A/N: {I know I messed up the timeline a bit for when Harry gets his broom, but it is fanfiction after all} I hope you enjoy the chapter, I know I haven't updated in a while, but work is driving me batty. And when I do get a day off, I don't have the energy to do diddly squat. Anywho, much loves.
Fred and George were giving her the cold shoulder. And it wasn't just them, it was the entire team. When Harry had gotten the new broom, she had been worried that it might have come from Sirius Black and had expressed her concern with McGonagall, who had quickly agreed that some tests needed to be run before the next match.
"Hermione, it just wasn't your call to make. It was Harry's." Fred told her for what felt like the hundredth time when she tried to explain herself. She let out an angry sigh and stopped walking.
"Fred I was just worried." She said, her voice rising as he walked away from her.
"Not your call Granger." She heard him say, and her shoulders dropped, that was the first time he had called her by her surname and not by her name. She then realized her jaw had dropped, and she quickly snapped it shut and looked at the ground, her sight fuzzy with tears. She wrapped her arms around her and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.
"Hermione?" She heard next to her, and she looked up to see Lee standing next to her, he reached out and touched her elbow softly. "Are you alright?" He asked, and she shook her head silently. He sighed and pulled her into a hug.
"Hey, don't worry. Eventually they will pull their heads out of their arses." He said, and she let out a chuckle and pulled away.
"So you don't think I was wrong?" She asked, and he thought for a moment before answering her.
"I think that what you did was a good idea, considering everything that is going on. I think that they wish you would have talked to them before doing it though. Even I was upset about it at first, but I know you were just trying to make sure someone wasn't trying to kill Harry, again." He said, and she gave him a weak smile.
"I just wish that they would see it that way." She said with a sigh. He shrugged and put one arm around her shoulder.
"Let's go get some breakfast, shall we?" He said, and she nodded as they began to walk. They entered the Great Hall together but when they reached the table, Hermione froze. Fred and George were sitting in a tight group made up of the Quidditch team, and Half of them eyed her angrily when she reached the table. She heard Lee sigh next to her before taking a seat at the end of the table.
"Grab a seat, will you?" He said, patting the seat next to him and with a fleeting look she sat down, away from her best friend. "Don't pay attention to them." He said under his breath, and Hermione nodded before grabbing a couple pieces of toast.
Weeks went by, until finally Harry had been given his broom back, with promises that it was safe to fly. Hermione thought that everything would go back to normal, but it didn't. She was put out with the fact that her best friends still weren't speaking with her. She spent all of her time with Lee, who was getting frustrated that Fred and George still weren't talking to her.
That is until one day she found Lee, who had Fred cornered and was speaking to him in an angry tone.
"Fred, she was just trying to help. Bloody hell you are so thick. All of you. Why can't you see that she was, once again, trying to save Harry's skin? She's a brilliant girl, she knew what she was doing. And don't give me that bull about it not being her place. She was doing the right thing, the best thing." He said, and Fred glared at him.
"She reacted irrationally. Harry got a broom and like always, she assumed the worst." He said, and then he caught sight of Hermione, who stood a ways behind Lee. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Lee spoke once more.
"You lot are idiots. Shutting her out, you are supposed to be her best friend. At the beginning of term you told us that you fancied her." Hermione's mouth fell open at that. "And you know how she feels about you." He said, and blood rushed to Hermione's cheeks. "And after everything she has done, you give her the cold shoulder for weeks, weeks Fred. Do you even know how upset she has been? Fred… she's an amazing witch and you lot have just been ignoring her." He said. Fred's attention was back on Lee, he had momentarily forgotten that Hermione was in the room.
"Well I don't know how I feel now Lee. She didn't speak to anyone about it. She betrayed all of us, and you seem to not care." He said angrily.
"I do care! But I don't think that she did anything wrong. I care more about her than you even know." Lee said, and he began to turn but Fred grabbed his arm. Hermione turned and left the room, and rested her back on the wall behind her, she shouldn't listen, but she couldn't pull herself away.
"What do you mean?" She heard Fred ask, and she could just imagine Lee shrugging.
"I don't know." She heard Lee mumble.
"Yes you do. Just spit it out Lee." Fred said, he sounded angry again.
"I fancy her, is that what you want to hear Fred? I've spent the last month being by her side, supporting her when nobody else was. I was all she had, since you all but ran away whenever she would try to speak with you. Did you once listen to her? Well I did. And that girl has a lot to say, I should've listened to her before. You should have too." He said, and Hermione heard footsteps coming toward her. She quickly pushed off the wall and made her way around the nearest corner before either of them could catch her listening. She continued to walk for a bit before finding an empty corridor and sitting down, taking deep breaths.
This shouldn't be happening. This wasn't supposed to happen this year. She shouldn't have made the broom her business. None of this would have happened if she had just kept to herself. She didn't want her friends to be fighting because of her. She sat with her back against the wall for a long time, thinking about how to fix what she had done.
"I need to speak to you three. Now." She said, she had found Fred, George and Lee all sitting in the common room when everyone else had already gone to bed. She sat down, and Fred started to stand but stopped when he caught sight of Hermione's face. She looked torn, almost broken, and it compelled him to stay. His heart hurt seeing her like this, Lee had been right. He needed to listen.
"Alright then." He said, and Hermione bit her lip before starting to speak.
"Look, I didn't mean to cause anything. I didn't mean to make everyone mad. I didn't think that what I did would do so much. I really was just trying to help." She said, looking up at the three boys sitting around the table. "I don't…" She took a deep breath in preparation for what she was about to say. "I don't think that any of this was a good idea, us being friends. It's just not working anymore." She saw Lee open his mouth to speak, but cut him off before he could. "That includes you." She said, eyeing Lee. "You were all friends before I came along, and now I've just ruined that. Don't try to argue. It's true." She said softly. "Please… I'll leave you alone. Just.. do the same." She said, standing and quickly leaving to go to her dormitory.
Christmas came before anyone knew it, and things were tense in the Common room since it was basically just the Weasleys, Harry and her left. They had gathered around the tree in the Common room, and had begun to open their presents, Hermione had gotten a few from her parents and had knitted her a sweater. Things had gotten even more tense though when Fred and George reached the gifts she had gotten them, she wanted to be friendly still, so she had given them the gifts she had originally gotten for them. They had been meaningful, thoughtful gifts. Now they just seemed a bit much. She had made sure to include a note for each of them, saying that she had gotten it before and to not think too much on it.
Fred stared down at the note, then shifted his gaze to the present he had just unwrapped. It was a picture frame that held two photos. The first of him, George and Lee in their first year, and the second was almost the exact same except Hermione was in the picture, from her first year. He held it tight in his hands, and he looked up at his twin. They both nodded at the same time and stood in unison. They made their way to Hermione, who was sitting at a table alone. They each sat down next to her and she looked up, startled.
"We're sorry." They said at the same time, and she stared at them.
"Excuse me?" She asked softly.
"We were gits. We should have listened to you. And we are really sorry." George said, Hermione nodded slowly and looked at Fred.
"Please.. take us back?" Fred asked softly. "I miss you." He said in almost a whisper, and Hermione was surprised that he had said "I" instead of "we". She thought for a moment before nodding once more.
"Only if you forgive me too. I promise, any decisions like that again and I'll speak to you first." She said, and the twins agreed quickly before giving her a hug from both sides.