CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Summary: Hermione's secret is discovered by The Order of the Phoenix. Before Harry is rescued, she needs to be first. But from who? With the help of Sirius she learns to put the past behind her, and with the help of two Weasleys, they show her a happy future. But Hermione isn't who she thinks she is, what she discovers will change her life for good. Rated M for a reason.
Disclaimer: All original characters and canon events belong to J.K. Rowling. Non-canon events are my own ideas. I am not making any profit from posting this fanfic.
Page count: 7
The Cottage - Monday 12th April 1997
Hermione stepped through the door and a smile immediately lit her face as she took in her surroundings, as she expected the cottage was bigger on the inside. The room was large and open planned, the left half of the room was the kitchen. It had oak wood cupboards on the walls, with light kitchen countertops and a black sink, much to her surprise. She had a large, black double oven in the gap in the centre of the counter tops and they continued on either side to the walls in an 'L' shape. In the middle of the kitchen there was a kitchen island, also oak wood with several black stools surrounding it. The kitchen/dining table was also oak wood and rectangular, surrounded by six oak wood chairs, with black cushions tied to them. The floor was a light wood and it continued onto the right side of the room, which was the living room half.
A white and comfortable looking corner suite sat in the middle of the room, with two matching arm chairs nearby, black and silver cushions were placed strategically. There was an oak wood coffee table in front of the couch and the large fireplace with a lit fire was against the wall opposite it, with a black rug in front of it. The walls were white with black and silver accents and photo frames of different sizes hung on the walls, some of the photo frames contained photos of Hermione and the twins, others of their family members, but most of them were empty so they could be filled in the future. Hermione was surprised to see that one of the photo frames already contained a photo of Hermione and the twins stood at the altar, another of her kissing Fred, and one of her kissing George.
'Bloody hell,' she thought. 'They work fast.'
A simple, but beautiful chandelier was hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room and candles also floated about the room, adding a certain glow to it. She could see the twins watching her nervously from the corner of her eyes and she smiled widely.
"It's perfect," she breathed out in wonder. She heard them breathe out and she chuckled at them.
"We're not done yet," George grinned, before he bent down and scooped her up into his arms, she gave a squeal of surprise before laughing and putting her arms around his neck and he walked further in the cottage, Fred closing the door behind them and chuckling.
George led them straight through the centre of room and towards a corridor, where the stairs were located, but he didn't go up them, he walked straight past them and further down the corridor which revealed two doors. He stopped at the door on the right and put Hermione on the ground, before opening the door for her.
She gasped at what she saw and she stepped inside, it was a library. It was decorated in the same white, silver and black. Oak wood bookcases covered three of the walls, the fourth wall had several windows that would let natural light in as well as allowing you to see the view of the grounds. The was a gap in the bookcases on the wall that held the door, but the bookcases were filled with books, upon closer inspection she realised that all of the titles could be found at Grimmauld, if they were the original books or just copies she couldn't be sure. In the middle of the room sat a black leather couch and the matching arms chairs with a glass coffee table sat in the middle, candles once more floated about the room.
She turned around to see the twins smiling at her softly.
"A home wouldn't be a home without a library," Fred spoke, before they could blink she had thrown herself at them and they chuckled as she squeezed them tightly.
"There's more, you can explore later," George spoke, pulling back and then pulling her out of the room and to the door opposite on the right wall and under the staircase, he opened it and it revealed a flight of stairs heading down.
She raised an eyebrow but lifted her dress and walked down them. It was a potions lab. It was the exact opposite of the dungeons at the castle, the entire room was large and airy, decorated in different shades of blues with light wooden flooring, the work benches were oak and set out in rows and columns, having six in total. Sat atop of them were several different cauldrons, brass, silver, self-stirring, copper, she could go on all day. Cabinets were against the walls, storing ingredients and potions.
She turned to look at them.
"Now we won't have to be at work all the time, we can hire staff to run the store for us when we're not there or we can take it in shifts, that way someone will always be home with you and you'll always have someone to eat dinner with if the other is running late at the shop," Fred said smiling, she smiled at them softly. Fred walked over to her and swept her up into his arms, she squealed in surprise and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He left the room, walking up the stairs with George following, when they came back up to the corridor, Fred took them upstairs onto the next floor.
"This floor has four bedrooms and two bathrooms, you can see them later, but they haven't been decorated yet," he walked straight past the doors, three on each side of the corridor and he walked to the end of the corridor that held another flight of stairs which he carried her up.
Hermione opened the door for him and he took them inside, George closing the door behind them and Fred put her back on the ground as she looked around, it was a large room, the same size as the living room and kitchen, meaning it was the only room on that floor.
The walls were decorated in three different shades of grey with two white lines along the borders of each colour, separating them. The feature wall was white with grey and silver accents, the king sized bed and the dark leather headboard sat against the wall facing the door. The bedding a mixture of white and grey and white bedside tables sat on either side of the bed. Long flowing white curtains were tied back from the windows and a grey couch with two matching arm chairs sat in the room with a glass table, candles once again floated in the room giving a soft glow. On one of the walls was a door which was open and she could see that it lead to a bathroom, on another wall was a door which given the lack of furniture in the room, she suspected to be a walk in closet. It was simple, but beautiful.
