After the War – A Different Ending
- Switches between Hermione/Fred's perspective
Chapter 1 – Unknown Emotions
(First two paragraphs are a short introduction)
Things were slowly starting to get back to normal. Harry became more famous, if that was even possible, Hermione got back in contact with her parents. Ron was grieving the loss of his older brother Percy with his family. Ginny immediately started dating Harry again, Ron had asked Hermione to may him but she refused, for she was not ready for such a big step. They ended their relationship a few days after the war. George and Angelina were engaged while Bill and Fleur were expecting their first child. Fred and George's shop was a big success; they were soon opening a new one. Harry, Ron and Hermione just finished their training and graduated to become expert Aurors.
The Christmas holidays were coming up. Ginny was about to start her training to become an auror and Mrs Weasley wanted a big family reunion. Ron had invited Harry and Hermione, and they were looking forward to visiting the Weasley's. It's been a few years since Harry and Ginny started dating, and Harry had asked Hermione on her advice about tying the knot with Ginny. Ron didn't like the idea, but he knows Ginny deserves someone like Harry. Harry asked Hermione not to tell Ginny, even though those two are best friends and don't keep anything from each other.
"Okay, I swear I won't say anything to her," Hermione said to Harry.
"Yes thank you," Harry says. They were walking around Ron and Harry's apartment, waiting for Ron to get ready.
"Why don't you sit down Hermione, Ron only got out of bed 10 minutes ago," He suggests, leading the way to his large red couch, which sits on cream coloured carpet, facing a relatively large TV. Ron didn't know what it was till Harry explained it a few dozen times. If you look to the left when sitting on Harry's couch, you can see the lights from London City. The Apartment is on a street very close to an entrance to Diagon Ally.
They sat down and they could hear Ron bashing and crashing into things while in his bedroom. Harry shook his head. "Molly won't be surprised if we're late, he does this so often. By the way, you look lovely Hermione." Harry comments gesturing to her blue summer dress.
"Thank you Harry," she says, blushing, "and you don't look to bad yourself." She nodded towards his blue jeans and blue shirt.
"It's a causal outfit Hermione, hardly worth a compliment." They laugh as they sit down.
"So Harry, when exactly do you plan to ask Ginny the big question?"
"Ummm, well I was thinking about tonight actually," he stated, and Hermione looked happy but shocked
"Really?! When exactly tonight?"
"I was thinking before dinner. Do you think I should ask Ginny privately or in front of her whole family?"
"In front of the family."
"What are you going to do in front of the whole family?" Ron appears behind them, pulling a red shirt over his head. He stares at Harry waiting for an answer.
"Oh nothing, you ready to go then?"
"Yep, let's go," Ron says, Hermione grabs her wand. They link arms and she apparates them to the Burrow.
It's a clear night, the stars are out and a rather warm breeze is passing through. The Burrow is right in front of them, and Ron heads off first with Hermione behind him. Harry hasn't moved, he just stands still staring at the house. Hermione turns back to him, knowing what's going through his mind.
"Come on slow poke, don't tell me you're nervous." She links her arm through his.
"I'm just scared of the families' reaction," he says, slowly looking at Hermione.
"Harry James Potter scared? The boy who lived? You single hand idly saved the wizard world from the darkest sorcerer who ever lived and you've survived the killing curse twice! And yet you're scared about asking the girl you love to marry you?"
Harry laughs, "I know, it sounds stupid doesn't it." He holds Hermione's arm in his and starts walking towards the house. The lights are on and they could see people moving around inside. Hermione would have sworn she saw Mrs Weasley chasing the twins with a frying pan. Her and Harry just laughed. "I wonder what they've done this time," Harry laughs.
"Who would know?"
They walk through the door and it's quite chaotic. Mrs Weasley was threatening the twins with a frying pan, Ginny was yelling at Ron about something, and Arthur is trying to calm down his wife. The twins look like they are about to do something to Ron.
