A.N Ok well I haven't got a huge amount of interest in this story but I figured I would put another chapter up and sort out the pairing (Which I have decided is both Fred/Hermione and a Charlie/Hermione, because I like the mystery causes) and see if I got any interest.
Chapter 2: Finishing what she started
Hermione strode easily though the half dismantled camp, waving half-heartedly at the people that called greetings. Her time in New Zealand was almost up and she couldn't help but feel sad at the thought of leaving the place that had been her home for the last two months. They had finished their work on the Pandu enclosure yesterday and had spent their last day cleaning up the remaining tools and waving off the thanks of the local Wizarding community. She reached up to wipe the sweat from her brow, sighing at the humid weather New Zealand was prone to having. She had never expected the summer here to be so hot, expecting a country located at the bottom of the world to be quiet cold. She had been wrong.
Sighing gratefully, Hermione stepped into the cool air of her tent, kicking off her boots and smiling at the sudden coolness the swept over her. She had learnt early on to place cooling spells on every room of her tent, it saved her from suffering from dehydration and exhaustion. Gazing around, she noticed her tent had become quiet messy since she had last cleaned and she set to work packing everything into its correct places for when she dismantled it. It didn't take her long to shrink and pack all her clothes, books and other necessities into her two trunks and everything else into cupboards and draws. Everything in her trunks would come with her, while her tent would be packed up until she needed it again. Hopefully that wouldn't be too long.
Taking a last look around, Hermione smiled sadly. She would miss the camp and her work, but it was time to return home, after all she would only be there for a few weeks. A knot of worry settled in her, causing her to grimace slightly. Somehow, she just knew it would be far longer than a few weeks before she would sleep in this tent again. She had the odd feeling that something big was coming and the last few months had just been the calm before the storm. Shaking her head to rid herself of her thoughts she smiled and flicked her wand. Bother of her trunks shrunk and flew into the small, black leather bag in her hands. She snapped it shut, took a quick look around to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything, then turned and walked out, not looking back.
Outside she met a group of her closest friends, the all had small packs on their shoulders and their packed tents in one hand. She greeted them easily and nodded her thanks as Charlie and Dallas flicked their wands, packing up her tent with practised ease.
"It looks like we're off again." Rose murmured, a half smile on her lips.
"Don't worry, love." Noah sighed, letting his arm settle around her strong shoulders. "We will get sent to a new place and love it just as much as we do this place. You were getting restless anyway."
Dallas chuckled and everyone followed his lead, Hermione giggling with a hand over her mouth. Rose was well known for her restless nature and was often heard complaining when they stayed at a place longer than a month or two. She would move on, dragging Noah with her, probably for the rest of her life.
"Its' a shame." Spoke up the last woman of their group, her soft voice contradicting her appearance. "I quiet liked it here. It has a certain charm to it, don't you think?"
Hermione smiled softly at the short woman, nodding in agreement. Short and slim, Charisma was a woman not to be trifled with. She had once worked with dragons, like Charlie, and the many scars that covered her face and hands bore testament to her hard life. Hermione had a great respect for the woman, who was originally from Spain, she had quiet the reputation among Dragon tamers all around the world.
"I agree." Hermione mused. "It's got such a relaxed atmosphere here, it's amazingly calming."
"I'm going to come back one day." Charisma announced shortly. "I like it here, it's a shame they don't have more magical creatures to work with, otherwise I would stay and find a job here right now."
"Let me know when you plan to come back." She told the older woman. "I'd love to come with you."
"I'd like that." Charisma offered Hermione a genuine smile. "Well, my time is up, the port-key to Spain is about to leave."
There was a slight hesitation and then the woman stepped forward to wrap her arms around Hermione. "You take care, Chica, and make sure you write."
Hermione smiled and squeezed her gently. "I promise."
"I hope we work together again some time." She released Hermione and turned to Charlie instead, clapping the man on the back. "You take care of her, you understand, or I'll know why."
"Goodbye, Ris." Charlie chuckled.
The rest of the goodbyes were short and sweet, like they always were. People never wanted to get too emotional at the thought of never seeing each other again. Rose and Noah left soon after, walking away hand in hand. Only Noah had tears in his eyes and Hermione once again wondered how such a sweet natured man had ended up with the gruff and rugged woman that he loved. It just goes to show that you can never guess who will steal your heart. Coji and Conner, two South African wizards that had brought light-hearted humour and laughter to the group left soon after, quickly followed by Andrew, the blond, blue-eyed American who had followed Hermione around from day one.
