Author's Note
Day ten of Merry Almost Christmas!
Love,
Wishin' Girl x x x
p.s. I hope you enjoy this extra long Christmassy chapter!
p.p.s. I love hearing from you so please do leave a review/comment to make my day...
...
"She's still asleep" Fred sounded defeated when he finally left his bedroom several hours later "the re-livings or nightmares or whatever they were seemed to stop pretty soon after I put her down but I can't tell how she really is until she wakes."
George, Ron, Harry and Ginny were sat on the twins' soft sofa and armchairs with a bottle of butterbeer each cradled in their hands, all sharing worried looks for their friend. The five sat in silence, picking at the labels on their butterbeer bottles, fiddling with loose threads in their jumpers or just staring at the bedroom door until midnight when Harry and Ginny began nodding off, the adrenaline from the panic earlier having finally worn off, and flooed back to the Burrow for the night. The pair left Fred with strict instructions to floo call when she woke up, but Ron was determined to stay in case Hermione woke up in the night and needed him.
"I'll be here for her" Fred assured his youngest brother gently once it was only the twins and Ron left "you can go home and sleep."
"Yeah like you've been there for her the past few months" Ron scoffed, setting down his half empty bottle hard against the top of the coffee table top emitting a loud ringing tone from the glass hitting glass, his worry manifesting as anger and his frustrations coming out in Fred's direction.
"Hermione doesn't need to wake up to hear you two arguing" interrupted George in an attempt to keep the peace, but they all knew this was an argument that needed to happen sooner or later, and his authority was compromised as he placed silencing spells around Fred's door even as he spoke.
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" shouted Fred, it was a good thing George's silencing spells had already taken effect as his brothers could get very loud when they were angry or protective and they were both feeling both of those emotions strongly right now.
"You know what it means!" came Ron's bellowing reply "As soon as that skinny little bimbo was paying you attention it was as though Hermione had never existed!"
"Take that back! I love Hermione and no-one can ever take her place in my heart!"
"NO! If you loved Hermione then you would have still come to see her, you would have spent your evenings holding her and listening to her read. You would have been around to notice how much you suddenly not being there affected and hurt her!" Ron countered, standing up and panting as red flushed his cheeks, ears and neck "You took advantage of her kindness when you needed it but as soon as you got better you threw her aside. She's still healing! She still needs you!"
"As though you're not the one taking advantage!" Fred squared off against his younger brother, nose to nose and his breathing rate picked up drastically "You fucking sleep with her!"
"No. I sleep in the same bed as her to quell each of our nightmares, but you never cared to even ask and find that out before throwing her away! As soon as you thought she might not be perfect in your eyes you tossed her aside." Ron's anger was starting to boil over and his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white "News flash, she is perfect. You're sure as hell not but she is!"
"You don't think I know that she's perfect! Of course I know she's damn perfect! The way she talks and how clever she is and her sense of humour and her bravery and how much of a Gryffindor she is all the damn time and her wild, frizzy, crackling hair and that gleam in her captivating eyes when she reads a book that she loves and how she can never have enough knowledge and how she always builds a wall between her peas and her mash so that they don't mix because she doesn't like the mixture of textures and her tone of voice when she tells me off but secretly finds what I've done amusing and the way her nose twitches in her sleep a few moments before she wakes up and how she always worries her rosy bottom lip between her teeth and…" Fred's anger had seeped away as his voice trailed off and he sank back down into the armchair nearer the fire with his head falling despondently into his hands "everything about her, everything is perfect."
"Then why the bloody hell did you abandon her?" Ron asked through gritted teeth, he was gallantly trying to control his temper enough to not punch his brother in the face, even though he was sorely tempted to right now.
"What's really going on between you and her?" answered Fred with his own question, his voice morose and eyes clamped shut as though that could protect him from any answer.
