Within the depths of her mind, Hermione knew that Charlie had picked the best time possible for all of the to venture into the town closest to their little house. That Charlie had carefully calculated what time they would need to leave the house to be able to arrive at the town just before the rush hour of the townsfolk leaving their homes to begin shopping for the evening meal.
But it hadn't prevented her from dreading arriving as the five had walked through the highlands, as they kept within eyeshot of the small road that led into the town upon crossing it forty minutes after leaving the clearing.
Instead, the growing apprehension as they had slowly approached the town had twisted further in her gut. By the time Hermione and the other four had stepped into the outskirts of the town, the reality had been worse than she had even feared.
There were just too many people.
Too much noise. Too many people crowding around her. Too many leaving their houses at the same time.
It was just too much.
She was trying to keep her body still. She was trying to stop herself from twitching. She couldn't let her Comforts know how much this…
Hermione closed her eyes.
Today was simply a day she should never have left the house. Should never have ventured into the forest.
No.
No, she needed to find that photo album. She needed to have that back in her life.
What she couldn't handle was the overwhelming amount of people in the same day.
It would take a few days to process the album. To sort through her fear as she collected enough courage to open the cover again and even glance at the first page.
It would just take time.
And then there was George, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
He couldn't dare show any more comfort, not in public. They already caused enough of the town to gossip, particularly as the towns' people weren't even sure how many people, exactly, lived in the house far off in hills surrounding the town. They knew for certain, Hermione was quite sure, that there was only one female living in the house, enough of a scandal.
One woman living among an undetermined amount of men.
Hermione was quite sure that it caused quite a bit of tongue wagging, and despite what her Comforts told her, Hermione knew that the townspeople were watching Hermione and the group. She knew they wanted to know all of the details of the group.
All so all George could do was give her a little squeeze.
And to whisper a few words in her ear.
'We're nearly finished,' he said, before gently releasing his grip and guiding her by touch towards the next shop they needed to enter.
Hermione only allowed herself a slight falter as they walked through the shop door, before adopting the stance the entire group took to whenever they were in town. Shoulders back, a small smile twitching at their lips and a fake twinkle in their eyes.
She didn't know if it fooled the townspeople or not.
Stepping behind the three boys, Hermione kept her gaze flickering across the shop, dancing from the various goods lined neatly on the shelves, to the floor to the cash register where no one was behind. She didn't want to catch anyone's eyes, that would only lead to someone trying to involve her in a conversation.
And she knew exactly what direction that conversation would take.
And almost as if Fred, George, Lee and Charlie knew how exactly what she feared, the four made sure to draw all attention to them. Whether it was by constantly asking the only store clerk various questions about the food, or making enough noise that any of the other customers watched them, some with annoyance, others with an understanding look of young exuberance, allowing Hermione to simply fade back into the background. By the time the four had finished their purchases, Hermione wasn't noticed until Charlie was gently leading her out of the store again.
Her sigh of relief, she knew, was picked up by the four boys once they were back into the street.
That was why, instinctively, George and Lee moved to her side as Charlie took the lead with Fred a step behind him. The five weaved in and out of the crowd, Fred and Lee holding all of the packages as Hermione tried to control her breathing.
It helped that they were there with her, but they could only help her so much. The townspeople were still too close, too suffocating.
She just wanted to escape.
And then there was weight around her shoulders. George. He had his head resting on her as he pulled her to the side.
And Lee was using his weight of his body to help George. He was directing her with his shoulder to follow George.
Before she could even give a murmur of protest, Hermione was surrounded by darkness. Of the coolness of an alley.
Of the comforting sense of Fred, George, Lee and Charlie.
'Take a breather,' said Charlie, leaning against one side of the building.
Fumbling with something in his pocket, Charlie held out his other hand and caught the brown wrapped package of meats they had bought from the butcher being thrown by Fred. Pulling out a plastic bag from his pocket, Charlie threw the meat into it before letting the bag drop to the ground.
Hermione could see Fred, George and Lee give her a nod.
And for once, Hermione didn't argue. She needed the small break, even though they were nearly finished their shopping. Another couple of visits to shops and they would be done. Soon enough, they would be back in the comforting feeling of the sloping hills.
Lee sighed.
'Maybe we should re-think this,' he said softly.
Hermione could feel her eyes slightly widen, but she didn't allow herself to show it any further. It was rare when any of her Comforts spoke of such things in front of her. Those talks were usually reserved for when she was asleep on one of their laps, when they were sure she couldn't interfere as they decided on another part of her life.
