FPOV
Fred was bored. Very bored. Being a ghost wasn't nearly as fun as one would think. He'd already pranked each and every member of the Slytherin house, fought with Peeves, tortured Mrs. Norris, dueled almost every portrait he could find that had a sword, and discovered a new passageway that had been blown open during the Battle of Hogwarts. And yet, nothing was ever as fulfilling as it had been with George. Fred remembered what it had been like to miss those who had died, but no one had warned him that the dead would also miss the living. At least he had Hermione, but he could tell that she was growing tired of his restlessness. It was hard to not be restless, however, as he never had to waste time doing things that normal people did like sleeping and eating. Fred especially missed eating. He was a Weasley after all.
Today was shaping up to be no different. Fred was floating down the halls, wandering aimlessly, trying to decide what to do with himself. He'd dropped in on Hermione earlier but she had seemed rather preoccupied and was too distracted to have any sort of decent conversation. Something strange was going on with her, but Fred wasn't about to pry. He decided instead to take her advice and check out the Room of Requirements. Perhaps, he hoped, there might be an endless supply of joke products, or some food that he was able to taste.
Fred floated his way up to the 7th floor. He hadn't bothered to visit the room in a while, although he couldn't really say why that was the case. Perhaps because he wasn't sure what to ask of it. He paced back and forth in front of the area that he usually found a door, thinking that he needed something to do. It was best to think of something specific Fred knew, but he didn't know what that specific thing was. Finally an opening appeared and Fred entered, gasping at what he saw.
The translucent figures of Tonks and Remus were speaking to one another in low tones. Their heads snapped to his when they heard the noise he'd made unintentionally.
They all stared at each other for a moment. "Wha-... How is this possible?" Remus asked with a horrified expression on his face. "You too? I thought we were the only ones."
Fred moved closer to them, not quite believing what he was seeing.
"I thought I was the only one as well mate. Blimey!" Fred said "How long have you two been in here?"
"We're not entirely sure." Tonks answered. "Do you know what month it is?"
"It's February, 1999." Fred said
"Oh thank Merlin." Tonks sighed, relieved. "There's been a stack of Daily Prophets piling up in here. We read them all, searching for news about the war, but we weren't sure whether they were current or accurate or anything. We did win, then? He-who-should-not-be-named...?"
"Gone," finished Fred.
Both Tonks and Remus looked as though a huge weight had been lifted off their shoulders.
"Then it was worth it," Tonks muttered.
"Let's all sit down." Remus summoned several translucent chairs towards them. He noticed Fred's surprised reaction. "This room is equipped for the needs of ghosts."
"Remus! How can you be so calm?!" Tonks was still standing. "This changes everything. Our theory obviously doesn't make sense if Fred's a ghost as well. Fred, this is important. Did you choose to become a ghost?
"Of course not."
"Have you seen any others?"
"No. You're the first I've come across. Why should there be others of us? What happened?"
"Well now we don't know. Remus and I thought maybe because of.." Tonks stammered a bit as she spoke, "maybe because of Teddy we were supposed to be here for him but..." She trailed off.
"Clearly there is something more going on here," Remus finished.
"What could have possibly linked the three of us? Neither of you cast the specter spells either?"
They both replied at the same time. "No."
"Well, if you two are supposed to be here for Teddy, maybe I'm supposed to be here for someone too. Maybe George... Have you visited Teddy?
"No. We have been trying to decide the least disturbing way. Have you seen George?"
"Hermione won't let me. She's probably right. He wouldn't be able to move on."
Remus perked up at this. "You're in contact with Hermione? What does she think?"
"Well, we didn't really have any reason to believe anything too unusual was going on. She told me to try to occupy myself, which lately has been more challenging without my twin. Pranks aren't as fun when you're doing them alone."
"You know, Hermione could actually help us. She hasn't been doing much research regarding this, I'm sure, as she didn't know there were others. Maybe if she knew we existed as well she could help us!" Remus said excitedly
Tonks piped up. "Remus doesn't want to go to the library himself. He's afraid he'll see someone he knows and be embarrassed."
"It's not just that Tonks. We aren't supposed to be here. Do you realize how disturbing that might be for some of the students and professors?'
"I've already disturbed plenty of students" Fred said. "But just by dropping dung bombs on them and stuff like that. Hermione is the only one who really knows about me."
"That was wise, Fred. You chose your confidant well."
"Well, shall I go and see if she's in?" Fred said, standing.
"How would you do that? Where is she?" Tonks asked
"She lives in the castle. She's a professor now." Fred stated. "I'll go and see if she's in her apartments. I think she'd want to know about this as soon as possible."
Fred moved hastily through the halls of the school to Hermione's chambers. When he reached her door he floated through the door, scanning the room. His eyes immediately stopped when it spotted a splash of bright red hair. His brother George was bent over, grasping Hermione's hair tightly in his hand while snogging her soundly. Fred's hands flew up to his mouth to stifle a cry.
