George looked down at his face. He could not believe Fred was gone. They may have won the war and Voldemort had been defeated but nothing could bring his brother back. It had been almost 6 hours since he fell and George had not left his side once. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned his head to see Hermione standing there.
"George, you need to go get something to eat. There is food over there with your mum. I will stay here with him." She said in a soft voice.
"I don't want to leave him" George said his voice cracking.
"I know, but you need something. You are spent magically and if you don't eat you could harm yourself." Hermione said in a small voice
She did not like telling him he had to leave his brother but she knew he had to eat something. Ron was eating with his family and Harry had gone to the tower for sleep so she was the only one left that could watch over Fred. She did not want to sit over him like this. She had always had a small crush on him, and now he was gone and there was nothing she could do to change that fact.
"Please George" She took his hands in hers and looked in his eyes "I promise I will sit right next to him until you come back. I won't leave him for one second. I promise."
George looked at the her and saw the tears in her eyes. He knew that this was hard for her and she had a small crush on his twin. George had seen it whenever they were together how they would act. He also knew that Fred had a huge crush on her but never had the nerve to tell her. And now it was too late. Fred could never tell her and George would not do it because it would crush her to know Fred's feelings. George knew she would rather be anywhere else then here but she was doing it for his family.
Who knows what would have happened if the two of you had not been so damn stubborn. George thought to himself sadly.
"Alright Granger you win" He finally said in a small defeated voice
As he went to leave Hermione reached out and grabbed his wrist to stop him. She grabbed him and gave him a hug. He hugged her back as they both had loved his brother and felt his loss very deeply.
"Go eat. I will be right here when you get back." She said
So George turned and joined his family where they silently ate their food and sat down to join them.
Hermione watched as George left once she was sure he was gone she turned to where Fred lay. The tears started to form and back up threatening to fall down her face. She cast a small silencing spell to give her some privacy as she made her way over to him.
She grabbed his hand as she sat down beside him.
"Oh Fred I can't believe you are gone" she whispered. She had never dared tell anyone this before, but she had had a crush on Fred ever since 4 year at the Quidditch world cup. And now the man she liked was gone.
"I am so sorry Fred I never got a chance to tell you how I felt. I wish more than anything I could take it..."
Hermione stopped talking right there because she noticed a small thing. A small tear had come out of Fred's eye!
How is this possible! He is dead! Hermione thought to herself.
As she sat there thinking to herself she suddenly remembered one of the books she read on black magic. It was one of the books she got right after Dumbldore's funeral at the end of 6th Year before Ron, Harry and Her left. She remembered something about a curse that would make the person afflicted appear almost completely dead. In fact unless you knew about this curse you would think the person was dead. she quickly lifted up Fred's shirt and saw a bright purple scar with a light pink ring around it upon his chest. She pressed against it and saw to her great surprise that it turned orange and then faded back to purple. This was it it was this curse she knew it. Hermione started to feel a sense of relief but then started panicking once again when she remembered this curse had a time limit on it.
Hermione ran out from behind the curtain separating Fred and the rest of the hospital wing.
"RON" She screamed "WHERES MY BAG"
All of the Weasley's jumped at this sudden noise. And Ginny was the first to respond by handing to Hermione a small beaded bag.
"Accio Tenebrosi gentes" Hermione said quickly pointing her wand into the bag and she caught a huge dark book that came rushing out of the bag into her hand.
She dropped the bag and ran off into Madam Pomfrey's office closing the door behind her and casting a Silencing charm around the office.
In the office Poppy Pomfrey was busy trying to find more potion's and chocolate for the wounded when Hermione came rushing in.
"Madam Pomfrey" She said gasping for air "Fred is not dead"
Poppy looked at the young women with sorrow in her eyes
"Hermione dear I know death is hard to understand..." She started but Hermione stopped her there
"No you don't understand. I was talking to him and I saw a tear come from his eye. I swear and then I remembered reading about a very old and very dark curse that would put on the allusion of death for a certain amount of time over a person before truly killing them. The only way to tell is to check where the curse struck to see if the bruise changes colors from a purple with a pink circle around it to an orange color. I checked Fred and he has the bruise and it changed colors. He is not DEAD!"
Poppy had to sit down at this. She had never heard of a curse like this before but she did not doubt Hermione Granger she was after all one of the smartest witches she had ever met.