Instead, Hermione kept her eyes on the ground.
'We all needed to get away,' said Charlie.
There was warning in his voice. He didn't want this spoken about here, now.
But the look Fred, George and Lee exchanged told Hermione that they had thought over this, and it was.
'It took too long to arrive,' said Fred. 'The journey here may have given us time to relax, but it was past five when we moved past the outskirts of the town.'
'This wasn't an emergency,' said Charlie.
The tone was still there. He wanted it dropped.
Now.
But he was right. This wasn't an emergency.
An emergency was an unexpected trip. When they all of a sudden ran out of something that had to be in the house. Something that went beyond a want. It was a need.
Something that was a necessity.
That was when one of her Comforts would Apparate to one of the bigger towns.
She was no longer allowed to, not that she wanted to.
Hermione didn't do magic.
'We're not talking about that,' said Fred.
'No cars,' said Charlie.
Hermione could feel her body flinch, ever so slightly.
There was what could be used as a road up to their house, so there was a point to having a car. There was only a small problem with it.
Bill's aversion to them.
Hermione gave the slightest shake of her head.
Yet, Bill's dislike for cars had never stopped Bill from making attempt after attempt in order to try and get around his aversion of this kind of Muggle transport.
No one ever knew why Bill didn't like cars. Driving them, or being a passenger.
And Hermione and her Comforts hadn't found out that Bill didn't care for cars until after they had ended up living in the house. No one had even known that Bill had a licence to drive.
After a bit of probing, Bill had finally mentioned that when he had worked as a Treasure Hunter, it had been just easier to drive from one site to another by car, rather than by Apparition. There were too many difficulties Apparating from one site to another, even if there was someone or something to focus on.
To put it simply, he had growled, it was just less stress to drive.
And it seemed that Bill had grudgingly agreed to learn when he started as a Treasure Hunter.
It hadn't taken long for Bill and the other Comforts to realise the drawbacks of the silence and peace they gained from living far away from anyone else. If there was an emergency, unless they Apparated, it would take hours to reach the next town.
And so, after Bill had had exchanging of words with Charlie, the only other Comfort who had a driver's licence, a car had suddenly appeared in their driveway. Yet it had only lasted for a week, before Bill had made it vanish.
Hermione and her Comforts continued to live without a car, pushing themselves past their dislike of Apparating when it was necessary. But every now and then, their life would be broken by the arrival of another car.
Before it always disappeared again after a few weeks.
It had only been seven months ago that Bill had tried again, appearing after three days of sending Hermione and the rest of her Comforts into a state of near collapse with some kind of mixed 90's car in the dirt driveway. Bill had refused to explain exactly where he had been, or how he had managed to get a hold on a car. What he had done was hole himself in the house until one day, he approached the car.
He had circled the car wearily, and continued to do so for a week. The entire time his hands were twitching, and there was a strange gleam in his eyes.
By the time Bill had gotten into the habit of giving the sides of the car a kick every now and then, Charlie had taken Bill's wand and had hidden it.
Hermione had been washing up lunch, giving her a perfect view of the driveway when Bill had first dared to open the door. He hadn't shifted his body onto the seats, and he wouldn't, not for another three more weeks. No, Bill had simply stared at the interior of the car and had rubbed his hands along the sides of his pants.
Then two months after appearing with the car, Bill had sat on the back seat. His entire body had been on edge, tense as he made sure to only allow the barest amount of his body touch the seat, and the entire experience had only lasted for a few moments before he had jumped out of the car again.
Yet Bill had managed to go further, and as the days had passed, slowly, Bill spent more time in the backseat before finally venturing to the front passenger seat. Two weeks after first daring to move to the front, Bill seemed to be able to settle in the seat for a couple of minutes.
Then suddenly, Bill seemed to have the urge to twist the nozzle of the radio once those few minutes had passed before striding back to the house or into the woods.
None of them could understand why Bill had this need to touch the radio, blasting music from one of the few radio stations present in the area with their localised signals. It wasn't as if any of these radio stations broadcasted any kind of 'beats' that Bill would move to, late at night.
Bill only rocked to the music late at night, alone when he thought no one was awake, or when he had her in his arms, shifting side to side with as much of his body enclosed over her as possible.
He needed the closeness.
But Bill wouldn't explain the sudden change of him needing music in the middle of the day. He never used to. Music was something only turned on for Bill's own need at night.
Or what the music had to do with the car.
