~ CHAPTER ONE ~

A BROKEN MAN

George Weasley was a broken man. He would never be the same again, and he knew it. The final battle for Hogwarts was over, You-Know-Who had been defeated and Harry Potter and his friends were being treated like heroes. By all rights everyone should have been happy, there was no more danger in the world, the war was over and Hogwarts could be restored to its former glory. For the most part, the people milling around the castle were happy, even if they were all a bit stunned or shell shocked considering what had just unfolded around them. Most people were happy, with the exception of the entire Weasley family, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. They had lost so much in the final battle that the euphoria surrounding them was a mist, so far away that it didn't matter; they were lost in their grief. The casualties of the final battle were Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, and Fred Weasley.

Every member of the Weasley family and their close friends was clustered around the three bodies sobbing, wailing, desperately trying to do anything to bring the three people that had made the ultimate sacrifice back to life. Everyone that was apart from George Weasley, who couldn't bring himself to be anywhere near those three bodies, anywhere near that one body in particular, anywhere near the body of his twin brother Fred.

When George had heard the terrible, life changing news that Fred was dead, he had momentarily forgotten the events around him, as he prayed for this news that everyone was telling him to be wrong. He had raced towards The Great Hall, tears streaming down his face already, not stopping for anyone or anything. When George finally entered The Great Hall, causing a great bustle of noise, he saw his whole family clustered in a corner. He had refused to believe that Fred was dead even then, even when the hope was draining away, slowly and tortuously. Then George walked forward, unable to bring himself to run, finally reaching his family after what seemed like an eternity. George remembered the moment so clearly, even through the grief that now clouded his mind, the way they had all turned to look at him, pity and grief etched on each one of their faces. Harry Potter had been the first to speak as the other Weasleys were inconsolable.

"I'm so sorry George, Fred, he's gone," he had said in a soft voice.

With that Harry had stepped out of George's way and George saw the worst thing he had ever seen, Fred's body, lifeless and cold. As the reality of his brother's death sunk in at that very moment, George had felt a small part of his soul cry out, as if a small part of he himself had died along with Fred.

Now, George was sat away from his family, away from his twin's body, away from the world, wanting desperately for what he had just seen to not be true. However, deep down George knew Fred was gone, he had felt it inside himself, it was true that twins had a connection unlike any other, but he knew none went deeper than the one he and Fred had shared.

No one had come up to George since they had seen him enter the Great Hall, he guessed they did not know what to say to him, after all, no one else he knew was a twin, no one else would understand the sense of loss he felt, the sense of loneliness, the feeling you would never be whole again. George had noticed people coming and going from the Great Hall giving him looks full of pity, and that made him feel even worse, because that would not bring Fred back, nothing would. George had simply sat on the windowsill for the past hour or so, lost in his own thoughts, his sense of time and place dulled, nothing really sinking in, as he wondered how he would carry on without the person that had been there since day one. George truly was a broken man, without Fred he felt like nothing, and so did everything else as well.

George had not noticed the one other person that was sat all alone in the Great Hall; Hermione Granger. He had no reason to notice her really; he was too wrapped up in his own grief, and didn't think that Hermione would make any difference to that fact. So George stayed cocooned in his cloud of grief unaware of the small, curly haired girl stealing surreptitious glances at George every so often, as if watching him, making sure that he didn't disappear as his brother had.

Like George, Hermione Granger was sat alone, away from the people that had surrounded her for so long, away from the people that had become her surrogate family when she was younger, and now the only family she had left, thanks to the fact it had been necessary for her to cast an unbreakable memory charm on her parents to protect them from Voldemort, and in the process making them forget her existence. Hermione had seen Fred's body, seen him die, been by his side when the last laugh had left his eyes, had cried the first tears for him that anyone would, and now missed him more than she missed anyone else who had died. Hermione felt totally alone and abandoned, she felt like she had no one to turn to in the world to cry with, to understand her grief, after all, no one knew just how close friends her and Fred Weasley had become; Hermione doubted even if George knew.

Hermione had met Fred during her first year at Hogwarts, when she had felt like she didn't fit in anywhere, when she felt out of her depth, like she didn't belong. The day she had met Fred had been horrible for Hermione, she had been laughed at for getting all of the answers right in Transfiguration again, so when it came to the end of the day Hermione decided to skip dinner and made her way to her safe haven; the library. As per usual Hermione had completed all of her homework and so she could afford to have a night off from work and sit down with a good book. She perused the shelves, running her fingers over the spines of the leather-bound books, feeling more at home than she ever thought she would. Hermione's hands came to rest on a tatty book with golden writing on the spine entitled The History of Healing Tactics. Hermione had great ambitions to be a Healer and had already read this particular book, but always found it nice to reread books, just to make sure she had absorbed all the knowledge possible. Once she had found her book Hermione settled herself down on one of the comfortable sofas, and began to read, rapidly transporting herself to her own world.

