Lost and Found: Chapter 10

"Fred?" he asked startled, he had come into the living room looking for Harry. Instead he had found his brother, sitting tense on Bill's couch.

"Is she going to be alright?" the older man asked, not looking at him straight.

"Yeah she should be. She lost a lot of blood, but Fluer's fairly talented as a healer." He said and shoved his hands into his jeans. They were still dirty and stiff from weeks of wear.

"Good" Fred said gruffly and stood.

"Do you want to see her, I don't think she's fallen back asleep quite yet:"

"No-" he still hadn't looked Ron in the eyes "no I don't think she wants to see me,"

He was taken aback "Of course she wants to see you-"

His older brother cut him off. "Just owl me when she's up and about. I don't think I need to speak to her until then"

"She wants to see you Fred" Ron said, feeling the blood rush to his ears, along with the anger. "She just told me so herself"

Fred snorted "I didn't realize you were such a brilliant liar, Ronniekins"

"I promised her she could see you, now get your arse-!"

"Oh I'm sure you stopped her mid snog to promise I'd be up there" He sneered, rising out of his chair. Then much quieter he asked "Is that why you just left? Without letting anyone know you had found a way back to them. Were you scared I'd ask to come with and find the two of you out?"

It took him a second to realize what had happened, then another moment to laugh, at the situation before finally a smile broke across his face.

"Don't give me that shit eating grin!" his brother continued, gaining volume "You could have told me! I've spent the past 6 months waiting for her to come back!"

He considered stopping him, and explaining, but the years of suffering he'd endured thinking he and Hermione were going to end up together were still weighing on the back of his mind. This might give him a laugh he could hold onto years from now.

"I told you what I had done, and about the dreams. You could have stopped me! Told me I was being a fool, and that she had moved on- to you." His brother scorned "I could have been trying to pick myself back up, trying to get it together"

He watched his brother heaving, and before he could really think about what he was saying he spoke "You're lying to yourself, if you think you'll ever be able to hold yourself together without her"

Ron didn't know why he'd said it, but looking at Fred now he knew it was true. He'd watched his brother obsess for weeks about how to find them- how to find her. And he'd watched Hermione all summer, he had known something had been missing in her. Then living in the tent he'd watched her deteriorate, like she had lost something that made up half her soul. Once they had found one another, there would be no existing without the other. He could see it now. He'd even felt it in the way she'd kissed him, thinking he was Fred.

His brother hung his head once more "Maybe you're right" his voice was low and cracking. "But I need to try, which means I can't go up there to see her"

Fred moved to leave the room, but Ron grasped his arm to stop him.

Then he was falling, crashing back onto Bill's coffee table. His head hit the solid mahogany, and he could hear something crack. Hopefully it wasn't his skull.

Footsteps sounded coming into the room, and Fred was saying something.

"Sorry, I had to get one out" Ron looked up at his brother, who was cradling the fist he had punched him with.

Bill helped him to stand, but he really didn't need it. The initial shock had gotten him, but now the rage had returned and he jumped at his brother.

The two fell to the ground. Ron fumbled to grab his brother's cloak, and slammed his head against the carpet. A palm landed under his jaw, and he saw stars for a moment. He retaliated with a closed fist, swung in the general direction he knew his Fred's face was. Ron could feel bone shattering under his hand, before someone was dragging him off, and back onto his feet.

Bill's arms wrapped around his own and held him still. He watched Fluer help Fred to stand. It was hard to tell through the blood, but his nose looked like it was turned even farther to the right than it had been before.

"I told you she wanted to see you" he spat, tasting iron in his mouth and knowing that Fluer was going to skin him for the red stains on her cream carpet. "You owe it to her to go and talk with her."

He looked over his brother one more time as Fluer said "Not weet so much blood on your face you veel not"

Maybe he should explain what Fred had clearly seen, but he didn't particularly want to. Hermione would have to do it.

"Fine, but as soon as I come back down you're giving me all the details, just like I gave you" The witch was wiping at his face with a wash cloth, but he could still hear and see Fred's snarl underneath it.

When he had walked up these stairs last, the end of them had looked like the pearly white gates. He'd gone up, expecting a hug, and maybe a kiss. He'd gone up expecting a tearful conversation, and an arse load of apologies coming from his lips. Now he had no idea what to say, how he would even start. His hands had shook from anger when he was on the couch, and he'd though he would do far worse than punch his little brother. All that rage still wasn't completely gone. He didn't know how it would come out. He prayed to merlin it wouldn't end up in a screaming match, that's how he'd lost her in the first place.