That left, Hermione, Charlie and Dallas standing together, eyes on the slowly setting sun, faces weary and hearts heavy at the thought of once again moving on. Without talking, they all moved off to the port-key zone, eyes on the floor as they trudged slowly through the now dismantled camp. Few people were left, the last stragglers who would either Apperate to their homes around New Zealand, or would spend sometime in the country before they left to go back to their own. Still in silence, their little group huddled around the steel pipe that was their ticket home, wrapping their hands around it. The blue light glowed around their hands and a jerk behind her navel caused Hermione to close her eyes. This was it. They disappeared into the light, heads bowed low.
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Half an hour later saw Hermione and Charlie appearing in the growing daylight of England, right outside the bright windows of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. A smile tugged at the edge of Hermione's lips and she turned to offer Charlie a weary grin. Charlie just shrugged, eyes heavy and arms limp as he moved forward with his bags. Hermione hoisted her tent bag higher up onto her shoulder and followed Charlie through the door, her tired mind to overwhelmed to take in the new products that lined the store. They made their way through the crowds of people that swarmed the shop, making their way to the Red-head twin at the counter.
"Charlie! Hermione!" The twin in question had already spotted them and was making his way to their side, arms wide. He picked Hermione up and swung her around, knocking over a few surprised people. "Wow this place is so crowded there isn't room to swing a cat in here."
"Shut up Fred!" Hermione wacked him around the head, only slightly annoyed about his crack. She never did find out who told the twins about her unfortunate accident in her second year.
"I'm George." He replied automatically, realising her to hug Charlie instead.
"Sure you are." She replied, rolling her eyes. "Because George suddenly has a new freckle where he never had one before."
Charlie and Fred both gave her an odd look before laughing easily.
"Hey Fred." Charlie greeted easily, clapping his brother on the back. "Listen, I hate to be rude, but I don't suppose we could go upstairs and get settled, we're both pretty tired."
"Tired?" Fred questioned in confusion. "But it's only nine in the morning."
"Well it was nine at night where we've just come from." Hermione explained with a slight laugh.
"Oh!" Fred slapped a palm to his forehead. "Of course it was. Sure follow me, I'll show you to your rooms."
He bounded across the store easily, waving to his twin to let him know where he was going. Hermione and Charlie trudged after him, less enthusiastically, plodding up the stairs in his wake. They reached the top of the stairs and halted suddenly in surprise, gazing around the room. Neither of them had been up here before and Hermione was shocked by how big it was, and how tastefully decorated. A large kitchen was off to one side with free flowing access from there, to the lounge. Half the lounge was dedicated to dinning, with a large wooden table and chairs, well the other half held a comfortable looking entertainment area filled with couches, armchairs and day beds, all made of black leather.
The walls were a pale cream and the curtains were a deep red framing a window that looked out over the bustling street. The kitchen was clean, with sparkling metal appliances and granite benches. A short hallway lead to the rest of the house and Fred ushered them quickly down to the two rooms at the end, indicating his and Georges rooms, the bathroom, the toilet and the laundry as they passed them. The last two doors faced each other across the hallway and Fred quickly opened the one to the left with a flourish.
"This is your room, Charlie." He announced proudly, obviously extremely happy at the admiring looks they gave his house.
Charlie raised an eyebrow as he stepped into the room, taking in the furniture and decor. The room had a red and gold colour scheme that made Hermione grin and Charlie to chuckle. Deep golden walls mixed well with the wooden furniture and red accessories. The large double bed had a scarlet bedspread and the windows had red curtains to match the ones in the lounge. Red towels and face clothes sat on top of the dresser and the mirror had a gold frame with red lions painted around its edge.
"What do you think?" Fred asked into the silence.
"It's perfect." Charlie answered with a grin.
"Great." Fred clapped his hands and ushered Hermione from the room. "Well I'll leave you to unpack and rest, feel free to have a shower, the towels are on the dresser. Come on Hermione, I'll show you your room."
The door opposite Charlie's was thrown open and she was swept into the room by the excitable twin.
