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"Everything is almost complete. The colony is going to start moving further into the forest, towards the new expanded territory, soon. Do you think you will stay and continue working to oversee the lab?" Firenze asked Hermione, as they stood at the edge of the clearing, watching as the workers put the finishing touches on the building.
Hermione shook her head slowly, staring past the building, unfocused. "I don't think so, Firenze. By the way, thank you, for making sure that no reporters could get in here."
Firenze watched her out of the corner of his eye as he nodded. "Of course, I can only imagine what you had to go through that night. I took special precautions to make sure Rita Skeeter couldn't get in, in any of her forms."
That earned a smile from her and she quietly laughed. Firenze started walking towards the lab, before turning to look at her, putting his hands behind his back. "If I may speak freely, Miss Granger?"
"Please, call me Hermione, and of course you can speak freely."
"Very well, Hermione, I know that your time at school with Mr. Malfoy was difficult. But to hear that you were working so closely with him, I knew that he must have proved himself worthy of your time. Spending the brief amount of time that I did with the two of you, I could see that he's changed a great deal. But the upbringing he had, it can't be changed overnight, though it did seem like he was trying. Just something to think about."
Hermione nodded as he turned and walked away, his words reminding her of Draco's that night in his office. She let out a sigh and turned to leave the construction site, deciding to head home after a long day. There was only a little less than a week before everything would be complete, and it had been a week since the ball.
She smiled tiredly as she stepped into The Three Broomsticks, Madame Rosmerta lifted a glass and pointed at it, silently asking if she wanted a drink. She shook her head in a "I think I'll just head on home tonight" manner.
The owners of Flourish and Blotts had been kind enough to grant her permission to use their floo as well, so she had been able to use the floo direct from their shop to the pub, and not have to deal with the press. She was so thankful that so many people were understanding about her wanting to keep out of the public eye.
The Daily Prophet had ran story after story on Fred, Draco and her. The fact that neither her nor Fred had been seen out much since the ball only fueled the fire, she hadn't spoken to him and it seemed like he didn't have anything to say about the matter either. Draco however, he had been out and about with Theo and Blaise all week long. Sometimes Pansy accompanied them, and sometimes it was just him and Narcissa, but the articles that were being written didn't seem to bother him at all. She hadn't seen him since Harry had ushered her out of the ballroom that night. Theo had sent her a few concerned owls, but she hadn't responded to any of them.
She opened the door to her flat, and paused, sensing that something wasn't quite right. She listened for a moment and could hear the low growl of Crookshanks coming from the library. Curious, she opened the door to the library and called out to him, sighing in annoyance when she saw that he had been backed into a corner by Theo's owl. The owl's feathers were ruffled and it was making low hooting noises towards him.
She shook her head, walking over to pick him up and shoo him out of the library, before looking apologetically at the owl who had smoothed its feathers back down and held its leg out to her with a letter attached. She took it and gave it a treat from the jar that she had put in the library, since that was normally where she was when an owl came for her. She opened the letter and frowned, it was from Theo again.
Hermione-
You can't hide forever. I made reservations for us to have lunch tomorrow at 11:30 at the tea shop. If you don't show, I will come and drag you out of your flat and force you. Just you and me, I promise.
Theo
P.S. Tell Crookshanks to stop pestering Sybil, she keeps losing feathers every time I send her to you.
Hermione sighed and set the letter down, leaving the library and going to her room. Harry and Ginny had come by on a few occasions to try and cheer her up, Ron and even Padma had stopped by with them once. But besides going to work, she hadn't left her flat for anything else.
Theo was right, she couldn't hide forever.
She made her way through the crowded tea shop towards Theo, who was seated in a booth against the main window. She had been thankful that there had been no reporters outside of her flat, but as she made the short walk to the tea shop she had caught the attention of many people passing by. As she sat down across from Theo she could see that there were at least five reporters with cameras trying to get a good shot of her through the window.
"Welcome back to the land of the living." Theo greeted.
She rolled her eyes at him and gave a short laugh. "Thanks for the discreet seating arrangement. I've been working Theo, just because I haven't been out and about in Diagon Alley doesn't mean I haven't left my flat."
"But you haven't, have you?" He asked her with an amused look on his face.
