Chapter 9

POV George

As usual George got up way before his Twin brother. They hadn’t been staying in this house for long but like at home he already had his little routine. George got up early, he often made himself a cup of tea and carried on working on whatever he and Fred were working on the night before. During the day it was sometimes very busy as members of the order were coming and going, but early in the morning it was very quiet. His mother often got up around 7 am but before that no one else was usually awake.

But that changed when Hermione joined them. George had almost expected her to be up early again, just like last summer. Therefor he wasn’t surprised that she was standing in the kitchen as he came out of the pantry. She seemingly forgot that she maybe wasn’t the only one to be awake around 6 am on a Sunday morning. She flinched and even dropped crookshanks when she spotted him.

“Do I look that terrible?” George asked her with a big smile on his face.

“Not really, you just scared me. I didn’t expect anyone to be awake this early.” She replied.”

George was happy that Hermione joined them at Grimmauld place. He liked having her around. He enjoyed their morning talks last summer.

“Do you want a cup of tea I was just about to make one for myself?” George asked her as he walked over to the kitchen counter.

“Yes please” She replied and sat down at the table.

George felt her gaze as he was making the cups of tea. George of course used his magic to do so. He loved the freedom to use as much magic as he wanted. It made the process of developing news things much easier. He sat down across from her and slide her cup to her. After she took a sip she asked.
“So what have you and Fred been up to lately apart from your spying stuff?”

“We actually want to call them Extendable ears. We are working on some more products for Weasleys Wizard Wheezes.” George replied. “And what are your plans for today?” He asked her next.

“Well I planed to spend my day in the library care to join me till breakfast?” Hermione said with a shy smile on her face.

George was really happy that she asked him that he hadn’t realized how much he enjoyed their morning talks they had last summer but it felt weird to do that in school as there he was always surrounded by his brother or his other friends. Not to say that hanging out with Hermione would have been embarrassing but after all she was the best friend of his younger brother it didn't feel appropriate to spent extra time alone with her. But now they weren’t in school so he couldn’t care less about what the other would think. And he couldn’t say no to her after seeing her faint smile so he said, “Yeah sure I will join you.”

Over the course of the next three weeks, they would get back into their little routine.

George most often would be the first one to be awake around 6 am. He made for the both of them a cup of tea and brought it to the library. There George would wait for her and while doing so he worked on whatever he and Fred were working on for Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. Hermione most likely joined him in the library around 6.15 am and while they drank their cup of tea, they would talk about anything. George told her more about their Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. He told her that they had received the prize money from Harry and that they wanted to use it to buy a shop and start their own business. She on the other hand told him what she found in the books of the library. When they finished their tea’s, they mostly read or worked in silence till it was time for breakfast. So it was also on the morning of the second of August.

They had already drunk their morning tea’s and he and Hermione were both reading a book on the sofa. He was sitting at one end of the little sofa and Hermione at the other end of the sofa. She had her feet positioned so that they nearly touched him. Even though he thought that they’ve gotten closer over the past three weeks they didn’t do so in a physical way still their relationship was purely platonic. He had realized that this fact started to bother him more and more but since she didn’t show such feelings, he ignored it.

Hermione suddenly started to speak. Which was unusual as she normally was absorbed in her book as soon as she opened it. “Do you know how much I hate to not know how Harry is doing?”

He was a bit shocked by this request. He didn’t know exactly where this thought was coming from but what he had learned about women this far was that a man shouldn’t always try too hard to understand them as it sometimes just wasn’t possible.

“Yeah, I can imagine how frustrating this must be.” He just replied and carried on reading the effect Doxy venom can have on humans. But to his surprise Hermione wasn’t finished talking to him.

“I’m scared that he would do something stupid again. You surely remember what he did two years ago when he angry at his aunt.” She said.

“I’m sure he won’t do anything like that Hermione you don’t have to worry about him. He’s more mature now.” He replied and out of instinct he shortly stroked her shins reassuringly.

“If you say so.” Hermione said and went back to her book.

POV Hermione

--- evening on the second of August ----

Hermione had been at Grimmauld place for about three weeks. She and George had fallen back into their routine in the morning. She really loved spending time with him. He would make her laugh but they could talk about serious things too. Like this morning where she finally told him what was bothering her for the past few weeks. Yet his words couldn’t really calm her worries. But she was thankful that he tired to soothe her.

Hermione was once again in the library reading a book it was already nearly 10 pm when George suddenly appeared standing next to her. She still hadn’t gotten used to the fact that people could suddenly appear next to her. She first wanted to say something about him appearing out of nowhere since she had told her that she wasn’t a fan of it but she stopped as she saw that he look a bit horrified.

“What’s the problem?” She asked him and got up.

“Harry and his cousin got attacked by dementors tonight.” George said.

“HE GOT WHAT?” Hermione asked him loudly.
She was scared she knew that eventually something would happen, but she didn’t thought that dementors would be included in it. She started to pace around the room.

“He’s fine but dad said that he was suspended from the school.” George replied quickly. She could sense that he wanted to calm her with his words but they didn’t. She freaked out. Totally.

“They can’t do that, can they?” She asked next still pacing.  

