A/N: I've decided to up my upload schedule, so you'll be receiving updates every other day now. It is also my duty as the author to tell you that we're nearing the end! According to my outline, we only have like 5-6 chapters to go! I know, so sad... and after it took them so long to get together, too... D:

Here it is, people, Chapter 9!

Disclaimer: I do not own, and sadly will never own, Harry Potter or its world...

Chapter 9: Three to Two to Three Again

The next morning, Hermione awoke feeling inexplicably happy to find a red-and-white carnation on the pillow next to her. It took her a few seconds to remember what had happened the night before and the thought of Fred's lips on hers only amplified the happy feeling a hundredfold. She charmed the flower to last longer and set it on a conjured vase filled with water. She was humming all the way to the bathroom, her braid slapping her back in time with her bouncy step. She couldn't help the giggle that rose when she stepped into the shower, nor the shiver of pleasure when she replayed the kiss in her mind. She admired her reflection on the mirror, her curls framing her face which was adorned by a wide smile.

She shook her head at her mirror image. "Get a grip, Hermione! You're behaving like Lavender and Parvati did back in school!" She shuddered at the thought and got herself together, but the happy feeling didn't go away.

She was halfway to the kitchens when she felt an arm wind around her waist. She almost tensed, but his scent, a mixture of the woods and gunpowder, made its way to her and she relaxed against him.

He whispered in her ear, his voice sending shivers down her spine. "Good morning, Hermione." She turned around in his arms and wound her arms around his neck.

"Good morning, Fred." She was lost again when his lips descended on her, driving all rational thought from her mind. If her mind would've allowed her to think, she would have thought it was weird. She had only ever kissed two boys before Fred—Viktor Krum in her fourth year and a muggle during the summer before her sixth—and even though she had enjoyed their kisses, especially Viktor's, they had nothing on how Fred's kisses made her feel.

Finally, their kiss ended, but they remained close to one another. "Wow," she breathed.

"Yeah," he smiled and pecked her lips once more. "Shall we tell everyone at breakfast? There's an early meeting, so most of them should be here." 'Them' being their family and friends.

She shrugged. "Let them figure it out by themselves."

"Alright."

As soon as they entered the kitchen, though, Fred turned to her, gathered her into his arms and kissed her for all to see. The sounds of silverware hitting plates, a few coughs and more than one choking was the backdrop to their kissing. Not that either of them noticed, since they were otherwise pleasurably occupied.

"I thought we were letting them figure it out by themselves?" she asked once he let her go.

He smiled down at her and placed a kiss on her forehead. "We did. We didn't tell them anything."

They didn't have much time for anything else, for in that moment they were interrupted by one of Mrs. Weasley's bear hugs. "Oh, Fred! Hermione!" Once they had regained their breathing capabilities, she addressed them both. "Finally! Oh, I'm so happy for the two of you. You take care of each other, now, hear me?" With a watery smile and a nod, she went back to serving breakfast, but they could feel her eyes on them for the rest of the morning.

"So you two together, then?" Tonks asked from her place at the table. She had dark circles under her eyes, and you could tell she hadn't slept the night before.

Both nodded, smiling.

"Since when?" Hermione cocked her head at the question, but answered anyways.

"Yesterday night." She was about to ask why, but she was interrupted by groans from more than half of the table.

"Yes! Pay up, people!" George, Tonks and Harry extended their hands, while Bill, Fleur, Hestia, Lupin and even Moody forked over their galleons. Once Lavender and Ron joined them, they too had to pay.

"You… you were betting on us!" Fred was laughing beside her, but she was sputtering, indignant.

Tonks rolled her eyes at them. "Obviously! George here bet that you would get together this week. I was betting for before Halloween, so I still win, but get less money because it was less accurate. Harry here was betting for the whole of September, so he too, wins something. Ron and Hestia thought you were already together, Bill and Fleur were betting on Christmas and Lupin and Moody on October. Lavender here had signed up for next week. Tough luck. Molly was the only who didn't want to bet. Arthur was down for November."

"Wha—what? I can't believe you! Why would you guys do something like that?"

Lavender shrugged. "Well, it was fun seeing you dance around each other, much better with the thrill of a bet behind it. We did this at Hogwarts all the time, Mione. Now, who made the first move?" Hermione stared at her for a minute, not really believing what she was asking. Finally, she raised her hands to the ceiling, as if praying for more patience. Fred seemed thoroughly unaffected, squeezing her waist and leading her around the table to a free seat.