She frowned at him as she smoothed out her white blouse that was tucked into a black pencil skirt, and tucked her hair behind her ears, ignoring that it fell back around her face on one side. Taking a sip of her tea, she leaned back and asked Theo the question that had been on her mind all week. "How is he?"
Theo shifted uncomfortably and shrugged his shoulders. "He's ok I suppose. Drowning himself in work and…"
"And?" Hermione prodded.
When Theo didn't answer her, she looked up at him, only to find that he was staring heatedly towards the entrance. She looked at him with a confused look on her face and turned around to see what he was looking at. As soon as she had though, she wish she hadn't.
Draco had just walked in, and on his arm was Astoria. Hermione spun back around in her seat and glared at Theo.
He put his hands up in defense and shook his head. "I swear I didn't know, I wouldn't have asked you to come here if I had."
She started rubbing her temples, trying to figure out a way to leave the restaurant without them seeing her. But hearing Theo utter a quiet curse word under his breath had her believing that they had already been spotted. She looked up through her hands at Theo who was shaking his head towards who she assumed was Draco. She froze when she heard his voice behind her.
"Well look who we have here, finally decided to come out of your flat? Would be nice to get an update on how the lab is coming along, since you've decided to not check in at work."
His words made her angry and she felt her cheeks growing hot. She looked up at him, fiery amber meeting icy grey, and frowned. "I've been at the lab every single day and it's coming along just fine. It will be done within the week."
"I better not find out that Weasley has been anywhere near it. I'm not paying you to play house with him in Hogsmeade while he opens his new shop." Draco spat back at her.
Hermione threw her napkin on the table and stood. "I'm sorry about lunch Theo, it seems I've lost my appetite."
She moved to leave, annoyed when Draco wouldn't get out of her way. She glared at him, and then glared past his shoulder at Astoria who was watching the whole thing from her seat looking mildly amused. "Excuse me, Mr. Malfoy, but I have work to attend to now. So if you could kindly get out of my way."
Draco held her gaze for a few moments before slowly stepping to the side. She brushed past him and took a few steps before turning back around. "When the lab is complete, Theo, I will be by the office to hand off everything and make sure all of the papers are taken care of. Consider this my resignation, I don't wish to further my employment with your company."
She had addressed Theo but was looking straight at Draco. Once she was gone, he rolled his eyes as Astoria began waving at him to come back to their table.
"Why are you even here?" Theo said.
Draco looked at him and narrowed his eyes. "Because you conveniently left your schedule open on your desk this morning."
Theo glared back at him. "You are an idiot, that was not an invitation to come argue."
Draco looked out the window to where Hermione was trying to battle her way past the reporters, and his eyes softened a little. As he watched her go, he couldn't help but feel like she was taking a piece of him with her.
Hermione stormed around the bottom floor of the giant lab, mumbling obscenities that regarded a certain blonde ferret. It had been a few hours since her horrible run in with him at the tea shop and she was taking out her frustration out on the lab. She was unpacking things, stocking shelves and taking inventory, when she heard an unexpected knock at the door. She looked up questioningly and frowned a little when she saw that Narcissa was standing there.
"Mrs. Malfoy to what do I owe the pleasure?"
Narcissa stood there, looking at her like she was trying to read her thoughts, finally stepping into the large room. "Draco has told me that you won't be working with him once this is complete."
Hermione went back to unpacking vials into the large cabinet in front of her. "Good news travels fast."
"Look, Miss Granger I'm not sure what happened between you and my Son at the ball, but surely there must be some kind of misunderstanding."
Hermione glared at her over her shoulder, while marking another tally on her sheet of paper. "What does it matter? Draco took the first out he saw and is now parading Astoria all over town. He's where he wants to be, Mrs. Malfoy."
Narcissa frowned and walked all the way over to her. "I didn't take you as a woman who gave up that easily, Miss Granger."
"Why do you care? Surely you must be ecstatic that he's not hanging around with a lowly mudblood such as myself?" Hermione laughed sarcastically.