“Calm down Hermione he’s fine I’m sure that Dumbledore will fix it” Her replied.

“CALM DOWN?” She said now she stopped in front of him.

“YOU REALLY THINK THAT” But she didn’t get further than that. Before she even knew what was happening George grabbed her and pulled her closer to him. His lips were touching hers very flightly. She froze for a second before her body took over and she started to kiss him back.
Her mind was still racing but her body decided that it needed to be close to George’s body. He pulled her a bit closer to him. She didn’t know how long they were standing there for, but she didn’t care.
Kissing George wasn’t something she had ever planned to do but it felt amazing. It wasn’t her first kiss but so far it was the best one. Not that Viktor was a bad kisser, but it just wasn’t the same.
Eventually she decided to pull away from him. It was quite dark in the room, but she could see that his eyes were shining and that he was smiling. She herself felt the energy this kiss brought her.

“What was that for?” She asked him still a bit out of breath.

“Well, I saw you were about to lose your mind, so I wanted to stop that.” He replied still a smile on his face.

“And your only solution for that problem was to kiss me?” She said in disbelief.

“It was the first thing that came to my mind, and it seemed to have worked.” He said, shrugging his shoulders.

For some reason, the kiss had filled her with courage, so her next question was very bold. She was aware that she would never normally ask such a question, but since the current situation was not normal, she didn't care.

“So was that a once in a lifetime experience or are you planning on kissing me again in the future because if you ever want to do that again I want a heads up.” She said while looking directly at him.

“Well, I actually haven’t thought about that but if you don’t mind I’m sure to warn you the next time I want to kiss you.” He replied.

Hermione felt that she was now blushing as his words kind of drained her sense of confidence or maybe it just was the moment when her brain started to realize what just had happened and what she was suggesting.

“Thank you I appreciate it.” With those words she turned around and nearly ran back to her room.

Her brain really kicked in too late. Why did she say that to him. Both the kiss and the fact that Harry got attacked, stressed her and led to her turning around in her bed multiple times without falling asleep that night. For the first time Ginny had to wake her up in the morning.  

“Hey Hermione, are you okay it’s already nearly 9 am Mom made us breakfast” Ginny who was shaking her awake said.

“I’m awake” Hermione said still halfway asleep.

“I can see that” Ginny said laughing. “Come on hurry Hermione I’m starving” Ginny added.

Those words kick started Hermione’s brain. She was hungry as well and she suddenly remembered all the events of last night. What George had told her before he kissed her and the fact that George kissed her. She suddenly got out of bed, startling Ginny, who hadn't expected her to get up so quickly. She quickly changed clothes while Ginny was still looking at her in disbelief.

“You good Hermione?” Ginny asked her.

“Yeah, sure why wouldn’t I be fine.” Hermione said and added “Let’s go I’m starving too.”.

She felt Ginny’s gaze on her as she proceeded to leave the room. She chose to ignore her.
They were the last ones to be at breakfast. George greeted her with a big smile. Hermione also chose to ignore him and sat down next to Ron who greeted her with a “Good morning, something happened to Harry.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard. Are there any news? Are they really going to expel him?” she replied.

“I just know that there will be a hearing on the twelfth and that they are planning to get Harry here before that, but I don’t really know when. I just heard it this morning from who have you heard it already?” Ron replied looking a bit confused.

Luckily in that moment Mrs. Weasley asked her what she wanted to drink so she could get up to get herself a tea.

As she was looking for the tea, she wanted George joined her and whispered to her,

“Good morning, have you slept well? Can we talk later about yesterday?”

“Good morning, I did thanks. Sure, we can talk after breakfast in the library?” Hermoine replied.

“I will meet you there” George said before he went back to his seat.

As Hermione got back to her seat Ron was telling Ginny everything about the attack on Harry and luckily, he had forgotten about his last question.

Sadly Mrs. Weasley had different plans. They met in the library after breakfast, but they weren’t alone. Ron, Fred and Ginny had to join them. In the previous weeks they had already cleaned majority of the library but there still was some basic cleaning needed and Mrs. Weasley wanted them to do it the muggle way. Probably to distract them from everything that’s the only explanation that makes sense for Hermione as she was sure that Mrs. Weasley could clean the whole room with a spell but as she could use some distraction, she wasn’t arguing with Mrs. Weasley.

Cleaning took them the whole day and it was already after the dinner when George finally came back to the library. Hermione was reading a book. He sat down directly next to her.

“Well that took a bit longer than expected.” George said with a smile on his face.

Hermione closed her book. She had thought about what she was going to tell him. But it still was hard to actually say it out loud.

“Listen George, I thought about what happened yesterday and it’s not like I didn’t enjoy it but I don’t think that we should do this again. I’m one of your brother’s best friends and I just don’t think that it would be a good idea…”

Hermione saw how George smile faded and how he tried to keep a straight face.

“If you feel like this, I don’t think I can change your mind. I hope we can still spend our morning together as friends.” George replied after a short pause.

“Yeah, sure I would love that.” Hermione said.

“Good night Hermione” Geroge said and left the library.

Hermione was sitting in the library for some time before she decided to go to bed as well.