"Feels like home," Harry says laughing, he headed towards Mrs Weasley, dragging Hermione with him.
"Hello Harry," she says pulling him into a breath stopping hug. "It's so good to see you dear. It's been so long I hardly recognise you." She pulls away, places a hand to his cheek, and then kisses his forehead. "Good to see that you're in good health."
"It's good to see you too Mrs Weasley, I've missed you. Sorry we haven't been around sooner." Harry replies with a smile.
"Oh it's ok Harry, I'm just glad you're here." She replies. Harry then walks over to Ginny and she smothers him with a hug. Mrs Weasley then turns to Hermione.
"Oh goodness Hermione dear, haven't you grown into a lovely young woman," Mrs Weasley chokes; kissing her cheek and giving her a hug. The twins were about to run past but stopped when they saw Hermione. "Wow, who is this mum?" George asks.
"Goodness you boys, how could you not recognise her?" She cries, turning Hermione around to face the boys.
She wasn't actually surprised they didn't recognise her that well, she hasn't seen them in a while and she has changed in that time. She has grown rather taller, (about 5.8 ft.). Her hair is no longer long and bushy, she had it cut shorter and it sits nicely. It kind of looks like a pixy cut.
"And you're single Hermione? How is that possible?" Fred asks.
"Yeah, you look… what's the word?" George said, putting a finger to his head thinking. "Amazing and different but drop dead gorgeous." Fred states. "Exactly" George claims. Hermione blushes.
"Oh you boys are hopeless, leave the poor girl alone," Mrs Weasley says, pushing them towards the lounge room. Fred continues to stare at Hermione. She stares back and starts to blush bright red. 'Had the boys really thought she looked pretty?' Fred especially caught her attention. She didn't know why but he was the reason she was blushing.
"Oh sorry dear about those boys, they really worry me sometimes," Mrs Weasley said as she came back to the kitchen. "Would you mind giving me a hand Hermione?"
"Oh sure," She said, Mrs Weasley pulling her thoughts slowly back into reality. Why was she blushing when Fred spoke to her? He'd never made her do that before.
"Earth to Hermione?" Harry said, raising his voice as he walked towards her. He waved his hand in front of her face until she looked at him.
"Hmmm, yes?" she said, still looking like her thoughts were elsewhere.
"What's wrong with you? You have a strange look on your face," Harry says, lowering his voice "one that you don't normally show when you look at Fred Weasley."
"What?" She gasps, "You saw that?"
"Yes, I think I was the only one. I'm starting to worry about you Hermione, are you okay?"
"I don't know," she looks at Harry with worry in her eyes, "Why did I blush when Fred spoke to me? I never have before? What's wrong with me?"
"Nothing's wrong with you Hermione, you probably have a headache, or you're tired," Harry says, trying to comfort her, "don't worry about it, I'm sure once the night is over you'll forget it ever happened… okay?"
Hermione just nods. She heads towards the kitchen to help Mrs Weasley. Harry joins her, and watches Hermione gradually move back into her normal self, but with a lot on her mind.
(Fred's point of view)
"Were you sure that was Hermione?" Fred asks George.
"Yeah, I am. But it didn't look like her at first."
"She doesn't look like the little bookworm we remember does she?"
"No, not at all brother. What's wrong with you tonight? You're not acting like yourself," George asks, looking at Fred's head as if it had something written there. "Are you sick or something?"
"No I'm fine, why are you looking at me like that you lunatic," he laughs, pushing George away by the head.
"Just checking to see if you are Fred and not some weirdo off the street that's taken a polyjuice potion," he laughs. They head to the dining room as their mum announces that dinner is ready.
"Gee thanks for your caring thoughts," Fred exclaims with sarcasm, punching his twin in the arm and jumping away before he got a punch back.
"It's my pleasure darling brother," George says, with a bow.
"Why thank you darling brother," Fred says as he returns the bow. No one takes any notice, for the brother's act like that all of the time.
