Hello hello! Sorry for the hiatus, the year is ending, everything is getting busy, my life is falling apart - you know, the usual. I thought I'd write an incredibly long chapter for you all to catch up, don't worry I'm nowhere near done with this story; in fact we're just starting to get into a new arc, if you will. For all my American readers, Happy Thanksgiving! As an Australian, I don't celebrate, obviously, but I am sincerely thankful to this platform and to my readers and to the reviews and follows that I get. It honestly makes me so happy I can't describe the joy it brings me to write for you all. I get so excited when I get reviews I read them out to my boyfriend and after, he always wonders why I don't write a book - which I'm sure I will do someday in the future.
Anyways, enough with the guff, I'll let you all get on with reading! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not profit from this, I am merely borrowing JKR's work.
Chapter Ten: The Truth
Hermione woke on Monday morning with a happy aura around her. She was certain that it was to do with the fact that she was finally relieved over her situation with Ron and things could slowly normalise back to friendship. Along with this, she had had some lovely and reassuring conversations with Fred the previous night about that relationship, as well as discussions over her product-making in the shop. Fred could not have been prouder of the little witch and Hermione preened under his compliments. The pair completely ignored their feelings for each other, however, and it left both feeling uncertain as to what the other thought about their situation. After rolling out of bed and calmly making her way through her morning routine, she sipped on her tea as she perused the papers, frowning as she read a large headline regarding her breakup with Ron already being splashed on the cover. The story read poorly, obviously being written by a Rita Skeeter wannabe, as the page was filled with insults, especially directed at Hermione, who it seemed had been painted as the villain in the breakup, despite it being mutual.
Her chipper mood soured considerably as she shoved the paper to her right, exclaiming, "Look at this, Fred!" she scoffed and grumbled as she allowed him to read the paper before continuing, "I can't believe what the Daily Prophet continues to write about me. I know I'm not the biggest fan of my fame or anything, but they could do to remember that I helped save this bloody world!"
"I can't blame you for being mad. Famous or not, this is slanderous. I wonder who leaked the story. Ron could have, of course, but I don't think he would've made it out like you're the bad guy." Fred replied, pondering as his eyes scanned the page once more.
"It had to be Ron. No one else would care for the fame and the story, and look how this paints him, as though he's Wizarding Britain's most eligible bachelor, finally free from the clutches of the dirty muggleborn." Hermione ranted on.
"I don't think –" Fred was cut off as he caught Hermione's expression, "Oh no."
Hermione drained her cup of tea and growled, checking her watch and donning her cloak before she slipped into some wedge heels and flooed to Grimmauld. Her thunderous mood could be felt by the portraits as soon as she stepped through, and even Harry's usually infectious smile fell as he saw her expression.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked immediately, pulling her into a side hug before stepping back to look at her.
"Where is Ronald?" Hermione asked, her voice dangerously low.
"K-kitchen." Harry pointed, confused and somewhat afraid of the witch on a rampage.
Hermione stormed into the kitchen with Harry hot on her heels. When she arrived, Ron gave her a small smile, his mouth full of toast and his fingers sticky with jam, though his smile dropped when he saw her face.
"How could you, Ronald Weasley!?" Hermione yelled, pulling the Prophet from her bag and hitting his shoulder with it.
"What? I haven't read the paper, Mi. What are you on about?" Ron asked, completely clueless as the smaller witch continued to smack him with the paper.
"You absolute ass! You know what you did! You told the Prophet I was horrible and broke up with you and now there will be women falling at your feet, is that what you wanted? Was it worth it? I thought we were going to be friends!" Hermione cried.
Ron looked at Harry for help, with the latter coming to pull Hermione back into his grip, effectively stopping her assault on the poor ginger. Ron took the paper from Hermione and read over the article on the front page, his face growing pale and his ears tingeing red.
"I swear on our friendship, Hermione, that this was not my doing." Ron looked at her sincerely, "I would never talk about you that way. You're my best friend. I'll go to the Prophet soon as I'm done with breakfast and I'll get it all sorted out, alright?"
Hermione was breathing heavily after her tirade, but she took in Ron's innocence and complete shock at reading the article, knowing that he couldn't possibly be that good of an actor, she believed his sincerity.
