Thank you all to those who followed and favourited this story! And thank you to GardenOfSnow for making this story happen!

Chapter Two

Almost There

Hermione's vision was blurred and her head ached fit to burst. She opened her eyes for only a millisecond and felt her eyes burn with a fierce passion. Her head was flooded with memories, sad and happy, angry and calm.

"Love is anterior to life, posterior to death, initial of creation, and the exponent of breath." Hermione read, taking a glance at Fred every now and again, who was resting his head on her lap. She turned the page. "Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality."

"Okay, what the heck did you just read?" Fred asked, taking his head off Hermione and sitting upright. He started to laugh. "I mean, when I asked you to read to me, I expected 'The Warlock's Hairy Heart', or even 'The Fountain of Fair Fortune', which is, like, so boring. I wasn't expecting Shakespeare. Come on, 'Mione, you know how much I hate Shakespeare. I've had enough with Mum reading it to me, quoting 'he was a great wizard bla bla bla'."

"For one, this is not Shakespeare, who, can I say, is a great wizard, for the thousandth time, it's Emily Dickinson, who, yes, is a Muggle. She's a poet, and I find her poems very meaningful and touching." Hermione sighed. "But of course, if you'd like me to read you 'Snow White' then sure..."

"But snow is white." Fred said, confused. "And I don't like poems. Especially if it's by Shakespeare."

"It's by Emily Dickinson, Fred." Hermione said loudly, getting more and more impatient by the second. "Emily Dickinson. Emily freaking Dickinson."

Fred snorted loudly. "She has a very creative surname." At that, Hermione hit the book on his head and he winced in pain, rubbing his head vigorously. "Ow! Gee, woman!"

"Fred, you are quite forgetting that you are now a seventeen-year-old. Yet you act even more immature than Ronald – and that's saying something!" Hermione exclaimed.

"What?" laughed Fred. "Once a prankster. Always a prankster."

Hermione picked up her book, tempted to hit him over his head again. "More like, once an idiot. Always a freaking idiot."

"You do know I am sitting about half a metre away from you, right?" Fred said, amused at Hermione. She plastered a smile on her face and this time hit Fred's shoulder with her book. "Okay, 'Mione, you've got to stop hitting me! You're abusing me."

"Of course I am." Hermione snorted. "And yes, I am very well aware."

"Read me more. Anything to shut you up." Fred pleaded, resting his head back on Hermione's lap again.

"Fine." Hermione rolled her eyes. She turned the page in her book and started to read once again. "Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all."

Once she finished the last line, Fred stayed silent, looking out in front of him very thoughtfully.

"So?" Hermione cleared her throat.

"I like that one."

Hermione felt like her throat was on fire - she couldn't breathe, or move, or even open her mouth. She still wasn't sure where she was, but her whole world was already disappearing from her reach.

"Are you mad at me for leaving Hogwarts?" asked Fred softly. He was concerned about whatever had been going on between him and Hermione, especially with Hermione ignoring him a lot recently. "I understand if you are, 'Mione, I wasn't planning on leaving you there. George and I weren't even planning on leaving until the very end of our N.E.W.T.S but you know, things occured... If you're angry, tell me, Mia. Please." He added at the end.

"I'm not angry, or mad." Hermione sighed. "But you left school in the middle of your last year, even before taking your exams. Aren't you worried about which jobs you won't be able to get? I mean, who wants a life like Filch?"

"George and I knew the consequences. That's why we started the joke shop!" Fred tried his best to smile, but something in Hermione's eyes numbed his lips half-way. "Just think about it – it's not ideal but..."

"I have. And you've given me a good enough explanation. I want to talk no more about this, okay?"

Fred widened his eyes. "Hermione, I don't care if I get like twenty-year lecture or anything, just tell me you're not mad."

"I'm not, for Godric's sake." Hermione laughed. "Stop being such a worry guts."

Fred sighed in relief. He trailed his thumb across her tender cheeks. "I missed you a lot, 'Mione."

Hermione placed her hand on his fingers. "Yeah, I know."

Hermione could see lights. The lines shot at her, burning her eyes, her mouth, her whole body, and it caused her to shrink down, although there was no place to shrink down into. It pained her – all of it – it pained her. And it just wouldn't go away.

Everyone sat in huddles in the Great Hall. Not a week had passed since the last task of the Triwizard Tournament, and everyone was still shaken up from Cedric's sudden death. Out of all the people, Harry had been the most disturbed, and he barely left his dormitory, not even for meals. But how could anyone blame him?

The seconds turned into minutes, which turned into hours, which turned into days, and soon it was once again the end of another year. Harry, Hermione and Ron walked together to the Great Hall, for their last meal before they said goodbye again. Hermione and Ron looked at Harry warily, who had barely touched his scrambled eggs.

"Well," Hermione said tactfully, knowing Harry would want to be left alone. "I think I'm going to back and triple check I've got everything. Okay, Harry?" Hermione shot Ron a look and he too stood up, repeating what Hermione had just said. When Harry shrugged, Hermione and Ron left the table, Hermione kissing Harry's forehead just before getting up.

"I'm worried about him, 'Mione." Ron said when they were out.

"You don't think I feel the same way?" Hermione sighed. "Harry hasn't slept a wink, eaten anything, well, he hasn't done anything, not since...the task. What if something happens when he's back with his relatives, what do you think they're going to do?"

