Chapter Eight

The rest of the summer passed in a whirlwind of cleaning and failed attempts at finding out what the order of the phoenix were up to. Before long the school letters arrived and with it Ron and Hermione's Prefect badges. Hermione was ecstatic- a Prefect! Her parents would be so proud of her, she had asked Harry if she could borrow Hedwig for the long delivery and had written them a long letter. The final night before at number twelve Ron cornered her in her room.

"So, were prefects. Pretty wild, isn't it?" He said in a would-be-casual voice.

"I don't think so" she said turning her back on him to continue packing.

"Well, I guess with all the extra prefect duties we will be spending a lot of time together. Alone, I mean" Hermione turned around with some book in her arms to see Ron's face was bright red.

"Yes. When we are doing duties I expect we will" she said stiffly.

"Right. Well, see you, Hermione" Ron said hopefully as left, his ears as red as his face. Hermione sank onto her bed, and putting the book beside her buried her head in her hands. How could she ever tell Ron about whatever was happening with his brother? It would break his heart and she was meant to be his best friend. Friends don't go sneaking around behind the others back. Friends don't lie. Friends don't choose the one person that would make it so much worse for Ron if he found out. I didn't choose Fred, she thought stubbornly, It just happened. She could hear how weak those words sounded. She felt terrible. Ron was only just starting to find himself, he was always in his brothers shadows and then Harry's. And now, as a prefect he had gained a small amount of confidence and she refused to be the one to crush it. She had to put Ron first, it was the right thing to do. She groaned into her hands.

"I feel your pain" said a voice that made her heart jump. "I would want to cry too if I had been made a prefect" Fred moved just inside her open door and leaned against the frame. Hermione stayed on the bed, her heart racing.

"Yes, well its lucky that Dumbledore skipped you and George for the job then isn't it"

"The gods do listen" said Fred raising his hands to the ceiling in mock prayer. He looked at her and smiled. She didn't return the smile and looked at her feet instead. She took a deep breath.

"Fred-"

"Hermione. Don't." Fred took a few steps towards her, a look of mild panic in his eyes. But she stood up and held her hand out.

"Stop, no, don't come any closer" Fred stopped a couple paces away from her. "We can't do this anymore. It's not fair on Ron."

"I don't care about Ron!" cried Fred, "he doesn't need to know, not if we don't want him too!"

"But I care Fred! He's my best friend. I can't be the one to break his heart. He deserves so much more than our lies!" Her eyes were shining with unshed tears as she looked at Fred. There was a mounting sense of horror at what she was doing and she felt sick with it.

"Do you love him?" asked Fred in a quiet, dangerous voice.

"I love him like a brother. But that's not how he feels about me, and you know that"

"All I know Hermione is that- this-" he gestured at them both, " -works. I don't know how or why but there is something that is pulling us together. Your brilliant Hermione, you're the best person I know. You drive me insane sometimes but even when I'm pissed off at you I want to be near you. There is something about you that I can't stay away from" he took another step towards her. Hot tears spilled out of her eyes as she said,

"Fred. Don't. Please, don't." He paused, his eyes searching her face for a long moment, as he watched the tears fall. He turned and walked out of her room. Hermione fell back onto her bed and cried. She knew she had done the right thing, there couldn't be a future with Fred, it would cause another huge rift in the Weasley family, and with Percy behaving the way he was right now, it wasn't fair on them. She continued trying to justify what she had done as her heart felt like it had been torn from her chest and had left the room with Fred.