The door creaked open, and he could see Hermione's form. She was curled around a pillow, the way he had always found her on his couch at the apartment. A sharp pain rattled around his chest. He glanced at the chair Ron had vacated, and then decided against it. Instead he lowered himself onto the side of the bed, and watched her stir.

When she opened them her eyes were glassy, and her cheeks were wet. Still she pushed herself up with her good arm, and brought her face within inches of his.

"Is it you?" he voice cracked "Or am I seeing things again?"

"It's me"

Arms much skinnier than he last remembered wrapped around his torso, and a mass of hair covered his vision. He melted under her hands, and his muscles released all the tension he'd built up over the past nine months. Without having to think about it he hugged her back, and realized with a startle that he could nearly touch his own hands she was so small.

"I need to get you to mum's pronto." He murmured in her ear. "If she saw you right now she'd cook a ten course meal"

She laughed in his arms, and he heard a sniffle as well. "I don't think I'd be able to handle it. Now a days I get full if we manage to find a whole egg for each of us."

"You'll get better," he said, more to himself than to her. "And if Ron doesn't help you get better I'll make sure that he vomits slugs for a week"

The witch laughed harder this time, and her hair jiggled in front of his eyes "Please, Ron can barely find us enough mushrooms for one meal. Let alone gather enough to fill me"

His breath caught in his throat and he had a to blink for a moment. "I don't just mean food, Herms. Tell me if he doesn't take care of you, alright. I swear if you ever tell me he did something to you I'll skin him-"

She was laughing again, and let go of her to look at her face. Tears were forming in the corners of her eyes again, but this time he could tell it was from the mirth of what he had said, not sadness.

"What-"

"What exactly do you think I've been doing camping with him for months?"

A rock fell to the pit of his stomach as he tried to figure out what she meant.

Heat flushed to his cheeks "I-I don't know" he fumbled, looking at her hunched over form. She was giggling harder now, and it wasn't helping his unease.

"Not-" she took a deep breath and kept laughing a moment "Not what you- you seem- to be thinking" Hermione chortled.

The heat in his face slowly simmered from embarrassment to the same anger he'd clung to downstairs. "So you mean to tell me I didn't just walk in on a the two of you?" he scoffed.

The young muggle born took a deep breath and smiled up at him with a sad look in her eyes "I'd just woken up Fred, I'd thought he was you."

That made his heart leap in his chest, but he'd spent months believing she would never forgive him for what he'd done. A few words weren't going to change that right away. "I understand if something started between the two of you, just don't lie to me about it like we lied to Ron all those months."

"Fredrick Weasley, I would not lie to you. Nothing started between Ron and I and nothing ever will" she blinked up at him in the darkness, "As much as you would like to deny it, you and your little brother look very similar. Especially to a sick girl whose trying to peer and see who's next to her bed."

Her hand came up and brushed his cheek. He whispered "You promise?" the relief was dripping off his tone, but he didn't care how weak he seemed. He was weak.

"I swear it." He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch. "Those dreams really made me miss you, you know?"

Slowly he opened his eyes and looked up at her. "You got them?"

"Constantly" she licked her lips "They made me want to sleep all day."

"I used your hairbrush"

"I know, Ron told me" she leaned down so their faces were close enough to brush noses again. "And he played your radio show. It's brilliant"

For possibly the first time in a half a year, his face formed a true Weasley twin smirk. "Thank you, it was my idea"

"Of course it was" the witch chuckled.

His eyes were drawn to the bandages once more. There was still no blood, but he had to ask "How did you get hurt?"

"Snatchers" he gulped. "They brought us to Malfoy Manor, and-" her voice caught "Bellatrix had to question someone"

His hands found her arm in the darkness and slowly brought her arm into his lap. "How badly does it hurt"

"A lot, but nothing like when she did it. Fluer must be in excellent healer."

"She had to take care of Bill those months after the Grayback incident" he reminded her "I believe she's learned quite a lot about healing magic"

Silence filled the room for a few minutes. Peace settled between the two like coffee grinds, as they stared at the bandages, like their gazes could make them go away. Finally, Hermione cut into the quiet.

