AN: Hello. I could give you a million excuses on why I took such a long absence from my stories, but let's just say it was life that got in the way. After checking all the notifications I got when I was gone I realized that I got quite a few rather cruel reviews/pms about things like grammar mistakes and having terrible plot essentially… they made me a little nervous about continuing to write. I hope that everyone puts a little thought into how much effort and time and passion goes into writing before leaving a review. I'll leave it at that.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. This might possibly be the longest chapter I have ever written.

DISCLAIMER: Don't own anything

Chapter One: His Laugh

When Hermione woke up the second time it was the middle of the night. Ginny wasn't in her bed, and instead there was a lanky Weasley sprawled out on his stomach. One of his arms was dangling off the side of the bed, and his face was turned in her direction. After a quick study, she recognized the snoozing face to be none other than the man from her dreams. She'd learned to distinguish them in her First Year after she became friends with Ron, and she took great pride in the fact that they could never pull off their go to prank of switching identities on her. They always put on a big show after she identified them, pretending as though the world was ending, but she saw right through it. She knew that they secretly appreciated that there was at least one person who saw them as individuals.

Hermione was drawn from her thoughts when Fred let out a soft snore.

The image of Fred Weasley snoring had her giggling to herself under her breath which then turned into a violent coughing fit that had Fred waking up and falling straight onto the floor. In less than a second, he was at her side and pulling her up so that she wasn't curled in on herself anymore. She was breathing heavily and trying desperately not to collapse back on the mattress when Fred slipped in behind her and pulled her gently to sit up against his chest.

"Hey there, Mione, just breathe with me," he whispered.

She was tense at first before slowly she let herself relax against him. Her torso ached from her heaving body in a way she'd never felt before. She let her head fall backwards against his shoulder and shut her eyes to do as he suggested. She found that syncing her breathing with his was rather easy when his breathing was pushing her torso up and down. After a few moments of her calming down, his arms snaked around her waist, and he laced his fingers over her ribs. One of his cheeks was pressed against the top of her head.

"I'm sorry I woke you up," she whispered. Hermione didn't know why she was whispering, but she thought it might have something to do with the distinct feeling that they were doing something inappropriate. She at least knew that Molly would squeal if she saw their position.

"Rather scary actually," he hummed. "Waking up to you hacking up a lung is less than ideal." She laughed for half a moment before stopping herself and blushing.

Hermione's fingers searched for a few moments, and she sucked in a breath before tangling her fingers with his. He surprised her when he lifted her hand to press a kiss to her knuckles without any hesitation. Her skin broke out in goosebumps, and her face flushed an even darker shade.

"Um… Fred?"

Hermione held her breath after she felt him tense behind her. Fred Weasley and her weren't cuddly. The most they'd ever touched before this moment was a piggy back ride at the Burrow last summer and a hug right before the twins made their big exit from Hogwarts a couple months ago.

"Yeah?" His voice was soft and breathless in a way that had her heart beating faster than it had since she'd been held by Viktor Krum in fourth year. Her face was hot and red, and all of the flashes of him from her dreams were popping up in rapid succession. She didn't know why this was happening or what it meant, but what she did know was that she didn't like not knowing.

Would she ruin this moment if she asked him what was going on? After all, her and Fred weren't particularly close before she'd woken up.

Hermione mentally shook herself and made a very conscious decision to stop thinking and just allow this one moment to happen.

She sucked in a harsh breath before slowly releasing it along with all of the tension in her body. Her fingers squeezed his for a moment before she let her eyes slip shut and turned her cheek to press against his chest.

"Never mind."

He shifted, and without thinking Hermione gripped his hands where they were. He froze in his movements and whispered, "I'm not leaving, Mione. Just going to get more comfortable."

Her face flushed in embarrassment and slowly she eased her grip. "Sorry," she whispered.

"A pretty witch begging me not to leave her bed? Not something to apologize for," he huffed out a laugh that shook Hermione's body and had her too flustered to be offended by his innuendo.

Before Hermione could think up a response, he was squeezing her body impossibly closer and flipping them, so that they were laying on their sides with Fred's back to the wall and hers pressed tightly to his chest.

Hermione hadn't slept with someone since she was a toddler, so she was in completely new territory with this. Not only that, but she would definitely be considered inexperienced by most. Besides the few times she'd snogged Viktor in broom closets, she hadn't done anything.

