Well aren't you all lucky ducks! I decided that I needed to write, and so write I did! Here's another chapter, about double the length of all my others for this story, but there was just so much to get done! I hope you all enjoy this chapter and appreciate the speed it came out at! I'll try my best to write fast but I'm back at uni this week and I want to do incredibly well, so this might be the last one for about a month, but hopefully not. Either way, do not fret, I'll be back!
Also, in response to some of the reviews I received for the last chapter, which I very much do read and appreciate and love and made me incredibly happy:
Yes, you're definitely right! I meant potted plants, I'm Australian and we call them pot plants and I didn't even think of the connotations that you drew!
Also, loving the theories that came out that I'm not going to address in this chapter, nor in this A/N because they will all be revealed eventually...
Disclaimer: All owned by JKR I do not profit from this in any way - monetarily at least!
Chapter Nine: Sunday
On Sunday morning, Ginny and Hermione awoke with cricks in their necks and stiff backs. Sleeping on the couch was never a good plan, but they were just too comfortable to move. Hermione hobbled her way to the kitchen, rummaging through a cupboard of potions to find one that could help with their aches and pains. After the two girls downed the potions, Hermione set to work boiling the kettle and preparing a simple omelette and toast for the two girls as they rifled through the paper for the day and enjoyed a slow morning together. Once they sat at the kitchen table for breakfast, a tapping on the window sounded, noticing that it was George's shop owl, Hermione allowed it through and accepted the letter from the bird, stroking its feathers and offering it a bit of toast.
"What's up?" Ginny asked, peering over her friend's shoulder to read the letter.
George had asked Hermione if she could pop over to the shop for a bit before dinner tonight, as he had a favour to ask her and would then accompany her to the Burrow.
"I didn't realise you and George were so close." Ginny mentioned as she began to eat her breakfast once more.
Hermione blushed awkwardly, remembering how George had dressed her in her weakened state, "Yeah, you could say that after I had the run-in at work, he was there for me."
Ginny nodded but didn't say any more. Hermione was puzzled about what he could ask as a favour, but she would do anything for George to repay him for saving her life. Besides, she was sure that this was also his way of supporting her with Ron, having been on the receiving end of his temper that night. She penned a quick response in the affirmative and tied it to the shop bird's leg, thanking it with another bite of toast before it flew back to its owner.
Ginny and Hermione had a lazy morning, joined by Harry around lunchtime, who brought some snacks for the three of them as they watched movies on Hermione's tv, not wanting to fill up too much before Molly's dinner. Hermione enjoyed the pace of the day, savouring the relaxed company of her friends and smiling as she tiredly closed her eyes for a brief moment. She must've dozed asleep as the next thing she opened her eyes to was Fred. It was a little disorienting seeing her living room exactly as it was with Harry and Ginny, but her eyes quickly brightened as she noticed Fred smiling at her.
"I'm glad you're getting so much sleep, Hermione." Fred commented, "Honestly I don't think you've slept this much in months."
Hermione cast her eyes downwards shyly, remembering that Fred had been watching her for years, "I'd say I'm surprised that you know my routine so well, but considering there hasn't been much else for you to do…"
Fred chuckled slightly, "I may be following you around, but at least I'm stuck with the best company!" He winked as he pointed his thumbs at himself.
Hermione laughed, "Oh I don't know about that," she teased, "Now that I'm stuck with you during my sleep, I can see how one would slowly go insane."
Fred gave her his best offended look and placed a hand on his heart, "Hermione! Here I was thinking I was growing on you!"
Hermione smiled warmly, though a sadness crossed her gaze, reaching for Fred's hand and squeezing for reassurance, "I do enjoy our time together Fred, honestly. I'm glad that I get to finally interact with you after all these years."
Fred's heart leapt for a second at Hermione's touch before he mentally shook himself, bringing the conversation back to light-heartedness, "We'll see how much you like me still in twenty years."
"I've got you all to myself, I'm sure we can still have intelligent conversation in twenty years." Hermione replied haughtily.
