"HERMIONE!" Someone shouted her name. It sounded like Harry almost. Hermione glanced around her but saw nothing but purple flames. Where was she?
"Harry?" She called. There was a howl of pain, but it didn't sound like Harry at all. "Hello?!"
She tried not to look up. So she looked down. Below her was a darkness so complete, it drew the flames toward it and warped everything. There were several clatters and another shout.
"Hermione," Harry said again. "Hermione, wake up!"
"Harry?!" Hermione called again, running at the flames. She screamed and flew backward. Pain arced through her.
Hermione scribbled down some notes on the Charms text. This hurried version of her handwriting was awful, she'd copy the notes down neater later, when the boys asked for them. When she looked at her ink, she frowned. There was a wrapped sweet there, and it definitely hadn't been there before. She was in Ginny's room on a small cot, and unless someone had made it float in through the window-
Hermione remembered that she was in a house filled with wizards and sighed. Sweet in hand, she set off to find the twins, which wasn't all that difficult.
They were in the living room, looking rather pale to her eyes. Only their mum was in the room with them, and she was looking as uncomfortable as Hermione had ever seen her before. She ducked behind a wall, wondering if they were in trouble.
"Now boys, things at Hogwarts this year will be a little different. You're sixteen now-"
"Have been since April, was it?" George asked his twin.
"It was April last year, I'm not sure about this year," Fred said. "Was our birthday in May this year instead?"
"It must have been-"
"Boys!" Mrs. Weasley said over them. "Focus!"
"On what?" They asked with a laugh.
"I just told you!" This statement was followed by a long pause before Mrs. Weasley continued, her exasperation clear, "This year, at Hogwarts, things might be different... You may have noticed certain desires to have come up when you're around girls..."
One of the twins said something Hermione could not hear, and the other exclaimed, "Shut up!"
The door opened and shut, and the sound of heavy feet indicated it was one of the older boys.
"Oi, Bill, tell Georgie he's a wanker," Fred ordered.
"Bill, dear, I have to get a few things from the store," Mrs. Weasley said suddenly. "You can explain the thing to them."
"The thing?"
"What thing?"
"You know, Bill."
"Oh! Wait-" there was a crack. "You idiots, I cannot believe she stuck me with this-"
"Bill, what the fuck is the thing?" The twins demanded. Hermione reddened as she realized what was going on. Her mother had started this conversation with her, before she'd explained that she had no romantic attraction to any of the Weasleys. She'd never seen her mother so relieved in all her life. Hermione would have left only... She was just a bit curious. She doubted she could find any books on the subject without someone finding them and everything going horribly wrong.
"Right so," Bill said, "What Dad said was when two people, woman and man, love each other very much, they get married and then they make love-"
"Translation: see hot girl, bang hot girl," Charlie called from the kitchen. "Forget the wedding nonsense; too expensive."
"Oh," Fred said quietly.
"Right... Charlie can do the whole questions thing..."
"What?! No!"
"He has way more experience."
"Well, you know," Charlie said slyly, "The ladies all want what they can't have."
"That's settled then," Bill said happily. Hermione squeezed herself tightly against the wall as he charge up the stairs into his room without ceremony.
"I am not giving you a number, or any sort of list," Charlie's voice told the profound silence that had creeped over the house. Hermione's mind was racing. Neither Charlie nor Bill were married. She hadn't ever really thought about how wizards felt about... this sort of thing. Muggles she knew had various stances on the issue.
"Does it feel weird?" George asked.
"George, if it wasn't fun, no one would want to do it," Charlie answered. "Dumb question."
"That's how people get pregnant."
"Girls, right."
"How do we not get them pregnant?"
"Apparently there's some feminine stuff that goes on, which trust me, you don't want to know about, but there are spells for that," Charlie said, "And no, I won't teach you one. Trust me, Fred, it's better to learn by experience."
That didn't help Hermione at all. How did everything work? What went where when? Why did everyone dance around the specifics?! How was that helpful to anyone?! She was trying to learn and discover, and this was the one time she was too embarrassed to admit it.
She silently crept up the stairs until she's reached the bathroom, then stomped down the stairs as indiscreetly as possible. She hated that her eyes found Fred as soon as he was in view.
"'Mione," he said weakly, his ears beet red. Hermione was blushing too, but she hoped he'd be egotistical enough to contribute that to his presence.
"Have you ever done the thing?" George asked cryptically.
"Depends on what 'the thing' is," Hermione smiled, "Hey, Charlie."
