George didn't sit down when he went back into Bones' room. Instead he did a quick circuit, checking the security. The bed may have been a little close to the window, and it was definitely in full view of the hallway. Calculating the risk of an attack through the window or door against the potential for an escape route, George shoved the bed out of view of the hall and closer to the window.

"Is the hospital not Feng Shui enough for you?" asked Fred dryly.

"It does lack that certain ambience," agreed George. "It is not conductive to a healing environment."

Bones didn't seem to mind her bed being moved; only levitating her bed-stand closer once George was done. "You're worried about my safety," she said, picking her quill up once more and assessing her parchment. "What's changed?"

"We haven't had the reports back," said George carefully. "We have no way of knowing whether other political figures have been attacked yet, but Hermione, Delacour and Krum are on it."

Bones looked up from her notes then, eyes narrowing in contemplation. A cynical smile tugged at the corners of her mouth and she nodded to herself finally. "My parents ambushed you and told you to protect me from Malfoy."

George shrugged, creasing his nose. "I am unable to verify or refute that accusation at this time."

Bones merely shook her head, not bothering to argue. She must have been more tired than she looked. Fred had picked up on it too, because he leant forward. "Bones, you should probably try to sleep."

She was shaking her head before he had finished, but the twins knew Bones better than most people did. They might not be able to force her to do anything, but they could manipulate her better than most of her friends and family.

"There's nothing you can do right now," said Fred. "We don't have the necessary information. Try to sleep for now and when we have more details about the attack we can start investigating."

Bones grinned sharply. She knew that she was being played, but she could obviously see the sense in Fred's plan too. "If anything big happens you will wake me," she said.

George would have agreed to the demand, but Fred was better at this sort of negotiation. "If we can't handle it ourselves," he said.

Bones made a face and then shrugged her agreement.

She was a light-sleeper at the best of times and movement usually startled her awake so George went to get her a sleeping draught. They always kept the antidote to it on hand and most of them needed to take it when they were sleeping somewhere that hadn't been secured. It was another part of war that George hoped would fade with time.

"What's going on?" Fred asked once Bones was sleeping.

They weren't sitting close to one another. If there was an attack they stood more of a chance spread out. "Malfoy," he said. "He told me to make sure there was a battle-trained witch or wizard in here at all times. He seemed pretty freaked out about it actually."

"You think he was expecting a follow-up attack to target her?" asked Fred.

It hadn't seemed that way. Draco wasn't trained in the same way that they were and when the attack on the Burrow had been over, he had seemed to think that that was the end of it while the rest of Hottie had actioned all of their safety protocols, sending Aurors out to protect other possible political targets. But George wasn't sure what the alternative theory could be. He shrugged. "I guess so."

Fred's brows pulled together in the middle and he studied his twin. "There's more."

"It's probably nothing. We both know…I mean it's obvious that he's interested in keeping her alive, for whatever reason."

"Still," said Fred. "There's more."

George tilted his head forward, half in acknowledgement and half so that he could think about the situation without his twin reading his eyes. "I doubt that he even considered that Bones might still be at risk," he said. "I think he was using it as an excuse."

"An excuse to do what?" asked Fred, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "Wait, you mean, because her parents aren't battle-trained? You think he's trying to keep them away from her?"

George shook his head. "He didn't tell me to keep them out. He told me to make sure they weren't alone with her."

"What? He's worried that they'll forbid her from seeing him? That would only make her more determined."

"Yeah," George agreed.

"Then he's worried about her safety?" asked Fred, brow furrowing in thought.

George snorted. "Even Malfoy's not mental enough to think her own parents would harm her just because she was seeing him."

"What then?" Fred sounded frustrated. "He thinks they'll yell at her? Upset her?"

"What does he expect us to do if they do? He should know her well enough to know that she'll fight her own fights."

"Then he is worried for her safety," exclaimed Fred. "What's the alternative?"

"From her parents?" George asked incredulously. "He'd do better to protect her from himself."

Fred frowned at him.

"Well, come on," said George. "You saw how she was when he dumped her last time."

That made Fred's frown deepen, lines of confusion gathering on his brow. "Did he dump her last time?"

George shrugged helplessly. "Who knows? She never talks about it, and she gets scary if you try to ask. But it's not hard to guess. She was the one who was cut up about it."

"Actually," said a lighter voice and Fred and George turned to find that Hermione had come through the door in that frighteningly silent manner of hers. There had to be some magic to it. She folded her arms across her chest and studied Bones' sleeping form. "They were both cut up over it."

