Chapter 10
Fred let his head bang lightly on the table as he finished his morning routine. He'd just finished his breakfast as well as the mandatory daily potions he had been prescribed. He had been feeling a bit more run down lately, his healer asked if he had been under any more stress than usual. Of course he had, it all started and ended with one witch. Hermione Granger, the witch who he had sworn to keep his distance from, though seemed to be drawn to against his will.
Fred stood, his leg protesting at the change of position. Normally it was a pain he'd learned to live with, one he could hide well enough, but not today it seemed. With a sigh Fred turned to the cabinet which held all of his potions and took down one for the pain. He tried to get by without it, he hated the disconnected feeling he had when he took it, but if he was already hurting this much so early, the day would be miserable without some assistance. He had a full afternoon planned for Hermione, Freddie, and himself, as much as he knew it was a bad idea.
Once his potion was taken and the vial cleaned he limped slightly to the bathroom. The hot water felt nice on his aching body and he stood under the stream longer than necessary. Fred caught sight of his bare chest as he got out of the shower and scowled. Running a very busy shop and weekend games of Quidditch with his family and mates kept him in good enough physical condition, but it was the ugly purple and red spider web pattern across his chest and arms that made him throw a towel over the mirror. Fred walked out to his bedroom to get dressed musing that Hermione would never be attracted to such a marred wizard.
The way he looked, occasionally limped, and his dependence on half a dozen daily potions wasn't even the worst of it. Fred shook his head to rid it of the dark thoughts swirling around. It wouldn't do to meet up with Hermione and Freddie in such a foul mood, instead he picked out a nice shirt and forced himself to think of happier things.
Fred walked slowly down the stairs hoping the little bit of exercise would help dissipate the pain. He was surprised to see George already standing at the till preparing for the day.
"Its Tuesday, isn't it?" Fred asked doing his best not to limp in front of his brother, an argument was the last thing he wanted just then. He should have known better, George seemed to know everything about Fred before Fred did himself.
"Rough morning? Wanna go see Healer Asclepius?"
"Nah, I'll be fine, just a bit tired," Fred answered waving him off.
"Alright, but you know what happens when you over do it," George said carefully. He also didn't want a fight so early in the morning.
"So what are you doing here so early?" Fred asked.
"Ang kicked me out, said I was hovering, silly woman."
"Right, because that's entirely out of character for you," Fred deadpanned and dodged the empty box George threw at him. He turned and began restocking a shelf as George went back to preparing the till. ""Remember I'm taking off early this afternoon."
"Yes, to spend an afternoon with our fair Hermione and her spawn. You know, to pretend you aren't hopelessly in love with her, or the kid. How's that avoiding thing working out for you?"
"Sod off, I promised her I'd help her get an owl, just keeping my word. It doesn't matter how I feel about her, she's not interested."
"You poor deluded fool, keep telling yourself that, maybe even you'll believe it if you say it enough."
"Prat."
The morning seemed to drag on for Fred, even though the shop kept a steady flow of customers. Finally the bell rang and Hermione and Freddie walked in. Fred was in the back of the shop cleaning up after a rather inquisitive young girl who pulled down an entire shelf of wonder witch products.
"I don't know, I don't think that lipstick goes with your skin tone," Hermione said startling Fred who was holding a tube of their Luscious Lips.
"Oh, I think I could pull it off splendidly," Fred said not missing a beat.
"You're silly," Freddie giggled coming up behind the pair. "Mum, Uncle George said I could have this if it's okay with you."
Hermione looked at the decoy detonator then up at George who was laughing so hard tears were streaming down his face.
"Well, your Uncle George is a very funny man indeed. I'm afraid that one is much too loud for the flat, how about we stop in at Fortescue's and get an ice cream instead?"
"Can I get any flavor?"
"Whatever you want, sweetheart," Hermione smiled then looked at Fred, "You don't mind do you? I need to stop at Gringotts as well, I haven't got any money that will work here."
"Not at all, I've cleared the rest of the day for you," Fred agreed easily.
They made their way to the wizard bank, once again ignoring the whispers and stares. Freddie's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he saw the rather grumpy looking goblins standing guard at the front doors.
"Miss Weston, or perhaps it's Miss Granger again?" A voice called out from one of the doors hidden along the wall. Hermione was a bit startled at first, but recognized the goblin at once.
"Fiaherk, how lovely to see you again," Hermione said holding out her hand to shake the old goblins. It seemed as though he had been expecting her, she let it go, however, at least his was a friendly enough face in the busy bank.
"Follow me, I'll help with anything you may need. Some of the other goblins have yet to forgive the past."
"That's very kind of you," Hermione allowed as the three followed the goblin to the same office as before.
