Even though neither Harry, nor Hermione and Ginny knew what had happened, having felt the tension, they all stared between Fred and I awkwardly as a painful silence fell among us.

       But Fred broke the silence when he managed to give me a small grin, waving at me lightly. "Hey."

       But I didn't answer him. Instead, I leaped forward and threw myself in his arms, clasping my hands on either sides of his face, and bringing him down into a kiss.

       As if he had been expecting this, he immediately kissed me back, wrapping his arms around me to bring closer to him.

       But with a chuckle, he soon pulled away, grinning playfully down at me. "Easy there, Miss Hooper. I'm not ready to become a father yet."

       I managed a scant smile, but it soon faded. "I'm so sorry, Freddie," I whispered, looking up at him.

      Fred bore a puzzled expression as he glanced down at me. "What are you apologizing for?"

      "I —" I was saying, but thought better and stopped myself, looking around only to see that Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and George were all still staring us.

        I cleared my throat at them uneasily and they thankfully got the hint, gathering in a corner to discuss Ron.

       So I turned my head again to face Fred with a guilty look washed all over me.

        "For everything," I said quietly so only he could hear me. "I'm sorry for thinking that it was a good idea to ask Draco to Hogsmeade, even as friends. And I'm sorry for snapping back at you and then leaving you there."

       Fred gave me a smile before leaning down and placing a soft kiss on my head before pulling back.

       "You really don't have to apologize for any of that — other than leaving me there feeling like a git," he said with grin. "I was overreacting, in know. I think jealousy is one of the lethal side effects of being a boyfriend." I chuckled at that.

       I was about to open my mouth and respond, but I was cut short when the doors to the ward opened and Madam Pomfrey looked around at us.

       "You can come inside," she said. "No more than six visitors, keep in mind! And you have to remain quiet while you're in there."

        So with that we followed her inside the hospital wing, walking toward the bed on which Ron was laying unconscious.

       "So, all in all, not one of Ron's better birthdays?" said Fred, looking down at his brother.

        "This isn't how we imagined handing over our present," said George grimly, putting down a large wrapped gift on Ron's bedside cabinet and sitting beside Ginny.

       "Yeah, when we pictured the scene, he was conscious," said Fred.

        "There we were in Hogsmeade, waiting to surprise him —" said George.

       "You were in Hogsmeade?" asked Ginny, looking up.

       "We were thinking of buying Zonko's, seeing as you're not allowed to buy our stuff," said Fred gloomily. "But never mind that now." He drew up a chair beside Harry and looked at Ron's pale face. "How exactly did it happen, Harry?"

       Harry retold the story he had already recounted to Dumbledore, to McGonagall, to Madam Pomfrey, to Hermione, and to Ginny and me.

      Hermione, who had been suspiciously quiet up until then, suddenly gave a inaudible sniff after Harry was done explaining.

      "Do Mum and Dad know?" Fred asked Ginny.

       "They've already seen him, they arrived an hour ago — they're in Dumbledore's office now, but they'll be back soon..."

       There was a pause while they we watched Ron mumble a little in his sleep. I felt guilty as I looked down at him, but it was a matter of surprise to me how no one was asking me whether I knew about this happening or not like they always did.

       Perhaps they were too worried for Ron that for a second they had forgotten I'd come from the future. Or maybe I had told them too often that I didn't know much, that they had finally let the matter go.

My stomach suddenly lurched at the thought of Fred figuring out that I knew this was going to happen. I remembered how he had yelled at me on the night Mr. Weasley was attacked. What if that happened again?

       Everyone was discussing how Ron had gotten poisoned and kept guessing who could've been behind it. But all of our heads suddenly turned to Ron when he unexpectedly croaked, "Er-my-nee."

        We all fell silent, watching him anxiously, but after muttering incomprehensibly for a moment he merely started snoring again. But the awkwardness soon came to an end when we were joined by Hagrid.

        "I don' believe this," he said hoarsely, shaking his great shaggy head as he stared down at Ron. "Jus' don' believe it... Look at him lyin' there... Who'd want ter hurt him, eh?"

       "That's just what we were discussing," said Harry. "We don't know."

     "Someone couldn' have a grudge against the Gryffindor Quidditch team, could they?" said Hagrid anxiously. "Firs' Katie, now Ron..."

     "I can't see anyone trying to bump off a Quidditch team," said George.

       "Wood might've done the Slytherins if he could've got away with it," said Fred fairly and I chuckled.

     Before anybody could respond, the doors opened once again and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley hurried up the ward. The moment they reached us, Mrs. Weasley seized hold of Harry and hugged him tightly.

     "Dumbledore's told us how you saved him with the bezoar," she sobbed. "Oh, Harry, what can we say? You saved Ginny... you saved Arthur... now you've saved Ron..."

       "Don't be... I didn't..." muttered Harry awkwardly.

     "Half our family does seem to owe you their lives, now I stop and think about it," Mr. Weasley said in a constricted voice. "Well, all I can say is that it was a lucky day for the Weasleys when Ron decided to sit in your compartment on the Hogwarts Express, Harry."

       I wanted to squeal happily at those words, being once again overwhelmed by emotions.

       Madam Pomfrey then walked into the ward, reminding us that only six visitors were allowed at once. So Harry, Hermione, Hagrid, and I left the hospital wing, letting Ron's family to stay alone with him.

       But we couldn't have gone for more than a minute that we heard rushed footsteps approaching us.

       Turning around, we saw Fred hurrying toward us. "Hey, Lex — can we talk?" he asked as soon as he reached me.

       I nodded, waving at Harry, Hermione, and Hagrid before walking away with Fred.

       When he was sure we were somewhere that we couldn't be overheard, he stopped walking and finally said, "I know that you already knew about this happening to Ron."

       I gaped at him, my heart sinking once more guiltily. "I — how did you — oh, God, I'm so sor —"

        "No, it's fine." He shook a hand at me reassuringly. "Besides, it's not just me who knows. All of the members of the Order know."

       "Wh-what?"

       "Well, now that George and I are part of the Order too, Dumbledore has told us about how you know every single detail happening around us," he explained. "But he also said that he's forbidden you himself from talking to anyone about it."

       I looked down at me feet sadly. "Your mum and dad probably hate me right now," I mumbled.

       "No." He shook his head. "They trust Dumbledore enough to not question his decisions."

     "Yeah... but I know your parents probably expected me to do something about it."

        "Nah, they didn't. And if anything, you just set their minds at ease when they got the news about Ron."

        "How come?"

        "Well, we know Sirius was supposed to die last year. But you saved him even though Dumbledore had asked you not to meddle with time. So Mum and Dad assumed that if it was really anything dangerous and Ron wouldn't have recovered, you would've done something."

       I said nothing. But then without warning, Fred walked forward and pulled me toward him, pressing his lips against mine.

"Just promise not to give me a heart attack ever again, Hooper. I actually thought you wanted to break up with me," he said, slightly pulling away even though his arms were still tightly around me. "I love you too much to be able to let you out of my life."

I smiled up at him again. But before I could say anything, he moved down again and brought me into a kiss, and with that somehow the world seemed at ease to me once more.