A/N: Thank you so so much for the reviews! I love reading them and I love getting the email alert when they come up and seeing that people are actually enjoying my writing :) so thank you very much for that - and keep them coming!
I have to post a quick warning to everyone before you get stuck into this. The flashback scene contains smut. If you are offended or not here for it or would not like to read that, it doesn't particularly further the story, and I would be happy for you to skip the flashback. I didn't exactly plan for it to appear this early, but it just kind of came out. However I do recommend that you read the rest of the chapter, as there is quite a lot of character saying all that, I've never written smut before, this is my first so please don't flame too hard :3
Next chapter we go back to the past! Enjoy the lemony goodness, for those of you who do read it :)
Disclaimer: JKR owns all of the characters and I am forever indebted to her.
Chapter Three – A Dinner Full of Secrets
By the time the weekend rolled around, Hermione was itching to go back and, if not save Fred, at least see him once again. George seemed hesitant, but Hermione assured him that although there were risks time travelling, it was hard to be spotted during the battle, and that their entire purpose was to alter reality.
"Hermione, it's not that I'm scared of the time travel." George said quietly one morning. They were in the shop today, George was putting together Skiving Snackboxes and Hermione was working on a batch of Patented Daydream Charms.
"Hmm?" Hermione asked, urging George to continue.
"I'm scared of seeing Fred die." George turned to look at her, "This whole time I've been able to live in ignorance, knowing that he died, but not actually physically witnessing it. If I pretend hard enough, I delude myself into thinking he died in his sleep."
"George…" Hermione trailed off. She'd seen Fred die countless different ways, over fifty times now. She took a deep breath, "I can't lie to you, the first time is horrific, and it certainly doesn't get any easier. You know how many times I've been back. It gets to me sometimes, especially when everything I try to do is futile. It just feels completely hopeless sometimes and all I want to do is break down and cry." Hermione paused, knowing that her words weren't helping George at all, "But you know why I'm doing this, and putting myself through the torture of watching him die over and over again is worth it when I get to wake up beside him, even just for one more day. Isn't that the reason why you're doing it? To have him with us, even just for one more day?"
"Yeah… I know 'Mione." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, effectively messing it up and running sticky sweets wherever his fingers trailed. "You'll be there with me, that'll help."
"Hey, let's go do something. It's almost dinner time, I've just finished off the last of these charms, and you've got sugary goop in your hair." She smiled reassuringly at him and ruffled his hair a little, effectively sticking most of it up in a spikey mohawk mess.
George seemed grateful for the distraction. He knew that working himself up over seeing his twin's death wouldn't help him, but he just couldn't help it. "Alright then Miss Granger, we'll head upstairs and clean up. If I remember correctly, you've got some of your clothes in my spare room." George had moved back into the flat above the shop three days ago and Angelina was due back during the week.
Hermione quickly tidied up and cast stasis spells over any cauldrons they'd been working with that day, she then followed George up the stairs and into the apartment.
"Make yourself comfortable and grab those extra clothes, I'll just take a quick shower and then it's all yours." George ducked into his bedroom and then walked into the bathroom. Hermione heard the water start running as she walked towards the spare room. As soon as she opened the door, she knew it was a mistake.
Flashback [ A/N: Skip if you are sensitive to smut]
"Just stay over. You're both way too drunk to make it home in one piece." George stated, "Your things are already in the spare room – we really might as well call it your room, you stay in it often enough."
Hermione pouted, "That's cause you get us drunk."
"And we work so late all the time!" Fred added.
"Get some sleep, you two." Angelina said as George blew kisses at the couple.
Fred and Hermione stumbled into the guest bedroom and both kicked off their shoes together. Hermione walked her way over to the bed, tripping on her way and landing, thankfully, on the bed, however pulling Fred down with her. She did always say that when she went down, she'd drag him down too. He laughed, she smiled. They gazed into each other's eyes, caught in the moment. Fred's laughter died in his throat, and Hermione's smile faded, both replaced with a look of desire.
"Fred…" Hermione mumbled, eyes trailing down to his body hovering over hers, raking her way back up and lingering on his lips. Fred leant forward and captured her lips with his. Their kiss tasted like alcohol and tonight's dinner. They fumbled for a bit to begin with, intoxication properly taking control of their bodies, but soon they settled into the rhythm that came so naturally to them.
