Chapter 8: Pepper-up
Notes: I've probably written and rewritten this chapter a hundred times at this point, but I'm finally happy with it. I'm really sorry for saying I'd post weekly, only to post 4 months later. Hey, at least it wasn't five months again. Thank you all so much for the likes and comments, it really helped motivate me to get this out! Hope you like the chapter!
Hermione sniffled quietly, wiping away the last of her tears. She thought back over the events that had occurred in the last ten minutes. Fred had brought her up to his and George's loft, sat her down at his kitchen table, wrapped her in a hand knit blanket, and went off to the kitchen to fix her something to drink. All the while, she cried without saying a single word. She ran her hands down her face and bit back a mortified groan. Why had she come here? What was she thinking? This was most definitely crossing a line! Sure, she and Fred had exchanged a few nice letters - but it was absolutely ridiculous for her to just randomly show up at his place of residence, blubbering like a child no less. He probably thought she was insane and honestly she wouldn't blame him. It was, after all, the most obvious conclusion one would come to if their younger brother's friend suddenly showed up at their doorstep.
As she continued to berate herself for her recklessness and lack of forethought, a large purple mug emblazoned with a large orange 'F' was placed in front of her. "It's tea." stated Fred matter-of-factly, "I added a splash of Pepper-up potion. It was pretty cold out there. Plus I figured you need to blow off some steam." She smiled weakly at the joke and muttered a quick thanks. He went back to the kitchen and came back with a glass filled with what she assumed was fire whiskey. He settled comfortably into the seat across from her. Her eyes immediately shot down into her drink, but she could feel him watching her, expectantly. As they sat in the silence, Hermione's mind was moving a mile a minute.How in the world do I begin to explain everything? Obviously I shouldn't have just come here. This is such a disaster...
"Well, Drink up then!" she looked up, startled, at Fred who gestured towards her drink. "I promise it tastes a lot better than it sounds."
"Oh right" she mumbled, gratefully taking a large sip from her mug. Immediately Hermione felt a wave of warmth wash over her. She felt her body relaxed and let out a long sigh. She never would have expected chamomile tea and Pepper-Up potion to actually taste good together. Her surprise must have shown on her face because Fred was grinning widely at her. "Told you." She smiled and cast her gaze back down. For a few minutes, they sat in silence sipping their drinks. Every now and then she would allow her eyes to drift up to Fred, only to find him watching her intently, before staring back into her mug.
After what felt like ages, he cleared his throat and started "So... What did my idiot brother do this time?" "Oh, umm well…" Hermione bit her lip, "It wasn't entirely Ron's fault...But we did get into a bit of a row." she relented, Fred furrowed his brow "I thought the two of you weren't talking?" "We aren't. Which, somehow, makes it worse." They sat quietly for a few minutes before Fred broke the silence again, "What did you fight about?"
She looked down into her half-drained mug and let out another sigh, then began to tell him about everything that had happened in the last two days. From Harry's false sleight of hand with the Felix Felicis and her confrontation to how angry Ron had gotten with her mistake. She even told him about her horrible fight with Harry, supplementing background information on the Half-Blood Prince's book and Harry's suspicions of Malfoy.
Fred groaned and ran his hands down his face. "That is a lot to take in." He downed his fire whiskey and began again slowly "Well...starting with Ron, he can be an overly sensitive prat. Anything could set that idiot off. And you probably know that he can get pretty insecure." Hermione nodded as he continued. "Still, that doesn't give him an excuse for treating you like that. He should know by now that you believe in him. Most likely, he's still pouting 'cause you and he aren't getting on right now. You shouldn't take anything he says to heart." Hermione had finished her drink, and she fiddled with the mug. She knew he was right, but it was still so hard to think about this objectively.
"Now about Harry.." began Fred as he stood up and grabbed both of their empty mugs. "I know he has a lot on his plate, being the chosen one and all. But that was uncalled for , wasn't it?" his voice carried back to her as he refilled their drinks. "Didn't think he could actually be that mean to one of his best friends, didn't know he had it in him" Fred unceremoniously plopped back down across from her, placing the cups down a little harder than necessary. Hermione looked at his stony eyes. Frustration did not suit his normally cheery face.
