Submitted for The Houses Competition Forum - Round 9

House: Gryffindor

Subject: Transfiguration

Category: Standard

Prompt: 5. [Dialogue] "Well, well, what do we have here?"; 15. [Emotion] Happiness

Word count: 1,818

Warnings: EWE - Fred Lives

Hoping for a future

Bip. Bip. Bip. Since the day after the battle, Hermione had been listening to the same sound on repeat. It filled her with both relief and dread. It had been five months since the battle—five months since Hermione had last heard Fred's voice. She was practically living in his hospital room by now, not knowing if he would ever wake up from his magical coma.

Ever since that blasted wall had fallen over Fred and he had been brought to St Mungo's, Hermione had stayed by his side. George was always there with her, but Hermione tended to be alone most of the time, as George was doing his best to keep Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes open.

The steady beeping of the heart monitor brought her back from her thoughts, and she approached Fred's side, plopping down on the chair and speaking to him as if he were simply asleep.

"You have to wake up, sweetie," Hermione whispered in Fred's ear, squeezing his hand as she watched his chest rise and fall. "Everyone misses you, and I don't want to think about living a life without you in it."

Hermione tried not to cry when she was with Fred, but it was almost impossible. 'I can't remember the last time my face wasn't wet with tears.'

"George spends half of his time rebuilding the shop for when you wake up. The rest of the time, he's here by your side. Think of how wonderful he would feel if he saw you smiling at him." Hermione rearranged his fringe on his forehead, trying to contain the surge of emotion that came with that little gesture. She remembered when Fred used to playfully nudge her hand with his head, wanting her to run her fingers through his hair. His eyes would shine with mischief, his grin as wide as his face. "We can't wait for you to open your eyes again, so please… come back to us."

Hermione lost the battle with her tears. She sat there by Fred's bed in the hard-backed chair that had never made her feel comfortable, and she wept as she thought about her life with Fred.

They had started to date when he was in his final year at Hogwarts. All it had taken was a Hogsmeade weekend, a shared butterbeer in The Three Broomsticks, and Hermione had been a goner. She had never thought she'd like to spend time with the prankster, but Fred knew how to make her smile; her heart would always be so full when she was by his side.

Hermione had never been happier than when she was with Fred, and even in the middle of the quest to discover the horcruxes, thoughts of Fred were the only thing that had helped her keep going and not spiral out of control with fear. The promise of Fred's arms around her and his gentle kisses had spurred her on even when Bellatrix had been torturing her.

"Do you remember what you said to me right before the battle began?" Hermione continued her one-sided conversation. "You said that we were going to win, and that we'll finally get to be happy—like we deserve.

"You said we would search for some place together, a house with a big library for me and a lab for you—to make sure that you wouldn't drive me crazy." Hermione choked on her sobs. "George showed me the drawings that you made of what you thought our perfect house would look like. Don't you want to go looking for a house together?"

Hermione was finding it hard to breathe, wondering if this is what her future would be like. Was she destined to be a shell of the girl that she once was? Was she fated to keep wondering—only imagining—what her life would have been like if Fred was by her side.

Seeing him in that bed, Hermione remembered what had happened with her after the whole fiasco in the Ministry. Having to stay in bed for a while before she recovered herself. She couldn't focus on anything else than the pain in her chest, until she heard a voice talking with her.

"It's okay, it's okay. Hold still, just focus on me, okay?" Fred said in a desperate tone, that entered the fog that was her mind. "You're safe, stay with me, focus on me."

"You've been there for me when I needed, and I'm here now that you need." Hermione took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. "Stay with me, focus on me, Fred. I need you here."

Her breaths were coming shorter and shorter, and she was worried that she was going to have a panic attack. She hadn't had one in a long time, and the only person that knew how to help her was the only person she couldn't ask to help her.

"It's becoming harder without you, Fred, and I don't want to learn how to live without you. I don't want to lose you." Hermione tried to level her breathing, remembering how Fred had used to hold her close to his heart, whispering in her ear what to focus on. "Please, please, come back to us. Come back to me… You have to. Please."