"Do you have siblings?" He asked. Hermione frowned slightly, wondering why he'd jumped to this.
"Uh... No?" Hermione tossed the sweet in her hand at Fred, "What is that and why did you levitate it into my room?"
"I did no such-"
"That was me," Charlie admitted, backing into the kitchen. "You should count yourself lucky you don't have brothers."
"Trust me, I do," Hermione said earnestly. She wouldn't have minded a sister, but a brother was a deal breaker. She wondered if there were spells to change the gender of one's child. She could see a bigoted family like the Malfoys manipulating their family tree to have male heirs. Then she realized Mrs. Weasley would have probably guaranteed herself a daughter around Percy's time if that was an option. Unless there were two sides to this issue as well; natural and augmented, premarital and marital only. This lack of knowledge was starting to irk her severely.
"We aren't so bad," the twins called after him.
"What is it?" Hermione asked again.
"This is a Tonne-Tongue Toffee," Fred said proudly.
"An ingenious little treat if you ask me," George said, taking it out of Fred's hand.
"It enlarges the tongue," Fred said, though Hermione had already surmised this. When you put 'tonne' in the name, it wasn't difficult to figure out it meant 'big.'
"Naturally," Hermione said. She wondered how many they'd made. Obviously they were for pranking purposes. She wasn't sure if she'd been the target of a prank, since it had been rather poorly executed. She suspected that if this was a prank, she would know for certain by now. The twins were good liars, better than Harry and Ron anyway, but they couldn't fool Hermione.
Not many could.
"I'm disappointed you didn't eat it," Fred said with a grin.
"Do you often think of my tongue?" Hermione asked before she could stop herself. It came much smoother, much... huskier, almost, than she could have done purposefully. She watched Fred's pupils dilate and grinned. It was certainly a reaction. She sauntered off before he could say anything, running to the safety of her room. She paced, pulling at her hair and telling herself, "You're a genius."
Even though she went back to her notes, she did not stop grinning like a fool. She had no idea where that had come from. She needed to locate this source and use it more often, especially around Fred. Hermione knew she had several potentially dangerous abilities in her arsenal, namely her intelligence, magical ability, and bravery. She'd never considered feminine wiles before. She didn't think she'd ever be good enough at flirting to count it either. Lavender or Parvati could have done it, but she wasn't about to ask them for help. Not over the summer, not in school.
She jumped and nearly spilled her ink across her notes when there was a knock on the door. "Hey, 'Mione?"
"What?" Hermione asked. Fred opened the door and leaned against the wall, the way Charlie often did. It was difficult not to smile. The twins really did idolize their older brothers. Maybe not Percy, but Charlie and Bill. No wonder Mrs. Weasley had pushed her awkward conversation into their hands.
"You didn't give me a chance to explain myself," Fred said confidently.
"You didn't look capable of it," Hermione said sharply. She glanced at her textbook and scribbled down a note on Summoning Charms.
"Thanks," Fred said flatly, venturing into the room.
"I'm not sure Ginny wants you in here," Hermione warned. Ginny and Ron had been dragged to their father's shed under the pretense of straightening it up. Apparently Mr. Weasley wanted Hermione to explain a few of his trinkets, but didn't want to show her just how messy it usually was.
"What she doesn't know can't hurt her," Fred shrugged and sat down on his sister's bed.
"Who says I'll keep your secrets, Fred?" Hermione asked.
"Well, you've already figured out my greatest one," he said, "How do you tell George and me apart?"
"I'm perceptive," Hermione shrugged, "You slouch more."
Fred straightened, "I do not!"
"What do you want?" Hermione asked. Fred was pretending to be offended, and he ignored her, jumping up to pace with his arms behind his back, straight as a board. His eyes caught on her open trunk. Hermione could have sworn the world slowed.
"What's that?" Fred asked, pointing inside. Hermione jumped up, spilling ink all over the floor, and shoved Fred away from her clothes, her face redder than ever. She slammed the trunk shut and sat on top of it.
"Nothing!" She squeaked. She wasn't entirely sure what he meant, but she wasn't taking the chance of asking for clarification.
"Come off it," Fred grinned, "What has got you all wound up?"
"I'm not wound up!" Hermione snapped, "Can you get out of here already?"
"What the hell is a tampoon?" Fred laughed. Hermione went from red to crimson.
"Get out."
