A/N: Without too much delay here is the next chapter! Hooray! It's gone through massive editing so it took a while, so I hope it shows! Oh, and thanks to all of you who helped me on the italics thingy! I'm pretty sure it's working now, and I'm showing off my newfound skills in this here chapter!

I was overjoyed at the amount of reviews I got, especially with ideas about the italics. So these are all of the wonderful reviewers from the first chapter and my plea for help! I was amazed, thanks so much, so a big hearty helping of thanks to:

Mooncheese: Yeah, I feel slightly bad about kicking George out of the story, but I just don't love him as much as Fred. Which is weird, because they're identical. Go figure.

Suddenlyreal: Well read this chapter and you'll see what's up! katelyn-black: Yeah, I promise that this version will be much better than the last (at least I hope.) I'm glad you joined me on this penname as well!

Siria: Thank you! And though you predicted it right, I'll try to keep it interesting!

EVILMWHAA HA HA HA HAA: It made you laugh? Should I take that as a compliment or an insult? Lol. But thanks for reviewing this story too!

iceprincess7133: Oh, I'm sorry about the POV confusion. I will try to be more clear in the future, but I think it will be more third person than first person in the following chapters.

DarkRaven-04: Thanks for the review and for alerting me to the fact that I had mistakenly put this down as a Hermione and Sirius fic. Totally wrong. Guess it's because I love Sirius so much.

TeenTypist: Thanks for the ideas! The web page thing seems to work even though it still doesn't put some things in italics. Oh well.

TeenTypist: Thanks for the review and the help!

SnapesMistress005: You said you were curious? Here's where you can get your answers…

Chelsea Frog: Yeah, I knew the tag thing, but it wouldn't work for some reason. GO figure, but thanks for the idea!

Tomsgurl4lyfe: Well here's your update. Sorry that I didn't get it up quicker though… Stupid real life!

Young Golden Unicorn: Thanks for the good advice! Lol. I will try to hurry just for you!

HermyGWeasley: Thanks for loving the first chapter! I feel so loved! Yeah, and love the penname. Very nice.

Ok, I'll shut up now… ON WITH THE STORY!!!!

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Chapter Two

Fred was still sitting dejectedly on the couch as the first few students from the feast began to trickle into the Common Room. Soon enough it was filled with the joyful shouts of students getting familiar (or re-familiar as the case may be) with other students. Fred was barely noticed until Harry and Ron walked over to him

" What's wrong? You look bloody pissed," Harry asked. " Is Hermione all right?"

Fred scowled at the question, but did not look up or acknowledge Harry in any way.

"Whaff 'ur probem?" Ron asked as he walked over to the couch munching happily on a still squirming chocolate frog.

"Ron, that's disgusting," chided Harry with a deeply disturbed look on his face.

"What, are you my mother or something?"

Harry rolled his eyes, but ignored him. Instead he asked Fred, "Is Hermione alright?"

"Oh yeah, she's wonderful," Fred muttered. A dark look that neither Harry or Ron could decipher crossed his face as he stood up and stalked off to his quarters.

Harry and Ron looked at each other confusedly, but shrugged and walked up to their room, eagerly chatting about the new Wind-Swept broom.

Meanwhile Fred stalked down the halls to his room right down the corridor, but not before yelling at a group of first years for talking too happily. They stared at him, but hurriedly scurried into the portrait hole.

As he opened the portrait ("Walloping Wonders") and stormed into the room he had been shown by Dumbledore briefly, he didn't even bother to look around him.

The room was vast, most of it filled with the tall, wooden canopy bed he would soon be lying on. Touching the red silken sheets, he sighed and tired to think of any reason why Hermione would hate him. Finding none, he jumped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling rising to nearly twenty feet above his head, white and sparkling with the light of nearly one hundred candles lining the walls.

Sighing and turning over onto his side Fred took to staring at the walls, which were painted a pale red, with a single red rose of the same hue lying on the mahogany table next to the bed. The only other furnishings were a large desk stacked high with old, dusty books and a foreboding armoire that towered high above his head.

Tonight, he decided, he had too many things to think about and could care less.

He had thinking to do.

And I don't enjoy that, he fumed to himself. Yes, he certainly had a lot on his mind. Well, no. He had one thing on his mind. One large problem. He lay unraveling the mystery until sleep carried him away.

He had a dream.

He was in a dark room, a closet, for what it was worth. From what little light he could see by, he saw there was Slytherin-green moss growing on the walls which was accompanied by a dark slime oozing disturbingly down the walls.

Fred shuddered and tried to take deep calming breaths. He hated small places.

'Where is she?' The loud voice reverberated around the room and pounded painfully into his already aching head.

Fred looked around wildly, but couldn't see the source of the voice. 'Who?' His own voice sounded horribly pathetic compared to the other's.

'You know what I'm talking about, boy. The mudblood!"

'Hermione? Don't call her that you bastard! And what do you want with her?'

'Wouldn't you like to know?' The voice asked tauntingly. Fred was forcefully of Malfoy. That is, when he was still alive.

' Of course you idiot,' he said, knowing he shouldn't get on the bad side of whoever it was, but he was never one for subtlety.