HPOV
Hermione moved to momentarily look up at George's face when she spotted Fred standing in the doorway. Her eyes widened in shock. Fred held a finger to his lips. He then gestured to her bedroom and moved in that direction himself. He heard her say "I need to-to erm make sure I have the right books laid out for class tomorrow. Just wait a minute."
Hermione threw herself into her bedroom and shut the door behind her.
"What's going on?" Hermione hissed, moving towards Fred.
"I could ask you the same thing. Since when are you snogging my brother?"
"Since now. I'm assuming that's not why you're here. What did you need, Fred?"
"I'm not done talking to you about that but this is more pressing. There are others."
"Other what?" She asked, confused.
"Other ghosts. Remus and Tonks to be exact."
Her face paled at that, she was clearly disturbed. Hermione crossed over and plopped down onto her bed.
"Really? You saw them? Merlin! What does this mean?" She placed her hands over her face.
"We were hoping you could help us figure that out. I ran across them when I went into the room of requirement to occupy myself. Neither of them cast the specter spell either so that means something else caused this. You've never come across anything like this in any of your books?"
"No but I can't say that I've done much reading in regards to ghosts. I'll have to start looking into this immediately. I didn't see anything related to ghosts in the restricted section when I was going through the books over break. I might have to make a trip to Flourish and Blotts." She began pacing back and forth across the floor, deep in thought. How could there possibly be more than one ghost involved in all of this? Had someone from the light cast it as a preservation method?
Her musings were interrupted.
"Hermione? You all right in there?" George called from the other room. Hermione panicked. How was she going to manage this?
"Please, can I come see him?" Fred pleaded, reaching out to stop her pacing.
"Fred, now is not the time for that. I think I need to break it to him more gently. Can you imagine how he'd react to seeing you without any warning?" She grabbed her hair in frustration just thinking about George's reaction to seeing his deceased brother. Likely that interaction would not go well.
"Just like I reacted to seeing the two of you snogging? The first time I see my brother since I died, and he's entwined with the girl I- the only person I can talk to. There's no good way to do it. Let's just get it over with."
"Fred. Please. He's so stressed right now with everything you'll just overload him!" She pleaded
"You're just afraid he'll stop spending so much time with you once he knows I'm alive. Sort of. That's the real reason you keep putting it off." Hermione's eyes snapped to his. She looked like she had been slapped.
"That's not fair Fred. You know I've only got his interests at heart."
"Clearly." He spat. "Hermione, you don't understand what it's like to have a twin. You never will." Fred looked like he might cry. "I'll go tell Tonks and Remus you're too busy to talk to them today. You have more important things to do. We'll see you tomorrow."
"Wait!" She shouted, but it was too late.
He rushed past her, brushing her shoulder, sending a deep chill that seeped into her shoulder blade. She furiously rubbed the spot, following. Before Hermione could even process what was about to happen, she heard a loud cry from her sitting room. She began moving towards the sound, worried about what lay ahead of her.
"Gred it's me!" She heard Fred's voice booming loudly from across the hall. He hasn't sounded this excited or happy in months.
"What in Merlin's name is going on?" George asked frantically.
Hermione entered the room to see the two brothers staring at one another, shocked by what they saw. Fred and George stood still for a moment, fully taking in each other's presence. She didn't know whether to make her presence known or not so she hung in the doorway observing the strange sight before her. She had never seen George look the way he did now. It was a combination of terror, disbelief, concern, and ecstasy.
"We haven't sorted that out yet. What the bloody hell's happened to your hair? It's far too long! We couldn't even pass for each other anymore!" An awkward silence followed this statement.
"Well mate, I think there are some other things that would set us apart before the hair. What do you mean we." George asked, finally noticing Hermione in the doorway. "You knew about him?"
"Yes only I wasn't entirely sure how to tell you. I didn't want to alarm you. You've been so busy setting up the new shop and as Fred said, we don't really know why this has happened." Hermione said. She nervously played with the sleeve of her robe. George was clearly very upset with her and she didn't know how to handle that.
"Hermione. This is my brother. How could you have kept this from me?" George shouted.
"She's been telling me for months that I would get to tell you soon but kept insisting it wasn't a good time." Fred accused.
"How is this even possible?!" George shouted gesturing wildly at Fred's ghostly figure. He threw himself onto Hermione's couch and covered his eyes. "You're supposed to be dead. I thought I'd never see you again."
Hermione moved to his side and placed an arm around his shuddering shoulders. She hadn't seen him break down like this in months. He quickly shrugged her arm off and distanced himself from her.
"Don't. I don't know what to think about all of this right now. I need some space. I can't believe you've been lying to me all this time." He sighed loudly, clearly unable to process it all. "I'm sorry Fred. I promise I'll be back to see you soon. I need to go think about all of this." He quickly got off of the couch and left Hermione's quarters.
Fred and Hermione looked at one another silently. Hermione felt terrible. George was mad at her and Fred was likely to be devastated by this encounter. His brother hadn't responded positively at all. A few stray silvery tears slipped down Fred's face.
"Well that's not how I pictured our reunion." He sighed loudly and wiped his eyes with the back on his hand.
Hermione knew better than to say I told you so.
"I'm sorry."