Narcissa looked taken aback for a moment before her expression turned to one of anger and she slammed her hand down on the table directly behind Hermione, making the younger witch jump. "Now listen here just a minute young lady! Draco has feelings for you, and for whatever reason won't tell me what happened the night of the ball, but whatever it was hasn't changed those feelings. I know that my Husband has done some horrible things towards you and your friends but I assure you, I do not follow the same beliefs, at least not as strictly. I want my Son to be happy whether that's with a pureblood, half blood, or a muggle born such as yourself. You are a very bright and very talented witch, and if you and my Son decide to quit being so stubborn and figure this all out, I would be honored to have you be part of our family one day. For the record, I cannot stand Astoria and will NOT welcome her into my home. Draco hates her, and him parading her around town is only to hurt and upset you just as he is hurt and upset."
Hermione just stared at her silently, not daring to move until she knew Narcissa had finished speaking, the woman could be extremely menacing when she wanted to be. When Narcissa's body relaxed and she regained her posture, smoothing down her hair she nodded with raised eyebrows waiting for Hermione to speak.
"I handled him with as much grace as I knew how, giving him space to cope with whatever it was he was feeling for me. But at the first sign of hardship, he drew up a wall and hid behind it, not giving me a chance or the benefit of the doubt. I know growing up wasn't easy for him, I know because he made my life a living hell every chance he got. But I looked past it all and accepted him and the changed man that he's become. But I can only do so much, and if he's going to act like a stubborn little prat whose blowing everything out of proportion then that is on him, not me." Hermione said.
"My, you two would make quite the pair. Stubborn as mules, both of you. He's a man and he got embarrassed, in front of a lot of people might I add, so of course he's going to blow it out of proportion and stomp around like a child. Just try and speak to him, don't give up on him so easily." Narcissa said, softly.
Hermione frowned and shook her head. "What, I'm supposed to just let him treat me the way he did? You don't think he hurt and embarrassed me?"
"Hermione, do you love my Son?"
Hermione looked completely taken back and stared at her like she was crazy. "Do I what?!"
"It's a simple question, do you love my Son? Because I know he loves you, even though he may not have admitted it to himself yet. I've never seen him look at anything the way he looks at you."
Hermione frowned, as the familiar words that Blaise had said that night at the ball came back to her. About how he had never seen Draco look at anything the way he looked at her. Did Draco love her? Did she love him?
"I think you know your answer." Narcissa said, after a few moments had passed and Hermione hadn't answered her, but instead looked like she was having an internal battle with herself.
She looked up at Narcissa, frowning and shrugging her shoulders. "So you're telling me that I should be the one to suck it up and be the bigger person?"
Narcissa smiled. "I happen to know that he's at home at this very moment."
Hermione shook her head, as she talked to herself while walking up to Draco's flat. Of course she didn't love Draco, they hadn't even been civil to each other long enough for her to fall in love with him.
But it only took two barely civil days to jump into bed with him?
She frowned as her inner voice chided her. She had been drunk, it didn't count in this matter.
You could love him. You may not quite be there now, but you could be. There is no way he's fallen in love with you this fast, it's all obviously on account of sexual tension.
Why sexual tension? Was it because they were like some sort of forbidden fruit to each other? She had nothing on Astoria, she couldn't compete on looks alone.
But Draco loves how smart you are, and how you challenge him. Sure you may not be the prettiest thing on the block but you sure the hell are the smartest, and that makes you all the more attractive.
Hermione stopped in front of the door and frowned. If she could look at her inner voice, the look she would give it would kill. She was hardly horrid looking, after she had learned how to dress herself up properly. Not that there was anything wrong with the way she was before.
Either way, maybe you should just tell him the truth. What could it hurt? If he really does care then you can figure it out, together.
Hermione brought her hand up to knock on the door and braced herself.
5 minutes earlier inside Draco's flat
Draco rolled his eyes as Pansy continued to pace back and forth in front of him, complaining about Blaise.
"If he isn't going to propose then I might as well just move on! I'm not getting any younger, we should be married by now, I should be pregnant right now! Carrying around the Zabini heir!"
"Pans, you're nineteen, I hardly think that counts as old age. You have plenty of time, Blaise wants to focus on his career right now, why is that so hard to understand? It wouldn't kill you to find a career, or pick up a hobby, find something to do with yourself. Why don't you go with Mother on holiday?" He drawled, rubbing his eyes.
Pansy stopped her pacing and looked at him sideways. "Draco, darling what's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong, I just have a lot of work to do. The new lab for St. Mungos is going to be ready soon. There's a lot to be done before we're ready to open, but instead I find myself sitting here listening to you drone on about Blaise."
