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"I dreamed about this, you know," he whispered into her ear.
"Of what?"
"You, in my arms, flashing lights all around us. Though in my dreams, those lights were more up in the sky in celebration rather than trying to kill us."
"Fred," she said his name as more of a sigh than anything else. "Let's get you out of here. Can you walk?"
"Dunno. Maybe after some of these rocks are moved off me. Let's see," he said with a grunt as she moved off his prone body. Hermione and Percy levitated the rocks off his body, and Hermione cast some healing spells on him. He stood carefully, slowly, unsteadily - and then he was on his feet. Hermione and Percy moved to either side of him, ready to help support him if necessary. He took a cautious step and then another, but the pain was incredible, and Hermione noticed immediately, wrapping her arm around his waist. Percy did the same but around his shoulder.
They moved slowly and cautiously about the castle, trying to get Fred to Madam Pomfrey and avoiding as many Death Eaters as they could. He was still losing blood, and no matter how many spells Hermione cast at his many wounds, and she couldn't get any blood replenishing potions out of her bag since they were still fighting their way down the castle. Percy wasn't as strong a dueler as her and Fred and couldn't be left to defend all 3 of them at once.
"Oh, this is ridiculous!" she shouted as Death Eaters once again attacked them. She sent a quick stupefy as Percy cast an Incarcerous and Fred started to fall between them. "Oh Fred, no!"
All 3 of them fell to their knees, Hermione looking around them quickly to make sure they wouldn't be attacked. She nodded her head, silently apologized to Fred, and cast the body binding spell on him before levitating him. She sent a quick glance to Percy, who had stayed quiet this whole time except for when he was casting at the Death Eaters.
"Percy, I need you to cast Protego around the three of us. I'll keep him up, but we've got to move. This is not how we want to be found."
"I can do both so you can defend us. I mean, I can multi-cast. This way, you're free to defend us."
She nodded, and Percy cast the two spells. He was tense and looked like it was taking a lot out of him, but it was a better plan than what she had been able to come up with. They walked as quickly as they could, down to the great hall, only encountering three more Death Eaters, which she took care of quickly and succinctly. She was becoming increasingly more worried about Fred, and they were in the way of getting him the help he desperately needed.
When they finally, finally made it, Hermione took over the levitation of Fred. She released his body bind, moving him quickly to Madam Pomfrey. "Fred needs blood replenishing and bone regrowth, I'm sure. He may also have a concussion," she said quietly so that any other Weasleys near the makeshift hospital wouldn't hear her.
Madam Pomfrey got right to work on all the things that Hermione had listed, as Hermione pulled out all her helpful potions from her magically extended bag. She levitated them over to the table in the middle of the makeshift hospital, keeping an invigoration draught for herself and Madam Pomfrey, who looked even more exhausted than Hermione herself felt.
"Here, Madam Pomfrey. You look like you could use this," she said as she handed the potion off. She took one for herself, shivering slightly as it worked its way through her body. "Please, keep him safe," and with that, she walked back out into the battle, looking for Harry and Ron.
Saint Mungo's was a terrible place to be, even with them winning the war. It was noisy, and people were constantly on the move, and Hermione was still nervous and tense all the time. After nearly hexing a healer for opening the door into the Weasley room too quickly and loudly, Harry had to take her wand from her and force a calming draught down her throat before they kicked her out. The Weasleys, and Harry and Hermione, had decided to stay with Fred in shifts as he had to be put into a potion induced coma while his body healed. Nobody wanted him to wake up alone, and even though George was always with him, they knew someone else would be necessary since George was basically a zombie.
It had been three days, and Hermione and George were in the room together just staring at Fred, willing him to wake up now that the healers said he could. The room was silent, but not uncomfortably so, and Hermione had to wonder if someone had cast a Silencio on the door to help keep her at ease.
"He didn't-"George started, voice rough from not being used. "He didn't say anything to me, but I could tell," he said in a stronger voice breaking his stare at Fred and moving it to Hermione.
"I assumed that he did tell you. I wouldn't have expected him to not," she said quietly, also breaking her stare and looking at George.
"When he started acting like a dimwitted arse around you, I knew that it had changed. For him at least."
"Remind me again, when was he not a dimwitted arse around me?" she asked, trying to bring some levity into the room.
"Hermione Granger, are you making a joke right now?"
"Yes, George, I believe I am," she said with a smile. They lapsed back into their silence for a while before her curiosity got the better of her. "Did – did he talk about me to you before Bill and Fleur's wedding?"
George hesitated a moment. He didn't want to give away his brother's secrets. Still, he knew that the witch needed something, anything, to know that whatever had happened between them at the wedding wasn't a one-off or simply desperation setting in.
"I…did," came a rough voice from the bed.
"Fred!"
"Freddie!"
Hermione sent a Patronus to the healers and the Weasleys as George flew into the bed next to his twin, crying into his chest in relief that his other half was safe and sound finally. As people started to enter the room, Hermione left to get some tea. She wasn't able to handle being around that many people yet, especially so many unknown people, as the healers were in and out of the room, and the Weasleys all started showing up to support Fred.
Hermione made her way back to Fred's room after a bit of silent alone time and a few cups of tea. She planned on checking in and saying good night to the Weasley clan before she flooed back to The Burrow. What she hadn't expected was Fred sitting in the room alone.
"It's about time you came back," he said to her with a grin.
"Are you ok? Where is everyone?"