"Well..." she mumbled. "He's been dealing with a lot right now." While she didn't want to defend her friend at the moment, she couldn't help but think back to Harry's meetings with Dumbledore. "Hermione." The sudden sharpness in Fred's voice caught her off guard and her eyes shot to his. "You know that doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter how stressed he is or if he really is the Chosen One or if Malfoy was trying to destroy the world. He shouldn't treat you like that." His eyes bored into her. She felt herself blush and quickly took a big gulp of her tea, hoping that the Pepper-Up potion would take the blame of her reddened cheeks. Fred tossed his hands in the air, comically, the usual warmth returning to his face. "Seriously! You've basically gotten those two idiots through the last five years and they have the audacity to treat you like this? Honestly, I stand by what I said before! You deserve some better friends."
Fred continued to jokingly rant about how her two best friends were the biggest oafs he'd ever met. Hermione chuckled softly at this, but then felt her eyes beginning to sting. Try as she might to bite back tears, her vision began to swim. She heard Fred trail off, but didn't dare to look up at him. The tears rolled down her face, while she stared down into her mug. She couldn't believe she was crying again, it was mortifying. Fred's wordlessly conjured a handkerchief and handed it to her. She appreciated that he stayed quiet while she mopped up her tears. "I'm sorry" she croaked. "Don't be." he said softly. "You know, you could talk to me about it if you want.'
Hermione wasn't the type of person to unload all her feelings onto people. She was Hermione Granger, she was the smart, steadfast friend of Harry Potter. She was supposed to be the calm, logical one. Recently, however, she had been finding herself increasingly illogical.
"It's just so frustrating!" she admitted, "I try not to be affected by everything happening around me." Her fingers tightened around the mug " I keep telling myself that this is fine. That everything is okay. That I'm not lonely. That I can deal with my two best friends drifting away from me." her voice trembled. "It's been so long, I'm afraid I would be lost without them. I know it's silly but, it can be hard to imagine a version of myself without them..." Hermione shut her eyes for a moment and steadied her breathing, before continuing on. "Then there's Lavender and Parvati. While we didn't have the same interests, I did think of them as friends. I mean, they were my dorm mates for the last five years after all." Anger ripping at her chest. "Now they make fun of me, all the time. During classes, at meals, even in the dormitories. They don't even try to hide it anymore!" Her knuckles were pale, with how hard she was clutching her mug. "And of course I act as though I don't hear them. That it doesn't bother me, but…" she tapered off, her rage suddenly snuffed out by her own misery.
"You don't need to deal with that sort of treatment, Hermione." Fred said after a moment. "You need to give yourself some distance. Maybe spend time with some of your other friends." Hermione stared resolutely into her cup. There was no way for her to admit that she didn't really have other close friends without sounding miserable. Thankfully, Fred seemed to pick this up from her silence. "How about Ginny? You two spent all your time together during the summer." "We talk on occasion, but most of her free time is spent with Dean." "Oh…right." An awkward silence descended upon them. Hermione watched as Fred rotated the mug in his hand, lifted it up to his lips, and took a sip. Her eyes moved up to his only to find him looking at her with a soft gaze.
She quickly brought her eyes back down to her, basically untouched, cup of tea.
"You know…" Fred said gently, "You're incredible with or without Harry and Ron. You're unbelievably smart and talented and kind. If anything, the ones who'd be lost, are them."
Hermione shifted in her seat. She wasn't used to being praised by someone who wasn't a professor. She let her eyes move back up to him, to find him leaning his head on his hand. He was smiling warmly at her. "There are probably tons of people who want to be your friend and spend time with you. You've just been so busy with Ron and Harry, you probably haven't noticed them yet." Hermione remembered how Luna asked her to study with her a couple of weeks ago and how she hadn't gotten to because she spent all her free time with Harry or in the alcove. She felt a twinge of guilt. Why hadn't she reached out to Luna? She even blew her off earlier today.
"And hey!" Fred's voice snapped her out of her mini guilt trip. "If you ever get too lonely, you can always come running back to me!" he said with a wink. She felt her entire body heat up and brought her hands to her very warm cheeks. "Oh Merlin! This is so embarrassing. I can't believe I- Fred! I'm so sorry I just turned up here unannounced." Fred's familiar, booming laugh filled the loft.
"No! No! It was great! Just give me a warning next time. I honestly thought a Deatheater was finally here to get me for the U-No-Poo sign. I was ready to throw my life down for that sign!" he said dramatically, throwing himself martyr-like back onto his chair and almost toppling over. His theatrics pushed her into a fit of laughter.
