Hey everyone, just so you all know, this is my second Harry Potter FF, but this is the first romance fic, and the first one posted on FanFiction, it is also posted on along with my other one, just in case you've seen it before.
Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, unfortunately, they all belong to J.K. Rowling, nothing but the plot and ideas are mine.
AN: This is a Hermione/Ginny kind of a romance fic, but NOT what you are now thinking. Nothing slashy or disgusting about this, it's just that this is an attempted romance fic, and Hermy and Ginny are the 2 main characters, they are NOT together in anyway other than practically sisters. Get it? Got it? Good. Also this is kind of a dramatic fic. And it takes place during the end of summer right before their 7th year.
Chapter 1: You're not the only one
They had never seen Hermione in such a wreck. She was getting paler, thinner, and more depressed and emotional than anyone had ever seen her really. They were back at the Burrow, and Ginny was sad as well, but not nearly so much as Hermione. They didn't see her for hours at a time, she'd spend them locked up in her room, crying her eyes out. And when she came out, her eyes were puffy and swollen and raw, from rubbing, along with her nose, which she had since rubbed raw. Any mention of them, and she'd run away, crying again. She'd take hour+ long showers, trying to wash her memories, and she'd come out more wrinkled than a prune, but still not feel clean.
Ginny was almost as bad. She didn't talk anymore. She hadn't spoken more than a dozen words since that day so many weeks ago. She ate smaller portions, she slept less. It was the same with Hermione, every time they tried to sleep, they kept seeing the horrible sight of that day, so long ago. The memory kept replaying in their heads, whenever they least expected it. They hadn't smiled in weeks, they couldn't stay awake during the day, but couldn't sleep either.
Hermione was worse, though, than Ginny. Ginny had let all her emotions flow for the first weeks, while Hermione stood tall, stood strong. Hermione had let Ginny do the bleeding, the feeling, the grieving. She didn't think her plan could backfire so horribly. She tried bottling up her feelings at first. She was in denial at first, that it had ever happened. She tried to remain strong, she tried to fight her emotions and the memories. Her mind ached, her eyes drooped, she hadn't slept the whole night for weeks. She hadn't eaten a full meal in weeks, either, or even had all 3 meals in those weeks. Mrs. Weasley knew this wasn't good for her, but she decided to leave Hermione to her own healing, because right now they all needed a bit of consoling.
"Leave me alone! Why can't you all just let me be!" Hermione screamed, suddenly, as she sat on the couch, clutching a pillow, eyes brimming with tears, and she jumped up and began to run upstairs. She had noticed Fred and George looking at her, and jumped at her outburst.
"Hermione! No, come on, we were just trying to see through you to see if you needed anything!" Fred said, running to follow her.
At the same time, George said, "Hermione, wait! No, come on! We didn't mean to upset you!" He ran and tried her catch her hand.
Usually when this happened, they just let her go, into her room, to cry and to not be seen for the rest of the day, but it was only 11:35am, she couldn't hid for the rest of the day, they wouldn't let her.
She turned on the top step, "No, just leave me alone! Why do you always have to interfere?" She yelled angrily, as they ran up after her.
"Fred! George! Leave her be!" Ginny said, nearly in tears herself.
Fred and George didn't listen, instead, George leapt at her just as her hand touched the doorknob. She screamed. Ginny screamed. Fred stood there, shocked. Mrs. Weasley stood stunned. Hermione began kicking and screaming and fighting him like a 2 year old. Fred jumped into action, and stood in front of her door, and George eased up a bit, and she quite fighting. She lay panting on the floor, in tears, breathing heavy, crying. George pulled her to her feet, where she immediately began pounding him again, only not as hard, and within a few minutes she was limp and crying in his arms. George stood there, holding her, confused as h about how this happened exactly.
"I'm sorry, Hermione, I didn't mean any of it." He told her.
Fred came over and patted her on the back, "Hermione, you're not the only one hurt by this. You can't keep hiding up in your room all the time." He shook his head.
"Yes... I CAN!" she wailed between sobs, "I can do whatever I want!" She stood up and got defensive, then slumped back down against the floor, in a shaking bundle of tears and word fragments, "Sorr... din't... mean... I'm... need... ALONE!" She got up slowly, and started to head to her room, but this time Fred stopped her.
"No. Hermione, you're not the only one effected by this! You're not the only one that loved him!"
Mrs. Weasley lost herself through all this, "Hermione, Fred's right. You are NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO LOVED THEM! THEY WERE MY SONS, BOTH OF THEM, SO DON'T YOU BE ACTING LIKE YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE!" She broke down in tears and collapsed onto the floor as well, "Hermione, I'm so sorry, I guess we each just have our own ways of dealing.
