Oh, woe am I.
She is gone.
For three complete days.
For three days, I am here and she is not.
For three days, I cannot hear her lovely, sweet voice.
For three days, I cannot look into her deep, beautiful brown eyes.
For three days, I cannot hold her, or hug her.
For three days I cannot tell her how very much I love her.
For three days that I cannot feel the touch of her hand in mine, the warmth of her body next to mine, the caress of her lips upon mine.
How I miss her already and she has only been gone for a day. To be more accurate, she left this morning. The next two will be torture. I hope she is having fun though. As long as she has a good time then I am happy. I will not be anywhere near as happy until she comes home though, and I can wrap her in a warm, loving embrace and tell her how much I love her. However, I have two days to wait yet, to wrap her in that warm hug and tell her that I missed her and that I love her. Two more days and then she will be home, and I can finally lay eyes on her again, and tell her that I love her, and then all will be well in my world.
I cannot wait.
--
Hermione chuckled softly as she read his latest post. This letter did not directly address her, but Hermione knew who the writer was. She knew the familiar tilt of the messy penmanship, the curling tail on the letters y and g, and the silly, endearing way he referred to her without mentioning her name. Who knew that boy was such a hopeless romantic?
She and Ron had been together for over a year. She had just finished her seventh and final year at Hogwarts and he was off fighting the few Death Eaters that lingered after the fall of their master. It had been a tough year so far, but everything was settling back into near normalcy. Harry was still recuperating from the loss of his leg, as Ginny tried to balance helping him and attending a shattered Hogwarts, with moderate success.
During the war, many Healers had been lost through ruthless raids on St. Mungo's. Now employees were needed for the hospital and so training of any Hogwarts graduate was being greatly accelerated. That is why Hermione was away. A training conference in France made seeing each other impossible for a few days. She was away preparing to become a Healer and Ron was left at home to continue his work.
The conference would last from Wednesday until Friday, and left no free time. From 7am to 11pm, the trainees were kept hopping. Lectures and demonstrations filled their day. It was very educational and Hermione knew that she would need to know what they were trying to teach her, but the whole thing was quite boring at times. Fortunately, Hermione noticed, not all three days would be quite so bad. A mixer was planned for the following night, giving them all some free time.
In the moments when no one was speaking, Hermione sat and thought about Ron. Despite the hustle and bustle of the conference, and getting to meet interesting new people, she could not help but miss him. As another Healer got up to talk she wondered what Ron was doing at that moment.
--
Ron was, in fact, riding his broom around Godric's Hollow trying to forget for a moment that Hermione was not home. He had driven Harry crazy already this morning, talking about her. At least he had until Ginny finally snapped at them both, ordering them both out of her house while she worked. Hermione was gone and he could not stop thinking about her. He knew that it was important training and all. Now, however, he just wanted Hermione near him. The letter had helped him calm down but he was still in an odd humor.
Executing a spiraling loop around a nearby tree, he hummed bits of a muggle song that he'd once listened to in the car with Hermione. They had been on the way to visit her parents. The situation with her gone had reminded him of the song that he didn't particularly like.
Every
time I think of you
I
always catch my breath
And
I'm still standing here
And
you're miles away
I
spend my time
Thinking
about you
And
it's almost driving me wild
And
there's a heart that's breaking
Down
this long distance line tonight
Ron couldn't help but notice that parts of the song were appropriate for the circumstances. He paused in his flying trying to think of more of the song. Ron smiled and resumed his flying, speeding up to race a flock of birds as he remembered the chorus.
No
matter
What
my friends say
I
ain't missing you
Nothing
could be farther from the truth. "Just two more days left." Ron
repeated to himself. It was quickly become a mantra to help him keep
his sanity, what little of it there was to begin with.