'Sure,' the voice said knowingly, 'Sure you don't. But enough! Where is she?'

'I told you! I don't know! What do you want from her?' Fred asked angrily.

'Oh, just a bit of blood.' A cold breeze blew around Fred and he shuddered.

'You stay away!'

'I don't have a choice right now. There are two where there should be one.'

'What?' Fred asked curiously.

'There are two people where she is. Not-' the voice stops abruptly and cackled. Another gust of air flows by him.

'What Hermione-?'

At this point Fred woke up with a start. He was bathed in a cold sweat.

"That's crazy!" He lay back on his pillow. " But that would explain how she…" His thoughts became convoluted as he grew sleepy. Finally, he submitted to sleep.

In the morning, he had forgotten the dream.

---

The next morning found Harry, Ron, and a very tired looking Fred sitting at the Gryffindor table shoving food into their mouths as quickly as possible. They all looked up as they saw Hermione walked in. When Fred saw who it was, he glowered and quickly looked back at his food. Surprisingly, Hermione looked sad when she saw this.

What is up with her? Fred asked himself.

"Hello 'Mione!" Harry said cheerfully, completely oblivious to Fred.

"Hi guys!" She sat down and smiled at the three boys as she reached for a large plate of bacon. Harry stared.

"What?" Hermione asked curiously when she saw the look on his face.

"Mione, in case you've forgotten, you hate bacon."

" Oh, well-" She looked decidedly uncomfortable, " well, I just want to try it." And with that, she tore ravenously into the bacon. The three boys watched in astonishment as the pile of dead pig quickly melted away into nothing.

After she had finished and Fred managed to stop staring, he stood up with, " Well, I must be going. Have to get ready for class!" He waved cheekily to them and gave a large grin, but his eyes betrayed his true feelings.

"Er, yeah, I better go too," Hermione said as she stood up. "I want to get to class early and talk with Fred about a few of the charms we're going to learn this year."

Harry and Ron nodded, suspicious, but opted to continue to shovel food in their mouths.

She left the Dining Hall and turned right to head down the hall that held the Charms classroom. As she turned a corner, she caught sight of Fred's receding back. "Fred! Fred, wait up," she called down the hall. He made no motion to signal that he had heard her, so she tried again. "Hey Fred!" This time she knew he was ignoring her.

She ran after him, but didn't catch up until they were right outside of the Charms room. She grabbed the sleeve of his robe to stop him, and he finally turned around to look at her, a scowl on his face.

"What do you want?" Fred spat angrily to a taken aback Hermione. "I was the one trying to be nice to you yesterday, but did you care? I was concerned, but what did you do? You blew me off! How do you think that felt? I thought you were my friend and-" He stopped to take a breath and noticed that tears were rolling down Hermione's face. "Oh my god! What's wrong?" He immediately felt horrible. Damn that stupid Weasley sense of chivalry. " I didn't mean it. I'm just frustrated and worried about my new job. I understand. Look, just forget it, okay?"

She shook her head and said something indistinguishable from behind her hands. Fred leaned closer to hear her.

"What?"

"I- I," she sobbed.

"Hermione, just spit it out," Fred said softly.

"I," she took a deep breath as if steeling herself, "I'm going to, h-have… a baby." Her eyes were red and her face was blotch as she looked up at Fred. She was just so pitiable.

He stood stunned. "You-?" He broke off, not sure if he could trust himself to say the right thing. He had never been in this situation before- what was he to say?

She nodded.

"Oh my god," he whispered. This is just so wrong in so many ways. This is Hermione we're talking about. The pure, good one. The one who never does anything wrong… All of his old ideas and preconceptions had been shattered.

"Fred?" Hermione's voice cracked with restrained tears as she unraveled the look on his face.

"I, er, need to get ready for class." Fred just couldn't think of anything else to say. In fact, he really couldn't think logically at all. He just needed some quiet time.

"Fine." Hermione turned on her heel and marched away.

Fred could still hear her crying even as he closed the door.

---

Harry and Ron came a bit early to Charms so they could talk to Fred. Even they, the thick headed ones, had realized that something was wrong.

They found him quickly enough- pounding his head on the desk at the front of the Charms classroom. He raised his head quickly and acknowledged the with a faint nod, but continued to whack his on the desk.

"Er, may I ask why you're doing that?" Ron's eyebrows were so raised that Harry feared they might disappear into his hair.

"No."

-Ten minutes later-

Flitwick stood on his desk and called out to the students, "Hello and welcome to Charms! As you all know, we have a special guest, Fred Weasley. He is training to take over this position in just a few years when I retire." The look on Flitwick's face was almost euphoric. "Anyway, he will also be circulating around the classroom to help you with anything I cannot."

Everyone clapped, but Fred didn't even acknowledge them. He just stared blearily off into space.

"Erm, yes, anyway. Let's get started! Today we'll be making anti-gravity mist. Now let's practice the wand movements."

Fred laughed to himself as he saw the students clumsily trying to imitate their Professor. He knew the only one who would be able to do it would be Hermione.

Speaking of, where is she?

