I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I see is sun. McGonagall has been shaking both of us awake. "Good morning."

I stretch my stiff neck as I sit up. "What time is it?"

"9am. You missed breakfast. The House Elves have food for you in the kitchen, though."

Hermione and I head off to the bathrooms, then meet outside the kitchen. She's changed her clothes and brushed her hair and looks a million times better than she did last night. We're greeted by Kreacher, who I haven't seen since the Order of the Phoenix days. He's wearing a locket around his neck and a fairly clean pillowcase. "Good morning, sir and madam. This way please."

We sit at a table off to the side and Hermione talks with Kreacher as he serves us breakfast. He seems genuinely happy to see her and asks her how "Master Harry" is doing.

"He's a long way from putting his fingers in his ears and ignoring 'The Mudblood,'" Hermione says while we eat.

That word still sparks anger in me, even when she uses it. But I still have a simmering anger in my stomach from the past two days and I'm waiting for it to boil over. I push my plate away. My appetite is gone. She notices and thanks Kreacher for breakfast before pulling me outside. "Come on. Let's play in the snow."

So we do. She tosses snowballs at me and I return the favor until we're both wet and cold. So I pack one more. "Last one!" I call, throwing it in her direction.

She ducks and it goes past her, smacking the wall by the entrance, narrowly missing McGonagall.

"Sorry, Professor," I say when we both reach her.

I expect her to yell at me, but that small smile doesn't go away. "Do you feel better?" she asks Hermione.

"Much," she responds. "Thank you."

"I'll let you walk him to the gate."

"Thank you for coming," Hermione says before we part. "I was so upset that you were there last night, but now I'm happy you were."

"Anytime," I say honestly.

Images flash through my mind as I change my clothes and shower. Ron's wrinkled clothes, Hermione's tearstained face, the red swollen eyes, the defeated shrug in her shoulders. My stomach is churning, bubbling up as I head to the Burrow for dinner.

Ron and I arrive at the same time and, once again, I know where he's been. "Have fun with your new girlfriend?" I ask.

He nods, misinterpreting my tone. "It's so nice to be with someone who's passionate. Hermione was always so rigid and distracted. No passion."

That does it. I swing, my fist connecting with his face. We're on the ground in seconds, wrestling, and I'm yelling as I hit him. "No passion? This is the girl who gave up her parents because she wanted to save the world from Voldemort! Who saved your and Harry's lives a hundred times because she loves you! Who always rallies behind anyone and anything considered less than wizards because she believes so strongly that there's no difference between us!"

I just keep hitting him, yelling incoherently as he tries to hit back. Eventually I hear, "Fred!" and am flung backwards away from him.

When I look up, Mum is standing between us, red-faced, her hair sticking out in a hundred directions. "What is going on here?" she shouts.

Ron sits up, wincing, his eye blackened, his lip and cheek bloody. I can feel blood dripping down my face as well, but otherwise I think I'm unharmed.

"Well?"

When neither of us answer, she sighs. "Let me guess. This had something to do with Hermione."

We both nod and she sighs. "Ronald Weasley, the way you treated that girl was deplorable, especially after all she's done for you. Stringing her along instead of ending your relationship was downright cowardly."

I smile-finally someone else calling him out-but stop when she turns to me. "Fred Weasley, I don't care how noble your intentions are. If you ever hit your brother again, your right buttock will never be the same either."

I'm taken aback; I guess Mum had overheard me say my left buttock had never been the same after Dad had found George and me trying to get Ron to do an Unbreakable Vow. "Do I make myself clear?"

We both nod and she takes us inside to check our injuries. Ginny's eyes are wide when she sees us and she slips in to see me after Mum tends to my injuries. There aren't many. "Merlin, Fred. George and I just used your tricks to torture him in his room. You actually hurt him!"

"If you would have heard what he said, you would have hit him too." I wince slightly when I talk. My cheekbone is a bit tender.

"I've heard what he's said to her over the years and since they've started dating. I would have hit him too."

"But why did she stay with him?"

She shrugs. "I think she didn't want to disappoint Mum after everything she's done for her. Mum wants Hermione to officially be part of the family, so Hermione was going to do it. I don't think she realizes that another Weasley man is in love with her."

"How can she not be?" Hermione is always so perceptive.

Ginny shrugs. "Maybe because you've always been close and protective. Honestly, it's hard to pinpoint exactly when your feelings shifted."

I nod. "Thanks, Gin."

I fall back against the pillows when she leaves, incredibly tired. I smell the faint scent of lilac, which leaves me with some lovely thoughts of Hermione. Now that all that anger is gone, I can sleep.

