Mine (harry potter fan fic)

Chapter 58 - If only

Must read A/N - Hey guys so it's been a while. I decided to write this tonight cause I've been having some major feels about Harry Potter. You guys should probably go back and read the previous chapter since I edited it quite a bit. I hope you enjoy this story from now on since I have been receiving a lot of hate but then again I've received a lot of love so thank you guys so much for being there for me. So enjoy...

3rd POV

"'Mione!" Ron calls after Hermione as she storms out of the burrow.
Recently She has been rather stressed out and has been too deep in thought to acknowledge anything other than what's wrong in the world.
She's been worrying about Clementine and Harry and everyone really. Even though Harry has assured her he is trying everything he can to make things go back to normal as quickly as possible but how can it when you've only just come back from a war.
Most nights Ron would have to check on Hermione since she would be crying into her pillow after a nightmare about the battle or events even before then.
There was no denying everyone missed the good ol'days before all this happened, before the triwizard cup.
Before things got out of hand.
But you can't change what happened, you wouldn't want too. Everything that happened, happened for a good reason.
"Leave me alone Ronald." Hermione collapses down and sits on a large nearby rock.
"What's wrong?" Ron asks, trying his best to comfort her.
Hermione throws the newspaper at Ron, the front page picture is of Cleo's Dark Mark with the headline.
Clementine Kingsworthy: Revealed.
Ron furrows his eyebrows and flicks through the pages.
"She's just so angry, and alone. They're making her out to be evil but she's not! She thinks she's lost all her friends. What kind of family are we if we leave her out?" Hermione sighs, Ron found it hard to stomach the fact that Cleo wasn't really a death eater even though she had the mark on her arm and so sympathy didn't come easy for him.
"We've tried to make her feel better Mione. She just won't come round with George being here so often." Ron sighs, sitting beside her.
Meanwhile inside, Harry notices his two friends outside and decides to join them.
"Harry tell Hermione that Cleo is fine." Ron pleads.
Harry wasn't the only one feeling the impact of everything going on; he realised that when he saw tears swimming in Hermione eyes.
"Cleo is incredibly smart, braver than anyone I've ever known. I'm sure she's somewhere reading books or taming dragons and not worrying a bit about the daily profit." Harry tries his hardest to sound sure, but in all honesty Harry had no idea how Cleo was handling everything. With the accusations on her it's only a matter of time before the ministry thinks it necessary to step in and arrest her.
"It's just..." Hermione sighs, stopping mid-sentence. She holds the paper in her hand, staring down at the picture of Cleo back when the triwizard cup was taken place. In the picture, her and Viktor Krum are laughing and smiling. "...She doesn't deserve this." Her eyes land on the picture of Cleo revealing her dark mark. "I've tried visiting her at the shop but she's rarely there and even when she is, she isn't one for talking much." Hermione speaks more aloud to herself than the two boys.
"We've all been through a lot.—" Harry is interrupted for moment by Ron
"You can bloody say that again." He grumbles quietly,
"—Perhaps she just needs time. Have you sent her a letter?"Harry asks,  Hermione nods her head.
"Cleo isn't responding to anyone at the moment. Not even to the shop owners at where she works. But then again she goes to work normally and does everything as usual. She doesn't need to respond to anyone." Hermione ponders off in her own mind as she speaks aloud.
"Maybe she just wants to be alone?" Ron suggests, Hermione scoffs jumping to her feet.
"We can't just let her suffer by herself. We stick together." Hermione slides her hand into Ron's, he sighs as he looks down at the gesture.
Harry shifts slightly on his feet,
"Well, why don't we check in on her?" Harry removes the silence between the three.
Hermione looks towards the black haired boy and beams a small agreeing smile.
"Right then." Harry ushers his bestfriends inside to talk about what they want to do.

