Hermione woke up on the sofa alone. She was wrapped up warmly in her usual blanket, she sat up and looked around for any sign of Bill in the room, but he was nowhere to be seen. Her heart started to race, she couldn t believe it. He d gone? After what had happened she thought that he d at least stick around for morning before bolting off somewhere else. At least tell her that he didn t want to see her again, but then she saw it and her heart slowly calmed down.
Just gone to work beautiful, didn t want to wake you, should be back in time for the meal.
-Bill. Hermione couldn t think. Meal? What meal was she supposed to be getting ready for? She sat there for a good ten minutes trying to think, but she couldn t. Nothing seemed to come to mind. She felt slightly guilty for not remembering, but under the circumstances she gave herself a little bit of leeway and couldn t really blame herself, I mean after everything she had gone through she s bound to forget little things like a meal, but still, she knew that she would have to get dressed up and ready and pretend she knew what was going on.
She moved up from the sofa with a smile on her face. She was overjoyed about last night, not just because of what they did but because she finally felt the closure with Bill that she needed. She saw the love in his eyes that she really longed for.
She went into the bathroom and got in the shower. She used her new coconut shampoo that she had bought just a few days ago but not had the chance to use, but she could see that it had already been opened. Giggling to herself she realized that Bill had obviously decided that they would be sharing it. She cleaned herself up and got out of the shower and looked into the mirror.
She gave herself a satisfied look, wrapped herself up in a towel and left for her bedroom.
Well I didn t expect to be seeing you like this Hermione. The girl giggled as Hermione entered the room. Hermione was startled at first and jumped a little bit when she heard the girl s voice, but was instantly relieved to find that it was Ginny.
Ginny. What are you doing here? You scared me. The ginger girl laughed and looked at Hermione in a rather patronizing way.
You told me to come so we could get ready together remember? Hermione tried to think back at this conversation but again, she just couldn t remember. It seemed she d done so much planning as she usually did, but couldn t for the life of her remember what all the planning was for.
I thought you d at least be dressed by now though. The meal being only an hour away and everybody s going to be there for Charlie s announcement. So that s what it is. Ginny looked at Hermione and realized she had completely forgotten the plans for the day.
You have completely forgotten haven t you Hermione? Hermione blushed; she got that guilty feeling again.
Sorry Ginny, I ve had a lot going on with your brother and all and things have just been well.. Say no more. Ginny smiled at her I know how you feel; I ve been a bit stressed out too lately. I ll fill you in as we get you ready. Ginny smiled and proceeded to inform Hermione of what was going on for the day.
Basically Charlie invited us all around to the Burrow for his Special announcement that we both know is that he s going to propose to Hope, because remember, we found that ring in his room when we were looking for his book? Ginny continued on and then Hermione remembered.
My sister can t go a day without drinking. Bill s words flooded her mind. Bill had told her the night before that Ginny was going through a really hard time, but by the looks of the girl in front of her at the moment she was completely fine.
Hermione knew that she would have to look out for Ginny for the rest of the night. She knew she was the kind of girl who wouldn t show her emotions easily, she never had been. Hermione just sat back, she was annoyed with herself for not realizing the pain that her best friend, through so many years was in and the fact that she didn t know what was wrong with her was even harder. She didn t know if she should ask, she didn t even know if she should know, but of course she did and even if Bill didn t tell her anything, she would have figured it out anyways; she probably would have noticed it already if it wasn t for all the selfish moping around that she had been doing.
And you know Charlie. Things always have to be formal, dress-up and all. Ginny. Hermione stopped Ginny from talking.
She was currently stood behind Hermione doing her hair. They were communicating via the mirror in front of them to see each other.
Ginny are you okay? Hermione asked, her tone had turned from light hearted girly chat to a little bit more serious.
Ginny just smiled at her best friend.
Yeah of course I m fine, why? No Ginny, are you okay? Ginny moved her hands from playing with Hermione s hair and rested them on her shoulder, looking into Hermione s eyes using the mirror.
I m getting by. Hermione raised her hand that was before on her lap and held one of Ginny s, not moving her eyes from hers and squeezed and simply said Good and smiled.
Hermione knew that trying to have a full blown conversation about it would get her nowhere, but she knew that she had to make it known that she was there for her, even if she didn t know what she was there for her for.
Ginny smiled at Hermione and reverted back to the girl talk after two seconds of intense staring in the mirror.
So now your hair s done, what are you planning on wearing? Hermione looked into the mirror, she hadn t even realized that her hair had been finished, it was immaculate, she was so used to her hair being untamed that this look completely floored her.
It was pinned up in a bun and had blue gems all circled around it with lose curls framing her face. She felt beautiful.
Ginny, it looks fantastic, I- Enough about the hair, dress now! Ginny demanded Hermione and pointed to her wardrobe.
I think it s obvious that you re going to be wearing a blue dress to complement the gems in your hair, but which one? Oh look at you miss fashion. I happen to know rather well which dress I shall be wearing. Hermione left the wardrobe with a dress in her hand and showed it to Ginny.
