"Mia…" a dry whisper made George jump "Mione… Love… Mi…."

Fred could see the orange glow again and he couldn't let it go yet another time. Summoning all his strength and willpower he dragged open his eyelids to a blindingly bright white light that was suddenly shadowed with a strange orange and pale brown fuzzy shape.

"Fred?" he heard his twin's voice ask tentatively from above him. "Freddie?"

Fred blinked several times and twitched his fingers, trying to reach for his twin while George wept noisily and wrapped his brother up in the biggest hug he had ever given anyone.

"George?" Fred heard his voice croak as he lifted his sluggish heavy arms to wrap around his other half.

The pair swiftly broke down in a mess of relieved laughter and tears of joy.

Several hours later they were still entangled in a firm embrace, the healers had been in to check up on Fred and give him the potions he needed now that he had awoken. The healer had then tried, in vain, to separate the pair and explain his condition but the twins were in their own world oblivious to everything around them.

That was until they heard a familiar greeting being called from the doorway followed by a shaky gasp and the soft thud of a book falling onto the floor.

"Fred?" Hermione whispered as she blinked away the tears that threatened to spill. She barely dared to hope, she didn't want to believe what she thought she could see through her fuzzy tear filled eyes in case she was wrong again.

Fred lifted his head from his twin's shoulder with great effort from his aching muscles. George squeezed him and slowly let go for the first time since he had woken.

"Hello love" Fred's tears ran in rivers down his freckled cheeks as he saw the woman he loved standing in front of him. She was alive. She had made it through the battle. She was here.

Hermione ran and leapt onto the bed wrapping every limb around Fred as she laughed and cried. She felt his throaty chuckle rumble from his chest and into hers. Her laughter came freely now and they laughed and cried and embraced while George went outside to give them some privacy.

He ran as fast as his legs could carry him through the sterile halls and corridors to the entrance of the hospital. He stepped through the window into the outside world for the first time in almost four months and immediately apparated to the burrow's garden.

"Mum! Dad! Everyone!" His voice reverberated through the wonky house, brimming with a whirlwind of emotions, as he threw open the kitchen door and pounded up the stairs banging on every bedroom door as he went. It was after nightfall and everyone had gone to bed but within moments the landings and stairwells were full of bleary eyed Weasleys and Harry peering over the wooden banisters. "He's awake." George managed to get out just before he collapsed into his Mother's arms in overwhelmed tears.

Fred held her close to him, her body melding to fit his and his arms locked tightly around her waist and shoulders. Her hair smelled of apples and coconuts, her curls soft as he fingered them gently. Her sweet and floral perfume complimented the scent of her hair and he was overcome with emotion.

"You're alive" he murmured with his face buried in her curls.

"You're awake" she replied softly, her breath delicate and enticing against the shell of his ear.

They stayed that way for hours, barely moving, enjoying the embrace and getting lost in the sounds of the other's breath and speeding heartbeats.

"Knock knock" George called from the doorway as he stepped back into the room at dawn to see the mess of long limbs and curly hair on Fred's bed "Mum sends breakfast pastries and fruit. They're all in the main waiting room already, have been all night, but those security guards are fierce! I've never seen anyone stand up to mum like that before and even the presence of the golden boys wasn't enough to get them through."

Hermione untangled herself from Fred and hugged George in welcome, her enormous huge smile never faltering. Fred blushed as his arms reached out after her instinctively. Thankfully, he thought, she didn't see and he had time to re-arrange himself while moving to sit up against the headboard.

"Breakfast pastries?" He said eagerly eyeing the stack of tupperware boxes in his brother's arms.

"Here you go" George chuckled, extracting the largest tub from the bottom of the pile and wheeling the table over to put the others boxes on "she's made fresh ones of those every other day, just in case. None of the rest of them have been allowed to touch them!"

Fred cracked open the corner of the lid and was hit with a wave of sweet sugary cinnamon.

"Mmmmmm" he moaned and ripped off the lid to find four large cinnamon buns with lemon icing drizzled across the top.

Hermione's eyes lit up at the smell of her favourite breakfast pastry but diligently opened all the other boxes to find an small array of danish pastries filled with raspberry and blueberry jams and several boxes of fresh strawberries, cherries, watermelon and three yellow-green bananas. Chuckling to herself at Molly's excessive provision of food she helped herself to a banana and some watermelon before settling into her armchair.

"Budge up mate" George nudged Fred across the bed to settle in next to him against the headboard holding the box of danish pastries "can I have one?" he asked, stretching his neck to peak into the box of cinnamon rolls.

"Not a chance!" Came Fred's laughing reply as he moved the box out of reach "You've got your treat there, this one's mine!"

This started a small mock tussle on the bed, during which George was very gentle and careful not to win or hurt his twin in the process. Hermione just giggled contentedly from her armchair, full of gladness that Fred was awake and messing around already.

"Mum used to make these as a treat whenever we were unwell as children." Fred explained, gesturing to the boxes in each of their laps.

"She knew we couldn't resist the treats so used them to tell the difference between us" George said between mouthfuls of flaky blueberry filled pastry

"and to see if we were actually ill or just trying to get out of trouble. When we finally ate them again after being unwell she knew we were better." Fred finished as he licked lemon icing and cinnamon from his fingertips.

"My Dad used to take me to a cafe near our house on Saturday mornings when I was a little girl," Hermione recalled fondly "Mum ran a Saturday morning clinic for an hour every week at their dentist practice so that was our time together, just the two of us. He bought me a hot chocolate and we shared a cinnamon bun every time, I wasn't allowed much sugar as it isn't good for your teeth so that was a special treat."