"You can let me go, Harry, I trust him." She stated, then turned to Ron, "Sorry, I thought the worst of you and that wasn't fair. I just couldn't think of anyone else who would've leaked the story to the press already. We only broke up last night and I trust your family implicitly."
"I'll find out, don't you worry." Ron said, placing a hand on her arm comfortingly, "Now let's get back to breakfast."
The trio ate their breakfast in a way reminisce of their Hogwarts days, where none were attached to the other and they could joke around as friends. For the first time in a long time, Hermione felt as though things were almost right again.
Once breakfast was finished, Ron flooed straight to the Prophet while Harry and Hermione flooed to the Ministry together, linking their arms as they walked through the hoards of workers flooding the foyer. Hermione was shot a few dirty glances, though she ignored them as best as she could while she chatted along with her friend. As Hermione descended into the belly of the building, she suddenly had a wave of nervousness overcome her, remembering that George knew about Fred and she would have to address that when she got into the office. One by one, ministry workers stepped out of the elevator, leaving her alone with her thoughts, and by the time she had reached her desk in the department, she couldn't remember walking there through her worried thoughts. Domenico noticed immediately as he called her name a third time, only then getting a response from the girl.
"You okay, Hermione? Is it the rituals, or something else?" Domenico asked as he walked with her towards the room of doors.
Hermione sighed, "I need a meeting with Saul and you, someone from the outside potentially knows about Fred and I don't know how to field the questions he has."
"Is he a threat?" Domenico asked seriously, before they turned together towards Saul's office.
"Not at all, it's just a very sensitive situation and I know the secrecy in this division is paramount. It's incredibly hard to be vague to him. I'll explain the whole situation when we're with Saul." Hermione replied as Domenico nodded, asking no further questions.
Hermione knocked on the heavy wooden door, it swinging open by itself on the final knock, "Hermione, Domenico, what a lovely surprise, come on in." Saul greeted with a warm smile.
Hermione's nervousness faded away as she sat on a couch in Saul's cosy office beside Domenico, sipping tea that made itself.
"What can I do for you both today?" Saul asked, taking his own seat on an overstuffed armchair in front of them.
"Well, I have a situation." Hermione began, "You both know how Fred Weasley's spirit is attached to me, and how I can only see him when I'm either in the spirit realm or asleep."
Both men nodded, so she pulled out the vial of potion that she had made yesterday, continuing, "Fred's twin brother, George, works at a joke shop that I'm sure you both know, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, and he asked if I could help him with product development in my spare time. It was the least I could do for him as he helped me out the other week, and something in both of us were quite drawn to the idea – which I think may be Fred's connection to us both, though that's a separate matter." Hermione paused, before summoning three teaspoons from the tea station and placing one drop of the potion onto the spoons for each of them, "This potion allows you to see a relationship compatibility aura around people. If you wouldn't mind taking it, I think you'd understand better. I promise it's safe, I brewed it myself."
Without hesitation, the trio swallowed the dose of potion and looked at each other. Domenico was relatively green for Hermione and Saul was more of a lime colour, which she had expected, then she saw in the corner of her vision the brilliant glowing green which made her heart stutter and she turned away, back to the two men who were both caught off guard staring at Fred's spirit.
"So you see, the issue is that Fred has an aura too, and George obviously took the potion with me last night to test it, and he saw Fred, though he doesn't know it's Fred, in fact I don't even know what he suspects right now. I promised to have tea with him tonight and he's probably expecting some kind of answer, but I don't know what to tell him." Hermione fretted.
Domenico stood and approached Fred's figure, peering at the curious yellow outline, "Nice to meet you, Fred, in this world I suppose."
"Likewise, Domenico." Fred responded, chuckling and giving him a thumbs up that he knew the older man could see.
Hermione was baffled, though she felt Fred's soaring glee at being seen and relayed it to both of the men.
"Were they identical twins?" Saul asked, his fingers scratching his chin in thought.
"They were." Hermione responded.
"And you say that you and George both felt… compelled to work together? As though it felt right?" Saul asked once more, his eyes gleaming slightly.
