A/N: First of all I want to thank (what! I really get an Oscar! whoa... nope? well... too bad but nevertheless..), thank you to MoonFeyfor remembering me that Fred of course is a beater not a chaser (I already edited chapter two!) and thank you again to Niniel23, I'm kind of overwhelmed by what you wrote... one of the best F/Hr FanFics you've read? Whoa... that is... -bows- THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'm really doing my best to keep you guys entertained and in a good mood -gg- I love this ship so much... I hope to not screw it all up... -crosses fingers- so please stay tuned... here is chapter 10! Enjoy!
Chapter 10: Coping with consequences
The night passed by rather quickly, and with the sun illuminating her bedroom, Hermione woke up, feeling highly awake as if she had had the most delightful dreams. She couldn't remember what it was, but it had felt strange and wonderful at the same time. A bit confused, she got up from her bed, leaving the room to head to the bathroom. When she saw a shadow coming downstairs, her heart missed a beat.
But when the red head came into view, she sighed in relief.
"Morning, George", she said, smiling at him.
He met her gaze, puzzled first, before he replied her smile. "'Morning", he said. "You feel better?", he added, watching her.
She stared at him, suddenly remembering last night. She swallowed uneasy and bit her lip. "Erm, yeah, I think… I…", she muttered and turned to look away. "I'm really sorry what happened yesterday… would you… do you mind telling… Angelina that I'm sorry?"
"Tell her yourself", he replied. "She's visiting us again today, with Alicia."
"She is?", Hermione blurted out, looking at him. "Well, yeah, I will tell her… even if I don't know if she –"
George just winked at her. "Forget it, she'll forgive you!" With that he went past her, heading downstairs to the kitchen.
She stared after him, sighing. She then entered the bathroom and took a long and purifying shower. After that she wrapped a towel around her body and shook last water drops out of her long hair that now covered her shoulders – with no curl or bushy hank left. She liked it this way yet she knew that it – as soon as it dried – would stand up in every direction and would be uncontrollable again. Checking her pale face in the mirror, she felt something rise inside her. A rather… fine feeling she hadn't experienced since a long time.
With that she left the bathroom, quickly running along the corridor with just the towel around her body. Before she could enter Ginny's bedroom to pull on some clothes, another red hair headed downstairs, catching a long look at her back.
Fred's sleep had been short and confusing. The remaining bits of his dream still rested on his mind when he headed down the stairs to catch some food for breakfast. At the same time as he had passed the first landing, he saw someone running down the corridor, only wearing a towel and long brown hair. He stared in shock, again recalling what he'd dreamt about last night.
He had to get rid of these thoughts!
Clearing his throat when the nearly naked girl was out of sight, he continued his way heading downstairs. When he reached the kitchen, George was already sitting at the table, reading the Daily Prophet. Yawning as if he wanted to swallow his twin whole, Fred sat down opposite George.
"Hadn't had much sleep last night, hadn't we?", George asked without looking up.
"Not everyone falls asleep just by counting bludgers like you, bro", Fred replied, yawning again, helping himself to some toast and juice.
"Anyways, how was your dream?"
Fred stared at his twin. "What dream?"
"Well you were obviously dreaming when you started snogging your pillow…", George said, looking up, grinning.
Fred frowned. "I didn't snog my pillow."
"No? Well, who was it then?"
"I didn't snog anyone!"
"You sure?"
"Yeah", Fred said with finality. "Stop that now, alright?"
"But I don't want to", George said. "D'you forget our little talk the day before?"
"Yeah I already erased it from my mind, bro, and now leave it!"
But George seemed to be very stolid with that topic.
"Erased it? Really? Wonder what Hermione thinks about that", he said. "Hey, Hermione!", he suddenly added, turning towards the stairs.
Fred turned around in shock.
Hermione came down the last steps quite slowly, wearing dark jeans and a blue sweater. She looked at the twins puzzled.
"What do I think about what?", she asked.
Fred felt his ears turn red and he was glad his hair was still kind of messy and covered his ears.
"Nothing", he said quickly, turning his attention to his toast. "Just… erm… some jokes of us you certainly wouldn't be pleased with… but, well, anyways… are you hungry?", he added, looking up, his eyes still not meeting hers. He rather fixed on her chin.