"I'm fine. George convinced them all that I needed more rest or some nonsense. Who needs more sleep after they've been in a coma?"
"Well, your body does still need to heal, and sleep allows it to heal faster," she said with a slight smile on her face. Leave it to Fred to make a joke about being in a coma not 5 hours before.
"I needed to talk to you, and without my prying nosey family around."
"Oh?"
"'Oh', she says. Like she didn't know that this was coming," said George as he entered the room with a tea service for two and a handful of daisies. He walked over to his twin, handing him the daisies as he transfigured a chair into a small table that fit over Fred's legs on the bed. He then placed the tea on the table and looked at Hermione, motioning her to join Fred on the bed. "I'll see you tomorrow Freddie, don't do anything I wouldn't do," he said with an eyebrow waggle. After a beat of silence, he said, "Or better yet, do something I would do." And he left the room as suddenly as he had appeared.
Hermione laughed as she walked to Fred's bed and sat in the chair he had not transfigured.
"Are you afraid of me?" Fred asked.
"Why would you ask that? Of course, I'm not."
"Well then, come sit here with me."
Hermione paused for a moment before looking at him. He was looking at her in a way that made her feel naked like he could see right through all the walls and barriers that she had put up over the years due to being the best friend of 'the boy who lived and found she didn't dislike the feeling entirely. She carefully moved up onto the bed, sitting next to Fred, trying not to touch him, lest she hurt him. He did not like that at all and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her snugly next to him, thigh to thigh, hip to hip, and she found another feeling she didn't dislike entirely.
"These are for you," he said, handing her the daisies. "I couldn't exactly go out and get them, so Georgie got them for me for you. I know I could have transfigured them, but I also know that magic doesn't need to be used for everything, so I hope you like them."
"Thank you, Fred, that is very sweet of you. I appreciate the thought that went into them."
"Well, I wanted this conversation to go well, and…" he tapered off.
"Fred, what is it that you want to say? I'm right here. I won't leave. Promise."
Fred sighed in relief and began to share his thoughts. "You know that I told you I fancied the pants off you at the wedding."
"Oh, you mean when you snogged me breathless and then left me standing there like a- like a-"
"Yes," he cut her off. "That would be the night in question. I didn't mean to kiss you, don't get me wrong, I am definitely glad I did, but that wasn't the plan at all."
"What was the plan then?"
"I was going to tell you that I fancied the pants off you and ask you on a date, a proper one, where it was just you and me, and not the rest of the nosey prats I call my brothers on the other side of the tent. But when I told you and you told me to quit being a git and that it wasn't a funny prank to play on someone, I panicked, and I needed you to know that I wasn't joking, so I kissed you. And then you kissed me back, and I was done for, best snog of my life. I heard Charlie and George coming, so I had to go, to keep them from seeing us. I didn't know what it meant, if it meant anything, though I hoped it did, and I didn't want them taking the mickey out of you, so I left and distracted them….and then Kingsley sent the Patronus, and you were off with Harry and Ron, with no way to contact you."
He took a deep breath to centre himself, and Hermione took his hand in her own, interlacing their fingers. She nodded at him, letting him know that she was here, she was listening, and like she promised, she wasn't going to leave.
"When you were gone, it was the worst feeling in the world. I was here without you, and I didn't know where you were or what you were doing. If you were safe or hurt somewhere. I couldn't stop thinking about you. You were always on my mind. So much so that George told me I wasn't allowed to work on making product anymore because I had ruined so many of them while thinking about you. When we were forced to go to Aunt Muriel's, it got worse, and I was so lonely, even in a house full of Weasleys. You stayed on my lonely mind, and I dreamt about you, all the time. Some of them were nightmares, the things that I was terrified of happening to you while you were gone, but some of them were...extremely pleasant, and they'd get me through the days without you."
Hermione cocked her head, looking up at his face. "You mentioned a dream about me, after I lunged at you. Something about me being in your arms and lights up above."
"I may have," he said evasively. "Coma makes everything kind of fuzzy," he said with a grin that let her know he knew exactly what he had told her. "In for a knut, in for a Galleon," he muttered to himself. "Look, what it all comes down to is that I do fancy you, without a doubt. When you weren't here, the world was not a good place to be in. There is nobody that can compare to you for me, and I'd like to take you out on a date to see if you could maybe feel the same way about me one day."
"Fred, you're so smart, but you're also kind of thick, did you know that?" she asked with a smile. He looked at her, crestfallen, and she knew she shouldn't draw it out; he had been honest with her, so she would do the same for him. "I don't need a date to see if I could feel the same way about you. I already know that I fancy you as well. That's why I was so angry when I thought you were joking with me at the wedding. That kiss….that got me through the worst days of the last year. I even dreamed about it on occasion. I want to go on several dates with you over the next, I don't know, hundred years or so…"
His crestfallen expression changed immediately as he processed her words and their meaning. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, not as fervently as he had at the wedding but with just as much meaning. She was his, and she was going to stay. He broke their kiss and sighed in happiness at the same time she did.
"I know it won't be easy, nosey prats for brothers and a slightly overinvolved mother aside, we just finished a war, and things are going to take time to get better. I know you're going to want to go back to Hogwarts to complete your schooling, which will make it harder for us, but we will make it work. I don't want to be without you again."
"We'll make it work," she said quietly as she laid her head on his shoulder. "Tonight, though, it's only you and me. So why don't you tell me about some of those extremely pleasant dreams you had about me?"