Anything Can Happen

By: mistress-of-the-soul

Chapter Two

Fred woke up the next morning with the sunlight on his face. Outside his window the world was alive and working. The birds were singing and the bugs were buzzing. The garden gnomes were marching steadily back to their holes after being thrown across the field a few days prior. Fred sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Looking out the window, he was reminded of how it was when he was a child; always waking up early enough to watch the sunrise. George always laughed thinking it was an absurd thing to do, especially for a boy. Fred shook his head and turned his eyes away from the bright light of the sun. Hermione was still asleep in the bed across the room. Or so she seemed. Fred watched her chest rise and fall and chuckled lightly to himself. "Amateur," he thought. He would always fake being asleep as to avoid doing his chores when he was younger. His mother somehow always knew when he was pretending. Fred watched as Hermione breathed unevenly. "You know," Fred said aloud, "when you sleep your breathing is supposed to be eve, not erratic." Hermione's chest stopped moving and her eyes popped open. She glared at Fred who simply grinned. "Don't worry, I won't tell."

Fred went down to breakfast with a plan formulating in his mind. "How to embarrass Ron; this is payback little brother." Fred sat down at the table and was surprised to see Lavender and Ron sitting side by side eating like any normal person would. Neither lavender's nor Ron's face bore any marks of the previous night's battle. Fred looked towards his mother for an explanation. His worst fears were confirmed when his mother walked around the table ladling food onto plates. "Lavender dear, would you like some more eggs?" Fred gawked at his mother and Ron smirked. Fred stood up from the table so fast that he knocked his chair over. "Fred, what has gotten into to you this morning?" his father asked from the head of the table. Fred pointed at Lavender and Ron, "They have, and I can't believe that you are siding with them."

"Well, dear, when I found them last night they told me the real story." "The real story?" Fred blanched. "They are lying to you mother!" "Fredrick, please! Contain yourself!" Mr. Weasley yelled. "I am through. I am ashamed to call you my family." Fred stormed back up the stairs and threw open his door. Hermione bolted upright and asked, "What the hell was that for?" "We are leaving. Hurry and get your things from Ginny's room," Fred ordered. Hermione was aghast. She had never been addressed so rudely by Fred before. "Excuse me?" She asked. "I don't know who gave you authority over me, but I know it wasn't me. I haven't done anything to you that should result in me being treated like this. And, I don't need to go get my things from Ginny's room. One: because I will not be ordered around by anyone and two: she has already thrown my things at me and told me to get out. So Fred Weasley, what is your problem?"

Fred hung his head and sank onto George's bed. "My family is my problem," he said. "They do to you exactly what they did to me. It's too much to explain now, but I will explain in due time. They all sided with Ron and Lavender. It is the same exact thing over again. I thought they had changed. I am ashamed to be called a Weasley right now." Hermione looked sincerely confused but she nodded anyway. "So where are we supposed to go?" she asked. "My parents are in Romania doing research and you don't have a place."

Fred looked over his shoulder where he was putting his things in a small suitcase. "As a matter of fact, I have an apartment. It is above the shop. We had it built just in case. I moved in there after my family deserted me." "So why are you here?" Hermione asked. "I thought that they might have changed," Fred answered. "I guess I was wrong." "What about George?" Hermione asked. "He's gone. He lives in America with Alicia Spinet now. He said he wanted a more promising feature than the one a joke shop offered." Hermione said nothing ad helped Fred pack up the rest of his things. "You remember where the shop is right?" Hermione nodded. "Good, we can Apparate there. See you on the other side." With a pop Fred disappeared and left Hermione all alone. "Oh what the hell," Hermione said and she spun on her heel, disappearing just as Fred had done.

