Disclaimer! I do not own the Harry Potter series, or any of its characters.
Chapter Seven
A few weeks had passed, and Hermione had managed to get herself caught up. She had jumped back into fifth year work, finishing essays weeks ahead of time, and making a timeline in her head of big events that she thought would have to happen so that the future would not be affected hugely. She thought of things she could do to speed up the defeat of Voldemort, but nearly all of them involved having to tell someone about her time traveling. Any free time was spent with Neville, the twins, Luna, and anyone else she hadn't gotten the chance to be close to before. More than anything though, she had encouraged Harry to spend as much time as possible researching the way Voldemort had been resurrected, in hopes that he may run across the idea of the horocruxes himself, rather than waiting another two years to start the search. So far, he hadn't had any luck, but she had faith he would figure it out soon. If not, then the Golden Trio would be pulling out the Invisibility Cloak, and checking the restricted area. She hoped they wouldn't have to; Umbridge would surely expel them if they were caught. She had been planning how to get in and out without being caught when Ginny had burst in, face tear streaked and shoulders shaking.
"Gin! What's wrong?" Hermione jumped off her bed and ran to hug Ginny.
"H-Ha-Harry, he-"She sobbed into Hermione's shoulder.
"He what? Oh Gin, is it Cho again?" She rubbed small circles into her back, trying to calm her down. When it began working, Ginny started explaining. "It's not Cho, he had a dream about Dad, and it was real. Dad's in Mungo's now, Dumbledore said it's bad. Everyone's flooing there, so I had to come get you." As she finished speaking, she began crying again. How could I have forgotten?
"Right, well let's go then, we don't want to be left behind." Hermione wrapped her arm around Ginny and led her back to Dumbledore's office.
After hours of sitting in the waiting room in St. Mungo's, the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione were asked to leave by the healers.
"Not enough room my arse! That healer just wanted us to stop asking about Dad! There were still two empty seats!" George huffed as they walked into Grimmauld Place. Hermione rolled her eyes, but kept her mouth shut. She knew he was right, the witch was just sick of telling them they had to wait, but she also knew they had taken up the entire waiting room. There hadn't been two more seats, in fact, there had been two people standing. Poor Charlie and Bill. It's not their fault they live so far away and had been last to arrive. I know I never could have stood around for three hours. Hermione had sat between Ron and Ginny, comforting them both, and trying to let them know it would be okay. Despite knowing that he would be fine, Hermione had been just as worried as she had been before.
"You kids need to get some sleep. There should be plenty rooms-" Sirius was cut off by Ron, who sounded weary, and nervous.
"Can't we all just sleep in here? We could conjure the furniture into beds. I just- I'm too on edge to be alone ok?" The last part was muttered quietly in hopes his brothers wouldn't hear to tease him. If they had heard, they didn't say anything. Instead George turned the couch into bunk beds, and the rest of the family began configuring their own beds.
"Ron, he's going to be fine. You know that right? Everything is going to be alright." Ron turned to scowl at Hermione.
"Right. And how do you know that? Let me guess, you've been taking a class with Trelawney? Read my tea leaves when I was in the loo did ya?"
"Ron, I wasn't- I mean I didn't- I was just trying to reassure you that…" Hermione trailed off when Ron's expression darkened. "Sorry, I'll just be going to sleep then." She whispered before moving to the other side of the room and turning the end table into a cot.
"Mione, you alright?" George said, moving from top bunk to sit on the side of her bed. Fred sat at the foot of her bed and moved her feet onto his lap.
"Don't listen to that stupid git. He doesn't know anything." Fred growled, shooting glares at the back of Ron's head. He glanced over when neither George nor Hermione said anything, but sat up straighter when he seen the confused looks he was getting from them. Well George looked like he was scheming, but Hermione; she was looking at him like he had grown two heads. I suppose I have grown two heads. Instead of Being Fred and George, I'm going to be Fred and Jealous. He smiled at first, but then he realized it wasn't just a joke, it was true. He was jealous of Ron. He turned away from Hermione and George and continued glaring at Ron.
"So what's going on with you two?" George asked quietly when Fred looked away again.
"Isn't it obvious? He hates me! I couldn't even be reassuring when he needed me. I thought maybe things would be different this time, that maybe he would just see what everyone else does. But he doesn't, I'm still just plain, boring, bookworm Hermione to him, why should I deserve to be loved?" Hermione told George quietly. She hated how pathetic she sounded, and she hated that Ron was still too immature to see that they were supposed to be together.
"Bloody hell Hermione! What are you going on about?" Her eyes widened when she realized she may have given herself away. But would it be so bad to tell George? I tell him almost everything these days anyway, and if I did he could help me. Would he even believe me? Oh Merlin, I can't tell him. "You're bloody gorgeous and Ickle Ronnikins doesn't deserve you. But I wasn't talking about him. I meant Fred." Hermione sat up and looked at George startled.
"Fred? Nothing's going on with Fred." She looked over at him again, "Well nothing I know about. But why is he looking at Ron like that?"
"I was hoping you would know love. He's been looking at him like that for almost a fortnight. And it's not just Ron getting weird looks, it's you too." Hermione's eyes widened and she look at Fred, then Ron, and back at George before getting up and walking to the nearest bathroom.
When she walked into the bathroom, she cast a silencing charm on the door and leaned against the sink. Ron can't stand to be around me. This didn't happen before… What have I done different? What changed this time? Sure, I haven't spent as much time with him, but that couldn't have made that much of a difference, could it? She turned around and began splashing cold water on her face. And even Fred realizes that Ron despises me. Though he really shouldn't take my side over his own brothers, Ron may be a prat at times but he hasn't done anything wrong. Another voice, one that sounded oddly like Harry, whispered doubts in her mind. He hasn't done anything wrong, yet. She had a flash of a faded memory, one that wouldn't happen for another year, of Ron kissing Lavender, and her crying into Harrys shoulder.
At Hermione's departure, Fred finally snapped out of his mood and moved back to his bed. "You alright Freddie?" George asked softly.
Fred laughed, but it wasn't one George was used to, it was bitter and full of pain. "Alright? Georgie, Dad's in the hospital because he nearly died, and all I can think about is why can't she reassure me? Why does she care so much about Ron, when the prat didn't even know she was a girl until a year ago? Why do I care so much about her now, when she was just Ron's friend two months ago? Georgie, how can I be alright if I have no idea what's wrong with me?" Fred rolled over and pulled the blanket over his head. George, who was too stunned to speak, climbed into his bed and not knowing what else to do, tried to fall asleep. When Hermione returned, the twins both let her believe they were sleeping to avoid any further chaos for the night. When she sat down on her cot, she couldn't stop the tears that fell. She wrapped her arms around herself and tried to quiet her sobs.
What have I gotten myself into? The three thought in unison.
So maybe Hermione is a little clueless. It seems fitting that she wouldn't think anything romantic of Fred yet, that she would still be caught up in Ron. But Ron is an idiot, so Hermione will move on, don't worry your precious little heads! AND I know you all hate me for the long wait! Im so so sorry! But I won't bore you with lame excuses about my personal life that kept me from updating, instead I'll give you guys two chapters in one day! Enjoy!
