I have no idea what is happening. I was cleaning the table off, the kids had done some sort of potion test on it and it had turned an interesting green. I was wiping some of the foam off of it when I suddenly was hit by a terrible wave of fright from Fred, along with a faint echo of pain from George. Whenever he had a really strong emotion I could feel it through Fred, he had the same thing with me. I instantly tried to contact Fred, only to be overwhelmed by a wave of pain. I grasped the back of a chair in a desperate attempt to keep my feet under me as I tried to control the overwhelming hurt. My wand, I needed to find my wand. Where had I left it? I needed to get Verity too, George was being attacked. I called out her name, but it came out as barely more than a whisper.

The pain got unbearably worse and I fell to the floor in a pained heap as I began to see what Fred was feeling.

No! I wouldn't let him feel that terror! Nothing was going to hurt him while I was around. I'd take the pain a thousand times before I let him feel it. I stood up with strength I hadn't known I had and I ran towards the kitchen door, screaming for Verity. She bounded into the kitchen the same time I did with a look of surprise, and then instant worry. I gripped my wand off the counter and nodded my head as I grabbed her hand. I twisted and instantly we were in the shop. Fred and George were crouched on the floor, clinging to each other desperately as they sobbed in great heaving gasps. I'd never heard such wails from either of them. Lee was hanging over them in clear panic as he tried to get them to look at him. Verity and I both lunged forward and grabbed our man, taking care not to break them apart.

I pushed through his thoughts with all the force I could muster. I destroyed the image with my mind, forcing him to see my memory of the event, the way it had actually happened. He gave a great shuddering gasp as my emotions and memories washed over him and I held him up so that he didn't fall face forward. He grabbed onto me desperately, reaching out and looking as lost as a child who'd had a nightmare.

In that moment I knew I could kill Umbridge. If she'd been present I'd have found the hatred necessary to use Avada kedavra. Never had I hated someone as much as I hated her in that moment. I had hated Bellatrix and Voldmort, but that was more of a required hatred. I now hated Umbridge with a passion that was scary. I didn't just want her to die, I wanted to kill her-I wanted to be the one to do it. She had done this-she had broken my Fred. She'd fed him some twisted, lie of a memory and made him believe it-made him believe both George and I had died.

He finally released the last bit of the memory and clung to me, finally letting me hear his thoughts. They were jumbled and scared but he was letting me in.

Verity wasn't getting through to George, he wasn't recognizing her presences, or Fred's. Fred had beaten the vision, I could tell because he was speaking with me again, well, not really thinking, he was still too scared to use actual words. But the vision had disappeared, and he was holding me back. I grabbed Fred's hands and focused all my attention on that small link I had to George through him. I barely made contact but was pushed away by the sorrow he radiated. I turned to Verity who was crying out to George to recognize her. I grabbed her arm, placing her wand in her hand.

"Use Occlumency on him-Fred and I'll get him through there twin bond." She nodded her head mechanically, already turning back to her husband. She yelled the spell with incredible power at the same moment I managed to break through to Fred. He realized what I was doing and joined me. Together we both focused all our power on their twin bond. We started hitting the image he was seeing, breaking it down with Verity's help. It was some sort of explosion, and it took me a moment to realize what he was seeing. It was the explosion the Death Eaters had set off in Weasley Wizarding Wheezes right after the war had started. Both Fred and Verity had been in the shop, George had been getting supplies. He'd come around the corner to see Verity and Fred running towards him as the shop exploded. Except in this version, they were both lying dead on the ground.

Verity started to show him what really happened while Fred and I focused on calming his emotions, surrounding him in an envelope of love and safety. Verity finally showed him what really happened, breaking the spell of the other 'memory.' Fred and I retreated while Verity grabbed him. I gave Fred a hug as I let go of Fred and George's bond, focusing on Fred now. He was shaking against my hold and that really scared me. I'd never seen him so broken. Just showed how much he loved his twin. He had pushed aside all his emotions and focused soley on freeing him, amazing to me. I'd felt those emotions, they were overwhelming, I doubt I'd have been able to just push them down.

I rubbed his arms and let him have full access to my mind and thoughts, letting him know how much I loved him, and letting him see my awe at how strong he was when he saw his brother lying on that couch. He pulled me tightly against him and I began to stroke his hair.

'Mione… he whispered to my mind. I grabbed him tighter and spoke soothingly to his mind.

It's alright love, believe me, I know. What it's like.

He smiled sheepishly against me and took a deep breath. George was whispering to Verity behind us and I could hear her making comforting noises.

"What the Hell just happened guys!" Lee yelled behind us. We all four jumped and looked up at him with sheepish expressions.

