Hermione could feel him all around her. There wasn't space to breath. He was suffocating her. He was going to- to-
Hermione woke with a scream. She stared at the curtains, trying desperately to control her breathing. It was a dream. It was always just a dream. Except for the first time. That one... that one was too real. She reached for her bracelet, but she wasn't wearing it. Fred wasn't there. Fred wasn't there. What did she do? Hermione jumped and scrambled back against her headboard as the curtains were torn open. Lavender's wand cast a strange shadow across her tired face.
"I swear to Merlin, Hermione if you do not tell me what the hell is wrong than I will take your ass to Madame Pomfrey," Lavender said heatedly, sitting on the foot of Hermione's bed. "You can't go anywhere without a Weasley accompanying you, or if not then that tall, dark, handsome Ravenclaw you're suddenly buddies with, and if none of them, two Slytherin outcast girls."
"It's personal," Hermione managed after a few breaths. Her voice was still very unsteady.
"Well, of course it is," Lavender said slowly. "I won't even tell Parvati, I promise, and if word gets around, you can pimple my face too."
"I don't- I haven't told anyone."
"Not even your Weasley?"
"Huh?"
Lavender reached under her bed and pulled out Fred's jersey. Hermione had forgotten that part of Fred's Christmas gift to her. Hermione frowned. "You went through my stuff?"
"Old news," Lavender said flippantly. "Why are you waking me up in the middle of the night? Stress dreams about O.W.L.s?"
"No... Last week this Slytherin-" Hermione took a deep breath. "He thought that I didn't know my place and had the idea that he could... teach me... it."
"And so you've started hanging out with two of his buddies-"
"They heard me and stopped him, not all Slytherins are evil!"
"There hasn't been a bad witch or wizard didn't come from-"
"Peter Pettigrew's Gryffindor!" Hermione realized her mistake. "A-and his Housemate, S- Black obliterated him without a second's thought!"
"Oh, really? I never heard that," Lavender said quietly.
"That Peter Pettigrew died?" Hermione asked through gritted teeth.
"No, that Black was Gryffindor," Lavender said with a frown. "Now, why haven't you told anyone else?"
"Snape will get anyone else expelled!"
"If news of this gets around, he might end up dead before he can try," said Lavender lowly. "I don't like that men think they own girls."
"As well you shouldn't," Hermione sighed, pulling her knees to her chest.
"I'm going to stay right here until you go to sleep," Lavender said, resettling herself beside Hermione.
"We're not friends," mumbled Hermione.
"We're sisters; forced to share a room and annoyed by each other nearly as much as we admire each other," said Lavender quietly. "We know each other better than we'd like."
"Was that an insult or a compliment?"
"I'm not sure."
"You're nearly as bad as Ron," Hermione groaned.
It ended up being a mutually beneficial arrangement. Often Hermione would study until about half a minute before she fell asleep. She helped Lavender with Charms and Potions theories; when they filled out star charts, they helped each other, Hermione remembering stars with interesting names or stories and Lavender remembering ones that were significant in Divination. Lavender was extremely good at pulling away from a sleeping Hermione without waking her up.
Hermione was sitting alone in the Common Room one evening, staring at the fire, when the portrait hole opened slowly, and slammed shut.
"'Mione? What are you doing up?" Fred and George sat down on either side of her, both winded. Hermione didn't flinch when Fred wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
"Lavender is sick," said Hermione miserably. "She won't leave the bathroom but she didn't quite make it the first time. Parvati is livid."
"Oh," said Fred, rubbing her arm softly. His hands were warm against her skin.
"What were you running from?"
"The usual: Filch," said Fred, grinning slowly. "See, Tess and Anita had a plan that involved us distracting Filch-"
"-but it works even better because now Snape won't suspect us since we were messing with Filch."
"Of course," Hermione leaned against Fred's chest and looked at George. He looked especially guilty. "What else is there?"
"Hermione please don't shout, there are people sleeping," George started.
"But, we've been thinking-"
"-We came back this year to test our products and have time with our girls-"
"-And now we've done a load of each of those-"
"-Umbridge is only getting worse, if we're not careful, we'll end up with our wands snapped-"
"So we've decided to leave," they said together. Hermione blinked and stood, staring at them both.
"Fred, you can't leave now, I- I won't see you- h-hardly at all next year," Hermione said, her hands shaking.
