February 2006
It had been awkward between them ever since the night of George's and Angelina's wedding a little over three months earlier. Well, to be honest, Hermione actually had no idea whether it was awkward or not because she hadn't talked to Fred at all. They had gone three months without seeing each other before, but they had never before gone three months without at least owling. Fred hadn't tried to seek her out, and she definitely hadn't tried to seek him out either.
But today was special. Today was the day that Fred was leaving for his big expansion adventure.
Hermione couldn't believe it. They were supposed to be best friends and she had to learn about it through George. At first, she had wanted to knock on Fred's door and ask him what the hell he was on about, but she was still embarrassed about the night they had spent together and didn't think it was her place to contact him - he was the one with the news of going away after all. He ought to have told her himself. He just hadn't...
Hermione was drinking coffee and reading The Daily Prophet to herself, trying to block out any thoughts of how disappointed she was that Fred hadn't told her anything, when her fireplace flared up with green flames. The familiar cough hit her eardrums before he came into view behind the heavy layer of soot. He was wearing a dark blue suit with W.W.W. encrusted on his breast pocket. Sheepishly, he looked around the room, perfectly aware of how rude it was to floo to someone's home without at least warning them beforehand.
Hermione felt the rage build inside her when she saw him. She clutched her wand tightly, ready to put him in a full body-bind hex if he took just a single step closer to her.
"It's me! It's George!" the man in front of her held up his arms, "I come in peace!"
Hermione quickly searched his face; he was missing an ear. Slowly, she lowered her wand, "what are you doing here?"
"I'm here to fix whatever you and my stupid brother are fighting about."
Hermione quickly put two and two together; apparently, Fred hadn't told George about what had happened between them, "that's very nice of you George, but if Fred wants things fixed, he should have come here himself."
George smirked, "it's funny, you know. He's saying the same thing about you."
Hermione shot him a glance, clearly unable to see the humour in that.
George sighed, "Hermione, you do realise that we're leaving today, right?"
Hermione knew that George was coming along with Fred for the first two weeks before he would be replaced by Lee. "So you've said," she huffed while crossing her arms.
"Don't you think you ought to be there for that?"
"George, come on! He hasn't even told me that he's going away today. I had to hear about it from you and Angelina. I think it's pretty obvious that he doesn't want me to be there," Hermione said, irritated that George was trying to talk her into doing what Fred should have clearly asked her himself.
"True... true..." George said in an unconvinced tone, "- either that or he hasn't told you because he's afraid of how you'll react," he eyed her carefully, "I think you should come say goodbye. You might regret it if you don't", the look he sent her reminded her very much of Mr. Weasley.
"I don't think so," Hermione huffed.
"Then please do it for me?" George sent her a pleading look.
"For you?" Hermione arched an eyebrow.
"He's miserable, Hermione. I have never seen him like this!"
"And for some reason you think that has something to do with me?"
"I know for a fact that it has everything to do with you. He can't even stand the mentioning of your name. He gets all sulky and barricades himself in his office. Not exactly the best way to start new businesses in another part of the world."
Hermione sighed, "George... if he doesn't want me there..."
"He does!" George said excitedly, "I know he does!"
"I'm sorry George, but the answer is no. I'm not going."
"Well, alright," George sighed, "I know a lost cause when I see one. If you end up changing your mind however, the train will depart from King's Cross in an hour. Platform eight and a half."
Hermione shot him a glance, "really, it's fine George. I'm okay with it," she lied.
"Okay," George nodded slowly with disappointment written all over his face, "You and I have to say goodbye too, you know. You could come see me off?" he tried.
"You'll only be gone for two weeks," Hermione rolled her eyes at him.
"Worth a shot," George shrugged, "So I'll just leave you to it."
Hermione nodded slowly, "It's fine, George," she said, "I hope you have a nice trip."
"Thanks, Granger," George sighed before he took a handful of the glittering, green powder and disappeared into the flames.
Hermione spent the next thirty minutes trying to concentrate on the newspaper in front of her, but found her thoughts constantly wandering to Fred and the last time they had seen each other. Over the past couple of months, Hermione had come to remember everything that had happened between them that night. Although she had tried desperately to push the memories away, she was now painfully aware that she had been the one to initiate the kiss. The one to ask if he wanted to come inside her bedroom.
Sitting on her sofa, Hermione also thought of how Fred was about to leave London and England behind and move on to bigger things. How he was about the leave her behind and move on to better things. The thought echoed through her mind making her eyes sting violently. She thought of George's words; how she would regret if she didn't see Fred off. Hermione muttered a rare curse word under her breath as she realised that she definitely would regret if she didn't get to say goodbye to him. After all, they'd been friends for so many years. This couldn't be the end of their friendship. It just couldn't. She wouldn't let a drunken shag get between them.
Therefore, without really thinking much, Hermione leapt from the sofa and spun on her heel. When she opened her eyes again, she was standing outside King's Cross Station. It was a cold morning, and Hermione was having a hard time running on the icy pavement, but managed to get inside the great train station without losing her balance. She ran down the many flights of stairs, looking desperately for the right platform. When she finally reached an arch with the number eight written on it, she looked over her shoulder for muggles before she casually backed into the cold rocks, emerging on platform eight and a half on the other side. The great train departing for Prague was producing so much steam that Hermione was having a hard time distinguishing the faces in the crowd.
"Hermione?" she heard a familiar voice behind her. She turned around, facing Harry who was holding his crying wife close, "We were just leaving. Have you come to see Fred and George off as well?"
"Yes," Hermione panted, "where are they?"
