Chapter 12: Answers

A young red headed boy sits by an open window in his bedroom on the second floor of his home. He is dressed up in a little brown suit that looks pre owned and a spotted bow tie, with a paper golden crown on his head. It is half past noon and he is staring at the sky.

It's my birthday, I should be excited but I'm not. I know I won't be the center of attention, even today. I know everything I get won't really be just mine. And no matter what I do I will always be over shadowed…by him.

There's a knock at the door. The young boy turns around to see another little red headed boy with the identical paper crown on his head walk in.

"There you are. Come on, everyone's waiting for us!"

The little boy at the window gives a small smile. "Sorry, I'm coming Fred."

"Hey, I found George, mum!" Fred had George's arm hooked around his as they walked down the stairs.

"Oh, there are my special boys! Don't you both look adorable?" Molly Weasley pinched both their cheeks and gave them kisses.

"Yuck!" They said in sync, wiping their mouths with their sleeves at the same time.

"Mum, we're young men now. You can't keep doing that." Fred said as George nodded.

"I'll be long gone before I let my boys tell me when the affection must stop." Mrs. Weasley raised her eye brows.

"Oh let them be Molly." Arthur Weasley laughed coming up behind his wife. "They are getting on in years. Eleven already, they'll be taller than their old man soon." He winked. George and Fred laughed.

"Alright boys guest are outside, let's go! Let's go!" Mr. Weasley rushed them out the doors.

The back yard was decorated in balloons and streamers. Lanterns flew around in circles over the party area and Mr. Weasley had even hired Mr. Lovegood their neighbor next door to make balloon animals which were running around wild all over the tables and chairs.

"Getting a little carried away there, aren't you Xeno?" Mr. Weasley asked while fishing one of the animals out of the punch bowl it was swimming around in.

"Oh, you can never have too many at a child's birthday party." Xeno laughed.

George walked over to a table near the center and watched the kids play quaffle, quaffle, bludger. [Similar to Duck, duck, goose] One in particular was a small girl by the name of Marie Walton another neighbor of theirs. She had long blonde hair which she kept tied back in pig tails and deep blue eyes that were highlighted by her light blue dress. She was very quiet, and George had taken to her. He could never talk to her though. He was terrible at talking to girls, mainly because they seemed so different than boys.

"What ya doin' Georgey?" Fred hopped in the chair next to his twin placing his crown on the table. He had red lipstick smeared on his cheek.

"What happened?" George pointed at Freds cheek.

Fred rubbed it with his finger. "Oh, Aunt Laura caught me. Be on the lookout she'll be lookin' for you next." He wiped his cheek as best he could with a napkin.

"Thanks" George laughed.

Ron was now chasing Ginny around the circle. "Give him a run for his money Gin!" Fred shouted, laughing as Ron scowled at him.

"Come and play Fred! You're faster than anyone." A young boy by the name of Jeremy Knox shouted.

"Want to?" Fred asked George. His brother shook his head.

"No thanks." Fred shouted back to the boy.

"You can play" George looked sideways at his twin.

"Nah, its only fun if you play with me." Fred said taking a piece of candy from the table and sticking it in his mouth while his brother stared at him.

Fred always does this. George thought. He never wants to do anything, unless I go along. I wouldn't mind. I would do something's without him…if anyone asked me. But no one ever does. They always ask Fred. Maybe they think I'm the one who needs Fred with me. Because when he says yes, that means we're both in. If he says no, we're both out and there is no need to ask me. I shouldn't keep him from having fun though.

"I wanna play" George said turning to the kids and jumping from his chair.

"There you go Georgey!" One of the boys cheered.

"Alright, let's play." Fred said taking a seat next to George in the circle.

It was Maries turn. Even though George hoped she picked him, he was nervous about chasing her around the circle.

"She's pretty." Fred leaned in and whispered to George.

"Yeah. I mean, I guess." George whispered back looking down at the ground.

"What's her name again?" Fred whispered again.

"I think Marie." George said a bit uneasy.

"Quaffle." Marie got closer "Quaffle" She was only one person away now. "Quaffle" This was it, he was next. "Quaffle…" and he was passed. "Bludger." She said touching Fred's head.

