Hermione had packed almost everything that meant something to her from her parent's house.
She had done it quickly and in a matter of hours, the matter of hours before she erased her parents memories when their backs were turned from her.
Tears streamed down her face as she left the house in a hurry, her small bag slung over her body that had an undetectable extension charm on it.
The first thing she had packed of course, was her music box.
It was a special, custom made music box that she had commissioned a few months earlier.
Her parents had been huge fans of old American artists, and Etta James was one of the top artists that they listened to a lot.
Instead of "rock a bye baby" and "twinkle twinkle little star," Mr. and Mrs. Granger would croon old Etta James songs to Hermione as they lulled her to sleep.
Hermione's favorite had been "A Sunday Kind of Love."
It was also her parents' favorite because it had been the song they had their first dance to at their wedding. It meant something to the entire family.
To her parents, it meant their undying, strong love. And to Hermione it represented her parents' love and everything that she wanted in her own future relationship.
She had had the music box commissioned because she knew that she would never hear her parents croon that song to her again, or hear it softly playing in the living room after she had gone to bed, only to sneak down and find her parents slowly dancing together, reliving their wedding night.
She would never hear that song again in the capacity of her parents house.
Hermione had it made so she could take it with her on her travels.
It was a circular music box, about six inches in diameter. It was stained a dark cherry wood, and had "A Sunday Kind of Love" painted in gold on the top.
The turn key was at the bottom and Hermione just had to open it after twisting the key to turn it on.
Nobody knew about her secret treasure, it seemed almost juvenile, but these were tough times, and Hermione would soon only have memories to cling to as she knew her life was about to change drastically.
Hermione fled into the night, ducking inbetween two houses a few streets from her parents' house, careful not to shake Crookshanks carrier, and apparating to outside the boundaries at the Weasleys.
She walked through the boundaries and went to the house, where she knocked and the door was opened by Fred.
Hermione had always had affection for Fred, finding him incredibly charming and handsome, and his jokes had always secretly cracked Hermione up.
She gave him a forced smile as he stepped aside to let her in.
"Where is everyone?" Hermione asked.
"Running errands before things get bad. I stayed behind. Ron wanted to but he had to go to Diagon Alley because he needed an alteration to his dress robes for the wedding in a few weeks."
"Ahhh, okay." Hermione replied.
"You know where Ginny's room is; do you need any help unpacking some things?" Fred offered courteously.
Hermione nodded and Fred led them up the stairs to Ginny's room.
When they entered the room, Hermione placed Crookshank's carrier on the bed and let him out of it. He made himself at home on her pillow. She placed her small handbag down and opened it, reaching in and pulling out a duffle bag that housed her clothes.
"Um, what?"
Hermione chuckled, "I have an undetectable extension charm placed on this bag; that way I can carry everything I need when I need it, all the time. I also have a feather light charm on it, loads of books in it."
Fred nodded, "Here, you pull stuff out and I'll put it away for ya. Makes the process go faster."
"Sounds great."
Fred began to unpack her duffle bag, putting clothes away in the spare dresser against the wall. He got to a shirt and felt a lump.
Unfolding it, he found Hermione's music box.
"What's this 'Mione?" he asked.
Hermione turned and looked at the item in his hand.
"Oh, that's my music box." Hermione said sheepishly.
"Might I take a listen?"
Hermione blushed but nodded.
Fred spun the key and opened it.
The music of Etta James came out as a soft melody. Hermione smiled to herself, today was a hard day, and she needed this song to play for her.
"What song is this? I've never heard it before." Fred asked.
"It's an American Muggle named Etta James." Hermione replied, "This is 'A Sunday Kind of Love.' She was very famous many years ago. My parents danced to this song at their wedding. I love this song."
"Can you sing along with it?"
"I don't know how well it'll sound."
"I want to hear the words."
Hermione smiled and waited until the next verse began and started to croon along to the song.
I want a a love that's on the square
Can't seem to find somebody
Someone to care
And I'm on a lonely road that leads to no where
I need a Sunday kind of love
I do my Sunday dreaming, oh yea
And all my Sunday scheming
Every minute, every hour, every day
Oh I'm hoping to discover
A certain kind of lover
Who will show me the way
And my arms need someone
Someone to enfold
To keep me warm when Mondays and Tuesdays grow cold
Love for all my life to have and to hold
Oh and I want a Sunday kind of love
Oh yea yea yea
I don't want a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Thursday, Friday or Saturday
Oh nothing but Sunday oh yea
I want a Sunday Sunday
I want a Sunday kind of love
Oh yea
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday kind of love
Fred's smile was huge as he looked at her as she crooned out the last verse.
He clapped his hands, "Bravo! Bravo!"
Hermione blushed and looked down.
"Hey, 'Mione, that was great." Fred said. He took a step closer to her and lifted her chin so he was looking down at her. They locked eyes.
Hermione's breath hitched. Was he going to kiss her?
Fred leaned down a bit closer to her, and Hermione leaned up a bit.
Then the downstairs door slammed open and Ron called out to Hermione.
Fred and Hermione jumped back away from each other. They stared at each other for a few seconds, missing the moment already.
