Love & Misery
Prologue
Huff. Huff. Huff.
The sound of bare feet echoed off the brick walls of Diagon Alley as the figure darted gracefully fast across the paved streets. It was about midday but the walls of the buildings of the alley were blocking out most of the light; here and there slivers of light made it slightly easier to see where the figure was going.
A slim, pale hand smacked down as the girl stopped to catch her breath. One hand on the wall, the other on a bruised bare knee, the sound of her labored breathing filled the alley.
'I can't keep this up'she thought tiredly. She'd been running for what felt like hours and her energy was draining. Her throat and feet ached and, as she lifted a hand from her knee to her head, she noticed just how bad her head was hurting; like someone was pounding away at it with a sledgehammer. Slowly, she turned and slid down the wall as gently as she could. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes while her breathing stabilized. As she sat there in the alley she tried to recall what had happened.
The last twenty-four hours were blurry and, at best, vague in her memory. She remembered a cell and she remembered being very cold; opening her eyes, she glanced down at her wrists and ankles where the shackles had left indentations in her skin. Rubbing them gently, she sighed and closed her eyes again. Suddenly, with a soft pop but audible to her ears, someone apparated near her. She scrambled painfully to her feet and turned on her heel; taking off at a dead run for the end of the alley. She dodged trash cans and stray boxes alike in her race to freedom. 'Very muggle like' were her vague thoughts as she glanced behind her quickly; the three shadowy figures were gaining fast. Huffing and trying not to dwell on what would happen if they caught her, she continued racing. She knew she didn't have to see their faces to know who they were; the fight, the struggle to get free, all of it came rushing back like a freight train slamming into her. She gasped out loud and nearly tripped when she lost concentration.
She knew she stood no chance if they caught her; she had no wand now (sometime during the struggle she remembered getting a hold of one of her captors' wands but she dropped it after she managed to apparate out). As she got closer to the end of the alley, she noticed the light was near blinding now. With a last surge of strength, she pushed herself forward and literally threw herself out of the alley just as a pair of hands reached out. As she did she crashed head first into a solid warm wall which she dimly realized was a body as her and the figure went crashing to the ground in a mix of tangled limbs.
"OOF!" came from underneath her but she barely registered it as she sat up quickly, too quickly as a wave of dizziness washed over her, and she managed to twist her head to look in the alley. They were gone; the relief that flowed through her was palpable as she sighed and sagged back down, her shoulders slumping pitifully. And suddenly as if a light had pinged on above her head she realized she was straddling what was very obviously a male person (his anatomy was pressing into her inner thigh just close enough to make her blush had she been fully aware of her position).
She slowly sat up, so as to not make herself dizzy again, and then she had to blink a few times as she gazed down at the figure beneath her. Looking rather stupidly back up at her, with ginger hair and a light spatter of freckles across his face, was none other than one of the infamous jokester Weasley brothers: Fred Weasley. She lifted up a little more so her back was straight and she glanced around before looking back down; then she did a double take. Just off to the side, also staring rather stupidly at her, was his identical twin: George Weasley.
For a few moments no one moved or spoke and she just stared blankly at the two of them. Then her brain finally woke up and she scrambled hastily back; far enough she very nearly ended back up in the alley. She looked around and noticed they were in one of the side streets of Diagon Alley and then she looked down at her scrapped hands and knees. George, blinking in shock, shook himself and leaned down to help his brother up. Then they both stared at the petite figure trembling on the ground in front of them. They couldn't believe their eyes….
"Hermione?!" they whispered together.
For a moment she just sat there unresponsive with her head down and her tangled hair hiding her face; it didn't help either that she was partially in the shadows. Then finally she looked up and tears were streaming down her face. "Fred… George…" her voice came out a hoarse whisper; her throat was raw from screaming and barely audible. But they heard it and it kicked their brains into high gear.
"MERLIN Granger! What the bloody hell happened to you?!" the twins knelt by her and fretted; although it wasn't really a surprise. She'd been missing for about 5 months and everyone thought she was dead. So imagine their complete and utter surprise when she came barreling out of the alley to their right and crashed right into poor old Fred. Her normally slightly bushy hair was tangled and in complete disarray. She was as pale as death on a corpse and skinny as a stick; there were so many cuts and bruises they didn't know if there was single part of her skin that was left unbruised. Her large chocolate doe brown eyes, with flecks of light brown around the iris, looked sunken into her skull.
They leaned down to help her up and she clutched desperately to their arms as her knees shook and nearly gave out on her. Her arms were no better than her legs; open wounds were trickling blood. Not horrible but they knew they needed to get her patched up and into something warm. As this ran through their thoughts, Fred finally had the presence of mind to pay attention to her attire. A torn and filthy rag nearly two sizes to small for her barely covered her… assets. George leaned forward to gently grip her arm to inspect the wounds; as he did so, Hermione leaned heavily on Freds arm.
