Old Books and Firecrackers: Chapter VIII

A Harry Potter Fanfic

Fred climbed through the portrait hole, arms laden with sweets. He didn’t notice Lee freeze until he bumped into him.

“What’s the matter?” he whispered. It was late. Or early depending on how you looked at it. There shouldn’t be anyone in the common room.

“Hi, Hermione,” Lee said quietly. Fred winced in anticipation of the lecture he knew would follow. There was no answer.

Fred peeked around Lee and saw Hemione sitting on the couch facing away from them. She didn’t move.

“Looks like she’s asleep,” George whispered. “Let’s go before she wakes up.” The three boys started up the stairs, but Fred turned around to glance at Hermione and noticed her eyes were open. She was staring vacantly at the fire and didn’t seem to notice them.

He accompanied the other two boys to their dormitory and dumped the sweets on his bed before turning around and heading back downstairs.

“Where are you going?” George whispered, trying not to wake their other dormmates.

“Something’s wrong with Hermione. She wasn’t asleep,” Fred explained. “I’m going to check on her.”

George nodded. “Ok, but we’re not waiting on you.” He smiled as he picked up a tart and took a large bite.

“Don’t touch my stack,” Fred hissed over his shoulder as he started down the stairs.

He sat beside Hermione on the couch when he had gotten to the common room. “Are you okay?”

She flinched as though she hadn’t realized he was there. She forced a small smile. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

The firelight highlighted the tracks of tears on her face. “No you’re not. What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

He leaned back into the couch. “That’s fine. You don’t have to talk to me about it. Did you tell Ron or Harry?” She shook her head. “Dumbledore? McGonagall?” Again, no. “Your parents?” She flinched then shook her head again. He leaned forward. “Hermione, if something’s wrong, you should tell someone. Why don’t you tell Harry?” He would have suggested Ron, but it was entirely possible they were fighting again.

She shook her head. “No, I–I can’t tell him.” She bit her lip and he could see her eyes starting to fill with tears again.

“What’s going on?” he asked gently.

She buried her face in her hands. After a long moment, she whispered, “I altered my parent’s memories.”

He laughed. He couldn’t help it. “There’s no way you’re the only person to do that. Believe me, if George and I could have gotten past the underage magic law, there would be a lot of our pranks Mum wouldn’t remember.”

She shook her head and started crying harder. “No. I–I altered their memories completely. They–they have no idea who I am.”

His blood froze. He must have heard her wrong. He must have.

“You-Know-Who is back and–and he would try to attack them at some point since they’re muggles and I’m friends with Harry, and–and I just couldn’t let him,” she sobbed.

He didn’t think. He just pulled her into his arms. She clung to him and wept. He always forgot how young she was because she acted so much older, but fifteen suddenly seemed very young.

With He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named back, Fred had been giving a lot of thought to what he could do to protect his family. He thought he was prepared to do anything, but making them forget everything–forget him? That would never have occurred to him.

“When?”

“Right–right after school ended last year. And then your dad picked me up and brought me to Grimmauld place.”

Six months. Six months she had been suffing in silence. He hadn’t even realized anything was wrong. She was so much stronger than he realized.

He said nothing else, just held her until she stopped crying again. Finally she pulled away and wiped her eyes. “I’ve been fine all this time, but today was my mum’s birthday and–” she broke off, unable to continue.

“You can’t tell anyone,” she said when she could speak again.

“Hermione–”

“You can’t! If anyone knows, it could put them in danger, and if Harry finds out, he’ll blame himself. You can’t tell anyone!”

He could see how scared she was. “Alright. I promise.” She sank back, relieved. “But you need to go to bed.” She nodded slowly. He waited for her to get up and go to the girl’s dormitories before heading up to his own.

George and Lee were sitting on their beds eating pastries when he returned.

“Hermione alright?” George asked around a mouthful of cake.

Fred sat on his bed and dug into his own collection. “Yeah. I think she stayed up too late studying. She just went to bed.”

Lee shook his head. “I will never understand that girl.”

“What are you doing for the holidays, Hermione?”

Fred heard Ron ask the question across the table and immediately perked up. What was she doing? Did she need an excuse to stay with them?

“I’m going skiing with my parents.”

Fred tuned out as Harry and Hermione tried to explain to Ron what skiing was (something to do with snow and it seemed to be some sort of sport) and wondered what she was really planning. Would she be staying at Hogwarts? Was she going skiing with a friend?

He stopped her later when he found her alone in the corridors. “What are you really doing for the holidays? Do you really have plans?” he asked quietly.

She dropped her eyes to the textbooks in her arms. “I’m staying here. I’ve already talked to McGonagall.”

Fred frowned. “You shouldn’t be by yourself for Christmas. I’ll ask Mum to invite you. I’m sure she’ll be glad to have you. We’d all be glad to have you.”

Hermione shook her head. “Don’t do that. I’m perfectly fine here.”

“What? Why?”

“Your mum already has plenty to worry about without including me on that list.”

“She would want to worry about you. You know she would.”

Hermione pursed her lips. “I know, but she doesn’t need to. I’ll be fine here.”