"So what can I do for you?"
"I just need to exchange some currency, we are going to do some shopping in the alley today."
"Very well, please wait here while I take care of this," Fiaherk said taking the muggle money from her and walking out of the room.
"He wasn't joking about that whole long memory bit, both Harry and Ron have to make appointments just to visit, after you lot stole their dragon and all," Fred said looking around the room.
"Oh my, I'm glad Fiaherk was here then," Hermione said with a slight frown.
"Nah, I would have given you the galleons if the goblins wouldn't," Fred answered easily.
The transaction went smoothly, however, and soon they were out in the sunshine once more. Fred let Freddie pick out which shops he wanted to look into and it was nearly two hours later when they finally made it into the owl emporium, Freddie's face stained with the raspberry ice cream he'd chosen. Fred was once again limping visibly after all the walking but refused to comment on it or slow them down. Hermione offered to finish up the shopping while he rested, assuming he was recovering from one of the famous Weasley twin accidents at the shop. Fred let her assume and promptly refused any rest, he only had to make it a bit further before they would be heading to the orchard behind the burrow where he had a picnic waiting for them, he would rest then.
Hermione picked out a lovely horned owl, Freddie said it reminded him of her because it had big hair too. Hermione laughed and agreed then paid for her new friend while asking Freddie what he thought he should be named. Fred, who had been more quiet than usual laughed out loud when Freddie suggested 'Mum'. Hermione rolled her eyes and pointed out it that since he was a boy owl he might not want to be called Mum and encouraged him to think of a few more names. He finally decided on 'Ferdinand' since the owl seemed to be very nice just like the bull in his favorite story.
Fred suggested sending Ferdinand back to his shop while they enjoyed the rest of their day, they would pick him up on their way back home. Fred then apparated them to the burrow.
The use of so much magic seemed to finally tap Fred out and he fell to the ground.
"Hermione, I'm so sorry, are you two alright?" Fred asked as he grasped his chest.
After a quick look at Freddie, who was fine though obviously frightened, Hermione dropped down next to Fred who was having difficulty breathing. "We're fine, but you aren't. Fred what happened?"
"Go get mum please," Fred wheezed out before going limp.
"Freddie, I need you to go get Molly, if you run straight down this hill right here you'll see the burrow," Hermione said trying to stay calm. Freddie began to whimper, his eyes huge as he watched Hermione lay her head on Fred's chest. "Sweetheart, he's going to be just fine, but I need you to be a brave boy and go fetch Molly for me, I know you can do it."
Freddie turned and began running where his mum told him, once he was through the trees he could see the house and ran even faster.
Hermione began performing CPR, happy she had taken a course after an elderly customer had fallen in the cafe during a heart attack. She continued doing chest compressions until she heard Molly running up the hill with Freddie and Victorie close behind her.
Molly dropped down to the other side of Fred and began pouring a potion in his mouth, massaging his throat to help him swallow. Hermione had never seen the woman so calm, not when one of her children was hurt and suspected it wasn't the first time this had happened.
Fred, though still unconscious began to breathe normally again and Hermione could feel his heartbeat get stronger. Just as Hermione was about to ask what was going on, Fleur appeared next to them.
"I 'ave contacted George, 'e will meet you at zee 'ospital. Go now, I will stay wiz zee children," Fleur said slightly out of breath herself.
"Come along dear, you will need to tell Healer Asclepius what happened before he lost consciousness," Molly said, again in a very calm voice. "Freddie will be fine here."
Hermione looked around still in a bit of shock and nodded her head, she stood and walked to Freddie, telling him she'd be back as soon as she could and to be a good boy. She was comforted to see he was holding Fleur's hand tightly. Molly took Hermione's hand firmly and Hermione held onto Fred's arm as they apparated to the lobby of St. Mungo's.
George and an older witch in lime green robes, Hermione thought must be Healer Asclepius, were already there waiting for them. George looked a bit angry.
"I asked him this morning if he was okay, bloody prat," George muttered.
"Enough of that," Molly said, though her words were kind. They followed the healer through the doors and to the lift. They all piled out at the floor for spell damage and Hermione was certain now that this was not the first time this had happened. As much as she wanted to get answers about what was going on, Hermione kept silent. It was like the battle all over again, tears flooded her eyes as she looked at Fred. He was laying on a stretcher looking too pale, too still.
Hermione could feel an anxiety attack starting and broke away from their small group once Fred had been moved to a private room. She found a chair close by and sunk gracelessly into it.
Doing her best to breathe in and out, Hermione raised her head at the sound of approaching footsteps.