"That's correct." Hermione replied again, unsure where his train of thought was heading.
"Fred, did you and George share a twin bond?" Saul asked Fred's glowing figure in the corner, which responded with nods and thumbs up to try and convey the affirmative.
"I see." Saul paused and Hermione had no idea what to do. She fidgeted with her teacup and looked towards Fred for comfort, although the glowing figure still seemed more disconcerting to her than his real form.
"Fred's spirit is still interacting with George." Domenico surmised.
"Indeed, and it must be stronger as they're closer together. Obviously he's tethered to Hermione at the moment and they, too, have forged a strong bond, but when the spirit realm was opened up to Hermione, Fred's essence basically leaks out from her now, allowing him to stroke the bond he had with his twin while he was alive." Saul continued.
"I'm sorry, are you saying that I'm some kind of conduit at the moment for their twin bond?" Hermione asked, trying to catch up.
"Yes and no." Saul replied.
"You have your own incredibly strong bond with Fred, however that was forged, we still have yet to figure out. However, when you are in close proximity to George, Fred can still use his twin bond, though I'm sure George is not fully aware of it." Domenico explained.
"So, what does this mean I can tell George tonight?" Hermione asked.
"So long as you both vow on your magic to secrecy, I don't see why you shouldn't tell him everything." Saul concluded.
"I don't want to get his hopes up though, he only now seems like he's finally doing better without Fred here and I don't want him to think I can raise him from the dead." Hermione worried.
"I'm sure you can explain things in a way to make him understand that. This is a highly unorthodox situation and we'll continue our research into it." Domenico replied.
"I think that's your solution then, Hermione. You have the department's permission to share the secrets of your division that you deem fit with George Weasley. I will make a note of it and have to let the Minister know, but otherwise, it'll be up to you how much you want to reveal to him." Saul said to her and after a few more pleasantries, the pair left Saul's office and headed to their own division.
"I think it's about time we begin proper research into your bond with Fred, Hermione." Domenico stated as they sat at their desk early in the afternoon, writing up some research, "After seeing him with that potion of yours, it's clear that he's not exactly… dead."
Hermione looked up at him, shocked, "What do you mean he's not dead? I watched him die! I threw a million and one spells at his body, hoping one would help him heal. I was there, and I couldn't do anything for him."
This was the most broken that Domenico had ever seen Hermione, the loss and pain painted on her face. He knew voicing his thoughts on the matter would bring something like this up, but he was slowly beginning to believe that Fred was trapped between worlds, rather than completely dead, and somehow, he was attached to Hermione. It was almost kismet that she began working in the death division and this would be astonishing for their research if they could figure out how she did it. While in his thoughts, he noticed an almost faded yellow invisible figure, who hovered much closer to Hermione in this room, walk his way around the desk and crouch down beside her, placing a hand above hers in a comforting way. Hermione looked down at the hand and breathed out heavily, a sense of relief washing over her as she saw the vibrant green over her own hand.
"We might need to bring Maggie and Richard in on this one too." Domenico said after a while.
"I… That may be a good idea, maybe after we have figured out a little more about how this bond came to be." Hermione wanted to protest, but logically, bringing in the two experts of the love division may help her case, though she was somewhat in denial at the moment.
The rest of the afternoon at work was uneventful, with the two colleagues working on paperwork and completing journals before they continued allowing Hermione to delve into the spirit world and speak to the dead. Soon they would be able to test vigorously and find out whether this could be used in a way for the aurors to question victims and more easily find the murderers. Domenico's research was almost complete, it seemed like perfect timing to begin to look into Hermione's case, especially whilst Domenico was away on paternal leave soon.
"Good luck, I know you'll be fine." Domenico said to Hermione, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder as he walked her to the floo, "If you need me to come and explain anything, or need any help at all, I'm just a floo call away."
Hermione nodded and spontaneously hugged the older man, "Thank you Domenico. I really appreciate it."
She watched him floo away and then took a steadying breath, calling out, "Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes!" as she was engulfed in the green flames.