Fred leant back then, pulling Hermione with him by only their lingering kiss. He divested himself of his button up and began reaching for the hem of Hermione's blouse, tugging it loose from her jeans and pulling it up over her head, only then breaking the kiss. Hermione was panting now shakily pushing Fred off of her to reach for her wand. Sloppily waving it around, she cast a silencing charm on the room and a contraceptive charm on the couple, then flung her wand somewhere towards the pile of clothes they were beginning. Meanwhile, Fred was busy fumbling with his belt and slowly divesting himself of his jeans. Standing there in his boxers, Hermione's eyes were drawn to the tenting erection, licking her lips and letting a small growl escape her lips. Fred knelt down, kissing down her neck, sternum and stomach, fingers hooking into the waistband of her jeans. He tugged the jeans down over her left hip bone and he bit down, eliciting a moan from his girlfriend, tongue swirling around whilst his fingers undid her jeans. He pulled her knickers and her jeans down her smooth legs with one long tug and his tongue moved to the crease where her legs joined her pelvis, making her giggle and moan.
"Mia," Fred looked up at her, "I need you."
Hermione almost melted then, and Fred's mouth moved towards her core. His tongue darted out tentatively, tasting her, running up her slit and teasing her clit with his warm breath. As Hermione moaned, he continued his attentions, tongue diving between her folds, lapping at her essence, then circling her clit. Suddenly flattening his tongue, he ran it over her sensitive button, continuing his ministrations as Hermione's body trembled and her thighs clenched around his head. Rhythmically, Fred kept laving at her clit, knowing how Hermione's body adjusted and reacted to the attention, pushing her closer and closer to her orgasm.
"Ohhh…" Hermione let out a shaky breath and with one last lash of his tongue, he plunged two fingers deep into her core, hitting that spot that made her come undone, "Fre- Fred… YES!"
And with that, Hermione's body completely unravelled, breasts heaving off of the bed and hips pushing herself further into Fred, his tongue, his fingers. As she fell back to the bed, Fred lapped up her juices and crawled his way up her body, making a stop to pay her beautiful breasts the attention that they deserved. One hand snaked its way to fondle her right breast, rolling the nipple between his fingers as his mouth placed delicate kisses on the left mound, tongue swirling around the nipple before sucking it into his mouth and tugging slightly with his teeth. He swapped sides, kissing between her breasts and lingering just a fraction of a second longer over her heart. Hermione's fingers latched onto the hem of Fred's boxers, pushing them down as far as she could before he shimmied out of them and kicked them in the general vicinity of the growing pile of clothes. He moved further up her body then, his erection brushing past her heat, slicking slightly with her juices and resting on the lower part of her stomach. Her hands tangled in his hair as his mouth descended on hers once again, tongue asking for entrance against her lips. Once she granted her permission, her tongue lashed out into his mouth, battling for dominance and winning.
She moaned into the kiss and broke apart for a moment, pulling his ear to her lips, "I love it when I can taste myself on your tongue." She whispered, breath tickling his earlobe, tongue caressing the outer shell of his ear as she released his head, kissing him passionately when she found his lips again. With this revelation, Fred grew impossibly harder, leaking precum onto his girlfriend's perfectly flat stomach.
"Merlin Hermione, you drive me crazy." He growled when he pulled away from her again. He grasped his erection with his hand, pumping slowly as she watched in anticipation. He moved himself, dragging the head through her soft, wet folds, dipping in just slightly – just enough to tease a reaction out of the beautiful woman beneath him. Then his hands gripped her hips and he thrust into her completely, eyes locked on his writhing Mia as her head fell back and eyes snapped shut. She let out a breathy moan and Fred's cock twitched deep inside her at the noise, eliciting a second moan.
"I need you, Fred. Move, please." Hermione pleaded with her lover.
With no further hesitation, Fred began to thrust deep inside of her, moving with slow precision – something he hadn't thought he possessed whilst inebriated. She shuddered as he hit that bundle of nerves that drover her closer to her peak, heat coiling inside her, building to her ultimate release.
"Mia, I love you." Fred came down to rest on his elbows, one arm tucked underneath her shoulder to grip her, the other hand caressing her face as he placed tender kisses from her shoulder up her neck, sucking hard on a spot just below her ear.
"I love you too, Fred." Hermione managed before another moan escaped her swollen lips.