She sat down with a sigh, and noticing that everyone seemed to be awaiting her answer, she pointed at Fred. "He did. Anything else you guys bet on?" She followed the exchange of money. It appeared Harry, Ron, Hestia and Fleur had lost a few galleons this time. She had to wonder at Harry and Ron, though. She would've thought they knew her well enough to know she would never have made the first move.

With a resigned shrug, she set to enjoy her breakfast. Her enjoyment was interrupted, though, by her best friends announcing the various painful things they would do to Fred if he hurt her. After he had properly reassured them he had no intentions of hurting her and she had properly scolded them for trying to scare him off, she could finally concentrate on eating.

The following days were a blur. She would wake up every day to a different flower on her pillow, train, study, research, enjoy her time with Fred in the evenings and go back to sleep. She would have liked more time with him, but the shop couldn't be left alone, though he did try to swing by for lunchtime most days.

They had already been walked in while snogging by half the people who had been at breakfast that day. After Mrs. Weasley had walked in on a particularly heated kiss which had involved Fred's hands under her shirt, they had been sat down by the Weasley matriarch to be given 'the talk', which had embarrassed them enough not to be able to look at each other, or at Mrs. Weasley, for the rest of the day. They also started to choose their meeting places with more care, in order to avoid another awkward conversation.

And yet, neither of them could've been happier. Being together brought them a sense of completion, of rightness that neither could describe nor explain. They took pictures along with their escapades into dark rooms and dusty corners as if to always have proof of the stolen kisses that marked the beginnings of their relationship.

September came to a close and October's cold winds brought bleaker news each day. Harry, Ron and Hermione were at a loss. They didn't know how to destroy the Horcrux they had and had no idea of where to find the others. After having talked with Ron and Harry about it, Hermione had agreed to pass the Horcrux between the three of them, yielding to Harry's decision that they not let it out of their sight. The days she wore it, though, were awful and the only thing keeping her going was the thought of Fred.

By mid-October, they were again being sent on missions, mostly watching certain locations of interest, or as back-up whenever needed. Whenever they were sent alone, Hermione and Fred tried to make the most out of their stake-outs and since they always went undercover as a couple, they treated their outings as dates, knowing they couldn't have a real date until the war was fought and won. George was meeting with Angelina more and more, so that effectively they were functioning as a team of two with George joining them for the bigger missions. Bill and Fleur used to work in the same way, but she was now excused from active duty due to her pregnancy, which according to Hermione's second check-up was going very well.

By the 25th, the trio was running out of ideas. Out of sheer desperation they had visited the location of the orphanage where Voldemort had grown up, only to find it had been replaced by a huge office building.

Halloween rolled around and Hermione awoke with a knot in her belly. Nothing good had ever happened on Halloween. The twins had step up with pranking trying to pick up the slack, and spent half the day turning people into various animals, making their hair turn different colors and in Ron's case, fart glitter every time he tried to speak. Needless to say, he was not amused. Neither was their mother.

Reprieve came by 6 o'clock, when Moody turned up and requested George go meet Angelina again. Hermione's gut twisted and she felt Fred's hand, which had been secretly caressing her thigh under the table tense. She looked at him and saw the same thing in his eyes that she felt in her. They had a bad feeling about this. George, however, refused their offer of help, assuring them this was just a routine meeting with her.

Once again, they resolved to wait in the library.

"Did you like today's flower, love?" She smiled at the question. Every day before he retired to the Burrow he asked the same thing. She had noticed, though, that today he was a bit distracted, probably because of his worry over George. Her heart did a funny little leap when she also noticed that it was the first time he had called her 'love'.

"Loved it. The iris is one of my favorite flowers. This one was particularly beautiful. Thank you."

"No more beautiful than you, though." She smiled in his arms and raised her head to lightly peck his lips. Instead, he brought her closer kissing her hard. They got lost in each other's arms, their passion for each other making time inconsequential. Had the floo not gone off, they might have stayed like that the whole night. But it did, and what they saw when they turned made their blood run cold.

Angelina was kneeling on the carpet in front of the fireplace, her sparkly cocktail dress was slashed in several places and it was dirty with blood and mud. Her multiple braids framed her bruised face and her lip was split.

Fred tore himself from the couch, Hermione falling to her knees right beside him.

"Angie? Angie! What happened?" His voice was trembling and his hands shook as he helped her get up and sit in the couch. Hermione was already casting spells to clean her wounds and stop the bleeding. Someone must have heard him shouting because Moody entered the library quickly followed by the others.

Angeline turned her head to look at Fred, tears spilling from her eyes. "I'm sorry Fred. They were on to me. On to us. I didn't know. I'm sorry!"

"Angelina! What happened?" Fred face was contorted in agony. Hermione grasped his hand, but he didn't seem to notice.