Pansy sat down on the couch next to him and tucked her knees up and under herself. "Aren't you glad you will finally be rid of Granger?"
He glared at her. "Yes, and things can go back to the way they were before all this bloody Centaur nonsense."
Deep down he was saying no, he wasn't glad to be rid of Hermione. He was still upset over what had happened at the ball, and had admitted to himself that he had been quite harsh on her. He hated the way they had left things in the tea shop. He'd promptly left after that, leaving Theo to deal with Astoria. Theo was none too pleased with him right now. Speaking of not being pleased, where was Blaise? He needed to come get Pansy out of his hair.
He looked up for a moment thinking he heard a knock at the door. He didn't realize that Pansy was giving him a sultry look, moving closer to him, slowly. "Sometimes I wish that things went back to the way they were before the war, back when we used to have fun in Hogwarts."
He hadn't heard a word she said but when it doubt, just agree with a woman. "Yea, sure Pans."
She smiled widely and reached over to brush his knee with her hand. He looked away from the entrance into the living room, where he was seated with Pansy, and looked down at his knee before moving his eyes up towards her with a frown on his face.
"Do you really want me to go with Narcissa on holiday?" She purred at him.
He was distracted by what he thought were voices coming from the front hall but continued to frown at her, pushing her hand away from his knee. "Pansy, knock it off. There isn't anything between us anymore, you know that."
"But think of how good we could be together, Draco. I'm sure I could make you happier than Astoria ever could."
He was about to respond when she grabbed his face and kissed him. For being a girl, she was a hell of a lot stronger than she looked. He grabbed her upper arms to push her away but she only took it as encouragement and tried to deepen the kiss. She loosened her hold on him after a few moments and he pushed her away, jumping up from his place on the couch.
"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?! You've been with Blaise for over a year, before the war even got serious again, he's one of my best mates I would never betray him like that! You're damn lucky you're a good friend too, I have half a mind to tell Blaise what you've just done!"
"You were practically begging me to!" Pansy shouted back at him.
He shook his head at her and squinted his eyes. "Are you delusional, Pansy? Get out! Go home to Blaise and figure your shit out. I'm going to pretend like this never happened."
He watched as tears welled up in her eyes and she flushed red in embarrassment. She turned towards his floo and in a flash of green she was gone. He shook his head and wiped his mouth on his sleeve, turning and calling Missy into the room. When the small house elf appeared, she looked upset.
"Was that someone at the door I heard, Missy?" He asked her.
She looked down and wrung her hands in front of her small body. Draco raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to answer.
"Yes Sir, it was...well…oh Missy should have never let Misses in. I'm so sorry, Sir." She cried.
He looked around, confused. "Let who in? Is there someone here?"
Missy shook her head no and wiped at her eyes. "No, she left, Sir."
"Who? Who left?"
"Misses Hermione, Sir. She saw you and Misses Pansy, and she ran away."
Hermione outside Draco's door
Hermione smiled as Missy opened the door. "Hello, Missy. How are you?"
The house elf smiled back, excited to see her, then her ears drooped and she peeked behind her towards the living room.
"Missy is good, Misses Hermione. Sir is not available to speak at the moment. He has company right now, although Missy would much rather Misses Hermione be the company that Sir keeps."
Hermione gave a small smile and nodded her head. She was sure it was Astoria that was the company that Missy was speaking of. But she found that she didn't care who he was with, she was going to march in there and tell him exactly what had happened at the ball. That she did want to be with him, and that everything was just a huge misunderstanding.
"I won't take long, Missy, I promise. I just need to tell Draco something very quickly." She said, walking past the elf.
Missy grabbed ahold of her sleeve and tried to pull her back. "No Misses, I wouldn't."
When Hermione showed no sign of stopping, dragging the elf with her towards the living room, Missy finally let go of her sleeve with a squeak and ran off towards the kitchen with her head in her hands crying. Hermione had a funny look on her face as she watched the elf run away, and she felt slightly bad for dragging her across the room. She shook her head, turning to continue walking across the flat then froze.
Draco was sitting on the couch, Pansy half way on top of him, and they were locked in a kiss. From where Hermione stood it looked like they were both fully enjoying it. She stood there for a second, tears stinging her eyes, before turning and running out the door.