Of course. It was always Fred.

Marie began to run but then stopped seeing Fred wasn't chasing her.

"Don't mind me I'm giving you a head start." Fred winked. "Good luck, Marie."

Marie was taken by surprise but George wasn't. Fred wouldn't miss this opportunity to show off his speed for anything. After a brief moment of confusion she began to run around the circle again.

When she was almost half way to Fred's seat, he jumped up. Jeremy wasn't kidding when he said Fred was fast. He caught up to her in no time and bear hugged her making everyone in the circle laugh excluding George.

"Looks like you're it again." He smiled and she smiled back. George wondered why her face was so red, she hadn't run that hard.

When the game ended George got up first but Fred was right on his heels, "What should we do now?" He asked

"I don't care." George said not looking at him. "Why don't you ask Marie, she seems to like you."

"You think so?" Fred grinned. "She's cute."

"Yeah, I've always thought so." George muttered louder then he realizes because Fred was now staring at him and he felt his cheeks go red.

"Do you…?" Fred looked at him curiously.

"Bugger off Fred." George said walking off for the first time without his twin that day. He couldn't believe what he just let spill but he didn't want to talk about it with Fred. Not that day anyway.

When it was the end of the party George helped his mother pass out goody bags to all the kids as they left.

"Goodbye, Thanks for coming" George felt like he had repeated this a hundred times.

"Where is Fred? He's supposed to help pass these out too." Mrs. Weasley looked around. George shrugged. When it seemed like everyone had left he went outside to find Fred standing under their willow tree…with Marie.

"What did you want to talk about?" Fred asked scratching the back of his head.

Marie was blushing. "Umm…my father takes me out fishing sometimes on our boat at Ebony Lake…"

"That's nice." Fred wasn't looking at her but instead was taking a lollipop from his pocket and unwrapping it.

"We…we're going next weekend." Marie said the next part looking away from him and fiddling with her hair. "Would you like to come with us?"

George's heart raced as he hid behind the tree. Fred looked up at her, the candy now in his mouth.

"I don't really like the water, why don't you invite George." Fred finally said.

Marie and George were both surprised "Oh, umm…Well if you don't like the water maybe we could go see a quidditch game? My father has season tickets."

"That would be amazing!"

Marie smiled seeing Fred excited.

"Can George come too?" He asked.

Marie looked a little uneasy. "Umm…well I was hoping it could just be the two of us." Marie said silently.

"How is that fun?" Fred asked back not silent at all.

"Well so long as you come I don't mind." Marie said. George's heart ached as the girl he fancied asked his twin out.

"Mind? Why should you mind?" Fred lifted his eye brow.

"It's just …" Marie sighed. "Can't you go anywhere without him?"

"Can I? Yes." Fred said taking a step closer to Marie. "But why on earth would I want to?" With that he took his lollipop out of his mouth and popped it in hers before turning to leave. "Goodbye Marie, please don't ever come back." He said in his most gentlemanly of tones.

Luckily neither Fred nor Marie noticed George pressed up against the other side of the tree as Fred walked inside and Marie ran home in tears.

George staggered as he walked back up to his room. He couldn't believe what had happened. When he opened his bed room door he found Fred on the floor surrounded by their new toys.

"Hey, there you are! Wanna play Auror's and Bad Wizards?" Fred smiled holding up the action figures they had just gotten of famous Auror Wizards.

George sat down next to him. "You already opened all of them?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. I just couldn't wait to play with our toys." Fred grinned.

George laughed.

"Our toys…" He said to himself. "Alright who can I be?" he said picking up an action figure.

I knew I won't be the center of attention, even today. I knew everything I got wouldn't really be mine. And no matter what I do I will always be over shadowed…by him. The one person I could never hate.

George awoke with a start. Why did he dream about that day so long ago? George sat up and massaged his eyes. He hadn't felt that way about Fred in so long, he never thought he would feel that way again. He looked to the bed in front of him. It was empty and made. No surprise there. Fred had gotten into the habit of falling asleep before George entered the dorm and leaving before he was up, ever since 3 weeks ago when he had announced George had won. But what had he won? He had lost his best friend and brother. He had won Hermione? ...He didn't think so. She had become furious with him for never telling her the truth about their supposedly "first kiss" and after yelling at him some pretty harsh words she had stopped talking to him all together. He wasn't even sure if they were still dating, he wouldn't ask her if they were. He was scared what she might say, or that she might have thought it was obvious that they were broken up. The whole situation upset his stomach greatly.

