Disclaimer: Standard stuff, not mine, all Jkr's
A/n: I am American and I do not understand the metric system, please forgive me
Chapter One: A Day Past Now
Hermione Granger was a lot of things at that very moment and unfortunately for Ronald Weasley, calm and rational were not on that list. Five days had passed since the great Albus Dumbledore's funeral and everything had gone into chaos. The ministry was trying to placate the public without losing face for Scrimageour. The all mighty Order of the Phoenix was in shambles without their leader, fighting over who should take over the role and headquarters had been compromised with no secret keeper. Hermione's parents were currently vacationing in the Americas, so she had been staying with the Weasleys' at the Burrow, something she was dearly regretting. In the five days she had been there, Ron would not let her be, Ginny cried endlessly about losing Harry to the good fight, and Mrs. Weasley had become obsessed with wedding plans. Hermione was slowly losing her mind with Ron always trying to get her in the hideaways of the house and snog and Ginny kept moaning to her about how Harry had tossed her aside because of the notion that she would be safer this ways, followed with praise about how brave ad noble Harry was. Which brought her to this moment, a few hours past noon and Ron was dragging her out to the shed out back for some "private talk." Once they reached the shed, Hermione looked up at Ron, now towering over her 64inches by 12, and stopped him before he came closer to her.
"We need to talk Ron" once she was sure she had his full attention she kept going, "I don't think this … arrangement we have is working out, all u want to do is snog and I would rather not, there are more important things for us to be doing! I can't just sit here and do nothing but snog and make small talk! Harry is by himself and we are supposed to go stay with him, support him, and help him with what he's tasked with! Dumbledore just DIED and all u can think of is SNOGGING, what the hell is wrong with you, do you even want to help? Give up your seventh year at Hogwarts to search for the Horcuxes!" Sucking in air as she finally came down form her tirade, she saw that Ron was turning as red as his infamous Weasley hair.
"One, you're a frigid tease, what do expect I want to do with you gallivanting about the Burrow dressed like a trollop! What should we talk about Hermione? Harry right! That's all we talk about, it's always Harry this and Harry that with you, and Ginny talks about Harry enough! He broke her heart, breaking up with her like that. And NO I don't think I can drop out of Hogwarts! For what, something we can find while we're there? What's the point! Harry's just being irrational and not thinking about what he's doing, he'll come back to Hogwarts, I'm sick of hearing about Harry, and I'm sick of you! I'm fine without our 'arrangement,' fuck this Hermione, your not worth the trouble." Ron turned around, walked out of the shed and slammed the door shut, with a small smirk he flipped the bolt on the door and locked Hermione in the shed while he walked back to his room.
Harry Potter was laying on the floor of the smallest bedroom doing one hundred sit ups before rolling over to do one hundred push ups, then stand up and do one hundred squats, and so on and so forth. The Dursley's had locked Hedwig and his school supplies in the cupboard under the stairs as 'punishment' for being sent home a month early. After locking him into the room they let him know that he would get three meager meals and two fifteen-minute trips to the loo a day. He was not to make to be seen or make any noise; else his meals would go to Dudley for the day.
Yesterday he had spent five extra minutes in the shower, and he had a welt on his back for each one. Working out was all he could do in his room without making noise and kept his mind occupied before he went insane with the thoughts running around in his head.
Hermione realized that perhaps the shed was not the best place to be for her, she'd been locked in for about 5 hours now and it was beginning to get dark outside. The first two hours she had screamed herself hoarse before she realized that the shed was far away from the Burrow for a reason and that nobody could hear her screams. So now she sat on the grimy floor waiting for Ron to realize that she was not at supper and he had accidentally locked her in when he slammed the door shut. By midnight, she knew it wasn't an accident.
Harry was lying on the bed in his room staring at the white ceiling, trying to clear his thoughts and get to sleep. It wasn't working. He started counting, and by the time he reached five hundred eighty four a loud CRACK resounded though the room and when he looked in the corner, there was a person there. She was sitting with her knees to her forehead and her arms wrapped about her bare legs, rocking back and forth looking as if she hadn't bathed in weeks. Holding his breathe, still staring at the girl, he waited for a sign that the Dursleys' had heard her apparate into his room, hoping they hadn't. Carefully watching the girl for any other movement then shaking he slowly made his way off the bed and to the corner she was in. When he was about a foot away, he sat down on the floor and called out to the girl, she didn't respond. Looking at her carefully he took in her features, the ones he could make out, long bushy hair, very petite figure (as she could wrap around herself in such a small space), and she reminded him of someone he knew.
Reaching out and touching her arm he called out to her again, this time she jerked back and looked up into his face with expressions of fear, disbelief, confusion, and finally relief showed on her face. Before Harry could react, he had a fistful of brown hair in his face and his best friends sobbing into his shoulder. Pulling her into his lap he rocked her back and forth as she cried, softy asked her what had happened. When she calmed down enough to speak she told him the whole story starting from when she had arrived at the Burrow, some time after she finished her story her breathing had deepened and Harry realized she had fallen asleep as he absorbed the story. Glancing at the clock, Harry realized it was four in the morning and Hermione had been in the shed since two the day before. He worked his an arm under her legs and the other around her back and picked her up as gently as he could as walked her over to his bed. He placed her down but had difficulty standing back up when she refused to release his from her hug, signing he laid down in the bed beside her, holding her close, vowing that he would never let her out of sight again. Shifting around so that he was flat on his back in the twin bed, Hermione lying on top of him, he fell into the first natural dreamless sleep he'd had in years.