied, knowing that she wanted to thank him once more. He gave her a smile and grabbed her hand. "But you can be happy that George and I were at the Burrow - for everyone else is on vacation, you know. Some spontaneous trip, I guess."
She nodded to his words before turning to watch his hand on hers. Noticing her stare, he slowly removed his hand and stood up from the swing. She followed his movement and looked at him out of watery eyes. He then kneeled down in front of her, looking her straight into her deep brown eyes.
"So you want to come to the Burrow? You sure?"
She nodded. "I… I can't go back to my parents' house. They won't let me in, I'm sure…"
"Well, then you have to live with George and me", he said, grinning his typical grin. "The others will return in two weeks I think."
"That'll be absolutely fine with me", she said, almost smiling down at him.
He got up and grabbed his broom that he'd put next to the swing before sitting down on it some minutes ago. "So, ready to go home?"
She stared at him. Not just because she had to fly to the Burrow but he called the Burrow home. Maybe her home as well? She slowly got up from the swing.
"Do we really have to fly?", she asked trembling, looking suspiciously at the broom in his hand.
"Don't worry", he replied, smiling. "It'll be safe!"
He mounted it, showing her to get up behind her.
She still stared at it.
"Trust me", he said winking.
She sighed and climbed up behind him, pulling her arms quickly around him to a bone-breaking grip. He moved uneasy in front of her.
"Well", he said after stopping coughing and getting to breathe again. "If that's comfortable for you."
She watched his grin from the side. "Yes, better than falling down, is it?"
He laughed, kicking slowly off of the ground. Hermione immediately tightened her grip around his chest. He imagined her to press her eyes shut when they flew off into the air. In fact she pressed her eyes close and even buried her face in his shirt.
'That'll be a hell of a ride', Fred thought smirking.
A/N: So, Hermione got trouble at home… what do you think? Thank you so much for reading… whoever you are -gg-