Ron shrugged. "I'm sure he'll be okay. Well, he's Harry."

Hermione suppressed a smile as they walked on. In the corner of her eye, she saw a red-head sitting on a bench, alone. When she realised it was one of the twins, she furrowed her brow, wondering why their other half wasn't with them. Hermione stopped short, causing Ron to turn around.

"I'll, um, catch up with you later." Hermione mumbled, already turning on her heel. She sat down next to the twin, and she realised it was Fred. She then immediately blushed. She wasn't sure what was going on with her and Fred – they had, for some reason, been hanging out together more in the year, and they'd both had felt this... somewhat strange feeling when Hermione went to the Yule Ball with Krum and Fred with Angelina, although they weren't quite able to distinguish it.

"Hey, Hermione." Fred smiled, although his words – they seemed to be too quick out of his mouth, too meaningless when out. "How are you?"

"Good." Hermione smiled back, although she could sense that something was wrong. "Hey, Fred, is... is everything alright?"

"Yes, everything's fine." Fred said through gritted teeth, which, unfortunately, Hermione was able to notice.

"Fred..." Hermione pleaded with her eyes, making Fred even more uncomfortable. "Fred, what's wrong? I can tell that something's not right..."

Fred kept his mouth shut. "There's really nothing."

Hermione sighed. "I wish I could believe you."

Fred threw his hands up in the air. "Maybe you should just...stop hanging around me." It hurt even himself when he said it. Before he had known it, Fred had fallen for Hermione, and he was terrified of the outcome.

"Wh-what?" Hermione's voice shook. "But why? What have I done?"

Fred just shook his head and took off running. He then stopped himself, thinking things over. He was Fred Weasley, chief prankster, maker of some early Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and he was running away from Hermione Granger, simply because he was scared. He almost laughed at how stupid that sounded.

"Fred, stop. Please, just tell me what I did wrong." Hermione pleaded. "Please…"

Fred covered his ears with his hands and walked off.

Hermione felt like she was slowly being sucked out of some place, and she could finally breathe.

Hermione was still not sure why Fred had been acting so strange. She felt hurt. She felt very hurt.

She couldn't deny her feelings for Fred. They'd grown throughout her Fourth Year, but she didn't have the guts to talk to him properly about them. She hoped maybe in Fifth Year, things would change, but now it was obvious it wasn't.

Hermione sighed as she saw Fred sitting by himself by the fire.

"Fred." Hermione said, barely audible.

Fred immediately turned around and his face fell. Merlin, why couldn't he like some normal girl - like Angelina? Or even Katie? "H-Hermione…"

"Why?" she blurted out. "Why have you been acting like... like I'm invisible or something? You haven't looked at me once since the end of the last year. And I've been here for days now."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Fred said quickly, almost too quickly. "Hermione, I've been treating you like I always have."

"No, you're not." Hermione said, taking a deep breath. She felt like she was going to cry, but she knew that would be an absolutely stupid thing to do. "You've been pretending I don't exist ever since I got here. No, ever since we had that talk only a few months ago."

"What... talk?"

Hermione clenched her fists. "The talk we had at school, only last month. The talk when you told me that I should stop hanging around with you. I don't get it, Fred, we were fine before."

Fred gulped. "I… Hermione... I know you would like to but... there are some things you can't... know…"

Hermione nodded slowly. "Right." She then suddenly felt anger flash through her. "We were friends before. Really good friends. Everything was fine. The next minute, I no longer mean anything to you. What, do you do this to everyone?"

Fred opened his mouth but it was as if the words he was going to say escaped him, and he remained silent.

"Right, thank you so much." Hermione scoffed, turning on her heel.

"Hermione, it's not like that…"

"Then what is it like, Fred?" Hermione asked. "Do you even know how it felt to be ignored like that? Especially after I realised I had... I…"

Fred looked down, feeling immensely guilty. "It's hard to hang out with someone who you already know you're going to lose…"

Hermione paused. "How are you going to lose me? I know You-Know-Who's back but... he's not fully recovered yet. And Hogwarts is safe enough, especially with Dumbledore with us."

"Not in that way." Fred whispered so quietly, even Hermione didn't hear. "I just... I made a stupid mistake."

"What do you mean?"

Fred sighed. "I fell for you."

Hermione whipped her head up, unsure if she heard the right four words. "You what?" When Fred didn't answer her, she lifted his chin up and stared right into his eyes.

"Fred." When he didn't answer for the second time, she leaned in and kissed him. He kissed back, before pulling away seconds later.

"Hermione, this is wrong. This is really wrong."

Memories flashed and faded in her mind. She wasn't sure about many things, but she knew one thing for sure. She was almost there.

"...never mind..."

"No." Hermione whispered. "I want this too."

Everything looked so clear. She could see a tiny sign from miles away, and the top of Big Ben. She turned around and realised she was in front of a very large house, or flat.

She smiled.

12 Grimmauld Place.

It had worked.

She looked down at her Hogwarts robes and frowned slightly. She then took out her bag and pulled out a pair of jeans and a stripy polo. Hermione then scraped her hair in a ponytail before setting foot into the Muggle area.

Closing her eyes, she felt the walls of the houses around her widen. When she opened her eyes, she saw a large door right in front of her.

"Alohomora."

With a deep breath, she entered.

Feedback is appreciated :)