Thanks to everyone reading this story. I am having so much fun writing this fandom! Shout out to my lil sister, who is my biggest cheerleader. I can't remember her user name lol. Hope y'all enjoy this chapter. Next one will be a little darker.
Disclaimer-I don't own any rights to Harry Potter
"Do you think I should go and check on her?" Ginny asked, looking around the room.
"No need." Hermione stated coming down the stairs. She looked around the room, at all the eyes on her. Suddenly she felt less confident in her decision to share, gripping the stair rail.
"You don't have to do this right now, if you would rather wait." Harry said, coming to stand next to her.
Hermione smiled at her best friend. "Thanks, but I need to do this." She followed him into the living room, sitting in the arm chair closest to the fireplace. Fred smiled to himself. "Ok, where to start." She sighed.
"Why don't we start at the Battle of Hogwarts, when you moved Fred?" Molly answered, looking at her adopted daughter. "Do you know how you did that?"
"And where did you go after that?" Ron interrupted. The room turned to give him a dirty look. "What?"
"It's ok." Hermione breathed in. "I don't know how I moved Fred, honestly."
"Of course." Ron groaned.
"I remember he was going to die. It's like everything slowed down and I saw he was going to die." She paused, her voice cracking. "I couldn't imagine this world without him." Hermione felt her face blush. "And then I closed my eyes and focused all my attention on Fred being anywhere but there."
Fred sat quietly, not noticing the room shifting their eyes between himself and Hermione. All he could think about was this girl, the one he thought would never look at him the same, she couldn't imagine a world without him.
"And then you were gone." Harry said intensely.
"Yes." Hermione answered.
"Did you know you were gone?" Ginny asked.
"No. When I woke up in the hospital the last thing I remember was seeing Fred at the Battle. Was I missing long before you all found me?" Hermione looked to Harry.
"Six months. We looked everywhere for you, but there was no sign. We hunted down deatheaters but no one had any information." Harry replied, a look of despair etched across his face.
"I am so sorry." Hermione looked down at her fingers, an intense feeling of guilt washed over her. Fred reached up from his seat on the floor to hold her hand.
"This isn't your fault. You saved my life." Fred said, holding her gaze momentarily.
"So, how did you find me?" Hermione asked, looking around the room.
"Well, Bellatrix's dark magic lite up the town." Harry replied.
"Where was I? Where you able to find out how I got there?" she asked.
"A very small town in Alaska." George answered from beside Fred. "Unfortunately most of the staff had been oblivatied. The only info we were able to get was from a nurse who said you had been brought in a few months before. Someone found you in the woods, unconscious."
Hermione shuddered at the thought of lying alone in the woods for who knows how long. How did this happen to her?
"We were caught off guard with Bellatrix. We didn't know we would be facing her or we would have brought back up. I am so sorry we couldn't get to you." Harry leaned forward in his seat, looking to her. He was beating himself up for this failure. A day hadn't passed since the attempted rescue that he didn't think about what he could have done different.
"Did she say anything to you?" Ron spoke up. "I mean at the hospital."
Hermione shifted in her chair, the nerves rising up knowing they were getting closer to talking about her time with Bellatrix.
"Um, yes." She started. "She said she had been looking for me." She paused, blocking her mind from remembering the moment she opened her eyes and saw Bellatrix. "She said the red head wouldn't be far behind her." Hermione laughed slightly, looking down to Fred.
"Yeah, there isn't much else he's done the last year." George laughed, hitting Fred on the back. Fred grinned, shifting his eyes to the ground.
"So after the hospital?" Ron asked, clearly irritated.
Hermione wasn't laughing anymore. "Um, could I get some water?" she asked quietly, putting a hand to her throat.
"Ron, help me in the kitchen." Fred said, standing up.
"What?" Ron questioned, looking around the room.
"Now." Fred replied, walking to the kitchen. Ron followed behind. Once they were out of ear shot, Fred turned on him.
"Ron, I know you're upset about my feelings for Hermione. But that girl is about to tell us about being held hostage by Bellatrix Lestrange, if you do or say anything that upsets her; you are going to have to deal with me." Fred paused, staring Ron down.
Ron stayed silent, just looking at his brother. He had never seen Fred this serious before.
"Do you understand me? Anything that upsets her Ron." Fred repeated, flicking his wand slightly. Appearing on the table was a pitcher of ice water and several glasses.
"Yes." Ron said, finally breaking their stare. He went to grab a few more glasses before following Fred back into the living room.
Fred poured a glass of a water and handed it to Hermione. As the rest of the room made themselves a glass.
"Thank you." Hermione said, taking the glass in her hand. "After the hospital I woke up in a small room. It had no windows, just a twin bed with a dimly lite light on the celling. I tried to keep time watching the light under the door. I would mark the walls with my nails." Hermione stopped, looking down at her hands. Most of her nails were now down to the skin. Some cuts laced the tips of them.
"Bellatrix would come in at first light, then again at dark." Hermione could feel her body tighten. Her mind was beginning to race, replaying the days of torture. It was as if she could still feel Bellatrix's hands on her. The tip of her wand digging into her skin. She went to wrap her arms around her body, forgetting she was holding a glass.
"Got it." Fred said, sending the glass to the nearby table.
"Sorry, I." Hermione started, her eyes darting around the room.
"Don't be." Fred smiled. "Do you mind if I sit beside you?" He stood up, as Hermione made room. Instantly she felt her body relax, her mind slowing down. "Better?" He asked.
Hermione nodded and took a deep breath. "I would scream at her, at first. Asking what she wanted, why she was doing this. But she never would say. It was like she just wanted to me to be in pain. So I was. I wasn't fully recovered from whatever injures I sustained before the hospital, so everything Bellatrix did added to it. I don't know the full damage yet."