Fred smiled lopsidedly and let out a little chuckle as he raised his left hand, palm outwards as in an oath, "Well then, 'til death do us part!"
It was Hermione's heart's turn to skip a beat, a deep blush coming to her cheeks. She averted her gaze and let out a nervous laugh, refusing to respond directly lest she let slip her feelings for the man and instead replying, "I mean, hopefully we can figure this out before I die."
Fred looked as if he were about to say something, but Hermione was once again sucked out of the dream as she awoke back in her living room with Ginny and Harry staring at her with a strange look on their faces.
"Nice nap there, Mione?" Harry asked.
Hermione nodded, "Sorry, glowing and levitating still happening?"
Ginny laughed, "Yeah, it's really strange. I have no idea how I didn't notice it last night."
"Lavender tired us both out with all that shopping." Hermione replied with a chuckle, moving to the kitchen to retrieve tea for the trio.
After the last round of tea, Harry and Ginny excused themselves back to Grimmauld Place while Hermione decided to get ready for dinner. She pulled out a pair of dark-wash skinny jeans and a crimson tank top, showering and deciding that as she had time, she'd tame her hair. Once she was ready, she pulled her entire mass of locks to the top of her head in a high ponytail and completed her outfit with a black jacket and ballet flats before she locked and warded all the important doors and left for George's flat.
Hermione arrived in the living room, dusting soot off her clothes as she spied Angelina sitting on the couch reading a quidditch strategy book. The two girls smiled and greeted each other, with Angelina letting Hermione know that George was just downstairs in the office if she'd like to go see him.
The shop was incredibly busy this afternoon, as it always was on a weekend, and Hermione nodded towards Verity and Lee as she spotted them in various positions around the store. Hermione felt immediately lighter when she caught a whiff of gunpowder as a small firework went whizzing around the roof, and laughed as a bunch of giddy teenage girls swooned over the love potions in a corner. She was unsure if the lightness was genuinely from being around the shop, or from Fred's emotions at being here too, but either way, she enjoyed the feeling a moment longer before she descended the stairs further and made her way to George's office. Hermione knocked and the door swung open magically, revealing a redheaded mess of a twin working over a bubbling pot of something with deep green and purple mist flowing out of the cauldron and covering the entire floor.
"Quickly, I can't let any of this get out onto the floor!" George commanded her inside before the door slammed behind her and he busied himself once more.
"Nice to see you George." Hermione smiled as she looked puzzled at the state of the office.
After one more quick stir with his wand, George looked up at her and relief washed over his features, "You too, Hermione. I hope I'm not taking advantage of your 'I'll do anything for you' attitude, but I truly need a favour."
Hermione nodded at once, "Of course, you can count on me! What seems to be the problem?"
"See, that's the issue. I don't know!" George stressed, gesturing to the cauldron in front of him, "I've been inventing, which I haven't really done since Fred… well, you know."
Hermione's eye twitched slightly, knowing that Fred was standing in this room at this very moment, probably itching to help his twin, "I see, so what exactly can I do?"
George looked at her for a moment and frowned, "I actually don't know. It's been really strange, lately when I've been trying to invent, something's been telling me that I need your help – specifically you. Angie's come down a few times, but her input just wasn't feeling right."
"These aren't modifications like your other products?" Hermione questioned as she moved around the desk, flipping through a notebook next to George.
"No, completely new. This one's rather complicated actually." George explained.
"Compatibility Cookies?" Hermione asked, although she read through his notes.
"I just need to get this potion right first, then I can mix them into cookie dough and cast the charms on them. There's just something not working with the potion, I mean, look at the state of the office!" George exclaimed as he returned to stirring the cauldron and tapping it with his wand.
"This is incredibly complex magic." Hermione murmured as she read through the steps, "What exactly is the outcome?"
"Well, it's intended that the consumer will be able to see a glowing, coloured aura around people, showing their compatibility in a relationship. A spectrum between green for incredibly compatible, yellow for average compatibility, and red for incompatible, there could be orange and lime, but it shows your basic compatibility. It's not just about romance either, you can see the compatibility of a relationship, which means friendship or colleagues too. It might help first years with anxiety over making new friends, or young adults with confidence issues when it comes to taking that first step into a relationship." George explained.