Meanwhile...
(A/N: The first part is a little triggering, I'll put a star sign where the depressing thoughts ***start and end***)

It was no secret that George found it hard to sleep at night. Nights are usually the worst time for him, it's when the room is dark and he can't help but feel, empty.
***After all night time is the time of day where those dangerous thoughts enter the mind. Not the ones about werewolves and giant spiders, but the really bad ones. The dreams about ending it all. Ending the pain, the nightmares, the...well you get the idea.***
Around three in the afternoon exhaustion overcame George and he fell asleep in his bed at the burrow. Fred's jumper next to him as he did. From that point he fell in and out of consciousness until his mind managed to conjure up a dream that kept him sleeping rather than jolting awake.

*Dream*

George opened his eyes, gasping for air. The area around him seemed familiar, as his eyes searched around to figure out where he was, he realised he was in the shop. Except everything was bright white.
He tried moving but his feet wouldn't allow it.
George returns to what's in front of him to see his reflection in a tall mirror, except his reflection has two ears and is smiling at him.
George's throat tightens at the sight of his brother, it wasn't unusual for his twin to pop up alive in dreams but that also meant that he would probably relive his brothers death by the end.
The frame between them fades and Fred steps toward George, George flings his arms out and wraps his embrace tight around his brother.
His face buried in Fred's neck as tears flood his eyes, the imaginary Fred even smelt like how his twin did.
George pulls away and Fred holds onto his shoulders, chuckling lightly.
"Cheer up Georgy." Fred smiles, George wipes away his tears with the back of his sleeve. Fred drops his hands and digs them in his pockets,
"Why are we at the shop?" George asks.
"I don't know actually...Hey and don't worry, it's actually really nice where I am." Fred winks at his brother before lifting one of the love potions, which in reality are pink but are now white.
"Wha...how...?" George stutters, unable to get one question out. Eventually Fred forces himself to interrupt.
"George, I'm here for a reason." Fred admits, George's closes his mouth awaiting to hear the reason. Fred sighs and runs a hand through his ginger locks. "You've got to stop beating yourself up about this. You and Cleo have both got to stop. You have to understand that it was my own fault that this happened, not you and for merlins beard not Cleo's. I can't believe you actually abandoned Cleo after the battle, after everything she's done for us..." Fred pauses for a moment.
"Freddie..." George starts but Fred quickly continues and cuts him off.
"Cleo needs someone just as much as you do, you can't keep suffering by yourself. You can't keep everything locked away and hope that everything will eventually stop hurting. It won't George. It won't because you won't let it. You have to get over it, she helped keep our little brother and us out of harms way.
She missed our last birthday because she was protecting us. That dark mark doesn't mean merlin, what does matter is that she loves you and that you bloody well love her... It isn't her fault I died. You have to understand that. Just because she has the mark doesn't mean she's not our Cleo." Fred tries his best to not scream at his brother, George keeps his eyes on Fred the whole way through. He knew Fred was right. He wasn't go to admit that though.
"It isn't that easy Freddie..." George sighs, Fred rolls his eyes and turns his back on his twin. "This is a dream isn't it?" George asks, vaguely changing the subject.
Fred nods his head.
"I have to wake up don't i?" George asks once again, Fred nods one last time.
George tries to swallow the forming lump in his throat when Fred faces him again.
George pulls his brother in for once last hug, Fred laughs and says something like 'you better listen to what I just said...' But George couldn't focus as he had his eyes squeezed shut and was slowly gaining back his consciousness.
*End of dream*

George's eyes shot open, Fred's jumper was tight in his clutch as he sat up. The small clock on the bedside table read 10:00pm. Most of the house would probably still be awake.
He swallowed any saliva that he had to soothe his dry throat, his heart was racing and his body sweaty.
His head shot to the side to where Fred's empty bed lay untouched.
He reached under his bed to pull out a small box, inside were pictures of him and Fred, and him and Cleo.
He couldn't help but smile at the one where Cleo was kissing George's cheek just as Fred dumped a bucket of water over her.
His fingers brushed over the next photo, it was the last one he could remember taking with Cleo. Only now he noticed her sleeve clutched in her hand, she was trying to hide the mark, however she seemed genuinely happy to be George. They were both laughing and George's arm was draped around Cleo as he took the photo. George tossed the photo down onto the bed and sighs miserably.
He looks down at his twin's jumper, his hand rubs the sleep from his eyes.
Okay Freddie. He thought.