A/N: I'm back, apparently! -dances- Jep, with another chapter, I finally managed to write it!
Hope you like it! And don't forget: please review afterwards! Thanks -bows-

Chapter 12: Shattered glass

Hermione awoke with the worst headache she'd ever had. When she opened her eyes, she felt as if she was standing right on top of the Hogwarts Express, its steam blurring her view, its noise racing in her ears, and its rumbling underneath her feet shaking through her every bone. She moaned a bit when she tried to sit up, rubbing her temples gently, trying to focus on her surroundings.

Alright. What do we have? Shelves. A door. Floor and ceiling. Walls. A bed and a nightstand. A window and annoyingly bright light. A bedroom. Ginny's bedroom. Ginny. Weasleys. Burrow. Summer holidays. Slowly everything came back to Hermione's mind and she sighed when her view finally cleared a bit. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and put her feet on the ground. Staring at her socks, she realized she'd been falling asleep fully clothed. Why would she do that?

Oh. Right. Weasleys. Burrow. Holidays. Twins. Party. Guests. Drinks. Alcohol. Hangover.

"Oh great", she mumbled and rubbed her eyes, feeling her head heavy on her neck. "If I should ever forget about this, please remind me, no alcohol for me again. Never again. Thank you…"

She breathed deeply and looked around once more. There was a plate with toast standing on the nightstand. Next to it, a half full glass of water. She grabbed the water and gulped it down to get rid of the disgusting taste inside her mouth. She then stood up from bed, very slowly for she was kind of afraid that her head might be falling off if she stood up too quickly. Walking as if she just learnt to do so, she moved to the door and tried to reach the bathroom – the most wanted destination she could think of.

Stepping inside the somehow cold bathroom, she was glad that it was empty. No encounters before she had a shower. That would have been awful. She closed the door and slowly got rid of her clothes, before she walked to the sink, turned on the water from the tap and lowered her head slowly to push cold water to her face. It was like ice and yet it cleared her view. When she raised her head again, water drops dripping off her skin, she focused on her reflection in the mirror.

She looked terrible, her eyes were swollen and the rings underneath them seemed to be big enough to hide some Galleons below. Her lips were brittle, her skin looked unnaturally pale. And her hair was a mess as usual. She shook her head carefully and when she wanted to look away, she suddenly saw something.

Her eyes turned to slits and she tried to focus on the mirror more intensely. Suddenly her vision blurred and everything she could see, was her pale face amidst dark, swirling shadows in which glowing dots were visible. These dots slowly formed to eyes and immediately turned red. Her own eyes widened and a scream wanted to emerge from her throat but all she could manage to do – was stare. The mirror seemed to shake and even the bathroom's floor seemed to be moving. The shadows surrounded her and while watching them, Hermione felt fear and panic rising inside her. There was a lump forming in her throat and yet it felt as if someone was squeezing it.

The light bulb next to the mirror suddenly exploded and shattered glass hit her face. She stood panting in front of the mirror, her hands clutching the sink, her heart seemingly motionless. There was nothing that mattered but these shadows around her reflection, she stared at them and at these red eyes and before she knew it, a shriek emerged from her throat and her right hand pushed off the sink and the fist hit the mirror with tension, her knuckles meeting the glass with rage. A crack went through the mirror and all of a sudden it not only fell into pieces – but exploded and almost spit its shattered pieces at her.

An angry roar echoed in her ears before silence fell over her.

Her fist was still pushed against the wall where the mirror had been and its broken bits were lying all around her. Her arm shook slightly and the muscles within ached with pain. Her mouth was open and her breath came out quickly and kind of violently. The scratches, where the glass had hit her face and arms, burned on her skin but she didn't feel them. She felt numb.

Whatever she had been seeing in the mirror, it had disturbed her more than anything else she had experienced before. She still felt distracted and numb when she stepped into the shower. Feeling the cold water on her skin, she just stood there, naked, motionless, and unable to think or do anything.

It was then when she heard a knock on the door.

"Hermione? Are you in there?", Fred asked through the door after knocking at it for a couple of minutes.