Really? Ginny was looking less than impressed with Hermione s decision.
It looks better on I promise. Hermione twirled around three times and the dress appeared on her. She had learnt all kind of different spells while she had been with Bill. His knowledge was endless when it came to handy little tricks like this.
Impressive. Ginny looked at Hermione and nodded at her.
I told you it looked better on. Ginny looked at the dress. It was a deep midnight blue with simple straps, it was body hugging so it showed off her curves rather well, but not too much, so that it looked like she was going out on a date. It was knee length and rather beautiful. She kept it formal as she realized that she would be with the Weasley family and everybody else that had been invited.
Looks like we just wait until it starts then? Just as they were talking an owl came crashing through the window at a menacing speed.
Errol you stupid bird. Ginny took a rather mad tone of voice at the owl who was now hopping around on the floor, completely oblivious to loud notice it had just made.
Calm down Ginny, no harm done. Ginny caught the owl and took the bit of parchment that was on its leg.
Sis, go get Hermione and bring her to the meal, everybody s here waiting for you slow-pokes and tell Hermione that Bill said he d be meeting her here. He s got to stay back at work for a bit to help a newbie with some namby pamby Oh I m a big bad curse breaker so I m going to be late for my brothers big meal crap -Charlie. Ginny just looked at Hermione who had also read the letter and couldn t help but smirk. She tried to stop herself from giggling and would have succeeded as well if it wasn t for Hermione s mutter of Cheeky little shit under her breath.
Calm down Hermione, no harm done. Ginny just winked at Hermione and giggled.
Shall we go? We shall. The girls both grabbed each other s hands and apparated to the burrow where the meal was being held. The both of them were stood outside, the sun was shining. It was just about 4 O clock and by the sound emitting from inside the Burrow there were lots of people around and everybody was having a rather present sound.
Ginny walked on forward and entered the burrow, but Hermione stayed back for a few seconds and took in the scene. She could see everybody through the shabby wooden windows talking to each other, sharing their firewalker and having rather loud conversation. She walked up to the door unknowingly and smiling.
Home. She whispered before opening the door to the Burrow.
She walked in and the first thing she noticed was the amount of people that had come to gather. It was more like a reunion from Hogwarts than a Weasley meal. Just from the first glance she had noticed Neville, Luna, Dean, Lee Jordan and Justin all in one conversation.
The house looked as immaculate as you can get a wooden Burrow to look without ripping it down and starting it all again. Hermione continued to look around for people that she recognized and found herself in the kitchen.
So what were you doing walking around the streets at night in the rain then Granger? There was a loud pop behind Hermione that made her jump out of her skin.
Do you Weasleys pride yourself on scaring people? Hermione addressed to the younger Weasley Twin who had placed himself so that he was sat on the table behind her.
Not as much as you pride yourself on your intellect, but we are rather talented at it. Said George who then took a seat next to his brother.
But you didn t answer his question. What were you doing walking around in the rain at night? Hermione looked around. There was nobody in the kitchen at this point, something she was grateful for. She didn t really want people to know that she had been doing anything slightly out of the ordinary, she always prided herself on her stable lifestyle and walking around at night isn t exactly a way to keep that image.
What s it got to do with you? Well if I remember correctly Miss Nosey. You were going to come by the shop and see us anyway. So you might as well tell us now. Hermione was always close to the twins, though she was closer with George, because they had a past, one that nobody knew about other than Fred and something the three of them promised they would all keep to themselves, so Hermione would always be able to go to the both of them with her problems, but she didn t really feel like sharing something that didn t really matter anymore.
Come on Hermione, you were there for me. George said with a smile We just want to return the favor. Fred added as his smile matched his brother s.
You know if you two weren t so cheeky and annoying, you d actually be good people. Hermione added smirking at them both.
Boys the announcement, we need you in the other room now. Hope had entered the kitchen; she was a tall girl and around the same age as Hermione. She had short black hair that stopped at her shoulders with a full fringe; she hardly ever wore any make-up so her green eyes always shone a mile.
Her good looks and beauty over-looked in Hermione s opinion, the two had never really spoken before. Hope was in the same year as Hermione in school but she was a Hufflepuff and considering everything that went on in there at the time, making friends wasn t a very big pass time.
Hope looked at Hermione. She knew she was close to the twins it was no secret to the family and friends, but Hope always found the friendship odd. Hermione was always off with Fred or George or both.
I guess you could pin it down to the fact that Hope was an old fashioned kind of girl; stay at home, clean up after her man and look after him at any cost. A trait that made it so Hermione and Hope didn t always see eye to eye.
Oh Hermione, of course, I didn t realize you were here. All three of you will have to stop whatever you re doing, Charlie needs you in here. Hope gave Hermione a patronizing look. She always tried to keep her mouth shut, the both of them were rather good at biting their tongues when it came down to their disagreements, but they could always see that they were judging each other through the looks they gave.
A big thank you to Jen for all the beta work she s done for all the chapters to far, wouldn t be here without you!