Finding Sanctuary

The first few nights in the Shrieking Shack were tough for Hermione. She felt insecure about her entire existence and a little uncomfortable with only George for company. She read most of the days away, keeping to herself in the little bedroom where she and Harry and the traitor Ron had found out the truth about the death of Harry's parents. Where Harry had found his god father and had gained knowledge of his parents through Remus and Sirius, their oldest friends. George spent his days at the shop, of course. He had a business to run and couldn't very well stay shacked up with Hermione. He also wanted to give her some space to figure things out in her own head.

In the evenings at around 5:30 George would return to the shack with food and fresh clothes and water for the two of them. The shack was a bit disheveled, but not unclean as Hermione had taken the liberty of cleaning up on the first night. George generally slept in the second bedroom, right across from Hermione so as not to leave her too unguarded. They would eat together by the light of a fire and candles which Hermione had of course conjured, occasionally talking. Mostly George told her of his day at work and of his customer's antics.

By the time the two of them had been there a week; Hermione was tired of thinking about Ron and wanted to try to make a human connection again. George was surprised when he came back to the shack to find her waiting on him with treacle tarts and a roast that she had picked up in the village. He was even more surprised when she wanted to talk over dinner, and not just about how his work had been. He loved his work, of course, but didn't always want to talk about work.

"Will you tell me about some of the things you and Fred did when you were younger?" she asked him as he bit down into a treacle tart. He chewed carefully before attempting to respond.

"Are you sure you want to hear about the antics of two young trouble makers?" he asked her. "We used to give you a bit of grief as I recall."

"Yes, I'd like to hear about it. I know you must miss him terribly. And the two of you weren't so awful that I disliked you. You were just…"

"Difficult?" George offered.

"Sometimes," she agreed with a small smile. "Would you tell me about when you were really young? I remember most of what you did in public while I was in school with you."

George smiled. He had never expected the perfect prefect Hermione to want to know about his youthful trouble makings. "Alright," he agreed, "but you'll have to promise not to chide me for what's in the past."

"Fine." She smiled at him once more and settled into the low, squishy chair beside the fire to listen to his stories.

George started at the beginning of his memory. He told Hermione of his and Fred's tricks on their older brothers, even when the twins were toddlers. They had apparently always been quite the pair. Their mother had found Percy with wet sheets every morning, even after he was in perfect control of his bladder, which had been extremely amusing to Bill and Charlie. The older brothers were not immune from the toddler's jokes either, however. Fred had turned Charlie completely purple accidentally and Bill had lost his trousers in the middle of Diagon Alley on a trip to get school supplies.

George moved on to tell of his and Fred's escapades with Ron in their younger years and how they would float his toys just above his reach after he had bitten Fred on the leg while teething. Hermione was especially amused by George's tales of jokes on Ron, perhaps because of all the trouble he had caused her and the pain he had put her through. The surviving twin moved along his younger years, telling Hermione of his first inkling that he and his brother wanted to be the proprietors of a joke shop. They had apparently been planning on opening a shop of their own inventions since the age of 6 when Bill had taken them into Zonko's for the first time.

Hermione was impressed when George revealed that he and Fred had been trying to invent things since the tender age of 9. Their first attempts having been on the gnomes in the garden. George had managed to dress one as a girl with magic and the clothing had disappeared. The invisibility spell was fairly advanced so Hermione was very intrigued. "The two of you are exceptionally bright," she told him.

"Mum used to say that," George told her. "She also used to add that it would be better if we didn't waste it on something so trivial, but I think she's come 'round." George grinned and winked. Mrs. Weasley had certainly not approved of her son's venture to begin with; Hermione suspected that it was mostly because of their having dropped out of school. She had, however, warmed to the idea of the twins owning a joke shop after the business had taken off like a sky rocket. They were well off by the time they turned 19 and had helped their family, of course.

George continued telling his companion about the things that he and his late twin had done until it was nearly midnight. He had finished with explaining about the Potterwatch broadcasts and Hermione knew that he was keeping his thoughts away from the battle because that was where the duo had been halted. They said goodnight and Hermione had gone to bed comfortably, finally able to sleep somewhat peacefully. She kept thinking about the man in the other bedroom and how little she had actually known about him before their chat. He was more interesting than she had imagined and couldn't help but want to know more about him.

Every evening for the next week Hermione talked to George about all aspects of his life. She told him about her childhood and her parents as well and he seemed to be interested in her mundane existence. "Dad always liked the idea of living as a muggle for a while," George told Hermione. This was no surprise to her of course, but George's next statement was. "Perhaps your parents would like to go on vacation with mine sometime. I know Mum would like it once she got used to it."

"I'm sure my parents would like that very much," Hermione said with a smile. She had been growing closer to George for quite some time now and couldn't help but feel an attraction. She had always liked boys with Ginger hair and George was just so funny and likeable once she loosened up and gave him a chance. It was only two weeks after she'd found out about Ron's treachery, but she already felt a connection with another guy. She realized that she had a crush on George Weasley lying in bed one night and had to get up and walk around the room to clear her head. The realization was so unexpected.

She giggled thinking about it. She, Hermione Granger liked George Weasley! After admitting it to herself she felt more relieved than she had in quite some time. She decided to get a pumpkin juice out of the cooler downstairs to celebrate her findings and was surprised to find George still sitting in front of the fire when she stepped out of her room.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, suddenly blushing when she noted that he was shirtless. The orange light played across his lean, toned chest and she had to admit that he was very attractive. She forced herself to focus on his face.

"No. I just couldn't sleep and started thinking," he replied. He looked a little unsettled, but tried to hide it.

"Do you want to sleep in my room?" she asked him. "For tonight…I couldn't really sleep either." He looked her over, considering her offer, then nodded and stood. Hermione was a little nervous as she closed the door to her bedroom behind the two of them. She had never really shared a room with someone she liked…at least not alone. George was quite the gentleman, however.

"Goodnight, Hermione," he said, settling down on a mattress in the floor next to her bed.

"'Night, George," she replied. She found it harder to sleep in his presence, however. She kept thinking about him in nothing but pajama pants under his blanket and discovered herself becoming fairly uncomfortable. Ron had made her feel this way only once. He had kissed her after they had been swimming in the lake. Their bodies were both wet and sleek against the others and he had grazed her bottom with his hands. She shivered, wondering what it would feel like to kiss George. To have him touch her bottom and more. It was a very frustrating night and she decided to go back to school the next day. She would still sleep in the shack with George, however. She didn't want to lose their bond, especially now that her attraction was growing…she wondered if he felt anything for her.