He'd heard shattering noises from the bathroom so he went up to look at what happened. But now he could only hear the water of the shower and beside that, an eerie silence.

"Hermione?", he asked on and on, not realizing the passing time.

"What's wrong?", George asked, approaching his twin slowly.

"Hermione's in there."

"Well spotted, mate", George replied, rolling his eyes. "And apparently –", he added, moving closer to the door. "She's taking a shower!"

Fred stared at him, slightly annoyed. "Tell me, George, how long do you usually take a shower?"

"You don't want to know that, do you?"

"I'm asking, now, am I?"

"Well, I –", George began irritated, before goggling at his brother. "Hang on, what's the point?"

"She's in there for almost an hour…"

"So what?"

"I'm just… worried… you know what she had done before…"

"So you think she –"

"I've heard something shatter, as if she smashed the mirror or something. And well… she might –"

"So what are you waiting for? Do you think she'll open up again when she wants to –"

"You're right", Fred said and turned to the door again. "Erm, Hermione, I hope you're decent…"

With that he turned the door handle, quickly realizing that the door was locked. He then stepped back and kicked the door open. Wood flew around and the remaining bits of the door fell to the ground. Fred threw George an irritated look when he noticed Hermione's clothes lying on the ground, surrounded by pieces of a broken mirror. He entered the bathroom and followed the noise of water to the shower.

He carefully stretched out a hand to touch the curtain to pull it aside.

"Hermione, are you alright?", he said, grabbing the curtain and slowly began to pull it aside.

Before he could finish that motion, the curtain itself moved aside, and suddenly he saw a shaking, pale Hermione standing in a jet of water, clutching her sides, mumbling inaudible things, her eyes wide with horror. He automatically grabbed a towel (ignoring her nakedness) and wrapped it around her – for she seemed to be unable to move herself. He then turned off the water and by doing so, he threw Hermione back into the world of consciousness.

She gasped, drawing deep breaths, and looked around irritated. When she realized that she was standing in the old bathtub of the Weasley's house, a towel wrapped around her naked body and someone called Fred holding her by having placed his hands on her upper arms, she couldn't help but stare. Stare into those worried blue eyes.

"What – what happened?", she asked, her voice shaking. She suddenly felt very cold.

"I wanted to ask you the same", Fred said, watching her with concern. "Are you alright?"

She still stared at him, before she looked down on herself and on his hands on her arms. She immediately blushed a deep shade of red and tried to avoid his gaze.

He slowly removed his hands from her arms, still looking at her.

"Hermione, you're bleeding", he then said, pointing at her left cheek.

She raised a hand to touch it and after lowering it again, she saw blood on the tips of her fingers.

"Would you tell me what happened to you? And to the mirror?", Fred asked, looking sideways to the spot where the mirror has been, only to see that even the light bulb was broken. "And what about that light bulb?"

Hermione followed his gaze. "I – I don't know…"

Fred watched her, frowning.

She slowly tried to step out of the bathtub, but when she raised a leg to get it over the edge, she suddenly slipped and almost fell head first to the wall – if Fred hadn't held her just in time. His hands grabbed her waist, the towel dangerously loose around her body now. She quickly got hold of his shoulders and used him to step out of the bathtub (trying to not step on the broken glass that was still lying on the floor) before she nervously clutched the towel and prevented it from falling down. Looking up at him (while he was still holding her waist), she bit her lips and couldn't think of anything to say.

When someone cleared his throat, she almost jumped. Fred let go of her waist and they both turned to look at the door where George was standing with a rather amused smile on his lips. Hermione's eyes widened and she tightened the grip on her towel. Fred rolled his eyes and stepped to the door.

"Hey, George, why don't you go down and prepare lunch?", he said with a wink.

George gaped at him but left the place chuckling. Fred then turned to Hermione again who was staring at the floor, her cheeks unnaturally red. Water was dripping from her hair that – for the first time he could remember – was straight. She looked good with straight hair and with her skin this pale and –

He quickly shook his head and refused to think what he wanted to think. No. Leave it. Not now.

He then bent down to gather her clothes.

