"Granger."
Silence.
"Hermione."
Fred growled when he was very pointedly ignored as the brown haired girl viciously lathered butter on her toast. For a moment he wanted to remind her that she hated butter and toast as breakfast but he had a feeling that she might very well cast the Crucio on him and the thought had him holding his tongue.
However, she was adamant on ignoring him. And Fred Wesley did not like being ignored.
Murmuring something under his breath, he focused his wand on the butter and made it slide away every time Hermione put out her knife.
He gave her a charming smile when she glared at him.
When she put out her knife again and the butter danced away, she dropped the knife with a loud clutter onto the polished table, and pulled out her wand, pointing it at him, "Sod off, Weasley."
Her nasty tone had him wincing, "That hurts."
Her eyes were furious and had he been a cautious male, he would have backed off and let her calm down before approaching her. But Fred Weasley was not a cautious man. That word did not exist in his vocabulary.
So when Hermione got off the stool and started advancing towards him, he just raised his hands in a defensive but affable stance, "I was only trying to help."
"Help? Help?!" The last word was more of a shriek. "How does cursing my boyfriend, helping me?"
"He was-"
"SHUT UP, FRED!" Her roar had him stepping back. Hermione's face was red as she tried to control her temper.
"HE- BECAUSE OF –" She deflated, shoulders slumping, as her voice broke, her anger draining out of her, "Because of you, he broke up with me."
The hand holding the wand trembled, and she fixed her eyes onto the floor, "This was my first serious relationship and you just –"
She took a deep breath and then with a loud crack, she was gone.
Fred blinked.
Had he just made Hermione cry?
He swallowed as his chest burned. He hadn't meant to hurt her but she deserved so much better than the douchebag she had been dating.
Did he mean that much to her that she would shed tears over him?
Fred found that he didn't quite like that. But now she was crying and it was all his fault.
The silence didn't last long as a soft voice spoke his name.
Ginny stared at her brother, having never seem that expression on his face.
He sent a tired, crooked smile her way, "You heard, huh?"
When she didn't say anything, he put his arms on the table and buried his face in them, his muffled voice coming out, "I really was trying to help."
Ginny stepped into the room and took the seat that Hermione had just vacated. "Don't feel bad."
Blue eyes watched her and she noted the misery in them. She didn't know what was going on in Fred's head but her brother anything but malicious. So if he said he was trying to help, that had to be true.
Sometimes she wondered why all of her brothers were so dense though.
She picked up the toast Hermione had discarded and bit in. After slowly chewing, she casually mentioned, "Grove wasn't right for her anyway."
When Fred blinked, she continued, "He wasn't serious about her but she didn't know that and she wanted a long term relationship. She's lonely even though she doesn't show it, you know."
"I-"
Ginny interrupted him, raising a brow, "I don't know what you want with Hermione, Fred, but she's like a sister to me, so you can't hurt her. Ever."
"I just made her cry."
His sister made a careless gesture, "She'll get over it. She got a little overwhelmed by all the attention he showered over her. Once she can think clearly, she won't be mad at you anymore."
Fred wondered.
"Do you like her?"
Not this again.
To avoid the same conversation he had just had a day ago with George, he immediately stood up and leaned down to kiss his sister's cheek, "Good talk, Gin."
As he made his way out, she called after him, "If you want her, then you'd better do something about it, Fred. Otherwise, you'll just have to watch some guy…"
Fred apparated out of there, but Ginny's words resounded in his head for the rest of the afternoon and for the first time he asked himself whether he wanted Granger in his life.