Chapter 5
The ethereal figures disappeared, their words hanging in the air. Leaving behind a released red head, and a scared brunette. She laid perfectly still, curled up on her side. She could still feel the pain in her throat from screaming. She knew she should call for a healer and get a potion for it, but a part of her reveled in the pain, it helped ground her.
“Hermione?” George whispered.
She didn’t say anything. Didn’t move, or give any indication she had heard him.
”Hermione, talk to me.” He whispered.
”What do you want me to say?” She croaked.
She felt him wince, and she couldn’t tell if her voice sounded as bad as she thought it did, or if it was her words.
”why didn’t you come home?” He asked.
”What did you expect me to do, George? You broke up with me.” She wheezed, her voice dying off as she spoke.
”I’m going to grab a healer, then you and I are going to talk.” He stated, shifting on the bed to stand. She watched him leave through the door. A moment later, a healer was rushing in to check her over. Shoving potions down her throat.
”According to your scans your back to normal. Your throat was injured but with a potion regiment for the next couple weeks, you should be just fine.” The healer said with a smile. Hermione nodded, finally relaxing back into the hospital bed. “You’ll be able to leave in a couple days. We just want to make sure your in tip top shape before releasing you.”
After the healer left, George slipped back inside. She rolled her eyes, and turned away from him. Even after being away for almost four years, it still hurt to look at him. How he broke her heart that day, which lead her down the path it did to get Fred back.
“Hermione, please talk to me.” He pleaded, moving to sit directly in front of her.
She stared resolutely at the sheets below her, thinking of anything else other than the ginger in front of her.
”I’m so sorry, love.” He whispered. “The moment I broke up with you and you left, I regretted it. I tried to find you, but couldn’t. Then Harry told me about the letter you left him, and I just-I got clean. I got myself put back together, so that when you came home I could win you back. Only, you never came back. Then everyone came back to life, and you were still gone. I kept looking for you. It’s why Fred was there that day. We had been traveling to see if we could find you. Then he comes to get me and tells me that you’re dying. Of all things. Not how I wanted to see you again, by the way.” He reached out and grabbed onto her hand, sighing in relief when she didn’t pull away.
“it took two days before I could sneak in here and see you. I was scared it’d be too late, that you’d already be gone. Only it was worse, because I could see how much pain you were in. I’m so sorry, Hermione. For everything. I need you more than anything in this life. I thought I lost everything when Fred died, but then I pushed you away, and that’s when I knew I had lost everything. I love you so much, I can’t stand not being with you. I need you, Hermione Granger. You. The love of my life.”
”You left me.” She croaked.
Tears welled in George’s eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
”you know I did all of this for you.” She finally looked up at him. “You need him more.”
George violently shook his head. “No. I don’t need him more. I need you. My firey lioness. My love. I need you more than I need anything else in the world.” He whispered, his free hand brushing through her blond hair. “And I need you to come home.”
”You’re lying. You don’t need me.” She whispered, tears gathering in her eyes.
A quiet sob left George’s lips at her words. “Hermione, I need you. I need to come home to you everyday. I need to fall asleep and wake up in our bed beside you everyday day. I love you so much, that it hurts when you’re gone. I want Fred in my life, he is my twin and my brother; but I need you in my life. No one else. I just need you.” He pressed a kiss to her knuckles that were still clutched in his hand. He watched as tears streamed down her cheeks through his own blurry eyes. “And I need you to stop sacrificing yourself, because I can’t take a world where Hermione Granger doesn’t exist.” Another kiss to her knuckles. “Come home with me, please.” He begged.
”George-George, you don’t get it-“
”You’re coming home.” He stated, just as the healer returned with a small box full of her potions.
“All you have to do is take these for a week. Other than that you’re free to go.” She said, signing a piece of parchment, before slipping away.
George gathered her in his arms, shrinking the potions box and sticking in his pocket, before leaving St. Mungo’s. He apparated to the flat, and moved to his bedroom. He plopped her down on the edge of the bed, and watched as she slowly looked around. She stood slowly, stumbling as she reached for a picture frame that sat on the dresser.
“I didn’t have the heart to change anything.” He whispered. “All your clothes are still here. Everything.”
”George-Why?”
”A long time ago, you told me that you thought you were disposable. That you didn’t think people needed you. I promised you then that I will always need you, and I was right. I need you so much it hurts. When I broke up with you, I regretted it. I needed you more than ever, but I was stubborn and drowning in grief, and just made a stupid choice in the moment. Then you disappeared, and it was a kick in the ass I needed.” He chuckled sadly. “I got sober, stopped drinking all together. I started looking for you a year after you left. Only, I couldn’t find you. I used every trick and method I could think of, and just kept coming up short. Then Sirius gets back from a trip to France saying that he had found you, but something was wrong. Your scent was off. Then Fred finds you, and it was worse.” He swallowed thickly, trying to prevent anymore tears from being shed. “You’re the only thing that can get through to me, Hermione Granger. No one else can reach me the way you can.”
Hermione sobbed, arms wrapping around her middle as everything she had kept in burst from her. Her knees buckled, and she sobbed louder at the impact of the floor. George wrapped her in his arms, his fingers running through her hair comfortingly.
“you are mine, Hermione Granger. I’m never letting you go again.” He whispered.
She clutched onto his shirt. “I’m sorry.” She sobbed. “I’m sorry.”
”Shhh, Love. I got you. It’s alright.”
Hermione sobbed and sobbed until she finally ran out of tears. She eventually quieted and fell asleep pressed against George’s chest. He didn’t think twice, transfiguring their clothes into pajamas before settling down in bed. He curled around her, keeping her pressed tightly against him, as she slept.
“I’m never letting you go again, Hermione.” He whispered, before drifting off as well.