I would say I'm back... but then that means I'd have to commit to uploading more than one chapter every blue moon, so let's not push it.

What have I been up to? Not writing, that's for sure... sorry. I have a couple of chapters I wrote a while back for a time like this, but then I never uploaded them, either. I know, I'm a disgrace to the FanFiction community.

Thank you again for your undying support!

~BH

Strength and Progress

Fred couldn't believe what he'd just heard, but at the same time it made perfect sense. I've been awake for a few hours and the girl I love is now as far away from me as physically possible. Typical.

Cursing his luck, he leaned back onto the bed.

"But why now?" Fred tried to extract the demanding tone from his voice. He glanced apologetically at George, who sighed like he was suddenly 30 years older. "Did I do something?"

"It was more of what you didn't do." George replied.

"Is this just me," started Ginny, folding her arms in a way that perfectly mimicked her mother, "Or was whatever you and Hermione were working on something to do with Fred waking up?"

"So I didn't throw the curse off?" Fred asked George, feeling like his little balloon of triumph had just been popped.

"Not entirely." George replied, mentally cursing Ginny for bringing it up. "It was risky. It could have not worked at all."

"What do you mean 'not worked at all' George?" Fred's temper getting the better of him. He felt too tired to argue too much but couldn't help but release his aggression on his twin, who absorbed it like a sponge. George wouldn't take him too seriously.

"Hermione found a potion that could revive you." George started to explain. Fred's mind was almost exploding at the sound of her name. She would do that for me?

"She was lost without you." Harry contributed. "She felt like she couldn't do anything about it and blamed herself for everything."

"Blame herself?" Fred sputtered, baffled. "She didn't get cursed, or hit by a wall... She saved me?"

"With George's help." Ginny added. "And if Harry hadn't actually got her out of her room in the first place she would have never had made amends with George and would never have found the potion."

"Although she borrowed it from the library with your ID so you can pretend you discovered it yourself if you like" George grinned. Fred smiled weakly at him.

"Ginny was the one who really forced her out though." Said Harry affectionately. "You know what she's like".

"Anyway," George continued. "We weren't sure if it would work or not because it was such an old potion- the ingredients were really odd... But yeah. That was what we were working on last weekend, it needed constant supervision."

"So the first time Hermione stays over is when I'm unconscious?" Fred tried to laugh but couldn't help feeling jealous, despite how grateful he was to George, because he wouldn't be alive without him.

"Get over it." George said shortly, losing patience. "We snuck into the hospital last night and gave it to you, but it must have taken a while to take effect, which we didn't know. By the time I'd found out that you were awake, Hermione must have already gone."

"You left her alone?!" Fred almost growled, starting to regret what he said as soon as the words left his lips.

"God damn it Fred!" George yelled. "We both wanted space! She can look after herself! We thought we'd lost you, all our hopes had faded, you had NO IDEA how we felt!"

George paused, and then got off the bed. "I need space right now." He muttered before leaving the room and slamming the door.

Fred stared after him, cursing himself for being so insensitive. He'd apologise later.

I've got to find Hermione.Fred realised, his thoughts on hyperdrive. He had never felt more inferior in his life. Before this accident, Fred and George had never been ill, unless they had encountered an odd side effect of one of their many products. He had never felt weaker than he did now, and the fact that he had to rely on George for news, coffee and decent conversation was almost humiliating. The fact that he was confined to a bed, and the fact that he got cursed in the first place made him feel useless. The fact that he relied so much on Hermione, he had relied on their love, only to have it snatched away from him on what should have been a happy day. He wondered if she still loved him, or if time had driven them apart.

"You can't go find Hermione, Fred." Ginny cut into his thoughts like a rusty spoon, savaging all his woes. "You're not strong enough."

The words hit Fred like a slap to the face. George had never stopped him from doing anything before, ever. Even when everyone else doubted him, George was always the sole person that encouraged him, even if it was something stupid. He could be strong enough.

"I could be strong enough." He echoed his thoughts, frowning. "She needs to know I'm alive".

"We could send an owl or something?" suggested Harry, running a hand through his hair. Fred wondered how it never got greasy, as he tended to rake his scalp at any given moment.