"There's something under there" she whispered, her voice cracking, and it made him look up at her face.

"What do you mean love?" she looked like a piece of china, cracking. It hurt to watch as badly as if it were himself.

"She didn't just cut into my arm. She carved something there I know it."

That made him stare down at the bandages once more "Do you want to look it?"

"No-"

"Can I look at it then" he asked, trying to catch her eyes. "I'm sure whatever she did is nothing you can't handle, but I still want to help you with it"

Her gulp was audible, "I suppose someone has to see it eventually"

Fred's long fingers deftly found the end of her bandages and began unraveling them. She closed her eyes and allowed him to bring her arm into open air. It felt much better having it open, but it didn't make her want to see it any more.

"Its-" he stopped "I suppose to her it would be an insult"

She'd thought of that, but now it was confirmed in her mind. The witch allowed her eyes to open and tears fell from them onto the choppy letters on her arm. Mudblood.

It was ugly and crude. She had thought she had gotten used to it years ago, but no it had come back to haunt her. She had sworn first year when she'd heard a slytherin mutter it as she passed and had to ask mcgonnigal what it meant that it would never hurt her. She had promised herself she would hear it with pride. After all it only meant magic had come to her, even when the majority of her genetics said it wouldn't.

Now however it hurt. Worse than the physical pain, it hurt her chest. She'd always told herself that the word didn't truly matter. Yet here she was staring down at it carved into her arm, realizing that this word and everything it stood for had caused a war. She was fighting for her life over this stupid word. Even if she survived this, even if Harry managed to win, she would have it embedded in her skin forever to remind her that others thought her blood was muddy, and nothing would ever change that.

Fred's hand curled around her bicep, right above the 'M'.

"Do you want me to rewrap it?"

Her head snapped up to look him in the eyes. "Does it bother you" she snapped, not meaning for it to come out so harsh, but not caring when it had.

"Hermione" he said slowly and her lip quivered in fear of his response "it's always been there, and it will never bother me, even if now it's just a little more noticeable."

Her eyes wandered back down to it. "It's ugly" Her voice cracked.

"It's a word, and it means nothing." He hissed "It means about as much blood traitor, or pureblood, or muggleborn. They don't say anything about us or out magic"

"But someone thought it was important enough to force onto my arm for the rest of my life"

"Someone who's been a known fanatic since she graduated Hogwarts" his brow was creased as he looked at her, like it caused him as much pain as it did to her- perhaps more. "Fanatics obsess over things that have no meaning, and no importance."

Hermione ran the tip of her finger over the cuts as he spoke "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to kill her"

She was a lot weaker than she had first seemed when Fred came to her room. She slept a lot, and had barely left her room. Fluer simply didn't have a spell that would make her feel like she had before. It was a bit frustrating, he wasn't used to seeing her like that.

They kept telling him to be patient and it was driving him mad. Shell cottage wasn't safe enough. There were wards, but they were about as strong as the ones at his apartment. They weren't blood wards, which meant if any death eater got the slightest idea where they were, the whole lot of them would be dead. She couldn't defend herself, and he wasn't sure how many death eaters he could handle. He needed to get her to the burrow. As soon as she was strong enough to apparate he had to take her.

Worse than that though, was when he was kicked out of her room. Harry and Ron were hardly speaking to anyone, and despite the bruised jaw he'd already given his little brother, Ronniekins wasn't telling him anything about what they were doing. They kept having hushed conversations on the beach, or coming to Hermione's room and telling him to leave so they could speak with her. Even his extendable ears wouldn't work to listen in on them.

Fred didn't know what he'd do if they tried to take her again. They wouldn't get away without him knowing. He hadn't left shell cottage since he laid his eyes on her again, and he'd hardly left her room. George had brought most of his clothes that he had in a pile on the bookcase, and he'd set up a cot next to her bed. She'd tried to convince him to sleep with her, but the bed was small and he was scared of crushing her when she was so fragile.

It took a week for her to get up on her own. Before he'd been helping her, and it had made him feel a little more useful. Now he wasn't sure what he could do for her.

They were sitting in her room, Hermione was reading through one of the strange books she refused to tell him about, when she spoke.

"Would you- would you help me take a bath?" He looked up at her surprised.

"You need my help?"

