Whispers in the dark
Chapter 31: The Call
A/N: I own nothing except my mistakes
"Miss Granger?" Hermione hurriedly looked over her shoulder, nearly knocking her bowl of cereal over. It was early in the morning, and yet she hadn't been able to shut an eye.
Only two days ago was Arthur taken into the hospital and had Harry, Ron, Ginny and the twins left off to go ahead and visit him.
"Dumbledore will be ready to await you now," Professor McGonagall spoke, the one to have addressed her. Yesterday was the first time she had gotten to speak to Fred about what was going on, and he had asked her then already to come and visit, but it wasn't exactly as easy as that.
Since it was a regular school week, she couldn't just leave school without any good reason. After all, it wasn't her family that was currently suffering. Yet Fred had insisted and convinced his mother to write to school so they would allow her to come.
And Molly had done so. Writing rather furiously that Hermione was as much of a daughter of the family as Harry and her own children. Apparently that letter had worked out well.
Nodding to Professor McGonagall, she gave her a quick and mumbled "thank you" as she hurried away from the table, leaving her leftover cereal to remain forgotten.
At the moment she was very glad that she had chosen to not first change into her school robes. It was still Friday and she did have classes, but they were a bit later on. Besides, she had been hoping for this kind of news.
Therefore she had already packed a suitcase to bring with her, since Christmas break was commencing tomorrow. She figured there would be a big chance that they'd remain back at Grimmauld Place – Fred had informed her yesterday that that's where they were staying after visiting hours at St. Mungo's – until school would start again.
Having hurried off to the Gryffindor Tower to grab her luggage, she was rather out of breath as she arrived at the two Gargoyles guarding Dumbledore's office.
Only bad thing, however, was that she had forgotten to ask Professor McGonagall what the password would be.
Groaning, she hopelessly looked around to think of a solution, and was almost about to go ahead and run back down all the way to the Great Hall when the spiral staircase began to move and a heavily coated man came prancing down the stairs, his robes sweeping behind him with gushing wind. Never before had she been so grateful to see Professor Snape.
He couldn't exactly return that favour as he abruptly halted upon seeing her. For a moment Hermione was convinced that he'd tumble over his own feet at the sudden stop, but he didn't. In fact, it looked like it was all planned out.
"Miss Granger, what are you doing here?" He spoke lowly, a cold tone lingering to his syllables.
Clearing her throat, she nodded to the ceiling where Dumbledore's office would be. "Professor McGonagall said that Professor Dumbledore would be awaiting me, sir," Hermione stumbled, then regained her senses as she spoke more clearly. "I was only left without a password," she finished.
Professor Snape looked at her with an unreadable expression, though it was not even close to becoming a positive one. Without saying a single word he took a sharp step to the right to grand her access to the stairs, and only did he move when she was all the way up.
Knocking on a door that had already been left ajar, she waited for his greeting before she'd push it open wider.
"Professor McGonagall told me to come and see you, sir," Hermione greeted, holding the suitcase strongly in one hand upon approaching his desk.
"Yes, yes, I see you've packed already," Dumbledore spoke, peeking over his half-moon spectacles as he propped a smile.
Hermione smiled sheepishly. "Do forgive my boldness, Professor, I just assumed that I had gotten the clear to go ahead and visit," she explained.
Dumbledore cocked her an intrigued eyebrow as he looked her over. "So you've heard about it already then?" He spoke in surprise.
Biting her lip, she had completely forgotten how odd it might struck him, considering she didn't have any direct bonds with the Weasley family. As far as he was concerned, at least. "Yes, sir. I was owled yesterday." She lied, though knew it was futile. Hermione absolutely sucked at lying, and that was only confirmed more when Dumbledore's eyebrows popped up in surprise.
"I see," he spoke vaguely, then nodded to the fireplace behind her. "Arthur is lucky to be alive, Miss Granger. Yet, may I add, only barely." Dumbledore began explaining, but then lightly shook his head, as if scolding himself. "I suppose I should let the family explain further," he concluded and rose from his chair.
His long purple robes flayed behind him as he walked around his majestic desk, approaching her and the fireplace, taking the smallest of a pot off it and handing it to her. "I'm quite certain that you know where to go, don't you, Miss Granger?"
Hermione nodded vigorously as she placed her suitcase into the fireplace first. "Thank you, Professor," she said, and watched as he nodded before stepping in as well and taking some of the floo powder out of the small pot he was holding.
