Chapter 8

Fix You by Coldplay

A/N: Huge thank you to everyone that has favourited and reviewed this story. An especially big thank you to all the Guest reviewers that I cannot personally thank. Your reviews mean the world to me.


"So, how'd you like your first surveillance mission," Fred asked as they made their way back down the tunnel.

The group that was supposed to replace them had been late to arrive, it seemed they all had a problem with tardiness. Seeing as the Room of Requirement couldn't be left unattended unless they wanted to relinquish its tenure to the Death Eaters there had to be at least one person in the room at all times. As they had arrived late when their shift first started Fred offered for him and Hermione to stay behind and wait for Bill and the others to show up while Dean and Luna returned to Headquarters.

Hermione almost collapsed at the thought of having to spend more time than was necessary in the Room. All of her senses were on high alert and she was high strung from the past eight hours spent on the edge of her seat, terrified that something, anything might happen.

"It was alright I suppose," Hermione answered in a clipped tone, "it did drag on for a bit."

"Well, we did tell you to go and have a snoop around, maybe have a look at the library. After all, it was the first time you visited this place, you'd think you might be curious about it."

Hermione bristled at his question and refused to answer. The last thing she had wanted was to leave the safety of the group to go and wander around a large and empty room that she didn't know anything about. What if they had been attacked during that time, she would have been lost with no knowledge of how to escape. Just the thought of it had her skin pebbling with goose bumps.

"You seemed a little fidgety in there," Fred persevered when Hermione didn't answer him.

He was tired of beating around the bush, tiptoeing around her. He knew something was up, he had confirmation of that after seeing her reaction to the Death Eaters trying to enter the Room. She was keeping something from them and if she wasn't going to talk about it then he would bring it up. Patience was not one of his strong suits. There was no time like the present to ask the questions that had been burning him since her return from the Horcrux hunt.

"It was nothing," she answered trying to appear nonchalant. "Just a bit of restlessness from being seated in one place for too long."

"It didn't seem like restlessness. It looked like you were scared of something. Every time there was a loud noise you would jump in your seat."

"Wouldn't you be startled by loud noises which have no consistency, rhyme or reason. It's a perfectly normal reaction," she answered shrugging her shoulders, trying to remain calm.

"There's a difference between being startled and being afraid. You definitely looked afraid."

"And pray tell how would you know the difference between the two," she questioned increasing her pace to try to get away from him. If the tunnel had felt long the first time, it seemed to be endless now.

"I've known you for seven years, I'd like to think that I know the difference between your startled face and your scared face. Especially considering that I've startled you enough times over the years with my pranks."

Hermione snorted at that. A few pranks that lead to inadvertent frights did not mean he knew her. It only meant that he was good at startling her.

"I know you haven't told anyone what happened to you, not even Harry and Ron. Maybe you should talk about what happened you know. It might help ease some of the weight on our shoulders and calm your mind." he ventured, hoping that by bringing the subject up she might take the opportunity to unload her mind.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she answered, irritation starting to build up in her. "Nothing happened."

"That's not what that scar on your arm says," he bit back. "I just think that you should confide in someone. Holding onto things just makes it fester inside of you," he continued more softly.

"I'm sorry I didn't realise you were my psychologist," she said spitefully, angry at all the questions he had for her. "You should stop with all the thinking before you hurt your poor little brain."

Fred stopped short upon hearing her words, surprised at their cruelty. "Just because I'm not book smart like you doesn't mean that I'm incompetent," he snapped back, running after her once he had recovered from his emotions.

"Well then maybe you should prove it and stop talking about things you don't understand."

"Maybe if you explained them to me then I would understand."

"There's nothing to understand," she yelled back, the sound of glasses being knocked against each other coming from further down the tunnel. They were getting close to the exit and Hermione sent a silent prayer of thanks to the Gods.

"Stop acting as though you know me. You don't have a clue of what would qualify my behaviour has abnormal. You can't possibly think that the handful of times we've talked makes you all knowing about me."

