The Holiday
"Term ends in two weeks," Ginny Weasley stated, causing more than a few angry glares sent to the pretty redhead as she sat next to her best friend in the library.
"Well spotted, Gin," Hermione whispered as she rolled her eyes at her friend's sudden outburst. "That's why we're studying, remember? N.E.W.T.S. next week."
"Oh for Merlin's sake, Mi. We all know you'll be bloody brilliant, have you ever actually gotten less that full marks on an exam? I'm bored," Ginny replied, much quieter this time.
"That's neither here nor there," Hermione smiled. "If you're bored go find Luna."
"Can't, she's off snogging Neville's face off. I really wish Harry had come back this year too," Ginny said, her eyes far away and a suggestive smirk on her face.
"Gross. I'd rather not think of Luna and Neville, nor you and Harry snogging anything off, thank you," Hermione huffed good naturedly.
"You're just put out because you aren't snogging anyone's anything off right now. He's a git, you know that right?" Ginny's face turned sympathetic.
"I'll tell you what, give me 30 more minutes and we can go down to the lake." Hermione refused to talk about Ron. Things really had worked out for the best between the two of them, they couldn't go more than a few hours without ending up in a shouting match. Trying to force romantic feelings would only exasperate the fact. They were still friends, just not as close as they were when dangerous situations continually pushed them together.
"No books?" Ginny narrowed her eyes.
"No books," Hermione confirmed.
"Or notes?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Bloody- fine no notes, but you have to study too. For thirty whole minutes." Hermione rolled her eyes once again.
"Damn Granger, I was ready to wait an hour, you give up too easily," Ginny smiled, happy to get her way. She looked down at the textbook in front of her, before looking back Hermione one last time. "I have a great idea to discuss with you later."
"Alright then, what's this brilliant idea of yours?" Hermione asked, forty minutes later as the girls settled themselves in the grass next to the lake.
"Well, I was just thinking that it's been a hard year, after the war we all dove right into rebuilding the castle, then term immediately started back. Harry and Ron too, they jumped right into Auror training," Ginny began the big build up. "Even the twins, after Percy, well Fred had a hard time of it for the longest time. Felt guilty, you know."
"Yes Gin, I know, I was there remember?" Hermione responded, her voice was soft. Percy had died during the battle, a wall had been blasted next to him and Fred and Percy had jumped to push Fred out of the way. The wall crushed Percy, and there was just some things magic couldn't undo. Hermione had spent a lot of time with Fred after the war. He had been trying to push everyone away, saying it should have been him to die, not Percy. Everyone walked on eggshells around him, except Hermione, who had poured a bucket of water on him to get him out of bed, then refused to stop until he finally began letting people in again.
"Right, well, I was thinking, let's get a bunch of people together and have a holiday. A proper holiday. I think we all deserve one." Ginny stated.
"I think that's a good idea."
"Come on Mi! Just hear me out," Ginny began, not listening to what Hermione had just said.
"Ginny! I said it was a good idea," Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the baffled look on the younger girl's face.
"Really? I was not expecting that. So I can go ahead and start planning? Because Seamus has a cabin on the lake. His dad said we could use it anytime," Ginny went straight into planning.
"I thought you just thought of this," Hermione laughed.
"I like to always be prepared, you know that," Ginny waved her off.
"That's me, you big liar," Hermione rolled her eyes, nudging Ginny with her shoulder.
N.E.W.T.S. came and went without too much drama, only one Ravenclaw was sent to the hospital wing after breaking down. The results wouldn't arrive for another few weeks, so Hermione did what she could to push it from her mind. She was sitting in the room she shared with Ginny at the Burrow, looking at the exceptionally large number of bags the two witches had acquired on their shopping trip. Ginny had somehow planned the holiday in the midst of preparing for the final exams, Hermione still didn't understand how. It was just further proof that when Ginny set her mind to something, nothing could stop her. Hermione had begun sorting the items when Ginny walked in.
"Everything is set, we leave first thing in the morning," Ginny stated flopping on the bed, causing the neatly stacked clothes to fall the the floor.