But the strange change of music only lasted for a couple more weeks.
Bill continued to last only for a few minutes in the front seat before blasting the music for a couple more weeks, and then, suddenly, the car disappeared. Hermione and the other Comforts awoke one cold, rainy day to find that the car was no longer there.
And Bill wouldn't explain exactly what had happened to the car.
But that had been the last time. No car since.
And the twins and Lee wanted to get another car?
'Bill doesn't have to drive,' said Fred.
'And you can teach us how to,' said George.
'That is not the problem,' said Charlie. 'Bill won't handle being a passenger.'
'But it would cut down on travelling time,' said Lee. 'Mione wouldn't still be here, past six in the afternoon. We still need to go to a few more shops before we can even head home.'
'We won't be back until after nine,' said Fred.
Charlie's shoulders hunched, but other than that, he showed no other sign of his disapproval of this conversation.
Even the tone had disappeared.
'We needed time away from Bill,' Charlie said.
'Not this much,' said George. 'Bill had to calm down. Yes, none of us would argue about that. But not this much.'
'By now his anger has abated and he will make sure to keep away from the rest of us,' said Fred. 'We could have returned to the house hours ago.'
'How long it takes us to complete a simple shop is not the issue up for argument,' said Charlie, 'or any of the issues that still needs to be ironed out. We are talking about Bill and a car.'
Fred, George and Lee exchanged a glance.
'We know Bill doesn't like cars,' said Fred quietly.
'And that he hates travelling in them,' said George.
Another look shared between the three of them.
'But we got around our problem of the other way,' said Lee.
Other way. Apparition.
'There is a big difference between that problem and cars,' said Charlie.
'Maybe,' said George, 'but having the advantage of a car would make the journey easier.'
'Bill has already tried,' said Charlie.
'We know that,' said Lee, 'but he wouldn't have to travel in the car.'
Charlie stared at him.
'Bill wouldn't allow himself to be left behind,' he said.
Fred sighed.
'We know,' he said, 'but some problems need to be dealt with. For Hermione's sake.'
Charlie's body went rigid.
'If this is so important to you,' he said, 'we can discuss it later.'
Damn. He had remembered that she was around.
Nothing else was going to be said now.
The three wouldn't even protest.
George gave her a quick glance.
'Later,' he muttered.
With the slightest of growls, Hermione hated it when they did this, she felt Charlie wrap his arm around her and push her out of the alley. Hermione didn't even protest, she would just have to try and overhear when the conversation was brought up again.
The rest of the Comforts followed them out of the alleyway, except Charlie didn't go very far. Keeping a solid hand on her, he motioned for Fred, George and Lee to gather around.
'We only need to buy the sweets and chocolates,' said Charlie.
'I don't need any!' Hermione hissed, worming against him in what she knew was a futile attempt.
She wasn't going to get away, Charlie wouldn't let her, but she had to get her point across. Words weren't working and sometimes Hermione felt that only one way would.
'Yes you do,' said Charlie.
She knew it. She knew there was a reason why they had decided to take a break in the shopping now.
Since she had been unable to keep how easily the crowds were affecting her, they had known that trying to convince her to walk into a sweet shop was futile. And that was why they had decided to give her a break, so that she could recover slightly before they did.
Double-handed, bleeding scheming-
'How about Mione is brought out into the forest,' said Fred, 'and the rest of us finish up the shopping?'
'No,' said Hermione.
'Myself, Lee and Fred can take care of that,' said Charlie. 'George, it better be you that starts her back to the cottage.'
'No,' said Hermione.
She was fighting against the urge to scream her anger. She couldn't let anyone else in the town hear them. They were the topic of gossip already. Hermione wasn't going to fuel it further.
It just limited her options. That was the only problem.
And now George was nodding as Charlie released his grip on her. But immediately afterwards, George was next to her, giving her no chance to get away.
Damn them.
And then Fred, Lee and Charlie were walking away, taking with them all of the bags. It left her with George, who immediately gave her a nudge.
He knew that she wouldn't dare make a break now.
Even that little and soft argument had caused quite a few stares. Hermione hadn't even raised her voice, yet there were several townspeople looking at them with glares and interested faces.
Hermione had no chance but to follow their decision. Straightening her shoulders, Hermione followed George back into the crowd, ignoring the whispers. She may still not be able to understand most of the words the townspeople used, mostly due to their heavy accents, but even she could tell that there would be a new rumour floating around by night time.
