A/N: Thought I'd post this earlier because I need to make up for being a horrible human being and keeping you all waiting for months for the last chapter. We're going to be skipping a little bit in time, just because I don't want another three chapters of a single day. I hope it's all alright and you enjoy this chapter.

As always, thank you to all who review, with a special shout out to Angels-heart1, who has literally reviewed almost as soon as I post the chapter on almost all of them too :) I really appreciate it.

Disclaimer: Everything recognisable is property of JKR and I make no money from this.

Chapter Eight – Confrontations and Plans

Ron spent the next two weeks holed up inside his room. It seemed that all anyone could talk about in this family was Hermione and her engagement to Fred, or Hermione and Fred's apartment, or Hermione trying to save Fred. It sickened him to hear their names together and to hear his family trying to help her with ideas on how to save Fred.

Originally, Ron had planned on crashing at Grimmauld Place for a while with Harry, maybe helping him with the renovations, but mainly just to get out of The Burrow. As soon as he set foot in the house, not only was there the usual screaming portrait, it also came with a screaming Harry, along with some nasty hexes. Ron limped his way out of the house minutes later with a couple of bruises and boils, Harry claiming, "No best friend of mine would do something like that, and until you get your act together regarding Hermione, we can't be friends."

Hurt and feeling as though Hermione had taken everyone from him, Ron decided that it was time to go directly to the source of the problem. On one of her days off, he flooed to her apartment unannounced and found her curled up on her couch with a book. With a little annoyance, Hermione begrudgingly offered him a seat and some tea, and Ron began explaining what Harry had said to him, "I just don't understand. Yeah what I did wasn't right, but I thought he'd forgive me."

"Ron," Hermione began, a sigh of exasperation escaping her lips as she continued, "I don't know how long Harry will take to forgive you, but you're lucky to have left Grimmauld Place with all of your reproduction glands still intact."

"But it was all for your safety! Surely Harry could see that!" Ron crossed his arms in a huff.

"Put yourself in his shoes, Ron. How do you think he feels with you going behind his back to ensure my safety when he was already trying?" Hermione picked up her teacup and sipped as he thought about her words, "It would make him feel inadequate, as if you think he's not doing a good enough job." She continued, "Along with that, you literally drugged your best friend to find out answers about your other best friend. How morally correct do you really think that is?"

"You wouldn't tell me anything." Ron tried to reason.

"You never asked!" Hermione all but yelled, flinging her book down on the couch beside her, long forgotten, "If you had come to me and had a mature and reasonable conversation with me, I would have told you everything you wanted to know." Her hands flew into the air as she stood up and stalked towards him, "But instead you went behind my back, behind Harry's back, and moreover behind your own mother's back to extricate information that would have been willingly given to you, had you just asked!"

"I'm not going to apologise to you for looking out for you, Hermione." Ron's face grew red with his anger. 'Why couldn't she see what he was doing was all for her?' he thought.

"Stop deluding yourself. You never think of anything but your own self gain. How is this time any different?" She took a step back and stood taller, "You did this to find out if you could wind your way into my life as a romantic partner. Ron, I need you to understand that it is never going to happen. If you would like to disregard the fact that I'm not in love with you, but with your brother instead, I can name several reasons that we wouldn't work as a couple."

"And I can name several reasons that we would!" Ron stood up himself, his larger stature making him seem to tower over Hermione.

Hermione could see that this was getting nowhere fast and if she wasn't careful, Ron's bad temper could manifest itself into something she wouldn't like to see. She shrunk back and settled herself on the couch again, exhaling a sigh and with it all of the negative feelings she had for Ron in this moment.

"Ron, tell me what would change between us if we became a couple." Hermione asked thoughtfully.

Ron seemed taken aback by this question, fully ready to continue the argument that they were just having. His face softened and he sat back down to face her. "Well, obviously you would move into mum's, or I suppose now that I know that you have an apartment, we could live here. Then mum could teach you how to cook and clean with the spells she uses – she's really good with the housekeeping spells. After that I expect I'd get a job in the Auror department we'd get married and have a lot of children, growing up in a big family made me always want a lot of kids."

