Whispers in the dark
Chapter 38: Away with the fairies
A/N: I own nothing except my mistakes. Also, sorry for the incredibly long wait! School has just started again, and it took a bit of time for me to get back into the flow of things. Anyway, it's really amazing to read your enthusiastic reviews on this story, so thank you so much for writing them!
"Could you pass me the butter, please?" Hermione asked Ginny, the latter lazily looking up from her own piece of toast, clearly needing a moment to process what she had just asked before reaching for the butter herself and handing it to Hermione.
Smiling, she thanked the little witch as she buttered her own toast.
Weekend had finally enrolled, and yet they all hadn't gotten the long sleep-in that they may have wanted at Gryffindor, due to two mischief makers who claimed to have 'accidentally' lit an entire box of their firework stockage.
Speaking of which, those two were deeply conversing with Lee Jordan. Usually it wouldn't be the worst of things, besides them being a little too energetic for this time in the morning perhaps, but other than that it would have been fine.
Except that Fred was sitting right next to her. Now, that wasn't anything unusual either. Ever since their failed prank on her he had become closer to her and had sat next to her the more time passed, and especially now that they were in a relationship. Yet, since the three of them were so energetically conversing, Fred liked to use his limbs as extra measurement of expressing his excitement whenever talking about something they liked, and therefore she would be elbowed more times than she would have liked.
"Bloody hell, Fred, could you jab a little harder, maybe?" Hermione huffed sarcastically as she dropped her knife when he elbowed her exceptionally hard. It was almost beginning to feel like he was doing it on purpose.
"Now that," Ginny began, her long red hair falling gently around her face, "is a sentence I did not want to hear," the girl finished.
Hermione looked incredulously at her, taking in the quirky smile, her eyes scrunching together in almost the same mischievous way as her twin brothers. "Ginny!" Hermione exclaimed, but it was enough to get Fred's attention as he turned to her.
"Is it hot in here? Or is it just you?" Fred flirted, his eyes trailing up and down her face as he cocked a smug smirk. "Not doing that bloody thing again, are you?" Hermione groaned a little, though felt rather captivated by his glance.
He had a way of doing that – managing to catch your eyes and never being able to take them off again.
"You're on my list of things to do tonight," He countered, rather cheekily, though Hermione couldn't help but wince.
George erupted in laughter behind his brother, "As long as it's not in the bed next to mine," he piped in, making Hermione feel very hot and heavy in the face.
"I'm eating!" Ginny exclaimed in disgust, throwing a cherry tomato at both George and Fred, who managed to dodge them with a smile.
At this Hermione felt an arm gently snake around her back, but as she looked to her side she saw that Fred had already turned back to look at George and Lee Jordan to continue his conversation, all the while as he gently circled his hand around on her back.
It felt rather gentle, and so unlike how Hermione knew Fred to be on a daily basis. Sometimes it felt even so out of character for her, to see the sweet side of him, because over the past five years of knowing him, she had only known him as the jokester. It truly was still a bit unsettling sometimes to know he had a soft side. Even though he did like to use that as his advantage whenever he saw an opportunity to publicly tease her with it.
If there was one thing Hermione learned quick enough about Fred, is that he didn't like to get all sappy and romantic without reason. Sure, he'd display affection, but he preferred it to be light-hearted and flirtatious. Preferably with an audience. Because that's how he has always communicated – with an audience. If not strangers, then with his own twin brother.
Therefore, she also knew that whenever he would publicly do a romantic gesture, however big or small, wasn't just to tease her with it (although it was a big bonus) or because he 'wouldn't actually mean it' or anything like that. It was just an easier way for him to still be affectionate, but to not feel awkward about it. To not make it a bigger deal than it had to be sometimes.
In a way that was completely in contrast with Hermione. With private things like that she preferred to just keep it to her and Fred when no one could see. To her, it was actually awkward to display it in public, although she had gotten better at that already.
"What d'you say," Ginny spoke, ripping Hermione away from her thoughts. It was at that moment that Hermione noticed that Harry and Ron had joined their breakfast as well, both with equally ruffled hair. She doubted that either of them would ever care about their appearances first thing in the morning.
"I was thinking we could all go ahead and head to Hogsmeade today, y'know, loosen up from all the stress for a bit." Ginny proposed, and immediately got humming noises of approval. "Hear, hear!" George agreed, clinging his glass with Fred.
Hermione had to bend a little so she could look past Fred, but managed to grab George's eyes almost instantly. "You haven't even studied," she pointedly said, shaking her head in confusion.
At this Fred leaned back a little so she had a better view of George. "That's not the point, now is it, Freddie?"
"Can't say it is, Georgie." Fred agreed, grinning at his twin.
"D'you even know how hard it has been to watch you all hunch over those textbooks?" George said, feigning hurt as he pouted whilst bringing a hand to his chest.
"The burden we've been carrying," Fred chimed in.
"It has truly been unbearable," George sniffed in conclusion.