"These'll need to be taken care of right away. Don't want an infection now do we?" George muttered. Fred suddenly noticed that the weight against his arm was increasing (he'd been watching George) and he glanced down to see her eyes were shut; she was falling asleep. As gently as possible he bent his knees and scooped her legs up with his other arm; her head now rested on his shoulder and she was dozing lightly. It seemed like it was the first time she'd actually gotten sleep she went missing.
"Gred we need to get her inside" George murmured to his brother. Fred nodded and as they hurried back to their store, Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes, he took the time to pay more attention to her face and neck. There was dried blood around what looked like to be sharp puncture wounds in the side of her neck; evenly spaced, they looked like someone had taken a nice big chomp out of her shoulder and neck. He grimaced and this didn't go unnoticed by George; he'd look at her more when they got into their apartment above the store. A few minutes later they stood outside their store and, waving his wand quickly, George removed the wards and opened the store. As they stepped into the store lights burst into life and the whole store came alive.
They strode quickly through the store to the winding staircase in the middle behind the registers and as they hurried up the metal steps George flicked his wrist, wand in hand, and the store shut down just as they burst through the door at the top. Behind this door was another set of steps; wood, this time, not metal. They clambered up the steps and down the short hallway that led to the apartment above the store. Pausing for only a moment, George jimmied the door open with his wand and they stepped over the threshold; George didn't pause to wait for his brother as he strode through the apartment turning on all the lights.
The apartment wasn't what someone would think when they thought of the Weasley Twins. It was a small, but cozy, two bedroom one bathroom apartment with living room and kitchen. Fred strode straight to the couch on the other side of the living room; the walls were a lovely shade of red, auburn it looked like, and the floor was a soft beige carpet. The couch was black leather and there was a matching chair; fancy for the twins but the set was on sale and they decided to splurge a little. Bending at the knees, Fred leaned over and laid Hermione down and gently pulled his arms out from under her.
Standing straight, he stood for a few minutes just gazing down at the bruised girl on his couch. Then, with yet another flick of his wrist, he waved his wand and out of the closet flew a soft feather pillow and a quilted blanket their mum had made for them a few Christmases ago. Maneuvering carefully, he got the pillow under her head and the blanket wrapped around her; they'd deal with the rags and bruises later. Right now she just needed rest.
There was a fireplace just off to the side of the couch with a jug to the side that Fred knew held floo-powder. Alongside the fireplace was a full wall, floor to ceiling, of bookshelves; most on magical remedies and potion ingredients. He turned from the living room and, with another flick of his wrist, he dimmed the lights so as to not blind the poor witch should she wake up any time soon; although he really doubted she would. He went into the kitchen and discovered his twin sitting at the small round table with an elbow on the table and his head in his palm. He looked up as Fred sat down across from him and leaned his elbows on the table. The two sat in silence for what felt like hours before either of them spoke.
"We should floo mum… she'll go absolutely bonkers if she finds we found Hermione and didn't tell her" George sighed. Fred agreed; however… there was a chance that the Ministry Of Magic would want to question Hermione about where she'd been and what she'd been through. He didn't think she was strong enough, or aware enough, to deal with the kind of stress the…. Interview… would put her through.
"Forge… If we tell mum obviously dad will find out and you know he's obligated to report to the Minister of anything involving the Dark Lord and his…. Minions… I don't think its safe we tell anyone about her just yet" Fred knew his brother. He knew George would agree with him. However there were also other factors to take into consideration here: Hermione was hurt. Severely hurt. She'd need immediate medical attention and her magically appearing wouldn't skip the Ministries notice. Harry would also be positively livid with Fred and George for not telling them about his best friend.
Fred sighed. "Bugger… What a mess…" he muttered. George was a little to quiet for his liking. He glanced at his twin and saw, without any surprise, the thoughtful expression on his face. "Well Gred… It couldn't hurt anything to keep Granger our little secret for just a bit longer… She's not up to anything like what the gits in the Ministry would put her up to… Mum will understand and as for Ron well no one really knows where the prat is… Harry is so wrapped up with Ginny that even if we told him he'd just as soon forget… Well maybe not… But in any case…" George sighed and smiled just a little bit.
"Yes, brother mine, I understand COMPLETELY" Fred grinned. But then something occurred to him and he frowned. "We can't just leave her in that condition so… what the bugger do we do?" George and Fred stared at each other for a few moments before simultaneously sighing as they realized what they'd have to do.
They'd have to heal Granger themselves.