"Would I be able to have a job?" Hermione asked, a little put out by the prospects of her future with Ron, let alone the idea of having sex with him.

"I mean, if you wanted to start with, but I would make the money and you'd be at home with our kids." Ron stated, as if it were obvious.

"Okay now tell me this. How would you handle us getting into an argument?" Hermione asked.

"We wouldn't argue. Once you're mine, I'm absolutely sure that you'll forget all the nonsense that we argue over and you won't need to bring it up so much. Besides, what could you have to complain about, you'd be able to do whatever you want at home all day every day, and spend time with our kids." Ron looked at her like she was mad, as if arguments didn't happen.

"Okay," Hermione said slowly, "How did you feel when Viktor asked me to the Yule Ball?"

"Horrible!" Ron replied, "You were mine and I was meant to take you. Then you got all annoyed at me because I asked you as a last resort."

"And we argued then, right? I didn't talk to you for a while. You had ruined my night." Hermione continued, "Do you remember when you started dating Lavender Brown?"

Ron frowned, unsure where this was going, "Of course I do. You were so jealous that you didn't speak to me for months."

"I wasn't jealous, Ron. I was dating Fred by then and we were very much in love. I wasn't speaking to you because I didn't like how self-absorbed you had become. You changed with her, thinking with your dick and not caring about myself or Harry. You only came back to me because your grades were slipping, which was another reason why I just continued to ignore you. But continuing with this trend, we argued then too." Hermione took a deep breath before steeling herself and looking directly into his eyes, "Ron, I know we were younger and your emotions hadn't fully developed yet, but while you think that we aren't going to argue, I have to fully disagree with you. Our past track record as friends has proven that we can't work together all the time." Ron looked as if he were going to object, so Hermione continued, "If these two examples don't convince you, I need to bring your attention to the moment that you left us when we were hunting horcruxes."

Ron flinched, "Yeah, but I came back."

"It's not about whether you came back or not, Ron. The point is that you left in the first place. How can I trust that when we get into another inevitable argument, that you're not going to leave me again, just like you left us in that forest?" Hermione had driven that last nail into the coffin.

Ron was speechless, so she continued, "There are wonderful things about our friendship, Ron, but we couldn't work as a couple. Let me take you through what I have experienced with you. Our friendship started by you bullying me so much that you had to rescue me from a troll as I cried in a bathroom stall. Year after year you question me, whether I'm sure about this or that, and not to sound too egotistical but I am the brightest witch of my age. We get into stupid arguments over everything, and the only way we can deal with them is to go months without speaking or seeing each other. You dated Lavender Brown even when you thought you were in love with me for selfish reasons, knowing that she was completely in love with you. To top it all off, you're being completely stubborn and an absolute arse about my relationship with Fred, oblivious to the fact that everyone else that we know is completely on board and supportive of us."

"I guess, I see where you're coming from." Ron conceded.

"Thank you, Ron." Hermione tentatively smiled at him for the first time in a while.

Just then, the floo lit green and Ginny walked through the fireplace, followed by Fleur, Angelina and Penelope. Hermione glanced at the clock on the wall, noting that it was early afternoon and the girls had planned a shopping trip and dinner – the reason for her taking the day off. The girls stopped and looked between Hermione and Ron, Angelina's face asking her if she was alright.

"It's fine." Hermione nodded to the girls, then to Ron, "I'm not saying that I forgive you for everything that's happened in the recent months between us, and I especially don't forgive you for what you did to Harry, but we are fine for now, Ron. It will take me some time, and meanwhile, I'd appreciate if you called ahead before you dropped in. I feel as though our friendship is strained at the moment, and some time apart may do it some good."

Ron hung his head a little dejectedly, feeling defeated, "Sure, Mi. I'll see you around, I guess."