No, Draco did not care about her, and he certainly wasn't in love with her. Not only taking Astoria out publicly, but snogging Pansy behind closed doors? How could he do that to her? Her aside, how could he do that to Blaise?
All she knew as she ran from his flat, was that she was done. Draco Malfoy hadn't changed, he'd done what it took to get what he wanted, and she had stupidly fallen for it.
An hour later found Hermione sitting in the pub, at the bar, with a glass of fire whiskey. It was her second glass, and Tom was watching her from the end of the bar, worried at what had brought her there so early in the day. She was muttering to herself about what a fool she was, and certainly not paying attention to anything going on around her. So when a certain red haired man walked up, she didn't notice him until he sat next to her and pulled her glass away from her.
"Whatcha doin?"
She turned and glared at him, grabbing her glass back and drinking the rest of it in one gulp. "What's it to you, Fred?"
"Whoa there, Hermione. What's got your knickers in a twist?" He motioned for Tom to bring them another round.
She sat silent for a few moments, while Tom poured their drinks, and then she sighed and dropped her head onto her arms on the bar top while mumbling something Fred couldn't understand.
He picked up the hair that was falling over her face. "What was that?"
She lifted her head and stared straight ahead. "I said, if I am supposed to be the brightest witch of our age, then how in Merlin's beard did I fall for Draco Malfoy's crap?"
A look of understanding passed over Fred's face, so that's why she was here. He had already been there with Lee and another friend when she walked in earlier. He had watched as she ordered a drink and sat at the bar by herself, looking utterly lost. He couldn't remember a time when he had ever seen her look so upset.
"What did the ferret do?" He asked.
She threw her hands up, almost knocking over her drink, and started ranting. "What doesn't he do? He doesn't care, that's what he doesn't do. He played me, he got me to come back and do this job for him, and now it's done and he has no need for me anymore. He starts running around with not one but two girls, I mean he doesn't even bother to hide it!"
Fred's eyes darkened and he tossed back his drink before signaling to Tom to get them another round. Tom's eyes flickered to Hermione worriedly and Fred winked at him. "One more round and we will get outta your hair, Tom."
Tom sighed and poured them another round, before taking the money from Fred and walking away. Fred looked back to Hermione and waggled his eyebrows. "Don't say I didn't tell you I would be the obvious better choice. I mean really, Hermione, what did you expect from him?"
"I expected better, you don't know what he was like, Fred. While we were in Australia it was like he was a completely different person, okay not a completely different person. But he had definitely changed, and now I don't know if any of it was real, if Theo and Blaise being nice to me were just part of the plan. It makes me sick to my stomach, Fred. How could I be so stupid?" She turned to look at him, and he couldn't help but notice how absolutely beautiful she looked in that moment.
He sighed and nodded towards the two drinks she had sitting in front of her. "I think the only thing that's going to make you sick to your stomach is if you finish those drinks."
She looked down at the untouched glasses and nudged one over to him. They both threw it back and she laid her head back down in her arms.
"Nu uh, Hermione, let's get you outta here. C'mon, I'll take you home." Fred said, pulling her off her bar stool and towards the door.
"I don't want to go home! I don't have a home, Fred. It belongs to him, it's in his name. I haven't given him the money for it yet. I don't even want it anymore, do you know he put a library in it? You would think that was so thoughtful, but noooooo, just all part of his plan." Hermione prattled.
Fred rolled his eyes, he didn't want to hear her complain about Draco anymore. Everyone had warned her, she hadn't listened, and now she was surprised? "Hermione, do you want me to take you to the Burrow? You know no one will mind you staying there for a little while."
She stopped walking and looked up at him. "I'm sorry, Fred. I'm being horrible company aren't I?"
He laughed and shook his head. "To be fair, I intruded on your self pity party. Say, I have an idea! Why don't you come check out the new shop? It's almost ready to open, right in time for all the kiddies to start at Hogwarts again."
She thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Okay, sure I would love to. I can just go to the lab afterwards then and finish unpacking everything. That way I can be finished with this whole ordeal."
"If you want any help at the lab, I would be more than willing to help out?" He offered, but Hermione shook her head vigorously.
"That would be a horrible idea. If Draco ever found out you were there he would make trouble for you, I'm sure of it."
"Right, well let's go then shall we?" He held his arm out for her to take, then apparated away.