"I'm sorry, Fred. They have George."

The news that George had been taken had shaken the Order members to the core. Fred had gone nearly berserk in his attempts to get them to do something. A team, including both Hermione and Fred, since they made it quite clear neither would stay behind, had gone back to where they had been ambushed, only to find no traces of where they might have taken George, or couldn't even determine if he was still alive.

Fred insisted he was. He said that if George was dead, he would know. They had returned to headquarters past four in the morning, tired and discouraged. No one had said anything when Fred had taken Hermione by the hand and locked the bedroom door behind them.

Behind the doors, though, instead of the rage he had displayed when Angelina had showed up, Fred had collapsed to his knees, feeling bleak. Hermione had taken him by the hand and lead him to her bed, where she put her arms around him, letting him cry on her shoulder.

By the time he fell asleep two hours later, the whole front of her shirt was wet with his tears. She used her wand to accommodate him, and fell asleep tenderly stroking his hair. Hours later, he woke up minutes before she did, his arms around her body, drawing her closer, her presence giving him the only comfort he could find.

The Order was spread thin, and they were using every resource available to try and find George. The days passed, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes remained closed and Fred continued to spend the night at Grimmauld Place with Hermione.

November seventh dawned, marking a week since George had gone missing and still there was no clue as to where he was being kept. They knew he was alive, since more than once Order members had heard Death Eaters at the Ministry commenting on the 'blood-traitor brat' they had caught. None let slip where he was, though.

It was dinnertime when they received the first glimmer of hope. The table was quiet as it had been since Halloween, so the loud pop of Apparition startled everyone out of their seats. Kreacher was floating in front of Harry, an excited look on his old, wrinkled face.

"Master Harry, Master Harry! Kreacher knows!" Kreacher had been sent back to work at Hogwarts and, along with Dobby, was helping to keep an eye on Snape and the Death Eaters there. No one noticed a House Elf.

"Kreacher, Kreacher! Calm down!" Once the over-excited elf had regained coherence, Harry asked him to deliver his news.

"Kreacher knows, Master Harry! Kreacher was cleaning the fireplace in the Headmaster's office when he heard the Headmaster ask!"

"Kreacher! Ask what? What did Snape ask?"

"Where he was! Kreacher heard the Headmaster ask where the Weasley brat was being kept and his guest said, Master Harry!"

"Speak, Elf! Where did he say he was?" Everyone was excited. If the information was accurate, they could rescue George!

"At my place! That's what the guest was saying!"

"Do you know who the guest was, Kreacher?" Harry asked, tense.

"They is not saying his name, Master Harry." They all deflated. That didn't help them any!

Hermione perked up. "Do you know what he looked like, Kreacher? The guest?" The Elf thought for a few moments.

"He was short, Miss, shorter than the Headmaster. And he was burly. His face was long and pale and twisted!" Hermione's eyes widened at the description, the scar across her chest almost tingling.

She turned to Moody. "You… you don't think… Dolohov?"

"The description seems to match. It's worth a try. Gear up!" Hermione made her way back to her room, where she transfigured her clothes. After a moment of hesitation, she donned the satchel that held all of her emergency supplies. Better safe than sorry.

She was about to take a drink in order to activate the Disguise Shot she had just swallowed when a hand stopped her.

"No, wait. I'd rather kiss you being you."

She turned to see Fred, the sparkle in his eyes rekindled, but she could still see the fear in them. She laid her hand gently on his cheek. "We'll get him back, Fred, don't worry."

"I know. But I can't not worry. Be careful out there, love. I can't risk losing you, too."

"You won't lose me, Fred. I'll be careful. We'll both come back with George." She slipped her hand from his cheek to the back of his neck, bringing his lips down on hers. For a minute, they both got lost in the kiss, but were brought back down to earth by Moody's voice from the doorway, telling them to hurry up. Grimly, they toasted before downing the shots that would make them unrecognizable for a couple of hours.

They apparated to the outskirts of Kent, where intelligence showed Dolohov's house to be. They were hoping that the overly proud Death Eater thought himself safe enough not to have his home under a Fidelius Charm. A three-minute walk from where they Apparated proved them right. The house was an old two-story Victorian house, made of faded red bricks with wide sash windows in the front. Through one of the windows they could see Dolohov having dinner alone.

Bill set to work on the wards. Being a curse-breaker he was the most likely not to trigger anything when attempting to dismantle Dolohov's security system. By the time he was done, Dolohov had left the dining room and had disappeared through one of the doors. They stealthily made their way to the front, where the three teams assigned to this mission—Harry, Ron and Hestia; Moody, Lupin and Arthur; Fred, Hermione and Bill—separated in different directions, their wands raised and ready to strike.

