You Are More

I like Tenth Avenue North, and I felt inspired by this song, so here's a one-shot for you all!

Disclaimer: I don't own Tenth Avenue North's "You Are More," nor do I own HP.

This story is dedicated to my good friend Dillon, who works himself too hard.

Hermione sighed. She had been working so hard at trying to get equal rights for werewolves, house elves, and other magical creatures. This, of course, had spawned from meeting creatures that were underprivileged and deserved more.

Remus Lupin, for example. Remus was a werewolf who barely got by and was near starvation for most of his life. Through the Order, he found stability, but not every werewolf had something like that. Most couldn't afford Wolfsbane, either, which made them dangerous to not only others, but themselves.

Now, Remus was gone. Hermione and Harry switched off when taking care of Teddy Lupin. Harry, being an Auror, was gone a lot, and Ginny, being a professional Quidditch player, was away often, as well, so the Potter home was empty, most days.

Hermione adored Teddy. He was adorable and sweet, and she wished to have children like him some day. Teddy reminded her so much of his father, the man that she had come to see as a father of her own. She felt awful that Teddy wouldn't be able to meet him, or his mother, who was one of Hermione's dearest friends.

Nymphadora "Tonks" Lupin was a Metamorphmagus. Truly, Metamorphmagi were just people that could change their features. One would think that they would be treated equally. Incorrect, actually. They had few rights. More than werewolves, but less than they should.

These people caused Hermione to fight. She wanted rights for her godson (who had inherited Metamorphmagi traits from his mother), and she knew that he should get them.

Hermione thought that after the war, people would change and be more accepting. She was terribly wrong. People were just as they were before. They discriminated against creatures. They no longer discriminated against Muggleborns, but Hermione remembered her pain. She used that pain to feel sympathy for the creatures and for fighting for what was right.

Unfortunately, her bill for rights of werewolves hadn't passed.

She felt shameful. She had worked so hard on that bill. She wanted recognition and she got it, but she needed ¾ vote of the Winzengamot but only got 2/3. Hermione had worked tirelessly for months to try and pass it, not sleeping most nights, but it didn't happen. She failed.

Fred Weasley walked into her office, Teddy on his hip. "Hullo, love. Ginny wanted me to drop off Teddy. I figured that the three of us could go out to eat, maybe."

Hermione, instead of accepting, broke down in tears. Fred placed Teddy on her desk and bent down to Hermione's level, holding her face in his hands. "The bill didn't pass."

"You can always try again."

"You don't get it, Fred. I lost the respect of the creatures. They know that I'm a failure. They won't back me up a second time. I just loved Remus so much… I wanted to help the werewolves. I hated how he had to go through what he did. All of it went to waste."

"Mya, it could be worse. What if you had never tried at all? At least Remus, wherever he is, can see how hard you tried. Besides, if you can't pass that bill, then no one can. It didn't go to waste."

"Fred, I just don't know how I got here. I wasn't always like this—I had determination, yes, but I didn't kill myself over things like this. I was just too in love with the idea of helping all of the creatures. I was completely crippled by the fear of losing that I worked day and night. Look at me now. All of it was for nothing."

"No, Hermione. Listen to me. It isn't your job to deal with everyone's problems. That job ended when the war did. You tried your hardest and you failed. There is always another bill, another fight, another day. You don't have to carry the entire wizarding world on your shoulders. The last bill that you passed is helping all of the vampires. Don't you understand? You have helped. You don't have to deal with every creature and every problem. People will understand."

"Understand what, Fred?"

Fred pulled a chair from the other side of Hermione's desk over towards her side, placing it across from her so that he could hold her small hands in his own. "I remember the day that Malfoy called you a Mudblood on the Quidditch Pitch. I remember it very clearly, actually. I've never seen you so upset over an insult. Usually, you'd just blow someone off and make them look like an incredible prat. I'd know—you've done it to me enough times.

"I've loved you since that day. I've been completely infatuated. Why do I love you? Because you are hard-working and you've persevered against the odds. You had to make choices in the war that affected a lot of people—you have to make choices now, with this bill. You're afraid that people will judge you because of some decision you've made. Listen to me, Hermione. You're more than that. You are more than the choices that you've made, you are more than the sum of your past mistakes, you are more than the problems that you create.

"After the war, you were remade. You're still that strong-willed, lovable person that I've always known, but you don't have so much pressure on you anymore. You don't have to worry about what you're going to do for the rest of your life. Take it day by day. You're Hermione Granger. The fact that your bill being rejected won't change the minds of the creatures because they know that you will keep trying.

"This bill isn't about what you did during the war, it sure isn't about how you feel, how you acted, what happened to you, and you don't have to continue worrying about how the decisions you made back then will affect you now. This is about why I love you. I love you for your hard-headedness. And if I know anything about you, it's that you'll get through this and get that bill passed."

Hermione stared at him in shock. "You love me?"

Fred smiled and laughed, "That's all you got from that?"

Hermione sniffled and pulled one hand away from Fred's, raising it up to wipe away the tears on her face. "No, I feel childish now. You've basically told me that I'm crying over nothing," his face fell, thinking that he had offended her, "and you've reminded me exactly why I do my job."

Fred grinned and Hermione leaned closer, "Why have you never told me that you love me? How come I never knew?"

"Listen, Mya, as much as I love you, you have a Ron-like sense about these things when it comes to you."

"Is insulting me the best idea right now?" Hermione laughed.

"Is insulting you ever a good idea? Besides, when do I follow the norm?" Fred asked, mischievously.

"I just want to tell you that I have feelings for you, too. Since my 5th year. I'm just mad that you didn't ask me out!"

Fred pulled Hermione in for a kiss and then threw an arm around her shoulder. "I plucked up the courage in my 6th year, but Ginny told us that you had a date to the ball, and I lost all Gryffindor-like qualities then and there."

They kissed again, and suddenly, Fred grew cat ears. It greatly surprised him until Fred and Hermione looked over to see Teddy with an angry expression, seeing that Teddy had used accidental magic on Fred when he decided that he had been ignored for too long.

Hermione popped up off of her chair and wiped her eyes a final time before picking up Teddy and saying, "I love you."

It was a sweet moment until Fred yelled, "So you love the toddler and not the business-owner/entrepreneur? Are you crazy, woman?"

Hermione laughed and punched Fred in the shoulder, "I love you, too."

Fred jumped up and captured Hermione's lips in another kiss, Teddy being squeezed in between them. When they stopped, Fred said, "And, in my defense, I asked you out to lunch earlier today. Plus, back in school, you were pretty scary, so my Gryffindor qualities were on hold." At the look Hermione shot him, Fred added, "Still scary," before running out of the office in desperate search of the nearest fireplace.