Hermione ran her hands along all of the things that were lining the shelves. She remembered how popular the twins' shop was when they first opened. She sighed, thinking back to that year, her sixth year. She had missed Fred terribly that year, no one to stay up late and have conversations with. Ron was always with Lavender, and Harry was busy tailing Draco everywhere he went, when he wasn't off with Dumbledore somewhere. She had been so lonely that year, even going as far as to write Fred letters during her time alone, but she had never sent them.
She sighed, turning towards the back of the shop where their office was. She started walking towards it to see what was taking Fred so long to grab their newly reinvented patented daydream charm, when she saw that there was an accounting book laying open on the till desk.
She reached for it, scanning over the books, reading the numbers. It seemed that the shop in Diagon Alley was doing quite well, but then she saw something that didn't make sense. She frowned, reaching for the quill that had been laying next to it, and started to redo the numbers so that they read right.
"Hey, sorry it took so long, George forgot to package them up. They were just sitting in the vault, all by their lonesome selves. What are you doing?" Fred said, coming up behind her.
"Your books, they were off right here, see? If they are off for this day then they are going to be off for the rest of this month." She said, pointing to where she was correcting the mistakes.
Fred peered over her shoulder, his body lightly pressed against hers, and nodded. "Yea, I see what you mean. Thank you, that could have been a disaster considering it's only the first week of the month."
He was so close to her that his words came out quiet and his breath tickled her ear. She flushed realizing how close they were, and turned her head towards him, looking at him over her shoulder. "I can keep an eye on them for you if you want? Check them once a week."
She didn't even realize she was whispering, her voice sounded loud in the quiet space between them. His eyes flickered down to her lips, and she wet them unconsciously. He sucked in a breath as he looked back into her eyes.
"You are a bloody brilliant witch, you know that right?" He whispered as he started leaning towards her slowly.
She nodded, and he closed the gap between their lips with a soft chaste kiss. His lips lingered on hers for a few moments, tasting of fire whiskey, until he pulled away slightly.
"I'll take that as a yes then?" He whispered.
She didn't respond, her head still tilted up towards him and her eyes closed. She could have sworn she heard him whisper "fuck it" under his breath before he grabbed her thighs and lifted her onto the desk, stepping in between her legs and bringing his lips down to hers again.
She responded with fervor, as she wrapped her hands in his hair and pulled him closer to her. He had one hand on the back of her head and the other at the small of her back. She pulled back from him after a few seconds, breathing heavily, and locked eyes with his.
"Fred, I don't know if we should do this." She whispered.
"Why the hell not?" He growled, leaning in to catch her lips with his again.
His hands traveled down to pull her shirt out of her skirt, causing her to arch into him when she felt the warm skin of his hands on her bare back. She moaned into his mouth and he thought it was the sweetest sound he'd ever heard. He felt himself growing hard against his pants, and pressed closer into the space between her legs so that she would feel what she was doing to him. He started laying her back on the desk when the door slammed open, causing him to jump away from her as she quickly hopped off of the desk and started straightening her shirt and hair.
They looked towards the door to find a very unamused George standing there. Hermione couldn't even bring herself to meet his hard gaze, but being that as it was, his angry look was all for Fred. Fred lightly chuckled and scratched the back of his head.
"George, what are you doing here? I thought you were closing the shop down tonight?" He asked.
"We were slow, so I closed it down early. The girls are actually on their way here to help us finishing setting up for the opening." George said, his tone that of an angry parent who had just caught their child with their hands in the cookie jar before dinner.
At the mention of the girls, Hermione's breath caught in her throat and she thought back to that day at the Burrow when she had assured Katie that nothing was going on between her and Fred. Feeling awful, she started for the door, not able to look at either of the boys.
"I should be going. I'm sorry, George." She said, awkwardly.
"No, Hermione. There isn't any reason you can't stay." Fred said, moving towards her. But George held out an arm, blocking Fred and nodding to Hermione.
"It's fine, Hermione. We will see you later."
Hermione fled as fast as she could, missing the nasty look Fred was giving George. When the boys heard the door shut, Fred pushed George's arm away from him.
"What the hell was that about?!" He shouted at his brother.
"When are you going to learn your lesson with her?!" George shouted back.
