I know, I know, it took me forever to finish this chapter. Partly because I'm super stressed from work and partly because I stressed myself out from wanting to write this chapter absolutely perfect... and got myself a little writer's block because of my self-induced pressure. Thank you all for being patient. I hope you enjoy this.

Also, I want to thank all of you for reviewing and following this story. There are over 600 followers right now and I'm freaking out about it. It's amazing and terrifying at the same time.

WHAT IF

Chapter 22 - Making A Deal (Part I)

Taking a deep breath Hermione walked down to the room of the twins, hoping that she could catch Fred alone. She had no clue how she could get rid of George if he was there. Her nerves were already getting to her. A thousand possible scenarios flitted through her mind as she approached the door. Determined she knocked, hard and loud. She waited a minute but no one answered, even though Hermione could hear voices and shuffling from behind the door. She knocked again. Again no one answered. Taking a deep breath Hermione decided to just go in. She wouldn't chicken out now.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" The voice of George sounded through the room like a gunshot and made Hermione take a step back. For a moment she thought he was talking to her but then she recognised the situation. Fred and George were standing in front of each other, both red-faced and huffing angrily. And apparently, they hadn't seen her yet.

"I really don't know what your problem is! If you would just talk to-," Fred yelled back but was interrupted by George instantly.

"You're my problem. You're behaving like a bloody prat and you know it. Don't think I don't know why you're doing this. I'm not stupid! I'm your bloody twin; I know exactly what you're doing. And it's your constant denial that ticks me off!" George yelled back.

"Guys?" Hermione briskly intervened. "Care to explain what's going on?" Fred and George's heads whipped around, wide eyes looking down at Hermione with confused and angry gazes.

"Fred here is behaving like git but that's no news to you, isn't it?" George growled while Fred rolled his eyes.

"George is a major drama queen. And he's chickening out of talking to An-"

"Don't even..." George hissed. "That's not the point right now."

"It is! You two have to talk; it's just stupid. Go and get your happy ever after, you bloody prat!" Fred's face turned an even deeper red. Suddenly he turned and walked towards Hermione.

"Sorry, Hermione, do you mind?" Softly he pushed Hermione aside so that he could leave the room. Hermione guessed that he would've slammed the door behind him in his anger if she hadn't been there. For a moment Hermione thought about following Fred, but it seemed like he needed a few minutes to cool off. Surprising him right away with the new that they were soulmates would surely not get Hermione the reaction she was hoping for.

"George? What's going on?" Hermione asked after a minute, which George spent with staring angrily at the door.

"That's going on," George pushed up his jumper and revealed a colourful soul mark on his right hip. It was a deep pink rose in full flower. Stunned Hermione stared at the mark and at George's pained expression.

"It's Angelina," George muttered so quietly, Hermione almost didn't hear him.

"Oh," Hermione tried to say something but failed miserably. She knew about George's feelings for Angelina but at the same time, Angelina was Fred's ex and… She wanted to congratulate George for finding his soulmate but evidently, it wasn't a happy thing, at least not right now.

"Yes, oh… I messed up, Hermione. Fred is pretty angry with me, but he won't admit it...," George slumped down on the bed, his head in his hands. "They broke up because of me. Because of this. And now Fred is shagging half of Hogwarts to convince me that he's fine and that I should get together with Angie. He's such a bloody prat."

"You think he's behaving this way to prove he's… not hurt? But in reality, he is hurt, he just doesn't want to show so no one will pity him?" Hermione thought out loud but actually, she didn't want to know, not really. She didn't want to hear that Fred was still hung up on Angelina.

"Granger, you said it yourself before the holidays. Fred's not dealing with this break-up in a healthy way. And he doesn't want to talk with me," George sighed. For a moment they sat in silence.

"So, Angelina?" Hermione tried to sound innocent, but George snorted at her.

"Don't even pretend, Granger. I may have been damn smashed on my 17th birthday but I remember well enough what I confessed to you and Ginny. I'm actually rather surprised that you and my nosy little sister never tried to grill me for more information. Thought for sure that the Spanish Inquisition would descend upon me." Hermione raised an eyebrow and chuckled at that.

"How do you know of the Spanish Inquisition?"

"I do pay attention in class sometimes," George grinned. "And actually I like Muggle studies."