"How's your head?", he asked after a while of picking shards off her clothes.

"My – my head?", she replied, her voice almost cracking up.

"Yeah, your head."

"My head is –", she began, before breaking up.

Fred looked up. She was still standing next to the bathtub, clutching the towel, staring at the floor – meeting his eyes. He sensed some kind of disturbance in her gaze, even though he wasn't sure about it. But seeing what the bathroom looked like, he knew that something wasn't right. He grabbed her clothes and stood up, seeing that she was following his movement. They locked eyes before Fed held out a hand to offer her her clothing.

"I'm sorry about the mirror", she said after a while staring at his outstretched hand.

He moved his head a bit and watched her.

"Will you tell me what happened to it?"

She stared at him, her expression a mixture of pain, fear, confusion and frustration. A seemingly deadly mixture.

"I – I told you, I don't know…"

"You can't remember?"

"I guess…"

"So this was … one of your… let's call it… dropouts? Someone made you smash the mirror?"

"No, I… I smashed the mirror myself… but…", she said, staring at her hands that were red with scratches.

"But what?"

"But… I had the feeling that I had to smash the mirror… I just…", she suddenly broke up, raising one eyebrow. She then cleared her throat.

"What's wrong?", Fred asked, waiting for her to continue.

"What's wrong?", she repeated with a cracked up laugh. "Look what we are doing! Where we are."

Fred watched her, his forehead furrowed.

"Well, I don't know about you but I'd never had this kind of talking in a bathroom. Wearing only a towel…", she said and looked around at the mess of glass.

Fred chuckled. Hell, yeah, that was slightly uncomfortable. Even though he might have enjoyed it.

"Erm, you might be right", he then said. "What about you getting dressed again while I clean up this mess and we talk later?"

She looked up at him and nodded. "Sounds good."

She then grabbed her clothes that he was still holding and moved carefully over the shards to the door. Reaching the door, she turned around once more to look at him.

"Oh, and Fred?"

"Hm?", he said, turning around.

"Thank you for… erm… you know…"

He grinned at her. "No problem", he replied. "Oh and besides, do you remember what I told you?"

"Of course", she said, smiling. "No more apologies… I keep forgetting that…"

"So this is the very last time, alright?"

"I hope so", she said and threw him a grateful look before she turned around to leave the bathroom.

Fred watched her leave with a weird feeling rising inside of him.

Hermione quickly got dressed and tied her hair to a ponytail. She then tried to check on all the scratches the broken glass produced. She was still wondering what really happened in the bathroom and she still had no clue about it. Without wanting to think about it more than necessary, she left Ginny's bedroom and went back to the bathroom – to find Fred leaving it.

"I'm done here", he said – and looking at her, wearing trousers and a jumper, he added: "You too, I assume?"

She nodded, looking past him to see a clean and shining bathroom. There was no shattered glass anymore and the mirror was fixed again and even the light bulb was working. She took some steps to the sink and turned the water on.

"I just want to… wash these scratches…", she said, rolling up her sleeves.

He stepped into the bathroom again and leant against the wall next to the door. Watching her examining her wounds, he quickly stepped to her when she began to rub on them that they started bleeding again.

"Wait, let me help you, okay?", he said kindly and got hold of her arm.

She stopped in her tracks and slowly raised her head to look at him – when she suddenly caught something out of the corner of her eye. Her head spun around and before she knew it, she stared at her reflection, anxious, distracted, confused. Her eyes widened when she saw something moving behind Fred. Her head spun around again – but there was nothing behind Fred. She looked back at the mirror – where she could clearly see something dark floating next to Fred's left ear.

She gasped when the shadows grew larger and thicker and suddenly the whole mirror was filled with them, except of her pale face and Fred's puzzled face who just stared at Hermione as if she's gone mad. She was, apparently, because she – again – saw things that weren't there. She stared at the mirror and all of a sudden the shadows swirled around Fred's reflection – trying to strangle him. But out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Fred was just fine.

What the –

But then she felt as if she had to do something and waved her arms around, accidentally hitting Fred in the face with her right arm.

