It's Not Going to Work

"Fred," Hermione said softly, "it's not going to work out between us. I like you, I really do. But you're too old for me, I have to go back to school, and we would never be able to be together."

"No. You can't be doing this to me. Are you breaking up with me? Why? What, I don't understand…" he trailed off. Hermione nodded sadly. Tears started running slowly down his face. He got up and walked upstairs to think about her in his room.

"Is she such a heartless person to do this to me? She knew I loved her and I thought she loved me…" Fred thought to himself as he flopped head-first onto his bed. There was a quiet knock on the door. His heart leapt. "Is that her saying she was wrong about the whole situation? That she wanted him back?" But to his great disappointment, it was only George.

"Well at least now you can have time to work on the joke shop," George said, trying to find some good. His attempts failed; this only made Fred more depressed.

"Man, don't let a woman ruin your life. You knew it would have to end sometime; subconsciously at least. It was just a summer fling. They all end." George sat down next to his twin and patted him on the back reassuringly.

"Gin, I did it for both our own good. We would have to end it sometime; It just wouldn't work," Hermione confided in Ginny. She got up and embraced her in a hug.

"It's going to be alright," Ginny whispered in her ear. "You'll get over him; find someone new."

"That's just it Gin; I don't want to find somebody else. Fred is the only one who's ever made me this happy. But it just won't work," Hermione said, sighing and looking at her.

"It's ok; you have the rest of your life ahead of you. Don't let my brother ruin your present life." Ginny picked herself up and turned out the light. That night was a restless one for Fred and Hermione both.

The next morning, they all woke up bright and early by Mrs. Weasley telling them to get ready for school. Hermione packed her trunk and headed down the stairs to breakfast. It was another awkward meal between the family. Hermione glanced over at Fred and saw his eyes were puffy and red from crying. She felt awful about it. "I did this to him. I've made it living hell for him and it's all my fault," Hermione thought to herself.

They all left at 10 o'clock sharp to go to the train station. Once they were at the station, Hermione was glad to see Malfoy's nose slightly crooked and grinned to herself. She boarded quietly as Harry and Ron talked about the upcoming year of Quidditch. Hermione seated herself in one of the carriages with Luna, Neville, and Seamus. They all greeted her warmly. They made small talk until the trail took off. She wanted to escape so she settled down and went to sleep.

Hermione woke suddenly as the train pulled to a stop. She sat up with a start to see that it was dark outside and raining. She picked herself up and walked into the corridor to get ready to go to the horseless carriages. She sprinted to the nearest one and breathed a sigh of relief to see that it was empty.

She didn't eat much during the feast; she didn't have an appetite so she walked up to her dormitory early. She hadn't got very much sleep the last few days so she fell right to sleep.

Hermione decided that to distract herself from thinking of Fred, she would concentrate with rapt attention in every class. She wrote an extra foot and a half for all her assignments just to keep her mind off him. She would wear herself down until she fell asleep so there was no time for Fred. As much as Snape hated to do so, he had to give her excellent grades on everything.

One day Ginny showed her how to straighten her hair and make it smooth and sleek, so she did from then on. She had changed over the summer and boys who didn't usually notice her did now. But Hermione just ignored them and went about her own business.

It was the middle of December and Dumbledore had informed them that they would be having a Winter Ball.

"This is the reason why we had you buy new dress robes," he explained. "We will have the ball on December 20th; one week from today." Dumbledore sat down and the food appeared. Hermione wasn't at all excited about it. She wouldn't be going or anything.

"I'll probably just read or something," Hermione thought to herself. For some reason Fred slipped into her mind. "I've been doing so well not thinking about him; I must stop this right this instant," she thought firmly to herself.

The next day, Hermione was sitting in the library when she heard someone behind her. "Hello Hermione." She thought she knew that voice. She whipped her head around. I was…

(A/N I looked at how many hits there were on my story and I know there are a lot of you who just don't review it, so please, review my story. Thank you to those who do.)