"Our bedroom," the both said and she turned to face them.
"Who did all of this?" she asked awe.
"According to Pureblood tradition, the grooms provide the property, the bride's father provides the furniture and other material possessions and the groom's parents decorate the property," George shrugged.
"And what does the bride do?" she asked with raised eyebrow.
Fred walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her and he looked down at her, though it wasn't much seeing as her heels put her closer to his height than usual.
"The bride? She ties herself to the lucky groom for the rest of her life," he spoke grinning.
He leaned down and kissed her softly, with a flick of his tongue over her bottom lip Hermione opened for him and met his tongue in a slow and sensual dance, as they swayed slightly. Hermione sighed happily and she could hear George moving about the room.
Hermione ran her hands through Fred's hair and his hands smoothed over her back, thanks to it being backless she shivered, goose bumps erupting over her skin. She felt a second set of hands running up and down her back and a chest pressed against her, a second set of lips placed butterfly kisses against her neck and she sighed once more.
Fred pulled away from her, as George's hands slipped around her stomach.
"I really do love you both," she said softly to Fred's sparkling eyes, he smiled at her.
"Just as we love you," George spoke from behind her.
"It took us a while and a lot of trouble and hard work to get you here, but it was worth it," Fred spoke and she felt George nodding behind her in agreement, his chin moving to lean against her shoulder.
"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else," she replied and he smiled at her.
"What did Snape give you?" George asked,
"Oh," she manoeuvred out of their arms and pulled both her wand and the potion out of the pocket she had Mrs. Weasley charm onto her dress. She walked over to the bed and placed them both on the bedside table, before sitting on the bed and kicking off her shoes.
She brought her foot up and started to massage the feeling back into it, seeing as the charms on her shoes had worn off hours ago and her feet were killing her.
"Merlin, my feet are killing me, whoever invented heels needs to be slapped upside the head, what the bloody hell were they thinking?" she grumbled and they chuckled at her, shaking their heads.
George made his way to her and sat on the bed, he pulled her feet into his lap and started massaging them for her and she sighed and flopped back into the pillows, whilst Fred removed his suit jacket, his tie, his vest and undid a few buttons on his shirt and he rolled up his shirt sleeves, Hermione noticed that George had already done this.
Fred then walked over to the bed and climbed on it next to Hermione, and he pulled her into him so that she leaned against him.
"So, the potion?" George prompted.
Her eyes were closed and she was humming slightly, much to George's glee.
"It's a Contraception Potion."
His hands stilled on her feet and she opened her eyes to see the twins shooting each other looks.
"I pointed out that charms could be used but he said I had to take it because he stood and brewed it for four hours," she shrugged. "I have to take it once a day until I return to Hogwarts, might as well do it now so I don't forget."
She sat up, reached over for the potion and removed the stopper before taking three sips, replacing the stopper and putting it back on the bedside table and she leaned back into Fred.
"Hermione?" Fred said softly.
"No, I know what you're going to say and I'm fine. We've been together for a year and a half now, I love you more than anything and you are my mates, my equals. I can't expect you to remain celibate for the rest of your lives and I don't want you to."
"We don't want to push you, what he did to you..."
"Was in the past, and that's it, what he did to me, not what you did. This is the last time I will say this, you are not him, you could never hurt me; I love you. Your touch doesn't affect me the way others do. You are my husbands and I love you, I want this with you." she looked at them both and they were exchanging looks once again.
"We just want to make sure this is what you want, that you're not doing this just to make us happy," George said.
"Of course it's what I want," she sighed. "I wouldn't have taken the potion if I didn't want it, I wouldn't have married you if I didn't want you, I wouldn't have agreed to that first date if I hadn't have hope for us."
They cleared their throats and shifted nervously. "Okay, we have a week before we return to Grimmauld; we want to make sure that you're definitely comfortable with this."
"If I'm not I'd tell you," she promised.
They looked at each other again.
"Okay, but not tonight," Fred spoke, she couldn't help but feel dejected and it must've shown on her face. "We'll take this slowly, we'll spend time making you comfortable with this before we have sex, like George said, we have a week and there's a lot that can be done in the time we have, but we also have until you go back to Hogwarts."
"Okay," she agreed and they seemed to relax.
"Good," they both spoke.
George continued to massage her feet and she closed her eyes and sighed, leaning further into Fred as he ran a hand over her back. They sat in silence and George swapped to her other foot.
It was ten minutes later when Hermione was on the verge of falling asleep, her eyes closed and she could feel sleep wanting to claim her, but then she felt hands moving from her feet and slowly moving upwards, trailing up her ankles, up her shins and to her knees, before moving back down and repeating the process, she sighed happily before she let out a giggle as George tickled behind her knees. Her eyes opened and his eyes were sparkling with mischief and he tickled her again, just as Fred's hands moved to her sides and he started tickling her too.
