Ten years later...

Hermione sat in the beautiful sunshine, her hands folded in her lap. She looked at the light grey headstone in front of her, reading the name of the man who'd left her behind so long ago.

"Harry keeps telling me I need to get over you," she chuckled, shaking her head. "I told him to get screwed."

She sighed as she paused in thought, knowing what his reaction would probably be. That a girl.

And then she shook her head because she knew, really, that that would not be Fred's reaction.

He's right, Hermione.

"No, he's not," she said softly.

What you gonna do bird? Be alone and miserable the rest of your life?

"I'm not alone! I have Matthew and Maevy!" she mumbled, aware that she was essentially talking to herself.

She'd had twins. Her and Fred had twins. The arsehole had the decency to die on her after putting not one, but two babies in her. He was going to get it both barrels when she found him in the afterlife. The twins were now nine years old, currently at a muggle primary school and looking forward to the day they received their Hogwarts letters.

Hermione had never found another man. She'd devoted her life to her children and she couldn't be happier. She missed Fred. Not companionship, not love, not being with someone, just Fred. And no one else was going to be Fred. She told her children all about their father and the amazing man he was. She told them stories about the ludicrous things he would do in school, of the charming nature he had, of the genius he was. They had six Uncles, they didn't need a replacement father and Hermione didn't need a relationship where she had to constantly pretend like she'd put Fred behind her, because she hadn't and she never would.

Even mum has told you to move on.

Molly had cornered Hermione about a year ago and had a little heart to heart with her. Molly had apologised for the way she'd reacted to the news of Hermione's pregnancy, she'd told her that she never expected her to remain alone the whole of her life. That Fred would want her to move on and be happy. Everyone was always so quick to tell her that.

Everyone is right.

"How am I supposed to let go and move on Fred? I have two mini-you's living under the same roof..." she sighed, looking at the name on the gravestone again and sniffing. "And it still hurts. All these years later. It still hurts like it was yesterday."

"Hermione?" A familiar voice broke her one sided conversation. A familiar voice attached to the face that was most similar to the dead man she was talking to.

"Hey George," Hermione said, giving him a soft smile.

"What you doing up here?" He asked.

"What are you doing up here?" She countered.

George chuckled softly as he sat down beside her. "I like to come up here sometimes, talk to him about my latest ideas and inventions."

"I like to come up here sometimes and talk to him about the kids," Hermione said. "And about how everyone insists I should move on and find someone else."

"You know what he'd say to that?" George said gently.

"Yeah..." she nodded.

Just be happy, Hermione. You've got so much love to give, don't waste it all pining after me.

"Any reason why you won't listen to what he would say?" George asked.

"Because he never listened to me?" Hermione said. George laughed loudly beside her. "Because," she sighed, "everyone seems to think it's because I can't let go and say goodbye to him. That I'm holding onto him and it's making me miserable...do I seem miserable to you George?"

George sat and looked at her, thinking seriously. "No, you don't."

"I'm happy, I'm so happy..." Hermione said. "This isn't about moving on or forward or getting over him. I know we only had a second together in the grand scheme of things, but it was enough to know that no one else will ever compete with that. How can I ask someone to try?" She shook her head and looked back at him. "I've not shut my heart off from every possible suitor like you all think I have. If there's a love out there that I'm supposed to have, if there's a man out there I'm supposed to be with, I'm ready for it. But I won't go looking for it. I don't want to."

"But Hermione..." George stopped himself as he felt her hand squeeze his knee gently.

"Georgie, why does everyone seem to think I need a man to make me happy?" Hermione asked with a smirk. "Why is everyone intent on seeing me in a relationship?"

"We just don't want you to be alone," he said.

"I'm not alone. I am on my own, and I'm happy that way," Hermione said.

"But Hermione-"

"You know what he'd say to you right now?" She grinned.

"Yeah..." George nodded with a sigh and a chuckle.

That witch is too bloody stubborn to argue with. If she's made her mind up, there ain't no way anyone is going to change it.

"How's Angie and the kids?" Hermione asked.

"They're all good," George said. "They're the best thing that ever happened to me." He grinned at her and nudged her playfully. "Thanks..."

"No problem," Hermione grinned back. "Setting you two up was the easiest decision I ever made."

"Easier than falling for Fred?" George asked.

"That wasn't a decision, it just happened. Before I knew it the prat was the most important thing to me and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it!" she huffed playfully.

There wasn't a damn thing you wanted to do about it.

"There wasn't a damn thing you wanted to do about it," George said as Hermione heard Fred's words echo in her ears.

"No, there wasn't," she said.

"D'you remember when everyone thought we should get together?" he asked. Hermione began giggling as she nodded. "That's what made you set me and Angie up, isn't it?"