"Why aren't you at dinner?" Hermione heard someone ask in a soft voice after a short period of time.

Hermione looked up to find one of the red-headed Weasley twins looking down at her, a warm expression on his face. Hermione had heard about the notoriety of the Weasley twins and their propensity for practical jokes, so she had wisely kept her distance from them, and even now she found herself shrinking back into the chair. Hermione studied the Weasley in front of her, trying to figure out which twin it was. She had noticed small differences between Fred and George that other people would not have, including the fact that George was ever so marginally shorter than Fred and also Fred had more freckles than George on his arms. Hermione realised that Fred was stood in front of her, but she was still hesitant so she questioned,

"Fred?"

"Very good," mused the twin "you're one of a rare bunch of people that can tell me and my brother apart. Maybe it's true what they say; you really are the smartest witch of your age."

At the mention of this nickname she seemed to have coined, Hermione flinched slightly, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Fred, whose eyes widened slightly as he felt himself suddenly overcome by a wave of pity for the young girl in front of him.

"What do you want Fred?" Hermione asked nervously, hoping he wasn't here to make fun of her.

"I just wondered why you weren't at dinner," said Fred.

"Didn't feel like it," said Hermione honestly, but still in a sheepish voice.

"Not sure I believe you Hermione," said Fred matter-of-factly "I think you're hungry really, you're obviously not here like me because you have homework to finish, I think you're avoiding everyone else because they tease you."

"How did you know?" asked Hermione, shocked.

"Not everyone in this school is out to tease you Hermione," said Fred "some of us are just observant and are in awe of your intelligence, and wish that people wouldn't tease you."

"Well everyone I've met so far has teased me," said Hermione, in a dejected voice "except you obviously."

"Why?" asked Fred kindly.

"Because I got all the answers right in Transfiguration again," whispered Hermione sadly.

"Don't worry about it Hermione," sighed Fred, kneeling next to her 'they're just jealous of you that's all."

"Really?" asked Hermione, not quite believing it.

"Yeah," said Fred "they wish they were as brilliant as you so they tease you."

"You think I'm brilliant?" Hermione asked, astounded, her eyes widening.

"Yeah," said Fred truthfully "and I see everyone creep to you when they need help like they haven't teased you and you're so nice you help them and then they go back to teasing you."

Hermione looked down at her hands when Fred said that, ashamed because she knew she was weak for helping people that teased her, but she wanted to belong, and the only way she could think to do that was to help people and ignore the teasing.

"I'm so weak," said Hermione sadly, voicing her thoughts "I should say no."

"No Hermione," said Fred, gently "you're not weak, not at all. You're so strong, the fact that you can get up and keep going despite the teasing proves that."

"I don't know how much longer I can take it," Hermione said, more to herself "I might just leave."

Fred was shocked to hear Hermione say that, shocked to see the tears in her eyes that resulted in it. It filled him with anger at the fact that people's senseless teasing was causing this brilliant young girl to consider leaving where she belonged, and it hurt him that his own younger brother had been involved too.

"Hermione listen to me," he said firmly "I want you to promise me you won't leave. You belong here, there is no doubt about that, and if you leave then the people teasing you have won and this school will have lost a great witch. You can't let them win, the best thing you can do is laugh in their faces, keep going and beat them all in all the tests. George and I will look after you and make sure no one hurts you, eventually it will settle down and you will find friends I promise, and whether you do or by some cruel miracle you don't, I'll always be around, so please promise me you won't leave."

"You really mean that?" asked Hermione, a small smile forming on her lips.

"Yes," said Fred "now promise me you won't leave."

"I promise," said Hermione "thank you Fred."

"No problem," said Fred smiling "now how about we go to dinner."

Hermione nodded and followed Fred to the Great Hall, slightly nervous. They both got some funny looks as they entered the Great Hall, but Fred didn't seem to notice them as he led Hermione over to George, who smiled warmly Hermione instantly felt at ease and that was the start of a friendship between Hermione and the Weasley twins, particularly Hermione and Fred. From that moment on Hermione and Fred spent time together whenever they could, Fred had been right and Hermione had become friends with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, but that didn't stop Hermione and Fred making time for each other. Fred had been there for Hermione on many occasions, particularly after Draco Malfoy had called her a Mudblood and after Ron had started dating Lavender. Hermione knew that she would miss the constant presence of Fred in her life now he was gone, and she didn't know what to do without him.

Hermione was jolted out her reverie and memories of when she and Fred had first met by the noise of people moving around. She let the tears clear from her eyes as she focused and noticed that everyone in the party mourning Fred, Lupin and Tonks was leaving the Great Hall. Hermione was about to get up to leave when she noticed that George Weasley was still sat on the other side of the wall, his head in his hands, seemingly forgotten by his grieving family, who all seemed to be in pairs with their respective partners. Hermione immediately felt sorry for George, she was in pain and hurting from Fred's death, but she couldn't even begin to imagine how George felt. Fred and George and been inseparable, had even started up a successful business together, and now George was alone, and Hermione knew he felt like half of him was missing.