All Hermione could do was roll her eyes as she focused back on Ginny, who had exactly the same look on her face. "Sometimes it really is best to ignore them, you know," the redhaired witch advised.
Hermione grumbled, taking a quick bite of her toast. "Oh trust me, I wish I could," she spoke rather gloomily, to which she felt Fred's arm stiffen around her back before it snaked a little further so he could grab her side and pull her even further into him.
"Oh c'mon now, Hermione, don't be so mean," Fred pouted, though the glimmer in his eyes was ever so present. "We all know you wouldn't want to have it any other way."
Knowing there was honestly no right or wrong way to answer that without getting any weird glances from any one at the table, she opted to simply ignore that and instead change the subject.
"Everyone ready to head off to Hogsmeade?" Hermione inquired, glancing around at their group. They all looked rather finished. And to her pleasing it also looked like everyone was already properly dressed as well. That saved some waiting.
A few confirming murmurs were heard, so Hermione broke loose from Fred's snaked arm that automatically dropped to his side as soon as she turned her body sideways so she could get off the bench.
At this he turned his head lightly to hers, so she gave him a smile as she grasped his hand, giving it a bit of an affirming squeeze before releasing it again and rising up from her seat.
The lot followed suit, and they had made it as far as the Entrance Hall until George stopped in his tracks, resulting in everyone being forced to a halt seeing as he had been in front, and had literally spread out his arms to refrain them from getting any further.
"What's the matter?" Fred inquired, meeting his twin's eye. "D'you have any pocket money, Freddie?"
Fred – who had been standing next to Hermione – reached into his pocket, but retrieved it almost as quick as it had gotten in, shaking his head in the process.
"Give us a spare minute, won't you?" George excused them as the twins shot away from the group.
"Can't believe I have to walk up all these bloody chairs again," Fred complained, and Hermione had to bite back a smile as she joined Ginny, who had been leaning against the wall, still looking rather sleepy.
"How have you been, Gin?" Hermione asked, easing up her face as she shot her a smile. It must have been a bit boring for her. All fifth and seventh years were busy preparing for either O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s, so she hadn't been able to spend as much time with the people she would usually hang around with as usual. Including Hermione.
"It's been a bit boring, really, having no exams," Ginny said, then cocked her head to the side as she let out a lopsided grin. "Only joking, of course. It's been bloody great. I don't really envy you lot with all the studying."
At this Hermione laughed, shaking her head. "Just you wait, your time will come." She warned her.
"Oh, I know, I'm already dreading the day it does," Ginny said earnestly, causing Hermione to chuckle. "Bet you are."
"They really are taking their sweet time, aren't they?" Ron complained, hopping from one foot to another as if to keep himself comfortable whilst standing up.
"Can't you do your magic trick, 'Mione?" Harry proposed.
Hermione cocked him an amused eyebrow. "I'm certain there's a lot of magic tricks to do at a Magical School, Harry, although I'm not quite sure which one you're implying."
Harry rolled his eyes at her, knowing very well that she was teasing him. "Y'know what I mean. Ask Fred to hurry up, or something."
Hermione chuckled, but did as asked. "Fred?" She tried, but no response.
"What's your name?" Hermione heard him ask, but knew that it was obviously not directed at her. He sounded quite serious as well.
"Well?" Ron asked, but Hermione lightly hushed him. "I dunno, he's not replying to me," Hermione spoke absent-mindedly as she focused back on Fred's voice.
"See? I've got one too, so does George." His voice sounded very gentle, almost soothing in a way. But to whom in Merlin's Name was he talking to?
"Are you sure your charm still works?" Ron asked again. "Oh, of course it does, Ron. I can hear him very well, but he's rather… occupied."
"Y'see? It's not as bad as it seems." Fred continued, and Hermione seriously wondered what in the world he was on about.
"Excuse me," Hermione said to the others as she began to walk away. "Hang on, where are you going?" Ginny called after her. "Just a second, I'm just going to look for them!" She called over her shoulder, before disappearing out of sight.
Now it seemed that they were actually really close by, because as soon as she walked onto the first floor she had already spotted them on a bench in the corridor, their voices low and soothing as they were hunched around the bench.
Who exactly was on that bench, she didn't know.
Thus she took a few slow steps in their direction, watching as both of their sleeves were lightly lifted up so that their hands we very visible. Along with all the scars from the many detentions they had gotten from Umbridge.
Upon a closer look she could see a small boy sitting between them, sniffing away as he looked at his own scarred hand. Hermione figured he must be a First Year by the state of his height. It was almost the same as she had been.
"The pain stops after a while," George comforted, and Fred chimed in with a "yeah, it really does."
At this the three boys spotted her, and Hermione felt it was a bit intruding if she just remained there and watched, and so she softened her features as she gave a small smile at the crying boy.
"You know," Hermione said, her voice soft and airy as she closed the gap, coming to stand behind Fred as she laid a hand on his shoulder. It made her feel a little less awkward to suddenly have interrupted their comforting spree. If she had known it was about this, she wouldn't have come.