"A bit", she replied, sitting down at the head of the table, clearly ignoring the part with the jokes she wouldn't like. She then helped herself to some juice and a pancake.
Turning to his own toast again, Fred soon sank into thoughts, before George lay down the newspaper, turning to face Fred and Hermione.
"You guys heard about that strange attack last night?"
They both stared at him.
"What attack?", Hermione asked.
"There was this Muggle taking his dog for a walk. The dog seemingly ran after a mouse or something – right into a small forest some miles from here. The Muggle ran after him but he couldn't find the dog. Nor could he find a way out of the forest again. The wife of the Muggle called the –", George looked down on the paper again before he went on. "Police and they soon found him at the edge of the forest, totally distressed. As if the forest drove him crazy… weird, I say… the Ministry now searches the forest for magical influences."
Hermione stared at George, her mouth slightly open, before she turned to look at Fred who met her gaze immediately, sharing her concern.
"Did – did the Ministry already find magical influences?", Hermione asked, turning slowly back to George.
"No, not yet. Just a normal forest, they said. Apparently the Muggle was just afraid of the dark and imagined things… there's nothing to worry about", he added, looking at the both of them with one brow raised, when both went rather pale. "What's wrong with you guys?", he asked, looking puzzled.
Hermione leapt to her feet. "I'm not hungry anymore. I think I go and take a little walk." She then left the burrow.
"What's wrong with her?", George asked Fred.
But his twin merely stood as well and followed Hermione.
"What's wrong with you?", George yelled after his brother when he was leaving the burrow too.
George then rolled his eyes and turned back to the Daily Prophet. "Mental…"
"Hermione", Fred called after her, seeing her sitting on the old bench in front of the pond next to the Burrow.
She didn't turn to look at him – not even when he sat down next to her, following her gaze over the glittering water.
"We were not the only ones…", she then said, barely audible. "And it means… that –"
"You're not crazy, right", he finished. "Just like I said."
She slowly turned to look at him. As soon as their gazes met, she suddenly felt this fine feeling again, the one she had felt in the bathroom looking at herself. She abruptly remembered the dream she had, every disturbing and every confusing detail. She stared into these deep blue eyes in front of her, unknowingly afraid that they might turn to crimson.
Fred also remembered his dream, yet he wasn't afraid at all. He just hoped he could control himself. He didn't want to confuse her even more. He didn't even know what to think about this spark that twisted his mind. Throwing her a little smile, he then turned his head away again, feeling his ears under his hair burn.
"So what do you think is it that –", she then asked.
"You mean these things in the forest?"
"Yeah, these things that… erm… influenced us… or… to be certain… influenced me…?"
Fred looked at her again, relieved to find her looking at the pond.
"I have no idea", he said, shrugging. "But it certainly is not harmless", he added, remembering the strong feeling of fear he had felt himself and had seen it in Hermione's eyes the night they were in the forest. Last night. He couldn't remember everything in detail and he certainly had lost any sense of time. There was just too much happening right now…
"It's strange, isn't?", he heard Hermione mutter next to him.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean all these things…", she replied, still whispering quietly. "I've spend so much time with you and your family here at the Burrow… every summer, every Christmas, every Easter, and that's only the holidays… I mean, I've been around you guys since forever… and I never… it never felt that… weird… it's just strange…"
He watched her face from the side. Her eyes rested on some stones at the edge of the pond.
"Why is it strange?", he asked.
"Well… it's… maybe it's because it's just you and George and… me… and nobody else… I mean we almost lived next to each other at Hogwarts but we were… we… never been… erm… alone actually… talking like this… it's…"
"Strange", he finished with a grin.
She turned to look at him, her cheeks turning slightly pink. "Yes."
"Maybe it's just… unusual, you know? You certainly will get used to that!"
"Maybe I will…", she whispered, staring right into his eyes, before turning away again.
He did the same, staring across the pond towards the little forest.
"George said Angelina and Alicia are coming over today", she said after a while.
"Yeah they do", he replied. "Along with Lee and Katie. Hope you don't mind."
