Part 13:

Fred didn't notice exactly what time Hermione left the Burrow. In fact, he had spent the entire evening doing his very best not to notice her at all. Each time he failed, and his eyes settled briefly on her, his chest would tighten. There was still pain, yes, the helpless feeling of knowing that her heart did not love him. But now there was more. Being in her presence had, surprisingly, had the opposite effect than he had feared. Instead of that dark cloud returning with brute force, it seemed to have been pushed further away. Just being in the same room as Hermione, breathing her air and hearing her voice, had seemed to weave a part of him back together.

He was shocked when, after most everyone had trickled out with shouted goodbyes, to notice Hermione wasn't sitting across the room from him anymore. When had she left? He was sure he would have noticed if she had gone around wishing everyone a good night as normally did. Perhaps she was in the bathroom. He decided to go and check if her coat, the black one with the dark buttons, was still hanging by the door. As nonchalantly as possible, he stood from the couch, careful not to trip over Harry, who, after his third toffee apple, had sprawled across the floor, head in Ginny's lap. George wasn't paying his twin any attention, busy, beating Charlie at chess, and everyone else had left. Ginny's eyes met Fred's, her hand stilling in the middle of stroking the dark haired head in her lap. She raised an eyebrow in question.

"Grabbing some water." He said, quietly.

"Bring me some." Groaned Harry. Fred laughed, once. He moved into the darkened kitchen, not bothering to turn on a light. Her coat was gone. Perhaps he had just missed her, Bill and Fleur had only left a few minutes before, maybe she had snuck out with their exit. He moved towards the window searching the blackness outside. If she left with Bill and Fleur he should still be able to see her walking out past the wards to disapparate. She wasn't there.

"See a shooting star?" Ginny asked, suddenly behind him. Fred jumped, and whirled to face her, trying to stop the blush that was already heating his face.

"What? No. I was…" he trailed off, unsure of what to say. "I thought I saw a gnome. What are you doing in here." Ginny snorted, whether at disbelief at his excuse or at his question he wasn't sure.

"I decided I wanted a drink to." She was pulling a bottle dark with rum from the cabinet.

"You drink too much." Fred noted. There wasn't judgement there, just an observation.

"You don't drink enough." She retorted, spinning the cap between her thumb and middle finger. After pouring her drink and returning the bottle, she walked over to look past him out the window. Fred wasn't quite sure what to do, having been caught red handed in his looking for Hermione. Should he get his water and go back out to George? Should he continue to stand in the darkness and wait for Ginny to say something? Should he say something? Merlin, he was so unsure of everything now. Besides George, he had always been closest to his sister. He felt as if he wanted to tell her everything, just like he had George, but Ginny also had ties and allegiances to Hermione. He didn't want to risk putting her in an uncomfortable decision. Besides, he didn't even want to imagine the look on her face if he ever even hinted at having romantic feelings towards her best friend. He shuddered at the thought. Ginny sighed, taking a sip from the glass in her hand and then said,

"Hermione was telling me something interesting earlier." She said it calmly, like polite conversation. But Fred's heart sped up. He hadn't ever thought that Hermione would talk to Ginny about his strange almost love confession. He wanted to respond, to be as unfazed as she was, but all he could managed was a tight lipped mmh? Ginny continued on, seeming to understand that was as much of a reaction as she was going to get from him.

"Yeah, apparently some guy has been making moves on her…" she paused to take another drink as Fred's heart threatened to break through his rib cage and fall limp to the floor. "Some guy from her work. Has she mentioned anyone to you?" she asked, continuing to stare out into the garden. Now there was a new emotion, a different pain than the one that had surrounded him in the past weeks. This was sharp and slicing, jealousy. Again all he could force out of his mouth was a half strangled sound that resembled the word no.

"Hmm, strange." Ginny commented. "From what she told me, she's real confused over the whole thing. But I'm me, and I can tell she likes him deep down." Again her voice was too calm. Fred felt hot tears at the corners of his eyes as he desperately tried to reason with himself. Just because there was some other guy in Hermione's life didn't mean that it was the end of all hope for him. He wanted Ginny to tell him who this man was. He wanted to beat the shit out of him, to hex him until his toes fell off. Ginny, normally so very perceptive, seemed completely unaware of the inner turmoil of her brother. "What's strangest though," she said, now turning slightly to face him, "was that apparently he is close to Ron." Fred didn't understand why this would be strange. Ron worked at the ministry too, it made sense that they would know the same people. When Fred didn't respond, clearly not grasping what Ginny was saying she rephrased. "I just mean that all of Ron's friends from work are total prats. Like the worst. And Hermione has told me a thousand and one times that she hates all of them." She, after finishing, met his eyes for a long moment, as if trying to communicate some secret message that he didn't understand. Finally, she rolled her eyes. "I just don't think she would change her mind about one of them so suddenly." Dumping the last of rum from her glass into the sink, she rinsed it and filled it with water for Harry.

"Maybe," She said, as she started back towards the living room, "it's not a guy from work...though for the life of me I can't figure out why she would life. Oh well. I guess we'll know when she starts bringing this mystery man around for dinner." She laughed then, and disappeared back into the lighted room. There was something, like puzzle pieces clicking together, slowly coming into focus into his head. And like before, he didn't want to let himself think the thoughts. He didn't want to think that Ginny's words held any secret meaning. He was alone in the kitchen, the tap dripping water into the empty sink. He closed his eyes, listening to the sound of water against metal, trying to control this new, strange hope that was burrowing inside of him. Drip, drip, drip. His heartbeats seemed to slow to the pace of the leaking faucet and with each exhalation of breath, he felt Hermione's name on the edge of his lips.

Author's note: Thank you so much for all the kind reviews and messages I've gotten over the past few weeks. You all make my heart so happy. Also, do you think the next part should be in Fred's head or Hermione's? Let me know in a review of pm!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter...obviously.