A/N: Wow. I got two reviews already. That's two more than I expected. This chapter is a little shorter than the first, but the next one should be longer. Enjoy.
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Hermione sat on the edge of her bed with the curtains drawn, staring out the window. Thoughts were zooming through her head at alarming speed.
'Where are my parents?'
'Why did they have to disappear?'
'I hope they're safe'
'I have to break it off with Ron. Today.'
That thought startled her, but she knew it was true. With her parents gone, having a relationship while worrying about hurting Ron's feelings was just too much.
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"Could you pass the pumpkin juice, please?" Hermione asked Ron, not meeting his eyes. They were the only two at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall for breakfast, as it was still rather early in the morning.
"Yea, here," Ron handed her the drink. "How are you feeling today?"
"Still pretty bad," she replied, still not looking at him. "But, Ron, listen, I have to talk to you about something."
"Okay, you know you can tell me anything," he tried comforting his girlfriend, smiling and placing his hand over hers. But much to Ron's surprise, she pulled her hand back.
"Look, Ron, I was thinking a lot last night and though that it would be best if we were, you know, just friends," she said, trying to be as kind as she could.
"I- you- what?" Ron stammered. Hermione could hear the heartbreak, mixed with confusion, in his voice. "Hermione, I know that you're going through a tough time right now, what with your parents and all, but…" he paused. "I love you, Hermione."
"Ron, please, just-" she clearly was trying to avoid eye contact now.
"But you don't feel the same. Do you?" He interrupted her. "Then why'd you say yes to me, Hermione! Just for a snog every now and then!" Ron yelled.
"Ron, I-" but he just stormed off, leaving her with tears that began slowly falling.
It was at this time that a Weasley twin entered the Great Hall, looking slightly bewildered at the fact that his younger brother had just ran out, looking furious but also on the verge of tears. He spotted a girl with a large mass of brown curls bent over the Gryffindor table, keeping her face in her hands. The Weasley walked over to Hermione, placing a hand on her shoulder before sitting next to her.
She looked up. "Fred!" she asked suddenly.
"How could you tell it was me? My own mum can't tell the difference between us!"
Hermione blushed slightly. "I don't know. I suppose I can just tell. But, wait a minute. I thought George was supposed to be picking me up…" She trailed off, leaving the statement as a question, while for some reason that she did not know, she was secretly happier that Fred was here instead of his twin.
"Hw was. But he's been pretty busy lately. He just moved in with Katie, and they're going to be married soon. Did you know that?" She shook her head. "Well," he continued, "with all of that, plus the added stress of the joke shop, I came instead. To give him a bit of a break, you know?"
Hermione nodded this time. "That was really thoughtful of you, Fred." 'Did he just blush when I said that?' Hermione thought. 'No, I must have been imagining it.'
"Oh! I wanted to ask you about Ron. He ran past me as I walked in and he looked furious, but sad. Do you know what was up with him?" Fred asked curiously, as he helped himself to some eggs and pancakes.
"We just had a bit of a row, that's all."
"A bit of a row?" Fred questioned. "What about? If you don't mind me asking."
"Oh, nothing important really," Hermione replied, avoiding eye contact with yet another person during breakfast.
"You're a bad liar."
She glanced at him and he smirked. "We…uh… well… I broke it off with him." She explained.
"Ah. I see. Sorry."
"Don't be."
Secretly, he wasn't. He had figured they wouldn't last too long. Hermione was too good for his brother. "I suppose he didn't take it so well?"
"Something like that," she smiled at him.
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"Oi, Forge!"
"Hey, Harry. I'm Fred." The twin replied, glancing up from the space on the wall he was staring at. He was sitting on one of the huge red couches in the Gryffindor common room, waiting for Hermione to come down with her trunks.
"So how's it going?" Harry asked. "I haven't seen you in ages!"
"Yeah, it has been awhile. But life's been good. How have you been?"
"Fine," the conversation carried on this for about five minutes; both asking standard small talk questions back and forth. They were interrupted, however, when they heard yelling coming from the stairs leading to the dormitories.
"I don't want to talk about this right now!" they heard a female voice yell.
"Well I do!" they heard a male voice respond. "How could you treat me like that! You lied to me!"
"Look, I-"
"Don't even give me your 'I didn't want to hurt you' reasons," he imitated a high-pitched voice. "I know your reasons! You just wanted a snog, you filthy little mudblood!" Ron's eyes bugged out as he realized what he had just said.
Fred and Harry glanced at each other for a moment, but shot their gaze back to the area where the sound was coming from after they heard a loud slapping noise. Hermione soon emerged into the common room, face red from yelling, but eyes shiny, as though she was about to cry.
The Weasley that had not done the yelling stood and walked over to Hermione. Without a second though, he hugged her. "It'll be okay," he whispered in her ear. And something in his voice made her believe him