This didn't even feel like experience, but rather like intimacy.

Intimacy with Fred Weasley at that.

Her last thought before she drifted off was that she couldn't imagine she'd ever be this comfortable again in her life.

Fred swore he woke up with the shit-eating grin on his face. One moment he was having a dream about him and George's opening day at the shop, and the next he was breathing in honey colored curls and covered in girl. Hermione hadn't moved the entire time she had been asleep when she was recovering from the curse, but it seemed that in the night she had shifted to completely entangle her limbs with his.

He was in the middle of musing about how her foot had ended up pressed to the base of his spine when he heard someone clear their throat. His eyes flew up, and his grin only grew at the sight of a smirking Charlie. His excitement over his older brother being home combined with waking up with this particular girl in his arms had him giddy beyond belief.

Fred managed to free one of his hands carefully to hold a finger to his lips before turning it towards Hermione's burrowed face. Charlie let out a loud snort before making a few gestures that Fred thought might mean that Mum was making breakfast, and Fred needed to disentangle himself.

He left the room and shut the door not nearly as quietly as he should've.

Hermione let out a soft huff and shifted against him.

Fred shuddered when her foot slowly trailed down his calf until her leg was flush against his. She turned her head slightly which had her cold nose brushing against the length of his collarbone where his shirt had been pulled down. After this succession of events he became painfully aware of a growing problem in the downstairs area. If she woke up and felt that, they'd be skipping every step in the book.

"Oh, Merlin," he mumbled.

Getting out of the bed was a very difficult process, but Hermione turned out to be a surprisingly deep sleeper.

Before he knew it, he was quietly shutting the door behind him and sneaking towards a shower. A very cold shower.

Hermione woke up to a cold bed and a nervous Ron shaking one of her shoulders.

"Mind easing up a little, Ronald?" She grumbled.

He yanked his hand back and mumbled an abashed, "Sorry."

Hermione blinked her eyes a few times and frowned up at her friend. He was glancing nervously at her covered torso.

"Mum wanted me to ask you if you wanted to come down to breakfast."

Hermione reached out to Ron, and he immediately met her halfway to help pull her up. Getting downstairs was a strenuous process, but Ron was more patient than she had ever seen him before. After a quick stop at the loo, so she could brush her teeth and take care of business, they continued their journey to the kitchen.

When they finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, Hermione leaned more heavily on him and stopped to catch her breath.

"Thanks for the help," she managed between a few huffed breaths.

She watched out of the corner of her eyes as Ron's face turned a violent shade of red, and he let out a shaky laugh.

"Of course, Mione." After a moment he added quietly, "You scared us, you know."

Hermione sighed. She was getting awfully tired of people saying that to her.

"Yes, well I'm fine now."

When they stepped into the kitchen, Molly nearly dropped the platter of sausages in her hands to beeline to Hermione.

"Oh, dear, I am so glad you have made it down!"

Hermione gave her a wan smile and allowed the woman to pull her into a seat in between Charlie and Ginny. Hermione smiled up at the dragon tamer, and had to calm her blush when he gave her an exaggerated wink. Something about the older Weasley always had her blushing like an awkward teen.

"Sleep well, Hermione?" His deep voice asked.

Hermione's brows furrowed, and her confusion only doubled when there was a thud, and Charlie let out a groan. She followed his glare across the table to Fred who was giving his brother a warning look. It took her a moment, but she finally worked out what must be happening when Fred tilted his head in the direction of Molly before glaring even more seriously at Charlie. After waking up alone, she had somehow completely forgotten about falling asleep in Fred's arms, but Charlie must have been the one to find them.

Hermione's face erupted in flames at the idea of the second oldest Weasley seeing her and Fred in such a compromising position, and she had to quickly dart her attention away when Fred's blue eyes settled on her.

She cleared her throat and returned her attention to Charlie. "How long are you back for, Charlie? Just a short visit again?"

She reached forward to pour herself some tea, therefore missing the silent exchange that happened between every Weasley present at the table. When she looked back up at Charlie, he was giving her a solemn expression. "I'll be here a while, I'm afraid."

Hermione smiled up at him in confusion, "Tired of the dragons?"

He let out one of his loud guffaws and dropped his arm on the back of her chair, "Never!" She watched as he used his other hand to push some of the eggs around on his plate. His smile slowly faded before he looked around the table and added, "Nah, though. I'll be here until the end of the war I suspect."

