Hi there! If you found this through Extraordinary, yes you are in the right place! If you didn't, you're very welcome to stay and read too, however the pieces in this little collection are companions to that longer story. (I say companions; they are a mix of various things- deleted scenes, character studies- so it's the most apt term I could think of). I'll try to give background info about each one, so you have a little bit to go off of if you want to read them by themselves.
OK, so- This is a deleted scene, originally tacked on after Chapter 13 (at Malfoy Manor, when Harry accepts his feelings for Draco and stops fighting them). During the editing process I decided that switching to a Ron/Hermione viewpoint was distracting and kind of unnecessary. BUT I do think it gives a flair for the characters as I see them, and there's one really great line I'd like to brag about...
"I don't understand it!" Ron cried, throwing up his hands. His wife smiled fondly but continued reading her book. "I left five messages, 'Mione. Five, and he hasn't returned any of them. That's not like him at all."
"What? Yes it is, Ron, you know he gets caught up in something and follows it to the exclusion of everything else. Besides, he's on holiday. People don't like to be bothered on holiday."
"He wouldn't mind us! He's always there for us."
"I'm sure he's fine. We can always tell when he's getting in over his head."
"But what if he doesn't know he's in trouble? What if he's bewitched, or-"
"Ron. Be reasonable. What has he done to even remotely suggest that?"
"Seriously? What about this random holiday, hmm? He just owled Robards for more time off; the man is pissed, Hermione! Harry loves the job, yet suddenly he's taking all this time off! That's not fishy at all. And," he said loudly, ignoring Hermione's pointed eye roll, "he went to the market before he left! George saw him. He doesn't cook, you know that. Yet he went to the market and bought all kinds of ingredients and stuff."
"Oh, no, shopping! Alert the authorities; our friend's possessed!"
"I'm serious, Hermione! I'm really worried."
Hermione sighed and stood up to place a hand on her husband's shoulder, stopping his pacing. "I know you are, and that's very sweet. But Harry is a grown man. He can take care of himself. Besides, what's going to happen to him on a countryside vacation?"
"You never know," said Ron darkly. "He's so trusting. Of everybody, 'Mione; it's like Dumbledore all over again. He's given everybody and their brother a second, third and fourth chance to hurt him, and eventually someone will, whether he's on holiday or not... I don't know what Malfoy was up to- still don't. But if I did... they can't be unconnected, Malfoy's plot and this vacation of Harry's."
Hermione frowned. Surely Ron didn't suspect… no, if he did he'd be infinitely more upset. "You act as if trusting is a bad thing! Look, maybe Harry has been hurt before. But that makes it all the more remarkable he's able to trust anybody at all. For me, as long as he keeps that trust, that's how I know he's okay. Besides, he's a pretty good judge of people. You don't think he'd really let Malfoy stay with him if he had any reason to suspect a sinister motive? I'm sorry, Ron, but I just can't see any plot where this makes sense... Harry knows what he's doing, trusting people. He chooses well."
"He chose well in you, at any rate," he said, deflating as the force of his rant extinguished. He turned to embrace his wife, placing a kiss on her forehead.
She beamed. "And in you. Harry knows how much we love him. He knows what it'd do to us if anything happened to him. He won't be the one to hurt us, Ron. He'll protect himself, if only to protect us."
Ron sighed. "Alright. I'll give him that. Just, 'Mione, the last time you saw him, he seemed fine, right?"
She thought back to the excited gleam in his eyes, the definite bounce in his step, and that irrepressible smile. "The last time I saw him, Ronald, he was deliriously happy."