But that was just one of the many annoyances he was facing. It seemed that everyone was waiting for him to make the next move. His friends would ask when he was going to talk to Fred again, and his twin wasn't making any effort to talk to him first. Harry and Ron would nudge him when they would see Fred in the Great Hall or on the Grounds. George would merely walk away from them. What did they want him to do? He did want to talk to Fred, be pals again and forget every mean thing they had said and done to each other but it didn't seem possible. Too much had happened and there was still the matter of being in love with the same girl.

George didn't know how much longer he could take this. Maybe it was his turn to make a move. Fred had made his final move by telling Hermione his true feelings. Now what was George going to do? Or maybe he was going about this the wrong way. There was one person he was forgetting…an important person in all this who hadn't had they're final word. He needed to get the truth from her first. He needed to find Hermione.

It wasn't finding Hermione that was the problem it was hearing what she had to say. He wasn't sure he was ready to hear the truth but he knew it was the only way to settle things.

"Ready or not here it goes." George said to himself taking a deep breath as he headed into the girl's lavatory.

"George?" Hermione looked at him in shock as she turned from the sink having seen him come in through the mirror.

George pushed open all the stalls and took one finally look around before standing in front of Hermione "Thank God you're alone." He let out a sigh of relief. "I was scared I was about to get the cream kicked out of me if there were more girls in here." He grinned slightly at Hermione but she didn't look amused.

"What are you doing in here?" She said with her arms folded.

"You're not an easy girl to get alone." George shook his finger at her.

"Alone for what?" She was now tapping her foot impatiently.

"To just…talk." George sighed. "Don't we need to talk about this?"

Hermione stared at him for a moment than shook her head "I don't have anything to say to you."

She walked past him but George grabbed her arm. "Yeah, well I have a lot to say to you." His tone had turned serious. "This…all of this…it wasn't planned." He let her arm go.

"What wasn't planned? Fred trying to trick me into liking you or…you going along with it?" Hermione asked in a mock curious voice.

"Loving you." George breathed hopelessly.

"I never thought…I mean I was never going to tell you how I felt. It was just a crush, you know. You didn't see me as anything, I knew that." George began to walk back and forth on an imaginary line in front of her.

"Then Fred said you might like me…" George ran his hands through his hair frustrated. "I don't know I guess I got anxious because you threw pumpkin juice in my face. It seemed I had ruined my chance with you before I had even decided to take it."

He laughed weakly staring at the ground. "I didn't want you to hate me. I thought if I could just show you how much I like you and if you started liking me, maybe it wouldn't matter how it came to be." George finally looked up at her. "I didn't do it to hurt you I was just caught up in what was happening."

Hermione looked around the room uncomfortably.

"And Fred..." Hermione's eyes suddenly fell on him. "He didn't want to hurt you either or me. He could never hurt anyone he really cared about." George paused and his eyes widened. He suddenly realized something he should of sooner. Fred would never hurt me. "Unless..."

Hermione looked at him curiously. "Unless he felt he had no other choice." George let out soft chuckle. "He couldn't help it. He just had to be honest with himself and us. It must have been really hard for him to tell us the truth because it would hurt him too."

Hermione gave an airy laugh. "Is that an excuse for Fred?"

"No, but I feel like I finally understand him better..."

Hermione shook her head. "That still doesn't make what you two did okay." She finally spoke. "I thought I loved one person, now I find out it was two. Even if he didn't mean to do it he still made me feel so stupid. I thought I liked him but I didn't even know it wasn't him anymore when you switched places?" Hermione's voice began to tremble "Did I really fall for you or was it what Fred put in my head? And at what parts was he being sincere and what parts was him trying to win me over for you? If he loved me why did he easily give me up to you?"

Hermione's eyes were pouring out tears which she was constantly wiping with her sleeves but it did no good.