"Miss Granger?" the healer asked gently conjuring another chair and sitting down next to her. Seeing the look on Hermione's face, the healer flicked her wand and a small glass bottle floated into her hand. "It's just a calming drought, I need to know what Fred was doing before he collapsed."
Hermione sighed and swallowed the potion and told the healer everything that had happened since she arrived in Diagon Alley that day. How tired Fred had seemed though he kept reassuring her he was fine, how he had been limping later on in the day, then his collapse after apparating.
"Thank you dear, don't you worry, we'll get him patched up. He'll be quite upset with himself I'd wager, I know he had been looking forward to today," Healer Asclepius said with a kind smile.
Hermione was taken back a bit, it was as if this healer knew all about her and she wasn't sure how much she was okay with that. "What's wrong with him?"
"Im sorry dear, but it's not my place to say."
"Well it is mine," George said appearing from the same door as Healer Asclepius.
"George, I really think Fred should-" Healer Asclepius said rather sternly.
"No, this has gone on long enough. Fred likes to pretend everything is fine, but it's getting worse. Not to mention, you don't know Hermione like I do, she'd drive us all mental before he wakes up." The last bit was meant as a joke, though the smile never reached George's eyes.
Healer Asclepius looked from George to Hermione and nodded her head slightly before turning and going back into Fred's room.
"What did you mean before he wakes up?" Hermione asked without preamble.
"The last time he was out for three weeks."
"Three weeks? Alright, please tell me what's going on. I mean I know I'm not family, but I care for him, all of you."
"Hermione, you've been family since you rescued Ron from that bloody troll. How much has Fred told you about the battle?"
"He told me he had been cursed just before the wall fell on him, some sort of combination spell. He said that it was you who saved his life."
"Yeah, the spells were an immobulus and another we still don't know about. What we do know is that it acts like a poison, slowly killing the victim by depleting their magic. I was able to save him because we have what's called a twin bond. I guess they're are rare even in pureblood twins, but we've had one set every generation for a while.
I was able to use my magic to replenish his. It's exhausting for me, so I can only give him a little at a time. It would be easy to use up all of mine, putting me in the same situation as him, then I wouldn't be able to help him at all.
When the wall fell it completely crushed his leg, allowing the curse to really get concentrated there. That's why it still gives him so much trouble after all these years, the curse is still in his bones. Whenever he lets himself get too worn down, be it overexertion or too much stress, the curse begins to spread. When this happens he goes into a coma while I give him small doses of my magic to heal his magic."
"Isn't there a countercurse?"
"Maybe, we don't know. We don't even know what the original curse is. We've looked, McGonagall has even let us use the library at Hogwarts, Harry has searched through the Black family library as well. There's just so many books to look through and we believe it was a curse Bellatrix made up anyway, so it may not even be in a book."
"I see, so you've just been treating the symptoms?" There was no accusation in her voice, only sadness.
"I'm going to tell you something else, Fred really would be angry if he knew I'd told you. There is a reason Fred doesn't date. He feels like he isn't whole, not good enough to be a husband. He's afraid he will die early, he doesn't want to do that to someone. He also can't have children. He feels like he wouldn't be able to offer anything."
"That is absolute rubbish. Fred is amazing, any woman would be beyond lucky to get any time with him she could," Hermione said vehemently.
"Think so Granger?" George asked, finally truly smiling for the first time. He was meddling, he probably had no right to tell Hermione this, but he was tired of seeing his brother talk himself out of giving it a go with someone he was obviously in love with. Someone who was obviously just as in love with him. So George told Hermione Fred's secret.
"What can I do to help?" Hermione asked trying to change the subject.
"Well, for now you can go tell Fred good night, Mum has already put you on rotation for sitting with him, I didn't think you'd mind. He can't really hear us right now, but he always seems to do better when there is someone there to talk to him. Also, you need to go home and study for your final exams, don't look at me like that, he would hate for you to fail out of school in the last week's because of him. So finish up your exams and graduate."
"He really does tell you everything doesn't he?" Hermione asked, she had only mentioned her exams in passing one day.
"When it comes to you, yeah," George was sure that one was well past the line, but again he didn't care.
"Alright, I'll go say goodnight and ask Molly when to come back. I need to go tell Freddie what's going on, I'm sure he's a mess from seeing Fred unconscious. Would you mind taking us to the shop, I need to get my owl." It was hard to believe they had just gotten the bird a couple hours ago, so much had happened. Hermione needed time to absorb all this new information.
"No problem, I'm leaving anyway to rest up for tomorrow. You and Freddie could come stay at ours if you want, Ang wouldn't mind at all, if you don't want to be alone that is."
"Thank you, but no, I think I need to be alone for right now, process everything you know?"
"I understand that completely."