Fred wrapped an arm around Hermione, pulling her into his side. The look on the girl's face reminded him of how much she had suffered. He looked up to his mother, he needed guidance in this. But she couldn't take her eyes off Hermione, her own tears now stained her face.
"How did you escape?" Harry asked, startling the room to life.
"Hmm, it was two nights ago. I was sleeping, Bellatrix was in my room just sitting there. Usually she would make herself noticed, but that wasn't her intention." Hermione started.
"What was her intention?" Ginny asked
"To break me." Hermione replied, as the room grew eerily quiet. "She told me I said his name in my sleep. She said I spoke of how you were alive when I was asleep." Hermione said turning to Fred. He half smiled at her knowing this wasn't going to end well.
"Then she said you were dead. That you never made it out of the hospital." Hermione felt her stomach tighten, remembering the pain of losing Fred again. "She said no one was coming to save me. No Weasley, no Potter." Saying the words out loud made them feel true.
"It's alright. I'm alive. See." Fred wiped the tears from Hermione's cheek. "Very much alive." He smirked at her.
She took a deep breath and turned back to the room. "Escaping. When she told me Fred died, then I started to fear that Harry didn't make it out either. I felt lost and something just snapped." Hermione looked to her hands once more. "So I closed my eyes, using my hands as guides against the walls of the room and I just started walking around the room over and over again. I began to feel my nails digging into the walls. And then I saw you." She looked to Fred again.
"I saw your face and I called to you. My whole body began to tingle and when I breathed in, I smelled smoke." Hermione looked to Harry, not noticing the entirety of the room was on the edge of their seats. "When I opened my eyes everything was on fire. I walked right out of the building and ran towards London."
Hermione looked to Harry. "We were there." He paused. "We got a lead, but by the time we arrived the entire place was in flames."
"Didn't stop old Freddie here from rushing in all heroic like." George sarcastically ohhed. Hermione felt her heart beat a little faster at the idea of Fred coming to save her, all others be damned.
"Wait, the fire, you don't have any burn marks." Lavender spoke up.
"It was strange. As I walked through the house, it was almost as if the fire would make a path for me. I didn't get burned at all." Hermione replied. "After running for a while my body felt as though I was going to faint, so I took shelter in an old warehouse. It didn't feel like I slept that long, but the next thing I know I am being woken up by the night bus."
"The night bus picked you up, but you didn't have your wand." Ron snorted.
"The night bus picked me and took me to right outside the wards of the burrow. From there I ran until I felt I was through the wards, where Fred and George found me." Hermione said, smiling at both twins.
"From the Burrow, to Shell Cottage, to Grimmauld Place." George smiled.
"Wandless magic. Harry, she can do wandless magic." Ron said, in a mix of amazement and jealous.
"Under great distress, Ron." Harry replied. "Hermione we really need to get a doctor to check you out. We need to make sure there isn't any internal damage."
Hermione nodded, she knew that would be coming soon. But she still wasn't ready for others or herself to see what damage laid below her clothes.
"We can wait till tomorrow." Fred spoke up, noticing Hermione's hesitation.
Harry nodded in agreement. "Molly, I need to get to the ministry and tell the others what Hermione has told us. See if we can start tracking Bellatrix."
"Harry? Where is my wand?" Hermione spoke up.
"Hogwarts. It has the safest wards" He replied. "We will get it back to you very soon. I promise."
"Well, I'll go with you. Had some things at the office I need to get. Maybe stop by the apartment if it is safe." Ron said, stretching as he stood up.
"Fred, can I talk to you outside for a moment." Harry asked.
"Of course." Fred responded, squeezing Hermione's hand as he stood up. She smiled at the gesture, as the two walked outside.
Harry took a deep breath, then looked to his friend. "You are going to need to keep her calm." He spoke. "She is able to do things I didn't know possible. Moving you, the nightbus appearing, the fire she started. Not to mention apparting with in my wards." Harry slowed. "Fred, she needs you to keep her calm. I need you to keep her safe while I am gone." Harry looked nervous.
"I will, mate." Fred said, trying to reassure the young wizard. "I won't let anything happen to her."
"I know. Just needed to hear it." Harry smiled, running a hand through his hair. "I better be going." The duo headed back into the house.
Hermione sat quietly, drinking a glass of ice water in the same seat she had occupied before. Fleur and Molly were now in the kitchen. Lavender and Ron could be heard up the stairs arguing about something. Leaving Ginny and George, both now sprawled on the couch, quietly talking about wandless magic.
"Ron, let's go." Harry shouted as he entered the house. "Hermione, Ginny I will be back soon." He walked over and hugged Hermione, then kissed Ginny goodbye.
"Ronny, when can we go home?" Lavender asked as they both came down the stairs.
"I don't' know. We will know more once we are at the ministry." He whined. "I will be back later. OK." He stopped on the bottom stair, pulling the girl in for a hug before he and Harry rushed out the door.
As the door slammed shut, the house became temporally quiet. Soon followed by the stomping of little feet heading back up the stairs.
"Well, I'm not going up there anytime soon." Ginny laughed from the couch.
"She just misses her little Ronny." George teased from beside her.
Hermione grinned at her friends, but it didn't last long. She knew what she needed to do. She didn't want the first time seeing to be in front of some stranger. So she sat her glass down and stood up.
"I think I'm going to lie down for a bit." She said to the room.
"Would you like some help?" Fred asked, walking fulling into the living room. Hermione thought for a moment. She was scared at what lied beneath. Did she want to do this alone? "Hermione?" he asked again, a look of concern growing on his face.
"Will you help me?" She held out her hand to him. Fred took it without hesitation and they walked up the stairs.