"GO AWAY!", she screamed at the mirror, trying to fight the shadows that kept swirling around her reflection. "LET GO OF HIM!", she yelled, tears in her eyes. The shadows now moved closer and closer and suddenly Fred's face was gone and instead there were two blue eyes staring at her. Her own eyes widened when they suddenly started to bleed and turned to red. Like flames the eyes glowed in the dark of the mirror.

"NO!", she cried and leapt forwards to destroy the mirror and its disturbing images.

Fred, rubbing his chin (where Hermione accidentally hit him), stared at her and jumped to life just in time to prevent her from smashing the mirror again. He got hold of her arms and struggled with a Hermione that kicked around hard as if he was some foe trying to kidnap her.

"Hermione, calm down!", he yelled over her own angry roars. "CALM DOWN!"

As quick as she had changed into a violent fury, she changed back into her former, calm and confused self. She sank into Fred's arms as if life had been sucked out of her. He stared at the back of her head, panting slightly. Pulling his arms around, patting her back gently, he raised his head to look into the mirror.

What had she been seeing in there?

"Ouch!", Hermione blurted out when Fred tried to disinfect the bloody scratches on her cheeks. "That burns!"

"That is supposed to burn, dear", Fred replied, grinning. "Otherwise it wouldn't work…"

"But that hurts!"

"Be strong", he said and watched her, how she winced every time he touched her face with the handkerchief that he dipped into some Disinfecting-potion.

"I can't be strong when you burn my face with this stuff! And besides, it's –", she began complaining with her eyes watering violently. "It's smelling!"

"But it's good for you!"

Hermione stared at him. "What about I'll scratch you the next time and then try this stuff on you?"

"Sounds nice", he said with a wink and continued cleaning her wounds.

"Ow! That's torture, you know that?"

"Is it?"

"Yes, it is."

"Alright, it's torture", he agreed and dipped the handkerchief into the potion again. "So, if this is torture, I might finally get some answers out of you by torturing you."

"What – what answers?", she asked, staring at him irritated.

"Answers to some questions…"

"What questions?"

"Questions like 'What happened?' or 'Why did you smash the mirror?' or –"

"Oh, those questions…"

"What questions have you been thinking of?"

Hermione blushed slightly. "Well, different ones…"

Fred stopped in his tracks, his hand inches away from her left ear, his forehead furrowed, a smile lurking on his lips. "Shall I deepen this topic?"

"Oh no, no, it's alright", she mumbled, her eyes examining his face that was quite close to hers. She then saw the bruise on his chin where she had hit him. "Oh."

"Oh?"

"Does that… hurt?", she asked, staring at his chin, raising one hand.

Touching the slightly blue spot on his chin with her index finger, she unknowingly moved her head a little closer to his. Fred watched her with his eyebrows raised.

"Actually –", he began, lowering his own hand that was holding the handkerchief. "No, it doesn't."

"You sure?" she asked and stroke his chin gently with two fingers.

"Erm, yeah, I am…", he said.

"But it looks… as if it would hurt…", she whispered, sunken into touching and staring at his chin.

"It doesn't…", he whispered back.

Hermione finally broke from staring at his chin and instead looked up into his eyes. Their gazes locked and while Hermione could count every freckle on his nose, Fred examined her eyelashes. Even though he pushed aside every thought of the dream he had some nights before and every other moment that had been slightly irritating, he couldn't help but lean in closer to her.

She watched him move closer, her heart missing a beat. His blue eyes drew nearer and nearer and just when his nose was about to touch hers, a thought jerked through her head as if she had been struck by lightening. Her head twitched back and she almost fell backwards on the carpet of the living room, where they both knelt. Grabbing blindly around to catch something to prevent her from falling, she got hold of his shirt, her eyes widened and before she knew it, the force of her pulling back knocked both of them over and suddenly, Fred was on top of her, his body pinning her to the ground.

She stared up into his eyes, panting as if she had been running. Her heart was drumming against her chest, her mind racing. By the time Fred crawled off of her and knelt down next to her, grinning, the thought, that had caused this, had disappeared. She looked sideways at him, his grin being intoxicating. She smiled back at him and before she could even think about it, he leant down and his lips met hers.

