Thanks for reading! Things are heating up...let me know what you think. :)
"We really did that?" Fred asked, his eyes widening in disbelief.
"That and so much more, brother," said George, "you have no idea."
Fred's ribs and face hurt from laughing. He knew they kept telling him he was a prankster, but Merlin, he never would have guessed it was as much as all that. He was pretty proud of himself, he wouldn't lie.
"So," George began," any of this jogging any memories?" He looked so hopeful that Fred considered lying for a brief moment.
Fred shook his head. "Some? Not really. Hermione was not in any of those stories," he observed.
"No," George agreed.
"Then why is she in all of my memories?"
George cleared his throat. "Maybe you need to ask her?"
Fred rubbed at his face and pulled on his hair. "I have asked her, mate. More than once. What is it? What are you lot not telling me?"
His twin sighed and Fred could tell he was debating himself in his head. "Just tell me, Georgie. Please."
George sighed. "Fine. I will tell you what I know, but that's not a lot, mind you, most of which I just found out. If I hadn't only just gotten you back I would probably be right pissed at you."
"What do you mean you just found out?"
"Well, I found this," he said, pulling out what appeared to be a bunch of old parchment.
Fred glanced at it with confusion. "What is it then?"
"Not familiar to you at all?" George asked.
"Should it be?"
"Um, yeah. I think you'll probably want to remember this."
Fred grabbed the stack from his twin's hand. "What is this?" His eyes flew back and forth across the page. "Wait, are these letters from Hermione?"
"That is exactly what they are, brother." George said with a raised eyebrow. "Letters that I knew nothing about until a few days ago. I came across them while getting the flat ready for you to come back."
Fred continued reading through them furiously. "Were we, wait, we were dating?"
George shook his head. "No, I don't think so, but they sure are friendly for two people that I didn't know even kept in touch."
Fred ignored the look his twin was giving him. "Hermione...she knows?"
"Well, I would think so, mate, she wrote them, after all." He rolled his eyes. "But yeah, I confronted her about it."
"You what? What did she say?"
"Well, she didn't want to talk about it at first, but she eventually caved. Hard to resist a Weasley twin."
"Get on with it," Fred muttered.
"I don't know everything. I just know you started writing to each other after you sent her home with that free daydream charm. She wrote to thank you, you wrote back, and it went on from there."
"So, we were like pen pals?" He shuffled through the letters again searching for anything that would give him a hint as to what this was really about. "Why has she not mentioned it then?"
"Well, I guess it was kind of like me," said George. "I wanted you to remember for yourself."
"Thank you for telling me everything now."
George fidgeted in his seat, an uncomfortable look on his face. "Well, there's more," he said. "Apparently, the last letters are missing."
"Missing?"
"Yeah, Granger says you probably burned them or something."
"Burned them? Why would I do that?" Fred turned the papers over to search for a clue, any clue, as to what on earth George was talking about.
George shrugged, but looked at him with sympathy. "I think she broke your heart, mate."
Hermione was nearly asleep in the room she shared with Ginny at the Burrow when Fred apparated in. "Whaaa-" she said, jumping up at the sudden intrusion. "Fred, what is it?" she hissed. "You'll wake everyone."
"Where's Ginny?" he asked.
"She's staying at Harry's tonight."
"And Mum allowed that? Wait, you know what, doesn't matter right now."
"He told you," she said softly.
"He told me something, Granger, but I would really like to hear it from you."
She cringed at his use of her last name, something he hadn't done in years. She saw the crumpled parchment in his hand. "What is it you want to know?"
"All this time you kept telling me we weren't friends, we didn't hang out, and so forth and so on," he said angrily, "but you never told me why. Because you dumped me? Is that it? Decided to get with my little brother instead?"
"It's not like that-"
"You've led me to believe that something was happening between us and you've known this whole time it was a lie?"
"No, Fred, I-"
"Poor, foolish Fred. He has amnesia. He'll never know."
He suddenly flew backwards onto Ginny's bed, stunned. Hermione sat down her wand. "Sorry, but you aren't letting me say anything. It's not all about you, Fred. Do you know what it was like back then? Do you know what I went through? What we all did?"
"You know bloody well that I don't know," he shouted. "you know why? Because you won't tell me. Merlin, Hermione, I have amnesia!"
She could feel the tears glistening in her eyes, but she promised herself she wouldn't cry. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. He was supposed to remember, but it had gone so far now. She hadn't been able to stand him not knowing any longer. Every time he looked at her that way, with tender affection, she had dared to hope, wanted to hold onto it for just a little longer. Before he never spoke to her again. She took a deep breath. "I better start at the beginning."