"How could I?", she asked and turned to him, slightly taken aback. "I mean, they are your friends and this is your home and I'm just a guest so I don't mind at all if you invite your friends –"
His smile calmed her down a bit.
"But… I'm just a bit…", she began, blushing, trying to avoid his gaze. "Embarrassed."
He grinned, chuckling slightly.
"Don't laugh at me!", she said a bit hurt, locking eyes with him.
"I'm not laughing at you, I'll never do that. I'm just laughing with you!", he said, grinning, before the dream of last night came back to his mind and he felt himself caught in a deja-vu.
"Well, I'll remember that", she replied, not noticing his sudden remembrance. "But I still feel stupid…"
His eyes widened slightly. "What?" He shook his head absentmindedly, erasing the last bits of the dream. This was strange. She most certainly didn't say the same things she said in his dream. No. No. He was imagining things.
She stared at him in confusion. "I said I still feel stupid…", she repeated frowning.
But she did say the same things. Fred felt suddenly kind of out of place. Was this possible?
"What's wrong with you?", she asked, looking at him a bit concerned.
"What?", he blurted out again, turning his full attention to the Hermione sitting next to him. "Oh, I'm sorry, I was… thinking…"
"Thinking?", she asked. It was her turn to laugh.
"Is it that surprising?", he replied, looking kind of hurt.
"No, no", she said, grinning. "It's not that. But you look rather cute when you're confused, you know that?"
He raised both eyebrows so that they disappeared under the hair that fell into his eyes.
Hermione suddenly stopped grinning, turning rather pale. "I… I haven't said that, have I? I –", she interrupted herself, her pale face turning bright red. "Now that's another reason feeling stupid…", she muttered, covering her face with her hands.
"Why is that a reason?", he said, chuckling.
"Because I'm always playing the fool…", she told her hands.
"You're not playing the fool…"
"Yes I do!"
"No you don't!"
"Yes I – I mean", she said, lowering her hands. "What is it with me acting that strange lately?"
"I guess it's natural. Hormones, you know?", he said, grinning.
She turned to look at him, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly. "Hormones?"
"Yeah, hormones. You're fifteen, right?"
"I'm sixteen in about three months…", she added.
"There you have it. Brilliant age to start listen to your hormones…"
She stared at him, wondering whether to laugh or to just goggle at him. She then just shook her head, smiling. In the middle of her attempts to push away certain thoughts, she suddenly felt something burst inside of her. As if something wanted to break right through her stomach. She gasped, feeling a rather deep pain running through her spine.
Before she knew it she was lying on the edge of the pond, clutching her belly, crying in pain. She didn't know what happened or why it hurt so much, she just knew that it definitely wasn't planned. She saw red hair beside her, feeling hands touching her arms gently, hearing a voice calling her name – what sounded as if underwater. She gasped again, feeling like a fish without water. She pressed her hands against her abdomen, trying to fight the pain by squeezing it.
She then started coughing, feeling as if something was crawling up her throat. She couldn't breathe and she couldn't swallow. Coughing heavily, she rolled onto her side, curling up like a ball, holding her stomach with one hand and grabbing her throat with the other. As soon as it had begun, she felt a rush running through her veins and suddenly – it was over.
She coughed for one last time before she breathed as if she had been running, inhaling the air as if she had been underwater for too long. She relaxed slowly, rolling onto her back again. She opened her eyes and stared up into Fred's. Her chest went up and down hastily, her hands clutched to fists lying at her sides. She threw Fred a painful look.
"You scared me", he said quietly, looking concerned. "What happened?"
"I… I don't know", she said, her voice nothing more than a scratchy murmur.
"And you were wondering about hormones…", he said, a weak smile caressing his lips.
She managed to smile back at him, turning her head to look at the water just some feet away from her, lying in the sand. It must have been the last remaining bits of the just experienced incident that made her not see the shadow dancing above the pond. Like a cloud it hovered above the water and suddenly – it was gone.
A/N: That was chapter ten... please review! And remember: I can make your wishes come true -winks-
Oh and let me tell you that the next chapter might take a little longer (but there will certainly be some chapters next week), I'm writing just another fanfic in the moment... be surprised -gg-
So long ... thank you everyone for reading!