Hermione's heart was thumping and anger was beginning to bubble in her chest. It didn't help that she had spent the whole night on the edge of her seat, barely holding it together. She was tired and anxious and was starting to feel quite threatened with all of Fred's questions.

The brunette witch had just started to get a handle on her emotions. She had managed to build for herself a tentative coping mechanism. One that involved forgetting everything that led to her trauma and pretending it never happened. It wasn't perfect but in some ways, it had been working for her.

However, Fred was now trying to destroy the small balance she had created for herself. Undermining what work she had done and questioning her about things that didn't concern him. He had so many questions that her head was spinning with them. Questions she herself did not want answers to.

"I may not be Harry or Ron but that doesn't mean I don't care about you or that I don't know you for that matter," he said catching up to her and grabbing hold of her wrist to try and slow her down. "You can deny it as much as you like but we're friends and that means that I worry about you and as a friend, it is my business to watch out for you."

Hermione wrenched her hand free of Fred's grip, storming off down the corridor and the last few metres until she tumbled out of the frame and into Aberforth's pub.

"Actually this is none of your business," she replied as she made her way to the front of the pub where they had Apparated earlier on, barrelling past Aberforth who was cleaning the tables. His eyebrows rose at the sight of the fiery brunette, a drastic development compared to her meek arrival.

"If I were you I'd concentrate on your little inventions instead of meddling in other people's lives,"she yelled back at him turning around to face him. Fred was certain that if she still had her old bushy hair, it would be crackling under the weight of her anger and magic. "They could use a little polishing, they're good but not great."

Anger was boiling in her veins. How dare he speak to her as if he knew her, knew what she had been through. She was doing just fine by herself and she didn't need anyone poking around trying to help her. Especially not people who couldn't take no for an answer and kept on pushing and pushing. She had to vent it out if only to divert from her and bring back the focus to something other than her.

Her words stung Fred and he stopped short in his chase after her. He could understand that she might be angry with him over all the questions he was asking her but her spitefulness was beyond him.

"Where are you going?" he asked as he watched her hurriedly make her way across the room.

"Longbottom Manor," she snapped back.

"Wait, what," he said resuming his chase after her through the labyrinth of stools and tables. "You can't go back."

"And why can't I," she said finally reaching the point where they had Apparated earlier on in the day. "I know perfectly well where I am going," she continued through gritted teeth, her wand already in hand.

With a loud pop, she Apparated away not waiting to hear Fred's response. The prankster swore at the empty space she had just been standing in. Taking his own wand out if his holster to follow after her.

Behind him, Aberforth shook his head in despair. If he had known that this would be the type of behaviour he would have to deal with he would have never agreed for his pub to be used as a stop-over.


Fred stumbled forward as he landed in the entrance hall of Longbottom Manor. Hermione was already making her way up the stairs and he had to jog after her to catch up.

"Hermione, wait," he shouted, climbing the steps two at a time. "Look I'm sorry," he continued stopping at the first landing to catch his breath, while Hermione continued forward, not even stopping to look behind or acknowledge his words.

"Hermione," he whined as he watched her storm up the stairs, her pace never abating. "I know I shouldn't have pried into your life and I'm sorry. I promise it won't ever happen again," he said in an effort to calm her. She obviously wasn't in a forgiving mood.

Hermione snorted at his words. If she knew one thing about the twins was their relentless search for answers once they had something in mind.

Reaching the second-floor landing, she walked down the corridor stomping her feet. Turning the handle of the door leading to her room, she slammed it shut behind her. Throwing the strongest locking charm she could think of and a silencing charm up, she wouldn't have to hear any more of Fred's excuses. She needed some peace and quiet.

Fred reached the door a second too late and jiggled at the handle, trying uselessly to open it before taking out his wand and trying to unlock the spell she had put up.

"For Merlin's sake Hermione," he shouted, banging his palm on the hardwood door, adding a kick for good measure. "You can't just ignore what just happened. We have to talk about it."

After ten minutes of shouting, kicking, cursing and banging didn't manage to get Hermione to open the door, he pressed his forehead against the panel in defeat. The girl was infuriating.


