In the end, it wasn't until eleven that Hermione arrived. Upon her appearance at the perimeter of the Burrow's wards, the front door was thrown open and a streak of long red hair bolted towards her.

"You're here! You're here, you're here!"

"Ginny, don't be such a prat," came Ron's voice from the house as Hermione was hit by a person-sized mass.

"Hi, Ginny," she wheezed as her friend hugged her violently.

"I'm not a prat, I just care about my friend—Ronald," Ginny responded loudly, sticking her tongue out at her brother before turning back to her companion. "How are you doing? What can I do? Am I being a prat? I'm not being a prat, I love you!"

Hermione smiled, taking the younger girl in. "You're not a prat, I really do appreciate it. And I'm doing alright, I suppose. I mostly just need time; I need to figure out which way is up again and work it out from there."

Ginny slid her arm around Hermione's shoulders and smiled a gentle, sincere smile. "Well then, let's get you inside. Mum has the kettle on but you're more than welcome to go straight up to bed and never see anyone again if you don't want to. Sorry if I was a bit overzealous, I'm not really sure what to do in this situation."

"Thanks, Ginny. I would quite like to go to sleep if I'm honest; leaving home was a little more emotional than I expected."

Her friend stopped her level with the broom shed, hands on her shoulders.

"You can go back if you want, we only want to help you."

"No, no. It was the right thing to do, coming here. I just need an adjustment period before I have too many people around me all at once."

Ginny nodded and they continued into the house, where Ron and Harry were waiting with open arms.

Tap tap tap.

Tap tap tap.

Hermione stirred, her eyes staying decidedly shut.

Tap tap tap.

"Fred, what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm bringing her tea, Ginny. What does it look like?"

"It looks like you're about to wake her up, knucklebrain."

"Oh."

Hermione took the resulting pause to open her eyes and throw the covers back. She cast a silencing spell on the floorboards and stood up, feeling the wood under her toes. It was comforting, in a strange sort of way.

"What should I do?"

"Well, you could stand out here stalking her for a while—"

"Or you could come in, Fred," Hermione cut in softly.

Both Fred and Ginny jumped so violently that Hermione had to stifle a giggle, casting a hovering charm on the teacup before Fred dropped it in his surprise.

"Merlin, Hermione. When did you open that door?"

"With my many years of staying in this room, I've become something of a master at quiet exits while Ginny slept," Hermione grinned. She felt lighter than she had done in what felt like a long time and, as she came fully out of the room to hug Fred, something forgotten stirred deep down. "How are you?"

"I'm doing alright actually," Fred answered as he let her go. "The shop's doing wonders at the moment and we're preparing our school run of products— ouch!"

Ginny had kicked him in the leg.

"Oh really? Do you have any new ideas?" Hermione asked, ignoring her friend's careful censorship with a roll of the eyes.

"Loads!" he replied, cradling his shin up to his chest. Hermione couldn't help but think that he looked something like a ginger flamingo. "If you're available—and willing, of course—then I'd really appreciate you coming to the shop and looking over some of our works in progress actually, you'd be a massive help—stop it!"

Ginny had kicked him in the other leg.

"Why don't you come inside where Ginny can't hurt you," Hermione laughed, stepping aside to let him pass. "And Ginny, I love you and I appreciate what you're trying to do but it's honestly fine. Fred knows how to make me laugh, and I think that's exactly what I need right now."

Ginny studied her for a few moments and then sighed in acceptance. "Fine. But if he gives you any trouble then send him my way."

"I will. Thanks, Gin."

Hermione closed the door on her way back inside and smiled at Fred, who had taken up a languorous position on his sister's bed and was lazily using his wand to make the teacup follow her around. She let out a small laugh and took it, sipping it hesitantly.

"Don't worry love, it's the perfect temperature."

"It really is! How did you manage that? Or was it chance?" she asked, surprised.

"It's a little charm we're working on for our 'Birthdays' collection—you know, a witch or wizard gets a nice hamper of their favourite Wheeze's products—and in it is a pack of tea, and imbibed in the tea: our ever-warm charm! It's the little things."

"Wow, that's cool! The wizarding world hasn't come up with it before?"

"Well, we have the standard warming charm, but that has to be renewed after a few hours and it doesn't preserve the quality of the food or drink under it. Our new charm does! The details are known to a very select few, of course, but Mum's had the benefit of it already. She was our main tester at her Sunday lunches; this way she could prepare it all the night before if she wanted and have a nice long bath in the morning before all of the fuss started!"

"That's so useful—combining a stasis charm with a warming charm is genius!"

"Thank you, love," Fred replied softly, observing the thought-soaked witch on the opposite bed.

Something in his tone made her look up suddenly. There seemed to be a gentle, swirling something in his eyes and she felt slightly weak as she realised that she'd seen that look before.

"Fred—" she started, unsure of how to finish her thought.

"No, I know. We're not going there," he closed it for her, quietly.

"Especially now," she added as he rose from the bed and nodded, looking deep into her eyes for just a moment. He crossed the room in a couple of strides and was halfway out the door before Hermione stopped him.

"Fred—"

He turned, an inkling of hope etched across his face.

"I'm sorry."

Hi again! I'm so sorry it's been so long since I updated, but now that I'm back I hope to stay that way- especially with all this free time we've been given! I wanted to get this chapter up while it was fresh, but the schedule should be returning to Fridays and I'm hoping to have some more stories on the way soon!

Stay tuned and stay safe,

Amelia x