Fred's thrusts began to quicken, Hermione's hips matching with his, lifting to bury her lover's cock deep inside her. She began crying out, short incoherent strings of swearing, dirty words of encouragement, and the occasional "Merlin, Fred!" and he continued into her, teeth finding any surface of her body to litter with love bites, hands gripping almost too tightly to anything he could cling on to for support. He whispered in her ear, things that he knew drove her crazy, made her wetter than she would have imagined, and caused her walls to flutter, one of the signs Fred used to tell when his lover was close.
And then, "Cum for me, Mia." Fred commanded, growling in her ear, "Cum for me, love."
And she did. Hermione let go, her walls clamped down on Fred's throbbing cock, milking him as he came with her, slowing his thrusts until they both collapsed on each other, limbs tangled together with dopey smiles on their faces.
Fred rolled off her then and wordlessly summoned his wand, casting a quick spell to clean them both up as his seed leaked out of his girlfriend's perfect pussy. Then he pulled the blanket over the spent couple, pulled his already almost sleeping girlfriend to him, and kissed her on the forehead before she snuggled into his embrace.
"I love you." He whispered into her hair.
"I love you too." She replied sleepily.
Knocking on their bedroom door woke the pair, the light suddenly too bright and their lack of clothing too cold as they battled themselves awake.
"Fred, Hermione, I have hangover potions and a nice, fatty breakfast here for you. Get some clothes on and come join us in the world of the living." The way too chipper voice of Angelina floated through the door.
Hermione groaned and sat up, her usually unruly hair a right state this morning.
"The combination of sex hair and bed hair in this light kinda looks like you have a giant glowing halo around your beautiful face, Mia." Fred reached for her hand and kissed her knuckles.
"Fred, as sweet as that is, I can tell you one hundred percent that I look like a static mop." She smiled, kissed him on the cheek, and then flung her legs out of bed. Hermione pulled herself up and dragged herself over to the drawers in the corner, pulling comfortable clothes out for herself, and throwing clothes at Fred as she came across them. They dressed silently, neither really wanting much noise at this point in the morning, retrieved their wands, and walked outside.
As they stumbled out into the hallway, the smell of bacon and eggs hit them and they all but floated into the kitchen. Angie gave them both hangover potions first and served them plates full of the bacon and eggs that they had smelled.
"Mmm…" Hermione moaned at the effects of the hangover potion hitting her, along with the taste of bacon on her tongue.
Angie and George shared a look for the briefest moment, before George turned to smirk at the slowly recuperating couple, "Hermione, dear, I think I've heard enough moaning from you last night to last me a lifetime."
Hermione flushed red and stammered for a moment, "But- But I cast the charm and everything!"
"You must have been way drunker than you thought then, because if I wasn't so good at my own silencing charms, I would've gone spare listening to my twin banging in the next room." George laughed.
Fred had gone completely white, turning to Hermione with a trembling voice, "But you cast a contraception charm last night too."
The room fell silent for a moment, before Hermione said, "Oh don't worry, that's just extra protection. I'm on the muggle contraceptive pill too, just for moments like these." She winked at him then.
"Aww, I thought I was getting a little niece or nephew running around my apartment. Don't get my hopes up like that!" George whined and they all laughed.
"Maybe one day." Fred mused as he placed an arm around his love, kissing her on the side of her head and holding her with the promise of a future together.
George walked out of the bathroom, towelling his hair dry, and found Hermione in a crumpled heap on the floor in the doorway to his spare room, knees drawn to her chest and rocking slowly as she whispered to herself. He flung himself to the ground, towel forgotten on the floor, and he gathered her into his arms.
"Hermione, hey, shh," he soothed, knowing exactly what his mistake had been, "here come with me, everything's going to be alright." He took her in his arms and lifted her light frame, walking her to the couch where he gracefully deposited her. He retrieved a blanket to wrap around her shoulders and put the kettle on, knowing how tea would help her at this time.
Once Hermione had finished her first teacup, George noticed a shift in Hermione's demeanour and he went to prepare her a second cup. By the end of that one, she seemed much better and turned to George full of apologies. He held up his hand, halting her before they even came out of her mouth.
"Save them, 'Mione." He lowered his hand, "I know exactly how it feels. It was stupid and insensitive of me to ask you to fetch those clothes yourself. I should be the one apologising to you." He sat beside her and pulled her into a one-armed hug.
