Year 3 Part 2
Harry and Ron still didn't speak to Hermione, and Hermione dealt with this by burying herself in books. Every time Fred saw her, she had about half a dozen books in her arms and she was always on her own. When she was down for meals, which was rare, Hermione sat with Fred and George, or Ginny. But most of the time she was in the library.
One night, Fred and George were in the library researching something for Defence Against the Dark Arts, when they came across Hermione. Her head was resting on the table, with books upon books surrounding her. She was fast asleep. Hermione looked pale and very skinny with shadows underneath her eyes, and she was shaking slightly. George looked at Fred, and said,
"Do you want me to meet you upstairs?" Fred looked at him and smiled slightly.
"Yeah, I'll just sort her out" George nodded and left. Fred took off his cloak and put it around Hermione's shoulders. She stirred slightly, moaning something. Fred moved some books and sat in the chair next to Hermione's, placing his head in his crossed arms on the table and looked at her. As he watched her sleeping he realised how lonely she looked. She clearly wasn't eating either because her wrists were so thin. Hermione stirred again and her eyes opened. She looked into Fred's eyes, her chocolate orbs dull.
"Hey sleepy head" Fred smiled. Hermione smiled back, her face lighting up her a split second. She yawned and sat up.
"I must have drafted off" Hermione said, blushing as Fred watched her.
"When did you last eat?"He asked. Hermione frowned and looked at him.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because if you turned sideward I wouldn't be able to see you" Fred replied. Hermione laughed.
"That's ridiculous" she told him, but she thought back.
"I don't know" she admitted, looking ashamed, "I guess I just forgot to eat" she stood up and smiled as she realised Fred's cloak was around her. She put her arms through the sleeves and pulled it close around her.
"Thanks" she smiled, and started to gather her books together. Fred helped her.
"You look cute in it" he commented. Hermione replied by blushing deeply. They walked out of the library and Fred lead Hermione away from the common room and towards the Great Hall. It was nearly midnight and the halls were empty.
"Where are we going?" Hermione asked. Fred grinned, grabbing her hand and pulling her down the stairs and into the Great Hall. Hermione tried not to smile as Fred smiled down at her. He dragged her along the tables and sat her down right at the end of the Gryffindor table. Hermione laughed as they ran across the stone floor.
"Now seat here and be quiet" Fred smiled, "I'll be back in about ten minutes" Hermione looked surprised and slightly worried.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"To get you some dinner" he winked back. Hermione's face relaxed and she laughed quietly as Fred left. The lack of complaints led Fred to believe that Hermione did just forget to eat and she wasn't starving herself on purpose.
Ten minutes later and, as promised, Fred returned to the Great Hall. He found Hermione hidden behind a book.
"Put down the book, Granger" Fred told her, sitting next to her, "You have to take a break at some point" Hermione did as she was told and turned to Fred. She really did look tried, and slightly lost. Her eyes seemed to have no life to them and her skin was very pale, with her hair hanging loosely over her face. As Hermione sat there, looking at Fred with curious eyes, Fred reached over and swept a strand of her hair back. Hermione's cheeks brightened as she blushed and looked down at her eyes, a small smile playing on her lips.
"I got some sandwiches" Fred broke the silence. He emptied the bag he had been carrying onto the table. Along with chicken sandwiches there was a flask of juice, crisps, chocolate éclairs and sausage rolls.
"Where did you get this all from?" Hermione asked, impressed with the spread. Fred handed her a chicken sandwich and winked.
"That would be telling" Fred smiled. They ate in mostly silence, with Fred watching Hermione. He really wanted to take her in his arms and tell her that everything would be ok and that he would protect her. He wanted to make Hermione feel safe and loved. He wanted to kiss her so badly.
"The sky is pretty tonight" Hermione observed, looking up at the night sky. Fred looked up as well and noticed the thousands of tiny sparkling stars scattered across the ceiling. They shone against the velvet sky and there was a crescent moon outshining all of them. It was very pretty and it made Fred feel very small. He looked back down at Hermione who smiled at him, her eyes lighting up. Fred felt a chill go down his back at the sight and his stomach did a back flip. He had to stop himself from bending down and kissing her as he smiled back.
"We better hurry up" Hermione said, as she picked up an éclair, "It's way past our curfew and we're not really hidden well" Fred nodded as he stuffed his mouth with crisps. He stood up and put the rest of the food into his back pack, and started to pick up Hermione's books. They left the hall together, quietly so not to get caught.
However, they were stopped by Professor Lupin half way back to the Common room.
"Why aren't you two in bed?" he asked. Hermione looked down at her feet.
"Hermione had missed dinner so we went to get some food Sir" Fred explained.
