Bill Weasley stepped up to the bathtub in the family bathroom at his childhood home. Looking down at his younger brother whose cheeks were reddening.

"well Freddie I don't think I've seen your arse since I changed your nappies"

George stepped up behind Bill slapping a hand on his shoulder, "your lucky mate I've had to see his scrawny ass almost every day, it's kind of unavoidable when you share a room"

Fred groaned and buried his head against Hermione's uninjured shoulder.

Hermione glared at Bill and George. "if you've quite had enough of teasing your brother I'm lying here soaked through to the skin, freezing and injured, and if you don't get him out soon I'm going to start panicking. I can't breathe and god what if Fred is really really hurt more than before and … and" this shocked the other Weasleys into action whilst Fred tried to get her to follow his breathing which helped a little. Bill waved his wand over Fred. "Right Freddie nothing broken, sprained, or injured other than what was before. Gin get in here Fred looks knackered. Bring the chair in and then close your eyes while me and George help him into the wheelchair. Hermione, you might want to close your eyes unless you want to find yourself face to face with our Freddies basilisk." Fred went even redder but that tipped Hermione over the edge and she couldn't stop laughing. Ginny cast a cleaning charm over the bath to prevent Hermione from being stuck under all three Weasley's in attendance. Fred was glad she had begun to laugh as he had begun to worry about her slipping into a panic attack. Hermione and ginny dutifully closed their eyes. Bill stepped into the bath and George leaned over. "Fred I'm sorry if we hurt you were going to lift you out under your arms okay"

"on my count of three," Bill said " one, two, three" and the brother lifted Fred up and onto the edge of the bath George lifting the top half into the wheelchair and Bill lifting his legs over the side of the bath before he summoned a large bath sheet for his brother.

Bill bent down touching Hermione on her uninjured shoulder. "Hermione, you can open your eyes now. His scrawny arse is covered up. Let's get you out of this tub and fix you up yeah"

Hermione smiled at Bill, she had always been intimidated by his cool appearance and after Greybacks attack he really looked like a wizard you should not mess with but underneath that shell, she had discovered a loyal friend and adoptive big brother whom she treasured after his support, help, and advice after everything that had happened at Malfoy Manor.

"wrap your good arm around my neck and I'm going to scoop you up and place yourself on your feet outside of the bathtub okay" Hermione nodded and did as he instructed and soon she was standing on the bathroom floor looking at the three other Weasleys. Being under the stream of water from the shower had made her baggy clothes cling to her skinny form. Bill could see that her now small stature had been noticed by Ginny and George who were trying not to look at Hermione's now frail body. Bill wordlessly cast a drying charm and Hermione offered him a thankful smile.

"George you had better go and get Fred into his pajamas in his room he is hardly keeping his eyes open." Hermione instructed. "he had a tough day at physio today. Make sure he takes the potion in the blue bottle and tell him to send for me when the pain starts and I can come and do the massage that the healer taught me. If he doesn't have this dine it will cause a setback in his treatment so please remind him."

George nodded and wheeled Fred though to their old room. Helping him dress and settling him in bed before reminding him of everything Hermione had said and handing him his potion. As soon as George stood up to leave the room Fred was asleep.

Bill led Hermione back to hers and Ginny's shared room before healing her shoulder and wrist. Hermione then changed and went downstairs to start dinner for when the rest of the Weasley family arrived home. Fred slept through dinner and hadn't woken up when Hermione headed to bed. She was worried about Fred's pain potion being massaged in but he clearly wasn't in too much pain if he hadn't woken up. Hermione decided to head to bed and she would go and see Fred in the morning if he hadn't reached out to her before then.

At around three in the morning, Fred awoke to burning pains in his legs. And the burning kept getting worse, he looked to his clock and decided he would suffer in silence tonight as he didn't want to wake Hermione as she had only just begun sleeping a little better. Fred gritted his teeth and tried to beat the pain but it was no use, within ten minutes he had begun panting with pain and before the next ten minutes were through he was writhing in agony and before half an hour was through he began thrashing around and screaming. Mrs. Weasley heard Fred's shouts when she was heading back to bed from making a cup of tea. all the complex spell work involved with Hogwarts wards was keeping her mind racing no matter how tiring and magically draining her day had been. She rushed into Fred's room flinging the door open and putting her tea down on his bedside table so forcefully that it sloshed out of her mug. Fred was in so much pain he didn't notice his mum until she placed both her hands on either side of his face holding his head still and forcing him to open his eyes and look at her. "shh Freddie what's wrong? shh."