Harry pointed to a pair of tall red haired men and their parents. Fred and Mrs. Weasley were hugging goodbye while George was standing next to them, shifting uncomfortably on his feet.
Hermione didn't have the time to thank Harry, but ran the last few yards as fast as she could until she was standing right next to the hugging crowd.
Fred noticed Hermione over the top of his mum's shoulder almost immediately. His eyes were huge and full of emotion as he let go of her. He was staring straight at Hermione.
"Hermione!" Mr. Weasley smiled, "So good to see you!".
Hermione was panting as if she had just run a marathon, "came... to say... bye..." she managed to grunt in between shallow breaths.
"Come, Molly, let's leave the kids to it," Mr. Weasley said and shot Hermione a wink. She could've kissed him for noticing that she wanted to talk to his sons alone.
Mrs. Weasley looked as if she was on the verge of tears and muttered something to Fred to which he replied "yes, mum, I'll owl you every week. I promise."
Mrs. Weasley patted her son on the cheek before her husband led her away from Hermione, Fred, and George.
"Right," George clapped his hands together, "I better go find our seats. I'll see you in a few weeks, Granger," he said before leaving Fred and Hermione to say their goodbyes in private.
Fred was looking at his family down the other end of the platform. Hermione could hear his mum's loud sobs even though they were already a great distance away.
"Don't mind mum. She gets too sentimental," Fred said without looking at Hermione.
"Why didn't you tell me you were leaving?" Hermione asked him without falling for his attempt at small talk.
Fred looked at her with wild eyes before he sighed, "Love..."
"Don't you dare call me that! Why?" she demanded.
"Well, to be honest: because we haven't talked in months. I didn't think you wanted to come say goodbye..."
"You should have owled me and told me it was today," she crossed her arms, "or you could have owled after that night. Just so we could've talked it over."
"Why was I supposed to be the one to owl you?" He scoffed, "You could've owled me just as well - I was just as weirded out as you were!" He retorted, "And I tried to talk about it the next morning and you just ignored me! If you wanted to talk I assumed you would've stopped by or something," Hermione could hear the annoyance in his voice as he too crossed his arms.
"It doesn't matter who should've owled who about the incident," Hermione rolled her eyes, "What I don't get is how you can leave with absolutely no intensions of saying goodbye. Had I known that I was about to leave the country indefinitely, I would at least have had the balls to stop by my friends and tell them!" She knew it was uncalled for but he needed to hear what she had been thinking. She owed him that much.
"Friends!" Fred scoffed, "let's be honest here, Hermione. You and I haven't been friends for a long time."
His words hurt in her chest, "And whose fault do you reckon that is?" she spat at him, "I've tried asking you to hang out millions of times and you've turned me down every single time!"
"This is my job, Hermione!" He almost shouted at her, "I know you can't seem to get it into your thick skull that there are other career paths than the Ministry."
"I am perfectly aware of how much you love your joke shop! And I am perfectly aware that it's the best thing that has ever happened to you, but don't you understand how much it hurts when you don't let me be a part of it?"
Fred looked at her with a certain look in his eyes that she couldn't quite place. It wasn't something she had ever seen before. His chest was heaving up and down in a steady rhythm until his lips parted, "did you ever stop and wonder exactly why I didn't want you to be part of it?" He said through gritted teeth, "I know that you don't have any ambitions on behalf of me!" He spat. Hermione had never seen him this angry before, "I've seen the way you look at me whenever I mention our expansion. As if you pity me!"
"Pity you?" Hermione's voice was getting shrill, "Fred, I don't pity you! I envy you! I wish I was the one who was traveling the world and having fun with my friends all the time. I've wanted so badly to be part of it but you haven't let me!"
"Hermione, this is my life's work! I can't take bloody everybody along with me for the ride!"
"I'm not 'everybody'! We were supposed to best friends!"
"Hermione, we haven't been best friends in ages!" he repeated, "Not since you started acting as if I'm below you."
"What on earth are you talking about?"
"You're telling me about blokes who are chasing you around? You're telling my mum that I'm way too childish for you? Well, Hermione let me show you exactly how fucking mature I can be."
"You're really not being mature right now," Hermione crossed her arms, confused by the meaning behind his words - why did he care?
"I don't know, Hermione, I think breaking up with your friends when you realise that they're bad for you is real fucking mature!" He picked up his trunk and started walking up the steps to the entrance of the train.
"Are you seriously just going to take off before we've talked about this? Before we've resolved this?"
"What the fuck do you want to talk about, Hermione? This is resolved! Don't take it out on me just because you don't like the outcome!"
"If you board that train now, don't expect me to ever come back to you!"
He looked at her with a certain look of disgust before he opened his mouth, "what makes you think I want you to?" he said darkly and slammed the door to the train shut with great force.
He moved inside the train, her eyes following his every step. She watched him taking his seat opposite George who immediately started yelling something at him, gesturing wildly. Fred was looking at his twin brother with a wild expression, gesturing just as violently as he was shouting something back at him. Hermione wished she could hear what they were saying to each other. She imagined George arguing with Fred about leaving like this. She imagined the passenger door opening and Fred stepping out and taking her in his arms, saying he was sorry about everything. That he didn't mean it. Together, they would cry and hug and everything would be okay.
But he didn't come out. Instead, the train gave a small hoot before it started setting in motion. As the train started rolling away from the platform, she caught Fred's eye. With crossed arms, he shook his head slowly before he turned his back on her, disappearing with the train.
Immediately, Hermione felt the tears overflowing in her eyes as the train turned a corner, taking her best friend away from her.