Hermione sat still for a second, letting the Great Hall empty of the last pair, in Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, who glanced back at Fred's body before leaving, and then she wondered if she should go over to George to see how he was. Hermione sat for what felt like forever wondering what she was going to say to George, nothing she could say was going to make it better and she knew it, but Hermione decided she had to go and see if he needed anything at the very least, she owed it to both Fred and George for everything they had done for her, and on a slightly more selfish note perhaps, she wanted to make sure George wasn't going to disappear like Fred had.

Hermione made her decision and got up slowly, again blinking tears out of her eyes, refusing to look at the three covered bodies to her left as she started walking across the hall towards George. Hermione could hear the pad of her trainers on the floor of the Great Hall and this only served to remind her of the quietness that surrounded her, and the everlasting presence of death, which upset her even more, making her realise she needed to get out of here and get George out of here too.

George heard the soft pad of trainers walking towards him, but he refused to take his head out of his hands. He didn't want to see anyone, no matter who it was. After a short time George felt a presence standing in front of him, and the padding of trainers had stopped. George didn't know who it was stood in front of him, he knew no one had said anything to him and was quite aware they had all left the Great Hall a few minutes later, so he was quite shocked when he heard Hermione's soft voice utter gently,

"George?"

George shifted slightly and moved his hands away from his face, to find a blurred picture of his dirty jeans looking back at him. He sniffled loudly and blinked the tears away, taking a deep breath and then eventually looking up at Hermione. George noticed Hermione looked almost as bad as he was sure he looked, her hair was all knotted, she had various cuts on her arms and face and her eyes were red and bloodshot, while her cheeks were streaked with tears.

"I know I can't say anything to make how you feel better," said Hermione in a remarkably strong voice after taking a shuddering breath "but just know I'm here if you want to talk. I want to sit with someone and everyone else has gone, so I hope you don't mind if I sit next to you."

Hermione sat down despite George's silence and George found himself not minding her presence as much as he thought he would. Suddenly George felt like he wasn't alone in his grief, sure no one would be able to understand the depth of his grief but he still didn't want to be alone.

"He's gone," said George hoarsely, not recognising his own voice.

"He is," said Hermione, her voice catching slightly "I'm sorry George, Fred was a good person."

"Doesn't bring him back though does it?" said George, instantly regretting the venomous tone of his voice "sorry."

Hermione looked at George, who looked back at her, his eyes pleading her not to leave him, and she gently put her hand over his, squeezing it comfortingly.

"I can't even imagine how much it hurts," whispered Hermione "I'm hurting more than I ever have, so your pain must be about ten times mine."

"I feel like half of me has died," murmured George, tears falling again as Hermione squeezed his hand "it's not fair Hermione."

"I know," said Hermione sadly, feeling her eyes heat up with tears as well.

"He loved you, you know," said George after a short pause "more than anything, but he never knew how to tell you, he was going to do it after the war."

George's sudden confession about how Fred had felt caused Hermione's heart to shatter as she realised she had felt the same way about Fred and now he would never know. Tears poured down her cheeks and she shook slightly as she fought to control her emotions.

"I loved him too," whispered Hermione through tears "how much did you know about us?"

"Everything," said George numbly "he didn't even need to tell me, we had a connection unlike any other."

Hermione was aware of the sadness in George's voice and the sadness rising in her own heart, as her eyes filled with tears and sobs wracked her body. Hermione looked at George and noticed her was going through exactly the same thing as her, and Hermione did the only thing that made sense, she put her arm around George, feeling him pull her closer to him and he rested his head on her shoulder and she did the same with is shoulder, and they cried together.

After what felt like an eternity Hermione and George both calmed down and regarded each other sadly, still strangely comfortable in each other's arms. Hermione glanced at the three figures covered in black cloth sadly and then back at George who had his head down again.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" asked Hermione, wiping her eyes.

"OK," sighed George releasing Hermione from his arms.

With that George stood up, and Hermione followed suit, noticing that George still hung his head, stood with his shoulders hunched and just looked all-round defeated. Hermione stepped towards him, noticing he was at least a foot taller than her and said,

"Come on George, I know it's hard, but I'll look after you."

"You won't leave?" asked George, almost pleadingly "please don't leave."

"I won't," said Hermione kindly "we'll get through this together."

"Can we go somewhere else?" asked George sadly "I don't think I can be in here much longer."

"Of course," said Hermione, glad that George had suggested it "where do you want to go?"

"The Quidditch Pitch?" asked George.

"OK," said Hermione, as she and George started walking together.

Within no time Hermione and George had reached the doors of the Great Hall at which point George turned back to where Fred's body lay, went to say something, stopped himself, and turned back to Hermione, tears in his eyes. Hermione gently took George's hand, squeezed it and led him out of the Great Hall and out of the castle, beginning the slow walk to the Quidditch Pitch.