Chapter 8

"Fred?" Hermione leapt up from Ron's bedside and sped off after the retreating back of Fred Weasley, leaving Ron looking bewildered and slightly annoyed. She ran down the first flight of stairs and collided with someone;

"Bloody hell! Why is everyone zooming around today like someone's shoved a ton of dynamite up their-"

"You're not Fred?" Hermione shot at him desperately.

"Nein, ich bin George. Look, there is a way of telling the two of us apart, and I'm sure I trust you enough to let you in on it –"

"Sorry George, I don't really have time!" Hermione called back to George's vaguely disappointed face as she continued her hunt for Fred at top speed; he shrugged it off however, and went to visit Ron.

By the time she had reached the kitchen, she was thoroughly out of breath and so she sunk into a chair at the large wooden table, accepting defeat.

Ten seconds later, Mrs Weasley entered, humming cheerfully.

"Oh, hello dear, I've just got back from the alley. Excellent sale on at the Grocer's you know, I was able to get 10 shallots for the price of just –"

"Mrs Weasley, have you seen Fred?"

"No, but I've just seen George up in Ron's room. I think they must have just got back from the opening …"

"Right, yes, never mind …" Hermione sloped off to her and Ginny's bedroom before Mrs Weasley had finished.

The week that followed was extremely boring for Hermione; Ron was bedridden, (apparently the injury was far more extensive than Mrs Weasley had anticipated) and spent much of his time sleeping, there was still no news from Harry or when he would arrive, Ginny was sometimes around to talk to but much of the time she was either visiting Dean or writing "pretty" letters to him – ("Give it BACK George! It's not a love letter, it's just a normal bog-standard letter that's nice and pretty, you know, with hearts and flowers on it …"), and Fred and George spent every minute of the day apart from the evening meal, at their shop, however Hermione rarely saw Fred because he was often late and took his dinner to his room when he returned.

It bothered Hermione that week, that Fred seemed to be avoiding her; finding out that he had heard what she said about him to Ron and not getting the chance to justify what she had said was unbearable – she needed to tell him that she only said it to keep Ron happy. She didn't find him unattractive, although it was true in her saying she didn't see him "that way". He was her crazy friend, and his spontaneity and healthy zest for life was something that she really liked and admired, and that was the other thing that she couldn't stand: those random encounters with Fred over the first week of the holidays had been so weird but also fun. Hermione had always believed that books and academia were the only real sources of pleasure that she herself could experience, but thinking about it now, it seemed that Fred had lit up a whole new side to her, that had been kept in the dark all her life so that she didn't know she really had it. She was "a bookworm with an edge!" as he had once called her. It felt strange, but she realised that she missed him.

On the Friday of the second week, Hermione approached George, who had stretched out luxuriously on the rug in front of the fire in the living room.

"George? Do you happen to know where Fred is, by any chance?" She perched on one of the sofas and looked at the top of his head that was lit up by the blaze of the fire, and tried to appear and sound casual in her enquiry.

He yawned, and rolled over on his front to look back at her.

"I think he's out with that bird again …" He folded his arms in front of him and returned his head to the floor and closed his eyes.

"Bird? You mean like an owl?"

George laughed a laugh uncannily similar to one she knew so well. "No, this girl who we interviewed earlier this week for the assistant job in our shop. Verity, I think her name is …"

"Oh …" Hermione started tensely fumbling with the tassles on a nearby cushion. "So you mean … like on a date?"

"Yeah, probably. To tell you the truth Hermione, I don't really know. He just mumbled something to me about 'Verity', 'dinner' and 'better than being at home', so you can draw your own conclusions from that …" George trailed off sleepily, unaware of Hermione indeed drawing her own conclusion, with watery eyes and trembling fingers.

A/N: Pleeeeease review the story so that I know what you all think and so I know whether to continue with it! I will love you all so much! Thaaaank you x