"Got that from your Dad, don't you?" Hermione and George both snorted a laugh.

"Please, don't remind me. If I ever start to tinker with Muggle objects, please, hex me," George groaned good-heartedly. Hermione knew he was only joking. All of the Weasley children loved their Dad even though he was nuts for Muggle artefacts. For a moment they both laughed, an easy atmosphere around them.

"Well, you have to thank me that Ginny left you alone after your birthday. I prevented her from a) beating Fred green and blue for breaking your heart and b) from trying to talk to you about it. Was quite a bit of work but I convinced Ginny in the end." Hermione winked. "I thought you wouldn't remember because you were so drunk and wanted to spare you an uncomfortable conversation with your baby sister."

"Pray tell, how did you do that? Once Ginny has a goal in mind, it's not easy to get her off it. Need to know the trick for future occurrences." George joked back but the nice lightness vanished for Hermione. Now they were unfortunately back to the topic of Fred and Angelina.

"Oh, that…" Hermione blushed. "Umm, I might have heard you and Fred talking about… that Angelina is Fred's soulmate. I told Ginny and it shut her up pretty quickly. And she didn't want to hurt you by mentioning it, I think." George buried his face in his hands, stifling a defeated groan. "But now that I think about it. How the hell did you two get that mixed up?" Hermione asked, nudging George slightly. She somehow had the feeling that both twins had never talked about this whole affair properly.

"My fault," George sighed. "I got it mixed up or maybe I didn't see it well enough or maybe it was just my mind telling me that I could never be lucky enough to actually have the woman of my dreams as my soulmate."

"Go on," Hermione nodded softly.

"I saw Angie's mark during our fifth year. I was preparing a prank in the Quidditch shower rooms and…" George's ear coloured a deep pink. "Well, I saw the mark but obviously not well enough. When Fred's and my soul marks were still both black, they were almost identical. But Fred's has these… you know those green leave around the bud which open?" George waved his hands while he searched the right word.

"They're called sepals," Hermione nodded.

"Yeah, exactly. Fred's mark has those; his is still black, but you can see that they're there. They look different from the other petals. Mine is just the flower." George showed his mark again and now Hermione saw the difference. Her own mark was also almost identical to George's but as he had said, hers had little sepals behind the flower petals. Hermione knew because her mother was a passionate gardener and loved flowers. On more than on occasion, her mother had examined her mark and explained to Hermione how the different parts were called.

"Well, I thought I saw those sepals on Angie's mark back then and told Fred. He was a bit hesitant first, didn't want to hurt me. He knew I fancied Angie a bit back then," Hermione snorted. "Yeah okay, I fancied her a lot and still do. But Fred is my twin, I love him, and I wanted him happy. Even if it would make me miserable. It took me a while to convince Fred to ask her for a date, he finally agreed after a year or so, when he took her to the Yule Ball." George sighed again heavy. "And they kind of got closer. I thought it would help me get over Angie if they got together. "

"And how did that work out for you?" Hermione asked, well aware that seeing Fred with Angelina had hurt her immensely and only dating Viktor had helped for a while to keep her mind off the pain. George seems to think the same as he sighed again.

"Not so good, but they were damn happy after they finally managed to hitch up."

"How did you find out about this then," Hermione pointed at George's stomach.

"I'm not really sure what happened beforehand but one evening I came back from the shower and Fred and Angelina were fighting, I had no shirt on and…" George shrugged like it was obvious and Hermione remembered what Sirius had said. As soon as both saw each other's mark…

"Angelina saw your mark. And since you already saw hers..."

"They both changed colours immediate, yes. You should have seen her face, Angie was mortified." George's voice was thick, and Hermione purposefully didn't look at him. She somehow thought that the funny and laid back George didn't want her pity. "She stormed out, and I think that was actually the last time Fred spoke to her. Just like that, they both accepted their break-up and since then they are ignoring each other."

Hermione remembered how Angelina and Fred had avoided each other since the break-up. How Fred tried to put up a façade of being fine and Angelina always seemed awkward while seeing him. But now Hermione also remembered how Angelina had not only avoided Fred but also George. And probably not because he was Fred's brother like Hermione had thought before, but because she was as awkward around him as she was around Fred. Hermione's heart broke a little as she thought about this ridiculous situation which hurt three people at the same time.