No one was on the receiving end of the fire when Hermione stepped out into George's office. Noting that he must be out on the floor, finishing up for the day, Hermione looked down at the ground and spoke to Fred, "I know that you didn't want anyone knowing, but I felt your glee when George could see you. I'll tell him everything, and you'll be right here with me through it all, but if you wouldn't mind, there might be some bits that I'm not ready for you to hear yet. I'm hoping that you'd be willing to give me a minute of privacy with your brother when that time comes."
Hermione concentrated on ridding herself of her own emotions so that she could feel Fred's thoughts on it, understanding and reassurance flooding through and almost making her want to weep, though she knew she'd probably be doing a lot of that soon. She left the office, finding that the shop outside was empty, save Lee and Verity restocking and cashing up once more. She gave them a wave as she walked upstairs to the apartment and knocked on the door.
"Hermione!" George greeted with a warm hug, immediately setting her at ease, "Come on in, I've almost finished cooking."
"You're cooking for me?" Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow.
George winked, scratching the back of his head, "Alright so mum may have done most of the cooking, but it's definitely heating up in my oven so I can at least claim part of the work!"
Hermione laughed, accepting a bottle of butterbeer from him as they moved into the kitchen so George could toss a salad and finish up.
"Angie won't be home tonight, so anything that you need to tell me will be between just the two of us and you can take as long as you want. I thought perhaps we eat first and then get into the serious business?" George suggested, bending down to pull a delicious smelling lasagne out of the oven.
"Mmm, my mouth is watering just looking at that lasagne. I don't think I'd be able to concentrate on what I need to tell you first anyway." Hermione laughed and they portioned their dinner and took it to the table.
Dinner was spent with George regaling Hermione with stories from the shop today, full of laughs and lightness. In the middle of a story, George paused, looking contemplative.
"Just tell me, George. Whatever it is, it can't be as serious as what I have to tell you." Hermione said, as though reading his thoughts.
George looked at her for a moment and then sighed, bracing himself as he rushed out, "I saw Ron and Lavender making out outside the window this afternoon as I closed up shop."
Hermione froze, one hand on her fork, the other with her bottle of butterbeer raised halfway to her lips. It was almost comical despite the situation.
After a moment, she regained herself, "I suppose that actually makes sense."
This time, George was stunned, "Pardon? I thought you'd scream."
Hermione sighed, "Don't misunderstand me, I am thoroughly disappointed and will definitely be talking to Ronald about this tomorrow, as well as excommunicating Lavender from my life as soon as possible, but I understand now who leaked our breakup in that way to the Prophet this morning. She's definitely still the conniving little bitch she always was in Hogwarts."
"You're not angry at him? I thought you'd be a crying mess." George said tentatively.
"If I find out that he'd been with her while we were dating, I will hex him into another universe, especially with him accusing me so readily." Hermione paused, introspecting for a moment, "But there's something in me that doesn't really care about Ron in that way anymore, and I might be able to explain it to you a bit better after dinner."
George accepted that, feeling relieved in a way that Hermione wasn't affected by Ron's potential betrayal as much as she could have been. He was becoming considerably protective of Hermione ever since he found her so frail and weak at the Burrow and he didn't want his idiot of a younger brother to muck up her entire future love life.
"We'd been growing apart for a long time, George. It's good that we ended it when we did." Hermione reassured him again, also feeling a strange sense of relief that Ron had found himself with Lavender, possibly so that she didn't feel so guilty about falling for Fred.
After that, the pair finished up their dinner relatively quickly and left the plates cleaning themselves in the kitchen sink, getting more bottles of butterbeer for themselves and Hermione suggesting they bring in some firewhiskey just in case. George trusted Hermione's judgement and followed her into the lounge area where Hermione made herself comfortable on the long couch, kicking off her shoes, transfiguring her clothes into loungewear, and pulling her hair out of her bun.
"A story that needs comfort? Should I be making tea?" George questioned.
"Perhaps a little later. For now, I think you should also get comfortable." Hermione replied, her nervousness beginning to show.
George didn't bother leaving her, transfiguring his clothes into lounge pants and an old quidditch jersey, he sat on an armchair to her left. Hermione pulled out the potion from the previous day, summoning teaspoons as she had both times before and pouring out two drops for her and George.