"You could always come with us," Fred whispered, standing and taking her hand. "Didn't I promise you job if you didn't get any O.W.L.s?"
"I have to at least try though!" Hermione pulled away. He was leaving her. After everything that had happened.
"Hermione, I'm not leaving you, I'm just leaving," Fred insisted. "I'm going to tell Harry to keep an eye on you, and Williams, too. After tonight, I'm doubtful that Sinclair will try anything."
"I-"
"But me, I'm going to try everything," Fred whispered, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. "Because no matter what, I still love you."
"But you don't have to go," Hermione leaned against him. She heard George shuffle away. Awkward genius.
"I don't need anything I could possibly learn now," said Fred. "We've got premises now, you'll have to come and visit."
"I love you," Hermione said sadly.
"We're not leaving tonight, we're still planning the whole thing," Fred reassured her. He pulled her toward the portrait hole.
"I need to go to sleep," Hermione said.
"Right, well, you can do that with me," Fred smirked back at her.
"You know, that doesn't sound half bad."
He lead her to the Room of Requirement and Fred closed his eyes. The door appeared like the gate to a garden, and Fred opened it for Hermione. She stared in wonder at the transformed room. It looked like a meadow, with blue skies and green grass. Rose bushes of all sorts of colors grew randomly, each blossom perfect and unique. There was a picnic blanket, though no basket, and even a tiny pond.
"What did you ask for?" Hermione turned back to Fred, who's eyes hadn't left her at all.
"Someplace I could be alone with you, where we wouldn't be interrupted," he took her hand and spun her once. Then he set a hand on her waist. The Room played a soft waltz. Hermione smiled as Fred spun her again. She reached up and kissed him, feeling as though she had a very limited number of those left. "You don't want to dance?"
"Maybe next time," Hermione promised, kissing him again. This time he kissed her back, and Hermione's knees nearly gave out. Hermione pulled at his shirt, and he started to unbutton it himself. Fred was very happy that Hermione was already in what amounted to pyjamas, a t-shirt and sweatpants. The t-shirt was quickly discarded.
"You were in the Common Room with no bra?" Fred asked. Hermione smiled. She'd gotten good at determining when Fred was going to whisk her away for a late night snog.
"I was waiting for you," she murmured kissing his Adam's apple.
"You are the sexiest human being alive," murmured Fred.
"Merlin, Fred, look," Hermione gasped. The music was gone, and the room was speedily changing. The sky was growing darker, slowly filling with stars. Fred pulled Hermione down to the picnic blanket. This all seemed rather familiar to Hermione, she wondered why the Room had conjured it this way.
"You can probably name them all, can't you," asked Fred. Hermione looked at him for a long moment. His eyes kept flickering down to her chest. She raised an eyebrow. "It's not my fault you're perfect, 'Mione."
"It is your fault you've got a one track-"
"You've got Sirius and Andromeda and all my other distant relations," Fred said without looking. He pulled at a strand of her hair idly, twirling it around her finger and pulling her closer gently. "And Polaris, Cassiopeia, Orion, Leo..."
"You've run out, haven't you?" Hermione grinned. Fred pouted, letting go of her hair.
"Have you no faith?" he asked.
"I have very, very, little," Hermione whispered and kissed his cheek. Fred pulled her legs across his lap and kissed her. Hermione used one arm to keep from falling and wrapped the other around Fred's neck. Slowly Fred shifted so he lay over her, their legs intwined. Hermione's now useless hand went to Fred's belt. She stopped and gasped when Fred latched his mouth to her breast. She struggled through, managing to loose his belt and take his pants off.
"Hermione, are you sure about this?" Fred asked, pulling away from her slightly.
"Fred, we've talked about this," Hermione whispered. She touched his cheek softly. "I love you, I want this. And I know you want this."
"How do you-" Fred blushed as Hermione looked down at his boxers, "Er, right. You're sure then?"
"You're going to ruin this with your big fat mouth," Hermione mumbled, kissing him again. Fred went after her sweatpants and panties. He grinned at her.
"And here I thought you liked my big fat mouth," whispered Fred.
"Fred, just- Fred!" Hermione squirmed as he put his mouth to her. She really did admire his tongue. "Fred, stop messing a-about-"
Hermione's words were lost as she came, her hands pulling at Fred's hair. She didn't even remember how they got there.
