Saving Amelia

Two

"And I know, and I know, and I know that you got everything, but I got nothing here without you."~One Last Time, Ariana Grande

HERMIONE POV:

I was sitting on a table in Tim Horton's, waiting for Fred to arrive. It had been nearly 15 minutes, and I was starting to panic.

What if he wasn't coming at all? 

But once again, he proved me wrong, as he walked in through the door, and I hated myself for feeling like a nervous schoolgirl around her crush, all of a sudden.

I hate him. Don't I?

I watch him order coffee and a donut, before finally coming to sit down across from me. My breath hitched in my throat.

He wasn't the same Fred I had knew from almost two years ago. This Fred has sort of an edge to him, and god does he look good.

Lord give me strength if I'm going to go through this meeting.

I felt a little embarassed that I couldn't take my eyes off him. I only knew him as that jolly, prankster guy from school who made jokes to make me laugh. Looking at him now, he is, for lack of a better word, hot. With skinny jeans and a hoodie on, it's easy to see he didn't do anything much today, or he just didn't care about his appearance.

I finally force myself to look down at my coffee. God, this was awkward.

"Hey," my voice gave in, and showed that I was shy,

He nodded. "How are you doing?"

Oh, I'm fine. I came home from work today, and found my roommate lying in a pool of her own blood, our daughter's room a wreck. Oh, and our daughter is missing. It couldn't be better.

"I'm good, how are you?"

"I'm good. Great, actually. But doesn't look like you are," he replied.

"Huh?" I said stupidly.

"You didn't exactly sound happy on the phone. What did you want to talk about? Look, if you need more money, I can give it to you. Just tell me the amount, and I can change it --"

"No, no, no, Fred. I don't need any more money. The hospital and doctor's appointments have been paid for. I'm fine."

"Then why did you want to meet?" His face held a puzzled expression.

"Uh, earlier today, I got home from work, and found my roommate dead on the kitchen floor, lying in a pool of her own blood." My voice got weaker as I remembered how she looked.

Fred stopped eating his donut. "Oh, ehm, I'm sorry."

I could tell he didn't understand how he tied in with all of this. He felt awkward that after all these months of being apart, my roommate, who he as never met, gets killed and I come crying to him for help.

"I'm not finished. I went up to Amelia's, my - our daughter's room and it was a wreck. She wasn't anywhere."

Fred watched me intently as I explained everything to him.

"I couldn't find her anywhere. I called the police and they're looking into it, but what if they're too late? Fred, I'm scared. What if they kill her? What if they come after me and kill me?"

Fred leaned across the table and took one of my hands in his. "Hey, hey. You said the police were looking into it, right? They're going to find whoever did this. No worries."

"No worries? No worries! How could you say that? They took our daughter. They took your daughter, Fred. Your own flesh and blood. You're her father, whether you like it or not."