Hermione squeezed his hand before raising it to her lips. She pressed a soft kiss on his knuckles, watching her tears fall onto his frail fingers. She lowered their entwined hands to the bed and dropped her head onto the small space beside his hip. She never let go of Fred's hand, wanting—needing—to feel him close to her for as long as possible. Despite the Healers' reassurances, her mind often came up with the worst-case scenarios.

The constant beeping of the machines around her lulled her to sleep.

Hermione rarely dreamt when she slept in the hospital, but something about that day was different. In her dream, she was standing in the middle of a green field, surrounded by lilies—the same flowers Fred had given her on their first date.

Confusion filled her at first, but then, she heard childlike giggles and her feet followed the sound on their own accord. A large tree stood on top of a hill, with a little girl with auburn curls and freckles stood underneath. Hermione couldn't help but stare at the little girl's brilliant smile; she looked like she was the happiest girl in the entire world and her emotions shone through her chocolate-brown eyes—eyes that looked just like her own.

It was what she imagined that her and Fred's child would look like, when she allowed herself to think about this kind of thing. She was lost in those thoughts, when she heard footsteps near her and she saw Fred running past her towards the little girl.

Fred grabbed the girl, tossing her in the air, making the girl squeal in delight; Hermione couldn't help the smile that appeared in her face seeing the scene in front of her.

She tried to walk near them, but it looked like an invisible wall was in front of her, stopping her.

"Why can't I pass through this? I want to see my daughter," Hermione cried, banging on the wall with her fists, even though it pained her to do so. "Why can't I go near her? She's my daughter! I want to be with the love of my life!"

A sudden thought came to her at that moment. 'This is what you wanted, but you'll never have it. Fred will never wake up, and you'll be alone for the rest of your life.'

Hermione didn't realise that she was crying; she just felt the moisture on her face. Although this was just a dream (she hoped this was just a dream), she couldn't help but think that this would soon become her reality. She stayed there, banging on the invisible wall and sobbing as she watched the little girl that she would never meet laughing with the love of her life, regretting a future that she would never have.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" a raspy voice cut through the fogginess in Hermione's mind. Hermione blinked away the last bit of sleep, trying to place where she had heard that voice before. "It looks like someone was waiting for me to wake up."

Hermione suddenly remembered where she was, and she saw that the hand that she was clutching onto like a lifeline was clasped around hers. She gasped and jolted, looking up and seeing Fred woken and smiling at her made everything worth it.

Hermione could see how Fred looked weak after spending so much time in a coma, and even his smile looked painful, but he was smiling at her like she was the best thing in the world. She knew that he couldn't help but try to make the situation lighter for her benefit, making her cry happy tears.

"Fred, you woke up." Hermione didn't think much about what she was doing, she just stood up and was hugging Fred with all of her might. She was crying and looked like a mess, with tears running down her face like rivulets; she tried to make the tears stop, but she could just hiccuped while she was almost out of breath.

Hermione was peppering kisses all over his face, not remembering to be gentle with him; she couldn't be happier than she was in that moment. "You're finally woken up."

Hermione knew that Fred waking up didn't mean he had fully recovered, but just hearing his voice again—a little scratchy over not having been used in the last months—was like hearing a choir of angels singing. She hadn't ever heard anything more beautiful than his voice, and she hadn't seen anything more beautiful than his smile. Her heart was overwhelmed with emotions.

"I wouldn't leave you so easily, 'Mione," Fred said, hugging her and Hermione could feel his hands on her waist, bringing her to lay down with him. She lay next to him, trying not to crush him; she pinched her arm to make sure that she wasn't dreaming. Hermione would probably have a bruise later, given how hard she pinched herself, but any pain would be welcome if it means that she could see Fred smiling at her again. "You're everything to me."

"You're everything to me, too," Hermione mumbled into his neck, not wanting to let go of him. She couldn't let go of him, not now that he was awake. What if she leaves and he dies while she's away? She can't have it, so the only way that they would make her leave was if someone grabbed her and threw her away.

It would take time for them to go back to what they were before everything had happened, but Hermione wasn't going to focus on that at that moment. Fred was finally awake, and that's all that mattered to her.