"I can walk downstairs now, but It makes me really tired, and I'm scared of falling in the tub." She spoke quietly, the way she had been all week. It was different, like she was nervous. He'd never known her to be nervous.

"Of course love," He pushed himself up on the bed and held out his hand.

"Now?"

"If you want." He wondered why he hadn't offered before. A person could only use cleaning spells for so long before they needed water to feel clean.

"Please" she took his hand.

Hermione had missed this. All the time she had spent without him had been torture, and now that she had him back again, she didn't how she'd be able to leave.

She was sitting on the toilet, watching him lean over the tub getting the water ready. He was only wearing a thin t-shirt, and a pair of shorts. The witch would be lying if she didn't admit that she liked the view. Some of the dreams he'd sent her went through her mind, and she bit her lip.

"I think it's ready" the wizard stood, and turned to her. "Put your arms up." She complied and he took hold of the chudly canons t-shirt and pulled it off her. Fred untied her pajama pants then, and she shivered as his hands brushed her stomach.

Slowly he peeled off the rest of her layers. Only when her second sock finally came off did the two look at her arm. She hadn't taken off the bandages since she had shown it to Fred, and really didn't want to do it again. Still, when he reached for the end of the wrapping she didn't stop him.

His thumb skinned down the cuts and he murmured "It looks a lot better"

"That doesn't mean it's going away" Fluer had already told her. The blade hadn't been normal. It was goblin made, and her scars would never fade away.

"No, but…" his voice trailed, and he sighed "You know I don't like saying this to you" he suddenly looked much more serious than he had ever before " but you know as well as I do that no one's leaving this war without some scars"

Her mind flashed to the image of George. She had almost forgotten about his ear until a few days prior. When he had shown up to bring Fred his clothes, Hermione couldn't help but be drawn to the stump on the side of his head.

Fred stood then and offered her two hands. She grasped them and allowed him to help her stand. Slowly she hobbled to the tub. He placed his hand on her bicept and she grasped the shower door to step in. The redhead grasped under her arms to make sure she lowered herself carefully, and Hermione hummed as her body entered the water. It felt much better than she had remembered. Every 'bath' she'd had in months had been two minutes in a cold river while Harry stood watch. This was so much better.

Long fingers pulled back her hair and she sighed, content.

"Are you okay"

"Better" he chuckled.

"Do you want me to wash your hair."

For a moment, it seemed too embarrassing to ask, but he had offered. Not to mention she loved the feel of his hands on her head. "Please"

Never before had she felt like washing her hair wasn't a chore. It was so thick and wild that she always had a hard time scrubbing at her skull, sometimes it took so long her arms would get tired. Having Fred do it was nothing like that. His fingers dug straight through the layers of hair and massaged the skin below. He took time to work the suds through her curls, and even had to use a warming spell on the water once or twice.

When he was finished rinsing out the conditioner Hermione opened her eyes. She didn't know when she had closed them, but wasn't surprised. The feeling had almost put her to sleep.

"Someone seemed to enjoy themselves?" Fred asked chuckling as she peered up at him.

"Am I that obvious?"

"I was talking about myself" he said grinning so hard his nose crinkled. "I sent all those dreams, but I never felt like I could picture you just right"

She leaned her head back and smirked madly up at him. "Oh, then I suppose you wouldn't mind washing the rest of me?"

The redhead leaned down to her face, and staring at her lips murmured "Not at all"

His breath tickled her skin he was so close, and suddenly she remembered sharply that this would only last a short while longer.

Every conversation she'd had with the boys all week had been about them leaving. As soon as she was well enough, they had to go. The three had concocted a plan that she personally thought was barking mad, but then she couldn't remember the last plan she'd had with Harry Potter that wasn't insane. Still, this was particularly deadly. She'd known since she was 11 when her family had gone into the wizarding bank for the first time, and she'd seen the silver doors warning everyone who came in that robbing Gringotts was a death wish. Hermione estimated that between the probability of anyone succeeding in robbing Gringotts, and Harry's usual dumb luck, that they had an 87% chance of dying.

Which just meant she had to make this last. Had to focus on every moment she had with him. They would likely be her last.

So she closed the gap between them and kissed him, praying to merlin to make this last a little longer.

AN: This chapter's a little longer, but it's also a little fluffy. It's basically the calm before the storm, so enjoy while it lasts.

Review please!

Love Mel