Chaos. Everywhere she looked, jets of colored light were flying in every direction. Hermione, Ron, and Harry had just escaped the fiendfyre with a destroyed horcrux in hand, but there was no relief in sight. Just as they were trying to figure out which way they should go, Percy and Fred were backed around the corner up ahead battling three masked figures.
Immediately setting forth to help, two of the death eaters were quickly taken down. As Hermione was battling the third, she heard Fred laughing at a joke Percy had made. This unexpected moment of levity was cut short as the death eater deflected Hermione's blasting hex right at the wall where the others were grouped. In that moment, the world as she knew it was torn apart.
Shrieks echoed through the corridor as the wall exploded outwards encapsulating the fighters. As Hermione is thrown to the ground, all she knows is pain. Losing her battle with consciousness, the last thing Hermione is aware of is a heartbreakingly desperate vioce shouting "NO! Fred...Fred? No!".
When Hermione awoke, she became aware of several things at once.
First, she realized that she was in pain. Everything hurt, it even hurt to think. She attempted to mentally survey the damage, but it seemed like the pain was coming from everywhere all at once.
She also realized that she was in the hospital wing, and completely alone. She started to panic as she began to remember the battle, and her friends. Where were Ron and Harry? What happened to Fred, and why hadn't George been there with them? They were always together, an inseperable team. What if he was... 'No, don't even go there' Hermione thought to herself, trying desperately to calm herself down. 'He's okay, he has to be!' And where was Voldemort in all of this? Were people still fighting for their lives as she lay here alone? 'But surely they would be here if the fight was over' she thought as her mind raced through the possibilities. 'Where is everyone else, the rest of the injured?'.
Just as she was beginning to work herself into a panic, the doors at the end of the ward creaked slowly open, and a much abused looking Harry Potter shuffled into the room. When he looked towards the bed and saw that she was awake, he looked much relieved even though there was still sadness etched into his face.
"Hermione! Thank Merlin you're okay! I was so worried!" he exclaimed, rushing over to her bedside.
"Harry," Hermione replied tentatively, "what's going on? Why am I here, what happened? I remember the wall exploding, but then..."
"Hermione," Harry inturrupted her. "It's over, we won, but we lost a lot too."
Before Harry could finish explaining, the doors to the ward burst open and Ron came storming in. He took one looke at Harry conversing calmly with Hermione, and his face quickly turned an ugly shade of puce. Hermione looked up at him bewildered. "Ron, what is it? Why..."
"Why what Hermione?" Ron stormed, working himself into a fervor. "Why am I angry? Do you really have to ask me that right now? You of all people..."
Harry spoke up. "Ron, I haven't told her..."
Hermione looked at him sharply just then. "Told me what Harry?" she asked, wondering why Ron was so upset with her.
His reasons made themselves abundantly clear just then as he started raging at her again. "It's your fault! Because of you and your shoddy spellwork, Fred is dead! My brother is gone Hermione, and it's your fault! You killed him!"
Hermione lay there in shock as Ron's hateful words washed over her. Fred was dead? It wasn't possible! She'd just seen him, heard him laugh; she'd been right next to him when the wall collapsed...the wall! Her stomach sank as she realized the extent of his words. The wall had collapsed because the spell she had cast riccocheted. If Fred was dead because of the collapse that meant she had inadvertently caused his death! But she hadn't meant to! It was an accident! Fred was her friend, one of her favorite Weasleys, her surrogate brother, he couldn't be dead! She looked up at Ron hesitantly, willing it not to be true, but his anger said it all.
"Ron, please." she whispered, begging him to listen to her with her eyes. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen, I was just trying to help! It's not my fault the spell was blocked..."
Ron cut her off quickly. "I don't want to hear anything you have to say Hermione, he's dead because of you. You may as well have Avada'd him!" And with that, Ron stormed out of the room slamming the door behind him.
Hermione dissolved into heartwrenching sobs, not able to say anything more as Harry tried to comfort her. No matter what he said, she was inconsolable, so he just sat there with her, murmuring words of comfort into her ear until she fell asleep again.
Nothing could have prepared Hermione for the situation she found herself in when she woke next. The room was filled with shouting redheads, all trying to get their point across at the same time. Everyone was so caught up in their argument that no one realized she had woken up.
Ron was completely beside himself, determined to have his say in the matter. "It's entirely her fault! You were there Harry! You saw her. If she hadn't been there, Fred would be here right now! We should have let Bellatrix kill her before we even got here."
Sounds of outrage filled the room, covering Hermione's muffled sob.