"I'm so sorry, George, that's surely not an easy situation for you," Hermione gave George a half-sided hug. He rested his chin on top of her head.

"No, it isn't. But the worst is that Fred doesn't want to talk with me about it. I thought we would do it during the holidays, while we are away from Hogwarts, but then Dad got hurt and… Now he's avoiding talking about it again." They sat there for a while when George suddenly turned towards Hermione. "Would you talk to him? Last time it really helped to get him out of his funk."

"Sure, I actually have something I want to talk about with Fred, and I think that conversation will lead us on to it anyway," Hermione sighed. Her conversation with Fred had gotten a lot more complicated but it was necessary. She needed to get over with it. She needed to tell him. She wanted to tell him.

And so - again - Hermione started to search for Fred. This time she found him not in the library, but in Buckbeak's room. Apparently, this was the official sulking room in the house, as Harry and Sirius had proved over the holidays. Now Fred was also sulking while stroking the soft feathers of Buckbeak.

"Fred?" Hermione asked softly, but he jumped up a bit, nonetheless. Buckbeak only looked up with a bored expression.

"Hey Hermione, smashing to see you," Fred tried a smile but Hermione's serious expression stopped him.

"Can I come in?" Fred nodded and Hermione sat down on the floor, her back against the wall. After a silent minute of staring at each other Fred finally sat down beside her.

"Want to talk about it?" Hermione tried and Fred eyed her suspiciously. "The fight with George, I mean, you seemed pretty upset."

"That's what you want to talk about? Would have thought you wanted to talk about something else." Fred grinned, pretending to be as confident as ever. Hermione willed the blush down but the heat still crept over her skin and left her with goosebumps as she remembered the kiss again. Soft and warm and perfect.

"Don't try to change the topic," Hermione hit him on the shoulder playfully. "I just talked to George, and he asked me to talk to you. You know, I'm doing this only once. I had enough of being an owl when Harry and Ron weren't talking to each other last year."

"Oh, did George tell you about?" Fred asked slowly like he needed to weight every word carefully. Hermione nodded.

"He told me about Angelina and the mark and why you broke up. But there are a few things George doesn't understand," she said and saw how Fred blanched a bit. He leaned his head against the wall and stared at the ceiling for a while. Hermione decided to stay silent. Sometimes you had to endure silence to give the other the space to talk.

"Merlin, I don't even know where to start." Fred finally said, ruffling his hair till it pointed in every possible direction.

"At the beginning is often the best," Hermione smiled.

"But that's the thing. I don't know where this mess started." Fred groaned. "Did it start when George fell in love with Angelina during our third year? Or did it start when he made this bloody stupid mistake to think she was my soulmate? Or did it start when Angelina and I got together?" He sighed deeply.

"Well, let's start with how you got together with Angelina. George said that he needed to convince you?" Hermione asked as innocently as possible. She wished she could say that all she wanted to do was help Fred. But of course, she had some ulterior motives. She wanted to check if Fred was still in love with Angelina.

"George was so damn sure she was my soulmate," Fred whispered, more to himself as to Hermione. "He tried to convince me for months. Always told me what a good couple Angelina and I would be because we're both outgoing and confident. He started pointing out how good we got along. And he gave me those meaningful gazes whenever Angelina and I were talking. I swear, it almost drove me mad. To me, Angelina was never more than a good friend, the girl, my twin liked. Someone I felt protective of. I started to think differently after this one Quidditch match during our fifth year. You know, the one against Slytherin? We won and got the Quidditch Cup." Hermione nodded. She remembered the game and how she had felt slightly uncomfortable with seeing Fred and Angelina laughing together. She almost groaned when she realised that she had been in love with Fred for longer than she had realised herself.

"Flint knocked Angelina almost off her broom during the game and I was so angry and furious… I thought I felt that way, so protective because Angelina was my soulmate. That's when I started to think that maybe I should give the whole idea a chance. That maybe I would fall in love with Angelina if I just tried hard enough."

"But you didn't?"

"For a while, I thought it worked. We had so much fun at the Yule Ball together and everything seemed always easy with Angelina. We are similar in that way. We like to have fun and are laid-back; we never fought about anything. And for a while, I thought that was because we were destined to be together but… Mum and Dad are soulmates, and they fight all the time. Maybe Angelina and I are a bit too similar to really be a good couple. I have some feelings for her, but I think I mainly forced myself into having them," Fred sighed. "I sound like the biggest idiot on earth."