Once Ron had left, Hermione turned to the girls, smiling and looking down at her flannel pyjama pants and baggy sweater, "One second, I'll just get changed before we go. We can gossip while we pick out a new closet for me."

The initial reaction Ron had to his conversation with Hermione was that of anger and defeat. He could see his family, Harry, and even Hermione slipping away from him. He spent the next few weeks moping, attempting to hatch a plan to get Hermione and maintain his tenuous relationship with Harry and his family.

"I need that book!" Ron growled exasperatedly to himself, sinking down onto his bed.

He took some parchment paper and began penning a note to Hermione, "I suppose if I give her what she wants, maybe she'll be forthcoming with the information." He muttered to himself.

Dear Hermione,

I am deeply sorry for the anguish that I have caused you over the past few months. I never intended to place any strain on our friendship and would like it if we could get back to a comfortable place in our relationship again.

As an effort of good faith, I was hoping you could tell me more about your bond with my brother and the spell that he used. Do you still have the book that he found it in? Could we meet to discuss?

Your friend,
Ron

He borrowed Pig and sent the small owl to Hermione's apartment, hoping for a speedy response.

A few days went by before he heard anything from her, a strange owl coming with a large parcel for him.

Dear Ron,

Sorry that it took so long to respond. I don't have my own owl yet, so I'm borrowing the new one that George and I purchased for the shop's correspondence.

I'm ecstatic to see that you are taking our conversation seriously and acting mature about this entire situation.

I am becoming increasingly busy as we prepare for the shop's reopening next month and my planning to save Fred, and unfortunately don't have time to meet up with you anytime soon. I also feel as though our friendship just isn't there yet, Ron, but as you have asked about the bond, I took the liberty of sending you a duplicate copy of the book that Fred found with the page marked and a copy of my research into the topic.

I hope all is well with you,
Hermione

Ron hadn't realised how easy it would be. He uncovered the book in its brown parcel paper, holding it to his face and flipping to the marked page.

"It's all here!" He yelled in glee. It would be the first book that he read cover to cover without any assistance from Hermione. This would be his new project, how to modify the spell to force Hermione to bond with him instead. She would be his, after all.

Hermione had spent the month helping George with preparations in the shop. Now that the entire family knew about her time travel, she had new perspectives on how to save her love. She spent many afternoons with George and Angie coming up with ideas, eventually Harry and Ginny joining them in her flat once they found out about the regular meetings. Occasionally Percy would send an owl to ask if there was any progress, explaining that he partially blamed himself for Fred's death and anything that Hermione could do to save him would make him eternally indebted to her. Hermione took Percy to witness the event himself a couple of times, trying to show him that he couldn't have done anything. She sent explanations and copies of her journal entries for him to read, describing the effect of saving Fred and Percy taking his place as well. After a little while, Percy had come around to stop blaming himself, corresponding to help with ideas for their plan as well.

One particular afternoon, Ginny stood up abruptly, whipping her head around to Hermione and pointing her finger, "Where do the death eaters go after they kill Fred?"

"I don't know, Gin. Why?" Hermione asked, clearly confused at being accosted so.

"Well, I think that we should trail them next time. Yes, I know it's dangerous, but hear me out." Ginny sat back down and glanced around to the rest of the group, "If we want to keep the past the same, we see where the death eaters go afterwards and make note of everything they do until they die. Then, instead, we kill them before they have the chance to kill Fred and replicate everything they did afterwards."

"Ginny," George began slowly, "That could mean killing friends, classmates, Order members."

"I know, but we're running out of ideas." Ginny sighed, "Even with two of us, killing both of them before they killed Fred, things would change now."

"How bad would that be though?" Harry piped up, "We could save more lives than we're intending."

"Yes, but that could change everything about the future. What if one of our side died, but also took out a different death eater during the fight, and he went on to kill four more people instead? Or what if there are reformed death eaters currently out there helping out the light side that die in the wrong ending to the Battle?" Hermione explained.