"But dear even if that is true the wall fell on him." Poppy said
"That is another part of the curse because of the nature of the curse no other ways of death or harm may come to the person who is inflicted. It is there so no one can try to truly kill the person inflicted because the pain of what Fred is going to be going threw is so terrible. It does not matter that a wall fell on him because he was protected by the curse you see. But right now we are under a time restraint of 12 hours and we are already into the 6th hour before can't pull him out of the curse and he truly dies." Hermione finished looking flushed trying to make the medi-witch understand
Poppy did not need to be told twice. She never underestimated Hermione Grangers ability for magic. She was the brightest witch of her age after all.
"What do you need" Poppy said in a firm voice
Hermione sighed knowing she was heard and they were going to help Fred.
"We need 3 Witches who are powerful enough for this spell, and we cannot use anyone with the last name of Weasley."
"I will send a patronus to Minerva right now." Said Poppy and with a wave of her wand a bright Dove appeared and flew out the office door. Hermione and Poppy sat down and were reading the book when Minerva came rushing in.
"Poppy I got your message what's going on?" She said staring at both the old medi-witch and Hermione.
Hermione rushed to close the door and quickly recast the silencing charm she knew the Weasley's were all staring at the office but she did not want to tell them yet in case something went wrong.
"Minerva I was wrong about Fred Weasley. He is not yet dead. Ms Granger here alerted me to his condition and has shown me the counter curse we must use in order to save him." Poppy stated to Her old friend Minerva McGonagall
"Are you sure Poppy? For certain he is not dead?" Minerva asked. She could not believe her ears. She had known the Weasley family for years and knew how this death would affect them.
"Minerva, when has Hermione ever been wrong about anything?" Poppy asked with a nervous laugh "Here is the book right here with the curse. I want to go and examine Mr. Weasley myself but I am afraid to do so with his family there."
"We will have to tell them there is a chance that Fred is still alive and we could save him. What do we need Poppy?" Minerva asked with authority in her voice.
"According to the text Professor all that is needed is 3 magical people of opposite genders of the person affected who do not share the same last name or are not immediately related" Hermione answered without thinking "That is why this curse was used quite a lot in the middle ages. 3 people of the opposite gender being willing to save a person who is not their family member without being jealous."
Minerva looked over at Hermione and gave her a small smile. Minerva knew of course that Hermione would know the answer word for word from the book. she always did. In many ways the young witch reminded Minerva of herself at that age.
"Alright I will be one of the witches and I will send a patronus to Pomona and she can take the place of the second witch. Now I just need to think of someone for the third place."
Hermione looked at her old professor and then came to a quick decision
"I will do it" she said as she stood up and looked both witches in the eye.
Minerva looked at her and tilted her head a bit "Hermione I don't know this is very powerful magic..."
"I should rephrase myself professor, I AM doing it. I am strong enough please do not doubt me. When have you ever known me to not be able to do magic?" She said very strongly holding her ground staring straight in the eyes of her once professor.
Minerva kept her eyes on the young witch. Yup the young lass is just like me She thought.
"Alright Ms. Granger you may be the 3rd person for the link. Now let's go and tell the Weasley family of what is going to happen and get ready for the spell."
It took over 15 minutes to convince Mrs. Weasley to leave the hospital wing. Hermione was glad when they were all gone after McGonagall told them about her discovery they kept looking at her with wide eyes and tears. George could not believe what he was hearing could they really being his twin back?
With the Weasley's now in the Hall outside of the Hospital wing and Minerva, Poppy, Hermione and Pomona inside the hall they were almost ready to get started. Pomona had brought the last thing they needed from what remained of the greenhouses. Hermione thanked Merlin that these little plants inside the basket Professor Sprout had, had not been destroyed.
"Ok, if I read this correctly we need to create the magical circle that will bind us all together. After that we will need to spread the Moly Flowers over Mr Weasley's body and around his bed. After that we will have to say the incantation one time for every hour he has been under the spell. So we will have to say it 7 times since Mr Weasley has been like this for 7 hours now." stated Minerva "I will stand at the head of the bed, Pomona can you stand on the right hand side and Ms. Granger can you stand on the left hand side."
The three witches took their places and prepared themselves for the spell.
"Alright is everyone ready?" Asked Minerva. Once she received nods from the other 2 witches she nodded to Poppy who cast the circle around them binding their powers to each others.
They each spread the flowers over Fred and around the bed before taking their wands and joining their tips together above Fred's chest.
Hermione looked over at McGonagall and once she received the nod from the older witch she began the incantation and the two professors joined her.
"Revertere in terra viventium
Redige animam sanguinis
Et ultra non erit in vobis sed dormitat
Converte hoc maledictio posueram super te nocte"
They repeated this 6 times and each time a ball of light grew bigger between their wands. On their 7th time they added at the end
" Sic facies eam:"
And the ball of light that had been building suddenly jumped from their wands and right into Fred's chest.