Hermione was thoroughly impressed with the feat that George was trying to accomplish, and she told him so before asking, "So your favour is to help you with your new inventions, like this one?"
George scratched the back of his neck, "I know it's a lot to ask, seeing as you already have a full-time job, but yeah, either inventing or helping with product design, concepts or applications, anything really."
Hermione smiled, something in her lighting up again and once again she was unsure if it was Fred's emotions or her own excitement at invention and learning, "I'd love to!"
Immediately she drew her wand and banished George's potion from his cauldron, the swirling mist disappearing. He stared, stunned for a moment before he looked accusingly at the small witch in front of him, "I've been working on that all day!"
"And it's wrong." Hermione rolled her eyes as she moved to George's cabinet full of potion ingredients.
"That's what Fred would've done." He grumbled as he looked back over his notes, trying to find where his mistake was.
Hermione removed her jacket and began the potion once more, adding a base of water to the cauldron and setting it to a medium simmer before she infused it with pink and yellow rose petals. She stirred it anticlockwise four times before adding in a pinch of powdered amazonite and a centimetre of ginger. Once again, she stirred the cauldron anticlockwise six times as she drew a Dagaz rune with her wand above the cauldron, allowing the sparks to drift down into the potion. Then, she adjusted the heat to maximum. As the liquid bubbled, Hermione added three drops of armadillo bile and six clockwise stirs as the potion turned a light peach shade, similar to that of the mixture of rose petals that she added to begin with. Finally, she added a small amount of flooberworm mucus to thicken the potion slightly and a singular bleeding fairy helmet mushroom for a slight glow. When she was finished, she drew a Wunjo rune with her wand just as before, allowing the sparks to settle into the potion. As she brought the temperature of the potion slowly down, a soft mist trickled out and settled onto the floor as before, however the colour of this mist fluctuated between green, yellow, and red, which Hermione smiled approvingly at. Finally, she waved her wand to turn off the heat and siphoned the potion into a small bottle nearby, which she stoppered and placed a stasis charm on.
"Now, that's how you make a compatibility potion." Hermione beamed at George who had taken notes of everything she'd done and now looked at the witch in front of him, thoroughly impressed.
"I'm at a loss for words, which doesn't really happen too often." George admitted, then turning towards the potion he asked, "Will this work?"
Hermione scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Of course it works, but we'll have to test it."
"We?" George reiterated, confused at Hermione's willingness.
"Obviously?" Hermione replied as though it truly were a no brainer, "We can just take a few drops at dinner, it would work better when we're around people we already know our relationships with."
"But you'll take it with me?" George reiterated, "You're going to test an experimental potion?"
Hermione chuckled, "Not the most reckless thing I've done in these past few weeks, remember?" And she winked at that, tapping the side of her nose.
George was weirdly suspicious of the ease that she had fixed his potions errors, knowing that she was intelligent and incredibly overqualified for the task, but also that Hermione wasn't an inventor, that she was better at facts and the combination of those facts for creation, rather than invention out of nothing. She took charge of the situation in the same way that Fred used to, where George used to begin a potion and Fred could finish it, or vice versa, they could work out each other's' kinks in the processes. Watching Hermione work today really was like stepping years back in time and seeing Fred there in her place. George shook himself from his reminiscing as Hermione came around the desk and placed a hand on his arm.
"Are you sure you want me helping you with inventing?" Hermione asked, concern shining in her eyes, "I know that it was a twin thing, and I don't intend to replace Fred in any way, nor do I believe that I ever could. I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into."
George nodded at her, appreciating her concern, "Honestly, I haven't felt this happy with work since Fred was working on inventions with me. It's refreshing and it's something I've needed for a long time. I should be thanking you."
"Not at all, this is my way of thanking you!" Hermione smiled as she popped the potion into her bag and the two made their way back up the stairs, noticing that Verity and Lee were already beginning to pack down the shop and direct the rest of the staff to go home.