"Stealing food as well?" Lupin asked, "You two are very lucky I'm not Professor Snape" Fred laughed and even Hermione smiled. Lupin smiled back at her.
"It's nice to see you happy Hermione" he said, "You work too hard, don't let it get in the way of your health" Hermione nodded,
"Yes Sir" she replied.
"Now both of you get back to the common room before someone else catches you" Lupin told them. They nodded and rushed off, laughing. They got back to an empty common room and sat near the fire, after Hermione piled all of her books on the floor.
"Thanks Fred" Hermione smiled, leaning against him. Fred put his arm around Hermione's shoulder and rested his chin on her head, breathing in her sweet smell of books, ink and her strawberry shampoo.
"For what, M'Lady?" he asked. Hermione heisted before answering,
"Caring" Fred chuckled into Hermione's hair.
"You're welcome, you're worth caring over"
"You think?" Hermione mumbled. Fred nodded, squeezing her shoulder softly.
"You're so smart, and you care so much, you're a fantastic person and so much fun to be around" Hermione was silent for a while, her hand clutching her wrist tightly.
"I better go to bed" Hermione said, standing up. Straight away Fred felt like an empty space had appeared beside him and he felt disappointed and slightly empty himself. Hermione looked down at him, fighting back a yawn.
"Goodnight" she mumbled, after she had picked up her books.
"Nighty night" Fred winked at her, and watched her leave. Half way up the stairs, Hermione turned back round.
"Your cloak" she said, trying to put the books down so she could take the cloak off.
"Keep it for now" Fred smiled. Hermione smiled back, tiredly.
"You do look so adorable in it" Fred told her. Hermione blushed again.
"Thanks" she said, before disappearing to bed. Fred sighed before too hitting the sack.
From than on Fred, with the help of George, always made sure that Hermione had meals. They also tried to get Harry and Ron to her again, but every time they succeeded something else would happen, like Scabbers dying.
Who would have guessed that Ron loved that rat that much?
So Fred made sure that Hermione wasn't left on her own. She was in the library by the Twins, who used the excuse that they were studying for their OWLs. In fact they were doing research for their prank products the majority of the time, but they weren't about to tell Hermione that.
Fred could see the stress that Hermione was under. She looked like she was carrying the whole world on her small shoulders. More then once Fred had to wake her up after she had collapsed from exhaustion.
"Why are you so kind to me?" Hermione asked one day. Fred and George looked up from their work, into her sad brown eyes.
"Because we love you" George grinned. Hermione looked down into her lap.
"I know you don't mean it seriously but no one has ever said that to me before" she replied, surprising the Twins.
"Not even your parents?" Fred asked. Hermione shook her head and then her eyes widened. She looked back up at them, panic on her face.
"They do love me though!" she told them, "They just don't say that kind of stuff"
"We do love you though" George smiled at her, "You're like a sister! We would do the same for Ginny" Hermione smiled at them.
"Well, Ginny is an extremely lucky girl" she told them. Fred clutched his fist under the table though. It was the sister and brother thing again. But this time Fred knew he didn't want to be like a brother to Hermione. He didn't want that kind of relationship with her. Because now he knew that he didn't just love Hermione, he was in love with her.
May came and the 'Golden Trio' made up. Fred knew that this was great news and he felt so happy to see Hermione's smiley face again. However, the closeness that he and Hermione had built up didn't seem to mean anything anymore.
Fred went back to being Ron's older brother and that was that. He tried not to think about it as OWLs sneak up on them, but he did miss her.
On the way back from Hogwarts, Fred was staring out of the window of the Hogwarts Express. He was worrying yet again about Hermione and what may happen to her during the summer holidays. George, Lee, Alicia, Angela and Oliver were talking about the Quidditch World Cup that was happening during the summer, but Fred was paying little attention.
A small voice did catch his attention though.
"Fred?" Fred looked up and saw Hermione standing at the door of the compartment. She looked slightly nervous. Fred smiled at her, warmly. This seemed to calm her slightly.
"Can I speak to you for a moment?" she asked, blushing.
"Sure" he replied, standing up. He was very much aware of everyone's eyes on him and Hermione. Fred walked out of the compartment and shut the door behind him, before facing Hermione.
"Are you ok?" Fred asked as he realised Hermione was shaking slightly. Hermione nodded and smiled softly.
"I just wanted to say thank you for looking after me this year" she told him. Fred smiled down at her, and then gave her a hug.
"You're welcome M'Lady" Hermione giggled, hugging him back tightly.
"Write to me please" she asked, looking up at him. Fred gave her another smiled and kissed her on the forehead
"Of course"
I decided to split this year into two parts because it was so long. I will be doing this from now on because the years are getting increasingly longer. Hope you like :)