You are the light that's leading me to the place where I find peace again.- Lifehouse
It took us a week to get settled into a sort of routine at Beladale. Harry impressed Taran with his skills, and was told that he wouldn't have to learn much before he would be made a partner. Fred and George set up shop and were busy within minutes of opening. They also weren't only seeing humans, they were also having to help the livestock. I was busy starting the garden and gathering plants for them while I waited for my own garden to start to grow. We didn't spend too much time outdoors though, we were rather reclusive, but we were reclusive for a good reason at least. I was the only one who had a sort of an idea as to what was going on, and we really did not want to break any tradition or living styles we hadn't known about so we kept to ourselves mostly.
We were adapting, but we were sad. It was unavoidable, we were separated from everyone we knew, and stuck in a time where we might be killed for using magic. Fred and George had even stopped joking as much. Harry was growing quiet, and I was getting depressed. I was beginning to brood, I had nothing but time now, and I began to analyze everything that I had done wrong in my relationship with Ron. I was convinced that his leaving me (even though we'd never actually started anything,) was completely my fault. Harry, Fred, and George, were despartley missing the rest of their family. Fred and George had never been separated from them for so long before.
Darn it we all needed a cheering charm.
"Hermione?" Fred's casual tone carried across the garden and distracted me from my planting. I was watering a patch of seeds and was honestly glad for the distraction. I was hot, tired, and covered in dirt, I was also sick to death of wearing these stupid dresses. In paintings they always looked so beautiful and luxurious, in reality they were itchy and hot. Not that the boys had it much better with their shirts, and breeches.
Fred walked towards me and plopped down on the ground next to me. He was wearing a loose tan shirt, a pair of dark brown breeches, and black boots. His red hair was dusty and stringy, hanging in his eyes in a sort of casual rusticness. The look honestly suited him, if I hadn't known, I would have thought that he was originally from this time.
"Fred?" I questioned, sitting back on my legs and pushing my hair from my face. It had gone crazy again, back to its original bushy state. It had tamed down in the last few years, but now it was as bushy as it had ever been.
"I need to talk to you, Hermione." Fred said, resting his hands on his knees as he looked at our house.
"What about?" I asked softly, feeling sad. I seemed to always feel sad recently.
"About the flowers." He said rolling his eyes. "About my stupid brother of course." I froze and grew stiff next to him. I instantly went on guard and frowned at him.
"What about him?" I asked, my tone sharp.
"I wanted to tell you what happened while you were gone." He said softly, turning his gaze from the house to look at me with sympathetic eyes. I didn't want his sympathy, I wanted to hit Ron.
"Go on."
"He got scared about you leaving. He was worried you liked Harry," he held up his hand to stop my objection. "I know, I know, it was stupid, but that's Ron for you. Well, he got mad after that. He felt like he was being left behind. He started to wander around outside a lot, until he ran into Luna. They started spending time together, and the little git actually fell for her. We didn't know what to say to him, he genuinely cared about the girl, we couldn't tell him he was a stupid git right to his face." Fred trailed off, heaving a sigh before looking back at me. "Everything got really messed up really fast."
"Thanks." I said quietly, staring at him with new eyes. I'd never realized how much they all cared before. Over the years Harry had always been number one in the Weasley's life, not me. I was usually only thought of as Ron's friend, the fact that they actually were worried about Ron going out with someone other than me was extremely touching and made me feel better. Weird as it was it made me want to smile. I was still annoyed at Ron, but I guess it couldn't have been avoided. If all it took for him to find someone else was my disappearing for a few weeks, then I can't imagine we would have made it very long. It was weird and wrong, but I was finding that I didn't mind at this moment.
How had that happened? A few days ago I was ready to kill the unfaithful git, now I was just a little sad. I would have liked to talk it over with him, but I wasn't as mind consumingly mad as I had been.
"Thanks?" Fred asked, raising his eyebrow at me. I started and realized I had drifted off into my own thoughts. Poor guy was probably wondering where I had just gone to. Oops.
"For caring, for finding the courage to say something." I explained, staring at his eyes. I had never noticed just how blue they really were, more cobalt than Ron's were. His weren't quite as light, they were darker, deeper, they looked wiser, oddly enough.
"Well, I'm a Gryffindor for a reason, Hermione." He said, smiling a big, lopsided, grin at me. I felt a strange flutter at the sight of it and found myself staring at his eyes again. They really were a beautiful shade of blue. He was staring back at me, and I was losing myself in his eyes. We were both staring at each other now, neither of us able to look away.
"Gideon, Jane?" A deep voice called from behind us breaking the spell his eyes had on me. I started and fought the urge to yelp. I turned towards the new comer and felt Fred staring at me out of the corner of his eye. A blush lit my cheeks for no reason and I shook my head to let my hair cover my face from his view.
