Author's Disclaimer: Again, I have no ownership of anything Harry Potter. Archimedes technically is inspired by Disney, and 10 points to Gryffindor if someone can tell me what film I'm referencing in here!

            Also, to my loving reviewers: Thank you all so much, Kneazle will find out why George and Hermione fancy each other. And don't worry Singtoangels1, they noticed. I'll work on the switching viewpoints.

            Chapter 2

Hermione watched Archimedes fly toward the Burrow and took a moment to reflect upon the letter she had just sent. While she certainly couldn't support the actions of the twins while they were in school, they would need someone with a proper business mind to help them from completely falling apart at the seams. Although she wondered to herself constantly, what inspired the twins to ask her to do it? She, who was always thwarting their plans at the last second, and stealing their thunder?

She pushed aside her self-doubt and figured that they had finally come to their senses in one way or another about their goals in life.

Afterall, wasn't it true from seeing Arthur Weasley and Albus Dumbledore operate, that behind every great man, there (indeed) had to be a great woman?

Hermione sighed, and thought intently on the next subject; George. With her tongue swishing at her upper gum as if to catch a bit of food that had lodged itself there, she considered why she had signed her letter 'much love'. Did she have love for him in the sisterly way that she felt toward Harry, Ginny and Ron? Or was it a different kind intimacy?

There is a small anecdote that must be told, in order to understand the feelings that passed between Hermione Granger and George Weasley. It happened while the two had been alone at the Order headquarters the previous summer, cleaning out doxy-infested linens at the insistence of Molly Weasley. No other people but George and Hermione knew. Of course, the middle Weasley child and the Gryffindor brainchild didn't have to worry about anyone finding out. Nobody really paid attention to any amorous feelings developing, not when there was Voldemort to stop, or Harry to protect, or Kreacher to keep in line. Kreacher had in fact lost his head like many of his line before him, merely because of his failure of duty in serving the Black household. Hermione protested, but Phineas Nigellus insisted. But this story is not about the final days of Kreacher the irritating house-elf. This is about what began the unrequited feelings of passion to move between Hermione and her best friend's brother.

It was a Tuesday. Or was it a Wednesday? It isn't really important. The point is that Hermione was shouting 'Immobulus!' while George was getting spray-happy with a bottle of doxycide. And it so happened that doxies are, to some degree, intelligent and cunning, if not downright rude and irritating. They had organized some sort of doxy-invasion whilst George and Hermione's backs were turned (to place a few more unconscious doxies into the bucket- George pocketed one). They saw Hermione obviously as a main threat since she was the initial attacker. The remaining doxies came out in pairs to overwhelm the duo until one of them finally got a chance to bite. That little bitch just hung on for dear life and gnawed at Hermione's hand, while gazing up at her with crazed little doxy eyes.

George took this as a declaration of war, and began spraying until all of the doxies had landed in a willy-nilly pile on the floor, before attending to Hermione. It took a matter of seconds. Hermione's hand was red, swollen, and the bite marks were deep with twig-sized holes. Around the marks was the white, foamy poison.

"Ooh, that smarts," Hermione cried, as she breathed shallowly. Her lungs were closing up even faster than she anticipated. "George, quick, the antidote, before I go into anaphylactic shock!"

"Anaprophylactic whatsit?" George said, blinking in disbelief that she could maintain her ability as a human encyclopedia even when she was wounded and might even experience heart failure. Hermione grabbed the antidote from his hand and administered itself to her, her breathing slowly returning to normal, her lungs opening.

"It's part of an allergic reaction. You become severely ill because of something's poison, and it…ooh, oh that's much better," Hermione felt a rush of endorphins as her vision became slightly cloudy. Then, almost as suddenly as it had happened, her sight returned to normal and she felt as though nothing had ever happened.

George felt terribly anxious, though. He grabbed hold of Hermione protectively, and to Hermione's great surprise, began to tear up quickly. The sound of George's muffled sobs as he laid his face into her shoulder startled her.

"George, are you all right?" she queried, her torn and reddish hand slowly beginning to heal as she placed it upon his tear-flooded cheek.

"Oh, 'Mione, it's awful! Everything's so serious and so many things could go wrong, and…what if I hadn't been here to stop them? They could have killed you, and they're only little doxies. How can I protect any of my family and friends from V…V….V….olde…m-m-m-mort when one little thing could ruin everything?" he sobbed. Obviously nobody had ever seen this side of George Weasley before.

Comforting him as best she could with her hand on his cheek, she shushed him and spoke softly.

"It'll be fine, George. We'll all be fine. You're a wonderful wizard. You'll be just as great a fighter as any of us."

"It's not that. What if I'm not around when you get attacked? Or Ron, or Harry? Or anybody else? Just because I'm one of the two greatest beaters Hogwarts has ever seen doesn't mean I'll always be there."

"So this is about…me?"

George blushed. He hadn't realized he'd mentioned her first. But even within the split second that she dared to cut right to the chase, he knew.

"This is about all of us, Hermione. But…yes…it's about you."

"Oh…George…"

That was when they kissed. It was small, but it was the start of something that was confusing and thrilling, exhilarating and frustrating.

Now, sometimes love happens because of some reason that you can pinpoint. Some definite reason that makes you say "He's the one". But in the case of these two young lovebirds, it was the war that pulled them together, and it was a mutual understanding of each other's strengths and weaknesses and common ground that kept them there. Hermione couldn't say at first that she loved George more than Ron, Harry, Ginny, or anybody else she knew. But sometimes you give a person a look or say the right thing at the right time and then you know, that there's something you share that is unspoken and somehow goes beyond your normal, everyday relationships. Something deeper. Love is funny that way.