When her laughter finally died down, she looked up to find Fred beaming at her. "I made you laugh! All is finally right in the world!" he teased, creating a fluttering sensation inside Hermione couldn't exactly explain, but didn't hate. Instead she decided to take a far larger swig of tea than necessary, causing her ears to steam slightly.
She quickly grabbed both empty cups in front of her and moved towards the kitchen, hoping to draw as little attention to her bright red face as possible.
"In all seriousness, Hermione, I'm glad you came!" He called to her, "As fun writing letters are, I am a man who needs immediate satisfaction. And I for one, believe it is far overdue that you tell me what you thought of the new Daydream Charm I sent you!"
The charm! After everything that happened this morning, she had completely forgotten about writing to Fred about it.
She abruptly spun to face him, empty mugs still in hand. "Fred!" She half-shouted, startling the red head. " It was incredible! I tried it last night and It worked exactly like you said!" She watched as the look of confusion ebbed away and turned into a huge grin. She launched into an animated explanation of the experience, waving around the empty mugs and making the odd "whooshing" sound.
"...then I blinked and I was back in my bed completely calm. Whatever calming spell you must have used, worked perfectly! Oh and best of all, I was never frightened! Not once!" She finished, slightly out of breath. Realizing she was still holding the mugs, Hermione quickly moved to the sink to put them down.
Fred, who had gotten up while she spoke, was leaning against the kitchen counter, basically emanating excitement. He ran his hand through his hair and threw his arms up in triumph. "Yes!" he boomed "I need to owl George he's going to be thrilled. We can start mass production and probably get 'em on the shelves by Christmas." Hemione could basically see how fast his mind was moving. This is what it must be like for Harry and Ron when she got her mind set on something, she thought. "I can already tell these themed Charms are gonna be a hit!" Fred's warm brown eyes locked onto hers. "And it's all thanks to that beautiful mind of yours, , I could kiss you! Absolutely brilliant!"
Fred turned away and began towards the sitting room, raving about his plans for the next themed charm, not noticing the scarlet-faced witch he left in his wake. It's just an expression. You know that. Hermione told herself shrewdly as she followed him, albeit a bit slowly in order to calm down.
Once in the sitting room, she found Fred had already gotten comfortable on the sofa and decided to perch herself on the adjacent arm chair. "...not sure but keeping with elemental themes may not be the worst idea, right?" He had finished his train of thought and was looking at her expectantly. "Oh. Um. Yes I think that would be nice." Hermione responded, hoping her answer was correct. And judging from Fred's grin, it must have been.
"Sorry 'bout that, I can get a bit too excited sometimes." She chuckled, "Yes, I am quite aware." Fred shot her one of his mischievous smirks, she knew so well. "So Hermione," he started, throwing his feet up on the couch. "You're a prefect now. You must know all the salacious secrets about Hogwarts."
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I was a prefect last year too, you know?" "Well yeah but Umbridge kind of ruined that for you didn't she? You ended being one of the most notorious rule breakers last year." She laughed, this was unfortunately very true. Hermione had only gotten to really feel like a prefect for a few months before Umbridge and her inquisitorial squad began running amok. "You're not wrong." she admitted, "Well yeah I guess I do have some interesting stories, but I don't think any of them would be considered salacious."
Fred shrugged, "Well all my stories nowadays are on strange or awful customers, so I'll take what I can get." "It's a joke shop, your customer stories have a higher chance of being funnier than mine! How about we trade? I deserve compensation, after all."
"Deal!" he grins widely, "You first."
Hermione settled into the armchair, running through stories in her mind until she settled on one she thought was interesting enough. "Alright so there was a Hufflepuff boy who I had seen hanging around outside of the Ravenclaw common room, during classes. I didn't really think about it that much. But then later that day, during rounds, we found him there again. Instead of running away or making excuses when he saw us, he looked super relieved. He said he was courting some Ravenclaw and he had made the claim that he would answer the riddle and sneak in to prove his love. It turned out he had spent the last several hours trying, but did not want to admit he gave up. Apparently, he had been waiting for me and Ernie to catch him so he could go back to his room to sleep. He even thanked us."