At those words Hermione felt a deep fear seat itself in the pit of her stomach.

War.

She knew it was coming, obviously, but she hadn't realized until that moment that it was here.

She suppose she should've had that realization when Cedric Diggory's body had come back at the end of the Triwizard Tournament. Or perhaps when she'd woken up with a new scar covering half of her body. But for some reason the idea of the most distant and absent Weasley returning for good seemed to really nail it in.

Her voice was thick when she responded, "Right then." When she spun back around to face forward, she realized that her line of questioning had ruined the mood of breakfast. It wasn't until Charlie's arm closed in on her and pulled her in close to muss her hair that everyone seemed to let out the breath they were holding.

"Couldn't stay away from my favorite swot, anyway!"

Hermione scowled and pushed him away from her. "Oh, bugger off," she mumbled as multiple people at the table laughed.

The rest of the meal passed relatively smoothly with everyone fighting for the last sausages, avoiding the topic of the war, and Hermione making a valiant effort to ignore the fact that a certain twin wouldn't stop staring at her.

When an owl swooped in with the prophet Hermione gasped loudly.

"Harry! I need to owl Harry!"

Silence once again filled the room, and she glanced around with a frustrated expression.

"What is it this time?"

She looked past a scowling Ginny to Ron, and her ire grew. He was rubbing the back of his neck and glaring at his empty plate.

"Ronald?" She needled.

He sighed and said, "We aren't allowed to owl him, Mione."

Hermione blinked a few times before saying loudly, "Why on earth would we not be allowed to owl him?"

This time she turned to Molly for an answer. "Dumbledore said that it's too dangerous, dear."

"Rubbish if you ask me," Ron mumbled under his breath which earned him a smack on the back of his head from Molly.

Hermione's mind whirred as she worked out the implications of what Molly had said. If Dumbledore said it was too dangerous, then it must be because owls were being intercepted. Though, logically, she could see his point, emotionally she could hardly believe it.

Harry had just lost his last true family member, and he was being sent to live in an abusive household with no support whatsoever. It was wrong, and she could feel her righteous indignation building up in her at rapid speed.

"She's about to blow," she heard Ginny whisper.

"Everyone better clear the room," Ron sighed.

Her own curls whipped her face as she spun to glare at her two friends. "Ronald and Ginerva, don't be absurd! I am not going to blow!" After she essentially threw her curls off her face, she let out an aggravated huff. "I just think it's cruel to punish Harry in this way when what he really needs right now is the love and support of his friends! I'm going to have to have a word with Dumbledore myself because I will not stand for this." She wanted to stand up to go write a strongly worded letter to Dumbledore, but she knew that determination alone would not make her trip up the stairs any easier. She glanced around the table to see a mix of expressions. Molly and Arthur seemed to be having a silent conversation, Ron and Ginny were holding in laughs, George and Charlie were grinning at her, and Fred was giving her a soft smile that she didn't even want to begin to decipher. "Now, someone please help me up the stairs again."

"On it!"

Hermione's stomach twisted into a mess of nerves when Fred was the one to volunteer, but before she could protest he was on the other side of the table and pulling her carefully to her feet.

"Hey, what if I wanted to help!" Ron protested as he pushed himself up.

"Sorry, Ronniekins, but I have first dibs sense I worked the most 'watch the princess sleep' shifts."

They left the room to Ron's indignant stutters and Ginny, George, and Charlie's knowing smiles.

Hermione tried not to lean against him as much as she had leaned against Ron, and frowned slightly, "You had shifts to watch me sleep?" As an afterthought, she added, "And dear Merlin, stop it with the pet names!" Fred grinned down at her.

"Of course we did. Did you know you snore?"

She gasped and slapped his chest with her free hand. "You take that back, Frederick Gideon Weasley!"

He just chuckled at her which she felt from her shoulder being pressed into his chest. That feeling made her indignation filter out and be replaced with the now familiar confusion that surrounded him.

This confusion to Hermione was simply unmanageable. She hated it.

To make matters worse, the images of him simply wouldn't leave her mind. If she hadn't seen his eyes when she woke up, she would have amounted it to an odd, fever-induced dream, but his eyes had been the same.

When they got to Ginny's room, he slowly lowered her onto her bed against the wall and collapsed back onto his sister's bed.

