A/N: Another day, another chapter... this is part 9... and it's rather short if you ask me... I'm sorry... couldn't make it longer though... well, just read it and enjoy... hope you like it... it was something that I wanted to write about but I didn't want it to come off too cheesy or so... so... well, just read... you'll know what I mean! -gg-


Chapter 9: A dream within a dream

Hermione couldn't remember how she managed to get into Ginny's room yet it was not because of something directing her; it was because she was tired and exhausted. She almost fell in the cushions of her bed, leaving the waking world nearly immediately. Her sleep was short and painful.

She dreamt about most frightening things such as dark forests, screaming voices, evil grinning faces, words of disapproval, squeezing someone's throat, yelling and crying. First she felt as if she was falling into a bottomless pit, then she suddenly flew through the air and landed on the top of dead trees – with Fred standing next to her on the treetops.

Her dream-self walked over to him, realizing that the ground had changed again so they stood on a dark clearing. She looked around in confusion before she felt his hand grabbing hers. She felt the warmth of his touch, warming up immediately. He led her through the forest and out onto a moonlit field. She couldn't see much – just him standing in front of her.

She met his gaze and saw his smile. She couldn't help but smile back at him. She felt so secure in his presence. He then pulled her closer to him, putting one hand on her waist, the other one touching her face gently. His face was so handsome she just stared at him, counting the freckles on his nose, scanning his blue eyes and his lean face structure. Why did she never notice this before? How could she live so many years beside such a gorgeous young man? She continued staring when he leant forwards so that their faces were only inches away.

She almost sank into his deep blue eyes, feeling rather shaky. He smiled at her, his nose almost touching hers. He leant in even closer but before she could feel his lips touching hers, his eyes turned a deep shade of crimson and his head was jerked back by an invisible force. Suddenly his eyes started bleeding and his mouth opened to scream but no sound came out. She watched in shock as he tumbled backwards, suddenly falling through a great gap in the ground.

"FRED!", she heard herself scream in panic.

She ran towards the gap but when she reached it, it was gone again and she stood alone on the dark field. Her heart seemed to burst and her insides were crashing. She felt as if something tore her into pieces. She tumbled backwards, almost tripping over something. She turned around to look at it, still blinded and shocked by what she had seen before, when a rather pale face stared at her.

It seemed to hover in mid-air, just a face without a body. There were black eyes and dark brows and a thin line as mouth. She didn't recognize the face but she felt as if she had seen it before. It felt terrifyingly familiar. She suddenly wanted to leap forwards and touch the face but before she could reach it, it vanished into black fog. She stared into the night, her heart still hammering against her chest.

All of a sudden the earth broke up underneath her feet and she was falling into an endless hole, darkness squeezing her. The world turned upside-down and before she knew it, she fell out of the bed in Ginny's room, hitting the carpet hard.

Lying on her back, panting as if she had been running, she stared at the ceiling. Tears were streaming down her cheeks effortlessly; she didn't even realize she was crying before her face was all wet. She remembered the dream that threw her out of the bed. For every disturbing detail it was Fred's bleeding face that kept coming back. She closed her eyes, trying to push the image away but she could even see it with her eyes closed.

These crimson eyes, the blood drops streaming out of them down these lean cheeks.

Feeling the urge to run, she suddenly was on her feet, leaving Ginny's room to run up the stairs to the room of the twins. It was still dark inside the house yet she knew it must have been morning already. She ran upstairs without making a single sound. When she reached the door to the twin's room, she carefully pushed the handle down and opened the door. She slowly entered the room that was smelling a bit like burned socks and grass and – lemon.

She just stood in the room, seeing both beds occupied. There were two kinds of snoring echoing through the room. She looked around to tell which twin lay in which bed and she was glad to find a sweater with a big F on it hanging on one of the bedsteads. She quietly moved towards the bed on the left of the room and knelt down next to it, watching the red-haired boy sleeping peacefully. There was no blood on his face and his eyes were definitely not bleeding.

She sighed in relief, watching Fred's chest move up and down silently. She soon found herself staring at him and she almost had to slap herself before she could stand up again. But before she could leave the room, however, a voice addressed her.

"Hermione!"

She turned around in shock, seeing that Fred was awake, sitting in his bed.

"What are you doing here?", he whispered drowsily, trying not to wake the still sleeping George.

"Erm, I… I…", she muttered, trying to ignore how cute he looked with his hair pointing in every direction. "Sorry, wrong room!", she then said and left the room again, feeling her cheeks burn heavily.

