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Hermione watched Fred out of the corner of his eye as he stood over his broom. He hadn't lifted his hand or even moved yet. Hermione knew that he was nervous, that he was even maybe terrified of what would come if he did manage to get on his broom, but she knew that she couldn't intervene. This was something that Fred had to do on his own, he had made that clear last night when the two of them had talked about what his plans for the day were. He had been on the road to recovery after having the wall fall on top of him during the Battle of Hogwarts, but it had been a long and winding road. Neither magical or muggle medicine had been able to make his legs work like they used to once upon a time, not straight off the bat anyway, and he had been told on multiple occasions that he was lucky to be alive, but Hermione knew how hard for him that had been to hear as it was.
All Fred had spoken about for the last couple of months was being able to get up on his broom and play some Quidditch with his brothers. He had regained the ability to walk around six weeks ago, and he had been warned by his healers and by Hermione that he shouldn't try to run before he could walk, but this wasn't something that he had just decided on a whim.
The others were still inside and Hermione was pretending to read her book while she watched over him to make sure that if he did get up in the air, he stayed that way. She had suggested to him that he fly with someone else but he had insisted that he didn't need to be babied, not even if the other person was George.
The others had promised Hermione that they would be around - George was never far away from Fred for the most part anyway - but Fred had been one step ahead of his family and had come put here before they'd even finished their breakfast. Hermione found herself sort of glad that Fred's broom hadn't quite managed to lift itself up off the ground. Brooms weren't quite sentient, but this one seemed to have at least picked up on the fact that it wasn't a good idea for it to take Fred up into the sky.
"Mione?" His voice was barely above a whisper but it was still enough to pull her out of the book that she hadn't actually been reading in first place.
"Hm..?" She hummed as she looked up at him, closing her book over her finger as she did so, her eyes scanning him for any signs of distress or pain. There was nothing obvious, except for the fact that he wasn't exactly ready for his feet to leave the ground. She wanted to remind him that it was okay if he didn't take off today, that no-one expected him to do anything but continue to adjust to the way that his body now worked. They had all been so afraid that he had been lost to him that the fact that he was alive, conscious, and able to talk to them was enough. "I... I'm scared." She heard Fred admit before he left the broom and walked over to her. Hermione opened her arms, welcoming him into her embrace and knowing that her job was just simply to hold him close and reassure him. He always came to her for comfort. To begin with she hadn't been able to understand it when he had so many siblings around him that she had felt like a spare part, but she wasn't going to complain about the fact that he had come to her because somewhere along the way they had fallen in love.
Hermione held him against her chest as he collapsed onto the chair with her and she managed to resist the urge to rock him like she did for his nieces and nephews. He wasn't a child and she knew that he hated to be treated that way.
"So am I." She admitted, deciding just to be real with him. She didn't qabr him to think that he was alone in his worry, after all. She needed him to know that she was there with him, no matter what, that she understood how he was feeling at least on some level even if she wasn't exactly in his head. "You can try again when George gets out here." She suggested, though part of her was hoping that he wasn't going to try again today. When she closed her eyes, all she could see was him falling from his broom while she was completely helpless on the ground.
"You could come up there with me?" Fred's voice was small, probably because he knew just how much she hated being in the air and the chances of her getting on a broom were about the same as a snowballs chance of surviving in hell.
"Why not George?" She asked him. A small rift had been building between the twins as of late and Hermione figured that it had something to do with the Fred's injuries and George building a life with Angelina - someone who had meant so much to Fred before his 'accident' and yet afterwards hadn't managed to even look him in the eye. But George was still his brother, his twin, the other half of his soul and there was no-one in the universe that Fred trusted like that, or so she had thought anyway.
"I want you up there with me, Hermione." Fred told her and Hermione just about managed to keep a comment about his that would be like the blind leading the blind. She hadn't been on a broom since her second year, though she knew that she had been up there a few times since thanks to the straps, flying motorbikes, and dragons.
Hernione knew that she couldn't argue with him though. If he needed her up there then she had to go with him. She squeezed him tightly to her for a moment, pressing a kiss to his cheek as she tried to keep him calm.
They didn't have long together before the rest of his family came outside, all ready for their little game of Quidditch. It wasn't a great affair of any sort, which was exactly what Fred needed, something with no pressure at all, even if two members of the Weasley family were professional Quidditch players. Everyone just wanted him to be able to enjoy the day, in whatever capacity that was, though for once Molly and Hermione agreed on one thing and that was that Fred wasn't exactly ready to get on a broom.
The noise filled the garden, swirled around them and Fred sat up properly, no longer cradled against Hermione's chest and he watched as his brothers took to the skies. Hermione knew that she couldn't deny him that freedom for much longer. She knew that it was breaking his heart that he wasn't getting to do one of the things that had given him complete and utter joy in his youth. She knew that he had been looking forward to today, even if he was also terrified by it.
"Come on then." She said softly as she moved to stand up, extending a hand to him. She knew that this was going to be one of the worst experiences of her own life, but it would be one of the best of his and he deserved this. He deserved to be able to fly with his brothers, sister, nieces, and nephews.
"You'll take me?" Fred's eyes were wide as he looked up at her, his fingers closing around her hand as he allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. Hermione couldn't blame him for being surprised that she was willing to do it but it also hurt a little that he hadn't expected her to agree to do something that he had asked her to do. She would do anything for him after all.
"Of course." She said softly as they walked over to where he had left his broom. Hermione decided not to waste any time in trying to get the broom to lift itself up off of the ground. She knew that was the way that they had been taught but the two of them were nervous enough as it is and Hermione knew that if they got a rejection from the broom then it was likely to send Fred over the edge.
They both sat astride the broom, Hermione on the front, though she had to wonder if that was the best idea considering that he was the one who actually knew how to control the broom, but if he felt safe on the back with his arms wrapped around her then that was the way that they were going to travel.
"Ready?" Hermione asked softly and when he whispered a "ready" in her ear she kicked off from the ground. Her instinct was to close her eyes but she made sure that she didn't do that today. She needed to have her wits about her, especially as the children were zipping around them at lightning speed. Hermione couldn't make out which children they were, but from the speed she guessed that they had to be Harry and Ginny's. She might have been the youngest of the family but Lily Luna was a forced to be reckoned with. Hermione knew that she was likely to follow in her mother's footsteps one day.
Hermione took it slow, but she still made sure to climb to a decent height. He would think that she was being condescending if she didn't and while she was being over cautious for a reason, this was what he wanted.She could feel his arms still holding on tight around her but his balance wasn't at all affecting the way that the broom was moving through the air. She let a smile flicker onto her lips as they moved, attempting to stick to the perimeter of the garden so that they wouldn't interfere with anyone else's warm-ups. She didn't want to have to say it, but she knew that it was time to land now and so she decided just to take them down without actually saying the words themselves.
Fred hugged her tightly once both their feet were firmly on the ground and he knew that he was both parts grateful that she had put aside her own fear to allow him that small taste of freedom that she knew he had been craving since he woke up, and grateful to have his feet back on the ground once again. Hermione was just glad that she had been able to make him happy.