"It's alright, George. Even I couldn't have anticipated how strongly I would have been affected by that room. Just brought a lot of memories back, that's all." Hermione smiled sadly. "I'd like to try and go back in there, if that's okay with you. I didn't actually get any of my clothes. Come with me?" she asked quietly.
"Of course, I'll be right next to you. Here for each other, remember?" George stood and took her hand, walking with her back to the spare room. They stood in the doorway for a moment, George waiting for Hermione to take the first step inside. When she finally did, she released a breath she didn't realise she had been holding. She walked to the chest of drawers, knowing that Fred's clothes were mixed in with hers. Pulling open the drawer like ripping a Band-Aid off, she quickly and methodically sorted through the clothes to find something suitable for dinner, tears welling in her eyes the longer she looked, then closed the drawer with as much reverence as she could muster.
"Right, I'll have a quick shower, and then I'll be right out with you." Hermione smiled. She had done it, she had conquered that first step. She knew she wasn't ready to go into the bedroom in her own flat yet, but she was ready to face the torture of her dying lover again. She needed him back with her. Desperately.
After her shower, Hermione wandered back into the living room, waving her wand at her head trying to tame the mountain of curls on top. She glanced up to find a nervous looking Weasley twin pacing a hole into his rug while intermittently tugging at his collar.
"What's wrong, George?" Hermione frowned.
"Well, I was just wondering – and you can say no if you want to, really I don't have a big preference either way – I just kind of hoped…" George rambled and glanced up at the clock.
Hermione noticed, '5:50pm, what makes that so… oh.' 6pm on the first Sunday of every month, Molly and Arthur had the whole Weasley clan over for dinner. "You want me to go to The Burrow for dinner with you." She stated simply, although her stomach was doing flips as she thought of the rest of the Weasley family.
"How? I-" George knew not to question how she had figured it out, "Yeah."
"With you and Harry there, I think I'll be fine. Between the two of you, you know my tells, you know when I'm about to implode." She laughed, a bubble of nerves forcing it out harsher than she had intended. "Let's go, before I change my mind."
The pair stepped into the floo and appeared in The Burrow's fireplace a moment later. The raucousness that had greeted them suddenly quietened, to the point where you would've heard a chocolate frog trying to escape Ron's clutches. Hermione wasn't sure she'd ever heard the Weasley household this quiet in her entire life. Just as she started to get uncomfortable, Molly bounded over to her and pulled her into one of those famous, bone-crushing hugs.
"Oh Hermione, dear, how lovely for you to join us. We've all been absolutely worried sick about you." Molly beamed at the younger woman. Her expression then turned stern as she pulled back and whipped out her pointer finger, waving it around in Hermione's face like it was a wand, accentuating her next sentence, "Don't you dare do that ever again, you hear me young lady? You're family, and family doesn't just disappear overnight, not to be heard from for months."
"Sorry." Hermione apologised, and she meant it. "I know it's been tough for everyone. I just needed some time to myself. I think it's done me some good." She looked up at George and over to Harry as if for confirmation of this fact. The boys smiled at her and she felt a little relief in this overbearing house.
"Come now everyone, dinner's ready, let's head to the table." Molly ushered everyone to the dinner table where her usual feast was already spread out. On the table sat three different roasts, peas, gravy, roasted vegetables, and a salad. The kids all went to their almost seemingly assigned seats. Arthur sat at the head of the table, Molly next to him on the corner – but with her back to the kitchen so that she could have easy access, Bill and Fleur on Arthur's other side, then Charlie, Percy and Penelope Clearwater – his girlfriend, Ron next to Molly, then Ginny and Harry. Hermione took her place next to Harry, and George sat beside her, immediately feeling more relaxed in this house full of her dead fiancée's family. She felt his absence more than ever here, especially seeing the chair that he used to occupy taken up by his identical (save for an ear) twin.
"Oi George, where's Angie tonight?" Charlie called across the table as the sound of clattering utensils and loud Weasley family reunion chatter began.
"At her parents' place still. Her dad's not getting much better, unfortunately. Unless some miracle happens, he might not last the next month. She's moving back in with me sometime this week, but I'm sure she'll be with him every day until…" George trailed off.
"I'm sorry, mate. Anything we can do for her, let her know yeah?" Charlie said sincerely.