Fred crossed his arms and glared at her, but she refused to look away. If she could survive the war, she could handle this.
"I suppose it started in my fourth year," she said.
"Fourth year!" he started, but she cut him off.
"If you want me to tell you, you're going to have to listen."
He nodded but said nothing else.
"After the Yule ball, I was so upset. I had a wonderful time that night with Viktor-not important- but then Ron was such a jerk. I fancied him back then. Looking back, I'm pretty sure he felt the same and was just acting on jealousy, but 14-year old me didn't realize that. You were so kind to me," she said. "You found me in the common room and told me he was a 'right git who didn't deserve me' and you complimented me on how beautiful I looked. I think I fell for you a little bit that night."
"And then?"
"Then, nothing. Things continued on like normal. You started testing your pranks on first years not long after that and by the time I made prefect we were at each other's throats."
"That's not the whole story."
She took a deep breath. "I know it's not Fred, I'm trying. I kind of, well, I started breaking some rules in fifth year."
"Dumblydore's army," Fred said.
"Dumbledore, but yes, you and George were members. We spent a lot more time together after that. It was still just a friend thing, of course. I was still your little siblings' best friend, but we understood each other a little more after that. Fast forward to the end of that year and you left. I assume George has told you about that now, too?"
He nodded, so she continued. "That day in your shop, when you gave me the daydream charm, it was different that day, too. I felt like you really were noticing me that day as a person. You seemed so happy that I liked it, so, I wrote you. I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed it, but you responded to me and it went from there."
"That's what George said," he agreed.
"Well, it continued, my whole sixth year," she said. "We didn't see each other or anything, you weren't at school, and trips to Hogsmeade were banned by then, but we kept writing and over time the letters got more and more flirtatious. We learned so much about each other and well, I think we started to think of it as more than just friendship, or pen pals, what have you."
"Still doesn't tell me what happened," he said, but his tone was softer this time.
"Because you won't give me a chance, Fred Weasley! I'm getting to it."
"Fine, fine."
"You mentioned meeting up after Dumbledore died," she said and well I was headed to the Burrow anyway, so I agreed, but then I had to obliviate my parents..."
"Wait, Dumblydore died, too? He just keeps on popping up, the old bugger."
"Fred!"
"Sorry," he shrugged, "I don't know him."
She rolled her eyes. "Well, you certainly did, and some of us are still quite sad about it, if you don't mind."
"Anyway, your parents," he said, "I'm still sorry about that. I know that was probably the hardest thing you ever had to do."
She nodded, feeling her eyes glistening once more. "After that, I knew we were leaving, we had no choice, so when Bill and Fleur's wedding came around, I told you."
"You told me what?"
"I told you I was leaving with Harry and Ron. You accused me of being in love with Ron, Kingsley's patronus showed up and I had to grab Harry and well.."
"You left."
"I left."
"We were gone for months," she said. "Most of it spent in the woods with those bloody horcruxes,"
"Horcruxes?"
"They were bits of Voldemort's soul," she explained. "He created them to make it harder to kill him. In order to do so, we had to destroy all the horcruxes first. That is how he was able to keep coming back."
Fred swallowed hard, but just listened.
"The horcruxes were awful, Fred. They heightened every emotion, made us angry and sad and delusional...Ron, he couldn't take it. He left us."
"He WHAT?"
"He couldn't help it," she argued. "He was under the influence of the horcrux at the time. He found us again, by then it was close to the final battle. At Hogwarts." She gestured to him. "I was so glad he was back that I let my emotions get the best of me."
"What do you mean?" he asked. "You realized you loved Ron?"
She cringed. "Well, I thought I did," she said. "The feelings during that time were so over the top that the anger I felt at him when he left and the affection I felt when he returned..."
He took a minute to process what she was saying. "And now?" he asked.
"I was wrong, Fred. So wrong." Her voice choked up as she struggled to continue. "When I saw you, when the wall, I, I felt like someone had ripped apart my insides. I thought you were dead," she said, bursting into tears. "I thought you were dead."
Fred stood up and joined her on her bed. He put an arm around her and pulled her in close. "It's okay, Hermione," he said. "I'm here." He rubbed gentle circles in her back.
"The last time I saw you," she said, "before it fell. You were so angry. So hurt. I didn't know what to do."
She cried even harder as he held her, finally letting out all the emotion she had bottled up for so long.