Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination
Chapter five: Time is the Best Healer"What? Why!"
"I don't know, okay?"
"Well, knock it off then. Don't do it again. She's Ron's and not just up for grabs. Smelling her hair, realy...And since when have you been interested in Hermione?" Fred said.
He turned away so George wouldn't be able to see his face.
"I don't know...She changed, Fred. You can't tell me you haven't noticed. She's snappy, whitty and she can stand her ground..."
"And she's not ugly either." Fred added tiredly. "Look, I know what makes her so interesting, I've seen it too. But don't you think this so called affection of yours is just some overenthousiastic reaction to seeing her again so suddenly? And even if it's not, you don't touch her as long as she's with Ron."
George cocked his head to the side with a cheeky grin. "And what if they suddenly broke up? Something like a little fight that would drive them a bit away from each other...She'd need a shoulder to cry on."
"George!" Fred shouted angrily. "You're not actually planning something like that, are you? You'd do something like that?"
"No, no...Of course not." He answered soothingly. "But it's not something you can rule out. I mean, look at them. They used to have so many fights. Ron drove her to tears more than once..."
Fred sighed. "...I'm afraid that this is getting out of hand, George. You're wondering 'what if'? We're schoolboy pranksters. Since when did that inlcude ruining people's lives."
George sat down and looked at his hands resting on the table. "So what do you want me to do. You agreed that we had to get back at her for flirting with us the way she did. You know, when she had just arrived. We were determined to make her and Ron tell us the truth, you just as much as I was. And now you want me to call it off, to retreat?"
"George, this isn't a joke anymore. You saw them about to kiss, isn't that enough proof of the truth? And remember that she offered to help us out with the Zonko problem. She's a nice person, so why don't we just back off."
Fred picked up the teapot that had been warming on the stove and poured himself and George some tea.
"No teasing at all? No big-brother-annoying-little-brother-with-girlfriend at all?"George said.
Fred couldn't completely read the emotion that he had on his face, but he decided he could allow for some leeway. "Well, alright. But only if we keep it at that. We need to give them some room."
"Give who some room?" sounded a soft voice from the door.
Fred nearly dropped his mug when he heard his sister's voice. "Ginny!"
He stood up and rushed forward to give her a hug.
"W- would you like some tea?" George said quickly.
She nodded and watched how her brothers stumbled to get her her drink as fast as possible. They looked as if they were afraid she'd vanish back up to her room again if they took too long. She sat down at the table and pulled the Daily Prophet towards her, bending down over the headlines.
Silently Fred handed her her tea and couldn't help being surprised to see her fully dressed. She wasn't wearing her nighty with some robes over it, but a pair of jeans and a colourful woolen vest. Ginny looked up at the boys and smiled.
"Thanks." She said as she savoured the taste of her first sip. "I needed that. Nothing like mum's tea, is there."
George looked at Fred, who was just as speechless as he was. They sat down at the table again and watched her read and drink. Silently George passed her some toast, prefering to watch her eat than to touch his own breakfast.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Wake up, Ron. Quick!"
Ron yawned and brushed the sleep from his eyes. "Wha-?"
"Get up! I know you're going to want to see this." Hermione said. "Come on. Get dressed!"
Ron rolled out of his bed and reached for his trousers. Hermione turned around quickly so he could change.
"Are you done?" she asked after a while.
Suddenly she felt two hands being clasped in front of her eyes.
"Perhaps. But you'll never know now!" he said teasingly.
Hermione laughed and pushed his hands away. "Come on, you've got to get to the kitchen. I think you're going to like this."
Ron bent down to tie his shoelaces and raised an eyebrow at her words. "What's down there, then?"
"You'll see." She said with a smile.
She allowed him to go down the stairs first and followed him closely. Once they had reached the kitchen door, Ron looked at her over his shoulder.
"You're not in on a prank with Fred and George, are you?" he asked wearily. "It wouldn't be the first time..."
