Here you are! Sorry about the cliffhanger xD Thanks to all who wrote reviews, you are all awesome! Of course the people who bother to read this are awesome too ;) It makes me very happy to know you're enjoying it! :D

"WHAT?!" Fred exploded. "How can there be no cure?! We have magic!"

"I'm sorry but this is a complicated curse, the like of which we've never seen before. None of our magic or potions are having any effect whatsoever. She's…she's slipping away fast. I suggest you contact her family…"

Molly spoke up then, with tears welling in her eyes.

"We don't know where they are. All we know is that they're in India, travelling…"

"Dear, we can owl Percy and see if he can trace them, he's in India at the moment, I think." Arthur said through his own faltering voice, Hermione had fast become like another daughter to him.

"THIS IS BULLSHIT!" Fred yelled in frustration.

"Fred please don't shout and swear like that, it won't help matters,"

Fred completely ignored his mother's soft reprimanding.

"There has to be a cure! Can't I use a time turner and kill Bellatrix before she did this to her?!"

"I'm afraid that's impossi-… hang on…what were the circumstances under which Miss Granger acquired her scar?" Dr Ramshaw suddenly asked, with an odd look of realisation on his face.

"It was about…3 years ago. We'd been searching for horcruxes to defeat Voldemort, but we got caught. We were taken to Malfoy Manor and…ah…Bellatrix Lestrange tortured her…and cut that into her." Harry recounted the horrid events of 3 years ago with a pained look on his face. Ron's face too was twisted with sadness.

"It was bloody awful! We could hear her screams from the 'dungeon' and Bellatrix just kept yelling at her…and hurting her…"

Luna took Ron's hand as they both remembered the tortured cries of Hermione ringing through their ears.

"It's horrible how much hate someone can have." Luna added sadly.

Dr Ramshaw frowned in deep thought for a minute or two.

"…I think…I just need to check out some information at the Hogwarts Library…the Restricted Section…" he turned and walked quickly out of the room towards the fireplaces.

Fred turned back to Hermione. How could this happen? They'd only had their first kiss the night before…how things had changed in just a matter of hours. How the hell would he be able to think, breathe, live without her? Without a word, everyone but George filtered out of the room to wait in the hall outside. A moment of silence lapsed.

"You okay, Freddie?"

Fred couldn't answer his twin. For the first time in his life, Fred could not reply to George. If he opened his mouth, the tears would come. George sat down on the bed, next to his brother. They'd never bothered with much physical shows of affection, except for high fives when they'd pulled off pranks, and the occasional hug. They'd never needed to prove to each other their love by physical shows. They loved each other and they knew it. Of course George had nearly knocked Fred out again when he'd thrown himself at his twin for a relieved hug after the Battle of Hogwarts.

George put his arm around his brother. He could feel Fred's pain. They were twins. No words were needed. This was all it took for Fred's stony countenance to break. He couldn't take it anymore. Fred let out a wail that sounded like a wounded animal in agonising pain and leant into his best friend, confident and brother.

They stayed that way for about half an hour; Hermione deathly still and growing paler, Fred clutching her hand, tightly, whilst being held together by his twin.

A gentle cough outside the door let them know that Dr Ramshaw was back.

"It's ok. You can come in." George called.

Dr Ramshaw stepped in, followed by the rest of the Weasleys.

"I have some news. When Mrs Weasley, that is…er…Luna…mentioned about one person having so much hate, and you two young gentlemen talked about the circumstances of Miss Granger's scar, it reminded me of a curse I had read about briefly whilst studying for my Medical examinations. It's an extremely rare curse which I don't think has been successfully carried out more than ten times in the history of magic. Would you say that Bellatrix had a lot of hate, anger and bitterness in her? At that specific time?" He asked flicking through the large, dusty book he had brought back from Hogwarts with him.

"Definitely." Harry and Ron both answered gravely.

"Alright, and Mr Weasley…Fred…I take it you and Miss Granger…are well…in love? Or in the very least, you love her?"

Fred nodded solemnly. Molly smiled a little at her son, but then further tears welled up and she buried her face in her husband's shoulder.