And indeed, she wasn't there. He quickly stood up and went to the front of the room. "Sir, I need to step outside for a moment. I- I have to go get something from my room." He looked down at the tiny Professor who quickly nodded.

Flitwick actually didn't hear him as he was trying to put out a fire started by the infamous Neville Longbottom.

Fred hurried out of the room and went down the hall where he had seen Hermione go. He quickly made his way down the damp hallway and came to the end of the hall. The only door was to the-

"Outside," he muttered. He opened the door and stepped outside into a drenching rain. "My day, isn't it?" He mumbled to no one in particular.

He stood, already soaked to the bone, and decided to go ahead and look for her. He started to make his way around the pond, and nearly tripped over-

"Hermione! Why are you laying here?"

He dropped down beside her and saw her red eyes. Drops of rain and tears mixed together dripped down her face as she looked mournfully at him. As she was saying nothing, Fred had to fill the space.

"Look, I'm sorry. I was just- surprised. You, the perfect Hermione-." At this, she closed her eyes and began to cry harder.

" The perfect Hermione. That's all I am to anyone."

" No! That's not true. I- you- er, you mean a lot more to me than that."

She looked at him. What was that supposed to mean?

"You, you're a good friend," he stuttered, wondering why his usually eloquent tongue was getting so tough to use. "But to the present matter. What are you going to do about this?"

"I don't know," she said softly her eyes blinking away the rain as she looked up at the cloudy sky.

"I guess we should see Dumbledore. I mean, you. I'm sure you don't want me."

She looked at him her long, black eyelashes dripping. "Why do you say that?"

Because. For Chrissake, Hermione! It's not mine! Hell, I don't even know whose it is. Why should I be there? You don't want me." Deep down, he was screaming at himself, shut up! Comfort her! But he couldn't. This was all just way too weird.

She sat up slowly, looking at him with hard eyes. "Fine, if that's the way you feel. I can handle this alone! I told you because I thought you actually cared for me! Guess not!"

"No."

"What?"

"No. That's not the way I feel. I-"

"Yes?"

"I," he looked at her and saw those beautiful brown eyes, and knew he had to have her, "I care for you. You're like a sister." Inside, he cursed himself for being a chicken.

"Oh." She looked down at her lap. After a few moments she whispered, "Krum."

"Huh?"

"Krum."

"Oh my god!" Fred turned pale. How could he compete with HIM? He looked at her. "We need to see Dumbledore."

He stood up and helped her up. He led her inside and cast a quick drying spell over both of them. Then he led her to the statues at the entrance to Dumbledore's office.

Vanilla coke." He said and the door swung open. They walked into his office.

No matter how many times he went in there, Fred was never failed to be amazed. Just the sheer amounts of strange things in there were overwhelming. There were large bookcases soaring high above their heads, towering up to the high ceiling above.

"Hello Fawkes," said Hermione to the phoenix.

"Hello. What may I do for you two?"

The two jumped; they hadn't even noticed Dumbledore in his chair.

"Er, hello sir. We have a bit of a problem," said Fred nervously.

"Oh. I see. Well, go ahead and sit." Dumbledore motioned to the two chairs in front of his desk.

They both settled down uncomfortably, Hermione on the edge of her seat, Fred sinking down into his.

"So tell me, what seems to be the problem?"

Hermione drew a deep breath. "I'm going to have a baby." No sense in drawing it out.

Dumbledore looked up in surprise. Hermione? He thought wonderingly. But he nodded anyway. "So who's the father?" He looked hard at Hermione. " Hope it's not that dirty Krum fellow. Did you hear he got kicked off the team for-"

"I am." Fred stated clearly.

Dumbledore stopped. "Really? Well that's a relief! At least it's in good hands." He smiled kindly at the two. "Now I know this will be hard, but we can make this work…"

Hermione looked open mouthed at Fred, but quickly shut it so Dumbledore wouldn't notice. Why would he do that for me? After he said all those things and said I was a mere sister to him?

Where did that come from? Fred asked himself.

"Well, I'll send to get some special robes to cover it up. I'm sure you, Miss Granger, will be able to keep up with your work." Hermione nodded vigorously while smiling nervously at the Headmaster. "And you Mr. Weasly, will be sure to take good care of her, am I correct in that assumption?" Fred nodded as well. "Good, then all is well. Tell who you wish, but I will order the robes anyway."

They both stood up, numb. As they walked out of the door, Dumbledore cleared his throat. They turned around expectantly.

"Congratulations."

"Er, thank you sir," Fred said and they hurried out of his office.

"Fred?" Hermione said when they got outside.

"Mm?"

She stood on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss- right on the lips. A shock ran through him as she did so. He leaned onto it, and before they knew what had happened, Fred had her against the wall. She seemed to suddenly realize what she was doing, and pushed him away.

"Sorry," Fred muttered, feeling insanely guilty, even though she had started it. "Sorry."

Hermione blushed and looked down. "It's not your fault. I- just- I- thank you for today, in the office," she finally managed to say.

"Yeah, no problem."

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A/N: Okay, I'm not all that thrilled with this chapter but it's better than before, so that's good. I'm sure this will go under revision again… sometime. So stay tuned for that. Cheers!