“But–”

“I think George wants you,” she said, gesturing behind him.

He spun around but didn’t see George. He sighed and turned back around. Sure enough, she was gone.

A few days later, Fred woke to McGonagall shaking him. She looked worried.

“Professor? What’s the matter?”

“Oh, good. You’re awake.” She moved over to George’s bed and began shaking him as well. “Something’s happened to your father. We’ll go get your sister and then I’m to take you to Dumbledore.”

“What’s happened to Dad?” Fred asked, shooting up from the bed and trying to stuff on his shoes.

George sat up. “Dad? Is he okay?”

“I don’t know what’s happened. I’m going to get your sister,” McGonagall said. “I’ll meet you in the common room.”

“What about Ron?” George asked, scrambling out of bed.

“He’s already with Dumbledore.”

The boys exchanged a glance, grabbed their wands, and ran down the stairs.

They didn’t get many answers from Dumbledore. All they learned in his office was that their dad had been attacked by some sort of snake because of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Dumbledore sent them to Grimmauld Place where Sirius was waiting for them. Fred and George were about to apparate to St. Mungo’s when Sirius stopped them. It didn’t matter how much they argued, he wouldn’t let them go.

Fred was shaking. Who cared about keeping the Order secret? Their dad was–he could be–

Ginny was trembling too. Fred grabbed her hand and she squeezed his. He saw a couple tears on her face, but she quickly wiped them away.

He wanted to ask Harry more about the attack and how hurt his father had been, but he couldn’t. For one thing, Harry looked like he might be sick any second and he was sure any questions he had would only make it worse. For another, every time he so much as glanced at Harry, Sirius glared at him.

A letter appeared in a burst of flames along with a red feather. Sirius thrust it into George’s hands.

“Dad is still alive. I am setting out for St. Mungo’s now. Stay where you are. I will send news as soon as I can. Mum,” George read aloud. “Still alive?” he asked, a note of panic in his voice. “But that makes it sound–”

Fred tore the letter out of his brother’s hands. He read it three times then glanced at Harry, questions on the tip of his tongue. Only Sirius’s murderous look kept them in.

Seconds ticked by like hours, minutes like years. Surely they should have had news by now?

Ginny curled up in her chair, still clinging to Fred’s hand. Fred leaned his head on the back of his chair. He couldn’t remember ever staying up this late before.

He must have dozed off, because he suddenly heard noises. The kitchen door opened to reveal his mum. He stood up, jerking his hand out of Ginny’s.

His mum smiled. “He’s going to be alright.”

Fred’s knees gave way and he collapsed back in his chair, covering his face so no one could see the tears that finally fell.

They would see him tomorrow. He was sleeping now. He was fine and they would see him tomorrow.

“I want you lot to go upstairs and sleep. You’ve had a long night,” their mum said.

George nodded and he, Fred, Ron, and Ginny went upstairs to the rooms they had used over the summer. Fred laid on his bed, but didn’t think he’d be able to sleep. George didn’t even lay down, just sat on the bed.

It wasn’t long before there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” George called. Ginny opened the door, her face streaked with tears. “I didn’t–I didn’t want to be by myself,” she choked.

George gestured to his bed. She shut the door and hopped up beside him. Within five minutes she was sound asleep on his lap.

“Hermione!” Ron called.

Fred looked up from the game of Exploding Snap he, Ron, George, and Ginny were playing. “Hermione! What are you doing here? I thought you were–” he tried to remember her excuse, “skiing with your parents!”

“I couldn’t leave after what happened,” she said as she hugged each of them in turn. “How’s your dad?”

“Much better,” George said.

She looked around the room. “Where’s Harry?”

Ron frowned and looked back at his cards. “Won’t come down.”

Hermione turned to him. “What? Why?”

“He–well, he overheard Moody saying he might have been possessed by You-Know-Who, and now he’s been hiding from everybody,” Ron explained.

A dark look crossed Hermione’s face as she looked around at everyone. “And how did he hear that?” Fred looked away.

“Extendable Ears,” George muttered.

Ginny laid down a card. “If he’d just talk to us, I could tell him whether or not he’s being possessed.”

“You can tell him for certain?” Hermione checked. Ginny nodded.

Fred glanced back up at Hermione. She got a stubborn look on her face and started up the stairs.

“Where are you going?” George asked.

“To get Harry!”

“Good luck!” Ron called.

Amazingly, she did come back down with Harry a few minutes later. Ginny assured him he hadn’t been possessed and the change in him was instantaneous.

When they were called in to supper, Fred stopped Hermione before she got to the kitchen. “Go ahead and say it,” he told her. “I know you want to.”

She had been avoiding his gaze, but now she spun around to face him and crossed her arms. “What were you thinking, giving him the Extendable Ears? He was obviously not supposed to hear the conversation!”

“I thought he deserved information,” Fred muttered.

“And look how that turned out!”

“I know. You’re right.” She looked surprised by his admission. He grinned at her. “But you can’t tell me you wouldn’t have eavesdropped if you were there.”

She didn’t deny it.

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