They all stood silently and watched as the color started coming back to Fred's face and then without warning Fred's eyes shot open and he sat right up and gasped for air like he had been underwater, scaring all 4 witches standing around him. Fred looked right at Hermione his eyes looking straight into hers and then he laid back down and closed his eyes.
Poppy quickly took down the magical circle and rushed to Fred's side.
"He is alive" she said sighing looking at the Minerva "He is just sleeping I can feel his pulse and it is strong he is just going to need to rest for a while for his body to get over that spell."
Minerva looked down at the young man on the bed with red hair. He may be a prankster but he was a good boy and she was glad he would be alright. There had been far too much death that night and at least they had saved one person. She looked over at Hermione who began to sway with her eyes closed. Minerva caught her before she fell.
"POPPY" She exclaimed as she carried the young witch over to a spare bed and laid her down gently.
The old Medi-Witch came over at once and with one swish of her wand checked her over and smiled. "She is fine Minerva, just worn out. That spell was a big one. I doubt any other Witch her age could have done it but our Hermione did." She said looking up. "She will need a magic replenishing potion and will have to be in here until dinner but I see no reason why she should not be ready to leave tonight."
Minerva was smiled at her old friend and then asked if it was alright if the Weasley family was allowed back in. Poppy told her it would be fine as long as they were quite so both Fred and Hermione could rest.
Pomona Sprout and Minerva both walked to the doors of the hospital wing as Poppy went to her office to grab the potion for Hermione and give it to her before the Weasley's came in.
"Thank you Pomona for all your help" Minerva said before they opened the door
"Not a problem, I remember those boys they might have been pranksters in school but they were good eggs and both were pretty good at herbology." She stated "However you will excuse me I must get back to the greenhouses and finish the inventory."
"Of course Pomona" Minerva said as they opened the doors and were almost immediately set upon by the clan of redheads.
"What happened?"
"Is Fred Ok?"
"Did it work?"
"Where is Hermione?"
Minerva held up one hand to still their questions and then answered "Both Hermione and Fred are fine and alive." she paused as there was a release of air and cheers. She let them carry one for a minute before she continued "You all should feel very blessed to have Hermione as a friend. She was the one who first noticed the curse and alerted Poppy to it. Without her help I don't know if we would have been able to save Fred. She was able to do magic that I truly do not believe any other witch of her age could do to save your son. They are both resting now and I have been warned by Poppy to tell you all that if you are not able to maintain yourselves then you will be kicked out as they both are needed this rest." Minerva finished with a smile knowing that Poppy would not really kick them out but rather try in vain to keep them quite.
Arthur reached out and hugged Minerva tightly as did the Molly and the rest of the Weasley family. They were all so happy that Fred had been brought back to them. After they let her go they started to make their way into the hospital wing and Minerva looked back one more time at the family before she too left to go back to the headmasters office. There was a lot of work to be done.
A couple hours later
"Shhhh you guys you are going to wake her up"
"Honestly Ginny you should conceder being a medi-nurse the way you are fussing over her right now"
Hermione opened her eyes to see Ginny's back towards her with her hands on her hips as she was facing Ron. By the look on Ron's face it looked to Hermione that he was being quietly yelled at by his little sister. Hermione laughed and at that sound both heads quickly turned to face her.
""MIONE!" They both yelled as they ran by her side and wrapped her up in a great bear hug.
They were still holding on to her when the curtains around her bed were thrown open and the rest of the Weasley family and Harry rushed in to great her.
After they had all hugged and kissed her within ,what felt like to Hermione, an inch of her life they all stood back as Molly magically made the bed slightly larger. Molly sat next at the foot of her bed with her husband behind her with his hand on her shoulder. Ron had sat down on the bed right next to Hermione on her right side and Harry sat on her left side. Both boys had put an arm around her. Ginny sat at Harry's feet while the rest of the group stood around her bed and just smiled down upon her.
Molly looked at the girl whom she had known for so long. She had always considered Hermione part of the family. As she looked down upon the young girl she felt the tears rise up again.
Hermione noticed the tears forming in Molly's eyes and spoke "Mrs Weasley, Fred is going to be ok isn't he? We did the spell correctly I am sure of it."
Molly could not hold back the tears any more. "Oh my dear girl, He is going to be just fine thanks to you. I don't know how I can ever repay you for what you have done. You have brought us back my son." Molly rushed towards Hermione again and pulled her back into a giant hug holding her tightly.
Hermione looked around to the rest of the Weasley's to see they were all smiling at her. She held on to Molly for a while and then when she was able to let go Molly let her lay back down.