"So, we're meeting Neville and Luna here correct?" Hermione asked, waving her wand at the clothes, refolding them as they put themselves away in the luggage next to the bed.
"Yes, Dean and Seamus have already gone ahead to get the cabin ready. The four of us are going to portkey out there in the morning. Harry, Ron and the great blonde bimbo will be coming after they get out of training," Ginny added the last bit with a rather disgusted look.
"Oh stop it, Lavender isn't that bad anymore. Certainly not as obnoxious with the pet names and dementor-like face devouring," Hermione smirked.
"She's still a bit ridiculous, if you ask me," Ginny insisted.
"Well, she and Ron have been together for six months, I suppose you better get used to it. So, what about the rest then?"
"The twins, Lee, Angelina and Alicia will be coming sometime in the afternoon, as well as Oliver and Katie," Ginny said, making sure she hadn't forgotten anyone.
"How big is this place anyway? That's a lot of people," Hermione frowned slightly.
"I'm not sure exactly. Seamus said it would fit us all though. Apparently his father's family is pretty well off," Ginny said, not too worried about it.
As the portkey dropped Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna, rather unceremoniously, on the ground, the small group took a moment to take in their surroundings. What met them was not the quaint little cabin Hermione was expecting, but a beautiful, expensive looking home. It was three stories tall with the entire wall facing the lake made of glass, allowing for an incredible view of the lake.
"Hey guys," Seamus called from the large deck that surrounded the entire bottom level.
"Seamus," Hermione greeted, giving the sandy haired wizard a hug. "This place is incredible."
"Thanks, Mione. Da's family like to show off a bit," Seamus laughed easily. "If you'd like, I'll go ahead and send your things up to your rooms and we can have some breakfast. Dean's been cooking up a storm all morning."
"Sounds great, I'm starving." Ginny smiled as Seamus led the group inside.
"Sounds like a Weasley is in the house," Dean laughed as he walked into the living room, he scrunched up his nose as Ginny stuck out her tongue. Dean handed Seamus a cup of coffee and kissed his temple before leading everyone into the large kitchen.
"Help yourselves, there's plenty." Dean smiled as he poured himself a cup of coffee.
The rest of the day was spent lounging about on the deck, talking amongst themselves. Dean and Seamus had decided to forgo their final year at Hogwarts, settling into married life instead. Hermione smiled as she watched them together, they were a couple who obviously loved each other very much. Two opposites who had found just the right balance in each other. She couldn't help but become a little sad at the sight, wishing some of that for herself.
Voices from the other side of the house alerted them to the group of newcomers, effectively shaking Hermione from her thoughts. Loud laughter, that could only be the twins made Hermione smile widely.
"Merlin, Finnigan, this place big enough?" George asked as they rounded the corner. "Mione! Light if my life! It's been ages!"
"I saw you two days ago George!" Hermione giggled as George had swooped in and picked her up out of her chair.
When Fred was at his lowest point, he wouldn't talk to anyone, not even George. It killed George to have the connection to his twin broken, so when Hermione had finally convinced Fred to open up to his brother, George had become extremely grateful to her, leading to a very strong friendship.
"Are you ready to run away with me yet, love?" George asked dramatically, still holding the much smaller witch off the ground.
"I would you see, however, I know it would be a sham," Hermione answered just as dramatically. "I happen to know that the skating rink on Ang's finger over there is from you. Alas, we are just not to be. Now put me down you big wanker, I must ohh and ahh at that thing!"
Angelina and George had been dating since the war started, and the two witches became good friends. Ang took the flirting between Hermione and George in stride, seeing it for what it was, harmless. Ang was more than happy to show off the engagement ring to Hermione, Ginny and Luna. Alicia, who had already seen it came over to gush with the rest of them anyway. Hermione giggled as she heard Lee mutter about making the rest of them look bad, but she knew that he was very close to asking Alicia the very same question.
After the appropriate amount of time congratulating Ang and George, Hermione made her way over to where Fred was standing quietly. She looked at him questioningly, waiting to see how he was doing. He was doing much better, he was working at the shop again, even started talking with George about inventing something new, but she knew that big crowds were still a bit much for him. They had come up with a system, whenever he was feeling overwhelmed he would rub his ear and she would find a reason to take him away.