"If these two are capable of saying such things, I'd really take their word for it." Hermione encouraged, enlarging her smile as the boy attempted to do the same.
"She truly is an awful woman, you know," Hermione went on, and watched in amusement as the boy exchanged surprised glances with the twins, as if unable to believe that the Hermione Granger was contradicting a teacher. "But don't you let her get to you. She is not worth all those tears,"
At this the little boy nodded, and propped them all a lopsided smile before hopping off the bench. "Thank you," he mumbled, and then walked away with the tiniest of a wave.
The twins, too, rose up, making Hermione's hand fall off Fred's shoulder, but she was quick to grab his hand instead. "That was really sweet of you guys," she approved, giving them both a genuine smile.
George took a quick glance at their intertwined hands, and then let a grin pop back on his face as he reached for Hermione's other hand as they began to walk.
"Oh, sod off, George, get your own girl," Fred huffed as he lightly pushed his brother away with his free hand, the latter laughing as they descended the stairs.
Although Hermione and Fred were in clear sight of the group, she didn't really feel like letting go of his hand, and thus firmly kept it there as they approached them. It's not like they hadn't held hands in front of them before. It had been done countless of times in one of their charades, although this time it was very real.
Come to think about it, so far only George had been the one to know about their relationship. And the others were either oblivious to it, or simply pretending like they weren't seeing anything. She made a quick mental note to ask one of her friends about it later.
- x-
The trip to Hogsmeade had been very successful. Well, for the most part at least. The twins had gone straight off to Zonkos to buy some new products, whereas Harry had a date with Cho, and therefore only Hermione, Ron and Ginny remained together.
In both favour of the girls and Ron they had visited both Honeydukes Sweetshop and Madam Puddifoot's tea shop. Where they had also accidentally ran into Harry and Cho, the latter turning rather jealous as Harry and Hermione had gotten tangled into a conversation about a funny experience they've had together the first time they had visited this tea shop.
So when Harry asked Cho to come and join them all for a drink in the Leaky Cauldron, she had hastily replied as she left the shop.
With a bit of a sullen Harry they made their way to the Leaky Cauldron, where Fred and George were already waiting for them, happily feasting on some salty crackers as they sipped their Butterbeers.
Many more were ordered for the rest of them, and it had actually been a rather pleasant time of catching up with one another. Where they finally had a chance to talk about anything other than school.
They had slipped in such a deep argument about the use of a Remembrall – how exactly they had gotten to that subject, Hermione couldn't remember – that she hadn't even noticed that Fred had wrapped his arm around Hermione's shoulder, pulling her closely into him as they were all seated on benches in a far corner.
Hermione's feet were planted on the bench so her knees were against her chest, and she was simply enjoying the little side hug as her hand was casually resting on his chest, enjoying the sensation of it heaving up and down with every breath.
There had even been a part when Hermione had been so heavily into her argument, that she even managed to not notice the kiss he planted against the side of her forehead as he let out a hearty laugh at how heated she was getting into this.
At last, after a few too many butterbeers and even some fire whiskeys for the twins – they had, after all, officially passed the age of 18 just a month ago – they all headed out as the sun was already slowly starting to set. Clearly they had been in there way longer than intended.
As they were walking back to the castle, Hermione was still in a debate with Ginny about that Remembrall, both leading the group, until Hermione shot a quick glance over her shoulder to look for Fred, who had been eerily quiet; as well as George.
Fred popped her a reassuring smile, though swayed lightly on his feet. Clearly they had a drink or two too many as well.
Once back into the Gryffindor common room the twins had gone back to the dormitories to lay it off, and Harry and Ron had picked up a game of chess, finally able to play it after weeks.
Both Ginny and Hermione were seated near the fireplace, both engulfed in their reading. Although the difference was that Hermione was reading her Arithmancy book to study a little, and Ginny was simply reading the Daily Prophet from yesterday.
Hermione kept wondering why Ginny had suddenly lost interest in Fred and her. Before they were in a relationship the little witch would constantly be on their noses, practically demanding to know what was going on between them, and yet, since their relationship – even though it hadn't been announced to their friends – she hadn't said a word about it anymore.
As Hermione listened to Fred's light snores, she debated on confronting Ginny about it, until at last making up her mind as she slammed her book down a little bit more forcefully than intended.
"Aren't you going to ask me about Fred and I anymore?" Hermione asked, though Ginny didn't even so much as glance up from her newspaper.
"Well, that's obvious, isn't it?" The little witch casually replied, wetting her finger as she turned the page around, her eyes lazily scanning the letters.
Was it really, though?
"I mean, yeah, but it wasn't always like that," Hermione said in confusion, not understanding where Ginny's lack of interest had gone to.
"Yes, it was," Ginny said.
"What d'you mean? No it wasn't," Hermione defended, but all that Ginny did was chuckle as she finally put her newspaper down so she could properly look at her. "Perhaps not to you, but to all of us it was." Ginny chuckled, leaving Hermione absolutely flabbergasted.