Beauty From Pain

Chapter Eight

Hermione tried to pull him into the conversation several times, but after being rebuffed each time she left him alone with his work.

"Well look at that," Ginny said when he was finally finished. "Hermione really did teach you everything she knew."

"There's more to it than you think," he said with a proud smile. "Watch."

The lettering on Ginny's inner wrist was done in bold, black ink. 'Fred' was spelled out clearly and was surrounded by fireworks in reds, blues, and greens. As she watched, the fireworks exploded and new ones appeared in other places that she had thought he had left untouched. 

The grin on her face froze when the 'F' in Fred slowly changed into a 'G' and orange fireworks appeared.

Theo watched her carefully for any signs of regret or anger. It was a gamble; Hermione had told him he should add that small detail to the name, but he still felt as though it was a line he shouldn't have crossed.

Bright brown eyes met his, and he found a well of admiration brewing inside them.

"Thank you," she murmured. Her eyes drifted back to her wrist and lingered there. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Hermione patted him on the shoulder, and he took that as his queue to leave. He was happy to flee the heavy tension that was settling over the room.

Ginny ran a gentle finger over the lettering of her tattoo and released a weary sigh.

"I'm sorry I left so suddenly," Hermione said suddenly. The words had been weighing on her for so long that they seemed to tumble from her lips. "I should have stayed a little longer, especially with everything..."

"Don't apologize." Ginny leveled stern, brown eyes at her. "Our grief was not your burden to bare."

Hermione nodded and swallowed thickly. "How is Molly?"

"She still has hard days, but she's doing much better than she was." Ginny ran a tired hand over her face and frowned. "She still has a hard time on... on George's birthday."

Hermione's heart squeezed painfully in her chest. "That's understandable. I can't imagine how George..."

They lapsed into a heavy silence, the weight of the loss of Fred nearly tangible between them.

Ginny rubbed her thumb over her new tattoo and glanced over at Hermione with a coy smile. 

"So Theodore Nott, huh?"

"Who would have thought?" Hermione chuckled and said, "He has a passion for it that's hard to find."

"I think he's good for you."

Hermione glanced at her quickly, arguments already on the tip of her tongue.

"As a friend," Ginny said teasingly with a laugh. "I know we all get caught up in our lives, so I'm glad you have someone to keep you company here."

"He's rather different than I expected," Hermione said thoughtfully. "I suppose I never looked past the silver and green tie; it makes me wonder if we would've been good mates in school."

Ginny shrugged. "Who knows? Nobody's wearing ties anymore, so we might as well get to know the people who used to wear them. You know Neville is dating a Hufflepuff?"

Hermione grinned and asked, "Is he really? Good for him."

"Yeah, so if you ever wanted," Ginny drawled with a sly grin, "we might be able to look past any old school rivalries for you, too."