George only nodded and began picking at his food with less than his usual vigour.
Hermione sat at the table almost blown away at the reminder of how much noise the Weasley clan could make. She did notice, however, the amount of noise that they weren't making. With one of the twins decommissioned until she could find a way to bring him back, George wasn't making up for the usual antics that they used to get up to at family dinners. She began reminiscing about the time that she'd spent at The Burrow; all the various pranks the twins had played over the years, intimate moments that she had shared with Fred in the surrounding trees by cover of darkness or in a lonely kitchen, the schemes that the Golden Trio had concocted throughout her mess of a childhood.
Harry squeezed her leg, bringing her back to reality, "It's good to see you, Mi. Not just you and me, it's good that you're here, with your family." Harry smiled at her, "You look much better."
"You helped with that, Harry Potter. You and George pulled me out of that awful place I was in. I haven't felt this good since… well, you know." Hermione finished lamely.
Hermione began eating her food again, looking around the Weasley family, observing with a keen eye what she'd missed out on in the last few months and chatting intermittently throughout. Percy had one arm around Penelope, talking easily with Charlie. Percy seemed much happier with his family since the war. George had told her that Percy had felt almost responsible for Fred's death, and taking it hard, he felt it necessary to make amends with his family and spending as much time as he could with them. Penny looked less than thrilled to be here though, her eyes darting around occasionally, then Hermione's eye caught on a fuzzy looking patch on Penelope's left hand. 'That's a shoddy disillusionment charm if I've ever seen one.' Hermione thought to herself. As if on cue, Penny looked directly into Hermione's eyes and discretely placed a finger to her lips. Understanding, Hermione nodded, but smiled at the young woman and made a mental note to congratulate her and Percy on their engagement (as well as teaching her how to properly cast a glamour charm), willing her own secret engagement to Fred out of her mind.
The next thing that stood out was Fleur and Bill. Bill seemed to be doing everything for Fleur, with the latter barely lifting a finger even to eat. As much as this seemed rather cute and relatively normal, Bill seemed almost frantic and clumsy in his actions and Fleur kept one of her hands rested somewhere under the table. 'We'll keep an eye on that one.' Hermione mentally noted and her eyes wandered further.
Ginny and Harry both ate with one hand, the other under the table, grasped firmly together and resting on Ginny's lap. Hermione wasn't surprised by this in the least. Now that the war was over, Harry could freely be with Ginny. Instead of Voldemort, the only overbearing terror in his life was the wrath of Molly Weasley if he ever so much as touches a hair on her darling Ginny's head. It also then came as no surprise, due to the couple's predisposition to breaking the rules, when Hermione had read about their sexual endeavours one day in an all too explicit letter sent from Ginny herself. The two had reconnected after the day Harry had cleaned her apartment, picking up their friendship from the exact place that they left off. Hermione had written back curtly to inform her that she would have to burn her eyes out and obliviate herself reading all about Harry's sex life – whom she considered her brother – and would you kindly please refrain from going into that much detail in the future. Please. Ginny looked up and winked at her, almost knowing exactly what was passing through her head. Hermione stifled a laugh and turned pink, with Harry sitting between the girls oblivious to what knowledge had passed between his girlfriend and his best friend.
It was at this moment that Fleur chose to stand and excuse herself from the bathroom, with Hermione noticing now that her hand was resting discretely on her stomach, Bill's eyes following his wife from the room. 'Pregnant!' she thought to herself, 'Oh how wonderful!'
Dinner plates were being magically whisked away and bowls full of apple pie and ice cream were replacing them along with mugs of tea and hot chocolate. Hermione looked gleefully at her dessert, smiling up at the matriarch of the family and about the mention that it was her favourite, when she felt a pair of eyes on her.
Ronald Weasley. Her best friend of going on eight years. He stared at her intensely with an expression of anger, almost hatred, etched upon his face. Hermione opened her mouth to question him, when Arthur stood to address the group.
"It's rare to have all the family together, and I know we're missing Angelina – our thoughts are with her and her family at this trying time for them, but I just want to say how proud I am to see all of your faces together again. Since the war, since… Fred," Arthur paused and looked down for a moment, "it's just lovely to have the family back together. We need each other now more than ever." He looked pointedly at Hermione and smiled gently, "I'm glad you came back to us."