They continued this way throughout the school year. Not even someone who was right there can really describe it. That's what unspoken connections are all about. And when the twins left school, Hermione was the only one who knew they were planning on leaving. She didn't stop them, though. Who stands in the way of two beaters on brooms? Especially when one of them is the love of your life?

Hermione turned back to a large, leather-bound compendium of potions that she was reading for personal enjoyment, and counted the days softly to herself until she would be able to kiss George again.

                                    *                       *                        *

Meanwhile, back at the Burrow, Fred had his hands palm-down against the door, trying to force it open, while his twin forced from the other side.

"Oi, I know you got a letter from Hermione!" Fred teased. "It's no use, I know everything. Now let me read it!"

George only wanted one part of his life to be separate from his twin's, ever. And that was his love life. Sometimes, having so many brothers and sisters can be a pain. Not enough money to go around, long lines for the bathroom, and worst of all you had to share every aspect of your private life in open air.

"It's nothing, all it says is that she'll help us with running the shop, now go away and let me write her back!" George yelled. A little too loudly. His youngest siblings appeared from the stairs to help Fred push. No Weasley would ever be alone, whether they wanted their privacy or not.

"What's this all about?" Ginny whispered to Fred.

"Who's he writing back to?" Ron asked as he pushed with all of his might against the door, before realizing that it would be wonderful to get an answer before pushing with any effort. He was still winded from running back from the Quidditch match, after all.

"His secret lover," Fred teased.

"But…the only one who's written is…OI! GEORGE! 'MIONE'S MY FRIEND, STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Ron began to push against the door again. His latent jealousy toward any male who moved in on the girl he had begun to feel for since sometime during their fourth year (at least) kicked into high gear.

"Too late, he's already been mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah with 'Mione," Fred chuckled loudly, making kiss noises, which only irritated Ron more.

"Oh, George, I think that's so sweet, do you really fancy Hermione? I bet she fancies you, too," Ginny cooed romantically as she stopped pushing and leaned against the wall, her heart fluttering. Romance was a thing that was truly close to Ginny Weasley's heart. Little did Ginny know!

"I'm going to kill you George, just open up the door and let me in!" Ron threatened. And with that, the door opened. Ron was quite impressed with himself, before he fell to the ground and felt George's foot on the middle of his spine.

"You stay down there and hear what I have to say. Don't get up until you cool down, or I will turn you into an owl and let Pig play with you," George managed to sputter out.

It was quite clear from the tone of his voice that George was serious. For one of the few times in his life, George Weasley was not joking around.

As George began to tell his story of how he felt for Hermione, Fred rolled his eyes (having heard it all before), Ron looked like he was partway between murdering his brother and vomiting on him, and Ginny held her chin in her hand and sighed at the most romantic parts.

"…she even played a joke on me once, giving me a love potion and then asking me to watch Crookshanks for her. Needless to say he was the first thing I saw after taking what I thought was an energy drink," George added, as if to give validation and emphasis to something that he never needed to prove to anyone.

                                     *             *             *

                                        FLASHBACK

"…oh…you are so beeeeautiful…your eyes…your whiskers! I have to KISS you!" George's eyes had been glazed over and he was looking at the half-Kneazle longingly. He went toward Crookshanks, and the cat swiped a paw at him before running away, the most terrified it had ever been.

                                    *              *             *

When it was all said and done, Ron got up off the floor and left in a huff, mumbling about the indecency of his own family, swearing to get revenge. George turned his face to a helpless Fred and a hopeful- looking Ginny.

"He'll come around, I'm sure. He's been trying to sort out how he feels about her for ages, and he just can't stand that someone else is there before him," Ginny offered quietly.

"It'll be a few…months, maybe. But sooner or later he'll be cool with it. You know?" Fred nodded as he was saying this, agreeing with Ginny and knowing that even a redhead's temper subsided at some point.

George smiled in thanks to his siblings and turned to them one last time.

"Try not to make too big a deal of it, though, ok? I don't want Hermione getting all crabby because she wasn't the one to tell Ron," George said, with a meaningful look at Fred, who nodded, and immediately set out with Ginny to do damage control.

George sat down in the small shoebox-sized room that he shared with his twin, and looked up at Archimedes, who had flown into the room unnoticed during the fray and was now patiently waiting for George's response. Archimedes wore an expression of amusement, if owls could have such a thing, as if he knew all about the situation and took delight in having a good owl-laugh.

George produced a piece of paper and a quill and wrote out a response in his chicken scratch.

Dear Hermione,

That would be excellent. Of course Fred and I will be joining you all in Diagon Alley. However, don't be surprised if you get the silent treatment from Ron, or worse; Fred accidentally let it fly that we've been seeing each other. I tried to get him to shut up but Ron and Ginny overheard. I'm trying to make things go as smoothly as possible…but nobody takes me seriously enough around here…(wonder why!). I do hope you're not mad with me, dear, as I never intended to let anyone know without you with me to give the whole story. Please don't be mad. PLEASE!

Love forever,

 George

There. He had written it. After tying the letter to Archimedes' foot, he opened the window to let him fly back to Hermione. As he watched the barn owl fly, he wished he could have sent himself as well, but there was work to do, and Molly was probably worried about all the screaming going on in her house. Seeing as it wasn't her doing the screaming, after all.