"Look, we don't know what happened to them after they kill Fred, why don't we follow them first and then see what we can do?" Angie offered.

So that's what they did. The five of them split into two groups and followed both death eaters until they died. When they returned to the future, Harry brought the pensieve he found in Grimmauld Place over to Hermione's flat and they pooled their memories to view over again.

The original caster that George, Angelina, and Ginny had followed (under a powerful invisibility charm) had hastily made his way out of the corridor and, unwittingly into a large dilapidated balcony area, where he was promptly lifted by a hippogriff, dropping his wand in the process, and flung several dozen metres away.

"So I guess he's pretty out of the picture. Nothing of note really happened there." Harry stated.

They all agreed that the original caster was, for lack of a more tactful phrase, easily disposed of.

"Ours was a little more difficult than that." Hermione explained.

Harry and Hermione followed the second caster under Harry's invisibility cloak. Following this man, he turned sharply down a corridor towards battle noises. There he found a bunch of enlarged spiders climbing through a gap in the wall. He abruptly stopped and instead found a set of stairs that weren't crumbling, descending to the bottom floor, firing wayward spells as he went, but missing them all ("His aim's as bad as the stormtroopers!" Harry exclaimed. Hermione laughed). Once at the ground floor, he proceeded outside into a courtyard where he was confronted by none other than Colin Creevey. After a short battle, Colin's small, lifeless body fell to the floor. A moment later, Oliver Wood walked through an archway and fired off a bunch of spells before the death eater knew what was happening and he, too, fell to the floor with a thud. Immediately following this, Oliver ran to Colin's body and a tear slipped down his face. Voldemort's voice pierced through the Battle, asking for a moment to collect the dead, where Neville found Oliver and helped him to take Colin's body into the Great Hall.

"This poses an issue." George stated as Harry looked uncomfortable and all of the girls had tears pricking their eyes.

"I can't kill a child!" Ginny sobbed.

"So," Hermione drew out, gears turning in her head, "we don't kill Colin. We save Colin too. He's underage! As soon as he's found out, McGonagall will practically order him to leave, or at least stay out of the fight, so there's nothing else he could tamper with during the Battle. Oh this is brilliant!"

"Mione, you're way ahead of us, please explain?" Harry asked.

"We kill both death eaters, then we impersonate the second one, but instead of killing Colin, we just use a body binding spell on him. Once he's incapacitated, Oliver will come out and still think that he's dead, start firing off spells and we use a very small protego and pretend to drop to the ground, dead until they remove Colin's body. If the plan works, Fred will be alive, and Colin too. We then just make sure that Fred stays out of any more duels, but I know he and Percy don't encounter anyone else before the dead are collected." Hermione spoke fast and excitedly, her volume rising as she explained.

The other four sat there in varying states of stunned, impressed, and thoughtful. George was the first to break the ensuing silence, scraping his chair back with tears pricking his eyes.

"Hermione, if I didn't have Angie, I could kiss you right now. Honestly, this is the closest we've ever been, and I feel like it's going to work." George stood and walked around the table to embrace her. They stood in a tight hug, both with tears slowly leaking from their eyes.

The other three also expressed their optimism and assent to the plan, with Hermione sending an owl to Percy to inform him of what they had discovered and planned. They ordered takeout and sat down to eat dinner whilst still discussing the specifics of the plan.

Hermione smiled to herself when the others left her apartment at an ungodly hour of the morning. She walked over to the locked bedroom door and placed a hand on the woodwork, "I've almost got you back, Fred. I love you."

A/N: I always hated Colin's death. He was underage and I still think of him as the overexcited little kid who just wants to take his idol's picture. So I (hopefully) found a way out of him dying ;)

Please please review. I really really want inspiration from you all and I'd love to hear what you think, if you like it or think I'm taking it in a strange direction or if this actually makes sense at all (I don't have a beta D:)

Next chapter - enacting a plan ;)

All my love xxx