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George couldn't believe this was happening. He had children, yes. Two beautiful little girls that he had talked to while they were still safely inside of their mother, held onto as soon as they were born, he'd seen them grow up. This wasn't like that. Hermione had kept his son from him for eleven years. That was eleven years of time wasted, eleven years that he could have been encouraging his only son to be just like the prankster he was named after. Could she possibly disappear again? Would she do that to him? No, George couldn't believe that she would. Hermione was never the type to purposely hurt someone. What she'd done, she'd done it to protect him. She'd done a shitty job of it, but she'd still done it.

That certainly didn't mean that he forgave her. How could he? After she'd gone and done something like this? It was unforgivable. Then again, wasn't cheating on Katie with his dead brother's girlfriend just as bad? Yeah, he knew that it was. Merlin, they'd made so many mistakes. He regretted most of the things in his life, but nothing like he regretted Hermione. He regretted not asking her to marry him when he had the chance, not holding his new born son in his arms. She thought that he'd want to get on with his life with Katie. Hadn't she known how miserable he was? No. Of course she didn't. Hermione would have believed him to be miserable over the fact that he was sleeping around. She would have felt guilty.

His thoughts were pushed away for a short moment as an owl tapped at the glass, forcing George to stand to his feet and retrieve a letter so obviously meant for him. He gave the bird an affection pat on the back before letting his gaze fall to the piece of parchment.

George,

I told you that I'm not going to run again. I'm not. If you want in Fred's life, you're welcome. I'm sorry that I've kept this from you – and you have no obligations. I'm not expecting anything from you. Stay at the shop, live like you have been. If that's what you want. If you want to meet him, though, properly meet him you're welcome to come by. I've hooked up my floo. You're welcome anytime.

All my love,

Hermione.

Hermione found herself pacing back and forth in front of her television stand. Dear lord, why had she sent George that letter? He wasn't going to come. What would he want with them? George had a life. Two daughters, a successful business, a family that loves him. What did Hermione have? A tiny apartment, two jobs, and a son that she could hardly afford to take care of. A son she loved more than anything in the entire world.

The sound of an explosion coming from Fred's bedroom sent the woman flying up the stairs, flinging his door open and nearly groaning with relief. He really was his father's son. "What are you doing up here?" A sheepish grin swept up onto his face.

"I'm experimenting." He held up his potions book and the slightly melted cauldron set by his feet. Hermione snatched the book away from him automatically and with a wave of her wand repaired the cauldron.

"You'll get this back the night before you leave." A groan pushed past his lips, but Hermione couldn't help the slight sense of pride swelling up in her stomach. "You're going to be a fantastic wizard, Fred." With a soft kiss to his head, Hermione left the room and closed the door behind her. She couldn't see Fred's beaming smile.

The sound of the floo activating had nearly sent Hermione tumbling down the stairs in surprise. Had he actually showed up? She peaked her head out, seeing a mess of red hair waving around. It wasn't the Weasley she'd been expecting, but there was no doubt in her mind that she was happy to see her. Could Ginny Potter even be considered a Weasley anymore?

"Merlin, Ginny!" The slender girl glanced up automatically, a brilliant grin sweeping over her face.

"Hermione Granger, where the hell have you been?!" Hermione was swept up into a fierce hug, which was slightly blocked by Ginny's obvious pregnant stomach, but it was just as warm.

"I've been right here." She nodded her head softly, motioning around the living room that they were standing in.

"Oh you know what I mean. You didn't even say goodbye, you know. My husband has a bone to pick with you." Hermione sighed softly and shrugged her shoulders in acknowledgement, leading the woman who was once considered her best friend into her small kitchen.

"He'll have to get in line." Ginny's expression softened automatically, her hand resting on Hermione's for a short moment. It was odd. Hermione expected Ginny to be furious with her – then again, she didn't even know about Fred. That would be a glorious moment. "How did you get here, anyways?" A soft smile swept up onto the red head's face automatically.

"George. He told me you had your floo connected. I didn't know I could move so fast pregnant." A laugh poured past Hermione's lips automatically, making Ginny grin. "Why did you leave?" The laugh was already gone from Hermione's lips. It was kind of obvious that she'd be getting this question – but was she ready for it? No, she wasn't. Ginny was so forgiving. Would she be as forgiving if Hermione told her what really happened?

"Mom, when is dinner?" The little red headed boy bounded into the room, glancing at Ginny curiously for a short moment. She held little interest to him – she wasn't edible, after all. Hermione chuckled softly and glanced at the clock on the wall.

"I'd give it an hour. There are strawberries in the fridge if you're hungry." He very nearly ran to the fridge, pulling out the container of strawberries and placing one to his lips effortlessly. Once he'd swallowed, and Ginny had gotten over her initial shock, he glanced back over at her.

"Who are you?" Hermione gave her son a distasteful look for his lack of manners. Not that she'd actually introduced the two – but there hadn't been a chance up until then.