They take their seats next to each other; Harry and Hermione help Mrs Weasley with bringing out the dinner. Fred just stares at Hermione; Harry notices and gives him a stern look until he looks away.
What was wrong with him? He always saw Hermione and he never wanted to just look at her, let alone blush when she spoke to him. He thought it was just a headache, as soon as the food was placed in front of him his thoughts and worries disappeared.
(Hermione's point of view)
Once she finished bring all of the plates of food onto the dining room table, Hermione sat down between Harry and George. Mrs Weasley brought the last plate of food into the dining room and placed it onto the table. A few people had already started, but Harry soon stood up and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.
"Thank you. I have something I'd like to say," Harry started. He smiled at Ginny and Hermione. "Something I have wanted to say for a long time. Ginny can you come here please?"
Ginny blushes and it looks as though she's about to start crying with joy.
"Ginny Weasley," She stood in front of him as he got down on one knee. There were a few gasps around the table. "I have loved you for a long time now; you always make me smile when I see you. You support me with every decision I make, you don't make me feel like the famous Harry Potter. You make me feel like me, who I really am. What I'm asking is…" Harry takes her hand, and pulls out a ring from his pocket; Ginny has tears already falling from her eyes, "Ginny will you marry me?"
"Yes, yes, absolutely yes!" She says, Harry put the ring on her finger and stood up to hug her. Ginny, I think prefers to strangle him.
"You better treat her right Harry, you know what we're capable of if you break her heart don't you?" Fred and George say in unison, giving Harry a stern look.
"Yes I know guys, but you also should know that I wouldn't do anything to hurt Ginny," Harry replies, turning to Ginny and planting a kiss on her lips. She kisses back and everyone cheers.
Hermione has tears in her eyes, she hasn't see Harry so happy in a long time. Not after the war anyway.
"Hey are you okay Hermione?" George asks over the loud voice level, seeing the tears in Hermione's eyes.
"Yeah," Hermione says, wiping the excess tears from her face, "I just haven't seen Harry this happy in a really long time, that's all."
"Oh that's ok then, as long as they are tears of joy I don't mind," he says, patting her gently on the back.
"Thanks George," She chokes out,
It takes about 5 minutes before anyone has even slightly calmed down and starts eating again.
(After Dinner)
"Does anyone want tea and coffee?" shouts Mrs Weasley from the kitchen.
"Yes please," reply the twins, "and Hermione will have some too."
The twins, Arthur, Hermione, Charlie, Bill and Fleur are all sitting in the lounge room, everyone else asked for coffee. Harry and Ginny took a walk outside, holding hands when they left. Ron went up to his room, soon to be returning.
"Can someone come and give me a hand please?" Mrs Weasley called out.
"Yeah sure," Fred and Hermione said in unison. Hermione stood up, tried to hide a smile then pretended that Fred wasn't going to help too. It was just her mind playing tricks on her. It sounded like Fred went to sit back down, but George gave him a big shove and he nearly ran into Hermione. While she just ignored him and kept walking through to the kitchen.
"Oh thank you dears, since everyone wanted coffee I might need a hand taking them out," Mrs Weasley says.
"Oh it's no problem Mrs Weasley, I'm happy to help," Hermione said, as she started grabbing some cups out of the cupboard.
"Why are you in here Fred?" Mrs Weasley asks, "Did you lose a bet with George or something?"
Fred started gaping like a fish in shock, then realised Hermione was watching him and turned bright red.
"No, I'm here to help my darling mother with the coffee," Fred gasps, putting a hand to his chest acting as though his mother should have known better. Hermione and Molly burst out laughing.
"May you please enlighten me with what might be so funny?" Fred asks, quite causally. It only made Hermione laugh even harder.
"Fred dear, you never help out in the kitchen," Mrs Weasley exclaimed, "You must be sick."
"I'm not sick. If you don't want me to help I'm sure I can find something else to do for the remainder of the evening."