Angelina hopped off the couch when she saw George and kissed his cheek in greeting, smiling at the happy look on his face. She and Hermione moved to the kitchen as she put on the kettle and George took off for a shower before dinner.
"I haven't seen him smile like that in a long time, not when it comes to work." Angelina commented as she poured tea for the two of them
"I'm glad I could help in some way. I'm sure he told you what he did for me last week." Hermione grimaced.
Angelina nodded solemnly, "Yes, he let me know, and in case you're concerned, I'm not worried that he saw you naked, Hermione." Hermione blushed at this, as Angelina had seemingly read her thoughts, although she continued, "I'm more worried at the state that you were in. You seem to be much better this week, are you feeling better and is everything sorted out with your work?"
The concern that shone from the older girl warmed Hermione's heart and she smiled softly, "Yes, everything is much better. I truly am grateful to George for helping me that day. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for him, so I owe him a lot."
"It's hard to watch your family dying." Angelina stated as she stared into her tea, "After everything, I think your situation brought him to the present day much more."
Hermione only nodded, noticing the same thing as she worked with him today, hearing him talk about new inventions as though he'd finally picked up the courage to begin again.
"George has also become incredibly protective of you, did you know?" Angelina chuckled a little before her face dropped, "He told me what happened with Ron and your reaction seemed like it wasn't the first time you'd had these arguments. If you ever need anything, time for girl talk or an ear outside of the family, I'm here for you too."
"Thanks Angie, I'll surely take you up on it. Fleur had some helpful advice for me too, and I really do like having multiple perspectives. I guess it's a bit difficult to talk to Ginny because it's her brother, and Harry too, because Ron's his best friend. I just don't like getting them involved." Hermione sighed.
"That's why you're coming to dinner with us tonight." George proclaimed as he strutted into the room, holding Angelina from behind as he looked at Hermione, "We're going to be by your side if anything goes wrong."
"Which it won't!" Angelina added, rolling her eyes at her boyfriend.
Hermione laughed nervously, "I know. I just need to talk to him. No use worrying about it until I can talk to him, that's what Fleur said."
"She's a wise one, that sister-in-law of mine." George smiled.
Hermione and Angelina drained their tea and the three flooed one by one to the Burrow, Hermione coming through last. As soon as she stepped through, she was pulled into a bone-crushing hug from Molly.
"It's so good to see you, dear!" The motherly woman fretted over her as she dusted soot off the shoulders of her jacket.
"It wasn't too long ago, Molly." Hermione replied, smiling.
"Yes, but after everything you've been through, I'm counting my blessings that we have you here tonight." Molly responded a little quieter.
Hermione was touched once again by the thoughtfulness of Molly Weasley and she pulled the older woman into a hug of her own.
"Now, now, dear." Molly soothed with tears in her eyes, "You're going to get me all emotional and we haven't even eaten dinner yet! Come along."
Hermione nodded and followed her into the dining room, where the rest of the Weasleys sat with their partners. Arthur greeted Hermione in a similar way to Molly, obvious relief that she was with them pouring off of him. George motioned for her to sit by him tonight, Ginny on her other side as she scanned the room for Ron but with no sign. She looked to Harry to ask him about it, but he merely shrugged before she could get her question out.
A familiar pop of apparition happened in the distance and suddenly Hermione felt all the nerves appear in her body once more. A ball of pressure was sitting in the pit of her stomach, thinking that tonight may be her last Weasley family dinner, as she would most likely be breaking up with Ron tonight, and she wouldn't want to make it awkward for him in the future. As Molly brought out the food, Ron appeared in the doorway and suddenly her appetite vanished, despite the delicious smells from right in front of her. His eyes found hers and for a moment they flashed with jealousy at seeing George next to her, before he schooled a small smile onto his face and walked towards her.
"I'm sorry." He mumbled into her ear as he leant down to embrace her.
Relief flooded through her body at his apology, "It's okay, Ron. Let's talk later, dinner first."