Instead, Hermione kept her eyes exclusively on George's back as they walked out of the centre square of the town and into the town's boundary. It was only upon the houses growing sparser, and all roads leaning into the main one that led out of the town did George slow down enough to walk alongside her.
'There's supposed to be a good show on tonight,' muttered George as he moved closer so that they were shoulder to shoulder.
Hermione gave a little sniff.
'Not interested,' she said.
Childish maybe, but she wasn't going to just give in.
George glanced at her, a slight smile on his lips.
'Haven't even told you which one it is,' he said.
'You are not going to get me to sleep that easy,' Hermione muttered.
George shrugged.
'Whoever said I was telling you this just to inform you that you would end up asleep,' he said, 'especially as we all know that we would then be talking about the car again.'
Hermione's eyebrows rose.
'You are warning me?' she said.
'I'm just telling you to be extra careful while listening to the radio show,' said George. 'It's the man reading Lake Wobagon.'
Hermione gave a slight growl.
'I swear you save those ones whenever you need me to fall asleep early,' she muttered.
'They work a treat, Mione,' said George. 'Can't blame us using them when needed.'
Hermione bit her bottom lip.
'And that includes your ideas of re-designing the cottage somehow?' she said.
George chuckled.
'Knew you were awake,' he said.
'Not all of your methods work,' said Hermione.
It was giving her Comforts more against her, and they would probably be more careful checking to make sure that she was asleep before they spoke over this kind of discussion again. But, Hermione had no other choice.
George was hanging quite a tasty morsel in front of her.
'I guessed that,' said George, 'but this is a completely different matter.'
Hermione snorted.
'This concerns me even more than the lot of you changing the house around,' she said.
'True,' said George, 'but it is not as if we can stop you learning how to drive, now can we?'
'You are going to allow me to learn?' said Hermione.
'Can't really stop you,' said George. 'We'll just have to hope that you don't use it when you need your time alone.'
Hermione sniffed.
'I never go that far,' said Hermione.
'Yes, but you still worry us,' said George. 'We never know for how long you are going to be gone.'
'I always return,' she said.
'But too often you don't until long after dark,' said George.
'The worst thing out there is Bill,' said Hermione, 'something all of you make sure of. And he's too careful to ever hurt me.'
'We know that,' said George, slinging a hand over her shoulder, 'but give us our worry. We need that.'
Hermione had to give him that.
She nodded.
'And besides,' said George, 'this car will help.'
'Just like Charlie said,' whispered Hermione, 'Bill will never allow it. He can't get over his fear.'
George stared at her sharply.
'You think he is afraid of cars?' he said.
Hermione ever so slightly slowed.
She hadn't meant to say anything. She had kept her mouth shut the entire time. And now…
'It's just his nature around them,' said Hermione softly.
'You mean the fact that it took him weeks to even enter the car?' said George.
Hermione shrugged.
'I just wondered…' she said.
'You think something happened to him concerning cars?' said George.
'Either him or someone he knew,' said Hermione.
George sighed.
'He won't tell anyone,' he said.
'You've asked?' said Hermione.
'We…We tried to see if we could help him,' said George. 'We thought if we could get him to open up, it would help. Every time the Full Moon came up, he got worse in his attitude around the car.'
'The Full Moon?' said Hermione. 'I didn't-'
'No,' said George, 'you wouldn't have. We keep an eye on his behaviour the entire time. If there is even the slightest hint that he might not be in a good mood, and you wouldn't be able to placate him, we keep you away. You never would have noticed how he acted to the car around then.'
And George was right. She couldn't remember his behaviour getting any worse towards the car before, during and after the Full Moon. The rest of her Comforts were so careful over her, she was only around Bill when it was necessary.
It was something that Bill insisted upon, and the rest of her Comforts agreed on.
George shifted closer, giving her a squeeze before gently lowering his arm so that he could wrap it around her waist.
'But we need to do something about our situation,' said George, 'and it looks like the best situation would be a car.'
'Even though it will affect Bill?' said Hermione softly.
George gave a nod before kissing her cheek.
'Even if it affects Bill,' he whispered.
'It's not worth it,' said Hermione.
'You mean you aren't worth it,' said George.
Hermione picked up her pace.
'If worse comes to worse, we can just use the other method,' she said.
'That is only used in emergencies, Mione,' said George. 'And it's a Muggle town.'
'You could just appear close to the boundaries,' said Hermione, 'and then come back the same way.'
Even she knew that was a weak argument.
That method was only used as a last resort, even Hermione in her anger could tell that. Shopping wouldn't ever count as such, no matter what.