Arthur resumed his seat as the rest of the Weasley clan smiled and began chatting with Hermione, although she noticed out of the corner of her eye, Ron pull out his chair with a huff and stalk out of the room. She sighed, knowing that she would have to go and talk to him about whatever was bothering him, but for now, she was smiling and laughing and having a lovely time with the only family that she had left, and he wasn't going to ruin that for her.
As dinner wound down, the family moved into the lounge room, sprawling out over sofas and the floor, playing games of exploding snap or wizarding chess, or just chatting by the fire with a hot mug of cocoa. Hermione quietly talked to Penny and Percy in a corner, acting natural but keeping their voices down so they didn't draw attention to themselves.
"Congratulations on your engagement." Hermione smiled, fingering her own (invisible at the moment) engagement ring, "I think that you both are wonderful together and I respect your decision to not tell anyone. Promise I won't say anything, you have my word."
"Thanks, Hermione." Penny said, relief at having someone else in the family privy to her secret, making it easier to bear.
Hermione pulled her wand out of her pocket and waved it over Penelope's hand, muttering the incantation for the disillusionment spell that she used for her own ring. "If you have some time this week, I'll have you over for tea and I'll teach you that spell." Hermione grinned at the pair.
"You're wonderful." Penny pulled her in for a tight hug and Percy smiled, accepting her offer and suggesting Thursday afternoon.
Bill and Fleur stood from the couch that they were on. "Well it's getting late, I think we're going to head off." Bill announced and the pair started making their way around the group for variations upon hugs, handshakes, and hearty slaps on the back. When the couple arrived at Hermione, Bill hugged her and whispered in her ear, "Thanks for not letting slip our little secret. We don't want to let anyone know yet, it's too early, just in case…" he trailed off, but Hermione understood his meaning. "It's really good to have you back, Mi."
"It's good to be back, Bill." She smiled at him and kissed Fleur on both cheeks before the two eventually disappeared through the floo.
"Ready to go, 'Mione?" George appeared at her side.
"Not quite." Hermione replied, distractedly looking for Ron amongst the throng of red-heads.
"He's in the garden. Out on the bench." George said, seemingly reading her mind.
"If I'm not back within twenty minutes, one of us has killed the other, and let me tell you, I am definitely the better dueller." Hermione gritted her teeth and grabbed a spare coat by the back door, shrugging it on as she traipsed through the muddy grass to find Ron.
"Oh, hello Hermione. Nice to see you. What's it been, three months?" Ron asked sarcastically as she approached.
"I'm sorry Ron, I know I should have contacted you, but I was hurting-" She began.
"You were hurting!? I was hurting, Hermione. This whole family was hurting. We lost a brother. We lost a son. We lost our spirit when Fred died. What family did you lose? No one. Your parents are safe and sound in Australia and you don't have anyone else." Ron's words cut her like a knife to the heart.
"But Fred is my family… too." She hastily added.
"No he's not, Hermione. Stop deluding yourself thinking that you're even wanted here. My parents only play nice to you because you're my friend. My brothers only tolerate you because, guess what, you're my friend. And I'm half sure Fred didn't even know your name. You probably couldn't even tell which twin was which until George got his bloody ear blown off." Ron continued his tirade, standing up and towering over Hermione's smaller stature.
"That's not true. In fact, no one in your family but me could tell those twins apart, every single time." Hermione admitted almost smugly, 'admittedly, I was dating one of them' she added to herself.
"Don't start, Hermione. You don't know what you're talking about. You're going to tear my family apart if they hear you speaking like that." Ron shook his head, a dark gleam in his eyes, his body half silhouetted from the porch lights. "I don't know where you get off, thinking you're above us all, crying how you did at Fred's funeral, as if he was an important person to you. Well, Hermione, I'm sure he was bloody well more important to his family than he ever was to you."
"Ron, please, I love him." Hermione said quietly, before she even knew what she was saying.
"Ha." Ron let out a snort, "Love him? Like a brother, right? You can't have loved him any other way. He knew damn well that you were mine." At this, Hermione was repulsed, her face contorted in disgust and anger. "Even back in first year, mum always said we'd be the ones to get married – 'Hermione is like another daughter to me' (a poor impression of his mother's voice) – and I believed her. I'm in love with you, Hermione. I didn't really want it to come out this way, but it's obvious you've forced my hand. One day, you will be part of this family. Then you'll be able to cry about my family like the blubbering lunatic you were at Fred's funeral."