She burst out laughing and started wriggling trying to get them to stop, they did eventually when she begged them to and by this point tears were running down her face. Her face had flushed red and she wiped at her eyes, trying to get her breathing back under control.
"That was mean," she scowled.
"Maybe," George shrugged, "but it got you laughing."
Fred climbed off the bed and George did the same, he held his hands out for her and she took them and he pulled her off the bed until she was standing.
"It's getting late, you've had a busy day and you need your sleep," Fred spoke from beside her.
"But..." she tried to protest.
"No," he said softly, shaking his head. "Not tonight, like we said, we have until you return to Hogwarts; we're not going to rush you into this."
She pouted and they chuckled at her, before kissing her softly.
"So, the first step, being comfortable with being naked in front of us, but, we won't start that step yet, for now we'll stick to underwear only."
"Fine," she grumbled, causing them to chuckle at her.
George moved to her front and Fred her back. George cupped her cheeks and bent down to kiss her, whilst Fred's hands travelled her back, stopping near her neck and he undid the button, before moving his hands down to the zip and undoing it as far as it would go.
He moved his hands up to shoulders, pushing her hair out of the way and placing butterfly kisses to her neck, pushing the lace off her shoulders and down her arms, his kisses moving to her shoulders to replace the fabric and his hands moved around to her stomach.
George took over, moving his hands from her face and to her arms, pulling the sleeves off the rest of the way, Fred's hands moved away from her stomach, and since he was no longer holding her dress up, it fell to the floor pooling around Hermione's feet.
George pulled back from her, both breathing heavily and his eyes darkened as he took in her strapless lace brace and matching boy-shorts, the clasp of the bra had been charmed invisible so it wouldn't be seen due to the backless dress.
He shot a look to Fred who shook his head, George sighed and took in a deep breath, gaining control over himself. His twin was right, they had to move slowly, they had to be certain that she was comfortable; they needed more than just her words.
George scooped her and lifted her away from the dress, his hands grazing her soft skin before putting her back on the ground. Fred stepped in front of her and he brought his hands up to her neck and removed her necklace and placed it on the bedside table before he removed the pretty pins from her hair and the curls that were held back now fell around her face and spilled over her shoulders.
"Beautiful," Fred spoke softly, his thumb running over her cheek and she leaned into his touch.
"Stunning," George agreed, nodding his head as his hand softly trailed up her arm.
"Breathtaking -"
"- Gorgeous -"
"- Dazzling -"
"- Incredible -"
"- Magnificent -"
Hermione laughed at them and they grinned. "I get it," she blushed, her cheeks flaming under Fred's hand.
"Are you sure, we have more synonyms?" George beamed and she chuckled softly.
They then both stepped back from her and they kicked off their socks and shoes, quickly following that with beginning to unbutton their shirts. Hermione's breath stopped, she had to remind herself to breath, then her breath sped up and she had to remind herself to calm down, she was all over the place!
The twins quickly shook off their shirts and her eyes refused to blink, refused to look away from them. Their chests were both equally muscled from years of Quidditch, she could see the clear lines and ridges, she could see every inch of their pale skin and the red hair that started at their navel before disappearing under their underwear.
Wait! Underwear?
They'd both removed their trousers and were left in their black boxer briefs, when the hell had they done that? She tilted her head to the side when she noticed the distinct bulge in them, despite their bodies reactions to her she knew their minds were made up, they were resolute in their decision to ease her into things, even though she was slightly annoyed that they couldn't take her word for it, she couldn't help but love them all the more for their decision to make sure that she was one hundred percent certain of what she wanted.
She jumped when she felt someone snake their arms around her stomach, it was George, whilst Fred had one hand on her waist and the other tilted her chin up so she was looking at him. He had a questioning look on his face, a little frown of worry.
"Sorry, my mind just ran away from me, I'm fine."
"Yeah?"
"Yes, I promise," she smiled at them and they both seemed to relax. "I really do love you both."
They smiled at her.
"And we you, now, come on, it's time for sleep, George over here needs his beauty rest."
"Oi, I'm the handsomer twin"
"Sure you are," Fred said in a tone that showed he didn't believe his twin's words and he sent a wink at Hermione that had her giggling.
George scooped her up and carried her to the bed, whilst Fred flicked his wand sending all their clothing to hang over the back of the couch. He then moved the blankets and George set Hermione down in the centre of the bed. He climbed in after her and Fred climbed in on the other side.
Hermione snuggled into them with what had quickly become their usual positions, Fred on his back with Hermione's head on his chest, George holding her from behind and she entwined her fingers through his as he ran them up and down her stomach lightly, Fred doing the same to her shoulders and the back of her neck.
Hermione lifted her free hand and clicked her fingers, all of the floating candles went out, plunging the room into darkness; they chuckled at her.
"Best day of my life," Hermione muttered as she fell into a peaceful sleep. The twins agreed and they, too, fell asleep, also with smiles on their faces.