I thought I'd heard the last about Ron's and my fight because he doesn't mention it again. Then Hermione comes storming into the shop the first Saturday after classes resume. I don't hear her at first; I'm busy taking inventory. Her book is bloody brilliant: I can change the totals, take out items, and add items with a flick of my wand. It's so simple.

"Lavender has been in my face all week saying you beat up Ron," Hermione says, stepping into the back room and shutting the door. "Tell me you didn't."

"That would be lying," I reply, closing the book and putting it away.

She sighs. "She screamed at me for ten minutes about it. Professor Flitwick actually threatened to put her in detention for disturbing classes."

"Do people know that she helped Ron cheat on you?"

She casts her eyes down, so I take that as a yes. "Why did you do it?" she asks.

Just thinking about it upsets me. "Because I was already angry with him for hurting you and making you cry and then he said some really stupid things and I just snapped."

Her eyes meet mine and I see a flash of appreciation. "Thank you."

She leaves shortly afterward and I relay the information to George. He's happy I beat Ron up, but he feels bad that Hermione is being harassed. I figure she'll write in the notebook again this term and I'll be able to make her laugh like I always do.

But that's the last time I talk to her for the semester. She doesn't send any letters, doesn't write in the notebook, doesn't come to the shop. Ginny doesn't know what's going on either; she rarely sees her around the castle. In desperation I write to Malfoy, who informs me that she's been studying nonstop for her N.E.W.T.s. She wants perfect marks.

She does end up with perfect marks, something that is not surprising and will probably not be done again for a long time. The surprise-shock actually-comes when Hermione announces that she's going to Egypt with Bill to learn how to be a Curse Breaker.

"Is that what you were talking about at Christmas?" I finally ask.

"Yes," she replies.

"When do you leave?"

"This weekend."

Five days. I can't believe this. I had planned for Hermione to move into George's old room in our flat because she had said she doesn't want to burden Mum anymore. George has moved most of his stuff to Angelina's flat, so it wouldn't be difficult. I had wanted her to work at the shop until she decided what career she wanted to pursue. Looks like none of that is going to work out.

"What do you think?" she asks.

I blink, pulling myself out of my self-pity. "Of what?"

"Could I keep the things I'm not taking in your flat until I come back? It's not much."

"Of course."

"Thank you."

When George finds out, he sighs. "I knew this was coming. I think she just wants to get away from Ron for a while."

"It's not like they would see each other." And they wouldn't. He works in the Department of Magical Games and Sports in the Ministry. Dad had gotten him the job.

He shrugs. "That's not on me. I think it would be good for her. She's always wanted to travel."

I wish I could be happy for her, but I can't.

I miss her already and she hasn't left yet. Hermione spends almost all day every day packing and gathering supplies to move to Egypt. I see her when I go to the Burrow for dinner, which is only once or twice a week. Like Hermione, I don't want to burden Mum.

I can't sleep the night before she leaves. What if she gets killed by an old curse or jinx? What if she decides not to come back? I finally get up and go to the Burrow, making a rash decision to toss stones at Hermione's window to wake her up. She finally opens the window. "What are you doing here?"

"Come outside. I want to talk to you."

She closes the window and is out the door within a couple minutes, one of my old sweatshirts thrown over her pj's. I'm taken aback by how gorgeous her legs are. She doesn't usually wear such short shorts.

She misinterprets my look and fiddles with the strings of the sweatshirt. "I found it when I was cleaning the other day. Sorry."

"Keep it. It looks better on you."

She perches next to me on the table. "So what's going on?"

I'm suddenly at a loss for words as I look into her eyes. "I-I didn't want you to leave without saying good-bye," I finally choke out.

But Hermione knows me too well. "I'm not trying to abandon you. I just need to get out of here for a while. This isn't going to be my career; it's going to be a way for me to travel and meet different kinds of people and think about what I want in life. There's just...too much negativity here right now."

Well...thanks...I'm not sure what to say to that.

She reads my expression and squeezes my hand quickly. "Not you, Fred. Just Ron and people who keep giving me sympathetic looks because of my parents and people who won't leave me alone because I'm a war hero. I feel like I'm suffocating."

Her eyes are expressive; I can see pain there. Now I feel bad for getting so angry that she's leaving. "I can understand that."

"It's not like it will be forever. I'll be back. And I'll write at least once every two weeks."

"It's just so dangerous."

"Bill will be with me. You trust him, right?"

I do. I would trust her with Charlie in Romania too.

She holds out her hand. "I give you my word that I will write to you at least every two weeks and that I will be careful."

I take it, holding on tightly. "I'm really going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too." Then she smiles, pulling her necklace out from under her neckline. "There's one more thing I want you to do. Keep this safe for me. I don't want one of the goblins to think I stole it from a tomb."