"This could hurt-"
Hermione gasped as he pushed into her. Fred grunted, mumbled something, and there was a sharp pain. Hermione let out a strangled breath, blinking tears from her eyes. There was a long moment where she wondered how this was supposed to be enjoyable. Fred kissed her cheek, and then her, properly. Hermione could taste herself on his lips, which was strange to be sure. This, perhaps, wasn't so bad. The pain faded, and Fred started to move slowly. Not so bad at all. Fred steadily picked up his pace, forever ruining Hermione's chances of breathing normally ever again. Her hips rose to meet his almost automatically. Fred came inside her, panting heavily. He slumped over on top of her. Hermione's breath steadied slowly. Fred tucked his head in to her neck.
"Am I crushing you?"
"Why didn't we do that sooner?"
"Something about laws or some bullshit," Fred answered, pulling out of her. "We'll get better with practice, you know. And it won't hurt."
"Happy Birthday, Freddie," Hermione stared up at the stars as he rolled off her.
"I love you," Fred whispered, kissing her cheek.
"When can we do that again?" Hermione asked. Fred laughed, turning her to face him. Once again, his eyes darted down. "Fred."
"What?" He grinned, struggling to hold her eyes. He ran a hand over her side, pausing on each of her ribs.
"Why roses?" Hermione asked.
"Hmm?"
"The only flowers in the Room are roses," she clarified, goosebumps racing over skin from where Fred ran a knuckle down her ribs.
"You're a rose," Fred murmured, "At first, there's just a few points that are breathtakingly beautiful. Closer, you realize it's more than beautiful, it's perfect in a way that is flawlessly natural. But you can also see the thorns, and you know that the beauty is balanced by the danger."
"And what danger is that?"
"You never want to look away," Fred answered. "And if you try to hurt or cut one of the buds, you'll end up with a thorn in your side... I'm the thorn."
Hermione laughed at his open face, "I'm a rose?"
"The only one worth looking twice at," Fred said solemnly.
"And you thought George was wrong when he called us goopy," Hermione kissed his cheek and made to sit up, "We should head back."
"Don't bring my brother into this," Fred kissed where her neck met her shoulders.
"Fred, we're going to get in trouble," Hermione closed her eyes as he nibbled at her ear.
"Tomorrow we're going the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff match," Fred whispered, "And I don't care if you have studying to do."
"What does that have to do with us leaving now?" Hermione asked.
"I also plan on getting in trouble then," Fred promised, grabbing her panties and dangling them just out of her reach.
"Fred!"
"Come one, one detention, and you get these back," Fred coaxed her. Hermione smirked instead and kissed him. As soon as his hand lowered marginally she snatched back her underwear and pulled it on. "You're no fun."
"I'd tell you to go run around without underwear, but you'll really do it," Hermione muttered.
.o0O0o.
Next chapter gone be sad, guys. It's been a crazy week for me; there was shooting in my town and everyone is on edge. I was driving around town, and for the first time I wondered what it would be like to, well, be shot and killed as I was just going about my day to day life. I know people who know the some of the victims, and the whole thing is really surreal. Thoughts and prayers are appreciated for the families suffering from loss.
So mortality is a thing.
Anyway, the Sinclair abuse chapter is going to be coming up in the flashbacks pretty soon, along with Valentine's Day, Christmas Day, and a few other random tidbits.
animelover5107: Torture and death doesn't sound so bad.
Fandomqueen104: Thank you! Fred is a wonderful, beautiful human being and I think that he would appreciate that recognition.
Guest (Kate): Work in progress fics are the most frustrating things in history. It frustrates me because I want to upload the entire thing all at once, but my poor computer couldn't handle it.
Yeeeey: I wanted to show how they really are there for each other, I'm glad it's working.
fanficti0naddict: I mean, even if Snape did, Hermione would never find out about it. You'll have to wait about the whole Fred thing.
I'm a Nerd and Proud: I was thinking about that, but I have this thing that will come into play later where Fred can actually plan out torture for people who hurt Hermione, but George just goes ape-shit immediately. So you'll see some of that coming up.
Guest (The One Super Nice One Who Compliments Grammar): You managed to put the largest smile on my face, and for that you have my eternal thanks. It's things like that which make me confident enough in my abilities to not only share them, but also work on original stories. So thank so very much, from the bottom of my heart.
Infernalbooks: *coughs* prediction *coughs* if fred manages to *coughs out lung* survive battle of hogwarts *eyes water*