Kissing Hermione was different from what he had imagined. First, he hadn't thought of her lying on the ground with him leaning over her, second, he hadn't thought about it happening in the Weasley's living room, and third, he hadn't thought about it happening at all. But it seemed that it had been worth the try. He leant in even closer, his arms propped against the floor, his lips caressing her mouth. She didn't seem to not want it either; at least he felt no resistance.

But suddenly there was something else. She responded his kiss, yet it felt as if something wanted to block that moment. It seemed as if something was pushing him away – even though she was lying totally still. And just when his tongue got into the reach of hers, he felt something pull him back violently. His head jerked back as if pulled by the hair by something invisible. His eyes widened when he saw something dark and swirly emerge from her still open mouth. She stared at it as well, her eyes wide with horror.

Before he could think about it, the shadow forming seemingly from her breath (or something else) seemed to jump onto him, knocking him over, an unseeing weight pinning him to the ground. Darkness was around him and the only thing he could see was a pair of red eyes. As soon as the shadow appeared, it was gone again – but before disappearing wholly, it seemed to hit Fred hard in the stomach. Moaning with pain and confused with his eyes wide open, he stared at the small dark cloud leaving the house through an open window.

"What the – hell?", was all he could manage to say before he turned his confused gaze to Hermione, who sat on the floor, equally confused and slightly ashamed of what just happened.

She'd ruined the moment of their first kiss.

A/N: Thanks for reading -drumroll- Chapter 12! Hope you all enjoyed it (I actually had fun writing it -grins- esp. the last bits... hehe)

So, yeah, please please please review and tell me what you think! And thank you for reading and reviewing so far...
I can't believe, this story got almost 4000 hits (I am so flattered! Thank you so much!) ... but there's something even better: this very story had been added to a C2 (called "Hermoine and one of the twins equals love", managed by Tara-Yo, check it out... many Hermione/Twins fics)! That makes me so happy to see MY story in that c2 or in your guys list of favorite stories (or even my name in some lists of favorite authors), that is just great! Thank you so much!

And continuing threwing around with thank yous ... THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS!

HiddenOperaAngel: hehe, yeah, I think sometimes it's hard for a wizard to remember who he is... or what he is... yeah, poor everyone -grins- thanks for your review and a belated happy new year to you as well!

So this is love: It's great you have enjoyed the story so far, I'm glad you like it! About Hermione not talking etc... well, imagine you are at a house with your close friends absent and only two pranksters around you whom you seemingly cannot trust or whatever... I wouldn't want to talk to people that I hardly know... and imagine: Hermione's confused -grins- But well, Hermione gets to know the twins more and she will talk to them much more I'll promise nn Everything will be just fine -sings- Erm, yeah, so, thanks for the review -bows-

SnapeLestrangeGirl: Happy new year to you too (a belated one)! Thanks for your review! Hope you enjoy how it will go on...

laurelin: Yeah, damn, you managed to write a review! -grins- I'm just flattered! Such an honor... hehe... but I'm equally glad that you like what I'm trying to do... this is quite important for me. You know, after that Draco/Ginny fanfic I wrote ages ago (damn, I never finished the sequel...), it's my next attempt on writing something like this... and this time I'm really in love with the character -drools on Fred-picture- erm, well, yeah, so I really hope it turns out well ... Thank you again for the review (I'm always so excited when I see a new review!)!

So, I also thank everybody else who is reading this, then I want to thank my dear computer without whom I'd never managed to write this and I'd like to thank JKR for creating such great stuff and I want to thank James Phelps who turned Fred into such an adorable character -grins- and - oh well, I have to spare some thank yous when I'll reach the end of this story... which will be... not now and not tomorrow and not next month... but someday I'll finish it - with tears in my eyes because it's over... but it isn't over yet and more is about to come soon (I told myself: one chapter in two weeks which could make it easier for me to do all that other crap I have to do (mostly school), so be aware... every other week there will be a new chapter for you)

So long, guys, thanks for reading this! -waves and vanishes-