But Hermione shook her head and motioned him inside. She knew that he'd have to pick up his bottom jaw from the floor the moment he'd enter that kitchen. She held her breath as he pushed through the door and awaited his gasp.
She wasn't disappointed.
"Ginny!" she heard him shout.
He rushed forward and hugged his startled sister who was still sitting at the table.
"R- Ron, you're choking me!" she gasped.
Hermione giggled and looked at the others in the room. Ron had been the last one to get up. Mrs. Weasley was cooking up a more sturdy breakfast for her daughter than a piece of toast.
Mr. Weasley was pretending to read his newspaper, but he hadn't turned the page in the last twenty minutes and his eyes kept glancing over the edge of the paper to look at Ginny with a fondness beyond anything Hermione had ever seen.
And then there were Fred and George who hadn't moved from their chairs since Ginny had come down. Hermione still couldn't tell them apart from a distance, even though she had known them for such a long time. She needed to get close to see a slightest difference between them.
One of them suddenly looked up, his eyes darting to her for a moment. Immediately she felt a blush creep to her cheeks aain, just like the day before when she had been hugged. She turned around so no one would be able to see her red face.
George chuckled and shook his head when he saw her avert her eyes. He supposed she felt awkward because of that moment the other day. When she left the room, he noticed the little hairs at the back of his neck settled down again, even though he nad never noticed them standing up in the first place.
He looked away from the door, feeling puzzled, and then noticed Fred looking at him curiously.
"What?" George asked.
Fred shrugged.
"...Nothing." he said in a whisper. "I just thought I'd remind you of our conversation from this morning."
George nodded slowly. "I remember it quite vividly. But...oh, never mind. You don't understand."
"Yeah I do!" Fred hissed. "You fancy her, even though you know she's off limits."
George stood up abruptly. "That just proves my point."
"George..."
George left the room, throwing the door shut behind him on his way out. Fred slowly got to his feet and followed him.
"Wizard Wheezes stuff." He said to the others tiredly.
Once he was at the bottom of the stairs, he raised his voice.
"George!"
He heard the door to their room close softly and he headed upstairs in persuit. Not bothering to knock, he walked straight in.
"What was that all about?" he asked sharply.
To his surprise, George shrugged his shoulders.
"Don't know, really."
"...You don't know? You cause a scene like that and you don't know?"
"You're telling me what to do and what not to do and you're surprised I blow up? I'm the same age you are, Fred."
Fred sat down on his own bed. "Then act like it instead of blowing up like a little child who didn't get his present. If you think I don't understand then explain it to me. I'm your brother, remember. Your twin."
"Yeah, I know. But it's just...that I don't know how to explain..."
"Well, do you like her or not? That's a start."
George bit his lip. "...I do...I think. I don't know, because she's not my type...but...And she's Ron's girlfriend...so I don't want to like her..."
"But do you or don't you?" Fred said with a serious face.
George shook his head with a chuckle. "See? Even I don't know what I feel. And it's not like she's helping either, blushing every time she's in the same room with me...it's not all up to me, you know."
"I know. It takes two to tango."
George's face lit up as he suddenly though of something. "Hey, can't you try and find out how serious she and Ron are?"
"George..." Fred said hesitantly. "You're the one who told me about seeing them liplocked."
"Nearly liplocked." George muttered softly. "Please Fred."
He pouted his lips and made little whining noises like a dog. Fred couldn't help snorting.
"Alright!" he said, laughing loudly. "Alright."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A gently knock on her bedroom door shook her from her thoughts. Still trying to shake off that feeling of shame that bothered her so much, she went to open the door. She wished she knew what had caused her to feel this way and, more importantly, she wished she knew what she could do to make it stop. Having feelings for George just felt so wrong to her, in every way imaginable.
"It's Ron's brother, for heaven's sake."
She shook her head, composed herself and then opened the door.
"Hey Hermione." Ginny said cheerfully. "I wondered...if I could talk to you."