"You'll want to see him the whole time, I promise." Hermione said at George's questioning look at her dosage.
George swallowed the dose and saw the green glowing invisible man sitting on the couch beside Hermione.
"Hello." George said to it uncertainly, then to Hermione, "Can he hear me?"
Hermione chuckled, "Yes, he can hear us."
George nodded and waited for her to proceed.
"I need you to trust me." Hermione began.
"Of course I trust you." George replied automatically.
"If you want to know about him, I have to tell you about my work and for me to do that, we need to vow secrecy on our magic. Are you willing to do that?" Hermione asked seriously.
George didn't need to think about it. He took out his wand and raised it in front of him, pointing it directly at Hermione. Hermione mirrored his actions, the pair grasping hands over their wands.
"I vow on my magic that anything related to the Department of Mysteries will remain secret until a necessary time of need." Hermione stated and George copied her. Thin cords bound the two hands before them and then the cords disappeared as if imprinting into their skin.
"Why until a necessary time of need?" George asked once the spellwork was finished.
"It's an oath we all make in the department, so that we are able to tell people about our work if it is necessary, and this constitutes as necessary. The permission given to me allows me to only tell you about this, and you will not be able to speak to anyone but myself or other department members about anything that you hear tonight. Do you understand? You can't even tell Angie." Hermione intoned.
"I already talked to Ange about this, she understands that there's something I needed to find out and if it's about your work, then she already knows that it's top secret. Don't worry." George reassured her.
Hermione sat back and took a long pull of butterbeer, then in a bout of Gryffindor courage, gestured towards the figure next to her, "George, this is Fred."
As soon as the words formed on Hermione's lips, time stopped for George. Had he suspected it? Yes. Did he want to believe it was true? Yes. Was he in complete shock that Hermione was telling him that this man was actually, truly Fred? Absolutely.
Hermione watched George process what she'd said, cursing herself for not being more tactful, but thinking that this was possibly only one of the major shocks that he would have tonight, and it was the biggest one to get out of the way. Once she told him the entire story about her research and how she found this bond with Fred, he would better be able to understand.
George couldn't keep his eyes off his green companion sitting on the couch next to Hermione. He could envisage Fred's expression, his arm slung around the back of the chair behind Hermione, the other nervously scratching the back of his neck and hoping that George believed Hermione and wouldn't think she was a nutter. They were staring at each other so intently that George didn't even notice when Hermione pressed a tissue into his hands. He was crying, when did that happen? She looked up at him with large brown eyes, and he launched himself into her arms, sobs wracking his body and shaking through her own small frame. They stayed like that for a while, Hermione trying to comfort George through all the emotions he was having. It dredged up memories and feelings that he'd repressed, it made him feel hope and hopeless all at the same time. She understood, she'd felt it all before, and she could feel it intensely from Fred through her own connection with him, a despair and longing, but a relief that his twin finally knew he was there.
Once George had settled down, Hermione began to explain everything from the beginning of when she entered the Death Division. She told him how she opened her body to spirits, how he had helped her when she was on the brink of death because of the failed experiment, yet how her connection could not be fully closed because of Fred. She told him of the experiments they were doing now, how she could see and talk to Fred in the in-between room in the Ministry, and how at night when she slept, he would be in her mind with her. She explained her bond with him, how he was tethered to her and her alone, and how it was unusual and nothing anyone's ever seen before. She also mentioned the twin bond and how it was interacting, from what they had deduced today. Finally, she told him Domenico's suspicions, that he was potentially not dead, though she told George not to get his hopes up as she was not allowing herself to hope either, just in case the speculation was incorrect. George took in all of this information and listened intently, wishing he could take notes and knowing he'd have a million questions for her once she finished her story.
"So yeah," Hermione finished, "Fred's been following me since the Battle of Hogwarts and I'm only now beginning to research into it. I'm sure I'll have more to update you on as I go."
They sat in silence for a moment, George opening the bottle of firewhiskey and pouring Hermione a thumb as they chinked their glasses and contemplated everything in their own minds.
"Hey Fred, remember there was something I wanted to discuss with your brother that I wasn't ready to talk to you about yet?" Hermione turned and asked her companion.