He smiled down at her now, and whispered that he was doing just fine as he hugged her hello. They spoke quietly together for a few minutes, both entirely oblivious to the silent conversation George and Ginny were having about the two of them.
The arrival of Oliver and Katie had the topic of Quidditch brought up immediately. Seamus told everyone there was a small Quidditch pitch out back, and soon everyone was gearing up for a pick up game. Hermione took this opportunity to ask Seamus for directions to the market. They had talked about going to the store earlier and Hermione figured she could go ahead while everyone was busy with the game.
"Mind if I tag along?" Fred asked as Hermione was making a list of what they would need.
"Not at all, leg giving you trouble?" she asked. Fred hadn't come away from that wall completely unscathed, it had smashed his leg when it fell, breaking it in several places. Even though Madame Pomfrey had healed it quickly, it still gave him trouble from time to time, leaving him stiff and making flying for extended periods of time difficult.
"A bit, yeah," he answered. "I landed on it a bit funny after the portkey.
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather go lie down? It's a bit of a walk to the market. I think I may have that potion that helps so much in my bag," Hermione responded, concern evident in her voice.
"Mione, I'm fine, really. A good walk is just what it needs I'd wager," Fred smirked at her.
"Gambling I see, you must be feeling back to normal then," Hermione teased, squeezing his shoulder as she walked past him.
By the time Fred and Hermione got back to the lake house the rest of the party had arrived. Hermione laughed lightly as she watched Harry make an impressive dive and caught the small golden snitch. After several loud cheers and catcalling the players all made their way to the house to get cleaned up for dinner. Hermione went to the kitchen to start the preparations and was quickly joined by Neville, Luna, and Lavender. Before long the entire group was sitting around the large deck talking and joking. George was sitting next to Hermione, sulking about being relieved of his post at the grill.
"Honestly, one small fire and this lot of babies start overreacting," George muttered as Ang handed him a glass of firewhiskey and sat on his knee.
"George, that was not a small fire. I'm not entirely sure Lee will ever have eyebrows again." Hermione reminded him, shaking her head.
"Oh please he's just fine, aren't you mate?" George waved her off.
"Sod off, Weasley." Lee grunted from where he sat, as Alicia applied a potion to his face.
"Babies, the lot of you," George grumbled, looking over to where Harry and Oliver were now grilling the meat. "And how is it Potter is so bloody good at everything?"
"Stop whining," Hermione giggled as she rolled her eyes. "would you like to choose the music, Seamus said there's an outdoor wireless so we can listen while we eat."
"Fine," George answered, smiling, all grumpiness gone as he went to start fiddling with the wireless.
"Yeah, I don't trust him a bit, " Ang announced before following her fiance.
"You're going to make a great mum one day," Luna said, smiling kindly at Hermione.
"Merlin knows she's had enough practice, " Ginny added. "First keeping Harry and Ron alive, then putting out all of George's fires… literally and figuratively. "
"Yes well, it'll be a long time before that happens," Hermione smiled at her friends. Fred, who was sitting just behind Hermione put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently.
Once the meat was finished, and George had chosen a station, everyone sat around the table that had been magically altered so that it now resembled the Weasley's Sunday table. Several conversations were going on all at once, with quite a few things being yelled from one end to the other.
Several hours, and quite a few bottles of firewhiskey and the muggle beer Fred and Hermione had bought later saw the group becoming subdued.
"Well tomorrow will be a long day of playing in the water, so you lot might want to get some sleep," Ginny said loudly as she took Harry's hand.
"Right, I can start showing everyone to their rooms, " Seamus offered standing up and walking toward the house. The group followed as Seamus pointed out rooms to all the couples. They neared the end of the hall and Seamus pointed to the last room, telling Fred and Hermione that was theirs.
"Wait, what? You mean we are sharing a bedroom?" Hermione asked quietly.
"Well why wouldn't you?" Seamus asked, confusion all over his face.