"Tada!" he proclaimed and Hermione eyebrows shot up in surprise.
She had expected a room much the same as Charlie's, but she had been completely wrong. The room had quiet obviously been designed for a female and Hermione found her mouth dropping open slightly. A huge bed stuck out from the middle of the wall, draped in delicate white cloth and covered in a golden bedspread. Silken pillows were piled at its head and in the window seat, which looked out over a field, sun streaming into the room. The walls were a pale gold to match the bed spread and were covered in swirling, white patterns. A dresser, with a large mirror rested near the bed and a bookcase sat opposite it. A wardrobe leaned against the opposite wall made from a light colour wood like the rest of the furniture.
"Ok." Hermione turned to Fred, arms crossed. "Who is she?"
"What?" Fred questioned in confusion.
"The woman who decorated, who is she? Was it Ginny? Or does one of you have something you're not telling me?"
Fred stared at her in surprise before he started to laugh. Hermione watched him, arms tight around her chest and eyes narrowed.
"Nothing gets past you huh?" Fred questioned, face split by a large grin. "It's Angelina, George has been dating her for 4 months now. She redecorated about a month ago."
"Angelina?" Hermione questioned in confusion. "Angelina Johnson? As in your ex-girlfriend?"
"Yea." Fred laughed again, pushing his hand through his hair. "It was a bit of a surprise I can tell you, but they're good together. Better than we ever were anyway. I'm happy for them."
Suddenly overcome with emotion, Hermione stood on tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. His arms tightened around her waist and he sighed easily into her shoulder.
"We missed you Hermione." He squeezed her and let go. "It's good to see you."
"It's good to see you to Fred." She looked out the window and smiled. "It's good to be home."
"Right." Fred clapped her on the butt, making her yelp in surprise and winked. "Go get some rest. We have dinner at the Burrow tonight so you're going to need the energy."
He was gone before she could scold him and she shook her head slightly, making her way further into the room. She had planned on unpacking, then having a shower but that all went out of her head as she lay down to test out the bed. It was soft and relaxing and before she knew it her eyes were closing and she drifted off to sleep.
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Hermione woke with a start, eyes wide in shock as she stared at the sunlight that streamed through the window. She had scrambled out of the large bed with her wand out and raised before she remembered where she was and why no one had woken her up for work. Smiling slightly at her own folly she glanced down at her watch, surprised to realise she had slept for almost five hours. She stretched easily, working out the kinks on her back and inhaling deeply. She wrinkled her nose at the smell she breathed in, she reeked of mud and sweat and she instantly regretted not having a shower before she had slept. Grabbing the white towels from her dresser she quickly made her way up the hall, heart set on getting clean.
The door to the bathroom was closed and she pressed her ear to the door carefully. Hearing no water running she assumed no-one was in there and opened the door and walked in. A cry of surprise met her ears and she gazed in shock at a completely naked Charlie Weasley. He snatched up his towel and she clapped her hands over her eyes.
"I'm so sorry!" She cried in horror. "I didn't realise anyone was in here."
She heard Charlie chuckle richly and lowered her hands slowly, happy to see a towel was no wrapped securely around his waist.
"Gee Hermione." He teased. "If you had wanted to see me naked all you had to do was ask."
She glared at him and rolled her eyes, which was a very impressive feat in Charlie's books. Placing a hand on her hip she gave him a scolding look.
"Charlie I can assure you it was never my intention to see you naked."
"Oh really?" Charlie answered, strutting across the room to her. "Then why are you blushing?"
"Because I just walked in on a naked Weasley!" She cried in exasperation, fighting to hide the blush that had indeed risen on her cheeks at the sight of his body.
"Was it even better looking than you imagined?" He asked cheekily.
"Oh get out!" She hit him in the shoulder before shoving him into the hall.
Slamming the door closed she tried to ignore his hearty laugh that followed him to his room. She looked the door with a quick flick of her wand, slightly paranoid about having one of the three boys walk in on her instead. She quickly striped her clothes off, in a rush to get clean, banishing the sight of Charlie's naked body from her mind. After all, he looked just like all the other men Hermione had seen. Her shower proceeded without misshape and she was back in her room and changing before her stomach started growling uncontrollably.
