Hermione sat beside George, as he threw back his third firewhiskey of the day. She was just happy he had made it through the day without drinking until this evening. It had been three weeks since the final battle. Fred had been dead for three weeks. George couldn't understand why Hermione of all people was still here. Everyone else in his family had left him to his grieving. Yet she was still here.
"Why are you here, Hermione?" He whispered.
"What do you mean?" She asked, her head tilting to the side to look at him.
He knew it was a stall. So he asked again. "Why are you still here? Why are you watching out for me?"
Slowly, Hermione pulled a heart shaped locket from underneath her shirt. Opening it and pulling out a small notebook out before closing it again. She flicked her wand and the small notebook expanded into a large photobook. She passed it to George, who looked down at the title. The Twins it said. He shot her a look, before opening it. He furrowed his brow at the black and white pictures. "What are these?" he asked.
"They're called sonograms. It's how muggles get to see their babies before they're born." She explained gently.
Slowly he flipped through the sonograms. Each picture has something written next to it. A small smile played on his lips when next to one said twins in all caps. He paused when he saw a sonogram with two babies, and a picture with a couple, people he recognized but couldn't place, sitting beside each other. A banner was hanging above the couple that said 'They're Girls' on it. It wasn't until he saw the babies and read the description that he head snapped towards Hermione. Next to the picture of the twins an arrow was drawn, pointing to each baby, before leading over to the side and listing what each babies name was. Baby A: Hermione Jean Granger. Baby B: Elizabeth Jane Granger.
"You were a twin?" He breathed.
Hermione nodded sadly. "I am a twin."
"How come I didn't know?" He whispered, flipping to the next page to see both of the babies become toddlers.
"It wasn't a secret. Ron and Harry knew. It wasn't until third year that I realized just how much they didn't care about me."
"What happened?"
"Keep flipping." She whispered. She waited a couple more pages, before she began talking again. "Lizzy and I were as close as you and Fred. We pranked our family and classmates." As she spoke, George flicked through the pictures. There was a picture, of their dad with bright green hair. The two little girls had innocent looking grins, but even in the picture the dad didn't look angry he was actually smiling. He could also see it in her smile. The happy smile was very different than the one he usually saw on her. He flipped on more page, and saw the twin he knew to be Lizzy in a hospital bed. "When we were eight, Lizzy was diagnosed with cancer. This was our first birthday in the hospital. She was in the hospital for two years before she managed to be into remission." George looked over and smiled softly. "We always knew we were special. It's how we pulled our pranks off. How we could get the cookies from the top of the icebox. Reach the books that our parents would take away at bed time. When McGonagall appeared at our doorstep and told us we were witches, Lizzy got so excited she tackled me in a hug. We were bullied because we could do things other people couldn't. We were smarter than them, and were more mischievous then them. We didn't belong in the muggle world. We finally had a place to belong. We came back from our trip to Diagon Ally, when Lizzy collapsed. The cancer was back, stronger than before. I told them I wasn't going to Hogwarts, that I couldn't do it without Lizzy." She paused, wiping away at a tear. "It was Lizzy that convinced me to go. She said that I was going to go, so that when I came home for breaks I could teacher her everything. That way she wouldn't be behind when she joined me. The first thing I said when I owled her was about you and Fred. I told her about the amazing twins that were known as the best pranksters in all of Hogwarts. She wrote me back and said that when she got there, we would have to challenge them for the title. She still couldn't leave by the time second year rolled around. When I got home after second year, I went straight to the hospital. Lizzy hounded me to tell her what had happened to me. Our twin bond was always able to tell when something was wrong with the other, and she knew something had happened to me. It was two weeks later, I was staying at the hospital over night. I had fallen asleep while telling her about Hogwarts." She choked, sucking a deep breath before continuing. "I woke up when she died. I woke up to our bond snapping. I knew before the heart monitors started to beep. I knew she had lost her battle long before my eyes had even opened and understood what was happening."
Her tears fell like a river down her cheeks. George set the picture book down, and pulled Hermione into his lap. He rocked her gently, his own tears falling now, because he understood that feeling. The feeling of a bond snapping inside of you. He felt that when Fred died.
"Why didn't you tell us?" He chocked out.
She sobbed harder. "Third year was a living nightmare for me. I told Ron and Harry about it. I told them about Lizzy, about her funeral. They said they were sorry, and turned back to their chess game. They don't care about me. They didn't check in on me. They ignored me. They isolated me. I grieved alone. I know exactly how dark that rabbit hole goes. Because when no one is around, you tend to find the astronomy tower really nice, and the edge even nicer. So please, George, you have to live. If you can't live for yourself, live for Fred. Please live."
George tightened his hold on her, burying his face in her hair. He sobbed with her. They both grieved for the loss of their twin. The grieved the loss of someone that would never come back. When they both calmed down enough, George pulled back enough to look at her, his hand cupped her cheek and wiped away the tears that still fell. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I'm not giving up." he whispered. "Not with you hanging around, Hermione."
She smiled softly, another tear escaping. "Just live, George. I'm not asking you to move on, or to forget Fred, because you wont. Please just live."
"I will, Hermione. I'm not going anywhere."
They both drifted off entangled together on the ouch. The photo album remained open, the last picture was of Lizzy and Hermione, they were grinning up at the camera. Lizzy was bald from all the Chemo, but she was still smiling. They both had their wands out and held them up in pride. It was taken the summer of First Year. It was Hermione's favorite picture, it would also become George's favorite as time went on.