Hermione cleared her throat, "Up here Ron!" She called.
Fred's face dropped but then he forced a smile, "Well, do you still want my help?"
They heard Ron stomp up the stairs at a rapid pace. The door was open so Ron just walked right into the bedroom.
"Hey 'Mione! Whocher Fred!" Ron said. He then hugged Hermione, squeezing her tight.
"Do you need help unpacking 'Mione?" Ron offered.
"Well Fred was helping me, but if you wanna help, feel free."
"Well, I'll take that as my cue to leave. Nice catching up Hermione!" Fred said awkwardly while placing the music box on top of the dresser before making his exit.
Ron helped Hermione finish unpacking while making idle chitchat, but Hermione's mind was elsewhere. Her mind was on Fred and that incredibly intense moment that they had just shared together.
It didn't take long for them to finish unpacking the room. Ron left a few minutes after catching up because Hermione had been giving short answers.
Ron had known the plan for her parents and figured her mind was there. It was, but it was also on Fred. Her emotions were everywhere and she was sad and just so many things going on at once it was hard to process it all.
Ginny came up right before dinner, as Hermione had just been sitting on her bed, attempting to process the fact that her parents were gone. She had decided to process that Fred moment at a later date. Her parents were heartbreaking for her.
When Ginny came up, Hermione put on a fake smile, pushing as much as she could to the back of her mind. She had to focus on the now, not the past. Things were about to get excruciatingly dangerous, so she needed to focus.
Hermione made light conversation with everyone, including Fred. They had both silently agreed that they would be casual.
That "moment" of theirs, might have been a fluke. Things were so chaotic that they wouldn't really have time to explore their emotions together.
Yet they didn't want to have regrets of not exploring and something bad happening; so many thoughts tumbled through both their minds, yet they dare not speak them.
After dinner, Hermione curled up with a book by the fireplace, silently reading.
The entire Weasley clan knew not to bother her, as her mind was elsewhere and she was trying to calm down by reading. That and she would get annoyed with them if she interrupted.
Hermione outlasted the Weasley clan, reading deep into the night. Slowly the Weasleys trickled off to bed, one by one, until it was just Fred and George, tinkering with something for their joke shop.
Hermione peered from over the top of her book to look at them, they were so focused on their work.
Fred brushed his hair out of his eyes, and for some reason, Hermione's heart skipped a beat.
She shook her head to clear it and returned to her book.
A few minutes later George yawned and concluded it was time for him to go to bed, leaving Fred and Hermione alone.
He went upstairs and Hermione found a stopping point and marked her book with a bookmark. She placed it on the couch and stared into the dying fire.
Fred worked up the courage to sit next to her on the couch.
They sat there in silence, and Hermione, against her better judgement, found his hand on the couch and held it with her own.
Fred looked over at her, and found her with silent tears streaming down her face.
"I'm here if you want to talk." He said softly.
"Talk about what? There's a lot going on." Hermione responded.
"Well, while I figure your mind is on that moment we had upstairs, I also sense that your mind is also on the fact that you will probably never see your parents again. Along with other stressors, like whatever you, my brother, and Harry have to do to stop Voldemort." Fred started, stopping himself before he went into a monologue.
Hermione gave a faint smile, "I've basically accepted that life is going to be hard in a matter of months. And I've accepted that I had to do what I had to do to my parents. I weighed all the options, and I knew that if I told them the truth of what's going on, they would try to pull me from this world. I've been lying to them for years about the actual ongoing events of our world, because I didn't want to be forced to leave this world. I've kept them in the dark, and to come clean, they would never trust me again let alone listen to me about Voldemort. So I did what I had to, it still breaks my heart. I performed the spell flawlessly, I don't think it will ever be reversed."
Fred nodded, "You're the strongest of us all."
Hermione gave another small smile, "Thank you. It doesn't feel like it, because I feel like crying, but I'm trying to keep my composure."
"You can let your guard down with me."
Hermione needed no other prompting and threw herself into Fred's arms, tears freely falling from her eyes. She kept her sobs to a minimum because she didn't want to wake the rest of the household.
Fred held her as his shirt began to get damp. He stroked her bushy mane of hair softly.
Hermione cried herself out a few minutes later but liked being in Fred's arms. She snuggled her face in his neck and rested her cheek on his shoulder.
Fred continued to hold her tightly, knowing that he was a comfortable presence, and that's all that mattered right now.
After a few more minutes, Hermione hiccuped but released Fred and sat back.
"Thank you." she said softly.
Fred gave her a smile, "Any time dear."
They sat in silence, holding each other's hands for a few minutes, until Hermione made a sudden move.
She pressed her lips against Fred's cheek and pulled away. "Thank you."
She released his hand and darted upstairs to her room, where she then mulled over everything she had just done until she slipped into unconsciousness.
Fred sat on the couch for a few more minutes, a very large and goofty smile on his face.
He had always had a small crush on Hermione, he will admit that, but he always considered her both out of his league, and didn't want to cross the boundaries of dating his little brother's best friend.
But now, the game had changed.
He would of course be careful of her boundaries, so much was happening, but it gave him hope for the future. Hope to cling onto, and hope that he would carry with him through the next few months.
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