Chapter 5

The next day, the Burrow was the busiest it's been since Hermione had been there; Ron and George had returned with Lee, and Mr Weasley had come home for the weekend with Percy, so as you can imagine, there was barely room to move, let alone sit down comfortably to read Hogwarts: A History for the seventh time, which is something that Hermione would have liked to do. Instead, she settled for sitting outside on the bench again, as the garden was the quietest place.

"Hi," said a voice from behind. Hermione saw it was Ron and smiled.

" Hi! Glad to hear about your victory," she moved along the bench so he could sit next to her. "Good game then I suppose?"

"Awesome. So what have you been up to?"

" Nothing really. I've been doing a lot of reading."

"When haven't you?" Ron joked, and got hit playfully on the arm by Hermione.

"Those roses are beautiful aren't they? Did your Mum plant them?"

"You mean these old things?" asked Ron, getting up and squatting in front of the group of roses Hermione had admired the day before. She nodded. "Yeah, they are. Mine's a bit withered though."

"You have your own?" Hermione enquired, joining him.

"Yeah, look, this orange one with the fewest petals is mine. Don't know what's wrong with it." He muttered, gently fingering the remaining petals and gazing at them thoughtfully.

"Of course, there are nine of them, and there are nine of you! You all have one each then?" Exclaimed Hermione.

"That's right. Mum and Dad planted theirs when they first moved here, and planted one for each of us the day we were born. It's another weird family tradition we have – like the clock. They represent something … I don't really know what. Like how we're feeling, or about our future or something stupid like that. I'll bet it doesn't work, I mean look at mine. It looks pretty sad doesn't it? But I'm in a really good mood right now, especially after the Cannons' win, so whatever that's going on about …"

"Whose is the red one? It's magnificent." Hermione said, leaning in to give it a good sniff.

"That's Freds. I know that 'cause his has always been red. Never known why; all of the rest of ours have always been orange or peach, but his is always as red as red."

"YOU TWO! DINNER!" Mrs Weasley's voice came bellowing out the back door, and Ron and Hermione got up from the patch of roses and went to join the others.

"Come in," called Hermione, after someone rapped hard on Ginny's door.

"Hi, do you know any good remedies for sore throats?"

"Wait, wait; are you Fred or George?" She peered at the lanky ginger boy standing in the doorway.

"George. I'm actually asking for Fred. He kind of has a cold and he needs to get better for our shop opening in two days."

"Oh, err yeah I might, let me just grab a few books and I'll come and see him," she said, jumping off her bed and digging though her open trunk, picking out volumes the size of doorsteps.

"A few books? Kind of an understatement there Hermione –"

"Do you want my help or not?" She whipped her head round and glared.

"Yeah yeah sorry, I suppose you get a bit sick of the book jokes …" George smirked.

"Just a bit." Hermione said defiantly, throwing her hair back and marching past George with her arms full.

Two hours later, George had given up on his twin and gone to practice Quidditch outside with Ron and Lee.

"Traitor …" Fred had mumbled. "You know, I've been working on this shop of ours for all the days you've been enjoying a stupid Quidditch match, and when I fall ill, what do you do? Thank me dearly and bust your arse to find a cure for me as quick as possible before it's too late? No, you go outside to play some more bloody Quidditch!" George scurried off before Fred could finish, and Fred threw a snotty tissue after him in anger.

"You two are just like an old married couple!" Hermione had laughed.

"Well I'm the wife that's for sure! Doing all of his cooking and cleaning, having his dinner on the table without even so much as a thank you while he's off drinking and…" Fred trailed off realising he'd just called himself a woman. He coughed gruffly and hastily changed the subject while Hermione attempted to hide her amusement. "You didn't have to do this, you know. Help me, I mean. It's just a cold, it'll go away soon."

"No it's fine, I'm almost finished with this anyway." Hermione was stirring a yellow steaming liquid in a mug and adding every now and then some sprinkles of white powder. Finally she handed it to him. "Here, try to drink it all in one go."

Fred did as she instructed and then lay back on his pillows.

"Now you just have to wait." Hermione told him, sitting at the end of his bed. "Why isn't your Mum here treating you? She's an expert at this kind of stuff."

"She's still kind of annoyed at me. You know, about not cleaning the fireplace and going crazy with the hose the other night." He smiled.

"Yeah, I think she's a bit weird with me about that too. It did get a bit …"

"I know …" They both trailed off awkwardly.

"Is that why you have this cold?"

"Probably. Never mind though. What are you up to these days anyway, now Harry isn't coming until next week?"

"Nothing. That Cannons match was going to be what I was doing, but I didn't do that so…. I suppose I'll just have to wait until Harry gets here."

"Do you only want him here to protect you from Ron?" Fred laughed.

"No!" Hermione giggled; she was surprised at herself – Parvati and Lavender drove her up the wall when they did that. She sighed deeply. "I'm just worried about Harry, and want to be there for him right now."

After a silence Fred spoke: "Friend of the year, eh?"

Hermione smiled.

"I like to think that we're friends… you know?" Fred shifted in his bed and looked up at Hermione.

"'Course we are." She grinned and touched his hand. She was surprised by Fred's sudden leak of sensitivity, but pleased all the same.

A/N: Thank you for all of my reviews; any suggestions on how to improve it or on what could happen next are appreciated!

Just to say that chapter 6 is on its way, and things are about to get exciting but i want to finish The HBP before I continue, I'm sure you all understand!

Many Thanks x