Two days passed.

Hermione hadn't heard a single word from Fred but she hadn't tried contacting him either. Their last conversation still rang in her ears and it had played on repeat ever since Fred had slammed the door shut behind him. Hermione was miserable as she zombied around her flat alone, overthinking every sentence, movement, and look that Fred had made in the last few weeks.

She was sitting on her sofa staring in to space when the fireplace next to her lit up with familiar green flames. Annoyed that somebody was dropping by unannounced, Hermione automatically glared at the tall figure emerging from the green flames. She identified him by the colour of his jacket; George. Just to be sure, however, she inspected his ears and counted only one. Relieved that it was him and not Fred, Hermione immediately softened up a bit.

George stepped out of the fireplace and onto the carpet, sending Hermione an unimpressed look in the process, "hey," he said when he saw her.

"Hi," Hermione said quietly, slowly starting to dread the reason behind George's visit.

"How are you?" he asked her.

Hermione sent him a shrug, "I'm fine," she lied, "why are you here?"

"You know why I'm here, Hermione," he sent her an annoyed look.

"Did Fred put you up to this?"

"Fred? No..."

"Good."

"I'm guessing from your demeanour that you're just as angry with him as he is with you."

Hermione huffed, "he's unbelievable! I've done absolutely nothing wrong."

George said nothing, but sent her an unconvinced look.

"I don't know what he told you George, but I haven't done anything."

"That's exactly the problem, Hermione..." he sounded annoyed, "you haven't done anything."

"And what exactly do you mean by that?" Hermione glared at him.

George let out a sigh, "You need to have this conversation with Fred. Not me."

"Well, I'm not going to," Hermione huffed.

"And I'm not going to talk to you on his behalf. This is not a matter between you and me, Hermione."

"Why are you here then?"

"To convince you to go talk to him."

"Well I'm not going to," Hermione said stubbornly.

George raised his voice slightly, "Come on, Hermione! Stop pretending you haven't been miserable. Go and talk to him!"

"Why can't he come to me?" Hermione crossed her arms.

George sighed and went quiet for a few seconds. In a strained voice he said, "Because..." he gulped before he let out another sigh, "You know Fred: he's even more stubborn than you are. Do you really want him to leave on the same note as last time? Before you've talked this through?"

"Why are you always taking his side? I wasn't the only one he left behind."

"What do you mean?" George said defendedly.

"He left you too, you know!"

George looked as if he was trying to calm himself, "I'm sick and tired of people believing that. I know everybody seems to believe that I had no say in the matter, but it isn't what happened. I chose not to go! I couldn't just leave Angie," George said, "We've been trying to have a baby ever since we got married. I couldn't just leave the love of my life behind and postpone our future together to go travel with Fred."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said quietly, embarrassed by her outburst, "that was uncalled for. I've always known that your love for Angelina made you choose her over the shop," she softly concluded.

"Of course I chose her," George nodded slowly, "Just like Fred would've chosen you if only you let him."

Hermione sent George an annoyed look, "you and I both know that if Fred wanted us to reconcile, he would have been the one standing here right now."

"I don't think you understand exactly how miserable Fred's been without you. It took months before he was even able to talk about what happened between you guys. He has felt so guilty ruining your friendship by yelling at you like that. Why else do you think he hasn't come home in two years?"

"He ruined it way before he yelled at me at King's Cross," Hermione mumbled, "he excluded me from his life much earlier on - and I have given him so many chances to come back and redeem himself but he has ended up disappointing me every single time. Even now - when I was ready to forgive him for everything and move forwards - he pulls this trick."

George took a deep breath before continuing, "I promised myself that I wasn't going to say anything but I can't just sit idle by while you two idiots ruin the only good thing that has ever happened to either of you - so, here goes" he held a small break where he filled his lungs with air, "Love, you do realise why he was reluctant to let you get too close all those years, right?" he was eyeing her carefully.

Hermione huffed, "You mean apart from the fact that he apparently didn't value our friendship enough to spend time with me?"

George sent her a weird look, "what? No. He has always valued your friendship."

"Then what?"

"He's going to murder me for telling you this," George muttered under his breath with a groan, "Look," he sighed, "Fred's mad about you. Has been for ages."

"No he isn't..." Hermione rolled her eyes, "You saying that won't make me go running to him."

"Hermione, I'm serious..."