Fred, Bill and Hermione made their way to the right, towards the dining room where they had last seen Dolohov. There was only one other door that lead away from it, so they opened it and stepped through to find a long corridor with several doors on each side. The low lighting made it look eerie and cold.

Fred swore. "This is going to take all night! Best we separate and take them one at a time." While neither of them wanted to go on alone, they could see Fred's point. With a whispered 'Be careful' each took the handle of a different door and threw it open.

Nothing happened.

Hermione, however, was staring at her door, noticing that it lead not to a room, but to another corridor. She tried to step back, but found she couldn't. She stepped through and the door slammed at her back. She turned around to open it again, but it was futile. She turned around in a panic, only to see that further down the corridor Bill and Fred were standing in front of two other doors, definitively not the same ones they had started at, the same panicked look on their faces.

"What the…" She strode to the door in front of her, opened it and stepped through. It once again closed right behind her. This time, when she looked around, she could see Fred and Bill, staring at her in surprise. She had come out of the door right in front of Bill. "This is too weird." Once again she walked a few doors down, towards Fred, yanked that door open and stepped through. She appeared on another door, on the same side, but on the other end of the corridor.

"Bill," she turned to him only to find he was no longer where he had been, but on a door much closer. "Bill!" his head snapped up, fixing her with his intense stare. "Do you know what this is?"

"I've seen something similar in some of the tombs in Egypt. Takes bloody long to dismantle and you can't neutralize it without the password. It's very similar to what they have in the Department of Mysteries. Every time you step into the corridor, the doors shuffle. Only one leads on, all the others lead back to the corridor. I'm afraid the only way to advance without the password is to get lucky and get the door we need."

Fred had finally stopped trying out doors and made his way to where they were. "But that could take hours!" Hermione's face was one of horror. George could be hurt! They could be found out! They didn't have time to play guess-the-door. Just as she was about to speak again, another door to her right opened and in stepped Harry, Ron and Hestia.

Harry looked confused. "Hermione? Bill? Fred? What are you doing here?"

"We got here through the dining room. Apparently, this is some kind of obstacle. Only one door leads on and they all shuffle when you step through."

"We got here through Dolohov's bedroom. Why do you reckon he's got this, huh?"

"Probably as a security measure. He must have secrets he doesn't want anyone to find out." Hermione had barely finished speaking when anther door opened and in stepped Moody, Lupin and Arthur. "Great! Now we're all trapped here!" They quickly, after roving to Moody they were who they said they were, explained the situation. After checking that Moody's magical eye didn0t work against this enchantment, the nine set to work. They would open 9 doors at the same time, trying to maximize the chance of getting the correct one.

By the seventh time they tried it, they were losing patience. They were moving fast, opening doors, checking for a room, stepping through.

On the fifteenth try, Harry got it. His shout of surprise made everyone turn to look sharply at him. "I've got it! This one is different!" As they had planned, everyone else stepped through except Harry. Bill had told them that an open door did not shuffle, so Harry held the door while the others stepped through their own and then made their way to where he was. Indeed, the door once again led to a corridor, but it was different. While the one they were standing on was long and eerie, this one was no more than 10 paces and well lit. There was only one door at the other end.

They made their way through it, only to find some stairs going down. The room was dark and even the light from their wands barely made a dent on the all-consuming darkness. They could hear their ragged breaths in the silence.

By the third time someone, most likely Ron, had stepped on her foot, Hermione had had enough. "Oh, this is stupid! Lumos Maxima!" The others copied her incantation and the combined light of the wands forced the darkness, which must have been some sort of spell as well, to recede a little. They were met with a shocking surprise. There, against the back wall, was George, bloodied and bruised, but still breathing. He appeared to be unconscious. Fred was the first to react, followed closely by Hermione and Ron.

"George! Georgie! Wake up! Wake up, come on!" Fred was lightly slapping his face, while Hermione cast a quick diagnostic charm.

"He's got a few broken ribs and a hell of a lot of bruises, but nothing permanent. I can't fix him here, though. It'll take too long."

A silky voice came from the shadows, "Ah, yes. And what a pity that would be, wouldn't it?" In a second all wands were trained on the new arrival.

"Malfoy!" Harry spat. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"You know my name, how delightful. As for what I am doing here, well, when the door in the enchanted corridor is opened without the password it sends a signal. And really, I think I should be the one asking questions. Let's start with who are you and what do you want with the blood traitor brat." He raised his hands, which up to now had hung at his sides and the darkness receded completely. Behind him, and all around the room, no less than 10 Death Eaters were standing with their wands trained on them.

