Reminder:

- I still don't own Harry Potter, but if I did, I'd be pretty cool, now wouldn't I?

- There are Deathly Hallows spoilers.

- Disregard the Epilogue

- Suggestions are always welcome and reviews are much loved. Only takes a second!

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Thanks for your reviews of chapter 1. I'm glad I could entertain you!

Chapter 2: Runaway

Two weeks went by and in that time survivors were healing physically and emotionally. Hogwarts was on its way to being completely restored, window-by-window, stone by stone. It would be ready to reopen on time at the end of summer.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione soon returned to the Burrow. Fred went back to the joke shop, after visiting his mum first. But without having a mission, Harry and Ron soon became bored. They left the Burrow after a few days to go fix up Grimmauld Place. Hermione had no desire to be working on an old house. She'd already spent too much time cleaning it. Plus she had to visit her parents.

After the fall of Voldemort, Kingsley Shacklebolt arranged for the Ministry to find the Granger's after hearing what Hermione had done to protect them. Their memories were restored and Hermione was able to be with them again. She once thought she would never be able to once she sent them off.

She was honest with her parents about all of the events of the year away from them, and while they were angry with her for modifying their memories, they were beyond proud of how clever and brave their daughter was. After spending a couple of weeks with them, she soon began to miss her friends and the wizarding world. It was hard for her to fit back in as a Muggle after all that happened. She was relieved from her boredom one afternoon when she received a letter from a handsome grey owl.

Dear Hermione,

We are going to be hosting a party to celebrate the downfall of Tom Riddle. Tonight at 7 at the joke shop. You'll be able to stay here overnight should you wish to. Hope to see you soon.

Much love,

Gred and Forge

Hermione couldn't help but smile at the letter. Even though she knew the party was bound to be trouble, she needed to see everyone again. She had a bag packed with a flick of her wand and she ran downstairs to tell her parents.

"Mum, Daddy, I'm going to go to a little party this evening," she said to her parents, currently sitting in the living room watching the news.

"Oh, that'll be nice, Hermione," her mom said. "Don't be too late."

"Well actually, I was going to stay with my friends for awhile," she responded, shifting nervously under their gazes.

"Hermione, you can't leave us again," her mom argued.

"Mum, I'm of legal age now, and I belong in the wizarding world," she retorted. "I'll be back on visits, I promise."

Hermione," her dad finally said something, "You may be a witch, but you're our daughter and I'm not so sure I want you to be part of a world that encourages its youth to cast spells and manipulate their parents."

Hermione's eyes began to well up with tears at this point. "I thought I told you I was trying to protect you."

"Our job is to protect you," he said angrily, his voice rising. "And right now young lady, I'm protecting you from those people."

"Those people? Those people? I am one of those people, Dad, whether you like it or not," Hermione shouted back, refusing to let her tears spill. She turned her back on her parents and made her way back to her bedroom.

"Hermione, where do you think you're going?" her mother yelled after her, following her upstairs. Her parents made it to her bedroom to see all of her belongings flying into her trunk.

Calmly, Hermione looked at her parents, her anger replaced by sadness as she replied, "I'm going to be with my people." And with that, she left her room with a loud crack, untraceable to her parents.

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Hermione reappeared in Diagon Alley, the tears that had been threatening beginning to spill over. Happy, carefree people once again crowded all of the shops, and the crying witch running along with her trunk clumsily pulled behind her was an odd sight. She reached the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, only to find it closed.

Frantically she began banging on the door, only to here a voice somewhere inside shout "Oi! We're closed!" But Hermione didn't relent on her knocking. Finally, George appeared at the door, clutching a telescope angrily at being interrupted, but dropped it immediately seeing Hermione there in the state she was in. Fred appeared a second later and the twins ushered the girl into the shop, George grabbing her trunk as they went.

"What's the matter, Hermione?" Fred asked. But all he got were a few words through he hiccupping. He caught "parents… Australia… trying to help… those people… left home…." Fred took over the trunk, floating it upstairs to their flat, with Hermione close behind. George ran off for a bottle of firewhiskey, thinking tea would not be enough to calm the hysterical girl.

Hermione looked an absolute mess as she flopped onto the couch and more tears fell down her face. Her bushy hair was defying gravity and sticking up at odd angles.

Fred had no idea how to console the crying girl, so he did what he did best: from his pocket, Fred pulled out a handful of candies and popped all of them in his mouth at the same time. Instantly, his bright red hair turned into feathers a sickly shade of green, his nose elongated into an elephant trunk and a monkey tail sprouted from his bum. He then conjured a bouquet of innocent looking flowers and offered them to her. She eyed them suspiciously, but couldn't help but give him a watery smile as she accepted the bouquet, which turned out to be completely harmless.

Mission accomplished, Fred was able to return his appearance to normal and smooth Hermione's hair in a comforting gesture. George reappeared and he handed her a glass of firewhiskey, which she accepted and took a small sip. She was able to tell them what happened with her parents without breaking down completely.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude on you guys, but I got your letter and this was the first place I thought of to come, since I was coming anyways," she rambled, embarrassed that she broke down in front of them.

"Don't even worry about it, Hermione," George responded.

"Yeah, you know you're always welcome here or the Burrow," Fred continued.

"And Harry's got Grimmauld Place now, too. Not that it's exactly livable at the moment, but they're working on it."