"You are so wound up," Fred said, clearly enjoying himself. If Hermione could've died from embarrassment, she would have then and there. Funnily enough, she knew the Wizarding standpoint on tampons. According to Professor McGonagall, most Purebloods didn't trust them (solely for the fact that they had to remember to take them out) but they were actually perfectly safe, and the Muggles were ingenious for creating them. Apparently there were even spells in development to enhance them.
"Leave," Hermione jumped as Ginny entered.
"Excuse me, I'm having a-"
"My room, not yours," Ginny started shoving Fred out. He struggled against her wildly but not effectively. Ginny nearly pushed Fred down the stairs, and she stuck her head out the door to scowl and gloat, "My friend, not yours."
Hermione let out a long breath and rubbed at her forehead. "Thanks, Gin."
"What did he want?" Ginny asked.
"The ignorant beast wanted to know what a tampon was," Hermione groaned, "The next question after would've been what I used it for, and then I would've had to explain the female reproductive cycle, it would've been a whole thing, and he's been embarrassed enough-"
"No," Ginny laughed, "I don't think it's impossible to embarrass them too much. Not with what they do to people."
Hermione smiled weakly, "Yeah, but I would have died of embarrassment."
"You wouldn't have," Ginny pulled Hermione off her trunk with a near evil grin, "You're Hermione Granger, you can do whatever you want. No one can touch you."
Hermione hugged her, and an explosion rocked the room. Hermione shoved Ginny away as the ceiling fell in, purple flames licking at the wood. Ginny faded into flames.
"Ginny!" Hermione screamed. The room vibrated as a second explosion went off. Hermione was thrown into the floor, and by the time she got to her feet, the room had gone. She was surrounded by flames once more. She looked around hopelessly, "Ginny!"
The flames rose higher around her, and she took a step backward, holding her head. It felt like someone was trying to work a knife from one ear through to the other.
"Stop!" Hermione screamed, falling sideways, "Please, make it stop!"
~m~
"Up, now!" Hermione jolted awake, glancing around the tent. Why was she in a tent? Wasn't she supposed to be at home? No, she'd gone to the Weasleys' for some reason... The Quidditch World Cup, of course!
It was still night though, and there was no reason for her to be awake that she could discern.
"What?" Hermione groaned, sitting up.
"Get up!" Mr. Weasley ordered again, "There's something going on, you need to get up!"
"What's goin on?" Ginny asked, her speech slurred by sleep. Hermione threw her covers off herself and grabbed a coat to pull over her nightdress, then tossed Ginny one. There was an urgency to Mr. Weasley's voice that she didn't quite trust.
"Come on," Hermione half dragged Ginny out of her bed.
"Quickly now!" Mr. Weasley barked. Hermione frowned and squinted at him. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen him so panicked before. Hermione pulled Ginny out of the tent, and as they stepped outside, screams met Hermione's ears. There were tents on fire, and suddenly she wasn't all that upset about being woken up. As they hurried over to Harry, Ron, and the twins, the eldest three boys came out of the boys' tent, fully dressed and brandishing wands. Without hesitation, they started sprinting off toward a group of masked people who were- were dangling people up in the air. A woman was upside down, trying desperately to hide her knickers and keep her dress up. A small boy spun in tight circles, his head rolling loosely. He, at least, was asleep. Mr. Weasley started after his sons.
"You lot- get into the woods and stick together! I'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out!"
"C'mon," Fred said tightly, brushing against Hermione as he took Ginny's hand. He lead the way into the wood and Hermione kept her eyes on the back of his head the whole way. When the crowd of other campers pushed in around her, she grasped the back of his robe tightly. He looked back at her and swallowed nervously, "It's alright. We'll be fine, 'Mione, I promise."
Hermione wasn't so sure. Ron shouted with pain, and unable to see him, Hermione broke the one rule she'd been terrified of since she was eleven. She used magic outside of school. "Ron, where are you? Oh this is stupid- lumos!"
"Tripped over a tree root," Ron explained, picking himself off the ground. Hermione let out a sigh of relief and loosened her hold on Fred.
Hermione jumped at Draco Malfoy's voice as he taunted Ron. He seemed to have been watching everything unfold. Hermione wouldn't have been surprised if his horrid father was one of the ones in the masks.
"Go fuck yourself," Ron spat. Hermione gasped and nearly moved to swat at him. Fred's snarl convinced her not to. Right now, it would make them look weak. She'd do it later then.
The crowd was still streaming from the campsite, making it difficult to stand still and have a conversation. As Malfoy started to talk again, someone shoved Fred and Ginny forward. Ginny cursed at the person and cried out as her foot was trod on. George pushed forward too, but Hermione lost sight of him almost immediately.