"Minerva told us that what you did was so advanced, She did not think any other witch your age could have done it. Hermione love we owe you more then you know." Molly said leaning back into her husband's arms.
Hermione looked at her "Mrs Weasley, you guys have taken care of me and have loved me, You are like another family to me. You are like another part of my heart. You don't owe me anything. That is what family does. They protect one another. I have always thought of you all as my family. That's why I did what I did."
Hermione was once again attacked by a rush of arms grabbing her for a hug.
"What is this noise I told you Hermione needs her rest." Poppy said as she came in "Oh good dear you are awake now you just need to take this potion here and in about an hour you should be good to go."
She put a potion on the nightstand beside Hermione and kissed her on the forehead before adding "You are a very brave young lady and it is my honor to know you my dear."
Hermione blushed slightly at being called brave and took her potion very quickly to cover it up.
"How is Fred doing? Has he woken up yet?" She asked
"No Not yet but Madam Pomfrey says that he is fine just resting and he will wake up when he is ready to." George answered looking at her
"Well I am hungry for dinner come along now kids lets go" Molly said suddenly looking at all of her children
"But Mum Mione.."
"But.."
"No Buts about it I want everyone except George to come down with us to grab something to eat it has been a long day for us all and the only reason George is staying is because I am not going to try to get him away from Fred." Molly said in a stern voice looking at her children. Even Bill looked a little scared and hurried to follow his mother out the door.
Finally it was just Hermione and George. Molly knew that George would want to thank Hermione but would not want to do it in front of everybody. Fred was after all his twin and losing a twin is like losing a part of your soul. It had happened to her brother Fabian when Gideon was killed. Fabian almost died himself with grief. He had let his defenses down and that was how the death eaters had gotten him as well. It was not something she wanted for her son and she was glad that Hermione had saved him from that fate.
"Hermione," George started "Thank you. You don't know what you have done for me. Fred is my twin and when I thought I lost him I wanted to die. I thought about going up to the towers and just jumping, but I know that would have killed mum to lose both sons in one night. It is just like you were saying earlier about how the family is another piece of your heart, well Fred is the other piece of ME. I don't even know if I could go on without him. And you brought him back to us. You brought him back to me. You really are the brightest witch of our age aren't you?" he asked with a small smile
Hermione smiled back at him. She loved George as much as she loved Harry. He was the big brother she never had. Even if he liked to pull pranks he always knew where the line was and was always right there to defend the ones he loved. However all this attention was making Hermione uncomfortable so she decided to joke with George a little.
"George please for the love of Merlin stop calling me that ridicules name" she said with a laugh "You know you are a big brother to me and I could not very well have let you be sad who else is going to come up with the newest jokes to pull on Ron when he is not looking? I know everyone is thankful I did what I did but in all honesty I don't like the attention. I did it because I love all of you so much. Please can you get them to stop treating me like I am a queen or something and start treating me like Hermione again?" she finished.
George looked at her and he tilted his head a little. "Sure thing Granger" He said after a moment "So what do you think of a hat that will make Ron's voice change to sound like a house-elf?" He said with a grin figuring if she wanted to be treated like the regular Hermione again he would oblige and he would make sure his family did so too. He owed her that much. He wondered if he should tell her about Fred's feelings toward her.
Hermione laughed and said. "I think that sounds perfect for him. You know during the battle he kissed me. I think he may ask me out soon." Hermione in truth loved Ron very much just as she had all loved all the Weasley's like family. However over the past year, Hermione noticed Ron's feelings towards her becoming more and more less like a sister and more towards something more. While she did have a crush on Fred, Hermione knew that Fred would never see her that way.
George almost wanted to hit his youngest brother at that moment for possibly ruining Fred and Hermione's chance. He would have to find a way to tell Fred when he woke up before anyone else did. It is not like anyone else in the family knew that Fred liked her. He wanted to tell her how Fred felt about her. But instead he looked at her said "I think that's great Granger. You and him it is like it is meant to be."
Hermione looked at George and then smiled "Yeah maybe."
Maybe Hermione thought to herself Just maybe.
This is a prequel to my novel The Prankster and the Lioness and it takes place 3 years after this and we discover a little more into what has been happening with Hermione, and Fred and some of the others thrown in there.
Also Please take note of the translations I do not speak latin I just got them off of the internet so this is as close as I could get it to
Revertere in terra viventium
Redige animam sanguinis
Et ultra non erit in vobis sed dormitat
Converte hoc maledictio posueram super te nocte
Sic facies eam:
Means
Return to the land of the living
Bring back the blood of life
No more shall you slumber
Reverse this curse put upon you this night
Make it so
Dont forget to Review the story. Thank you!