"Of course it is," she smiled. "I love you Georgie, but falling in love with you?" She shook her head and looked at him. "You were too similar to Fred and yet too different at the same time."

"I get that," he said. "I knew that would be the case long before my family started thinking about the two of us. It's why I tried to keep myself in check."

"What?" Hermione frowned, looking at George's guilty face and warm cheeks.

"It would have been so easy to fall in love with you Hermione," he smiled softly. "I knew exactly how and why Fred fell so far."

"George-"

"I couldn't do that to you," he said, his eyes meeting hers, shining blue to deep brown. "I knew you'd feel the way you do about us. I was the closest person you had to Fred without wanting to be Fred. I couldn't complicate that, I couldn't make you feel guilty for not feeling a certain way. It was only fleeting, in the grand scheme of things. I have to say, I've never envied my twin brother more though, not in those few moments..."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Hermione frowned.

"Never saw the need to," George shrugged.

"Why are you saying something now?" Hermione asked.

"Dunno really," he said. "I think, hearing you say the thing I always knew to be true, I suppose it just set it free a bit."

"Thank you," she whispered.

"What for?" He frowned.

"For squashing whatever feelings you had for me and falling for Angie instead," she said. "I don't know what I'd have done, if you'd changed the game on me..."

"I know, that's why I didn't," he said. "Especially not after my dear brother Freddie had already changed the game on you so spectacularly."

"He certainly did do that," she chuckled, smiling at the memory of an irate Fred, furious that she wouldn't believe he loved her after everything he'd done to prove it. Fred's idea of proving it was pranking her.

"I still remember the time he came back to the dorm, after your first kiss," George grinned. "Merlin he was so wound up I thought he'd make an excellent spinning top if only I could just pat him on the head."

Hermione laughed, thinking back to that night. She been patrolling and caught the idiot wandering the halls, arms full of food he'd stolen from the kitchens. She remembered how he'd pouted and made some comment about 'being stupid enough to give Harry that bloody map'. She'd laughed at his adorable little huff, smiling at how he didn't even question the idea that she'd punish him for being out of the tower so late despite being quite good friends by that point. He merely shrugged and asked her what it was going to be. She remembered the way his eyes went wide and his smile flickered from something sweet to something sinful as she told him she wasn't going to do anything. He'd walked right up to her then, murmured his thanks and gave her a soft, lingering kiss on the lips. Hermione had squeaked out her surprise but before she could get her head around what had happened, much less ask him what the hell he was playing at, he was gone.

"I don't think I've ever heard that story from your point of view George," Hermione smirked, the two of them flicking their eyes back to the gravestone mischievously as they heard don't you dare echo in their ears.

"He was practically bouncing," George sniggered. "Couldn't sleep at all. He called it the best kiss of his life, up until the one he had to give you to make you realise he wasn't playing with you."

"That was his own fault," Hermione laughed.

"It was," George agreed. "But from that first kiss, it was like you'd thrown fuel on a fire he was desperately trying to put out. And then there was no stopping him."

"We were all supposed to be friends by that point, I didn't even think he could see me the way he did," Hermione sighed. "And then he pranked me, badly."

"It was supposed to really sweet," George laughed. "I tried to tell him it was awful but he wouldn't listen to me."

Hermione smiled, thinking back to the horrendous things Fred had done to her that day. He'd made her hair stick out and frizz up worse than usual, he'd turned her skin orange, he'd made all her teeth fall out, brought her out in boils and inflated random parts of her body. Hermione very nearly killed him. And then he'd had the audacity to say that no matter what she looked like he would always love her, because he was hopelessly in love with her. That led to Hermione becoming not just angry but incredibly hurt and upset, which sent her stomping off down the corridor in tears while Fred sped after her wandering what the hell he'd done wrong.

"Well, after he made me cry, it didn't take him long to realise he should have listened to his brother," Hermione chuckled.

"He was such an idiot, he was so in love with you he just stopped hearing any and all reason," George smiled.

"Merlin I still remember that kiss," she sighed. She smiled, thinking back to the way he'd grabbed her, spun her round and kissed her senseless. She still remembered the way she tingled all the way down to her toes, the taste of his tongue as it swept through her mouth, the way his lips moved and his hands wrapped themselves around her as though she were the last thing left on earth. She remembered the way she felt his love burn inside of her, the way she felt his passion and pure adoration, the way her heart swelled as she realised he wasn't joking, he did love her. She also remembered how funny he looked when his whole face fell after she told him she loved him too. If that day had been different, if at least one person had seen them, it wouldn't have been a secret and he may not have died.

They'd chosen not to tell anyone, well, anyone but George. They didn't want their relationship to put either of them in danger. With Hermione being such a close friend of Harry's and Fred being a Weasley and out-and-out blood traitor, they felt it was best not to push their luck. And then when Hermione went on the run, it made even more sense. There was no question about it, if Voldemort or the Death Eaters had known the pair were involved, Fred would have been captured and probably killed long before the final battle. Hermione couldn't help scoff to herself, feeling as though hiding it hadn't made all that much difference.

