Chapter 22 - Breaking Up Again

Fred tried on several occasions over the next two weeks to entice Hermione to spend time with him alone but she even refused to look at him at times. She had stopped calling into his lab to see how he and George were doing with their latest products; she had stopped sitting beside him at lunch, opting to always sit at least one person away from him; she never went to the Room of Requirement anymore in her spare time despite Fred giving her a time and day to meet him there. Harry had told the others that he had given an exclusive interview to Rita Skeeter to be published in Luna's Dad's magazine, the Quibbler.

It wasn't exactly a secret between the six friends, so Fred had to guess that Hermione was upset by the news he had given her at the restaurant. He confided in George and Ginny in a dark corner of the common room one evening, after he had waited for two hours in the Room of Requirement for Hermione to show up (which she hadn't). He glanced around the noisy common room to see if anyone was paying them any attention before striking up a conversation with his brother and sister.

"She knows she's going to get hurt when you go, so she thinks by distancing herself now, when she feels the blow when you do leave it won't be as bad," Ginny explained to him.

"But I don't know when I'm leaving Hogwarts!" Fred protested.

"But it is going to be soon?" George asked him, with a worried look on his face.

"Yes, of course Georgie. We've already agreed, haven't we? I wouldn't go back on my word." Fred confirmed. George looked relieved, then piped up, "Just give her some time and space Freddie, she's obviously upset at the thought of you leaving and with all that other stuff with her parents on her mind…" he trailed off.

"I don't know why she's fallen out with her parents; she won't tell me, but George is right Fred. Just give her some time. Can you imagine your parents disowning you and then your boyfriend tells you he's leaving and you won't see him even once a week?" Ginny said.

"No, he can't imagine what it would be like if his boyfriend left him Gin, because he is a bloke!" George teased, in an effort to lighten the mood. Ginny shot him a dirty look. Fred rubbed his hands over his face. He had temporarily forgotten about Hermione's fight with her family and now he had probably broken what was left of her heart by telling her he was leaving. No wonder she was avoiding him, he mentally kicked himself.

I'll talk to her," Ginny said, seeing the pain in her brother's eyes. "See how she's doing for you, try and reason with her." Fred gave her a grateful look, and then stood up to give his sister a hug.

"I'm off to bed," he said sadly, shoving his hands in his pockets and hanging his head as he shuffled off to his dorm.

"He's got it bad," George said, as he watched his twin.

"I know, but so has Hermione," Ginny informed him. "Let's just hope the two of them can get through this."

***New Scene***

Over the next two days two very big events happened within Hogwarts. Firstly, Harry's interview was printed in the Quibbler. Every student at Hogwarts had read it, even when Umbridge had found out, she had banned anyone in Hogwarts for processing it. Students huddled in groups whispering in the corridors discussing how Harry had gone into detail describing the night that You-Know-Who had returned and how Cedric Diggory had died.

Hermione had started really stressing out, worrying out loud that maybe it wasn't such a good idea as she had first thought, despite Ginny, Harry, Ron and the twins insisting that she was a genius; that the Ministry would have to take notice now and admit defeat. Then, the following day, Umbridge sacked Professor Trelawney, throwing her and her belongings out into the court yard for all the students to see.

Professor Trelawney had gotten very upset, having nowhere else to go, but was soon ushered back inside by Professor McGonagall under Dumbledore's instructions. Hermione raged for hours about it, nearly wearing the carpet thin where she paced back and forth in the common room. She looked very angry and was shouting so loud at no one in particular that several scared first years had scuttled off to their dormitory, making sure to give her a wide birth.

Hermione didn't pause in her tirade despite Ginny and Fred trying to calm her down, instead flouncing off to bed, even though it was only 7 o'clock in the evening. In the following days, Hermione didn't speak much, opting to sit in silence during lessons and often retreating to the library at every opportunity. Fred tried to get her to talk to him but she calmed up, despite her eyes giving away the fact that she desperately wanted to off load her troubles to him.

Fred noticed that the dark circles under her eyes were getting deeper, most likely due to her lack of sleep, (he had overheard Lavender Brown moaning about how Hermione had started to pace up and down their dormitory for hours in the early mornings) and that she had stopped coming to meals altogether. He managed to put her on the spot one evening in the common room, and in front of Harry, Ron and George, and he confronted her.

"I'm just not very hungry," she said softly.

"But you've got to eat Hermione!" Fred exclaimed, his seriousness coming through when he failed to call her by the nickname he had given her. She sighed and announced that she was off to bed. After she had gone Fred turned to his twin.

"Drastic action has to be taken George. She can't go on like this." George agreed with his brother and the two of them put their heads together to come up with a plan to try and aid the young witch.

***New Scene***

After a few days, when the twins had perfected their plan of action they went to the library to find Hermione. They had decided to play a prank on Umbridge and to make Hermione come with them to witness it as they think thought it would cheer her up. They found her sitting at her usual table right at the back, scribbling on a piece of parchment with a sad look on her face and silent tears rolling down her face.

They hid behind a shelf of books so she couldn't see them. They were just about to come out of their hiding place and announce their presence to Hermione when a piece of parchment fell off her table and floated onto the floor too far away for her to reach without getting out of her chair. Hermione glanced at her wand which was sitting at the other end of the table and then held out her hand to the piece of parchment lying on the floor.

She glanced quickly around her before a silver slither of light shot out of her hand, picked up the parchment and left it sitting on the table next to her. She then leaned her head on her hand and started to write again. Fred and George looked at each other in amazement before coming out from behind the shelf to confront her.

"What was that?" Fred asked her. Hermione jumped a mile at the sound of his voice, looking like a startled deer.

