Chapter 2

"You're doing what?" Ginny asked, nearly spitting her drink across the breakfast table.

"I am going to help Fred find George. We're going to try searching a few areas, see if we can follow his last known footsteps…"

"Haven't you considered that he doesn't want to be found?" Ron asked before taking a bite of his porridge. "I mean, the guy lost an ear. It's a lot to deal with for anyone. Maybe he just needs some time to get used to the idea that he's going to look a little weird for the rest of his life."

Hermione smacked Ron on the shoulder. "Ronald Weasley, what a terrible thing to say about your brother! It's a war injury. We all have them. Want to see mine?" She pulled aside her collar to reveal the cuts and bites permanently etched into her skin now thanks to the monster that was Bellatrix Lestrange. "George would never leave without even telling Fred. You, maybe, but not his twin."

"So you, Hermione Granger, are going to go travel around with Fred in search of George?" asked Ginny. "Do you think they are maybe pranking you?"

"How could they be pranking me? I volunteered to help." She was losing patience with them pretty quickly. "None of the rest of you seem to care that your brother, friend, son, whatever, has been missing so somebody has to help him and it looks like that someone is me."

"If we thought something was really wrong," Harry said, "of course we would help, but you have to admit there is no evidence-"

"Except for the fact that he has been missing for nearly two weeks? That's not evidence enough for you?"

"Not really given the circumstances," said Ron. "Mum and Dad don't seem worried. Fred and George are always up to something."

Hermione looked around at all of them as if they were completely mental. She knew that post-traumatic stress could affect people's sense of reality, but this was a little ridiculous. Oh well, she had hoped one last attempt to convince them might be effective, but clearly she and Fred were on their own. Now she just needed to find him so they could be on their way…

Now that she thought of it, she hadn't seen Fred all morning. Surely he hadn't gone missing, too. She wasn't sure if she could handle trying to find both of them. She went up to his room, checking the bathroom along the way, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Mrs. Weasley," she asked, spotting the matronly woman coming up the stairs. "Have you seen Fred?"

"No, dear, but you know how those boys are, always off up to something. I'm sure he'll turn up."

Hermione rolled her eyes in frustration and resisted the urge to scream at the woman who had been so kind as to welcome her into her home over the years. She knew they meant well, but she couldn't understand for the life of her why they were acting so strangely. Her son was missing for Merlin's sake!

Sighing, she went outside to see if Fred had wandered out for a walk or quick ride on his broom before heading out with her, but there was no sign of him anywhere. Grabbing her bag, she decided to head to the only other place she could think to look, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. The shop had suffered a lot of damage during the war, but it was still the place that meant the most to the twins, perhaps more than the Burrow in many ways.

She felt her voice catch as she first stepped into Diagon Alley. It was still so damaged from the lively place that she once knew and she made another goal in that moment that once she found George she would help do everything she could to restore it to its original glory. Hogwarts, she knew, had been the main focus of so many so far, but this area clearly needed just as much help.

The creaky sign hanging down sadly from the front of Fred and George's shop did little to improve her mood. No wonder Fred was suffering so much. The two most important things to him- his twin and his shop- were basically gone. The vibrancy and energy that once radiated from this place was all but gone.

She pushed open the dusty door, which fortunately was unlocked with no apparent wards in place, and stepped inside. The damage was worse than she could have imagined and more than likely the empty shelves were largely due to looters. It made her cringe. How could people be so evil?

Her emotions would have to wait, however, as she had a Weasley twin to find. Well, make that two Weasley twins to find at the current moment. "Fred?" she called out, lowly at first, but increasing in volume as she realized it was unlikely he could hear her almost whispers.

Receiving no response, she pushed her way back to their storage room/work station. It, too, was in disarray, but she could see the beginnings of where someone had started trying to repair it. Sitting on a stool, over a boiling cauldron, sat Fred, still apparently unaware of her presence.

"Fred?" she asked again, not wanting to frighten or interrupt him, but feeling at some point they were just going to have to get on with it.

He turned around finally, his eyes redder than before and Hermione really couldn't decide what her next move should be. "Fred?" she eventually said again. "I was thinking maybe we could get going this morning?"

He nodded, still not actually speaking. He got up slowly from his spot over the cauldron and lazily vanished the contents away. For some reason this gesture hit Hermione the hardest as it seemed so much like he had completely given up.

She walked over and touched his arm, turning him and forcing him to look at her. "We are going to find him, Fred. Do you hear me? We will find him."

He just stared at her numbly for a moment, but finally a bit of the spark she had seen the evening before began to return again. "Problem is; I don't really know where to start looking 'Mione. The shop, the Burrow? Where else would George be after this much time?"

"Well, we'll start by looking for clues here. Maybe there is something somewhere to give us an indication of what might have happened. How's that sound?"

"Do you really think we'll find something?" he asked hopefully, but a doubtful expression still lingering across his face.

"We can't find it until we look," she said brightly. "Now, let's get started."

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