Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter or the song lyrics at the beginning, those are from I Will Follow You Into The Dark by Death Cab for Cutie
If heaven and hell decide,
That they both are satisfied
illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you,
When your soul embarks;
Then I'll follow you into the dark.
Hermione shut the door as quickly as possible, trying to shut the day out. She just wanted it all to disappear, all to go away. She wanted for none of it to have ever happened.
The funerals for so many had happened that day. So many lives that hadn't deserved to be taken away. So many that had so much more to do in their lives, so much more they could have accomplished. They didn't deserve to die. Not one person who had been fighting to take down Voldermort deserved their death.
She sat down on the floor, knowing that she would have the room to herself for a while. Ginny was downstairs with Harry, who had been silent throughout the whole day. She knew he was dealing, dealing with this all. He was trying to deal with the fame and the grieving of his lost friends at the same time.
She leaned her head against the wall, letting the tears fall. She hadn't cried at all during the day, trying to be strong for Ron, Harry and the Weasleys. They all needed strength and she was trying to give it to them.
She had mostly tried to be there for Ron. They had been together constantly the past few days, though not doing much more than sitting in silence. Ron didn't want to talk, she didn't want to talk. They enjoyed their comfortable silence.
There was a sudden knock at the door, causing Hermione to dry her eyes quickly and move from against it. She stood, smoothed her skirt, and opened it. Ron was standing there, leaning against the doorframe, just looking at her.
"Oh. Hello," Hermione said. She hoped that her tears were gone from her face. She didn't want Ron to see her cry.
"Can I come in? Ginny and Harry just came into my room and basically kicked me out," Ron replied.
"Sure, come on," she held the door open wider for him to come into the room.
He stepped inside and sat on Hermione's bed. Hermione stood awkwardly for a minute at the door, not too sure what she was supposed to be doing.
Suddenly Ron looked up at her. "Hermione, have you been crying?"
Hermione just looked at him, a slightly guilty look on her face. "No, I was just..."
"It's okay to cry," Ron said, staring straight into her eyes. "I don't want you to think that you have to be strong. I don't want you to hold everything in just for me."
Hermione felt the tears well up in her eyes again at Ron saying this. She thought this was probably the most profound thing that she had ever heard Ron say. She looked back at him through her tears and saw the honest look on his face, the face that said he wanted her to be okay. She suddenly found herself throwing herself in his arms, sobbing.
"Shh, Hermione it's okay," he soothed her, stroking her hair that, for once was not bushy, as she had tried her hardest to make it look nice for that day.
He just held her in his arms, comforting her like she had been comforting him, just in a different way. She comforted him by not talking and just sitting and being with him. He held her, trying to make her feel better. He held her like that until her sobs had nearly subsided.
Hermione pulled away from his chest and looked at him, a slight blush rising to her cheeks. She hadn't really let go like that in front of someone, at least not for a while. She was rather embarrassed that she was sobbing in front of Ron, though she didn't know why. She had known him forever and she knew he wouldn't care normally. But something felt different now. Perhaps, she thought to herself as she felt her cheeks grow warmer, it was because they were now an item, things were different.
Ron tucked a piece of her hair behind her hair, so he could see her face. He thought she looked beautiful at that moment. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was starting to become bushy again, but he didn't care. At that moment, he realized that he was truly in love with her. There was no doubt about it, he definitely loved her.
He leaned in to her and slowly captured her lips with his own. The kiss was slow and sweet, but at the same time filled with the passion they had for one another. It was the first kiss they had really had since that moment a few days earlier. It was a nice kiss, one Hermione was savoring as it happened. She forgot her earlier embarrassment about her tears, realizing Ron didn't care.
The kiss ended and Ron held her in his arms again. She didn't want him to let go. She wanted to stay like that for as long as she could. Ron laid back on the bed, taking Hermione by surprise for a minute, but she just instead shifted her position to be laying next to him, her head resting on his chest with his arm wrapped around her.
They laid there for a while, neither keeping track of the time. Hermione felt her eyelids growing heavy and found herself ready to slip into dreamland when she heard Ron's voice.
"Hermione?"
"Yes?"she yawned as she said the word, struggling to stay awake.
"Are you going to go to your parents?"
Hermione was jolted awake with this. It was a piece of reality that she didn't want to face. Truthfully, she had rarely thought about them these past months, having more important things to concentrate on then. Now, everything was done, and she obviously had to think about it.
"Well, I hadn't thought too much about it yet," she replied honestly.
"When you go, I want to come with you."
Ron's voice sounded determined but Hermione hesitated on answering him. She had wanted to go alone, partially because it was complicated and she didn't really know what was going to happen there, but it was mostly because she didn't want to make Ron leave his family, especially after all that they had been through.
"Ron...I don't know."
"Hermione, I'm not asking you, I'm telling you I'm going. No matter what I'm not going to leave you to do something like that alone. I want to be with you for something like that, I want to follow you."
"Really?" she questioned softly. She had never had a boy say anything like this to her before, suddenly feeling rather vulnerable. She never had anyone telling her they wanted to follow what she was doing, follow where she was going. It made her heart race and her face began to feel hot again.
"Of course Hermione. We're in this together now. We've been through too much together, too much to let you do something like that alone."
Hermione smiled to herself. This was what she had always wanted to happen to her and now it was finally here. She loved this feeling she was developing at that moment, loved it more than any other feeling she had ever had before. The feeling of love was powerful in her at that moment, something new and unusual to her, but something she enjoyed having.
Silence ensued again for a while, this time Hermione settling into a deep sleep. Ron however, stayed awake. He listened to Hermione's breathing as she slept, looking down at her, watching her chest rise and fall with each breath.
He knew they had only been together a few days but he loved her, more than he had loved anyone or anything. He only wished he had figured this out sooner, then they would have had more time together. Then again, he had all the time in their world left to spend together. He was going to follow her, follow her wherever she went. They were meant to be.
He kissed the top of her head softly. He looked down at her, loving the look of content on her face at that moment. She was trying so hard to be strong for him, but he wanted her to be able to cry. He was happy she was able to let her emotions out, that was what she needed.
"Goodnight Hermione," he said softly. "I love you and remember I'll follow you wherever you go. Always remember that."
He kissed her once again, then closed his eyes. That night, his dreams were filled with thoughts of his future, all of those involving one person, one person who he would always follow, who he would always be with, the one person that he truly loved.