She dried her wet hair with a flick of her wand and pulled a sweeter over her head before making her way back out of the room. She had almost forgotten that it was the middle of winter here, not summer. As she made her way up the passage the smell of cooking reached her nose, making her stomach grumble again and she peaked her head into the room, gazing at the back of one of the Weasley twins as he stirred the contents of a pot. She made her way cautiously into the room, wondering if whatever was in the pot was going to explode or not. At her entrance the boy turned around and she smiled hesitantly as she realised it was Fred.
"Hey 'Mione." He greeted happily. "I thought you guys might be hungry so I was going to make you something to tide over until we get to mum's. You've slept most of the day."
She slipped gingerly into a seat at the table watching him cook. "Is whatever is in the pot going do something other than full me up or are you going to take pity on a weary traveller?"
He gave her a slightly offended look. "Come on Hermione. We know better than to prank you, brightest witch of your age and all that jazz. We would hate to give you a reason to want to get back at us. Besides." He shrugged suddenly looking embarrassed. "Your so skinny, didn't they feed you?"
She laughed at that, accepting his explanation and shrugging in answer to his question. "They feed us fine, hard work just burns through everything."
He nodded at that and reached into a cupboard to pull out some plates. After a few minutes of clinking plates and taping utensils he turned and slipped a plate in front of her. "It's not much but it should keep you going until we get to mums."
"Fred, this looks amazing."
She wasn't lying, upon the plate was a small but tasty looking meal, consisting of fried noodles, onions, chicken pieces, capsicum, carrot and a mildly spicy sauce. Fred shrugged easily, slipping into the seat next to her with a plate of his own.
"Its noting." He assured her easily, watching her take a hesitant bit.
"Mmm." She hummed. "Its delicious. When did you learn to cook?"
"One of us had to." Fred laughed. "And George was never very good at it, so I cook most meals, though Ange has made some change there."
"Where is Angelina?" Hermione asked, eating her food as politely as she could while still eating quickly.
"At work." Fred answered easily, starting to eat his own meal. "You'll see her tonight thought, she'll be there for dinner. Oh, I forgot, mum say's if you have a boyfriend or something then he's quiet welcome to come to dinner to, she would love to meet him."
Hermione paused in her eating to give Fred a surprised look. "I don't have a boyfriend, you know that."
Fred shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "Well you told everyone you didn't, but everyone kind of assumed you just didn't want to say anything, so Ron wouldn't get angry."
She blinked in confusion. "What?"
"Well, you know." Fred shrugged, eyeing his plate rather than her. "After your break up you just left, everyone assumed you would have met someone by now and just didn't tell anyone so you didn't rock the boat."
"I never even thought about it." She replied truthfully. "I had a few flings over the last two years I will admit, but nothing serious and defiantly nothing to write home about."
He raised an eyebrow and grinned. "A few flings?" he questioned shuffling towards me. "Do tell."
"Nothing big." She told him, blushing slightly. "And none of your business."
"Aww come on 'Mione." He nudged her gently with his elbow, his leg pressing against hers. "Give me all the juicy details."
She rolled her eyes, trying to ignore how close Fred had gotten to her. "There are no juicy details, Fred. Just normal stuff."
Fred stared down at her slightly pink face and cocked his head to the side. Something was different about her. Over the last few months since he had seen her Hermione had changed but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what it was. Unconsciously he lent closer, trying to find what was missing, or new in her features. Browns eyes widened in confusion as he moved closer.
"What are you looking at?" She questioned uncertainly.
He opened his mouth to answer only to jump back suddenly when Charlie thumped into the room, sniffing dramatically. Hermione have him a confused look before turning her attention to his brother, grinning as he sniffed out the food he was desperately craving.
"Any left for me?" he questioned hopefully, grinning at the two.
Fred was on his feet instantly with a bright smile, he ushered Charlie into the chair opposite Hermione and slipped a full plate in front of him. Charlie glanced at his brother, obviously suspicious at the eagerness with which he served him. He felt slightly better when both Hermione and Fred continued eating their own food and he bit happily into his meal.
BANG!
Hermione started at the loud explosion and jumped from her seat, wand held at the ready.
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And that's all for now, yea yea, cliff hanger but I'm not continuing until I get a bit of enthusiasm. I like to know people are actually reading otherwise there's no point in continuing.
Let me know what you think.