Ron smiled at this and took a seat by Harry, launching into an apology to his friend as well while they all began to eat. Hermione didn't take much, just a Yorkshire pudding and a single slice of roast beef. Her heart was aching with the conversation that she knew was to come, however, she felt something trying to break its way through. Like a tiny pin prick of light, a small amount of reassurance and hope appeared in her body. She didn't know where it came from and she looked around the table to see if anyone was sending her encouraging looks, but everyone seemed engaged in their own discussions. She internally smacked her head with her palm, of course it's Fred. She wished she could see where he was so she could send a smile in his direction. Her appetite slowly returned as she allowed his reassurance to overtake her concern and she loaded her plate with a little more food before she listened into the conversation that Ginny, Harry, and Ron were having.
"Where've you been? We've been worried sick." Harry asked his friend.
"Just been staying at a friend's place." Ron replied, although Hermione could tell it was a lie and she wasn't sure she wanted to know why.
Harry, however, nodded at this, "Are you coming back to Grimmauld any time soon?"
Ron glanced at Hermione before he looked back to Harry, "I think it might depend."
"Eat, Hermione." George elbowed her from the other side, "You need all your strength."
"Yes, of course." Hermione responded and ate her dinner. Mrs Weasley's cooking was, as usual, superb, and she wolfed down the rest of her dinner like she'd been starved for days.
Once dinner was finished, Harry and Ginny stood up, linking their hands with nervous excitement, Harry began, "We have an announcement to make."
Ginny pulled her hand out in front of her and waved her wand over it, revealing a sparkling diamond ring, "Harry proposed to me, and I said yes!"
Chaos ensued after, with everyone wishing the happy couple congratulations and asking when the wedding would be, as well as details of the proposal. Molly was crying, as was Fleur, although she was also extremely emotional from the pregnancy.
During the excitement, Molly waved her wand to the kitchen to retrieve dessert and set the plates to wash themselves, George turned to Hermione with a mischievous glint in his eye, one that she hadn't seen since Fred was alive, "Reckon it's time to test out our new little experiment?"
Hermione laughed, as Angelina rolled her eyes, only the two of them hearing George due to the commotion around Harry and Ginny. She fished the small bottle out from her bag and summoned two teaspoons from the kitchen drawer before droppering three drops each onto the spoons.
"Well, here goes nothing." She said, and clinked her teaspoon with George's before they both ingested the potion. It didn't taste too bad, like a spicy, slightly floral tea, which was probably preferable to armadillo bile, Hermione thought, beginning to think of ways to incorporate the taste into cookies.
"What did you just take?" Ron's harsh voice snapped her out of her thoughts as she turned to look at him.
Hermione's eyes dimmed, though it wasn't particularly noticeable to many of the Weasleys as they were more concerned with what she and George had swallowed. George noticed, however, concerned for his young friend as she explained, "I'm helping George out with a few new products and we're just testing one."
"You're drinking experimental potions!?" Ron thundered, "You almost died last week, Hermione! Think about what you're doing!"
"I am thinking, Ronald. I'm in no danger. I made this potion myself and even if it was incorrect, which by the results, it isn't, there isn't any way this potion could be made harmful." Hermione replied calmly.
Ron seethed for a second before asking, "Why are you helping George anyway? You have your own job."
"I owe him my life, Ron. I'm only helping out a little, probably on weekends?" Hermione looked to George; they hadn't really sussed out the details.
George nodded in response with a smile, "Whenever she has a little spare time and she'd like to help." He added to Ron, hoping to ease his little brother's' worries.
Ron just shook his head and grumbled to himself as Molly brought dessert in from the kitchen. That's when Hermione noticed it – a vibrant green glow around an invisible person sitting on the kitchen bench. She almost screamed and the alarm in her eyes made George look to the same place, making her panic further.
"Hermione," George said slowly, "are you sure you made this potion correctly?"
Hermione was at a loss for words. Of course she made the potion correctly, but she and George were seeing Fred's silhouette sitting on the kitchen table and she didn't know how to explain that, especially considering she only knew about it because of her classified job.
