8Hermione stumbled numbly into the dark hallway, heading towards the Burrow's kitchen for a glass of water. The house was deathly silent, as per usual in the middle of the night, even more so in the three weeks that had past since the Final Battle and the death of an important member of the Weasley family, Fred Weasley. Hermione's own parents still remained oblivious to their daughter's existence in Australia where she'd placed them for their protection before the war yet she was somewhat hesitant to retrieve them, instead opting to stay with the homely Weasleys that seemed to be able to comfort her in the best ways. Well, most of them anyway.
As she filled a glass with water from the tap, Hermione thought about George, the twin brother of Fred. He'd been terribly silent since that fateful day, hardly ever leaving his room except to use the bathroom and not speaking to anybody, however his gaze did seem to linger on her when they met on his rare trips down the hall.
Mrs Weasley told the family, plus Harry and Hermione, over and over that the boy, or rather- man, was fine but it didn't offer much reassurance seeing as her voice quivered and she seemed to be mostly talking to herself rather than the people at her table.
Hermione sighed, downing the rest of the liquid in a single swallow and rinsing the glass before leaving it to drain on the sink.
Poor Molly. Losing a son must be the worst experience possible.
And what of George? Surely losing a brother, a twin nonetheless, would be equally, if not more, painful. He'd lost his other half, the one person that had never left his side for the entirety of his life.
Pausing at the top of the stairs, Hermione pondered the Weasley family. Apart from the solemn silence that greeted her every morning and bid her goodnight every evening and the fact that George was slowly but surely crumbling under the weight of his everyday routine, they seemed to be holding up quite well, considering.
That was when she heard it: a small noise, one that easily could have been mistaken for a creaking pipe or the cry of a wild animal.
She stood stock-still, breathing hitched as she strained her ears for a repeat. Silence pressed in on her ears but just as she was about to move off back to bed again, the noise came again, this time more defined. It was a human noise of some sort. Hermione started slowly along the hall, hunting for the source of the noises. It couldn't be Percy or Bill; she'd already passed their rooms and they were silence. Charlie was in Romania so it wouldn't be him. Ginny's room was quite mute as was the room that Ron and Harry occupied, save from the occasional snort. That left the room at the end of the hall: the twins' (or rather, George's) room.
She pressed against the wall and immediately heard another of the strange noises, this one the most defined yet, and it was definitely coming from George.
Carefully, so as not to make a noise, she eased open the door until she could make out the figure of the twin sitting on his bed, silhouetted in the dim moonlight streaming through the window behind him. He was making strange noises from the back of his throat, long, painful moans and abrupt sobs that seemed to be in a very random order.
"George?" she called, tentatively. The figure froze and looked up and that was when she saw what George was holding.
In his violently shivering right hand was a knife poised hesitantly above his left wrist.
"Oh, George." Quietly closing the door behind her, Hermione padded across the floor to sit on the bed next to the broken man, holding her breath the whole way.
With gentle fingers she prised the knife from his hand and tossed it as far away from him as she could.
In the meantime, George seemed to be trying to compose himself, but was failing miserably.
"It's okay to cry," she whispered as she rubbed at his shoulders.
He looked at her then, his eyes boring into her soul. She shivered. They were so empty now, like everything living had been sucked from them in the most brutal way possible.
"I want to die," he told her outright, his eyes still fixed firmly on hers and his face a mask of terrible determination.
She reached out a hand to touch his face. When he accepted the gesture, she lifted the other with more confidence, letting her palms rest on his cheeks and her thumbs wipe away the lingering tears. Slowly, more began to replace them until he gripped her wrist helplessly and sobbed freely into her hands. It was a heart-wrenching sight to behold but Hermione wrapped her arms around the boy and held him to her as he cried, almost sighing with relief when he hugged her back with a ferocity that initially surprised her.
They sat together on George's bed, clutching one another as George cried and Hermione comforted him, until dawn finally broke and the pair, exhausted, fell into a deep sleep.
oOo
"Mum!"
Molly looked over at her daughter from where she was peeling potatoes at the sink. The urgent whisper had her attention immediately and she peered with intense curiosity at her smiling youngest child who was perched on the kitchen table next to an alert looking Harry.
Ginny inclined her head slightly towards the staircase and Molly followed the gesture to where an incredible sight met her eyes.
Hermione and her second youngest son, hand-in-hand, no less, were standing at the bottom of the stairwell; Hermione with a delicate expression of worry mixed with devotion and George with one of complete and utter calm. A sad smile even twitched at his lips as he caught his mother's eye.
"Hi, Mum, Gin, Harry," he said, his gaze flickering back to the girl on his arm with a hint of uncertainty. She smiled back at him, offering her undivided support. "What's for lunch?"
A/N: Sorry I haven't gotten round to updating my other story! My computer only just got fixed and I can't find the motivation to keep going at it for the moment but I will try later. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this bit. I really liked the idea of Hermione coming to his rescue even if it wouldn't really happen that way in the HP world. Review if you will! You'll make my day, honestly. Every review I get makes me smile so much! Thanks for reading and reviewing (nudge nudge wink wink!)!