Taking a firm grip on her luggage, she popped one tiny smile at Dumbledore before clearly enunciating "Grimmauld Place 12" and felt the nauseating tugging on her body as she was forcefully removed from Hogwarts and dropped back at Grimmauld Place in a heartbeat.
Upon leaving Hogwarts Hermione had already embraced herself for the gloomy setting that she would arrive in, and yet, as she left the fireplace and quietly dropped her luggage next by her side, she wasn't prepared for such silence in the house. Even the twins weren't there to joke around.
Mind you, it was late enough to all be awake, and she knew they were as she heard clinging sounds coming from the room next door, and yet no one spoke a word.
Taking a few careful steps closer to the kitchen door, she took a deep breath before gently pushing it open, welcoming the sight of the Weasley's sitting at the dinner table, Harry being the only odd one out.
Upon seeing her, Molly was the first to rush to her side, dropping her dirty dishes into the sink before going over to her. "Hermione dear, I'm so sorry we weren't there to welcome you. If I had known you'd be here so soon we'd have been ready," was the first thing she said, and Hermione couldn't feel but like feel her heart break and grow warm all at the same time.
Here she was, having her husband in fatal conditions in the hospital, needing to try and put on a good face for her children – being this close Hermione could see the red eyes the woman was carrying – and also welcomed Hermione back as if it was just any other regular day.
Feeling like she had to give her a sign of appreciation Hermione pulled Molly into a firm hug, catching the woman a bit off guard before she composed herself. "I'm so sorry to hear about Arthur, Molly." Hermione spoke gently as she let the woman go.
Molly gave her a half-hearted smile as she turned to go back to her dishes. Hermione had a feeling that she only did that to refrain from her eyes, that had become very watery, to spill over.
"Thank you, dear. I'm very pleased to say that he's stable now," Molly spoke, though her voice was slightly shaky.
Letting her eyes roam around the room some more, she saw Harry sulking away over his untouched toast, almost a look of guilt ridden on his face. Hermione hadn't gotten much detail about how Harry knew that Arthur had been attacked yet, but she had figured it must have been to do something with You-Know-Who, having heard from Ron that his nightmares had become more intense lately. Perhaps he somehow blamed himself, thinking he might have been the one to get Arthur into the hospital.
"I still don't understand why we can't come and see him, mom," Ginny spoke, the small witch carrying the same red eyes as her mother did. It wasn't often that someone would catch Ginny in a state of weakness.
"I told you, Ginny, dad needs a day of rest to speed up his recovery," Molly calmly explained, though her words sounded rather strenuous.
Ron, who always had the biggest appetite of the lot, was sporting an untouched plate for the first time since knowing him. He only just managed to meet her eye and shoot a strained smile.
And then there were Fred and George.
George was occupying himself with scratching the end of the wooden table with his nail, almost entranced by the continuous motion as a deep worry line formed on his forehead from concentrating so hard.
Fred, on the other hand, was firmly looking at her, his eyebrows sunken and only a ghost of a smile present on his face.
You knew things were wrong when the twins were silent. Clearly, and understandably, this whole ordeal had them all shaken up. To such a state that not even the twins could bring some light in the darkness. Not yet, for now, at least.
Hermione had been feeling rather hesitant ever since he had asked her to come to Grimmauld Place, saying he would like her there. Since the attack on Arthur had happened the same night as Fred and Hermione had kissed, they hadn't had gotten a chance to talk about the kiss yet. It was the least of their worries right now.
And yet, Hermione couldn't help but think back to it as she looked him over, his hair still ruffled from sleeping. He had had the decency to already put on some clothes, unlike his other siblings, but she could see there hadn't been put much thought into it. In fact, she could have sworn that his shirt was turned the wrong way around.
Clearly Fred longed for her presence enough to make his mother owl to school, and yet, right now, she felt petrified as she was rooted to her spot, even though everything inside of her screamed to go ahead and move towards him.
It must have been his entire family being around them that had stripped her of her bravery, until she reminded herself that bravery is exactly what she was sorted into Gryffindor for. And she was a proud Gryffindor indeed.
With that motivating thought she approached Fred, trying to push away the awkward thought of what would happen if he would just remain seated and let her stand there. You see, there weren't any free spots around him. Next to him were both Ginny and George, and opposite them were Ron and Harry. Thus the only free spots would be the ones she had already passed.
Yet, she had not need to fear as he moved his chair back as soon as she began to walk, the scraping of the legs on the stone floor being the only one to fill the room with some sound. That motion even made some heads turn, but Hermione paid it no mind as she took one last look at Fred's face, for the first time wishing that the twins would be back at their pranks just so they could carry those glorious grins of them. Ones that were nowhere to be found right now.