"Oh no please don't leave Fred, we won't be able to serve the coffee without you," Hermione wails, looking like she was going to cry with laughter.
"Yeah sure, sure. Stop mocking me, you're just jealous because you can't get all of this," gesturing to his whole body.
"Even if I did want it Fred, I would be able to hex you before you can blink," Hermione smiled at him while pouring the coffee into one of the cups. "But sadly to disappoint you, I don't want you because I have far better things to do… like serve coffee," grabbing the tray with cups of coffee, she winked at him and he returned a gorgeous smile as she walked past into the lounge room. 'How cheesy was that' she thought to herself, 'there was something wrong with her. Why was I just flirting with Fred Weasley? well he asked for it, so she was only doing him a favour by returning with some cheek of her own.
(Fred's point of view)
She is definitely not the little bookworm I remember, Hermione has grown into a beautiful and independant woman. She is no longer his little brothers' best friend; she is her own person and is a deadly one too.
He grabs the other tray of coffee's and carries it into the lounge room. Bill and Fleur grabbed theirs and moved into the other room to be alone. Arthur and Molly took theirs and went into the kitchen. That left the twins, Charlie and Hermione in the lounge room.
The twins started engaging in their own conversation, so Charlie came over and sat next to Hermione. The two started having a conversation when Ginny came back inside and asked to talk to Charlie. She winked at Hermione as she walked past, and Harry didn't exactly look innocent. Hermione knew he'd told Ginny about Fred so she was trying to get them socializing.
Hermione was slowly stirring her coffee and noticed that 2 sets of eyes were on her. She looked up without moving her head and saw the twins sitting on the floral couch just staring at her.
"Can I help you?" Hermione asks.
"Nah not really," George said causally.
"Then would you mind filling me in on what is so fascinating about the couch 'I'm' sitting on?"
"It's a very beautiful couch, don't judge. Why would we look at you when there is a fine piece of art in this room?" Fred answers, looking horrified that she wouldn't consider such a thing.
"Oh, my apologises," Hermione says, "I'll just move then, I don't want to block your view."
"No please stay!" Fred says all too quickly. "We don't want to leave, we love your quiet company," George says covering for his brother strange outburst.
"Calm down, I'm not going anywhere, not for you two anyway. This is my couch and I'm quite comfortable thank you," She says, lifting her legs onto the couch and drinking her coffee.
All of a sudden her coffee was lifted out of her hands and she was being servely tickled by the twins. They only stopped when she looked like she was no longer breathing normally and she was pleading with them to stop in between laughter.
"Aww come on Granger, who would have thought you'd be a professional auror," Fred says through his laughter, "If you enemy's had of known you were this ticklish you would have never won a fight."
"You watch yourselves Fred and George Weasley, for I am not going to let you get away with this," She said, getting up off the couch, readjusting her dress and her hair. Fred's eyes were on her and she went bright red.
"Stop staring at me you freak," She said, punching his arm.
"Oii, that was uncalled for," Fred said, rubbing his arm.
"So was tickling the living day lights out of me!" George gradually moves out of the room not wanting to be involved.
"What's your problem today Hermione?"
"Nothing, I'm perfectly fine, thank you very much," Hermione states, grabbing her coffee off the table from where George put it after he took it off her. Fred sits down on the couch opposite her again.
"What spell did you put on me? You can take it off now."
"What on earth are you talking about?" Hermione says, putting her coffee back onto the table.
"You snuck me a love potion or something, and I want you to fix it."
"I'm sorry but I have no idea what you are talking about."
"Yes you do!"
"Fred, I wouldn't lie about something like that."
"Then why do I all of a sudden have feelings for you Hermione?" Fred said moving next to her, "I see you all of the time, why is it all of a sudden now that you capture my attention?"
"How am I supposed to know?"
"Maybe Mrs Weasley poisoned you?" She said with a giggle.
"Well at least that would explain a lot," He grumbled.
"What, so you think the idea of being attracted to me is repulsive?"
"No, no of course not," He quickly said.