"Oh, sure...of course. Come in." Hermione stepped aside to let her in.
"I just wanted to thank you for what you said to me yesterday...I could hear you through the door..." she added apologeticaly. "And well, it made me think."
Hermione smiled relieved. "I'm glad. I hope I didn't offend you with anything..."
"No, you didn't. You gave me something to think about, like I said. And...I think you were right. I've been...selfish, locking myself up and not realising I was hurting everyone around me. I don't want to be like that anymore. I want to be...carefree...and happy."
She gave Hermione one of her rare smiles.
"I know I'm not the only one who misses Harry. But it felt like that to me. Like no one could understand how bad my pain was."
Hermione slowly raised her hand and placed it on Ginny's shoulder. "Everyone understood why you reacted the way you did, he meant so much to you...No one was angry with you. But you took so long that people started to worry."
"Hermione, you do realise you're not completely telling the truth now, do you?" Ginny said with a grin. "I remember someone blowing her lid when I didn't want to come out of my room. I heard every word you bellowed that day."
Hermione blushed. "I am really sorry about that. I never wanted to say the things I did, but I wanted to talk to you. I needed to. And when you didn't answer, I felt so alone and helpless. I'm sorry. I didn't have the right."
"Yes you did. I was selfish. And you needed to get through it too. I'm sure that shouting at me helped in some way."
Hermione laughed. "I suppose it did."
"You know," Ginny said. "I miss this. Just talking...laughing. Why did you move away? I know everyone missed having you around."
"I needed to get away. I needed new people around me who didn't know..."
"Did it work?"
"Not really." She said with a smile. "Making new friends never was my strong point. Last time it took a Troll. But the girl I work with is really nice."
"Why didn't you invite her along?" Ginny asked. "I'm sure she would have been welcome here."
"Yeah, Ron liked her. But she already had some plans. Christmas is really big in her family."
"Ron liked her?" Ginny said, raising her eyebrow.
Hermione grinned. "Yeah, she and Ron got on great when they met. I think I could sense a certain something."
Ginny looked up sharply. "He wouldn't- You two are-"
"In a relationship? Ginny, how long have you known me?"
"Well, you never know with the two of you. I remember a certain evening in my sixth year when you came hurtling into the girls' dormitory, blushing madly because you finally had kissed Ron...So it wouldn't have been a weird assumption to make." She said.
"That was the first and most certainly the last kiss that will ever occur between me and him."
Ginny giggled. "Well, as long he's happy...Shall we go downstairs?"
Hermione nodded. "You know, I think you're the only one who truly believes me in this house."
"About you and Ron, you mean."
"Yeah. Your mother greeted me as if the date for the wedding had already been set. She was glowing."
"O heaven forbid." Ginny said melodramatically. "What an unholy future, to be married to a Weasley."
"There's nothing bad about being part of the Weasley household. That's how I feel, you know. Your entire family has accepted me as part of their daily lives. Since Hogwarts!"
"With some minor glitches." Ginny muttered, remembering the tiny easter egg Hermione had gotten in the middle of the Triwizard Tournament because her mother had been reading a little too much Witch Weekly.
"You know what I mean. I almost feel like I really am part of this family already. Even Fred and George treat me more like a sister now, what with all that joking and teasing. I always would have liked a sibling..."
"Not just siblings, perhaps." Ginny said with a smile. "I notice things, you know."
"Like what?" Hermione said sharply.
At that moment the twins came hurtling past.
"Hey Gin, Hermione. It's time for dinner. Coming?" George said, quickly glancing at Hermione.
Fred rolled his eyes and pushed his brother on. "We heard mum shout out the window so it won't be long. Ron's already setting the table."
"We're coming." Ginny soothed them.
She held Hermione back and waited till her brothers were out of earshot.
"Things like that." She said to Hermione contently. "Just like that, right there."
Hermione pushed past her so Ginny couldn't see her reddening face.
"Oh, bugger off." She muttered quietly.
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