Of course it did. He couldn't use me to hurt you or manipulate you.

"I'm sorry Mione," George sighed. "I'm still so sorry that you lost him. That we lost him. It still isn't fair."

"No, it's not," she said.

"You promise me, truly promise me, that you're not living a half-life, pining after Freddie?" George said.

"I promise," Hermione grinned. "I can't help that I still love him. It's not a question of moving on. I'm not in denial. I know he's never coming back. I know he'd want me to be happy even if that meant being with someone else but...I don't know...I can't explain it George." She shrugged and looked back at him. "He was Fred, and I know that no one else will ever be Fred. But I've never met anyone that's made me okay with that. I've never met anyone who I've wanted to love the way I loved Fred, and I don't think I ever will."

"Fair enough," George said. "So long as you're open to it if it comes along, that's good enough for me."

"I'd never choose to be miserable just because I lost Fred, but I can't choose to find another man for the sake of keeping up appearances. I never needed a man to make me happy even after I fell in love with Fred. I don't need one now he's gone."

"Yeah, I believe he told me about that particular argument," George chuckled.

"He shouldn't have called my bluff," Hermione smirked.

Not long before she'd taken off with Harry and Ron, Fred had tried to talk her into staying. He was so worried and scared that something might happen to her that he gave her an ultimatum; him or the hunt she was leaving for. Hermione, being who she was, told him not to be so ridiculous. She said he was grasping at straws and that was low even for him. She didn't need a man to make her happy and if he loved her the way he said he did, the way she knew he did, he also knew that she had to go. She still remembered the way he sighed in defeat and told her it was worth a try.

"Stupid man..." she mumbled. "It wasn't me we should have been worried about."

It's always you I worry about.

"I don't think anyone could have predicted what happened," George sighed. "Life's a bitch sometimes and shit happens. It's not fair and we move on. That's all we can do."

Hermione simply nodded, leaning back against the grass as she looked at the headstone in front of her again. George stayed for a little while longer, the two sitting in comfortable silence, before he bid her goodbye and left.

Hermione sighed, tears stinging her eyes as she wished and hoped for time to change. For the name to warp and wobble and be someone else's.

"Let you go..." she whispered. "They all tell me I should let you go. As though I'm keeping you with me against your will. Against my own will."

She shook her head as tears slid down her face, slowly but surely and with such familiarity she didn't even bother to wipe them away. Her breath caught as she sobbed quietly.

"Fred, you're a part of me. It's not as simple as letting you go." She sighed deeply, sniffing as she looked to the heavens. "Merlin, if it was that easy I'd have done it years ago..."

No you wouldn't've.

"No, I wouldn't've," Hermione mumbled, a choked chuckle struggling past her lips.

You're too bloody stubborn.

She was. She knew it. She didn't care. Her heart still ached with the loss of him and she couldn't bear the thought of filling it with someone else. Her life was good and happy, her children were the light she thought she'd lost. She didn't need anything else, she didn't need anyone else.

"I still love you Fred, I'll always love you," Hermione whispered. "And I'll always dream of us, of what it would have been like with you beside me. Of the father you'd have been, of the husband you'd have made..." she stifled another sob. "God Fred, I've missed you so bloody much." Her head dropped softly forward as she cried.

All the times she needed him and he couldn't be there. Telling his parents she was pregnant. Finding out she was having twins. Going through the birth and labour...all she wanted was his hand to hold and she couldn't have it. Looking into the eyes of their children for the first time, smiling sleepily at them and wishing he was right beside her looking at them too. Picking names. The sleepless nights and restless days. The absence of his presence. The first time her babies said 'dada' and not being able to attach the sound to him. The screaming and crying and exhausting tantrums with no one to back her up, not the way he could have. The empty space beside her while she slept. The need to feel his arms around her, to snuggle into his chest and breathe in the smell of him. She hugged her arms around herself as she broke apart. It never got easier, she just got better at hiding it for longer periods of time.

I hate it when you cry.

Hermione breathed out shakily, sniffing and forcing herself to calm down. She looked back up at the gravestone, at the name engraved upon it. Fredrick Gideon Weasley. Her heart hurt and her soul ached but right now there was nothing she could do about that. Her children needed her, they needed her to be sane and stable and so she would be. For them. For Fred. For her. But every now and then, she just needed a few minutes by his side to weep at the injustice she still felt, the anger that still coursed through her veins and the absolute bitter sadness that filled her heart.

She dried her eyes and stood up, forcing her feet to move and meet back up with the real world. The world in which he stopped existing, the world in which she was okay because she had to be and that was just the way things were.