Hermione entered the family room at Longbottom Manor not expecting anyone to be there. It was late in the night or early in the morning depending on how you saw it and she was avoiding sleep as she always did.

The family room at the Manor was her favourite. It was the warmest and most inviting of the multitude even surpassing the kitchen.

The room was painted a soft brown with the lights never emitting anything past a soft glow. A dark brown U-shaped sofa throned in the middle of the room in front of a lit fireplace. The sofa was covered in cushions all varying in different shapes and sizes as well as a stack of blankets. An Afghan carpet completed the look.

On both sides of the fireplace were two large bookshelves, filled with a varied selection of books; just a piece of what the actual library looked like.

During the day, light streamed through the large bay window that spanned the entirety of one wall giving out to the gardens.

But Hermione's favourite feature of the room were the pictures of the Longbottom family that littered the walls and tables. Pictures of Frank throughout his life, starting off as a chubby baby in the arms of an imposing woman with a large hat on her head, sans vulture Hermione couldn't help but notice. The pictures continued to depict Frank's transition into adulthood with a particular picture of him holding tight to the hand of a round-faced woman with short hair and kind eyes at their graduation. Wedding pictures of Alice waving frantically to whoever was taking the picture and Frank looking at her with adoring eyes.

Then came the pictures of Neville. A few of them at the hospital the day he was born and then continuing on from there. Eating his first pumpkin pie, his first steps in the exact room she was in, him happily playing in the mud of the garden. And her favourite one, the three of them lying on their backs, their heads under the Christmas tree, their feet sticking outwards, staring at the lights from under. Hermione could practically hear little Neville giggling in awe at the sight of the twinkling lights.

This was a happy place. The whole room oozed comfort and Hermione could happily spend days ensconced in it.

Hermione was pulled out of her reverie by the sound of two people whispering. She was surprised to find out that there were other people awake at this time. Slowly, she tiptoed forward until she could see over the back of the sofa. Two identical heads of red hair were sitting on the floor, leaning over a large tome and arguing over its contents.

The brunette witch started backing away slowly, her stomach a tense ball of nerves. She had successfully managed to avoid Fred for the last several weeks. Feigning headaches or other symptoms to get out of Order meetings. On the occasions where she couldn't get out of them she would make sure to arrive late and position herself far away from him, almost running out of the room when the meeting was over.

She had even begged Remus on a number of occasions to change her surveillance shift whenever she was with Fred. The last time she had gone to his office, she hadn't needed to say a word, he had handed her, her brand new rota as if he knew she would be coming that day. Her cheeks had tinged a bit at the thought that her former professor had discovered the reason for her occasional change of timetable, she was however relieved that he didn't pry any further into the reasons for it.

At the sight of the twins she slowly started to back out, her eyes glued to the tops of their heads. She had avoided them so far and she had every intention of continuing to do so. just as she was about to get to the door, the floorboard creaked just as her foot touched the only inch of floor that wasn't covered by the plush carpet.

Before she could even react the two boys had jumped up from their position and had their wands pointed at her.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Granger snooping around," said George with a mischievous look, both of them putting their wands away. "Trying to eavesdrop on our conversation are you?"

"Hardly," she replied defensively crossing her arms in front of her. "I couldn't sleep and thought I'd come down here and read. I didn't think anyone else would be awake."

Hermione's eyes scanned the two of them, they're facial expressions couldn't be any more different. Where George had a happy smile on his face and didn't seem bothered by Hermione's interruption, Fred, on the other hand, looked miffed.

"Are you sure you couldn't sleep? Because those bags under your eyes say differently" Fred said mirroring Hermione's stance.

The witch flinched at his comment. She hadn't thought she would be seeing anyone this late at night and hadn't bothered glamouring her bags and sallow face from the lack of sleep.

"Why Fred that is no way to talk to a lady," George teasingly scolded.

Fred shrugged his shoulders and returned to the book on the floor, his back to the two of them. George's eyebrows rose in surprise at his actions, there was obviously something going on between the two of them that he wasn't aware of. It was made even stranger due to the fact that his brother hadn't told him about it.