She watched as he got comfortable before asking quietly, "Hey, Fred?"

He glanced over at her before he popped back up and leaning forward so that his elbows were resting on his knees. He stared at her steadily, and must've seen the frustration clearly on her face.

"Hey, Hermione."

She looked into his clear blue eyes and took a deep breath. "Why did you take the most shifts to watch me?"

She watched his face carefully as her question washed over him, but he showed no immediate reaction besides dropping his cheek into his hand and quirking his head at her. There were a few moments of silence where they studied each other before he said, "I think Ron might fancy you, you know?"

Hermione's eyes widened and for the first since entering the room, she averted them.

When she didn't respond, he said, "I take it you fancy him back then?"

"No!" She shook her head vehemently before a blush took over her face, and she turned her head back in his direction. "I mean… maybe? I don't know."

It was the truth. If he'd asked her before the whole ministry incident it would have been a resounding yes, but everything that had happened in the two days she'd been awake left her feeling unsure. Did she fancy Ron?

Hermione's eyes were focused on his feet, but when Fred stood she returned them to his face.

Something in his expression was different than before. Maybe in his eyes.

"Well, I've got to go work on the shop with Lee and George."

Hermione reached out a hand to stop him, but he was out the door before she could say anything, leaving her somehow even more confused.

Fred was still beating himself up for bringing his brother up at all by the time he made it to the shop. George and Lee were at the front sending things flying to shelves when Fred walked down the stairs from their flat.

"I've mucked it," he exclaimed with his arms spread wide.

Lee rolled his eyes, and George gave him withering look.

"Knew this would happen," Lee teased. Fred let out a loud groan before moving to one of the boxes to start helping them.

George glanced over again before saying, "So how exactly did you mess it up?"

"Well, Georgie, it may have been something like me telling her Ron fancied her."

At that, both George and Lee dropped their wands to their sides and gave Fred equally dumbfounded looks.

"Why in Merlin's saggy balls would you do that!" George yelled.

"Well, Georgie, I may have done it because she questioned me about why I took all the shifts, and I panicked!"

Lee, forever the reasonable one, steepled his hands in front of him and said, "Just because you said Ron fancies her, doesn't mean she fancies him back."

Fred tossed his head back and forth and squinted his eyes, "That's true, except I may have followed that statement up with asking her if she fancied him, and she may have responded by blushing and saying, 'maybe.'"

George slapped his hand to his forehead, before turning back to his previous task and saying lightly, "You're right, Freddie. You've mucked it."

The next morning, Hermione doped herself up on potions and dragged her achy body and shrunken trunk downstairs to finally go home to see her parents. The full Weasley welcoming committee was there to see her off despite the fact that she would be back in just a couple weeks to move into Grimmauld Place with everyone.

She hadn't seen Fred since their conversation after breakfast the previous day, so when she entered the room, she immediately sought him out. She couldn't explain her disappointment to anyone, let alone herself, when she didn't see him.

After giving everyone the mandatory goodbye hug, she turned to George and asked quietly, "Where's Fred?"

George's eyes widened for a moment before his face split into a large smile. She narrowed her eyes at him, but he just smiled bigger. "He's just at the shop, Hermione. It's only a couple weeks, and he is very busy." George winked conspiratorially at her, but the idea that Fred had been the only Weasley too busy to send her off left a sour taste in her mouth.

Her expression grew pinched before she forced a smile and responded, "Right. Too busy. Got it."

Arthur stepped up to her then and gave her a soft pat on the shoulder, "I'll be coming to get you to bring you to Grimmauld in two weeks, Hermione."

She gave him a tight smile and patted his hand, "Yes, thank you so much, Arthur."

She glanced around the room one more time before grabbing some floo powder and calling out her address.

When she stepped through it was to an eerily quiet house.

"Mum? Dad?"

She dragged her trunk to the base of the stairs and pulled her wand from her pocket. A dark feeling settled in her stomach as she warily crept through the dark household. All the blinds were drawn, and the house was in the same pristine condition it was always in. That feeling when Charlie had mentioned the war the day before returned, and she stopped herself from calling out to her parents again out of fear that someone could be in her house.

She was creeping through the kitchen when a large slip of parchment on the breakfast table caught her eye.

Hermione,

We've travelled to a last minute conference in Bristol. We will be back tomorrow. Leftovers are in the fridge. Love you, dear!

