Fred's Point of View
I mean really, I must be going absolutely bonkers. I've barely spoken to her in the last week. Not for lack of trying, I mean, it's just that every time I try to get near her, someone suddenly needs me. She must think I've lost interest. She must think I've played her. God, I need to talk to her.
Hermione's Point of View
Did I do something wrong? Was I that bad of a kisser? It's been a week, and he's barely spoken to me. He's not coming round the Burrow as often now. Must finally have moved into the apartment above the shop. Certainly more convenient. But, it seems like he wants to talk to me. But for some reason, it's like people are suddenly wanting to keep us apart. Or maybe I'm reading into this too much. God, I need to talk to him.
Fred's Point of View
"George! Have you seen that box of Snackboxes I put in the back room yesterday? We're out already!" Why were we selling out of everything so quickly? Hogwarts had just sent out letters, we shouldn't be getting this busy now. "GEORGE! Stop snogging Angelina and come help me out here!"
"Clearly you haven't been snogging Hermione enough, or you wouldn't be so short tempered." I just glared at him. "Ouch, but she's clearly been teaching you her glaring skills. And for the record, I put those Snackboxes out this morning, I'll ask Verity to start making more. I feel bad for the girl, you know. We work her to the bone, I don't think she knew what she was getting into." Verity, a girl from our year at Hogwarts, had stopped into the shop three days after the re-opening and asked to be hired. George had been better friends with her than I had, and he trusted her, so she was hired on the spot. Still, I had to agree that she didn't know what she was getting into. Although, apparently neither did we, seeing as we were suddenly swarmed every hour of every day.
"George, why don't we close up for an hour or two for lunch? That'll give us a chance to catch up on everything." I hadn't noticed before, but the store had cleared out considerably while I went to search for the Snackboxes.
"Sounds like a plan, Freddie. I've been meaning to talk to you anyhow." We started moving around the shop, neatening displays and taking count of what we needed to make more of.
"Oh, yeah? About what?"
"Well, is everything okay with Hermione? I mean, you freak out about her being with Ron, then you get her to admit she likes you, then you kiss her, then you barely speak to her. Not exactly the usual path of romance."
"It's not like I'm not trying! Every time we're at the Burrow, Mum or one of the other 18,000 people there interrupts us whenever I try and talk to her. And if she comes here to visit, it's inevitably so busy that I don't have time to leave for a bit and talk to her. Then I'm so exhausted after work that I can't even think of doing anything but going upstairs and passing out. When am I supposed to be able to talk to her?" I leaned against the display of trick wands I was re-stacking, hearing the edge of frustration in my voice.
"What if you asked her to Katie's party tomorrow?" Shit. I'd completely forgotten about that. Katie was having a combination engagement/start of Harpies training party and I'd sworn that I would go. Still...it would give me a chance to get Hermione away from the other Weasley's and any customers.
"That's actually a brilliant plan. But, we may need to close the store a bit early tomorrow."
"That might be the best idea you've had since hiring me." I hadn't noticed Verity coming out of the back room, but suddenly she was right behind me, a little too close for comfort.
"Yes, well, ah, if we have a bit of time on our lunch break, I think I'm just going to, you know, go upstairs...freshen up. Ah, yeah." Verity had backed me against the shelf. "Er, excuse me, Verity." She didn't move. There was a sudden, urgent rapping on the door, and I saw a very welcome face peering in through the glass pane. "Hermione." I breathed.
If I hadn't been able to take my eyes off of her, I wouldn't have noticed it. In almost a blink, the smile on her face fell, and a cloud of sadness overtook. She spun away from the door and started walking the other way toward Diagon Alley.
"Verity, I think that Fred needs to go see his girlfriend now. Why don't you come get lunch with me?" Shit. That was it. Hermione had seen my stance with Verity. Glad George was around to notice. How thick could I be?
"Hermione! Hermione, please wait! I can explain!" Bloody hell, that girl could move fast. She'd gotten halfway down the alley before I could even spot her in the crowd, and I didn't understand how she was pushing through the crowd so easily. "Hermione! Please! Wait for just a...oh bloody hell. Protego!" I could only feel so much remorse for the individuals knocked over by the Shield spell as I ran to catch up to Hermione. "Hermione! Hermione, please." I grabbed her arm, deactivating the spell and pulling her back towards me. "Please, just let me explain." I nuzzled my head into her hair, breathing her in.
"I don't want to hear it, Fred. I should have known it was too good to be true. I just, please let me go, Fred. I don't want to make this anymore awkward." She was choking back tears. God, she was killing me inside!
"Hermione, I swear. If you give me ten minutes, I can explain everything."
"Why aren't you listening to me! I've already figured everything out! You don't have to explain anything to me! They don't call me the brightest witch of my age for nothing, you've made your point perfectly clear! I was just...just coming to the shop to tell you..." The tears were flowing freely at this point. "I was coming to tell you that our Hogwarts letters came today. I've decided to go back. I'm sorry, Fred. I've got to go." She pushed out of my arms, and disapparated on the spot.
"No...Hermione...wait..." But she was gone. And I didn't dare follow.
"So, how'd it go? Are the two love birds all happy again?" George teased as I walked back into the shop.
"Confringo." I pointed my wand lazily at a box of Canary Creams. I was trying too hard to not start crying to feel bad about the sudden burst of fire so close to George's head. All I could think about was getting upstairs.
"Freddie? Will you please unlock the door? You know it's not fair to lock me out." I made no move. "Freddie, please. You know I can get in. Don't make me have to." I still didn't get up. It was too much effort. "Fine, you made me. Alohomora!" And suddenly the door was open, and George was sitting next to me on the bed. "Fred, please tell me what happened. It can't be as bad as it seems."
"No, George, it's worse. It's so much worse. She's leaving. I messed up so badly that she can't stand to be here anymore."
"What, just because she saw Verity flirting with you she's fleeing? Come on, Fred." I sat up, finally, facing him.
"George, you don't understand. You didn't see her face. It was just as you'd said. She admits she likes me, I kiss her, I barely speak to her, she comes to see me, sees Verity flirting with me, and the next thing I know, she's telling me she knows exactly what happened and that she was just coming to tell me that she's going back to Hogwarts in the fall. George, I can't fix this. I dug myself into a hole I can't get out of."
"I never thought that I'd see you give up on something that you cared so much about so easily. Is this what happens whenever you and I get in a fight? Do you just assume that we're done, that whatever you did to annoy me is just too much for you to undo?"
"That's different! You're a part of me!"
"AND SO IS SHE, YOU MORON! You can't give up on her so easily! You scared her! How do you think she felt when you kissed her? You blithering idiot, you sat there for a good five minutes staring at her in disbelief before you kissed her. You're older than her, you were sure to be an old school girl crush that was sneaking back up on her, she didn't think she was good enough for you! And suddenly you act like you like her, then you back down, and show no interest for a full week, then when she comes to try to make things right, it looks like you're flirting with another girl, who I'm sure she thinks is prettier than she is, or better for you than she is, or something! So OF COURSE she told you she was going to go back to Hogwarts, but that DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD GIVE UP ON HER, YOU JERK." And with that, he stood up and left the room, slamming the door, and leaving me in a state of loneliness unlike one I'd ever known.
A/N: Sorry to take this so suddenly in such a completely different direction, but alas, it must be done! I promise, it's not over yet ;)
PS- I'm going to try and start writing only from Fred's POV. My original plan was to have the story solely from his view, but then there were moments that I needed to include Hermione's for my point to get across. So...yeah.