"We're best friends," The vulnerability in his usually exceedingly confident brother was enough to bring his anger back down to simmering, he did love his family as well as "we kissed during the final battle and then tried to make a go of it but trust me, there is nothing romantic between us and there never will be." Ron released his clenched fists and perched on the coffee table bumping his knees against Fred's. "I love her but not like that and she feels the same. Trust me."
Fred looked up and searched his youngest brother's eyes for any sign of deceit or denial but couldn't find even a trace of either, he still found the anger and protectiveness from earlier but it was mixed with honesty and love now too.
"But she is seeing someone," Ron braced himself as he spoke, not wanting to hurt his brother but needing to protect his best friend "a muggle guy called Justin. She seems to like him but even if she wasn't with someone else it's going to take you a long time to earn back her trust. She was completely crushed when you chose Carina over her, it'll take months and a lot of hard work to get you back to where you were."
Ron slept on the sofa that night just in case Hermione woke up and wondered where he was, while Fred sat awake on the floor by the bed and watched over her. They needn't have bothered worrying about her sleep though as Hermione slept cocooned in Fred's bed even more soundly than she did in Ron's.
…
Hermione decided to stay at Fred and George's flat the following night too, she wasn't ready to answer any questions about her break down yet which Molly wouldn't be able to help herself from asking in concern, and there are so many people traipsing in and out of the family home every day that she wouldn't be able to avoid a question or two from numerous others as well. That following morning when getting ready for opening the shop George walked in on Fred spooning Hermione in their sleep though, which led to George having his own stern words with Fred about respect, boundaries and the fact that she currently had a boyfriend who wasn't Fred.
Soon she was feeling stronger and better though so, on the day before the first Christmas after the war, Hermione went back to the burrow in time for the Weasley's Christmas Eve feast that night and was quickly engaged in a thrilling conversation (at least the three participants considered it to be thrilling even if no one else would) with Professor McGonagall and the Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, about the grammar of ancient runes when used in law making in various extinct cultures.
"On the note of law Miss Granger" Kingsley segued smoothly when the headmaster excused herself to refresh her pre-dinner drink "I have an offer for you."
"Please, if I still call you Kingsley, surely you can call me Hermione?" said Hermione with a friendly smile, she had been laughingly corrected by the deep voiced man when she'd first called Kingsley 'Minister Shacklebolt' on his inauguration day.
"Well Hermione, I had an interesting discussion with Minerva a few weeks ago and have been making the necessary arrangements since." Kingsley's kind laugh boomed again in response to her comment, and probably in recollection of the same memory she was replaying, "She mentioned your career aspirations and I have a proposal that I think you may be keen on. We have a department of Magical Law at the ministry which is separate from the Magical Law Enforcement department and instead works closely with the Wizengamot. Staff in this department are similar to muggle lawyers but many of them also support the writing of new laws and redrafting of old ones."
Hermione's face lit up at this idea so Kingsley ploughed on through the details at her encouragement.
"You would need to undergo training in the form of a twelve month apprenticeship, starting in January but otherwise following the academic calendar for holidays and so on that follow the Hogwarts pattern. Entrants to the single year apprenticeship require six NEWTs at E or above, at least two of which must be Outstanding. Minerva ensures me that you are taking the suitable subjects and already exceed the academic ability of our requirements even if you don't officially have the results to show it yet. I am more than certain that you would be the ideal candidate for this year's apprenticeship position and am formally offering it to you now. You can take some time to mull it over if you wish but should you wish to accept, and I wholeheartedly hope that you do, your first day is Monday the third of January."
Kingsley left Hermione to her thoughts but she caught him just before he left the burrow later that evening to excitedly accept his offer.
…
Christmas day was noisy and full of love, as were most Christmases with the Weasley's and by the end of the day the ground floor was full of empty glasses, discarded wrapping paper and a whole family full of very merry witches and wizards.
As they began to drift off to bed one by one Hermione and Fred got the opportunity for a little alone time. Snuggled up together in their favourite armchair, as they had been for most of the afternoon, Hermione toyed with the purple and green top hat perched on Fred's ginger locks.