"Well, I'm just going to leave you two to sort out through whatever this is," he said indicating the air between them. Fred's head whipped up and he glared at his twin, mumbling something to him that made George chuckle.

"I expect to hear all about this in the morning," he continued making his way across the room while Fred tried to grab him by the ankle to make him stop. "You're a child," he remonstrated Fred as he glared daggers at him as he made his way out of the room. He brushed past Hermione to get to the door and with a whispered 'good luck', he shut the door behind him leaving the two of them alone.

Hermione stood in awkward silence by the door as Fred returned to his book, making clear that he was ignoring her.

The brunette didn't know what to say to break the ice. Apologising was definitely out of the question. She knew she had said some false and hurtful things to him. It had been out of character for her. Vindication wasn't one of her traits and for good reason.

She had felt attacked on that day, trapped by his incessant questions. Even after she had told him she didn't want to talk about it, he had continued questioning her not taking her feelings into consideration.

Taking a step back Hermione knew it came from a good place. He was worried about her but in the heat of the moment, she hadn't seen that. All she knew was that he was attacking her and she had to protect herself.

"I'll leave you to be," she murmured after what felt like forever but was really only a few minutes.

Fred sighed from his place at the foot of the sofa. "You've been avoiding me," he said ignoring what she had said and pulling himself up onto the sofa.

"Yes," she answered, there was no point deny it. Turning to face him, their eyes met briefly before she decided to fix a point on the wall. His eyes made her uncomfortable as if he could see through the façade she had put up. She felt vulnerable under his gaze. And she didn't like being vulnerable.

"Why?" he asked, running his hand through his hair.

"Because I was angry with you. You were incessant with all your questions and I felt attacked. You could see that I didn't want to talk about but you kept on pushing and… and I snapped."

Fred nodded his head solemnly, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come on so strong. It won't happen again. And if you ever need to talk to someone know that I will be here for you." he said.

Hermione smiled, her cheeks taking on light pink hue. "Thanks."

"Now that that is sorted, we can return to our regular planned activities," he said patting the seat next to him on the sofa.

Hermione hesitated for a few seconds before joining him on the sofa, opting to sit opposite him instead of next to him. Even if they weren't touching it was still too close for her. Nestling herself in the corner, legs curled up under her, the witch watched him lean down to pick up the book he and George had been looking at before she arrived.

"What are you reading?" she asked.

"The Dark Arts; 101 ways to protect yourself," he said holding the book up for her to see. "It' a bit old but we thought it might have some interesting bits of information. With all the information we've gathered from the surveillance of Grimmauld Place and with what Snape has provided us it won't be long before we attack and we thought we would see if we could find any new ways to defend ourselves here. They have surprisingly little books on Dark Magic for a Pureblood family."

"You're from a Pureblood family and I've never seen any Dark Magic books in your house."

"Point taken," Fred said an amused grin on his face. "I suppose I see Manor and I think Dark Arts. It's a terrible preconception, especially when we know that Neville would never hurt a fly."

Hermione hummed her approval. Longbottom Manor was very different from what she had seen of Wizarding Manors though she doubted that Malfoy Manor was a point of reference.

"Are you worried about the attack on Grimmauld Place?" she asked after a moment of silence.

During the last few weeks, the Order had managed to get a lot of concrete information about the security levels and Death Eater rotas of their old Headquarters. The more information they acquired, the more Hermione became nervous. Plans for an attack were being drawn out and it would only be a matter of days, maybe weeks if she was lucky before they would swarm the place to take it back.

"It's only normal to be a little nervous," Fred said closing his book on his index so he wouldn't lose the page he was on. "After all, we are fighting in a war but I think we are as prepared as we are going to be. All we can do after that is just hope."

Hermione snuggled herself back into the cushions, watching Fred as he returned to his book when she didn't answer him. The last time she had hoped for things to go well was at Gringotts and that did not go as planned, she thought as her eyes started to blink shut, heavy with sleep. Maybe, this time would be better than the last.