"Wow." said Fred sarcastically, "You were right, that can't be considered salacious." Hermione's face warmed,"Well what did you expect? The most scandalous thing we ever see in rounds are students snogging behind tapestries!" Fred snickered at this and let himself sink into the couch. "Oh come on!" she chuckled "It's not like you have any better!"
Fred immediately shot back up,"Are you kidding? Of course I do!" "Didn't you just say you only had boring stories?" "I never said they were boring!" gasped Fred, overdramatically. "My stories are always amusing! Your story was more of a statement of facts." he teased. "Well prove it then, if you're so confident." Hermione shot back, grinning. Fred's eyes flashed at the challenge. He immediately began to recount his run-in with a repeat customer who's sole intention was to find hot, eligible bachelors at the joke shop. Which, Hermione hated to admit, was a better story than her own. When it was again her turn, she decided to tell Fred about a fourth year she was certain was in love with Moaning Myrtle.
One story led to another led to another led to another. Fred had a natural talent of keeping Hermione in fits of laughter. By the time Hermione finally noticed the time, she was comfortable huddled in the armchair, cuddling a pillow. She felt her heart sink; It was definitely time for her to go back. If she were to be honest, she hadn't felt this content since she was at the Burrow. Fred was animatedly telling a story of one of his favorite customers, unaware of the time. She hoped that the story wouldn't end and that she could stay for just a bit longer. But, of course, it did come to an end and so ended her stay.
She stood up, grabbing her cloak and mary-janes which she had long since shed and pulled them back on. If she was honest, she didn't want to go back. The last thing she wanted was to wake up tomorrow and deal with Harry's anger and Ron's mirth. She shot a glance over at the small fire and then back at Fred. " Um..well..could I use your floo?" she said, trying her best not to sound as downtrodden as she felt.
"Oh yeah, of course." he replied quickly, then paused. "You know, Hermione...from what you've told me, it sounds like you could use a break from Hogwarts for a bit. If you wanted to, you could spend the day here tomorrow. George is out of town working in Hogsmeade, so it'd be nice having another hand around the shop while he's out." He paused again,"Like I said, if you wanted to, that is."
Although the Pepper-up tea was long gone, Hermione was filled with warmth. She smiled "Yes of course, if you're really okay with it." he laughed, "Why would I offer if I wasn't okay with it?" he got up and walked across the room, "So I figure you can stay in my room while you're here." Hermione started to blush "Oh?" she squeaked. "Yeah, I can crash in George's room, it's not a problem!"
She bit back a small sigh of relief, before realizing that she would be putting him out. But even before she could begin to protest, he brushed off her worries.
She watched as he went into his room and came out with a set of clothes, which he then handed to her "Here you go, so you don't have to sleep in your uniform." "Oh, right! Thank you." She took the clothes and made her way towards his room. He stood with her hand on the door handle and quickly shot a look over towards George's room. Fred was leaning on the door frame looking at her, much to her surprise. "Goodnight, Hermione." he said with a smirk, causing her to feel that same fluttering feeling from before. "Right. Goodnight then." She entered the room, turned around and quickly shut the door. She rested her forehead against the cool wood and closed her eyes. What was she doing here?
After a minute she turned around and surveyed the room. She was quite surprised to find that it wasn't all that messy. Other than the familiar clutter of letters and parchment on the desk, the room was mostly organized. It was covered in Gryffindor pennants, posters, and few photographs. A particular photo of a toddler-aged Fred and George inside one of Arthur's sweaters, had to be her favorite. She kept looking around and couldn't help but smile at the sight of books stacked in piles around the room, reminding her of the alcove.
Deciding she would get ready for bed before further investigating, Hermione quickly changed into the pajamas Fred had provided, a pair of blue sweatpants and a cozy long-sleeved maroon and yellow shirt, both of which were far too large for her. She settled onto his bed and let her hand run over the large, soft purple comforter. After some deliberation, she grabbed a book from the top of a nearby pile, a thick manual dedicated to the mechanics of muggle pyrotechnics. Smiling to herself, she skimmed through the marked up and dog-eared pages. Every now and then she would stop and try to decipher Fred's scrawled out notes in the margins. After a short while, she replaced the book on the pile. She nestled under the covers, which surrounded her with the comfortable scent of warm vanilla. Immediately she felt her eyes being weighed down. She couldn't believe how long this day had been and how much had happened. Although now, all those events seemed more and more like distant memories as she slowly drifted to sleep.