Taking him tightly into her arms, she let out a soft breath of satisfaction as she felt a bundle of shirt tighten around her fingers, the strong smell of gun powder and wood overpowering her nostrils, the scent slowly beginning to familiarize itself for her.
Hearing his breath hitch slightly clear as day before soothing off into an easy rhythm got her clasping on a bit tighter before releasing again, but not all the way.
They probably remained in an embrace for longer than would be considered normal, but Hermione didn't have the heart to care about that at the moment. In fact, she had completely forgotten about anyone else's existence as soon as she had wrapped her arms around Fred, that she was mildly surprised to now see every head turned to the two of them as Fred finally let her go, her having waited until he would, figuring he really needed that emotional support to hold on for this long.
Even Molly had her eyes peeked at them, though didn't make a point of showing it, curiously glancing before turning her head away. Clearly she had expected her to embrace anyone else in the family except for the twins.
"Walk with me?" Fred lowly asked as he brought his head close to her ear, speaking so soft that only she could only pick out his words even though to her it sounded like regular speech.
Hermione nodded, and then felt his arm – that had previously been wrapped sideways around her waist after letting go of the hug – slowly drape down her back until it disappeared completely.
Being the first to leave the kitchen, she waited with bated breath for Fred to excuse himself and leave to the living room to join her on the couch.
For a while they sat there, in complete silence, and not even a single limb touching one another. And yet his chest rose and fell evenly, signalling that he didn't mind the quietness. In fact, he took a big breather in before slowly letting it all out in an exceptionally long exhale.
"You must think I'm a walloping weeper," Fred spoke softly, his voice cracking slightly after not having spoken for so long.
Hermione turned her head incredulously at him, scooting over at him slightly in the process of it. Though that was more subconscious than she had actually meant to. Not that she minded, however.
"Believe it or not, it's completely understandable to have feelings. Especially after what happened," Hermione spoke gently, hoping that he wouldn't feel ashamed of feeling this way and therefore perhaps shutting her out. She needed for him to spill it out so he could feel better again.
Fred popped her a lopsided smile, though it only just barely reached his eyes.
Again the silence returned, Hermione not quite certain whether to break it with uplifting words or not. Then again, she still didn't exactly know what had happened, so how could she even comfort him right now?
"I have never felt so scared in my life before," Fred admitted, though rather rushed through his words as if wanted to get the emotions over with. Then again, Fred had always been the less sentimental one of the entire family. Especially compared to Ron.
Hermione nodded understandably, hoping that if she kept silent that he would keep on talking. And luckily he did.
"When I was called awake by Professor McGonagall and was told what Harry knew, I just couldn't believe it, y'know?" He spoke lowly, his eyes gazing off into the distance as his eyebrows furrowed firmly together.
"That was, until I arrived in St. Mungo's and saw more bandage than my father," at this his words died out a bit. "I mean, who would want to hurt him, y'know?" He finished, completely mumbling the last words. Never having felt so grateful for their charm before, however, she heard him just fine.
"Would you mind telling me what happened?" Hermione asked carefully.
Fred slowly turned to look at her, his eyes drifting from hers to lower down her face before slowly lifting up again. His eyes almost began to gleam in such a way they always would before he would tell a joke, but she could see he hadn't had it in him right now. Perhaps tomorrow, but not today.
Instead he just heaved a sigh as he eased up on the frown on his forehead, letting it relax a little bit, explaining to her about all that Harry had seen and what had happened after they had left Hogwarts and had went up to the hospital to go ahead and visit him.
And all that Hermione felt was right was to simply nod and listen, knowing that pressuring him to talk about his feelings would only shut him up. Fred hated feelings that weren't positive, especially when they were his own. She could hear it in the bitterness whenever he spoke about what he felt. As if anything other than a joke was a crime.
Yet, even though he didn't voice it, she was glad to have come here, and that he was too. Though she might not talk him through it, she could at the very least listen and slowly move her hand towards his arms. Careful at first, tracing just a single finger up and down, nearing his hand before retreating quickly again. Then slowly, add more fingers until at last an entire palm was pressed softly against his forearm, until she then reached down and grabbed his hand, experiencing the calloused hands from all the work he had put into making his products.
And perhaps, that right there, was all that she needed to do to keep Fred happy. Just to be there and give him some material to tease her the living heck with after he would feel all right again. And for once, she didn't mind so much. She'd be glad to do about anything right now just to see him smile again.