"What is your damn problem with me and Hermione? I like her! I have since our sixth year, you know that! I've never understood what your problem was with that, or what your problem is with her?!" Fred yelled, leaning back on the desk where Hermione had been sitting.
George rounded on him and threw his hands up in the air. "You are such an idiot, Fred! Hermione is like a sister to us! Did you ever think about what would happen if you two were to start up and it ended badly?! The whole family would be forced to choose between you two! Who do you think they would choose? Trust me, not because they'd want to, but out of loyalty. She'd be cast out of the family, the only family she has left! You can't do that to her!"
"First of all, speak for yourself because I certainly do NOT see her as a sister. That's horribly disgusting, seeing as I just had her bent over this desk. Second, you have NO way of knowing what would happen in the future! Is that really why you have been so against it this whole time? Is that why you keep pushing Katie on me? Even if something happened and Hermione and I decided to go our separate ways, do you really think I would have her exiled from the family? I would never do that!"
"You have no way of knowing that, Fred. No way at all, and she will be the one that gets hurt because of it. If you were serious enough about her, then maybe this would all be different, but you aren't. So I'm doing what I have to do, to make sure neither of you get hurt." George's voice softened.
Fred's eyes narrowed as he glared at George. "Why do you think I'm not serious about her?"
George gave him a look that said that answer should have been obvious. "If you were, Fred, you would have made a move in school. You would have gone after her the moment you woke up, you would have fought for her. You sure as hell would never have let Draco Malfoy get his hands on her, and then there's Katie-"
"Don't bring up Katie." Fred growled at him.
George gave him a sad smile and shook his head. "You made the jump with Katie, don't ruin that too."
He stepped forward and put a hand on Fred's shoulder. "The choice is yours Fred, but ultimately, you made your choice the night of the ball."
Fred looked away from his twin, eyes focusing on the open book beside him. "People make the wrong choices all the time, George."
Hermione took deep breaths, as she walked away from the shop and towards the lab, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart down. It had been embarrassing enough for George to walk in on them like that, but then the moment he had brought up Katie, Hermione felt like the worst person in the world.
The girl hadn't even crossed her mind as Fred had kissed her, and if she was being honest, neither had Draco. She felt almost guilty about that, almost. She froze when she heard the familiar voices of Angelina and Katie coming from ahead of her. Ducking into the nearest alley way, sure that they hadn't seen her, she hid in the shadows. As they got closer she could make out what they were saying.
"So you're telling me that you haven't even seen him since the night of the ball?" She heard Angelina ask.
"Not at all, not even a word. I don't even know if I should be here right now Angie, what if he regrets what happened? Maybe I should just give him some space? I don't want to be pushy." Katie said.
Hermione frowned at Katie's words. What had happened that Fred would have regretted?
"You guys slept together, Katie. He wouldn't have done it if he was going to regret it later, George swears he's just slow with all of this relationship stuff. Don't worry, everything will be fine!" Angelina assured.
Hermione felt like her heart was in her throat again, her eyes wide, as the girls' voices faded as they walked farther away. Fred and Katie had slept together the night of the ball? Yet, he had just snogged her in the shop?!
The thought made her feel dirty, and upset all over again. She wrapped her arms around herself and felt tears stinging her eyes, ducking out of the alley way and heading towards the Three Broomsticks, so that she could floo home. Apparating made her feel sick as it was, with the way she felt now she knew she would lose the insides of her stomach if she tried to apparate home.
She had never felt so angry and betrayed in her life. With Draco, it was only a matter of time. But for Fred to do that to her, and to Katie? She never had thought that Fred would be capable of such a thing.
When she finally made it home, she collapsed on her bed, tears finally falling. Crookshanks jumped up and sat next to her, mewling softly while nudging her hand. She pulled him close to her and buried her face in his fur.
"When did I become a blubbering pathetic bint, Crooks?"
He lifted a paw and set it on her mouth, as if to tell her to stop calling herself names. She gently laughed through her tears. It seemed that he was the only man she could count on these days.
Author's Note: See the little option that says favorite? Next to where you're about to leave a review? You should totally click it :) Also, I've come up with an alternate ending to this story, both of which I will be posting! I will finish the story and post its original ending, then I will post the alternate ending and PERHAPS a few more chapters to go along with IT. (Grins evilly) But first I need all the reviews! All the follows! And all the favorites! From all of MY favorites! (That's you guys!)