"What did you just do?" George asked. Hermione's shocked face turned nonchalant and she went back to writing.

"What are you two on about now?" she asked them, avoiding their gaze.

"You just did… magic without your wand, we just saw you," Fred said.

"Don't be silly, how can I do magic without my wand?" she asked them, starting to pack up her things and avoiding meeting their gaze.

"Hermione, we just saw you pick up that piece of parchment with…..I don't know, this silver thing that came right out of your hand. To perform wandless magic you have to be really powerful…and you're underage," George pointed out.

Hermione reached for her wand and the books she had spread across the desk put themselves away with a flick of it.

"I think you two are spending far too much time in that lab of yours, those fumes are going to your heads. Fred, maybe you should actually read that book I lent you, take your mind off things," she suggested, avoiding their accusing gaze as she picking up her schoolbag and started to walk out of the library.

"Shut up about that bloody book and tell me what the hell just happened," Fred snapped at her, reaching out to stop her leaving, grabbing her arm in the process. Suddenly, he was violently thrown backwards and fell hard against the bookshelf with a loud bang, books tumbling down on top of him. Hermione and George looked at him in horror as Fred tried to pick himself from the floor.

"What did you just do?" George demanded, whirling around to face Hermione, his face like thunder. Hermione didn't answer. It seemed like she was rooted to the spot, her face so white it was transparent, her eyes so wide they resembled saucers and she was visibly shaking.

"What did you do?" George growled, taking a step towards her. Hermione blinked and met Fred's hurt gaze.

"I don't know," she whispered, looking scared. "I have to go," she said, fleeing from the library. Madam Pince came down upon the twins seconds later. "What are you two doing?" she demanded angrily, taking in the books on the floor that Fred had knocked over. "Out! OUT!" she shouted at them, pointing towards the library doors. They grumbled their way to their lab and threw their schoolbags into the corner.

"Don't know why she was shouting at us," moaned George, picking up and piece of parchment and a quill. "It was Hermione really that made the mess."

"Why would she do that though? Throw me like that?" Fred asked, flinging himself into the broken chair.

"She can do powerful magic without her wand," said George, scribbling furiously on the parchment.

"I don't care if she can do magic without her wand," Fred raged. "I want to know why she pushed me like that. Did she think I was a threat? That I was going to hit her?"

George looked up from his parchment and into Fred's worried eyes.

"Of course not mate, she was just upset about something, you saw she was crying again," George tried to reassure his twin.

"I wish she would just talk to me. I thought that she could trust me," Fred said sadly, hanging his head. George looked at his twin, and slowly brought another piece of parchment from his trouser pocket.

"I don't know if I should do this…" he broke off. Fred's head snapped up and his eyes focused on the parchment in George's hands.

"Do what?" Fred asked. George looked down at the parchment and unfolded it.

"This is the parchment that Hermione dropped in the library. I picked it up before Madam Pince threw us out," he explained. Fred walked over and stood beside his brother. He took the parchment from his hand and asked him, "Do you think we should read it? It might be personal."

"And it could be notes," George said. Fred hesitated for a moment before he started to read Hermione's small neat writing. George read with him over his shoulder. It was part of a letter to her Dad. Fred felt guilty for reading it but once but found he couldn't stop reading.

"You have to understand what an impossible situation I am in, Dad. How can keep this a secret for much longer? The signs are starting to show even though I'm trying to control them as much as I can. How can this go on for much longer without any one finding out? You have to realise how much danger I am in, and without your support and guidance I'm lost. You must have some idea how much pressure I'm under having to go through the same thing yourself when you were young. I need to know what you did to keep it to yourself. How can I control some things but not others? Things are getting worse here at Hogwarts. Umbridge has sacked Professor Trelawney; Hagrid is on probation, and I fear Harry isn't trying at Occlumency at all and you know how much of a risk that is. If Harry was to find out about me….then I fear the consequences'.

Please, Dad. I need to speak to you desperately, please reply to me, come and see me, I beg you. I need to talk to someone about this as I'm not dealing with it very well on my own."

Fred and George looked at each other.

"So she doesn't want Harry to find out about her secret either as it would have consequences. How so? Harry wouldn't hurt her," George asked his brother. Fred shook his head and sat down on the old broken chair he had never gotten around to fixing.

"Unless….unless she's on You-Know-Who's side and is trying to get him to Harry?" George asked quietly.

"No!" Fred said sharply. "How can you think that?!" he asked his twin furiously.

"I don't know," George mumbled. "I was just guessing out loud."

"There is no way Hermione is on You-Know-Who's side after all she's done! Look how she worried herself sick over the summer when Harry was attacked. It was her idea to form the DA! She got that Skeeter woman to write that article to try and convince everyone that Harry was telling the truth that he was back!" Fred raged.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry," George said, holding his hands up in surrender. "I was stupid to say that. I'm just trying to work out what's troubling Hermione, is all." Fred sighed and sat down again, his anger gone.

"I'm her boyfriend and I have no idea," he confessed. "That letter…she sounds so desperate, Georgie. What can I do?" he asked, his voice breaking. George looked at his twin, startled. Was Fred about to cry?

"I really don't know, mate. I'm as confused as you trying to figure this out. At least we know Harry is involved somehow, with this "Occlumency".

"But she says in that letter that Harry isn't trying at "Occlumency". I don't know what that is, do you?" Fred asked. Now George shook his head.

"They'll be a book in the library about it, though I don't think we'll be allowed back in there after what happened tonight."

"Well, we can't ask either Harry or Hermione without them finding out we've read this letter. Ginny might know we can ask her and say we overhead the famous trio talking about it. Might be worth the risk?" Fred said.

"Ok, it's worth a try," George agreed. "Let's see what happens."