"Hermione?" George asked once more, as he turned to look at the girl who was wide-eyed and frantic, practically pleading him not to ask with her eyes.
Hermione took a deep breath, "Yes, it's definitely brewed correctly. You're not going crazy, I see him too, but I don't know if I can tell you about him because of my work."
"Him? You know what that is? Can we see compatibility with ghosts?" George whispered.
Hermione shook her head, "Not ghosts, well, not exactly. I don't know how to explain it to you. Tomorrow afternoon, after work, I'll come over and explain it all then, but I can't talk to you about this before I get permission."
George looked torn, he really wanted to know but he knew that Hermione's job was incredibly secretive, "Okay. Come over for dinner tomorrow night, Angie's got training so it'll just be the two of us, if that's what you need?"
"Please, that would be best." Hermione replied quietly.
George summoned the teapot to pour a cup of tea for Hermione, "You need this."
"So, I think the potion works." Hermione stated after a long draw of tea.
"Everyone's ranging colours for me, mainly around yellow and lime. Except Angie, you, and the invisible man – green." George stated.
"Similar for me," Hermione began and then sighed, "except that he's almost orange. George, he's a yellowish orange colour. I don't know how to process this information."
"Ron?" He asked, though he didn't need to.
Hermione nodded, "Everyone else is a different shade of yellow or lime, except Harry and you, who are green, and the… invisible man – he's this vibrant green that I can't explain."
"That's the colour I see Angie. I just didn't know how to articulate it before you said that." George replied, now even more curious about the invisible man. Was Hermione in love with him? Was he meant to be the person for her? It certainly wasn't Ron.
Hermione had similar thoughts running through her own head, looking back to the kitchen table to search out the vibrant green of Fred before noticing he wasn't there. Instead, he'd moved to stand behind her, his hand on her shoulder as he looked down at her. Hermione wanted to cry, everything seemed so difficult all of a sudden. She moved her hand up to her own shoulder, placing it there and imagining that she could feel Fred's hand on hers as her eyes swam with unshed tears. She poured another cup of tea and sipped it quietly while the rest of the family had lively conversations around her, completely oblivious to her sudden revelation and predicament.
"Hermione, let's go have that chat." Ron said as everyone began to move to the living room, holding his hand out for her to take.
Hermione took his hand and followed him to the back porch. For a moment, neither of them said anything, both unsure how to begin the conversation that they knew would be the end of their romantic relationship.
"I'm glad you're better now, Hermione." Ron said sincerely.
"Thanks Ron, I appreciate that." She replied. This felt incredibly stilted.
"This isn't working, is it?" Ron asked after an awkward pause, "Hasn't been for a while now."
Hermione nodded, "I don't think we wanted to give it up. It was routine. Comfortable."
Ron took both of Hermione's hands in his own, "Still friends? This isn't going to tear us apart is it?"
Hermione smiled a watery smile, tears threatening to overflow, "We were always much better as friends, I think we always knew that."
They hugged, a sadness washing over them both as Hermione's tears finally spilled over and she cried into Ron's shirt. It was the right thing for both of them to do, and it wasn't as if they were losing each other, but things would be different, Hermione knew it, and change wasn't something she was particularly used to.
"I'll move back into Grimmauld. Everything will be like it was before. Nothing really changes besides intimacy between us." Ron smiled down at her, wiping her tears and trying to help her see that everything would be okay.
Hermione appreciated his efforts and pulled him back in for one last hug, "We should have had this talk long ago."
"I don't know if I would've been mature enough to handle it like this." Ron replied, and Hermione had to agree that she thought this would've ended with them screaming with each other. She was actually still relatively shocked that it hadn't.
After a while of them sitting in each other's' arms, they decided to head back into the family and let them know of the amicable breakup. Fleur brought Hermione a cup of tea and Harry pulled Ron aside to make sure he was alright. The family didn't treat her any different, and her heart felt a million times lighter. Finally, there was no nervousness, no knot in the pit of her stomach. She felt a rightness about everything.
"Potion's lasting a bit too long." George said to her a while later.