Fred stood from the couch and walked towards the kitchen, hopefully far enough away that he wouldn't hear her. He respected Hermione's need for privacy, especially because he was around her 24/7, he knew there had to be times where she needed to talk to someone about him but without him there. It made him feel a little sad that she couldn't talk to him about it, but knowing that she was talking to George made him feel a lot better. Plus, she had said she wasn't ready to talk to him about it yet, not ever.
"Hermione?" George asked as he watched his brother's retreating form.
"I think I'm in love with him." Hermione stated when he was out of earshot, then continued in a rush, "He's the same shade of green that you say Angie is for you, and there's this bond that we have. He's only tethered to me; I don't know why he's not tethered to you. I can feel his emotions and he can feel mine and he's been there for me this whole time, even before I knew it. I don't know if this feeling will go away. I'm scared it will, because when I'm with him, it's the best I've ever felt."
George wanted to laugh at Hermione's confession to him, but caught himself before the chuckle escaped, "Hermione, it's so bloody obvious that you love him, and he loves you too, you know – although I'm sure he'd prefer to tell you that himself. I knew it the moment you told me what colour he was to you. I did more research today – yes, me researching, I know – but I was curious about our colour spectrum and I wanted to check into it. Perfect match, soulmate, I don't know what you'd like to call it, but it's the strongest connection you'll ever have with someone. Whether you want it to be romantic or not is up to you, but they're your person. Fred is your person, Hermione."
Hermione burst into tears at this and it was George's turn to be her shoulder to cry on. Hermione's tears, however, were relieved and happy, yet melancholic and full of despair. Her person, she'd found her person and he was dead. Or was he? Hermione didn't even know what to think anymore and she just buried her face further into George's shoulder.
Fred felt Hermione's jumble of emotions from the other room and peeked his head around the corner to see her soaking George's t-shirt with her tears. He walked his way back towards them and George looked up, pulling back from Hermione as Fred sat beside her, resting his hand above her own as he had earlier in the day.
"It'll be alright, right Fred?" Hermione asked him.
"Whatever it is, we can get through it together." Fred replied confidently, sending his reassurance and love through to her.
Hermione smiled at the warm feeling she received, and her sniffles quietened down significantly.
"Take tomorrow off, I will too, we can experiment with the bonds, and I have some ideas I want to test?" George asked hopefully.
Hermione had never taken a day off in her life, even when she was dying the prior week she turned up to work, but she did feel as though this would help in her research in the long run, so she agreed, sending an owl to Domenico, letting him know that she would probably be with George the next day to run some experiments and to leave her stack of paperwork as she would come in early the next day to finish it off.
"You're a bad influence on me, George Weasley. I've never played hooky in my life. You'd better make these experiments worth my while." Hermione laughed at him.
"If it's for Fred, I think we can make an exception, don't you think?" George winked at her, knowing that how she felt made it seem like she'd do just about anything for Fred at this point.
Hermione blushed but continued, "We can experiment at my apartment tomorrow. It's warded and I'm allowed to have department related artefacts there, along with my research. At least we'll be able to take notes."
"That sounds like a good plan. I'll be over in the morning with coffee." George said with a smile.
"I normally head to Grimmauld for breakfast, but maybe you should just come over to my place for breakfast instead, especially after you did dinner tonight – kind of – and I'll send the boys a text. I don't really want to get into it with Ron before his work, nor ours. I'll find a better time to meet with him." Hermione responded, pulling out her mobile and sending off a text to Harry and Ron, saying that she would be having breakfast with George the next day and not to expect her before work.
"You staying here tonight, or heading back?" George asked as he checked the time. It was past midnight and they had imbibed enough firewhiskey to make them tipsy, along with expelling a lot of water from their eyes, which surely wouldn't help their dehydration.
Hermione stood up, her eyes bleary from the crying and the lateness of the night, "I might take you up on the offer to stay here the night, then we can head back to my place together and I won't even have to reset the floo wards."
"Sounds good then." George hesitated for a moment, contemplating something before asking, "Do you want to sleep in Fred's room? It hasn't been changed since… you know. I just kept a preserving spell on it so no dust gets on anything."