"Ginny, this is my son, Fred. Fred, this is your um, your Aunt Ginny." Ginny didn't seem surprised. Maybe it was because she'd suspected that she'd been seeing George – or maybe she just assumed that Hermione still thought of her as a sister, and therefore she was deemed an aunt. It seemed more likely that she believed the last option.

"You never told me I have an aunt." He didn't seem accusing, just curious. Hermione arched an eyebrow automatically.

"You have an aunt and five uncles – plus everyone they've married and their kids." Fred's eyes grew rather large. Hermione knew that this was a shock for him – he'd had a family, sure, all of the Grangers were more than welcoming to him. They all loved the little boy like he was their own, but finding out about a whole other side had to be hard on him. Hermione felt bad, honestly. She'd kept him from so much. She'd kept George from seeing his son grow up, too.

Ginny glanced at her friend for a moment before pursing her lips in thought. Hermione knew what she was thinking – which of her brothers had she kept a baby from? Ron, George, or maybe even Charlie? It couldn't have been Fred Weasley himself, he'd been long since dead by the time she got pregnant. Hermione sighed softly and ruffled up Fred's hair.

"Why don't you go on up to your room for a minute? You can take the strawberries with you but if you eat them all I'm going to beat you." Fred barked a laugh and nodded automatically, scurrying out of the room after giving Ginny a second glance.

"Who's his dad?" Hermione glanced over at her friend for a moment, tugging her fingers through her mess of curly hair.

"George." There was no shocked silence, no surprised faces, no gasps of horror. Ginny simply nodded her head in acknowledgement.

"I figured. That's why you left?" Hermione nodded her head very slowly.

"Yes. I mean, he was engaged to be married. I didn't want to mess that up for him." A sigh passed through Ginny's lips automatically.

"You messed that up for him when you two started sleeping together." The younger girl pushed herself off of the counter that she'd pushed herself up onto, glancing at the bushy haired girl. "It was because of Fred, wasn't it? You two had been in love. George was the closest you could get to him." Hermione felt her stomach fall to the ground automatically.

"Do you really think that badly of me, Ginny? No. Of course not. I loved George. Maybe not quite like I loved Fred, but are two loves ever the same? I wouldn't have left if I didn't love George. I wanted him to be happy. He seemed so happy with Katie and the twins. How could I take that away from him?" Ginny closed her eyes for a moment, glancing up at the woman in front of her.

"Why did you start sleeping together?"
"We were hurting." That seemed to be the only answer that Ginny needed as she pulled the older woman into her arms and let her seek out the comfort she'd been needing so badly over the last eleven years.

Ginny had left hours ago with a promise to return the next day. Hermione didn't doubt that she'd arrive with her entire family in tow – Harry and the kids. She didn't mind. Merlin knows that she'd missed that bunch. So, when the floo activated, Hermione knew that it could only be one person. The one person she longed to see more than anyone else. She didn't move from her spot in the kitchen though, having just started to clean up her kitchen. She'd made Fred's favorite – calzones. It was something she'd learned from her mother, basically turning a pizza inside out. It was certainly interesting, that's for sure.

"Hermione?" She turned around swiftly at the sound of a voice directly behind her. When had he learned to walk so quietly?

"George, hi." The girl carefully wiped her hands on her jeans and glanced up at him, managing a small smile in his direction. "Um, are you hungry? I've got some leftovers from dinner." The man let his gaze leave her for a moment to regard the food curiously.

"What in the bloody hell is that?" A laugh bubbled past her lips, raising her eyebrows gently.

"It's like an inside out pizza – it's good." He bit his lip for a moment before nodding his head.

"You're not trying to off me, right?" Hermione swatted at him without much thinking about it before murmuring a warming charm on the food and pushing it over to him.

"You're not funny, Weasley." He smirked up at her, poking at the food for a moment.

"On last name terms now, are we Granger?" George carefully placed a bit of the food into his mouth, moaning with content. Had he really doubted her cooking skills so much? Then again, she never did have the chance to cook for him. Their relationship had been mostly physical.

"Nope." She carefully sat down at the table her son's father sat at, drumming her fingers carefully on the wooden table. "So um, have you decided what you're doing?" He glanced up at her and swallowed the food in his mouth casually.

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him – I'm his father. I want to be in his life." Hermione nodded her head softly, glancing over at him for a moment.

"I'm glad. I'll just, um, I'll go get him." George put his hand on her knee for a moment and frowned at her gently.

"I'm not forgiving you for this, Hermione. I can't." She nodded slowly, frowning at the ginger currently sitting at the kitchen table.

"I know. It's unforgivable. Just, eat. I'll go explain to Fred." He nodded his head carefully, returning his obviously hurt gaze to the mess of food in front of him, trying his best to eat it all as fast as he could. Same old George – food comes first.

Hermione didn't knock on Fred's door, and he seemed surprised by this. His mother always knocked before coming in. "Mom, what's up?" He set the video game controller down on the bed and turned to her. She paused for a moment.

"Your father is here. He'd like to meet you."