-Mum and Dad

She let out a sigh of relief before collapsing in one of the chairs.

It seemed as though every time she came back from Hogwarts she drifted further away from her parents. It was becoming more and more apparent that there might possibly never be a time where she wasn't living two vastly different lives. And with the war coming…

The war.

Her best friend in the world was Harry Potter, and she was muggleborn. She'd read enough papers and books about the first war to know that both of those things meant that she wouldn't be safe. By association that meant that her parents wouldn't be safe.

Hermione stood and walked determinately to her room to find her books and notes. She had research to do.

Two weeks could not have passed slower for Fred.

He threw himself into developing more products and trying to decide if he really had ruined his chances when he had told Hermione that Ron fancied her. He wasn't even sure if what he said was true, but if Ron did fancy her, he knew it couldn't possibly be for the right reasons. Ron got annoyed by what Fred saw as Hermione's best qualities. This was a messy line of thinking that only made him bitter towards his brother.

The truth of the matter was that Fred was completely content to keep his feelings bottled up for the rest of his life.

But then she had almost died.

Finding out that Harry and his band of lions had traveled to the ministry, and that some people had been injured had been a terrifying moment for him. He had been so focused on Ron and Ginny until Ron had asked Pomfrey about Hermione.

Fred and George had rushed to the Hogwarts hospital wing when they'd received the frantic Patronus from their mum regarding the mess the golden trio had managed to get themselves in at the Ministry. Fred was confident in saying that was the first time he'd truly felt fear. Even back in their fourth year when Ginny had been recovering from having Voldemort in her head, he had been more sad than anything.

When they showed up and realized that Ron and Ginny were fine, he felt rather silly for being scared at all. That is until they told him about Sirius, and Voldemort actually returning. Then it got even worse when Ron finally spoke up.

"Madame Pomfrey! Where's Hermione!"

Fred felt like someone had reached into his chest and squeezed his heart in their hands. He looked around frantically and realized that his entire family was there except for Hermione and Harry.

"What happened to Hermione?" He asked breathlessly as he backed up to look up and down at the rows of beds. Neville and Luna were a few beds down with their heads bent together, furiously whispering, and Remus was there with a few aurors. The one directly across from them had the curtains drawn and a few healers from St Mungos bustling in and out of it. He thought he might vomit. He spun back on his baby brother and sister. "What happened to her!"

Ron and Ginny both looked shocked at the amount of emotion on his face, but the only thing that calmed him down was George's clammy hand squeezing his.

"Dolohov got her," Ginny whispered from her cot.

Everyone present grew even more pale at the mention of Antonin Dolohov. Fred's grip on George's hand tightened. The man who had killed his and Georgie's namesakes had gotten his little witch.

Before anybody could stop him, Fred ripped his hand from his brother and beelined for the curtained bed.

"Frederick Gideon Weasley!" He vaguely heard his mother screech, but it was too late. Before he knew it he was staring at an unconscious and heavily bandaged Hermione. Her entire torso was wrapped in bandages and her face was twisted in pain, but she was subconscious. His eyes landed on the steady rise and fall of her chest, and he let out a breath. He didn't tear his eyes off of her breathing until Harry's voice broke him out of it.

"I knew it," he croaked.

Fred's eyes flew to Harry, and he instantly regretted it. He was pretty sure there was nothing sadder in this world than the boy who lived crying. Harry stared at him completely unashamed from his place next to Hermione. Fred's gaze landed on Harry's hand intertwined tightly with hers, and he couldn't help but wrinkle his nose.

Choosing not to acknowledge his tears, Fred asked, "Knew what?"

Harry surprised Fred by smirking at him. "That you love her."

Fred felt his face get hot as he threw his hands up, "Love her? That's Icky Ronniekins job. I think Voldy might've hit you a little too hard tonight, huh?"

His terrible comeback made him cringe, but Harry let out a watery laugh before finally turning his all-knowing stare away from him and back to Hermione. Fred watched nervously as Harry's smile faded.

"You'd be good for her I think. Ron… he's just…" Harry tossed his head around as he searched for the right word. He glanced up at Fred and finished with, "... not it."

After that night, Hermione was essentially all he could think about. He spent nineteen days replaying his small conversation with Harry over and over again in his mind, and he'd just decided that it was possible Harry's words held some truth when she woke up and looked at him the way she had. She'd been confused and scared and then something warm had filled his eyes, and it was a look that she had never dared to bestow on him.

