And When I Wake You're All I See

Chapter One

The blast shook the castle floor, debris flying everywhere. Hermione whipped her head around to face the spot the blast came from. Time seemed to slow down as she watced the large chunk of wall fall towards him. Debris and dust clouded her vision and Fred Weasley disappeared from view, chrushed underneath. Hermione, helpless and too far away to do anything , felt a guttural scream make its way out of her body. He was dead. Just like that. She was helpless and he was gone and she couldn't stop screaming.

Hermione woke suddenly in a cold sweat, panic coursing through her. She looked around frantically, unable to see in the darkness. The rational part of her brain recognized that she was in her and Ginny's room at the Burrow. That she was safe and everything was fine. However the panic did not subside. She launched herself out of the bed, throwing the covers off of herself. She blindly pulled open the door, not caring how much noise she made, and charged up the stairs.

She felt around on the wall hastily until she felt the handle, tore open the door, and charged frantically into the room. She didn't take any time to see if the bed closest to the door was occupied, she ran directly for the furthest bed. She ran right up to the side and stared into the dark bed, filled with blankets. Fred Weasley jumped awake, woken by the slam the door made as she had barrelled into the room.

She saw him sit up, saw that it was him, he was alright, he was here and safe and everything was okay. Relief coursed through her entire body, and she felt her knees give way as the frantic energy she had had left her all at once. She sank to the floor on her knees right beside his bed.

"Oh thank god" she mumbled feebly as she weakly lay her head on the mattress.

"'Mione?" Fred loudly whispered, a sleepy but frantic tone to his voice. "What the hell was that, are you alright? What's wrong?"

Hermione glanced up at him and registered the panic on his face. She has probably scared the life out of him, charging into his room like this in the middle of the night.

"I'm so sorry Fred I didn't mean to wake you up." She looked sheepishly away from him and bit her lip at the uncomfortable energy in the room.

"What happened? Hermione are you ok?" He reached out and took his hand in hers, rubbing his thumb gently along the back of her hand.

The kindness of the gesture broke her. She started to cry.

"I just had a bad dream. I saw it again. At the battle. When you disappeared and we thought you were dead. I felt so helpless and couldn't stop screaming. And I woke up and was so scared it was real. That you were really dead. I was so sure of it. That I had made it up that you lived, and that when I came up here your bed would be empty. I was just so scared and it was so awful and I just had to be sure you were alright. I'm sorry for waking you up.." she trailed off, choughing as more tears shook her body.

Fred laughed softly, kindly. Hermione was still kneeling on the floor with her head on his mattress, so he brushed the tears away from her eyes, and leaned down to wrap his arms around her as best he could.

"It's ok 'Mione. I'm safe, I'm here, it was just a dream, I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

This set her off again and even harder sobs racked her body. Fred looked at her sadly. He couldn't stand to see her like this.

"Come here," he said gently, sitting back up and giving her a pull under the arms. He pulled her up onto the bed so she was sitting next to him. He gently brushed the hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ears. Hermione blushed and looked down at her hands, one of which was still clasped in Fred's, as tears continued to stream down her face.

Fred pulled her into his chest, holding her tightly to him. He wasn't sure exactly what was going on. He and Hermione had never exactly been the closest. He couldn't deny that he had a soft spot for her. Okay a huge soft spot. But he never had any indication that she felt the same about him. And yet here she was sobbing her heart out over a dream of him being dead. He couldn't stop his brain from whirring and jumping to conclusions about what this all meant.

The most pressing matter however was the sobbing woman in his arms. He brushed the confusing thoughts to the side for the moment and concentrated on her. Her sobs were still causing her whole body to shake against him. He stroked her hair gently, and kissed the top of her head lightly. That was probably crossing a line, but he hoped she would forgive it under the circumstances. He heard her breathing catch for a moment, and braced himself for being shoved aside and told to bugger off.

Instead however he felt shock stun him when Hermione wrapped her arms around his torso, tucked her head into his neck and leaned into him, crying onto his shoulder now. His heart felt like it might burst at the seams. Both from the heartbreak of seeing Hermione Granger so sad, and from the secret elation of getting to hold her close.

He held her tightly, rocking back and forth slightly. He continued mumbling reassurances into her ear as he held her.

"Everything is ok Hermione, I'm right here, I've got you, everything is fine."

He held her for what could have been five minutes, or an hour, it was hard to say. Eventually the sobs subsided, and her breathing became more regular again.

"Thank you" she whispered quietly into Freds neck.

"Of course! I'm always here for you 'Mione, you know that right?"