Dr Ramshaw cleared his throat a little awkwardly. "And have you ever… -ahem- …displayed…these feelings? Or told her of them? Recently."

Fred reddened a little, and again nodded.

"Would you…could you tell…?" Dr Ramshaw prompted.

Fred looked back at Hermione, with pink cheeks.

"Last night. I learnt that she'd save my life during the Battle of Hogwarts…then we both sort of…realised that…well…we'd had feelings for each other for a long time now, without fully realising it. I…I kissed her…on her scar…and then…well…I kissed her."

Dr Ramshaw was now rapidly flicking pages and reading with a look of intense concentration on his face.

"Ah! AHA! I think…yes! Yes this is it! I have it! Miss Granger is suffering from a curse inflicted on her by Bellatrix from all those years ago. As I said, a very complicated curse. Bellatrix carved the word onto Miss Granger's arm with such hatred, malice, bitterness and anger, correct?" Dr Ramshaw didn't even give Harry and Ron a chance to respond, before he carried on, speaking hurriedly: "Too much hate for one person perhaps? Well this surplus, strong hatred was possibly channelled through the 'Mudblood' writing on her arm, even if Bellatrix wasn't aware of it. So Miss Granger, in effect, has been and still is containing part of Bellatrix's hatred, through the awful scar that Bellatrix engraved into her. It's been dormant for the last three years."

"So…it's like Tom Riddle's diary? Only it's not a person that's been preserved but…a feeling?" Harry wondered aloud.

Dr Ramshaw had heard about this particular event of Harry Potter's life and nodded, glad that someone could understand this awfully complex curse.

"Yes. And only yesterday did Miss Granger find out about Fred's love. When he kissed her and her scar in particular, the hatred contained was so strong that it practically had an allergic reaction to the love being shown to her. The two feelings oppose each other so much that…one cannot survive whilst the other exists…" Dr Ramshaw looked up at Harry, who had heard those words before. "She can't have both extreme hatred and love within her, it would be like a lethal, internal, civil war."

Fred looked at Dr Ramshaw with a look of horror on his face.

"So what you're saying is…Bellatrix's hatred is killing her because…I love her?"

"I'm afraid so."

"But now that you know what the problem is…can't you fix it?!" Fred asked, hope daring to enter his thoughts.

"Ah…well the worst part of this curse is that normal magic will be of no use. It needs magic of the strongest sort…"

"…Love…" Ginny whispered.

"Yes. Love. But not just from anyone. For this particular curse to be fixed, the person who inflicted such hatred must take it back and replace it with love, or it will consume and kill Miss Granger."

"Wait. Bellatrix has to love Hermione, otherwise she'll die? But Bellatrix is DEAD!" Ron raised his voice. This was becoming more and more complicated and confusing.

Dr Ramshaw consulted the heavy tome he held in his arms. After a few mutterings and flicking of pages he looked up.

"Obviously Bellatrix can't love her…but it seems that a blood relative can reverse the spell. Didn't Bellatrix have sisters? Narcissa, I seem to remember…? They were a few years above me when I was in Hogwarts."

"Well that won't work. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy have been in hiding since the Battle, they seem to think that the Ministry wants to punish them. We've tried to find them to inform them that due to Narcissa's brave protection of Harry during the Battle and the evidence of Voldemort's blackmailing, the Malfoys are cleared of debt. We can't enlist Narcissa if we don't know where she is." Arthur frowned; it seemed fate didn't want Hermione to return to them.

"What about Andromeda?" Molly queried.

"No good. She already loved Hermione, and yet the curse still happened. I guess the feeling has to change!" George mused.

A long moment of quiet passed before Harry spoke.

"Damn it." He turned to Ron.

"Draco Malfoy." They both said, glaring.

"He'll never do it though!" Ginny exclaimed.

"How can we make him?" Fred asked through gritted teeth.

Harry looked back at them all, grimly. The images of the Fiendfyre flashed through his head.

"Malfoy owes me his life. I'll make him."

How's that? Like it? I told you an old enemy would have to retuuuurn! :D Hope you enjoyed it and I hope this isn't too much of a cliffhanger :P xxx