So yeah, Fred was in trouble.

He was pulled from his thoughts and his cauldron when George's voice rang through the backroom.

"Hey, Freddie, Dad's gonna leave without you if you don't hurry!"

Fred's eyes flew to the clock on the wall. "Oh, bollocks."

He placed a stasis charm on his cauldron before sprinting for the floo connection upstairs. He passed a smirking Lee and George on the way, and didn't even bother saying anything in response.

When he stepped through, his father was waiting for him with Remus.

"Fred, I almost left without you," his father grinned at him. He was nothing if not predictable.

"Glad you didn't, Dad." Fred held a hand out to his old professor. "Remus, good to see ya!"

Remus gave a tired smile and gave Fred's hand a hearty shake. "You as well, Fred."

His dad clapped his hands together, "Now let's go fetch our Hermione, yeah?"

The first thing Fred noticed when the flooed into Hermione's home was that it was nothing like the burrow. It was stark and clean, and he would really call it a house way before he'd call it a home. Before any of them could even step further into the room, Hermione's voice floated in from somewhere in the house.

"I'm sorry, okay?"

"No, Hermione! You were barely home two weeks, and now you're off again to spend the summer with your friend's family rather than your own!"

"Mum, you don't understand. I have to-"

"How am I supposed to understand when you won't tell us anything about this magical world of yours!"

"Jean, dear, they're going to be here any moment. Maybe we should table this for later."

"When's later, Daniel? She probably won't even be home for Christmas! First, we get a letter from your headmaster saying that you wouldn't be home for a couple of weeks following the end of the term, then when you did come home, you immediately tell us that you're leaving again in two weeks! This is absurd!"

His dad gave Fred a look before clearing his throat rather loudly and calling, "Hermione?"

There was a loud clatter as if someone dropped something, and in seconds Hermione appeared in the doorway that led to what looked like the dining room. The first thing Fred noticed was that her eyes were a little watery and her cheeks were flushed. She gave them a forced smile before saying over shoulder, "Mum and Dad, Mr. Weasley, Professor Lupin, and Fred are here."

A woman appeared behind Hermione with a very familiar pinched expression on her face. She whispered something in Hermione's ear before stepping forward to shake all of their hands.

Fred only looked away from Hermione when her mother appeared right in front of him and for the first time gave a genuine smile.

"Hello, Fred. You're one of the twins?"

He grinned at her. "One and the same." Jean smirked before putting a hand up to the side of her face.

"You know… she won't admit it, but I think our Hermione is quite taken with you," she whispered. Fred's eyes returned to Hermione only to see that she was having a hushed conversation with the man who must be her father.

"I'll let you in on a little secret, Mrs. Granger." He leaned forward and lowered his voice as well, "I'm quite taken with her as well."

Jean let out a happy laugh and smiled at him pleasantly. It was like the conversation they had overheard hadn't happened at all.

After a few more minutes of small talk, Hermione pulled her trunk into the room and announced that it was time to go. She still looked rather flustered, and when her mother pulled her into a hug and whispered something else in her ear, a fresh wave of tears filled her eyes. When Fred reached down to shrink and take her trunk, he heard her whisper back, "I told you, mum, everything is fine. It's going to be a good year. I'll write lots. Promise."

It wasn't until that exact moment that Fred realized that Hermione's parents must not know about the war. And if they didn't know about the war, he doubted they knew about how close she had come to death just a month ago.

"Hermione, you ready?" Remus asked.

"Yes, Professor Lupin. Thank you for coming with Mr. Weasley to escort me back."

"It's nothing, Hermione. And please call me Remus. I haven't been your professor for a few years now."

Hermione flushed and said, "That might be difficult."

Finally, her eyes landed on his, and he tried to convey as much reassurance in his smile as he could.

"Hi, Fred." Her voice was soft and stuffy, and the two weeks of torture suddenly felt worth it.

"We missed you, Mione."

She rolled her eyes and went to hit his arm, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her in for a tight hug. After a few seconds she sniffled against his chest and stepped away from him. She hugged both of her parents before they flooed her into Grimmauld.

She thanked them one more time before rushing off to the room she claimed every time they stayed at Grimmauld. Fred watched her go as his mum, Ron, and Ginny rushed into the room.

"Where'd Herms go?" Ron asked.

