Chapter 2

~Fred's POV~

"NURSE" I said as Hermione passed out in my arms, "Take her to a room, preferably one close by her mother." After the nurse took her away, she wouldn't let anyone follow her. Harry saw this and walked up to me.

"What happened?" he exclaimed when he saw them taking her away.

"She passed out in my arms so I got a nurse to take care of her." I explained. I should be with her I thought. I walked up to my big family and explained what just happened to Hermione.

"Guys…where is Ron?" I asked. I hadn't seen him once during this whole thing. Ginny cleared her throat and pointed over her shoulder to the waiting room. There I saw Ron spread out along three chairs sleeping. Stupid git. Why is he sleeping when Hermione needs her best friends the most? For the next hour or so, all any of us did was sit there and wait.

"Is someone here for Hermione Granger?" A witch said as she walked to up with a clipboard. At that moment all of us jumped up and walked to the lady. "Whoa, everybody calm down. Only family members permitted at the moment."

"Oh, but she's my fiancée." I said quickly thinking of an excuse to get us all in there. This witch obviously had no idea who Hermione was. "And as you can see they are all my family."

"And the raven haired men?" She said with a smug look on her face. Harry looked at her with stunned disbelief. He looked back at us and gave me a look that said should I tell her? I looked at him and nodded.

"Well ma'am if you must know," Harry said as he reached up towards his forehead and moved aside his hair to reveal his scar. The lady gasped and mumbled several apologies as well.

"He's with me" Harry said, pointing to Sirius while the witch led us to Hermione's room.

Hermione was lying there, still asleep. Merlin she is so cute when she is asleep. I automatically went up to her and grabbed her hand only to realize this might look suspicious to my family. But wait, you're supposed to be her fiancée, so it's all good. I looked up at my twin and saw that he was trying to hide a smile. Huh?

"Ok." the nurse said as everyone was quiet and settled in Hermione's room, "She's fine, she is just suffering from extreme stress. We gave her a dreamless sleep potion so she'll wake up in the morning."

"And how's her mother, Ella Granger?" Harry asked from his position next to me.

"Well she's a muggle, so we were surprised at first but we took care of her. She is going to be just fine, only some soreness and scaring." She explained. "Visiting hours are over in 15 minutes."

Ron then came in and took the seat opposite me. I couldn't explain this feeling in my stomach when Ron took her hand. I looked over at George for a second and saw that he had a worried look in his eyes. I also saw Harry in the corner of my eye.

Soon I heard Ginny call Ron over, I tried to ignore Ron as he begrudgingly left his spot to see what Ginny needed. Harry soon came in and filled the absence. He gave me a look that said 'what are you doing.'

~HG HG HG~

After we all got home I went straight up to my room and slammed the door. I couldn't figure out why I was upset. I soon realized that I didn't hear the satisfying SLAM of the door closing. I turned around to see George standing there, giving me the weirdest look that I knew all too well.

"You like He-"

"Don't say it," I warned him.

"How come you've never told me?" He exclaimed. I could tell he was actually hurt that I didn't tell him so I explained it all to him.

"I don't know when I started liking her, it just happened. Remember that time that we were getting ready to prank the Slytherins?" I started.

George snorted. "Be specific twin."

I groaned internally. "When Malfoy and his goons were on that squad for Umbridge" He nodded. "You had sent me to go get the swamp boxes. I was on my way back when Hermione spotted me in the hallway. I thought we were so busted. I knew better then to lie to her, so I just told what we were up to, knowing she couldn't stop us anyway." George laughed in agreement. "And instead of her yelling at me, she suggested we set it off right outside of Umbridge's office while she's inside so she can't get out instead of the Slytherins, and then walked away. I couldn't believe it." I looked over at George and he was sitting there with his mouth gaping open. "And soon all I wanted to do was be around her. All I could think about was her. Then at Harry's birthday party, I could barely breathe after I saw her."

"HA, I remember. I thought you were choking on the snacks mum gave us. Merlin, why didn't you tell me she helped us get away with that prank?" He asked.

"I forgot. We were planning stuff and I started imagining the look on Umbridge's face." George just sat there for a little while without saying anything. I walked to the other side of the room and changed into my pyjama bottoms. I crawled into my bed and turned to face the wall.

"You should tell her how you feel, because this is the perfect time, she needs someone right now. It should be you."

I laid there and thought about it for a few minutes.

"No, Ron likes-"

"Her yeah whatever… We all know our little brother's a prat. Mione needs someone who will HELP her not HURT her." George said turning his back to me. "Goodnight"

All of a sudden the door opened.

~Harry's POV ~

After we all arrived back at the Burrow Mr. Weasley was there, waiting for me. One look and I knew things were bad. He nodded his head towards the backyard and I followed him out there.

"How bad is it?" I asked, afraid of the answer. I know Voldemort did it. He only attacked them because she's close to me.

"Her father's dead as you know, but he was an amazing muggle. He managed to kill a Death Eater before he died. The kitchen is in ruins, there's bloo-"

"Stop. I don't want to hear anymore." I shuddered. I couldn't believe any of this happened to 'Mione. She is a good person, she doesn't deserve all this. "All is good at St. Mungo's, her mum is going to be fine, and Hermione saved her life. Hermione herself blacked out under all the stress though and they gave her a sleeping drought. She'll be up again in the morning."

"Good. The body has been taken care of and will be dealt with once they contact her mum. I'm going to go see how Molly's doing." And with that Mr. Weasley walked away. I stood outside looking at the moon for a few minutes. I was tried so I wandered back inside towards my room that I shared with Ron. Suddenly I remembered what happened at the hospital earlier today. I changed directions and headed straight for Fred and Georges room.