A sad smile spread across her face as she remembered her parents and once again wished she could see them again. They were in Australia living under new names since she had obliviated them to keep them safe. Hermione needed to finish her research on reversing the memory spell before travelling to find them, it would be a long time before she saw them again, if she ever did.

"Here you go" Fred offered her the box of sweet cinnamon buns "why so sad, love?"

"I… I sent my parents away to keep them safe… I miss them dearly" Hermione explained slowly, until now only she, Harry and Ron were the ones to know what she had done.

Fred could tell that there was more to the story but was willing to let her tell him in her own time.

"Go on, have a cinnamon bun. Mum sent too much food as always, plus I already feel full as I haven't eaten in… well. How long was I asleep for?" Fred asked, his brow slightly furrowed as he recalled all the strange glimpses of voices and memories he had re-lived.

Saving the stuttering and mumbling Hermione and George from the difficult conversation the Healer thankfully entered the room at that moment followed by the rest of the Weasleys and Harry to go over what happened and Fred's recovery plan. The best way she could describe Fred's continuing condition for the family to understand was as a bruise on the brain that was half way healed. He needed to stay in hospital under review for at least a week.

...

Hermione continued to visit Fred every night, she told him about what she learnt during her days at the burrow while George showered then joined them. She and George sandwiched Fred on the single hospital bed sharing Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans while she continued to read aloud to them about Alice's adventures. Fred was thrilled with all the new product ideas that George had filled his notebook with and the dutiful doodles and annotations he had included with spell names and ingredients.

"You must be looking forward to having your boyfriend home tomorrow" the young assistant healer said to Hermione as she left Fred's room ten days after he woke up.

"Oh, he's not my boyfriend," Hermione corrected the woman quickly "but yes the whole family is looking forward to having him back home."

The assistant healer was the same age as Fred and George but had attended school in France at Beauxbatons, she was very beautiful with dark hair that fell perfectly straight to the top of her shoulders, olive skin and dark eyes. Her voice was high but not whiny and she was petite in every way. Hermione felt immediately self-conscious and jealous at the smile that lit up the gorgeous woman's face at the idea of Fred being single, so she left quickly and flooed back to the burrow.

Assistant Healer Carina Romano had moved to England to study at St Mungos, her mother and father had both moved from Italy to France to study and settled there. They were glad that their daughter had also decided to study abroad and were even more glad that she had waited until the war was over before going.

"How's my most handsome patient doing?" Carina crooned as she entered Fred's room swaying her hips as usual around the twins.

"Better when I can go home" Fred looked wistfully towards the door, he would have given almost anything to be able to follow Hermione just then.

"Well, as soon as the head healer arrives in the morning we can get you ready and home." Carina said as she checked his vitals and added her notes to the chart at the foot of the bed "I'll even get all the paperwork ready overnight so you can get your sexy arse going before breakfast if you like?"

Carina continued to shamelessly flirt with Fred throughout her night shift as she used his discharge paperwork as an excuse to spend so much time with him. By the time the head healer arrived at half past six the following morning Fred and George were both showered, dressed, packed and sat eagerly on the side of the bed with the completed paperwork resting between them. Fred had completely ignored Carina's repeated hints at taking her on a date and was eager to escape her as well as the hospital's walls.

She may have been annoying the twins but her work was flawless and after a final check up Fred and George arrived at the burrow in a flash of green flames.

They stepped out together, they always travelled through the floo as a pair even as adults, and quietly carried their items upstairs trying not to wake anyone before they were ready. After putting their bags in their old bedroom, the flat over the shop would need repairing before they could return to living there, they decided to slowly wake up the family.

Fred gravitated towards Ginny's room where he assumed Hermione would be staying, opening the door slowly though he saw that there wasn't even another bed in the room that Hermione could have stayed in. 'She must be in Charlie and Bill's old room' he mused as he carefully closed the door without waking Ginny and climbed the staircase. Repeating his careful actions at Charlie and Bill's old room he found Harry snoring loudly and the other bed was not only empty but it wasn't even made up. He went to Percy's old room next and found it to be full of dust as though it hadn't been touched in years.

He continued up the stairs until he reached Ron's room at the very top of the house, George had now joined him in confusion at not yet finding Hermione. Opening the door as quietly as before his breath caught in his throat.

There was the woman he had been searching for, the woman he loved and adored, wrapped up tightly in the arms of his youngest brother. Her head rested against his chest and his face was buried in her thick curls, his arms were wound tightly around her torso that was covered in one of his bright orange Chudley Cannons t-shirts. She looked so peaceful as she breathed deeply in her sleep and Fred watched Ron's arms tighten around her protectively in his own.

The world felt like it was caving in on him again. Of course she and Ron would be together, it made sense. They had been best friends for years and had repeatedly fought off dark wizards together. Ron was smart and strategic and was the kindest of the Weasley brothers, he had shown his extreme bravery while protecting his friends even in first year when he sacrificed himself to the giant, violent chess set.

George dragged Fred away and closed the door gently before guiding him to the sky light and climbing up onto the roof with him.

"So…" George began, not really sure where to go from there.

...

Author's Note

Thank you for reviewing Arodri and ihaveaslighttvaddiction :) I hope you like this chapter too. Fred's finally awake!

Have a fab day everyone,

Wishin' Girl x x x