Fred listened to every sound of Hermione as she left him in the dust. The pounding of her boots down the steps, the gasping as she ran faster and faster, even the sound of her voicec yelling another mans name. Frred stood there, motionless. Fred was surprised thatg he was even breathing. When he nearly fell to his knees, he realized it was time to talk to someone. Someone he could trust.
If someone asked Fred how he managed to get to his room without having a breakdown, he would not be able to answer or do it again. When he stepped into his room, George hardly moved. Fred plopped himself down on his bed, and stared intensely at George. It took awhile for his twin to notice Fred's need. Finally, George sighed and looked at him. "Well, it's nice to see you without Hermione."
Fred flinched and George noticed, "What's wrong, mate?" Fred closed his eyes and willed himself not to cry, at least not in front of George. His eyes flickered, and he stood and grabbed his trunk, before George could object, and began packing. "What's going on, Fred? Is something wrong?" George stood up and was staring at Fred so seriously that Fred fell apart.
"No, no, NO!" He was yelling now, which only made George more concerned, but he knew Fred to well, if you want to know something, you'll never know, but if its no big deal, you'll find out.
"Ok, sorry. So where is Hermione?" George said, but regretted it immediately. It was her that was setting Fred on edge, but why? Fred stared daggers at George and said "Were leaving, now."
"Ron! Ron? RON! Please, wait!" Hermione screamed as she chased after him all the way outside and the whole time, he made no indication that she was there. Finally, he stopped when they were a long way from the house. He turned around and looked at her with the same determined glare that he had held in his eyes back in the first year, when they played the wizard chess game. Hermione reminded herself that she wasn't at Hogwarts or in her first year. She was never going back to Hogwarts, this past year, her sixth, was her last year.
Hermione stood there arguing with herself, until she decided to break the silence, "Ron, please. I'm so sorry, I-" Hermione stopped herself because of the small, subtle shake of Ron's head. "No." He croaked out, Hermione could hardly hear him, "My turn. You're going to listen to me, this time." He took a deep breath, as if preparing for the worst. This worried Hermione. "
"Why Hermione? Is it because of Lavender Brown? You know she doesn't mean anything to me. Haven't you realized how much you mean to me? You mean everything to the world, and-and I mean what to you? What am I to you, your brother-in-law? Hermione, that's just not enough. Its not enough for me. " Hermione wiped her face with the inside of her hand. "I don't know what to say." Ron raised his head and looked at Hermione in the eyes.
"He loves you. He loves you, Hermione. Do you even care about him?" He paused and when Hermione didn't reply, he screamed louder than Hermione had ever heard, so loud, she flinched. "Do you?"
Hermione replied through sobs "Of course I do! I love him, with all my heart!" Ron's eyes lost its determination and now they were filled with hurt. He began to walk away, then stopped and said "Then, your heart obviously doesn't have any room for me." Hermione realized what he was saying and sobbed harder. "No, Ronald, I didn't mean it like that. Please don't go!" She ran to give him a hug and instead of the warm welcome she had wished for, she simply received a light fairy like kiss on her forehead, and a soft ';Goodbye, 'Mionie" and then the sounds of her own sobs and the burn in her heart.