~m~
"Hermione," Fred said quietly, whipping his head around. Ginny's hold on his hand tightened as he turned. George appeared out of the crowd and wrapped an arm around his neck tightly, dragging him sideways into the woods. "Where'd they go?! Why would you leave her alone with Malfoy?!"
"She's got Ron and Harry," Ginny said quietly.
"They don't count, they're useless- I'm going back!" Fred swung around a tree and hurried off, or tried to. George grabbed him by the neck of his shirt, "Lemme go, what are you-"
"Calm down, I'm sure they'll be fine," George said, "They can't get into too much trouble."
"Uh," Ginny said quietly, "We're talking about Harry, Hermione, and Ron still, right?"
"We have to find them!" Fred threw his twin off of him.
"Look, I'm worried about Ron too but the bad guys are surrounded by the Ministry!" George pointed out. "They can't get to him, or Harry, or Hermione."
"But Hermione is Muggleborn!" Fred said, not sure why his twin didn't see how important this was. "If that's what they're doing to Muggles-"
"Harry and Ron won't be able to protect her against real wizards," George finally seemed to get it. This only made things worse. If George could see it, it wasn't Fred being irrational because he thought Hermione was cute. And smart. And surprisingly funny. And-
"Hermione can throw a good hex," Ginny put her hands on her hips and frowned at her brothers, "She doesn't need a knight in shining armor."
"A who in the what now?" George asked, glancing at Fred. He shrugged; it was probably a Muggle thing Hermione had taught Ginny.
"So are you coming or what?" Fred asked, heading off to find Hermione and the boys. Their dad had said to stay together. He had already failed at that. He wouldn't fail at keeping them safe. He couldn't.
"Calm down," Ginny said flatly, looping her arms through both of her brothers' to slow their pace. "We won't find them, not right now. They probably just went back to the tent."
Her words did not soothe Fred's fears, they only heightened them. Last he'd seen, the mob had been heading toward the tent. And Malfoy's dad was probably with them. He knew Hermione was Muggleborn. There would be no hesitation between her being spotted and-
The image of the Muggle woman trying to keep her dress up filled Fred's mind. Then it twisted until it was Hermione who was helpless, which was indescribably worse. Simply because he knew her, Fred rationalized.
"Let's just get to the edge of the forest and we'll go from there," George compromised. They tried to keep near enough to the path that they wouldn't get lost, but far enough from it that they wouldn't be caught in the crowd.
There wasn't anybody floating in the sky by the time they reached the edge of the forest. Fred let out a long breath. He was tired, that's why he was so on edge. It wasn't because he knew running into the forest screaming Hermione's name was the last thing he should do, and the first thing he wanted to. Fred let himself be pulled toward the tent instead.
"Ginny!" Bill called, hugging her tightly once she'd released the twins.
"Where's Ron?" A rather grim looking Percy asked.
"We lost them," George said quietly, "It was complete chaos."
"What d'you mean, you lost them?!" Bill demanded.
"Did you catch the Dark Wizards?!" Fred snapped. He could tell the answer from Percy's sour face, "Did you let them go on purpose?!"
"Take it easy," Charlie said quietly, wrapping at arm around Fred's shoulder and pulling him into the tent, "I'm not blaming you. They'll turn up alright."
He didn't look or sound all that convinced. Fred and George spent nearly an hour in synchronized pacing. Charlie hung by the tent flap to check for them.
Fred nearly hugged the three idiots when they finally turned up. As usual, they were arguing. This time it was a house elf. Apparently there was a bad mark and shouting and curses and hexes. Eventually everyone drifted off to find places to sleep. Hermione, however, did not. She simply sat and stared at the tent wall with a frown.
"I'm sorry," Fred said quietly, sitting down beside her.
~m~
Hermione couldn't stop thinking about Winky. It was so unfair, Crouch sacking her like that, and Ron acting like it was all perfectly normal! Everyone went to sleep like nothing was wrong, like their minds weren't spinning.
First Sirius, then Winky. People punished without evidence. It made no sense. There was no trial, no plea, nothing. Only a crime and a punishment. A scapegoat.
"I'm sorry," Hermione glanced away from the tent wall. It was one of the twins. Fred; he was making a particular effort not to slouch. Hermione turned her frown to him.
"For what?"
"I lost you," Fred said quietly, sitting down on the floor beside her feet. "Er, you being Ron, Harry, and, er, you."