"That won't be quick enough." Fred cut his rambles short, frustrated at everyone. I could be strong enough, he thought.

Before Ginny could snap at him, a healer poked her head around the door.

"Visiting hours are over, I'm afraid." She smiled apologetically, unaware of the argument that would have started if she hadn't entered at that precise moment.

"It's okay, we were just leaving" glowered Ginny with a glare that signified that the argument wasn't over. Ron and Harry glanced at each other awkwardly, wondering how many more unfinished arguments they would witness between them. Fred watched them leave from the discomfort of his hospital bed, a small part of him wishing he'd never woken up.

Not long later, he wolfed down the tasteless hospital dinner he'd been given, endured an awkward yet endearing visit from his mother, who had been granted special permission to visit outside of visiting hours, and had time to plan out his escape.

He was going to find Hermione if it was the last thing he would do.

Hermione wasn't surprised to learn that Neville and Luna were engaged, after they decided to move out here together to conduct their own research on magical creatures and Herbology. She was happy for them. She took another sip of her tea and tried to focus on what they were saying, but her mind was hazy. After her outburst of tears down by the beach, Neville and Luna had taken her to their house, and offered her a place to stay while she decided what she wanted to do. Hermione still hadn't told them why she was there, and Neville hadn't pressed it, knowing that she would when she was ready.

"So how long are you joining us for?" Neville asked, taking her now empty cup into their small kitchen.

"I'm not sure…" replied Hermione, not knowing herself. She was normally the type of person to think a plan through thoroughly before she went ahead and did it, and now she was suffering the consequences, in which she had no idea how to find her parents.

"Well, you're welcome to stay as long as you like!" said Luna, after a long moment in which Hermione had drifted off into her own thoughts and Neville boiled more water.

"Yes, of course" agreed Neville. "And if you ever want anything, just ask."

"There is one thing…" Hermione mentioned quietly, trying to get a grip on her nerves.

Neville returned to the sofa, looking at her, welcoming her to continue talking.

"I'm… looking for my parents." She started, glancing up at them awkwardly. "Before the war I put memory charms on them and sent them here so they would be safe from the fighting. I knew if they were looking for me they would probably harm Mum and Dad to lure Harry, Ron and I to Voldemort." Hermione winced at how she now automatically referred to Voldemort by his proper name, despite the stigma that still surrounded it.

"Australia is a big place…" mused Luna. "Do you know what lives you gave them as such?"

"They're called Wendell and Monica Wilkins, they used to be dentists… I don't know if they're still dentists now though. I wanted to give them some element of choice in their new lives." Hermione rambled, realising that it would be very fortunate if they just happened to be in the same part of the country as Neville and Luna.

"The nearest dentist is about an hour's drive from here, I think." Luna told her, ignoring Neville's look of confusion. "They're muggles who look after teeth." she told Neville, as he remembered that Hermione, despite her intelligence, was actually muggle born. Luna knew quite a bit about the muggle world thanks to the fact that her mother worked in a muggle library to support her crazy experiments. Although she had never been to a dentists, she had researched extensively into any potential living areas for strong signs of nargles, and various other creatures so she could conduct investigations not much different from her mother.

"Is this a muggle area then?" Hermione asked, noting that Luna hadn't mentioned any signs of wizarding transport.

"Primarily, although the Prime Minister is also the Minister for Magic here so they have tried to support both communities." Luna replied.

"We learned to drive anyway— apparating areas are limited because of the muggles, also there's still a lot of wizard prejudice towards them here so they're trying to get people to accept muggle ways in an effort to integrate us." Neville added, surprised as to how much he knew.

"If you want we can have a look tomorrow morning" Luna suggested. "We can always carry on with our work in the afternoon, the beach we're working on is always quiet because it's out of the sun. It's great for the Moon Frogs!" she beamed happily, and Hermione, despite her miserable mood, still had to suppress a snort of laughter at Luna's theories and beliefs.

"Thank you, that sounds like a plan." She smiled, taking note to be more prepared for Luna's oddities, as she didn't have the heart to contradict her.