00

Fred arrived at the shop a little before Hermione. He took the time to unlock the shop and throw his things on the floor. Fred sank to the floor and put his head in his hands. He drew in a long ragged breath and chanted quietly to himself, "I must not cry. I must not cry." A small pop echoed within the shop and Fred heard someone call his name. "Fred," Hermione called. Fred looked up and saw Hermione looking at him with concern. "Are you okay?" she asked. Fred nodded his head and got up from the floor. "So," he said, feigning cheerfulness. "Would you like to see where you will be living until term starts?" Hermione nodded half-heartedly, still concentrating on what Fred's family had done that would make him come so close to crying.

Hermione followed Fred into the backroom where a lot of the extra merchandise was kept. Fred led the way over to a bare wall. Fred tapped the wall in four different places ad it slid open. Hermione raised an eyebrow but said nothing. "Got it from the library, the spell I mean," Fred said. "It's a pretty good spell," Hermione said. "Pretty common, too," she added as an after thought. Fred shook his head and led the way up the stairs behind the wall. Hermione followed quietly and they finally reached the landing. Fred unlocked the door with his wand and let Hermione pass through first. Hermione stood in the middle of the hallway impressed. "Do you like it?" Fred asked. "It does seem a bit big for my liking, but I have gotten used to it." Hermione didn't answer but instead she sat her bags down and looked around the apartment. Twenty minutes later she came back to the entrance hallway and eyed a very confused Fred.

"Did you say you lived here?" she asked accusingly. "Yes," Fred said. "Well," Hermione said, "I like it. It is very clean for a male though. Compared to your room at the Burrow I would have expected boxes of unknown objects to be scattered everywhere." "Yeah, well," Fred said scratching his head, "I have been kind of obsessive about my things ever since…well…since it happened." Hermione was interested in what troubles Fred had but she just wanted to know where she would be sleeping. As if reading her mind, Fred blurted out, "I'll show you where you will be sleeping and you can get settled. "Okay," Hermione said and followed Fred to the back of the apartment. "The first door on the left is the bathroom," Fred pointed out. "That's my room," he said, pointing to a white door on the right side of the hallway. They continued down the hall and Fred showed Hermione the exercise room and then he led her to the last room on the right.

"This is your room," He said opening the door. Inside was a four poster bed with navy blue hangings and silver sheets. The walls were a dark blue and the carpet was the same silver as the bed sheets. A white vanity sat in the corner and a wall mirror hung across the room, opposite the bed. "Wow," Hermione whispered. Fred blushed and pushed his hands into his pockets. "I've always bee a sucker for fashion and decorating, but don't worry, I'm not gay!" he explained. Hermione smiled a small smile and walked over to the closet. She slid open the doors and walked inside. "Wow, you are the only guy I know who has a walk in closet," she said. "Don't worry," she added, "I know you're not gay." Fred smiled and replied, "Well, I guess I'll leave you to it then. I'll be downstairs if you need me."

Fred walked out and quietly shut the door. He walked downstairs and shut himself in his study so he could be alone and cry.

00

Fred fell sleep on his desk, upon which had a mountain of papers that needed to be filed. His head lolled to the side and slipped off the desk causing him to jump and fall out of his chair. "Bloody hell," he mumbled. He lifted his watch up to his face so he could see what time it was. "11:30!" Fred yelped. He jumped up and ran up the stairs and barged in apologizing. "I am so sorry! I fell asleep! We missed dinner! Gosh I am such an idiot!" Fred looked around but did not see Hermione anywhere. He checked the kitchen and living room but had no luck. Finally, he went and knocked on her door. "Hermione, are you in there?" Fred asked. There was no answer so Fred knocked again. "Hermione?" There was still no answer and it worried Fred greatly.

Fred quietly turned the doorknob and walked inside. Hermione was sprawled on the floor with an empty bottle beside her. Fred rushed to her and picked her up and placed her on the bed. He quickly looked her over to make sure that she did not have any injuries then he went to get the bottle. "Firewhiskey," he breathed, "Hermione, what has the world done to you?" Fred pulled the blankets up over Hermione and closed the window curtains. He made sure that she was comfortable and quietly exited the room. Before he shut the door, Fred could have sworn that he heard a sob.