"We aren't, that is to say, we aren't a couple," Fred answered.
"Really? Are you sure?" Seamus asked again.
"I think we would know better than anyone," Hermione rolled her eyes.
"But…" Seamus was cut off as Dean walked quickly to the group, just having been talking to George and Ginny.
"Sorry guys, it looks like we miscounted with all the people here. We are actually out of bedrooms, we could make up the study perhaps if it's too big of an inconvenience," Dean said quickly, putting a hand on Seamus' shoulder, a silent signal that told him he'd explain everything later.
"You know, it's not that big of a deal, certainly not enough to go to any extra trouble," Hermione said, looking to Fred for confirmation.
"It's not as if we've never slept in the same bed before," Fred smiled, causing Hermione cheeks to turn pink. "Not like that! I just meant, oh nevermind. Goodnight Finnigan, Thomas. After you Mione."
"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you just now," Fred muttered as he closed the bedroom door. "I just meant the nightmares."
"I know, it isn't a problem I promise," Hermione smiled over to him. She moved over to bag and started to get out her sleep clothes. "I'm just going to go change."
As she closed the door to the bathroom, Fred quietly thumped his head against the wall before sighing. This was not going how he had planned, he was hoping this holiday, time spent with Hermione would give him the opportunity to tell her how he felt. He decided that if he were going to talk to her, he had better do it quickly. He could see his little sister and twin's schemes, and since they had all the subtlety of a brick wall, he didn't want Hermione to think this was all some sort of a prank.
Fred had been in love with the brilliant witch since he was sixteen years old. When she rolled her eyes and told him and George that their aging potion wouldn't work in the Goblet of Fire. Her cheeky comments proved she wasn't just a stuffy bookworm, but had a sense of humor. Then when she stood by Harry when his name got called, hexing that Ravenclaw behind Harry's back when he started calling him a liar. Over the years his feelings only grew. Then there she was, after Percy died and Fred dug himself in a deep hole of self pity and blame. She refused to let him just bury himself, she all but smacked him in the head and told him to get over himself. It was Hermione who told him that it was okay to be happy again after his brother died for him, that was something he desperately needed to hear.
Fred looked up as the door opened, Hermione came in the room and smiled at him sweetly. She told him the bathroom was all his as she climbed into the bed.
"Hermione, I need to say something. Please don't say anything until I've finished. Merlin this is so much harder than I thought it would be. It never used to be this hard," Fred looked up as Hermione cleared her throat pointedly. He then continued to stumble his way through the speech he had been practicing for a week. He couldn't quite bring himself to look at her face, if he had he would have stopped talking long before he did. Hermione had the brightest most brilliant smile on her face. After Fred's long rant she could think of only one way to respond. She quickly got out of the bed, walked determinedly to where he was standing, and kissed him soundly on the mouth. A muttered 'me too was mixed in all the snogging.
Harry looked up as he exited the bathroom and a quick sweep around the room showed that Ginny was gone. With a sigh he left the bedroom and walked toward the end of the hall where he saw Ginny, George, Dean and Seamus standing at one of the doors. George, Dean and Seamus were standing close to the door with long flesh colored strings hanging from their ears and Ginny was crouched down trying to look through the keyhole.
"What are you lot doing?" Harry asked rather loudly, rolling his eyes because he knew exactly what was going on.
"Hello love, why aren't you in bed?" Ginny asked, trying to dodge the question while slipping the extendable ear into her pocket.
"Did you let her talk you into this?" Harry asked looking from Dean to Seamus.
"I didn't know anything I swear, I thought they were together for months now," Seamus said quietly.
"I do believe it's time for bed, good night," Dean said quickly, taking his husband's hand and leading up the stairs to their bedroom.
"Are they okay in there? You haven't messed anything up between them by pushing have you?" Harry asked much quieter this time.
"I'd say they're okay. Been snogging non-stop for the last five minutes," George laughed. He squeezed Ginny shoulder as he walked to his room with a smile.
"Come on Harry, let's get to bed," Ginny said with a smile taking his hand. He just rolled his eyes and followed his girlfriend to bed. This was going to be a fun week.