"But George told me you were fighting when he came in and the three of you discovered… well," Hermione tried not to pry too much, but she watched curiously how Fred's ears, face and neck blushed a deep, sunset red.

"That was… yeah, really stupid. We were, we wanted," he took a deep breath. "Angelina's mark is in a very private place," Fred pointed vaguely on Hermione's chest at a spot somewhere between her breasts. His face was bright red by now and Hermione too felt her skin heat up. "We, well… we were about to… take the next step?" Fred groaned again, now even more frustrated. "Bloody hell, Hermione, I almost had sex with my twin's soulmate. But then I saw her mark and she saw mine and... they didn't change. That's when I realised the mistake and… I ran."

"Fred…"

"Yeah, I know, I know. I'm a bloody tosser. I ran away as soon as it hit me. I left Angelina alone, without explaining anything, I just needed to get away. Of course, Angelina isn't the type to sit around and wait and cry when a guy treats her like shit. She stormed our dormitory only minutes later. Merlin, she was bloody angry and I thought she would kill me. I think I got a permanent hearing impairment from her yelling. And then George came out of the bathroom. In. Only. His. Shorts. Bare Chest and all. Confused and blushing and having no idea what was going on. And then…" He let the sentence unfinished, but Hermione already knew.

"You should have seen their faces when it happened. George blanched and for a minute I thought he would faint. And Angelina, well, she turned absolutely silent. I swear I never saw her so… so motionless and quiet and… She only looked at me and asked if that was why I ran. I couldn't even answer her, seeing it was really… overwhelming. I nodded and she said 'Well, that probably means we're over, right?' And that was it. Quite the story, isn't it?"

"Okay, so let me sum this up. George pushed you to get together with Angelina, you felt obliged to fall in love with her and now that you discovered it was all a mistake, you think you weren't in love with her." Hermione slowly massaged her temples. This was getting more and more confusing with every passing second. "And how do your little affairs fit in with that? Because till now Ginny and I thought you were trying to hurt Angelina on purpose." She narrowed her eyes at him at the memory of how angry Alicia had been on behalf of her friend.

"What? No!" Fred almost shouted. "I didn't try to hurt her. I just wanted to… George doesn't want to talk to Angelina because he thinks it will hurt me. He doesn't want to pursue a relationship with her because of me. But I don't want him to feel guilty so I thought that showing him that I'm fine by dating other girls."

"I wouldn't call meeting a new girl every night in dark classrooms dating," Hermione snorted. "Do you even know how many girls you dated in the last weeks?" At this Fred had the decency to blush.

"Probably less than you think," he muttered. "And I shagged even less. To be honest, it was mostly just snogging and pretending to be inappropriate. I wanted to get caught by Ron because I was sure he would tell George. Put on a bit of a show for him."

"Well, as reasonable as this sounds, I think your logic failed you with one critical factor," Hermione stated primly, pretending that she hadn't been the one to catch Fred most of the times and been hurt again and again and again. She felt her blood boil when Fred threw her a confused gaze.

"Angelina. You might have tried to convince George to date her but did you think for one minute about what she would want? Maybe she doesn't want to date George right away. Maybe she will never. It seems like it was pretty easy for you to forget your feelings for her since you weren't really in love as you said. But what about Angelina? Maybe she still has feelings for you and maybe that's the reason George doesn't want to approach her?" Hermione breathed heavy after her small rant, catching Fred's shocked expression.

"I never thought about it," he admitted. "I just assumed that Angelina would feel the same as me. I mean, we're not soulmates. Her feelings for me couldn't be that deep." Hermione raised an eyebrow at that. "Okay, okay, maybe I was just an enormous prat and didn't think this through. You think she will forgive if I allow her to hex me for a few hours?"

"I think Alicia will want to join in," Hermione joked, hoping to diffuse the tension a bit. "Do you really think you're doing George a favour by pushing them together like this?"