"She's not feeling too well," his dad immediately responded. "I'm sure she'll be down for dinner, Ronald."

"Oh my! Perhaps I should fix her something up right now."

Arthur pressed a kiss to the top of her head and said quietly, "Just leave her for now, Mollywobbles."

Hermione didn't chance leaving her room until well past midnight. There were many knocks on the door, but she pretended she was sleeping.

The only person she wanted to talk to was Harry, and they still had a few weeks before they were set to get him from Privet Drive.

At half past midnight, she crept down the two flights of stairs and made her way to the library.

When she got there, she paused in the doorway, and took a deep breath in. She found a book on the topic she had been thinking about all day before making her way towards the sofa and fire. She had just settled in when a throat cleared near her.

Her head snapped up and sitting in the armchair across from her was Fred.

"Do you have a tracking spell on me or something!" She snapped.

His eyebrows shot up, and she sighed.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Fred simply smiled at her before standing and moving to sit next to her on the couch. He leaned over and read the title of her book before her hand could come up and cover it.

"The Mystery of the Mind: Memory Charms Explored?" He looked back up at her face to see her biting her lip nervously, and he let out a huff of air. Maybe it was best not to question her on her reading material at the moment. "I had a feeling you'd come down eventually, and that when you did, you'd come to the library."

Hermione's eyes widened, and she took a moment to really look at him. He looked tired, that much was obvious, but the soft look in his eyes that she had just begun to notice was still there.

"You waited up for me?" She asked slowly.

Normally, Hermione would expect him to respond with something suave and not remotely serious. Instead, his concerned expression remained and he spoke softly.

"I thought you might want to talk about it." She looked away from him and blew a curl away from her face.

"About what exactly?"

He reached out and took her hand carefully in his. "About what we overheard your parents saying this morning, Hermione."

As soon as his hand touched hers, she felt a sense of calm wash over her that she hadn't felt since he'd held her in her bed two weeks ago. The majority of her dreams since she'd woken up had centered around Fred Weasley and those thirteen images she'd seen in her cursed slumber. He was haunting her.

"How much did you hear?" She managed.

"We showed up right as your mum yelled about you barely being home two weeks."

There was a long silence after that where Hermione tried to gather her thoughts, but Fred just sat patiently through it.

"It's harder than I imagined," she finally whispered. He didn't respond, so she kept going. "I don't know how to bridge the gap between my magical life and my muggle life." She dared to look up at Fred, just to see him staring at her imploringly. She sighed, and her free hand moved across the title of her book. "And with the war, I'm starting to think it's not possible."

"Of course it-"

Hermione's eyes welled up, and she interrupted him before he could finish, "It's not, Fred. Not if I intend on standing by Harry. And I do."

She could tell Fred didn't know what to say to that, so she pulled her hand from his and absently massaged it with her other.

"Harry's going to be Voldemort's number one target, and I'm Harry's muggleborn best friend. That makes me an even bigger target than other muggleborns."

Fred wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. She surprised him by burrowing into his chest. "They're not going to harm you or your family, Hermione. Dumbledore will make sure of it."

"Do you know what they did to muggleborns' families in the first war, Fred?"

He squeezed her tighter, and she knew she didn't have to give him the answer.

"I'm assuming you have a plan then?"

"Not yet," she mumbled.

In the silence that followed, she found herself wanting to ask him again what was going on between them.

She pulled away with the question on the tip of her tongue when Fred suddenly let out a loud laugh.

Hermione was struck by the image.

She'd seen and heard this moment before. His eyes had crinkled the same way. His hair had been the same amount of messy. His laugh the exact same volume and length.

She gasped and backed away from him like she'd seen a ghost, and his laugh turned into a frown.

"Hermione?" He asked nervously. "I wasn't laughing at you. Swear. It was about something Georgie said earlier."

She jumped up from the couch and walked backwards away from him. Now she was absolutely sure.

Somehow her fevered dreams were glimpses of her future. Her future with Fred.

She backed up until her back hit the bookshelf.

"Hermione, what is it?"

Hermione shook her head vehemently and squeezed her eyes shut.

Fred stood and that was just too much for her.

"I have to go," she mumbled before fleeing the room completely.

AN: I always imagined Hermione would have a relatively strained relationship with her parents. I can't imagine it'd be easy for a muggleborn to stay close to their parents once they left for Hogwarts.