Hermione raised her wand, raising a silent shield in front of her. There was nothing to do but attack.

Spells flew in all directions, rebounding off Shield Charms, grazing the combatants igniting robes on flame. Hermione fought beside Harry and Ron, protecting Fred, George and Bill, who was taking down the anti-apparition wards so they could get out.

Without the wandlight, the room was once again dark, though not as much as before. The multicolored jets of light lighting it up in waves, making it appear as if the battle was being photographed by different colorful flashes. The stills they showed were nothing short of discouraging. Silver: Malfoy brandishing his wand against Lupin who was leaping out of the way. Hermione sent another curse at their attackers. Blue: Hestia taking on someone who looked suspiciously like Yaxley behind the mask. Bill continued to murmur, taking down the wards that prevented their escape, Fred bringing up shield after shield, helping the three that had their backs. Red: Arthur and Lupin fighting back to back against four Death Eaters.

"The wards are down, go, now!" Bills enhanced voice rang through the basement just before he took Fred and George by their arms and Disapparated them away.

Green: Moody toppling back as he received an Avada Kedavra to the face.

With a shout, Hestia threw herself at Moody's body, caught him by his robes and Apparated away. With a pop Lupin and Arthur were gone. With a last spell, Hermione caught Ron and Harry's hands and twisted, feeling the familiar sensation of being forced through a narrow tube grip her… just as she felt someone else grab her ankle.

They arrived at the front steps of number 12 where Hermione did the fastest wand work she had ever done. A quick Patronus swam through the door with a single message—Headquarters compromised, flee!—at the same time she sent a Repelling Jinx at the man who had grabbed her ankle and Apparated away.

They arrived at a forest clearing where they collapsed in a heap. Ron's anguished scream ran through the night as Hermione watched how his left sleeve began to soak with blood. She sank to her knees, sending a quick Severing Charm at his sleeve, ripping it off. A piece of his upper arm was missing, scooped out as if with a spoon.

"Harry! Harry! Look in here, get my some dittany!" She tossed the satchel she carried on her side towards Harry, while running the tip of her wand over the wound, stemming the blood loss, alleviating the pain. After hearing Harry's 'Accio Dittany!' she shot her hand towards him, receiving the bottle with bloodied fingers. After a quick struggle to open it, she used three drops of the precious potion to close the wound. Ron stopped his thrashing.

"What happened?"

"Oh my God! Harry!" Tears came uninvited and slid down her cheeks. "Harry, I'm so sorry!"

"Easy! Where are we, why aren't we at Headquarters? What happened?"

"I'm so sorry Harry. I was already turning, and he grabbed me by the ankle. When we got there I could barely send a message inside the house to get out and shake him before Apparating away. I… I hope they got out… bringing him in was as good as giving him the secret!"

"Hermione! Calm down, explain!"

"Grimmauld Place, Harry. It's no longer safe. When that Death Eater garbed onto me and I Apparate us to Headquarters I essentially gave him the secret. And… and Ron… he must've gotten splinched when I tried to Apparate us here."

"Here? Where is here?" Harry said, looking around.

"Forest where the Quidditch World Cup was held. First place I could think of. I'll put up some protective spells; I don't think Ron will be up for Apparating anytime soon. There's a tent inside my bag, set it up, will you?"

"Bag. Right." Pointing his wand at the bag, he muttered a quick 'Accio, Tent!' which sent the bag flying out and he waved his wand around to raise it.

Once Ron was safely inside the tent, they proceeded to tend to their own wounds. Fortunately, neither of them had many and none were serious. "It will be at least a few days before Ron can Apparate. We better get comfortable. We'll go back to the Burrow then."

"No. We're not going back. We're staying on the run."

"Harry…"

"No, Hermione. This is how it was supposed to be and you know it. I can't risk putting them all in danger again. You saw… you saw what happened to… to Moody… I won't let that happen to anyone else, Hermione." She nodded, more tears making their way down her cheeks. She knew he was right. It was supposed to be the three of them, always had been.

"Alright. We're staying on the run." Fred, forgive me.

A/N: There you have it! Chapter 9! Yay! I know that tearing them apart after I got them together last chapter is cruel, but it's necessary. I'm not quite happy with the ending, but meh... Reviews are greatly appreciated! Cheers, C.

PS: The Malfoy in this chapter is Malfoy Sr. since Malfoy Jr. is currently attending school. Also, he did not recognize anyone because they were all under the effects of a Disguise Shot.

Cheers,

C.