I hold it in my hand, running the smooth turquoise under my fingers. "Would it be weird for me to wear it?"

She laughs. "Not at all."

I let her hook the clasp for me and tuck the pendant under my shirt. "There. Now it's safe."

"Thank you."

She squeezes my hand again, but this time I don't let her let go. We look up at the sky, at the moon and stars, enjoying the warm summer night. When a shooting star crosses the sky, we both close our eyes to make wishes.

Please let Hermione come home safely.

Hermione keeps her word. She and Bill both send us letters, keeping us up to date on their lives in Egypt. She loves her job because she's learning so much history, but dislikes the Gringotts goblins. I don't blame her there. Bill says Hermione is one of the most competent Curse Breakers he's ever trained, which makes Mum smile proudly. "I knew she was going to do well."

I'm proud too. Of Hermione and of George and me. Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes is doing incredibly well, so much so that we've been able to add more to our lines of joke and WonderWitch products and make our explosive products even better. There's even discussion of opening a second location and buying out Zonko's Joke Shop in Hogsmeade, which, surprisingly, Angelina and Katie are on board with. George, Lee, Katie, and Angelina could handle the new location while Verity and I stay here. Hermione could even help me.

I stop that line of thought, cursing myself. I need to stop planning Hermione's life for her. She might not want to work here. She might not even want to work in London after she finishes seeing the world.

I like being busy. Things get even busier when George and Angelina and Lee and Katie decide to elope on the same weekend and ask me to be their witness. How can I say no? Both marriages have been a long time coming and they're both incredibly happy.

It's during the ceremony that I make an executive decision. I'm going to put my feelings for Hermione completely aside and casually date. Women flirt with me in the shop all the time and I may as we enjoy it. Hermione hasn't shown any romantic interest in me, so why wait around?

When I tell the others my plan, they sigh almost in unison. Not little sighs either, frustrated ones. "What?" I ask.

Angelina speaks first. "You've been head over heels for the girl for almost five years now. You were so jealous of her boyfriend that you couldn't even look at them."

"Not to mention beating up said boyfriend when he cheated on her," Katie adds.

"And now you're just going to throw all that aside and shack up with any random girl who flutters her eyelashes at you. I'll believe it when I see it."

It sounds so harsh when she puts it that way. I look to George and Lee for help.

"I think you're going to end up hurting yourself," George says, concern in his eyes.

"I think you're mad," Lee says simply. "Completely mad."

"I really appreciate your support," I reply sarcastically. "Truly."

"Hermione's had a crush on you since her first year" are Angelina's parting words. "You've always been her hero. Don't break that little girl's heart."

"She's no so little anymore," I retort.

But I'm answered by silence. Okay. Now to prove that I know what I'm doing. I walk around the shop, gently pushing products, and stop to straighten one of the shelves. A pretty brunette stops beside me and tilts her head, smiling. "Fred or George?"

I shoot her my most charming smile. "Fred. And you are?"

"Hanna. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine, I assure you. Are you looking for anything in particular?"

She lowers her eyes slightly, gazing up at me through her lashes, a flirting trick I recognize. "I don't know. Does love potion work on you?"

A sense of humor. Good. I wink at her. "It doesn't have to."

Connection made. We make plans for dinner and I wish the others were here so I can rub it in their faces. I knew I still had the Weasley charm. George and I used to have girls falling all over us at Hogwarts. Hermione used to joke that it must be my hair because it can't be my charm.

I push that thought away. I'm not letting her ruin my night. Hanna looks great when I finally get to meet her after work; her black dress hugs her figure nicely. I learn that she was a couple years ahead of me at Hogwarts, a Hufflepuff. She had always admired my Quidditch skills and her younger brother had told her about George and my fantastic escape from Hogwarts during the Umbridge years. She had never approached me because I was always with George or surrounded by girls.

Dinner goes well and she suggests taking dessert with us back to her flat. Her hand is in mine as soon as we stand up and she kisses my neck. Yeah, I know exactly what she wants. And I don't mind it one bit.

She sits in my lap unbuttoning my shirt and pulls at the chain around my neck. "What's this?"

Hermione's necklace. "Just something I'm keeping for a friend."

"Girlfriend?"

I make my best innocent face. "Noooo. She's my little sister's best friend."

She either believes me or doesn't care, but she unclasps it and drops it on top of my shirt. "We don't need anything getting in the way."

I kiss her, agreeing, and try to push Hermione to the back of my mind. She always tries to pop up and ruin things. It doesn't work, though. When we finish, I'm still thinking of her. I look over at the girl sleeping next to me, at her great chest and small waist. I think she'll be a good distraction. I hope she'll be a good distraction.

I reach over and touch the necklace with my fingers. I wonder what Hermione looks like without clothes on.