Hermione scanned George's facial expression and body language. Not a trace of amusement shone through. "What?" Hermione furrowed her eyebrows, "he is?" the reality of the situation dawning upon her little by little, "are... are you telling me the truth?"

George nodded slowly, "yes," he said carefully.

"But... No... He can't be. He's been so cold."

George pinched the bridge of his nose, "look; he needed to keep you at a distance because you didn't fancy him back."

"What?" Hermione said quietly in disbelief.

"Love," George sighed once more, "he didn't avoid you because he didn't like you. Don't you understand that he had to avoid you because he liked you. Because he has been in love with you for so long that it's been driving him mad that you didn't love him back."

Hermione felt her brain go into overload as she recalled her and Fred's last conversation. "You're not serious," she whispered while she was trying to process it all. Her brain was having a hard time wrapping itself around what George was saying. She couldn't believe the things she had said to Fred the other night: How she had called him out for treating her horribly. How she had called him selfish when in reality, he had merely done what was necessary for him to protect of himself.

"He's said and done some things that he probably shouldn't have but I swear he has never stopped loving you," George said quietly.

Fred's words 'I've been trying to get over you for years! Why the bloody hell wont you let me?' rang in Hermione's ears. She felt stupid for not having realised what Fred had meant at the time he had yelled it, but now she used it to validate George's story - he was telling her the truth: Fred had been in love with her for Merlin knows how long. He had loved her all those years.

"How long?" She gulped.

"I don't know," George shrugged, "I saw it coming from miles away but Fred didn't admit to it after I had caught him with his arms around you a couple of years back. I came into the room and you were all snuggled up on the sofa. He couldn't keep his hands off of you and I just remember him looking up at me with this goofy expression on his face."

Hermione knew exactly what night George was talking about and she remembered it perfectly; it was the night that the twins had ambushed her in the snow and later told her about their plans of expanding the shop. She remembered the weird look in Fred's eyes as he had told her that he could never forget her. She recalled his tender expression and she understood that Fred had probably realised his feelings for her for the first time that night.

Suddenly every encounter they had had over the last couple of years seemed to come zooming back to her; how Fred on numerous occasions had practically begged her to caress his hair, and the weird look in his eyes when she had brushed it off and told him to get a girlfriend instead. Them, tanning side-by-side by the lake, Fred admitting to her that he had been staring at her all day and trying to figure out when to give her the blowing strike - probably to figure out if she felt the same way about him. Lee's surprise party a couple of years back where Fred's eyes had practically burned a hole in her dress. Only Hermione hadn't understood the seriousness behind any of his antics. She had thought he was just being Fred: unserious and constantly joking.

Unknowingly, she had watched Fred grow more and more annoyed with George's and Angelina's unfolding relationship while he was getting nowhere with Hermione himself. And at the night of his twin brother's wedding, Hermione had done what Fred had been craving for all those years; in the spur of the moment, she had snogged him senseless. They had ended up in Ginny's old room, undressing each other. His hands running feverishly over every inch of her skin. His lips caressing the sensitive skin on throat. Him slowly sliding inside her as she had moaned softly against his ear. The way he had looked at her when she had taken off her bra; his eyes flooding not only with lust but with... love. Hermione realised that he must've thought that that was it. That she had invited him inside her room because she fancied him too. The painful memory of him looking at her desperately the next morning and her not saying anything, cut like a knife in Hermione's heart. The words he had spoken as he had left her room the next morning 'this was not how I planned last night to go at all. I'm sorry,' made thick, hot tears stream down her face as she realised that she had broken his heart.

Hermione thought of the last couple of weeks; him being jealous of the few dates she had been on with Matthew several months ago. How his eyes had been constantly locked on hers even when tons of girls had tried to flirt with him. The way she had caught him looking at her on numerous occasions and how he on several occasions had left before things went too far again; first, in her flat when he had probably realised that she wanted to kiss him. Later, at the Burrow where she had definitely wanted more than a kiss. How he had started dating Valerie either to forget about Hermione for a little while or to get a reaction out of her. How he was still wearing the necklace she had given him for his birthday all those years ago. How he had told her that he was heartbroken the night he had surprised her by sneaking up on the roof - how he had actually admitted to her that he was in love with her. He had just disguised it as George's words.

She had been so unreasonable to Fred and he had never stopped loving her.