Once she closed the door behind her, she kicked herself, not just mentally but physically by kicking one foot against the opposite wall. Pain soon crawled up her leg but she ignored it. What was she thinking, entering the twin's room in the middle of the night! She leaned against the wall next to the door to the room she just stalked into, shaking her head in disbelief. Stupid. Just –

She almost jumped when she heard the door next to her open quietly. She turned around to see Fred standing there, his hair still messy, wearing only a shirt and boxers. Her eyes widened and she just wanted to run away, but before she could even make one step, she felt his hand on her arm.

"Hey, what's wrong?", he asked, rubbing his eyes with the other hand.

She just stared at him.

"You okay?", he went on, noticing her shocked expression, removing his hand to shove his hair out of his forehead.

She nodded quickly, moving uneasy.

"What were you doing in our room, anyways?"

"Erm…", she tried to say but her mouth felt so dry. "I…well, I had a dream and… I just… I just wanted to make sure that… erm…"

He threw her a puzzled look, but soon he was just grinning at her.

"Don't laugh at me", she whispered, staring at him a bit hurt.

"I'll never laugh at you, I'm always laughing with you!", he replied and his grin was infectious. She shook her head, smiling, covering her face with her hands.

"I feel so stupid", she muttered.

"Why?"

"Why?", she asked, lowering her hands. "Because I just… stalked you…"

He laughed. "You stalked me? Well, alright, there are not many girls that come into my room to just watch me", he added, grinning. "But it's nevertheless interesting…"

Hermione felt herself blushing, her skin burning.

"So why did you stalk me?", he asked.

"Well, I had a dream… about… erm… something weird and I just wanted to check that you… that you're okay… so I… well, something made me come upstairs…"

"Of course", he said. "It isn't that annoying at all to stand under someone's influence, so, is it? Always a good excuse…"

She stared at him, now feeling as if her skin would crack and peal under the heat she felt.

"I'm going to remember that one…", he then said, laughing.

"So… erm… you are not mad at me for waking you up or so?"

"Nope", he said, leaning against the doorframe.

"That's… great to hear…", she muttered, throwing him a shy look. "Well, I think I… better go now… I… erm… we all need our sleep, right?"

He nodded, grinning. "Go ahead then."

She began to move but then stopped again, turning to him.

"Yeah?", he asked before she could say anything.

"Well, you know what?", she said in a challenging voice, a grin spreading on her face. "I am really, really –"

"Don't say it!", he hissed, laughing, taking one step towards her.

"But I am and I'm going to say that I am really –"

"No you won't!", he said, trying to grab her.

She let out a screech when he pulled his arms around her, lifting her up from the ground. He heard her laughter ringing in his ears. He pulled her into a bone-breaking hug, laughing along with her. This felt great. He turned her around so that she could face him. They locked eyes, their faces only inches away. He still held her, her feet dangling in the air. She suddenly stopped laughing, staring at him breathlessly.

He studied her face, such a pretty one with her high cheekbones, her long lashes and these deep hazel eyes. Her pale skin shimmering in the dark. Her long bushy hair almost covering her face. He hugged her with one arm, shoving her hair softly out of her eyes with his free hand. She stared at him, her eyes sparkling demanding. He couldn't help but lean forward, his nose touching hers gently. He then turned his head a bit and moved even closer. When his lips touched hers softly, he closed his eyes and felt how she kissed him back.

He hugged her closer, kissing her passionately – when suddenly he didn't feel her warm skin anymore – but the rough surface of a pillow. He jerked his eyes open, realizing that he was lying in his bed, panting as if he had been running. He looked around in confusion – only to see another pillow flying towards him. He caught it just in time, lowering it and staring at George, who half sat in his bed, staring back at him.

"Stop laughing in your dreams", he merely said, lying back down. "It's almost as annoying as you snogging your pillow!"

Fred's eyes widened. He gasped. 'What the –', he thought, remembering the dream he had. Dream… it had felt so real… so intense… yet… Shaking his head, he lay back down, staring at the ceiling. What was happening to him?

With his confusion growing, he fell asleep again, not knowing that some rooms beneath him, Hermione lay awake as well, her head spinning in high speed just as his.

A/N: Well, how was that? Tell me! Your reviews decide about the future of this fanfic -lol- well, anyways, I will write on tomorrow for there it comes... the weekend... I love weekends... so make sure you share your time for you might get to read some more of Fred & Hermione -fg-
Thanks for reading! I'd love to see you review...