"Right," Hermione said. It made sense, why would he care about losing her alone? He cared about his brother, and his brother's friends, collectively. "It wasn't your fault, Fred. The crowd was panicked, there was no way we could've stayed together."
"I should've-" Fred sighed, "You know what they would've done to you, if they found you?"
"No, and don't pretend like you do either," Hermione kicked him in the side.
"They wouldn't have exactly been kind," Fred said sourly, grabbing her foot and pulling sharply. Hermione yelped as she was torn from the couch.
"Ow, sod off, Fred," Hermione scowled and pushed him sideways. He rolled across the floor with an over dramatic groan.
"Hey, I'm serious," Fred said after a moment of lying on his back. He didn't even look at her, he just stared straight at the top of the tent. "You could have gotten hurt."
"We were fine," Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I'm talking about you, you," Fred said, turning his head. "'Mione, you may not have realized this but not all wizards like Muggleborns."
"Fred, I've had the displeasure of meeting Slytherins," she said darkly, staring at her feet. "Trust me, I know."
"What did Malfoy say?" Fred asked.
"Nothing happened," Hermione said angrily. "I don't want to talk about that inbred little shit."
Fred laughed, "You should swear more often."
"Shut up," Hermione tried to hide her smile, but failed miserably.
"It feels good, right," Fred sat up and scrambled over to her.
"It's a bad habit," Hermione mumbled.
"You don't have bad habits."
"Everyone has bad habits," Hermione said plainly.
"Not you," Fred muttered. He cleared his throat, "And even if you did, swearing wouldn't be one of them."
There was a scream outside the tent and Fred jumped to his feet.
"What is it?" Hermione felt herself fill with dread. The lights outside the tent had nearly a blue glow to them. Fred went to the tent flap, his movements jerky. Hermione was struck with a profound sense of being off balance. "This didn't happen."
"Hermione!" Fred turned to her as purple fire tore through the tent.
"What? No!" Hermione tried to get to her feet. "This didn't happen! Make it stop!"
"Hermione!" Fred faded into purple flames.
"Bring him back!" Hermione screamed. "This didn't happen! It isn't real!"
She knelt and clutched at her bushy hair, pulling it over her eyes. It wasn't real. It wasn't real.
.o0O0o.
This one took a while. Sorry 'bout that.
I'm still taking suggestions if anyone has anything they want to see. Read, I mean. Though you have to see to read. I'm having debates with myself over word choice, if you can't tell. Guys, it's getting bad.
Signe2805: Thank you!
Female whovian: Never do anything halfway. There's always a plan. ;)
sdrlana21: Yep.
Just 1 Thought: I generally feel the same way about OC's (most the time it's just the author writing themselves in somehow). Thank you so very much!
Guest: Thank you! Fred's real-time reaction is going to be coming soon.
lexxiebabey: The teddy bear story, it's coming. It's coming!
Infernalbooks: So in the book, Hermione is hit by a spell that makes it look like she's dead. Since it's magic, I decided that I would make her see things while she's out. It's an idea that I got while working on an original project; an AI with the memories of its creator gets a virus that deconstructs its memories. As they start to deconstruct, so does the AI. Not saying that that is what is going to happen with Hermione, but it does mention that the curse cast on Hermione does severe damage to her internal organs. Nothing is original.
animelover5107: The entire chapter was constructed so they could be on a broom together and she could do that. That was the one thing I knew I was going to do with that chapter. I think it was executed well enough, I'm still not sure about it.
Fandomqueen104: And here's your crushing.
I'm a Nerd and Proud: *wink wink* I spent way too much time thinking about Wizarding underwear this past week, so thanks for that :P
EJDimera'sGirl: We know Umbridge was in Diagon Alley because she got the locket from Mundungus so that creates the perfect opportunity to have the twins in their element and Umbridge wildly out of hers. It's never not time to reread the Harry Potter books.
fanficti0naddict: Thank you! It's a little bit different from my usual, but it is what it is.
AllieHatesYou: DON'T GET ME STARTED ON FREMIONE WRITERS WHO DON'T FINISH THEIR GODDAMN STORIES. It's the cutest ship in the universe and when people don't give it some fucking justice... why do they even try?! Why start something you aren't going to finish?!
And yes, I'm well aware I have an unfinished Star Wars fic but it is finished in my head and in writing, I just don't have the time to type it and fill in some holes. Spoiler alert: Jaina dies.