Thomas was the one who had spoken. He was holding a cane in one hand and was resting his weight on it as he stood in front of us.
"Sir?" I asked, rising and brushing off my dress. I was forcing myself not to look at Fred, but I could still feel his eyes on me, it was unnerving me for some reason. Thomas adjusted his cane, moving his weight to his feet before taking a small step forward and ducking his head towards Fred and myself in a sign of respect.
"I came to invite you and your brothers to the winterfest feast in five days time." He said, staring at Fred as he spoke. I glanced at my 'betrothed' and saw him move his eyes to Thomas. I almost sighed in relief, I don't know why he was causing me to feel flustered all the time, it was getting weird.
"We should be glad to attend, Thomas." Fred said in a perfect imitation of the accent these people all spoke with. It still marveled me at how well they all copied them. I could only do a passable imitation and it took me hours of practicing to keep it up. Fred and George could turn it off and on at will. I guess it was a skill they had learned to prefect through their pranking. You never knew when you might have to imitate someone.
"It will be at dusk then, we look forward to seeing you there. Jane," he said, turning from Fred to me for the first time. "Rose will tell you what you need bring to the event. Maker keep you both." He finished, using the closing that the villagers used for friends. It was the first time anyone had used it with us. A thrill coursed through me as Fred replied "Maker watch over you." And I had to repress the urge to jump and squeal. We were being accepted, finally, they were seeing us as friends.
Thomas gave us on last head nod before turning around and walking behind our house before heading back down the road past our house. I turned towards Fred with wide, happy eyes and let out a quiet squeal before grabbing his hands and bouncing on my feet. He was smiling just as widely, his vibrant blue eyes sparkling with excitement. We danced around in a small circle, both of us laughing excitedly and singing a silly song, saying 'we're in, we're in' over and over. We probably looked mental, dancing around in the muddy garden, my hair a bushy mess, his dusty and everywhere. My skirt was covered in mud and seeds, and he was sweating from the exertion of moving things around in his and George's new 'office,' but I don't think either of us cared. We were free in that one moment, free from the fear of what had happened, the unease of being in a time that wasn't our own, the stress of trying to keep up the charade of belonging, and the emotional upheaval that leaving everything we had loved behind.
Of course it had to end. I tripped on a rock and fell down, bringing Fred down right beside me. We laughed loud and hard for a moment, staring at our tangled limbs as we came down from our joyous high. He had fallen next to me, but his legs had gotten caught up with mine, and we were still clasping hands.
He caught my eyes with his deep ones and I found my laugh catching in my throat as I looked at him. I became aware of each skin cell that was touching him and how warm his skin was against my own. My mind seemed to have short circuited and I was losing myself in his eyes again.
"What happened?" George's voice broke through our reverie and I once again found myself feeling self conscious in front of Fred. We quickly untangled ourselves and Fred stood up, offering me his hand. I took it after a moment, blushing deeply and feeling light headed suddenly. I took a deep breath and turned towards George, forcing myself to focus on him.
"We've just been invited to join the rest of the village at the winterfest feast." I said, forcing a grin. The excitement I felt earlier had disappeared, just leaving a strange sense of confusion in its wake.
"What?" George asked, sounding confused. Fred answered for me this time, his excitement real and seeable.
"Thomas, he just came over and invited us to the winterfest feast! They've accepted us, he even used the maker line!" A grin lifted George's lips and he blinked at his twin in dawning joyful disbelief.
"Really? That's awesome!" He looked like he was about to jump in excitement when a wicked glimmer lit his eyes. "So why were the two of you all tangled up on the ground then?" I blushed even more, turning a crimson to rival that of Gryffindor.
"We-I-it-Fred…" I stuttered, blushing even more as George's grin grew bigger. I wanted to smack that stupid thing right of his smug face. Fred rose to our defense, thankfully, because I wasn't apparently able to form coehesive sentences.
"Hermione tripped and pulled me down with her. You walked in when we were trying to untangle ourselves. Come on, we need to go find Harry and let him in on the news." He was still grinning broadly when he stepped forward, grabbing George's arm and pulling him with him. I followed behind the two of them, smoothing my skirt and shirt down before forcing myself not to blush. I was still not even sure why I was blushing, or why I was having to force myself not to stare at Fred's back or think of the incredible shade of blue that his eyes were.
A/N: For anyone whose curious as to why I'm not focusing too much on what's going on in this village, I just wanted to let you know that I'll have some interaction in the next few chapters. Most of this story is going to take place outside of this village though. Don't worry, they will most definitely be meeting Merlin at some point.