"Then why do you think there has to be a good excuse to be attracted to me?" She huffed.
"I don't need a reason, I just don't believe it because if I do then I'd be mad," He explained, "I mean, we're practically brother and sister we have lived together for that long."
"Not for the past 3 years though…"
"Yes, but maybe in that time, I came to my senses and can now see you for who you really are." Fred's trying to be serious, but Hermione has no intention to return it.
"What? Did you see me as a frog before or something?"
"Hermione..." he sighs.
"No? Maybe a talking fish?"
"I'm being serious Hermione."
"Well how do you know I didn't put a love potion in your coffee, I helped make it while her obsessing over yourself you know." Fred started tickling Hermione again, she couldn't control her laughter.
"Oh please dear twin, please save your flirtation ship for when I am nowhere in sight," George complains as he walks through the lounge to the kitchen
"Help me George!" Hermione shrieks, "Fred just started attacking me."
"Why would I do that Granger?"
"Because you owe me, you nearly killed me before," she squeals, Fred hasn't stopped tickling her.
"What do you want me to do?" He asks as if it wasn't obvious.
"Help!" She cries, "Get your idiotic brother off of me!"
"Why do I need to do that?"
"GEORGE!"
"Alright, alright. No need to kick up a fuss," He said casually. He walked over, put Fred in a headlock and dragged him off the couch.
"How dare you touch me you loony," Fred growls.
"You complete baboon, you dare to challenge me to a duel?"
"I do, for the fair ladies heart," Fred proclaims.
"You too are absolute morons," Hermione cries. Although the boys aren't taking any notice of her.
The twins begin a ridiculous battle, they dance around in circles then finally lunge at each other. They look like a pair of apes battling over some food. Hermione just decided to sit down on the chair really further away from the twins wrestling match.
"Oh Merlins beard, what is going on in here?" Mrs Weasley shouts, she's come back from the kitchen with a tea towel in her hand. The boys instantly move apart and stand there like little two year olds being caught doing something they shouldn't.
"Sorry mum, I was just protecting Hermione, she begged for my help," George claims.
"Protecting Hermione from what?"
"Fred, he was tickling her and she had requested my help."
"Fredrick Weasley! If I find you harassing our Hermione again, you will not be getting away with it," Mrs Weasley shouts at him, she turns to Hermione, "Are you alright dear?"
"Yes I'm fine Mrs Weasley," she replies, smiling at Fred once Molly had turned around. George started laughing wildly when he saw Hermione's face and Molly just ignored him.
"Don't let my brothers get you Hermione," Ron says, as they walk outside to meet Harry.
"Why, what are they going to do?" Hermione asks.
"They're pranksters, and they always will be. They don't have long lasting relationships." He says, looks at her face. "I just don't want to see you get hurt Hermione."
"Why would I get hurt? Who said I even liked the twins?" She said a little too quickly.
"Okay, just be careful"
Harry, Ron and Hermione apparated back to the boys' apartment. Ron immediately went to bed, Hermione and Harry stayed in the lounge room.
"Don't worry about Ron, he just looked into things a little too much," Harry said, he sat down next to Hermione.
"I'm not worrying, I was just surprised he could pick anything up. I was trying to act as normal as possible," She whispers in case Ron could hear.
"Hermione, it's okay to have unknown feelings for someone." Harry says, trying to comfort Hermione. He pulls her closer so she rests her head on his shoulder. "It's part of being human Hermione, I'm here if you ever need someone to talk to Hermione." She moved closer to him so she was snuggled right up against his side. They were like brother and sister and no one would ever understand their deep friendship.
"Thank you Harry, I don't know what I would do without you," she whispers.
"I don't know what I would do without you either Hermione." She soon fell asleep, Harry didn't move and he ended up falling
asleep five minutes later.
This is my first posted fanfiction story, so any reviews will be very appreciated.
Please do let me know if you want me to post more. If not, I'll start writing a different one
Thank you and enjoy