"How can I say my feelings for you are real when I had them before I really knew you, even though they grew stronger when we were together? How could I fall for you so easily if I loved him at all? Or is it because I already loved him that I fell for you so easily?" Hermione let out a scream into her hands now covering her face. "It's too hard. It's so confusing and frustrating I can't take it. I can't figure any of it out."

George watched Hermione cry and his heart acked because he knew he couldn't hold her. He couldn't comfort her or make her happy, not anymore. Not ever again.

"I think…" his voice cracked. "I think you have figured it out." Hermione wiped her cheek once more and looked at him confused.

"I think you're just scared it's too late." George gave her a weak smile.

Hermione shook her head. "I don't know what you mean."

"It sounds like the feelings you're most confused about…" George said taking a step towards her. "…are Fred's."

"What?" Hermione stepped back. "I don't…"

"Did he really love you? What parts were real? Why did he let you go?" With every step he took towards her she stepped back. "You fell for him before you ever really knew me, and you didn't stop falling for him once you did. And now you're scared he's given up on you completely."

George stopped walking and stared at her "He hasn't."

Hermione's eyes widened. "He loves you so much he couldn't help hurting me." George looked at her with eyes sad but understanding. "You were my first love but you're his only love. I don't think he could help loving you."

Hermione's eyes didn't meet George's. It seemed they were scanning the room for something that wasn't there.

"Don't give up on him." He said. Finally Hermione's eye's found his as he was watching her the whole time.

"Did you find your answer?" he asked.

"George…" Her eyes began to water again. "I'm so sorry." She said through her tears.

"Don't be." He mustered up a small smile looking down at her. She quickly embraced him wrapping her arms around his waist pushing her head into his chest. George moved his right arm up to pat her head but stopped before touching her and let it fall down by his side. He let her hug him until she finally stopped crying than he gentle stepped away.

"I'm glad you finally have your feelings in order. I'll work hard to get mine in order too." He chuckled softly.

"George I really am –"

"Please stop." He held his hand up. "If you start crying again they'll ask you to replace moaning myrtle as the ghost of the first floors girls' lavatory."

Hermione gave a small laugh. "Well I guess thank you then."

"Don't say that either." George grimaced "It just makes me feel like you're indebted to me and I can't promise I won't ask you to pay me back."

Hermione smiled again. "Well what can I say then?"

George looked up at the ceiling as if considering the question. He smiled back at her and shook his head. "Don't say anything."

Hermione looked at him and understood. She nodded and smiled.

George nodded back and waved making his way out the out the bathroom without looking back. Hermione watched him go and she knew their time together was offically over.

She sighed and held her heart which was now going a mile a minute. What was she to do now? Find Fred? Was it too soon? She had a feeling George would tell her it wasn't and with his mental approval she ran out of the girl's bathroom.

She didn't know what she would say or how she should start but she didn't care. She felt excited and nervous at the same time. She didn't know what he would say but she needed him to know how she felt even if he didn't feel the same anymore she needed him to know.

Hermione ran to the Great hall and searched the corridors. She asked Dean to check the boys dorm if Fred was in there but he wasn't. She felt she had looked everywhere. She came to a stop in an empty hallway near the kitchen where she finally sat down and rested.

"Why can't I find him?" She felt completely put out. She suddenly felt the wall shake behind her, making her jump up and stand back against the opposite wall with her wand stretched out in front of her. The wall was opening. Someone was coming through it. As they entered the light Hermione's wand slowly fell to her side and she laughed.

Fred walked out with a bag of food in his hand and a biscuit in his mouth mid-bite. He stopped walking when he saw Hermione in front of him.

"Hi." She smiled.

Fred took the biscuit out of his mouth. "Hey." He said a little taken back. He looked around awkwardly and finally at the food in his hand. He held it up to her.

"Biscuit?" he said with a halfway smile.

Hermione continued to smile. Happy she had finally found him. The person she loved most.

A/N: Expect the next chapter much sooner than this one. Sorry for the long wait! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! The part about the dream was a story I had been writing on the side but I felt it fit with this story and how George sometimes feels over shadowed by Fred but how he knows his brother loves him more than anything and he loves his brother no matter what :)