"I've noticed that. I think it's the dosage. Next time we'll try only one drop." Hermione replied, "I was also thinking about ways to incorporate the flavour into the cookies, it's a bit florally, and the ginger taste is in there too. One drop might make it lessen, but if we want to make different flavoured cookies, we'll probably have to amp up the cookie flavours. Nothing will interact with the potion, right?"
George looked at her like she'd grown another head. She talked to him like Fred used to. He was even thinking about Fred's mannerisms before when she had clinked her teaspoon with his as they took the potion. He shook his head of the thoughts and replied, "No, Fred and I developed a very easy way to incorporate potions into edible products when we began, and nothing's been an issue ever since."
Hermione looked impressed and smiled at him, her eyes flicking to the glowing green invisible man in the corner, although George didn't notice, "Good, then I'm happy for you to make a prototype into a cookie. We can test them next weekend, I'll stop by the shop assuming I'm free?"
"Sounds like a brilliant plan!" George replied excitedly, his renewed vigour for work was shining and it made Hermione smile.
Angelina came by soon after and the three lapsed into comfortable conversation before Harry stopped to give her hugs and supportive words before he took his leave with Ron on his heel, smiling sadly at her and waving. Hermione checked her watch and realised that she, too, should leave as she had work in the morning.
"I'll see you tomorrow, George." She said as she hugged him goodbye, "And I'll be over next weekend too, Angie, if you want to grab a bite together before I get stuck in a workshop with this one?" She asked as she hugged the older girl.
Angelina laughed and responded in the affirmative. Once Hermione had said her goodbyes, although finding it difficult to be parted with Molly due to her trying to reassure Hermione that she was always welcome in her home, regardless of her relationship with Ron, she finally stepped through the floo. When she reached her home, she noticed the green glowing man still there with her. He followed her as she put the kettle on and stayed in the hallway as she closed her bedroom door to change into her pyjamas. Somehow seeing Fred's outline made him more real to her, solidifying that he truly wasn't just in her head, but really here in the world, always with her. It comforted her for a moment before she remembered that George saw Angelina with the same green shade as she saw Fred. Did that mean that they were the most compatible? Was that in friendship, or something more? Hermione shook her head. Obviously it was something more if George and Angelina were anything to go by, otherwise he would've seen his twin with the same glow – they shared a bond after all. Something about it didn't scare her though, knowing that Fred was her most compatible. It saddened her, however, that she would never live a fulfilled life with Fred, knowing that he was not truly of this world.
When she returned outside, Fred sat on the couch and she brought her tea, curling up on her side of the sofa with a book. She was distracted, however, by Fred's vibrant green glowing.
"It's kind of strange to be able to see you, you know?" Hermione said aloud.
"I'm glad you can finally see me. You and George. It's the best day of my afterlife." Fred replied
"I wish I could truly see you, and permanently. This glow will wear off, and it's a little unsettling." Hermione chuckled.
"I'm sure. I wish I was there to invent new products with George, and you – you're brilliant. Your intelligence would've saved us hours of trial and error." Fred commented.
Hermione continued laughing as she voiced her thoughts aloud, "I'm certain you're responding to me, but I can't hear you!" She felt a frustration that she knew was both her own and Fred's, "I'm not tired enough to sleep yet, but I want to hear your thoughts on this product and I want to talk to you about Ron, and I want to know your opinion on George knowing that you exist. There are so many things I want to ask you!"
"I know, Mi. I know." Fred said and he placed a hand on hers, "I'll give you all your answers when you sleep tonight."
Hermione sighed, knowing she wasn't getting anywhere and the events of the past few hours would keep her up for a while as she mulled them over, but she wasn't sure if Dreamless Sleep Draught would remove her ability to see Fred as she slept and she wasn't willing to take that chance. Instead, she flipped open her book, the romance novel she'd bought earlier in the week, and said, "I'll read until I can sleep, then we can talk. You're beginning to fade."
Fred looked at her sadly, not that she could see his facial expressions, "I'll be here, waiting for you."
Reviews are always welcome and loved!
Love as always xx