Nobody else was in much of a condition to speak so I did. I pulled Fred up with me as turned towards Lee.

"Um, it's kind of a long story." He looked at me like I was crazy as he crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows.

"I've got the time Hermione." He said quietly.

"Then you're coming with us." I said in a voice that demanded no question. He nodded his head, looking slightly surprised at my tone. I motioned to my arm as I gripped an unsteady Fred to my side. Verity was also standing, pulling George to her. Lee grabbed my proffered arm and I apparated to Grimmauld Place.

We landed on unstable feet and fell to the floor as Ginny appeared out of nowhere to help us.

"What's going on?" She asked as she helped me get Fred onto a couch, Lee was helping Verity with George.

"Yeah!" Lee exclaimed, leaning against the couch opposite us with a breath.

I grabbed Fred's hand in mine and answered Ginny's question first.

"They were attacked." Her eyes grew wide and she looked from Fred to George in obvious worry.

"At the same time?" Her voice grew slightly squeaky at the end.

"Yes, very near to the same time." I answered. Lee let out an annoyed puff.

"Oi! Mind backing up a bit and telling me who exactly is attacking them?" Lee said, clearly irritated.

I smiled sheepishly and looked at Ginny. "Would you mind explaining, I need to catch my breath." Not entirely true, I really just wanted to speak with Fred. She understood what I meant though and promptly began explaining things to Lee as she gently led him out of the room. He resisted her lead for a moment but glanced over at George, who was holding on to Verity as though she was the only thing keeping him alive, and he followed her out of the room.

I shuffled around on the couch we were sitting on, grabbing Fred's arm and looping it around me. I pushed my arm behind him and gripped his waist, pulling him closer to my side. I wrapped my other hand around the rest of his waist and squeezed him closer as I leaned my head against his shoulder.

He was still feeling scared and uncertain, but was trying to not let me know that he was feeling scared. I scooted as close as I could to him, hearing Ginny and Lee's voices grow fainter. I pushed my emotions of love and feelings of protectiveness and snuggled up against his warm side. He was shaking a slight bit, clearly still scared at the memories. I could tell he was trying to hold himself together in front of the others but really just wanted to break down. I gripped his waist tightly and helped reinforce his front. He smiled thankfully, squeezing my shoulder.

On his other side Verity was doing much the same to George. Fred and George were holding each other with their own arms almost unknowingly. From the images I had seen in their 'memories', I couldn't blame them in the least bit.

I let go of his waist quickly and grabbed my wand, casting muffliato before grabbing his waist again. They both smiled appreciatively at me. I began to rub small, slow, circles into his back. He relaxed slightly against me, and I paused in my rubbing.

"Are you two alright?" I finally asked. Fred nodded his head feebly while George did a shrug grimace thing that I wasn't sure how to interpret. Verity must have known though because she gave him a quick hug before glancing over at me.

"Let's give them a moment alone, okay Hermione?" I didn't want to do anything of the sort but I could tell Fred wanted to speak to George alone, so I begrudgingly got up, placing one tender, quick, kiss on his soft lips before I followed Verity out of the room.

She was pale and looked like she was trying not to shake. I had forgotten about her, I'd been around for everyone's attacks she'd always been sent away before it got serious. Poor thing was probably scared stiff. I'd never seen Fred break down, she'd probably never seen George break down either…

I walked up to her and gave her a sisterly hug. We all got along really well, Ginny, Luna, and me, we never saw Fleur, Penelope or Brianna much but we got along with them as well. However, Ginny, Luna, and I had a bond that Verity could never have with us. We'd gone through a lot together, and it had made us all as close as real sisters. Out of the three of us, I was closest to her-probably because of all the things us, Fred, and George did together. So I was probably the only one who would have thought to comfort her. She leaned into my hug and sniffled gratefully. We heard a laugh emanating from the other room and both gave wet laughs.

CRACK

The sound of someone apparating into the room made both Verity and I jump at the same time as well as a scream. George and Fred came bursting into the room as Harry straightened up from where he had apparated. His eyes were wide as he turned towards Fred and George, a look of horror on his face.

"Thank Merlin, your alive!" He gasped as he grasped the counter. I grabbed his arm and helped steady his feet as he looked at Fred and George with obvious fear.

"Why wouldn't we be?" George asked, his voice only slightly worried. If I hadn't seen him five minutes ago I would never have known either him or Fred had been attacked.

"Weasley Wizarding Wheezes just blew up." Harry said quietly.

A/N: Sorry about the cliffy, it couldn't be helped... I promise to update quickly!