Hermione looked shocked, and so did everyone else, and by this time Fred had let go of her arm, and everyone was turned facing Mrs. Weasley, who sat there on the floor in tears. Hermione was stunned. She opened her mouth and shook her head, trying to speak, but she couldn't, she had never seen Mrs. Weasley in such a state. She bit her lip, closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again they were full of tears. She shook her head, covered her mouth with her hand, and ran into her bedroom. The whole house heard her slam the door, heard the click of the lock, and heard a thud, as she threw herself against the door and slid to the floor. There wasn't a sound except for the sobs of Hermione, faint, in her room, and Mrs. Weasley, on the floor at the bottom of the steps.
In her room, Hermione was curled up in a heap in the corner by the door. Her room was Percy's old one. She was shaking, gasping for air, and silently cursing herself, 'If I had thrown myself in the way instead, he would be alive and not me. That would have felt better. STUPID! STUPID STUPID HERMIONE!' She wasn't so sad anymore, but now she was furious with herself. She beat herself up all the time, too. She banged her head against the wall with all her might, and screamed. She tried to get up, but the pain was too great, and she collapsed onto the floor with a thud, and all was black.
Downstairs, they all heard the crack, the scream, the thud. Mrs. Weasley had since pulled herself together and had busied herself with cooking, muggle style. Normally she used her wand and made everything by magic, but she needed something to occupy herself, so she had left her wand upstairs in her bedroom. But at these 3 noises, and in the order they came in, everyone stopped. They no longer heard the muttering and sobbing of usual, they no longer heard her cursing at herself. Now, all they heard, was silence, which was worse, MUCH worse.
"HERMIONE!" Fred, George, and Mrs. Weasley all screamed. Ginny had gone for a walk to get some fresh air, and to be alone.
Fred and George rushed up the stairs, and tried to open Hermione's door. It was locked, so Fred "Alohamora!"-ed it open, but it still wouldn't open all the way. They couldn't get it open enough to enter, only about 8 inches, and they couldn't see anything, either. Mrs. Weasley was right behind them.
"Hermione, dear, let us in. Hermione. Hermione! HERMIONE! Hermione? HERMIONE? Move, out of the way!" She screamed. She pushed on the door, gently, it wouldn't move. She tried to stick her head in, it failed, "Oh, dear, oh dear!" She began climbing the stairs quickly to fetch her wand.
George shook his head, stood tall, and CRACK he was out of sight. Instantly there was another crack from inside Hermione's room, and the noises that Fred heard were unbearable, but he didn't want to look, either, so he stayed where he was. He heard George apparate inside the room, and gasp. He heard nothing, then a slight thud on the floor, and then, "Hermione. Hermione. Hermione!" He was talking quietly but panicked. His breathing, Fred could hear, had gotten faster. Mrs. Weasley had just appeared again with her wand in hand when Fred apparated, and she automatically felt stupid, and put her hands to her face, breathed deep, and rushed forward to do the same.
Hermione was lying face down, on the floor. She was sprawled out, she obviously hadn't just passed out. On the door hinge behind her, where she usually sat and sobbed, there was a clump of hair, and blood, and some skin. Mrs. Weasley immediately kneeled down, and began searching the back of her head for the wound. She found it. A long, skinny, bloody hole in the back of her head, getting her hair all matted and bloody as well. It was the exact size of the door hinge, "Hermione's getting weaker and weaker, she didn't used to get hurt this easy." She shook her head as she pulled the hair out of the wound. "Episkey." She muttered, and the wound began healing, "Episkey," she said impatiently, hurrying it along. "Rennervate," she said, and Hermione began to moan.
Hermione sat up, pulled her sleeves down quickly, and turned away from them all, and began to cry again. Mrs. Weasley put her hand on her back, deciding against trying to hug her, "Now, Hermione. Come on, you could have just bled to death, but you didn't, so shouldn't this be a ha– non-crying moment?" She was going to say "happy moment" but decided against it, seeing as lately anything with any sound of happiness made Hermione more depressed.
She shook her head. "You guys just don't get it... I shouldn't've screamed." She put her hands to her face, ashamed of herself, "I should've kept silent, it would all have gotten better then." She spoke without looking at them, and she closed her eyes, all her tears dried up, and actually smiled at her thoughts, the first smile she'd worn in weeks. She was silent, the twins didn't know what to make of this, and Hermione slumped to the floor once again, this time sleeping. The Weasley's left the room, leaving her on the floor. She muttered in her sleep, "All... better... alone... then... no don't scream. Quiet... best... leave it... silent."