She looked up at him through her puffy red eyes and gave a small smile. He put his hand to her cheek and ran his thumb along her cheekbone. Merlin, how could she still look this beautiful even after so many tears. He kissed her gently on the forehead. He saw her eyes close, and a small smile appear on her lips. Enough. This was enough. Even if she never returned his feelings, the memory of holding her like this, of bringing a smile back to her lips was more than enough.

He began to pull back, removing his arms from around her, assuming that now she had stoped crying she would want to return to her own room. He felt her tense as he started to pull away however. He looked down at her and saw her eyes had filled with tears again.

"Oh I'm sorry, I just thought.."

"Can you just hold me," Hermione whispered to him quietly in the darkness. "I don't think I can be alone right now."

A warm feeling spread throughout Fred's chest. She wanted to stay with him. She needed comfort and he was the one she wanted to do the comforting. He didn't know how to process this information. He felt nervous but relieved, and excited at the same time.

"Of course 'Mione," he whispered into her ear, wrapping his arms around her torso again and pulling her close. He lay back on the bed and pulled her down with him. She lay her head on his chest just below his neck, and he wrapped his arms protectively around her. She gave a relieved sigh and wrapped her arms tighter around him. He gently brushed his lips against her forehead, leaving his mouth just a hairs breath away from her as he whispered so quietly he couldn't be sure she heard him, "I'll hold you forever if you want me to".

Hermione drifted off the sleep in Fred's arms with a smile on her lips and feeling safer and calmer than she had in months.

When George snuck back into the house the next morning after spending the night at Angelina's, he had expected to see the same familiar scene he saw every day. His messy room with joke shop items strewn everywhere, and his twin asleep sprawled out in his bed across the room, blankets tossed everywhere from Fred's fitful sleep. On first glance everything seemed to be normal and he went to grab for a pair of pyjamas to put on so his mother wouldn't know he had been out all night. He came to a stunned stop however when he noticed a bunch of bushy brown hair on his twins bed. It took him a moment to fully register the scene. There was Hermione Granger, fast asleep in the arms of his brother. Fred had his arms protectively wrapped around her, and she was tucked into him with her head on his chest. He had absolutely no clue what to make of this situation. He thought of making a joke about it, maybe waking the whole house and yelling about how Fred and Hermione were shaking up together. The looks on everyone's faces would be priceless, especially Ron's. He hesitated though. He saw the way his twin looked at Hermione when he thought no one else was looking. He looked at her like she was the reason he got up in the morning, and like she was always the most interesting thing in the room. Fred had never actually voiced aloud his feelings, George doubted Fred had even admitted to himself the extent of his feelings, but George could tell. He knew this wasn't a laughing matter. So he grabbed his pjs and went to sneak back out into the hallway, and was about to close the door when he saw a raven haired boy with green eyes staring at him with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Morning Harry."

Harry squinted at him, clearly still half asleep.

"Listen have you seen Hermione? Ginny says she heard her run out of the room in the middle of the night crying. Ginny hadn't wanted to bother her because she knows Hermione has nightmares and usually liked to be left alone. But it's been hours and she isn't back and we're worried, have you seen her?" Harry looked up at him with such genuine concern for his best friend that George couldn't bring himself to make a joke out of the situation. He simply swung the door back open, and gestured at the bed.

Harry glared into the room, not quite sure what George was playing at. He was very worried about Hermione and this was not the time to have tricks played on him, and if he didn't find her soon so help him..

"Oh," he said stupidly when his eyes finally landed on Fred and Hermione wrapped up in each other on the bed.

He looked back at George, puzzled. "What's that about?"

"Haven't the foggiest Harry my boy, haven't the foggiest."

"About what?" The floorboard creaked as Ginny stepped down onto the landing behind Harry. George gestured through the door and pointed at the bed. Ginny's eyes scanned the room, and George saw them go wide as she noticed the scene on the bed. "Woah."

"Ya," agreed Harry, scratching his head awkwardly.

"Yep," George looked at them both and saw the same confused expression that he was sure still sat on his own face.

"Well I guess we'd better go down to breakfast and give them some privacy," Ginny whispered.

"Good plan little sis," George whispered back, as he pulled the door closed again, careful to close it quietly so as not to wake Fred and Hermione.

They gave each other one last confused look, before George shrugged and stared down the stairs to breakfast with Harry and Ginny following suit behind him.

"Probably best if we don't mention this to Ron," Ginny said to the others as she descended the staircase. The others nodded their heads in agreement.