Fred couldn't even string a sentence together he just bit out a word "mione, Mione"

Mrs. Weasley rushed from the room and straight into the girls room finding two wands pointing at her but not bothering "Hermione somethings wrong with Fred come quick"

Hermione hopped out of bed and ran past Mrs. Weasley to Fred's side. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny followed. Hermione threw back Fred's covers as Mrs. Weasley and Ginny stood at the end of the bed watching Hermione work. Mrs. Weasley was glad that Hermione seemed to know exactly what to do. She waved her wand and vanished his trousers surprising both the other witches she then grabbed the potion off the bedside table and began working her way from the top of Fred's thighs to the soles of his feet in the methodical way Ellie had taught her. Fred was still screaming until Hermione reached the bottom of his first leg. When his screams turned to whimpers, Hermione was shushing and whispering calming things to Fred while she worked. Ginny clung to her mum's arm as tears ran down Mrs. Weasley's face as she watched Hermione tending to her son.

When Hermione began again working on his first leg ginny noticed the tears falling from her friend's eyes and decided that this was private, Fred wouldn't want her and his mum seeing her in pain and Hermione was trying so hard to be strong while Fred was in pain. Ginny whispered to her mother "mum come on let's get to bed Mione will look after him" her mother nodded and allowed her youngest child to lead her out of the room and to shut the door behind them.

Hermione continued to work on Fred's legs until his breathing had returned to normal. By that time the pain had lessened and become manageable. He was watching Hermione work on his legs in the moonlight until he realised she was crying. "mione" he whispered "are you okay"

Hermione sniffled "I … I … will … be I was just so worried about you I knew you would be in pain but I didn't think it would be that bad. It was so hard to watch and seeing you writing in pain like that it looked like you were being crucioed and well you know how I feel about that"

"Hey, hey now come up here" he tugged her arm until she settled by his side lay down, how he had held her when she had needed him to.

"I'm sorry I worried you. I didn't think it would get that bad and I didn't want to wake you. It's my fault and I'm sorry"

"I'm sorry I panicked"

"there's no need to apologise"

"well, I don't think you need to apologise either" setting her jaw in the stubborn way that made Fred smile tiredly.

After a minute or two of being silent, Fred was just plucking up the courage to ask her to stay when Hermione whispered tiredly "Fred, is it okay if I stay I don't think I can sleep alone after that"

"of course sweetheart, you don't need to go anywhere. Snuggle down and close your eyes you safe here. I've got you" Fred panicked internally, he'd just called her sweetheart. He was waiting for her to say something about it but Hermione just pulled the covers over them both snuggled down with a happy sigh. Hermione's last thought as she snuggled into Fred was that she liked it when he called her sweetheart it made her chest swell with warmth. Perhaps Fred Weasley could like her as more than his little brother's friend. She then told herself to not get her hopes up he was probably just being friendly.

When Fred awoke the next morning it was to a face full of sweet-smelling bushy hair and a small body tangled up with his. If the bushy hair hadn't given who it was away the chocolatey sleepy eyes that were watching him would have. "morning sweetheart" Fred said hoping she didn't pull him up on the use of the term of endearment "morning. How are you feeling this morning Fred."

"a lot better a bit achy but a lot better. Thanks for coming last night and not getting cross with me I didn't mean to let it get that bad I promise. I would be in a mess if it wasn't for you granger"

Hermione sighed "well I would be in a mess if it wasn't for you as well Weasley."

"well I'm here for you and you're here for me I suppose"

Hermione smiled at Fred and then got a sad look in her eye. "what are you thinking of Hermione?"

Hermione smiled up at him "promise you won't laugh then because what I'm going to say is cheesy." Fred nodded "okay I promise"

"my dad used to love this American country band called Lady A. I used to love singing along to their songs with him in the car and one of their songs just popped into my head because it is about helping each other through tough times. It was one of my dad and I's favorite songs to sing together."

Fred smiled at her "would you sing me a small bit, please. I would love to hear a little of it."

"Promise you won't laugh at me then. I'm not very good at singing."

Fred smiled "I promise and I'm sure you can sing beautifully."

Hermione laughed " yeah whatever. But I will sing for you quietly okay?" Hermione began to sing. "The storms of life are gonna blow through baby, you know we've all seen a cloud or two. But I meant it when I promised I would have your back through skies black or blue. Do you remember when we swore forever till the sweet or the bitter end? Well, this is what they mean when they say you got the real thing in a friend. With arms open wide I'll be your umbrella when you just can't stand the rain. I'm there by your side I wanna be your shelter when you just can't stand the rain."

Fred was enamored, even more so now she had just sung for him. "Hermione that was beautiful. The words are beautiful." Fred was leaning down towards her and was looking in her eyes to see if she was happy for him to kiss her when the door to his room banged open.

"moooorning" shouted George backing into the room with trays of food in his hands.

For Merlin's sake, Fred thought his twin had got impeccable timing. Hermione would have fallen out of Fred's bed if she hadn't been so wrapped up in his arms.

"Morning George," Hermione said trying to compose herself. Had she just been about to kiss Fred Weasley again?