~Hermione's POV~

I got out of bed and stretched out. Today's the day I go back to the burrow before Hogwarts. I was so excited that I practically ran down the stairs to get some of my mum's best pancakes. When I got down there everything was in ruins. There was blood everywhere. I couldn't find mum anywhere so I tried for dad.

"Dad?" I asked into the kitchen softly.

"Yes honey?"

"What's going on? Why is there blood everywhere?" I was beginning to become frantic. That's when I knew this couldn't be real. He died this morning. So where is mum? I ran into my dad's arms and cried.

"Dad what's going on, you're gone…how are you here? Oh dad it was so horrible. Come back please. You can do it! I know you can. Please tell me everything that happened this morning was a dream." He rocked me back and forth in his arms while I cried and whispered soft words to me. Telling me everything was alright.

"Honey, you are correct," He smiled, "My beautiful smart little girl. Please don't be sad. I did what I had to do to protect my baby. Be safe and take care of your mother. I love you so so much. I want you to do one thing for me."

"Anything dad." He didn't say anything for a few minutes while I continued crying. It kept hitting me, hard. That he was gone, that he wasn't coming back. I would never hear his deep laugh, or read books with him. Never sing with him in the kitchen when we cooked, or see him and mum laugh and smile at each other when they thought I wasn't looking.

"Be happy."

I woke up to find myself in a hospital bed. Why did that have to be a dream…then I realized, maybe it wasn't a dream. I called for a nurse.

~HG HG HG~

~Fred's POV~

When I looked toward the door and saw Harry I knew something was up.

"Why if it isn't-"

"-little Harry Potter-"

"-visiting us-"

"-in our humble abode." I finished. Harry ignored the finishing-off-each-others-sentences. He was used to it by now.

"Fred. What was that earlier at the hospital?" He asked. I just stared at him with a look that said I have no idea what you are talking about.

"Spill the every-flavor beans guys. I'm almost positive something's up. Ginny practically had to force Ron to get out of there. The look in your eyes, I'm surprised Ron didn't notice" I wasn't sure what he was talking about at this point. "You looked like you were about to punch him. Now what was that all about?"

"Well, good mate, Fred here fa-" George started but was hit in the face with a pillow.

"George" I hissed at him.

"What? He knows something's up. Side's it wouldn't hurt to have Harry know." Right then I realized it WOULDN'T hurt to have Harry, her best friend, know how I feel about her.

"Fine." I mumbled. I could pretty much feel George's smile radiating off of his face.

"As I was saying, Fred here fancies Hermione." George said with a smile on his face. Harry looked shocked, and then anger replaced it.

"Is that some kind of joke?" He asked darkly. I felt my face pale a bit as I looked back at him.

"Of course it's not a joke! I'd never play that kind of joke on a bird." I said seriously. I looked over at Harry and his face showed no expression, going over what I just said, weighing what he knew about me versus what everyone thought about me. Harry let a breath out, running his fingers through his hair.

"Alright mate, but I'm pretty sure Ron likes her." Then Harry leaned toward me and whispered, "But to tell you the truth, Ron and Hermione could be good together. Ron can be, well you know, but you. You might be just what she needs."

I looked at George and we were both thinking the same thing. Harry's on my side.

~HG HG HG~

~Hermione's POV~

"Nurse" I said. I waited about a minute before a tall, brunette woman came out.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Is it alright if I have a visitor? It might be a bad time but I don't want to be by myself. Or with strangers." I added before she could suggest a nurse staying with me.

"Alright. Would you like me to call your fiancé?" My fiancé? Huh? I sat there for a minute and thought about whom that could possibly be. Maybe Harry or Ron made something up? I thought.

"Yes please, that would be fine." I told her. She walked towards the fireplace and stuck her head in after she threw in the floo powder and I heard her say, "The Burrow. Hermione Granger requests the attendance of her fiancé," then walked back to me.

"That is one good catch girl. Don't let him slip away." And with a wink of her eye, she walked away.

A few minutes later the door to my room opened and Fred walked in. Fred? Huh? I was very confused until he sat down next to me.

"Hello, love." I saw the grin on his face and then the wink.

"Fred, please explain what's going on. Fiancé? Why? Oh Merlin, I was drunk wasn't I? That's why I don't remember getting engaged! " I was frantic trying to figure out what happened.

"Relax Mione. We aren't really engaged. It was just something I thought up really quickly so the nurse would let us all in your room. She had said family members only. So I thought if you were engaged to a Weasley, then we could all get in. And of course, I picked the better looking twin." Fred explained to me with a smile on his face. Oh okay.

"Oh okay. Good thinking. I didn't mean to call you here. I had this dream and I asked the nurse if I could call someone over here and she asked if I wanted my fiancé, so I wanted to see who that was." I giggled at that part. This time I really looked at Fred. His red hair had grown longer and was a little bit above his chin. He'd grown a bit taller but not that much. Right now his hair was a bit smooshed on one side of his head. Had he been sleeping? He had a tiny hint of circles under his eyes. His hair is really cute that way. Wait what? I ignored that little thought and looked into his eyes. So blue. What had the nurse said? Don't let him slip away…huh.

"So what was this dream about?" Fred asked. His questioned had startled me out of my thinking.

"Oh uhm… well my dad came to me. We were in my kitchen. Everything was ruined and he came up to me. He told me how much he loves...loved me and told me to take care of mum. He told me to be happy." I finished. I didn't know what else to say. I felt tears rolling down my cheeks.

"Come here," Fred said. He had moved to sitting at the end of my bed. I moved over to him and he hugged me. Nothing else, didn't say a word, he just…held me. I hadn't realized that was all I needed at the moment.