"Ronald Bilius Weasley!" Molly shouted. "How dare you suggest something like that! That girl is practically family, and I'll not lose anyone else just because of your misplaced anger!" The end of her sentence was nearly unintelligable as Molly broke down in her husband's arms.
Harry, always the peacemaker, tried talking some sense into him. "Ron, I know you're upset, but blaming Hermione isn't going to bring Fred back! It was no one's fault! Spells get deflected in battle, things go wrong!"
"Harry's right Ron." said Percy, who looked like he hadn't stopped crying since Fred fell. "I was there too, and no one could have predicted that things would go so wrong..."
As she heard Percy trying to win Ron over with logic, Hermione only had eyes for one person, the only one who wasn't shouting and had realized she was awake. George. He was sitting outside the circle of anger, collapsed on a cot on the other side of the room. Filled with relief that he was okay, she had to restrain herself from running over to comfort him. Besides the fact that she was pretty sure her legs wouldn't cooperate, she was filled with doubt and self-loathing. 'He probably doesn't want to talk to me anyway' she thought, trying in vain to hold herself together. 'I'm sure he hates me now, this is all my fault!'
She knew she was staring, but she couldn't look away, and he was staring right back, looking for all the world as if nothing could reach him inside his bubble of pain. Pain she could relate to. She was filled with it, overflowing with her guilt and shame. Neither of them moved, they just stared at each other in understanding.
Her brief moment of connection was broken however when Ron once again exploded in fury. "How can any of you stand up for her? It's like you don't even miss him, like you don't even care that..."
It seemed that George had finally snapped as he jumped up and got in Ron's face. "SHUT UP YOU INCONSIDERATE ARSE!" he shouted, stunning everyone in the room into silence. "You think we don't care? You think it doesn't matter to me? ME? I...I lost my other half!"
George struggled to speak through his overwhelming grief.
"He was your brother yes, but he was a part of me, who I am, and I'll never get that back. "
Hermione was beside herself, sobbing freely now as she tried to say something, anything to try and ease some of his pain.
"George...I...I'm...I didn't mean it! I can't..I'm so sorry!"
She sobbed, breaking down completely. Everyone in the room stared, the sudden silence deafening. Harry went to comfort her, but George got there first. Taking her hand in his, he turned around and faced his family, placing himself between them. Steeling himself, he spoke to the room at large, breaking the silence.
"It was an accident. I know Hermione would never...she wouldn't..." He paused, taking a moment to collect himself. "You need to stop this Ron. This hatred, blaming Hermione for something that's not her fault. What do you thing Fred would say? You think he would approve of you bashing her? Because I don't! I think he would kick your arse for even suggesting something like this."
"How do you know?" Ron bellowed, all control now gone as he threw a chair across the room. "You can say all you want, but I'm pretty sure Fred didn't want to die! How can you protect her worthless hide when your brother is dead?"
"Because I love her!" George shouted, rendering everyone speechless, including Hermione, who looked as if she couldn't believe her ears. "I have for a while." George continued in a much softer tone, looking only at Hermione as he spoke. "You still love me?" Hermione whimpered, trying not to get her hopes up. "I thought you would hate me now..."
Their private moment was shattered when Ron got his voice back. "What in the name of Merlin is this? What do you mean you love her?" He looked as if he had been confunded, and trailed off, looking around the room for support. Ginny looked slightly smug, as if she had known this was coming, while Harry next to her looked almost as confused as Ron.
"What I mean Ron," George said, looking as if just speaking was taking all the strength that he had, sitting down on the bed next to Hermione before he continued, "is that I love her. I have since before F..Fred and I left Hogwarts." Here, Hermione put a steadying hand on his arm, hoping to give him just a little more strength. "We've been together since the summer after your fifth year, we just kept it a secret because we didn't know what you would say. So that's how I know she wouldn't hurt Fred. Because she loves me too. Now I've had enough, if you can't keep a civil tongue when speaking to Hermione, you can get out."
Ron looked around the room, glaring at the people who wouldn't look at him. Seeing he had no support, he stormed out of the room, mumbling obscenities under his breath. It was Molly who finally broke the uncomfortable silence. "Let's go dears and give these two some privacy." she said, looking over at the couple fondly. "Let them rest, we can all ask questions later."
And so everyone walked out, Harry throwing questioning glances over his shoulder as they went. George laid down next to Hermione, and pulled her tight against him as if he would never let her go again. No words were needed as they stared into each other's eyes, reveling in the comfort given in such a simple gesture. They both knew that the road ahead would be tremendously difficult, but as long as they were together, they figured they could do anything.