Hermione didn't mean for it to happen. She just wanted to pay Fred a surprise visit and hadn't anticipated George to be there as well. However, from the moment she stepped out of the fireplace and into Fred's living room, she could hear their voices clear as day coming from the kitchen.

"So you're friends again?" George's voice rang from the room next door.

"I think so," Fred pondered, "we had pizza the other night."

"And then what?" George asked unimpressed.

"And then I showed her my phoenix."

George erupted with laughter, "whoa! You surely don't waste your time!"

"Oi sod off with your dick-related metaphors," Fred grunted, "you know perfectly well that I'm talking about the phoenix in the stock room."

"Alright, alright. So you showed her your - ahem - phoenix... and nothing more?" they went silent for a couple of seconds before George continued, "I'm guessing that look on your face means 'no'," he laughed, "- aw, come on mate! I'm just pulling your leg."

"Well, for once I'm actually being serious!" Fred sounded annoyed with his brother, "this is important to me!"

"Mate, look... Hermione will come back no matter what. Even though she's not keen on admitting it, I know that she has missed you too much to let you go again. Don't worry about what happened."

"Easy for you to say," Fred scoffed.

"Come on, mate... I've seen you sulk about it for almost two years. Eventually, you're going to have to let it go."

"I can't," Fred said sheepishly, "I said the most horrible things."

"Address it then! Anything!" George said desperately, "just fix it!"

"She doesn't want to talk about it."

"What gave you that impression?"

"She made me promise not to address it."

"Oh, come of it. She was just angry. You'll have to talk about it eventually."

The twins went quiet for a couple of seconds and Hermione contemplated clearing her throat and pretend that she had only just arrived - but she knew that they both had a certain knack for spotting whenever she lied. Eventually, Fred spoke before she had put any thought into action: "By the way; why did you tell me that Hermione has a boyfriend?"

"I did?"

"Mate..."

"Yeah, well I did," George finally admitted.

"Why?"

"Because I knew it would make you come home," George said with a shrug.

Curiously, Hermione moved an inch closer to the kitchen so she had a better chance of listening in on their conversation. What she hadn't seen, however, was the brass fireplace tool holder that she accidentally knocked over in the process. It made a racket and before she could move a muscle, Fred and George were standing before her with their wands raised.

"Hermione?" George spoke, lowering his wand when he realised that there was no immediate danger.

"Hi," Hermione whispered sheepishly, her voice suddenly gone.

"What are you doing here?" Fred asked.

"I came to say hi," Hermione said.

"For how long have you been here?" George asked her, squinting his eyes.

"I just arrived," Hermione lied.

The twins looked at each other but didn't say anything. Hermione could tell that they were having one of their silent conversations.

"Well, I better head home to Angie," George cleared his throat while pocketing his wand, "I'll leave you to it," he shot his brother a look before he turned towards the fireplace and flooed out of Fred's flat.

"Nice of you to drop by," Fred beamed at Hermione when they were finally alone, "would you like to do something? Maybe we could go for a walk?"

Hermione, who was busy picking up the tools she had knocked over, nodded, "The sun is out. Why not?"

Fred pulled on his green puffer jacket, "side-apparition?" He held out his hand to her.

"Really?" Hermione laughed, "the park is just across the street."

"My idea. My decision," he winked at her.

"Merlin, you're lazy," Hermione laughed while taking his hand, "just like there's a limit to how great a distance you can travel when apparating, there should be a limit to how small a distance you can travel."

"Don't pretend you don't enjoy being just a tiny bit lazy, love," Fred winked at her before he spun on his heel. The fact that he had used her old nickname for the first time since they had decided to become friends again wasn't lost on Hermione. It made her feel all warm and fuzzy - as if everything was falling into place. Finally. She had time to do a mental happy dance before she felt the well-known feeling of a hook behind her navel, pulling her away from Fred's flat and towards the park at the end of Diagon Alley.

"How's your week been?" Fred asked her when they started walking along one of the narrow paths.

"Ah, the usual," Hermione shrugged, "just work... Pretty uneventful. How about yours?"

"Busy! Though it's nice being back at the shop, there's still a lot of stuff that we need to update compared to our newer shops."

"Do you like being home? Or do you already miss traveling?" Hermione asked nervously although she pretended that whatever his answer was, it was something she could easily brush off.

"Honestly? I quite like it. I thought I would be yearning to start the next travel but right now I'm actually just really happy to be here," he beamed down at her.

"I'm glad you feel that way," she said quietly, "I, for one, am glad that you're back."

Fred gave out a sigh, "Hermione - love - I know that we agreed to leave it alone but I need to get something off my chest.

"Yes?"

"What happened when I left has been eating me up. I think we need to talk about it..."