"Are – are you sure it's okay?" Hermione asked him, then looked towards Fred.
"Considering what you told me about him influencing the twin bond, I'm pretty sure he forced me to make you sleep in his bed back at the Burrow, so I'm sure he wouldn't mind you sleeping in his room. Besides, the alternative is transfiguring the couch, and trust me when I say, it's not that comfortable." George replied cheekily as Fred blushed, though neither of them could see it.
"Alright then, thanks George." Hermione smiled and walked towards her handbag, reaching deep down into the bottom to find her spare toothbrush and pyjamas that she had been carrying for times she stayed over at other friends' houses that weren't the Burrow or Grimmauld Place, "I'll just do my teeth and then be off to bed. I'm honestly surprised how well you took this all, I know it's a big information dump and if you still have questions for me tomorrow, I'll be happy to answer them all."
"I think Fred's helping me through it a bit, but I really do trust you, Hermione, so I know that whatever research you're doing, you're doing it thoroughly. I have no reason to doubt your work." George replied to her, "But I'm sure I will have a million more questions tomorrow. I already have a potential product or idea that might be of use to us in my head, but we can try all of the experimenting tomorrow."
"Despite wanting to stay up all night experimenting and working on products and hearing about your idea, I'm absolutely exhausted." Hermione sighed, "Goodnight George, I'll see you in the morning."
"Goodnight, Mione. Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me all of this. I know it must have been hard for you too." George replied and the two parted ways.
Fred was sure that they'd find something together. The most brilliant minds in his life, working on things to figure out this strange case, he knew that something would come of it.
Hermione walked into Fred's room and immediately felt comforted. It was almost as if his scent lingered in the room after all those years. She changed quickly into her sleeping attire and snuggled down into the warm sheets, breathing in deeply as she felt all the tension and stress in her life melt away, imagining Fred were there, holding her to him tightly as she drifted to sleep in bliss.
"I missed you today." Fred said as she appeared in front of him, pulling her into a hug that fit perfectly, "All the time we've been spending actually seeing each other while you're at work, I forgot that paperwork even existed. It's even more frustrating that you could see me and we couldn't interact."
"I know, I wanted so badly to jump into sleep or into the in-between room and just chat to you about everything, about what Domenico said about you not being fully dead, about what I was going to say to George, about everything that's going on." Hermione replied, burying her face into his broad chest and sighing.
"Well we're here now, and we have all night together, so let's get comfy, pretend we have a cup of tea, and we'll talk as long as you want to." Fred smiled down at her as he led her to the couch, picking up the teacup from her coffee table and taking a sip as though he were playing tea parties with a child.
Hermione found it incredibly endearing and a blush crept up to her cheeks, though she was still not ready to tell Fred about what colour he was to her, nor what George found that it could mean. She didn't want to ruin their friendship by trying for something more and she didn't know where that could leave them with him being in a semi-permanent state of existence. The thoughts swirled through her head as a small frown creased between her eyebrows.
"No frowning, we'll talk everything out. I'm here with you always, Hermione. Even if I weren't stuck to you, I promise I'd be here for you." Fred told her as he took his thumb to smooth out her worry lines.
So they talked about everything. About George and how it made Fred feel so happy that his twin has learnt he's still there, and that they could spend time experimenting the next day with their bonds and how they interacted. About Ron and Lavender and how it made Hermione feel almost nothing, but a small sense of betrayal at her suspicions about how Lavender had moved on so quickly from David, especially remembering her saying that they were destined, hoping against all odds that Ron had not stooped so low as to cheat on her. About the new development that Fred could potentially not be fully dead, and what that would mean in the future, whether he could return to the world of the living, move on to the world of the dead, or be stuck forever in this limbo with Hermione.
It was getting late and Hermione was getting tired, even in her dream she felt the exhaustion from the day settling into her bones. In a bold move, she placed her legs across Fred's lap, twined their fingers together, and curled up with her head on his shoulder, his arm around her back. She felt safe and comfortable in his arms. As she slowly drifted off to sleep, she almost thought she felt him kiss her on the forehead and whisper, "I love you, Hermione."
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