"Thanks guys," Hermione said, feeling better knowing that she had so many people who cared for her. "Do you mind if I clean up a bit for the party?"

"Bathroom's down the hall," Fred said, pointing in the direction. She thanked them and pulled her trunk after her through the hallway.

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After taking a shower, Hermione felt much better. Her parents would come around eventually and now was a time to be happy. She didn't have to live in fear anymore and she intended to live her life to the fullest now that she wasn't in danger of dying at any moment.

Hair wrapped in a towel to dry, Hermione sorted through her trunk for an outfit. She chose a strapless black shirt that clung to her figure nicely, a jeans skirt that came to about mid-thigh, and a pair of ballet-style shoes that were pink with a black lace pattern over it. She looked over her tiny frame as she finished drying her hair with her wand. It fell in semi-tame waves down to the middle of her back. She finished her look with a small amount of make-up just to accent her features.

When she reappeared, the twins were nowhere in sight, but she heard voices and music coming from down in the shop. Looking at the clock, she saw it was a quarter after seven. Walking down the steps, she noticed a rather large crowd in the shop. Apparently everyone wanted to get the party started as soon as possible. It seemed all of the Wizard Wheezes were in the backroom and the shop itself was converted into a club-like atmosphere. Most of it became a dance floor, but there were several grouping of chairs and couches along the edges of the room.

Hermione saw the Weasley kids and Harry in the crowd, along with various people from Hogwarts, some she didn't recognize. Harry and Ron looked up and saw her first and looked happy to see her again. The three of them belonged together and even though she had only been gone a few weeks, she knew this is where she was supposed to be. She joined their group and got hugs from them and Ginny.

Ginny decided to pull Harry off to dance, which he did not complain about one bit. They weren't officially back together, but it was only a matter of time. Ron handed Hermione a drink and pulled her to join Harry and Ginny on the dance floor. The four of them danced for a while, becoming wilder with each drink they had.

Hermione felt someone grab her from behind and was spun to come face-to-face with George.

"Feeling better?" he asked, twirling her around.

"Much better," she replied laughing as Fred stole her away.

"George and I were doing some thinking-"

"-And since you won't be able to stay with your parents-"

"-We thought we'd offer you a job here-"

"-And a place to stay until you get sorted out."

Hermione was just trying to understand how they finished each other's sentences when she realized what they were offering her.

Smiling, she replied, "Thanks guys, but you don't have to-"

"Yes we do," they both said cutting her off.

"Besides," Fred continued, "you're brilliant. You're bound to think up some wonderful product for us."

"Well I'm not much of a prankster, in case you didn't notice, but I guess I can't really refuse you, can I?"

"Nope," the both said. Fred spun her back to Ron and the twins went off to entertain other guests. He, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny all decided to go sit down and take a break from dancing. They were all more than just a little drunk and it led them to believe a game of truth or dare was a good idea. More people joined the group when they heard what was going on.

"Harry," Ron slurred, "Truth or dare, mate?"

"Truth."

"Are you kidding?" Seamus interrupted. "You defeated the darkest wizard of all time, but you pick truth?" Harry just shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

"Alright, truth then. When are you gonna get back with my sister?"

"I-I don't know…" he answered. Ginny didn't look too happy about his answer.

"That's not an answer!" Ron shouted, getting a bit belligerent.

"It's the truth," Harry retorted. "Um… Seamus, Truth or dare?" He wanted to get the attention off of himself quickly.

"Dare," he said, trying to be more badass than the Boy-Who-Chose-Truth.

"Go snog Lavender," Harry said effectively making everyone watch the two go at it drawing a bunch of ooh's and aah's from the crowd. When he came up for air, he looked for his victim.

"Alright, George, truth or dare?"

"Dare." Glancing around, Seamus noticed Ron was completely passed out in his chair. With an evil smirk, he conjured a permanent marker and some duct tape and handed them to George.

Five minutes later, Ron was taped into his chair and had a drawn-on goatee, mustache, and unibrow.

"Hermione, truth or dare?" George asked.

"Truth."

"How far have you gone with a guy?" Hermione blushed and muttered something about Victor Krum and having to stop him from groping too much. She quickly recovered herself and asked, "Ginny, truth or dare?"

"Dare." Hermione thought she'd help Ginny make Harry jealous.

"How about you kiss…" she started, looking around the room at the males present. Harry looked very hopeful. "Oliver Wood."

"But he's not even playing!" Harry objected.

"Well if you had gotten back together with her before now, it would be you she'd kiss, now wouldn't it?" Hermione retorted. Ginny just got up, walked across the dance floor to Oliver, and without saying anything, planted a kiss on his lips before walking away. He stared after her, confused. Harry looked livid.

The game went on a while longer, but ended when too many people, like Ron, had passed out. Harry had pulled Ginny into the backroom, to "talk." They'd been "talking" for at least an hour before returning, both with messy hair and extra-wrinkly clothes. Hermione was sleeping on a chair, her legs hanging over the armrest when Fred came over and woke her up.

"What d'ya want?" she asked tiredly.

"You can go sleep in the extra room upstairs if you want, since you'll be staying here anyway," he whispered, helping her up. She stumbled quite a bit on her way upstairs and Fred had to keep his arm around her waist to keep her steady. He led her to her room and the instant she fell on the bed, she was asleep again. Fred removed her shoes and pulled the sheets over her. Impulsively, he kissed her forehead, before leaving her to sleep.

--TBC--

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