He slammed the bedroom door behind him and slid down to rest in front of it, face pressed into his hands to prevent the oncoming storm of tears. Feet pounded against the floor in the hallway, looking desperately for him. The door pressed hard into his back and he was thrown forward as his twin brother burst into the room.
"Fred! Are you okay Fred?" George asked, worried sick about his twin already.
Fred sniffled and stood up. Slightly wet cheeks gave him away instantly. "I'm.. fine."
Another sniffle and another tear later, Fred was wrapped up in George's arms, crying even harder into his shoulder. "Ohh Freddie. It'll be alright."
"B-But don't you s-see the way they l-look at each other? I want her to look at me like that, Georgie!" Fred yelled the last bit, just as a loud rapping sound filled the air.
Hermione appeared in the doorway, looking concerned for Fred, "Could I come in?"
Fred sniffled yet again as George nodded, then left the room. Fred needed to handle this by himself. The help of his twin wouldn't be much help at all as he really just wanted to flat out tell Hermione how Fred felt.
"It's really okay. You don't have to worry about me." Fred told Hermione, slowly regaining his composure.
Hermione smiled a bit, "Are you sure? It doesn't seem okay."
"Promise. Everything is all right now." Fred said, lying through his teeth, "I don't even know what had me freaked out there for a minute. But I'm better now."
"Alright then," Hermione replied, doubting him immensely. But she went along with it and trusted him anyway, no matter how much she believed he was lying to her. Something was wrong and she would get to the bottom of it. But not now. Fred obviously wasn't going to talk now. "I'm going to go then."
Fred blew out a breath as she left. The tears were still threatening to explode from his eyes, but he had done a good job of stopping them and wasn't going to let them ruin it now. She couldn't know she was the reason. Not yet anyway.
It took a few moments of thinking and head scratching, but he finally knew how he would tell her. One day, he would just hand her a letter and disappear. He would let her read it alone. From there, all that could be done was to hope for the best. However, he never expected her to say yes. Slowly, he grabbed a piece of paper and a quill from the desk in the room and began writing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The battle was over and had been won. Harry had slain Lord Voldemort. But alas, the emotion in the air could only be described as bittersweet. Their friends had died as well, along with the Dark Lord. She watched as their bodies were placed along tables in the Great Hall. Lupin, Tonks, Collin, Fred. Oh Fred. She looked over to see George in a heap on the floor in the corner. He couldn't even bring himself to face the body. It was killing him inside. She moved to comfort him.
"George, are you okay?" Hermione asked, sitting on the floor next to the crying boy.
He only looked up, face already red and puffy, and shook his head in a solid no. She pulled the boy into her arms and let him cry on her shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her as well.
After a long time and a lot of tears, George looked up at her instead of hugging her. "He l-loved you, you know."
Hermione gave him a strange look. "He.. what?"
"He loved you." George hiccupped. "He wrote you a letter and everything. Said he'd give it to you one day. It's in his room somewhere."
Almost instantly, Hermione forgot about everything around her. As quickly as she could, she ran outside the gates of Hogwarts so she could apparate there. She needed to find that letter.
Fred's room wasn't a mess when she arrived. The room had a neat, organized order. Not something you would expect from him. He would be appalled by the damage she had done if he ever got to see it, but he wouldn't. Even so, she would clean it up when she was finished. At least she had found it. The letter. Her letter. The one he would never know her response to.
"To the girl who never knew-
Well. I guess you'll know by the end of this, but that's beside the point. Hermione, if you're reading this, I finally gathered the courage to hand it to you. Or I had George do it for me. If you found it, well done. You were always the smartest one. You bring new meaning to "brightest witch of her age."
Anyway, I wrote this to tell you the one thing I would never be able to tell you in person. I love you. There I said it. I love Hermione Granger. No. Your eyes aren't tricking you. It's completely true..."
By this point in the letter, Hermione was on the verge of tears. She hadn't expected this. Not once. Fred had never let on the he loved her and now he was gone. It was too late.
"...But I never told you for one reason; Ron. I see how you two look at each other. You love him. You wouldn't admit it, but you do. And he loves you too. If you two don't end up together, then this will be the first time I'm wrong.
Even though I knew this, I couldn't help but love you myself and hope that one day you would look at me the same way. You haven't yet, but I'm still hoping..."
Hermione began bawling. Fred could see. Fred knew that she and Ron would be together, but he loved her anyway. And he never expected to die before he could give her this.
"...You remember that night when I bursted out of the room and went upstairs crying? You came to see if I was alright. I couldn't tell you that you were the reason why I was crying. It was the way that you and Ron were acting. It was killing me inside..."
She did remember that night. It replayed in her mind vividly. The tears, the suspicion, all of it. And she had been right. He had been lying to her. But she was why he was lying?
"... Anyway, I hear footsteps. I think George is coming to bed. I have to go. I'm so sorry I couldn't tell you in person. I hope you can forgive me.
Love always,
Fred"
The paper was soaked. Her face stained with the droplets of water pouring from her eyes. He loved her. And now it was too late. Now he would never know that she secretly loved him too. But she never had the courage to tell him either. She never looked at him that way for fear of being outed. She loved him.
That night, she curled up in his bed. It still smelled faintly like him, although it didn't seem like it had been slept in. That night, she dreamed her pain away and hoped for a better tomorrow. Even though she would be without him.
*Cover Photo stolen from someone on DeviantArt*