"How would you know who was cut up?" asked George. "You can't tell a thing from looking at Malfoy. Cold git."

"Cho Chang," said Hermione, leaning back against the door she had come through. "She saw Malfoy fighting with Bones in the Eastern courtyard after they'd broken up. According to her, Bones was the cold one."

"Fighting about what?" asked Fred.

"Jesus, Fred, this was years ago and I only got it from hearsay," said Hermione irritably. She prided herself on her investigative abilities though, so she chewed her lower lip and tried to remember what Cho had said. "It was something about letters," she said. "Malfoy seemed to think that Bones hadn't broken it off properly and he was angry about it. And apparently Bones acted like she had no idea why Malfoy was even bothering to talk to her. Malfoy had been sending her letters over the summer and she'd stopped taking them or sending any back without saying why."

Fred and George both eyed her uncertainly. "Your memory is scary amazing," said Fred finally.

Hermione laughed.

"Malfoy must have done something unforgivable to make Bones cut things off without a word," said George. "He must have been torturing House-elves or something."

"And for all that she did love him," said Hermione. "Otherwise it wouldn't have broken her so completely."

"Maybe he was cheating on her," suggested Fred. "Parkinson cornered her after Charms one day and threatened to Crucio her over Malfoy. Bit of a triangle there, you think?"

Hermione shook her head. "Bones would have broken it off properly if he were cheating," she said. "She might have hexed him a bit but there'd be none of this pretending nothing had ever happened."

George tilted his head, studying the bed with a frown spreading across his face. "In what situation would Bones not break it off properly?" he finally demanded. "She wouldn't pretend nothing had happened no matter who was in the wrong. She's pro-active, not passive. She'd sort it out."

Hermione shrugged. "That's what Cho saw," she said. "Bones was pretending she had no idea why Malfoy was bothering her."

"Then Chang saw wrong," said George. "Bones wouldn't avoid something like that."

"Yes, she would," said Hermione. When the twins turned to her, she lifted her chin. "She does the same with us. I asked her once what happened with Malfoy and she just looked puzzled and asked what I meant. I agree, it's out of character for her to avoid an issue. But, where Malfoy's concerned, that is what she does."

"She does the same with us," Fred admitted. "But to be fair it's none of our business…"

"Then she should tell us it's none of our business," said Hermione. "Not act like there's nothing there and never was."

"She usually would," said George.

"Well, she's not," said Hermione, with an annoyed shrug. "She's blaming her parents for the fact that she's miserable and welcoming Malfoy back like he's a saint."

Fred sat straighter, eyes narrowing and darkening. "We don't know that Malfoy did anything."

"He's a nasty piece of work. There are pretty good odds on it. Besides, that's when Bones got cold."

"Bones is honest," said Fred. "Even when she makes mistakes or is wrong about someone, I've never known her to be otherwise."

"I think we've established that those rules go out the window where Malfoy's concerned," said Hermione.

"What if they don't?" asked Fred.

Hermione threw a hand up in exasperated disbelief before looking to George for support. He was watching his twin, breathing shallow as though he was starting to understand something and he really didn't like it. But they were both taking Fred's question seriously. "Okay," said Hermione, voice heavy with sarcasm. "What if Bones was always honest, even about break-ups? Then I guess she seriously would not have known who I was talking about when I said that Malfoy had only ever looked at one girl like she was more important than he was."

Fred nodded.

George stretched his shoulders, uncomfortably. "And she would have honestly not known why I thought that she might be jealous of Nott possibly being with Malfoy."

Fred nodded again. George glanced across at his twin and the line of his shoulders tightened. Hermione turned from one to the other, trying to keep up. They were on to something and she couldn't figure out what.

"I asked her about it all recently," said George. "She said that Malfoy had sat with her once or twice in Potions and that's it. That's all she'll admit."

"There," said Hermione. "She lies. That's an outright lie."

"What if it's not?" asked Fred.

"Well," said Hermione. "That would mean that Bones has somehow completely forgotten that she and Malfoy had ever been together…" she broke off and stared at Fred, heart skipping several anxious beats. "This…I can't…" She broke off and chewed her lower lip hard for several moments as she considered the situation. "Bones hates her parents," she said softly.

"And Malfoy doesn't want Bones' parents left alone with her," George added.

"It makes a horrible kind of sense," said Fred. "He's back and she trusts him. It's…"

"I'm going to the library," said Hermione, pulling the door open abruptly. "Don't anyone jump to conclusions until I get some definitive proof."

"Already there," said George wryly. "This is the only thing that makes sense."