"George did the same for me. Regardless of his own feelings, he pushed me again and again because he thought it would make me happy in the end. Of course, it was bloody stupid but we were stupid boys. And now... now I just feel terribly guilty for getting together with Ange in the first place. Hermione, George did it for me when we thought Angeline was my soulmate. He wanted me happy and swallowed his own feelings. I need to do it for him too. I need to help him to be happy, and Angie will make him happy. He loves her; I know it. He loved her since he met her even though he only realised it during our third year. I need to help him as he helped me." Fred's voice was a pleading whisper now and Hermione finally understood what had driven Fred since his break-up from Angelina.

It was guilt. Guilt because he had given in and dated a woman his twin brother loved. Guilt because he had hurt his brother - even though George had pushed Fred to be together with Angelina. It was a terrible and hurtful situation, and Hermione felt a heavy weight on her heart. She couldn't even imagine how hard the last weeks had been for Fred and George. Both battling their own worries.

"You have to tell George all of this," Hermione urged. "He needs to hear it and you need to say it."

"I know, I just don't know how," Fred admitted.

"Maybe you don't need to know what exactly you want to say. I think it's enough to start the conversation. You're brothers, twins, you will find the right words when it's time."

"Maybe," Fred sighed and then did something unexpected. He leaned against Hermione, letting his head rest against her shoulder. It should have been impossible for the lanky ginger to lean into her like that but it worked. Hermione felt a familiar, nervous flutter run through her internal organs and her skin prickled.

"Thanks, Hermione, you really are a good friend."

"Well, I try," Hermione muttered. Instantly she felt her resolve to finally tell Fred the truth vanish. Was it fair to tell him right now? He had so many other things going on. It would only add to the things he had to worry about. But Hermione didn't want to give up like that. She was a Gryffindor, for Merlin's sake.

"Fred, why did you kiss me yesterday?" The words were out before Hermione could ask herself if it was a good idea. It was the second best she could think of. If she didn't tell him about the soul mark than at least she could ask about the kiss.

"The truth?" Fred asked with a wink.

"No, lie to me," Hermione replied dryly and a smirk graced Fred's lips. She knew he liked it when people were able to counter. But then the smirk vanished.

"Honestly, I don't know," he wrinkled his nose like he just had this realisation. "It was just in the spur of the moment. It's true, we wanted to catch Sirius. But of course, there is a counterspell. I just… didn't use it? You just looked kissable."

"That's the most unsatisfying answer I ever got," Hermione snorted. "And I'm the one quizzing Ron before exams." She added but Fred only shrugged.

"I take offence in the comparison, but I can't tell you more. Are you angry?"

"I… don't know. You didn't do it to prove something to George? Or because you had withdrawal symptoms and I was the only female around, you're not related to?"

"No and no," Fred laughed. "But maybe I should take the time and think about it. So I can give you a better answer?" Hermione hummed a bit as she thought about this new information. She glanced at Fred, who still had his head on her shoulder and decided that she didn't need to tell him today.

"You know what, I think you should see the good in this. Your own soulmate is still out there and you have the chance to meet them," Hermione suggested in a timid voice. She knew this was dangerous territory. If she wasn't careful right now than all could go downhill very fast.

"I don't know if I'm ready to fall in love right now," Fred exhaled and his warm breath tickled Hermione's skin.

"You're so sure it will be a girl? Could be a boy, a platonic soulmate?"

"Hermione, if I was destined to have a platonic soulmate than it would have been George. But since we aren't, and believe me that was a major disappointment when we turned eleven, I'm absolutely sure that it will be a woman."

"Sounds logical," Hermione nodded and Fred grumbled when the movement disturbed his apparently comfortable position. "Promise me something? When you know why you kissed me, will you tell me? I hate not knowing things. "

"Deal," Hermione felt Fred's grin.

"Deal, and who knows. I might even tell you a secret myself," she snickered. This moment Hermione made a deal with herself. Now that she knew that Fred wasn't really in love with Angelina, or at least not heartbroken hung up on her, there was nothing hindering her to flirt with him. To make him aware that she was a girl too. He had already kissed her out of a whim that had to mean something. Maybe he was attracted to her and just hadn't realised himself? Hadn't it been like that for Hermione herself? It had taken her an eternity to realise why she always felt weird around Fred. Now it was his turn.

Okay, this is it. This chapter was one of the first ideas I had for this story and I knew it would happen like that. It's really important and that's probably why it took me so long to write it. Because I wanted to do it right. As you can see there will a part II because having it all in one chapter would have been too long. Hope you like it and please review.