Even when picking up some 'extras'.
'You can't use that,' said George. 'A car will make everything easier.'
'Not for Bill,' said Hermione.
'He will understand,' said George, 'like we said before.'
'You would put Bill through that?' said Hermione.
'For you, yes,' said George.
Hermione grabbed the arm he had wrapped around her waist.
'No,' she said.
'He would agree,' said George.
'No,' said Hermione.
'Mione,' said George, 'every single one of us would put you first.'
'And what about the rest of you?' snapped Hermione. 'Why am I worth so much to the lot of you? What about all of you?'
She could feel her anger boiling.
She never meant to become the centre of her Comforts. She never wanted to have them look after her so much.
She didn't like this feeling of taking over their lives.
But every time she brought it up, her Comforts wouldn't hear about it. They would just hug her and say that she was worth it.
Hermione couldn't get them to tell her the truth.
'Do you need to hear this again, Mione?' said George, 'especially as you won't listen to us when we do tell you?'
'You don't tell me anything,' said Hermione.
George turned his head to look at her.
'That is because you won't believe us,' he said. 'We tell you that you are important to us. We tell you and we try and show you that you are family.'
'Just because someone is family does not mean that the world revolves around them!' snapped Hermione.
She knew it made her sound as if she thought the world revolved around her, but it was the truth. Her Comforts had given up everything to bring her to this cottage, left behind the few friends that had survived the War, to look after her.
She didn't care what they said differently.
'Mione,' said George, 'the reason we moved was not only because of you.'
He twisted his entire body and grabbed her by the shoulders.
'All of us had to get away from Hogwarts,' said George, 'not only you. The War forced us to make too many sacrifices. We lost too many friends and family…'
Hermione could feel a sob suddenly rise from her throat.
He was keeping his tone level, and it had been her who had brought it up, but still…
Idiot.
She was an idiot.
George was trying so hard not to lose his temper, and it was all her fault. She was the one who had brought it up.
And now she just wanted to get away.
She didn't want to hear his words. She didn't want to continue the conversation.
It was stupid of her to bring it up.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
'Mione,' said George, releasing his hold on one of her shoulders to gently tip her chin up. 'We care for you. You are the last one left. We have lost so many, we can't lose you as well.'
Hermione tried to step back. To step away from George, but he wouldn't let her.
'We won this War,' said George, 'but we nearly lost everything. None of us could stay in Hogwarts any longer, you simply made us realise how much it was affecting all of us. That was why we left.'
'Then why won't you just let me go?' screamed Hermione, trying to free her hands so that she could claw at George's hands.
Yet, as always, George managed to regain his grip and hold her tight.
'Because Chess and KOC were family too, Mione,' said George. 'We lost them so that the bastard would be destroyed once and for all. That bastard nearly made us lose you as well. None of us are going to have that. So we are going to fight until we no longer have to.'
'But you don't have to,' hissed Hermione, as George drew her closer.
His arms were wrapped around her again, pushing her into his chest as he positioned her so that her head was up against him. She could hear his heartbeat, usually enough to calm Hermione down.
But not this time.
'Mione,' said George, 'the reason why we are so protective over you is because we are still worried about you. We are still not sure of your own health and safety. The rest of us are slowly recovering, Mione. Slowly, but we are…'
He hugged her closer.
'But you Mione,' said George softly into her ear. 'We're still not sure about you. We still worry about keeping you alive. We just can't seem…'
She could hear his voice hitch.
'We just can't seem to get through to you,' said George. 'Ever since you left Hogwarts to defeat the bastard along with Chess and KOC, we lost you. You came back after you were finally rescued, and you were just… You were just no longer there.'
Hermione squeezed her eyes shut.
'We managed to get you out of their hands,' said George. 'We got you out before you were killed. But it almost was if you already were. That you died in there.'
Hermione could feel her sobs escape. She could hear them echo through the air as she lost her ability to stand. Her body slumped and it was only because of George that she remained standing.
'That you were dead,' said George. 'It was almost as if you were dead. No one could help you. You gave us blank faces, hollowed eyes. Wouldn't eat.'
He nestled his head against her.
'And every night you screamed,' George said. 'You screamed until your throat was raw. You tore the bed sheets because of your nightmares. You wouldn't speak. You wouldn't tell us what was wrong…
'And no one could tell us what those nightmares were about,' said George, 'because you were the only one who survived. The only one we pulled out of the bastard's lair, alive.'