"Ron, you arrogant git. Get your head out from your own bloody arse for one minute." George thundered, it had obviously been twenty minutes. He walked over to Hermione, standing half in front of her, an arm wrapped behind him, holding on to her arm. It's not that he thought Hermione couldn't stand up for herself, just that she wouldn't against Ron. He had a way with manipulating her, playing into every recess of her self-consciousness, and he had since they were in first year together.
"Come to rescue her, George? Well you should've heard the things she's been saying about Fred." Ron started.
"I did, Ron. Besides, Hermione and I have been in contact since the war. We've been helping each other through this time, which is more than I can say you've been doing for any of us. She's my sister as much as you are my brother, maybe even more at this point. You can't just force your love on someone and claim them!" He used air quotes around the word "claim".
"I'm not forcing my love on her. I know Hermione. She loves me too." Ron said defiantly, confidently puffing his chest out.
"Sure, she loves you. But she loves you like she loves me. She loves you like a brother, Ron." George took a step back, pressing Hermione closer to him.
"When did you become an expert on Hermione Granger's feelings? You barely know her, George. She's in love with me." Ron spat.
"That's enough!" The booming voice of Molly Weasley on a rampage came clearly from the porch where she was standing, both hands on her hips and an angry expression on her face. The short matriarch stormed her way towards the trio, more than making up for her stature in the way she held herself when mad.
"Ronald. Bilius. Weasley." Molly scolded, "You never own a woman. Have you even asked Hermione how she feels about you!?"
Ron's ears tinged pink in embarrassment and rage. "You're on her side!? You're my mother."
"And she is as much a part of this family as you, or George, or Charlie is." Molly continued. "I may have given birth to you, but I've practically adopted her and Harry – or are you going to tell me that Harry's not part of this family too?" The look she gave him was a challenge.
"No, of course not, but Harry doesn't have any parents of his own." He began, trying to make her see reason.
"Family isn't decided based on blood, nor is it based on whether or not your best friend has parents. Hermione is my daughter too." Molly had come to stand beside Hermione now, George standing back and slinging his arm around his twin's fiancée.
"But you said I'd marry her one day." Ron was shocked, losing this fight, losing things that he thought were his and his alone. Hermione was his. His family was his. His mother was his. Why was everyone trying to take what was his away from him, always.
"I said it would be nice if Hermione was made a part of this family in marriage." Molly looked at Hermione now, "But I never intended for you to claim her and try and force your love down her throat."
Hermione smiled at Molly, twisting her concealed engagement ring around her finger in anxiety. If the older witch noticed, she didn't say anything at this time, and an enraged Ron was never observant.
"I see how it is." Ron was defeated for now but knowing him, he wouldn't give up this easily. He turned his back on the three and walked towards the apparition point behind the back shed.
Molly turned to Hermione when she heard the crack of Ron disapparating, placing two hands on either side of her face, she tilted it until Hermione looked at her. "You'll always be part of this family, dear. You know how Ron gets. He lets his anger run away with him. One day I'm sure he'll get over his infatuation for you and find himself a girl to mellow his temper."
"He's practically obsessed with her, mum." George looked worried, images of a deranged Ronald Weasley cutting Harry out of photos of the Golden Trio came to his mind and he shuddered.
"Then you'll have to make sure she keeps good company for a while, at least until he comes to his senses." Molly smiled then. "Come back inside, it's cold and I've got some hot cocoa left for you both before you go."
For the first time since the war, Hermione wasn't thinking about getting Fred back. She was simply grateful that this amazing witch thought of her as a daughter and tinged with sadness for the family that had almost known a reality in which she truly was one of them.
Hermione twisted the ring around on her finger again. This night was full of family secrets, and only half of them were her own.
A/N: Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter. There was quite a lot of dialogue. Apologies to those who like Ron, I am not one of those people, and I truly believe he will erupt into fits of jealousy as his character seems to be painted in that light, what with being the last of seven brothers.
I also have to say, this chapter has over 6,000 words, more than 3x the length of the last two chapters. I couldn't cut it anywhere into two, so you've got one super long chapter. Please don't expect them all to be this long from now on. I just got a bit carried away this time... :)
Until next time!