"Do you like your gift?" She asked him softly.
"I love it" he replied and hooked a finger under her chin so that he could look into her eyes "I really do love… it."
She smiled and summoned another squishy parcel from under the tree, it had been hidden under a concealment charm and was wrapped in rainbow coloured tissue paper.
"What's this?" he asked as she handed it to him.
"Open it and find out" came her coy reply.
He carefully unstuck the sellotape and unfurled the layers of paper to reveal a plush Cheshire cat soft toy.
"For me?" His voice caught in his throat as he looked back into her eyes "But you already gave me a gift."
"It's to keep you company at night and make sure you don't have nightmares" she replied with a shrug before bidding him goodnight and ascending the many stairs to Ron's room.
…
Boxing day morning arrived with a flurry of snowfall across the country, so the burrow awoke to the excited screams of Ginny and Hermione creating snow angels and throwing snowballs up at the boys' windows. Within half an hour all out war had been established between the girls and the boys of the extended Weasley family who were sharing the holidays together.
Hermione and Ginny enlisted the help of Ashlynn (Charlie's girlfriend), Penelope (Percy's girlfriend who had arrived last night after spending Christmas day itself with her own family), Molly and Andromeda Tonks while Arthur rallied Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, Harry and Ron together as opposition. A pregnant Fleur and far too serious Percy played with Teddy on the kitchen side so he could watch the chaos through the frosty windows without getting too cold.
Arthur and the boys immediately scattered into the orchard and used the tree line as individual defences while lobbing hand made snowballs at the girls who were working in a tight group. Ginny and Ashlynn were the most athletic so threw heaps of snowballs, created by Penelope and Hermione, back towards the orchard. This provided enough cover for Molly and Andromeda to build an igloo fortress in front of the dock and soon the girls were hurling their snowballs from the snow packed turrets instead.
The igloo's front wall stood around twelve feet tall with snow piled behind for them to climb and see over the walls. The frozen pond behind them acted as their rear defence and they had built a row of small gaps approximately half way up the front wall to spy on the opposition. Once the structure had been erected Molly and Andromeda took over the role of making snowballs for Ginny and Ashlynn to throw from the turrets. This left Hermione and Penelope free to use their own creativity.
Penelope used a combination of aguamenti and freezing charms to produce a pair of ice catapults which could throw three snowballs at once and had twice the range of Ginny and Ashlynn's tiring arms. She then set to melting and refreezing complicated patterns in the snow covered lawn in front of their fortress, to form a tricky maze of slippery patches and drifts of powder in case the men decided to approach from the front.
Meanwhile Hermione had decided to draw the other team out of the orchard and away from cover. So she conjured a massive flock of canaries out of the snow and had them fly down into the orchard and sweep through the snow capped trees to draw the boys out. The twins were the only two left undercover as the others ran out, escaping the small flock of snowy birds, and charged towards the igloo only to fall into Penelope's trap and go skidding into thick snow drifts nearby. Next Hermione caused the ground near where she had spotted George to shake and the trees dumped a large pile of snow on his head such that he was suddenly buried to the waist and laughing hysterically.
"Only one more to go!" Molly called from her lookout position by one of the igloo fort's windows, her face was aglow with a childlike glee as she watched most of the men in her family being pummelled with snowballs by her teammates above.
"Homenum Revelio" muttered Hermione to her wand and counted the glows from her five teammates and the six out of seven of her opposition in front of the igloo. In confusion she opened her mouth to speak but was suddenly hit in the back of the shoulder with a snowball.
She immediately conjured another flock of the snow canaries and sent them speeding across the dock behind her at her attacker.
Fred ducked back down under the wooden slats to avoid the incoming birds but went skidding across the frozen top of the pond.
"Oppugno!" shouted Hermione to call the flock back towards a laughing Fred and they exploded on contact showering him in a thin layer of frozen white powder.