Title: Yesterday
Summary: Hermione and Ron are so in love they have been described as inseparable. So what will Hermione do when the unthinkable happens and Ron dies just one day after their wedding? Will she learn to live on, or will her dying need to be near him overpower her? Featuring lyrics from Yesterday by Leona Lewis.
***Short little one-shot to keep you busy while I finish my novel—banner by me!***
Characters: Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny, Molly, Arthur, OC
Pairings: Ron/Hermione, Harry/Ginny, Molly/Arthur
Era: Post-Hogwarts
Warnings: Contains Spoilers, Strong Language, Mild Violence, Scenes of a mild sexual nature
Rating: Mature
Genres: Romance, Angst, Sensitive topic/issue/theme
Chapter One:
Yesterday
Hermione smiled to herself as she awoke once again to that oh so sweet smell of peppermint. She kept her eyes closed and breathed in, tasted, that sweet scent. He had smelled like that, tasted like that, for as long as she had known him; but she had never thought in a million years she would get the chance to wake up to it every morning. She smiled to herself as she knew he was awake (his lack of snoring was always a dead giveaway) watching, simply just watching his new bride. Hermione's eyes opened and revealed the form of her gorgeous husband of one day, Ronald Weasley.
"Morning gorgeous" he whispered, looking directly into her eyes.
At this, Hermione blushed and turned away, giggling, and spreading her legs out a little more on the luxury double bed which had been a gift from her Mother. She turned her attention back to Ron, who was still gazing at her, and smiling. She knew what he was thinking of—hell, she was thinking of it too! Their wedding the previous day: Hermione's dress, Ron's suit, the kindly priest, all the guests, Hermione's tears, Ron's tears, the vows… the kiss, oh, the kiss! It wasn't just any wedding kiss, oh no, when the time came to kiss at the end of the wedding vows, Ron swept Hermione off her feet and kissed her for no fewer than ten minutes!
Because of the excitement from the wedding, neither Ron nor Hermione had managed to drift off to sleep until the early hours of the morning. Even as the wedding proceeded, it all seemed too good to be true. Hermione had woken up that morning thinking it had all been a glorious dream of some kind. And she prayed, willed herself to never wake up. She looked into his vibrant, blue eyes once again, and felt as if her heart was going to burst; it was thumping frantically against her ribcage, trying desperately to leave her chest and jump right into the man whom it truly belonged to. That was never going to change, no matter what. She loved him, with all of her heart, and he loved her too, with all of his.
"Hey, hun, I'm just going to get something to eat from downstairs, would you like me to get you something?" asked Ron.
"No!" said Hermione, all too quickly. "Please don't leave me!" she called after her husband, who was already dressed and heading towards the door of their bedroom.
Ron looked taken aback by this sudden and strange outburst "Don't be silly, of course I'm never going to leave you, why would you think that?" He sat down on the bed and put a comforting arm around Hermione's shoulder.
"I don't know, it's just: I've loved you for a long time, and the whole thing, it just seems too good to be true. I feel like if I let you out of my sight once, I'll loose you forever" she said.
Ron gave her a one-armed squeeze, and Hermione closed her eyes for a moment at his comforting embrace, his hypnotizing touch. "I know. But I'm yours forever now. We got married yesterday, we're going on our honeymoon tomorrow, and I'm going to work today and earn a little extra spending money.; and after that, I swear we will spend the rest of our lives together, no matter what," He gently pushed Hermione's head back and locked his eyes on hers. "And that's a promise!"
Hermione smiled as Ron's hand cupped her cheek and pulled her into a loving and passionate kiss. He opened his mouth, inviting her to kiss him deeper, and she responded by easing her tongue into his mouth and reaching a hand up to stroke that messy, red hair. What seemed like years later, they broke apart, and took a much needed gulp of air.
"I love you so much!" said Ron, grinning from ear to ear.
"I love you too!" said Hermione, imitating her husbands facial expression.
And with that they made love for the first time as husband and wife…
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
RING… RING… RING… RING! Hermione awoke to the sound of the doorbell. She glanced at her bedside clock: 11:05 pm. Who the hell visits at this time of night? Feeling too tired to move she said groggily "Ron, honey, can you please get that?"
No answer came the reply.
"Ron?" Hermione opened her eyes again and raised her head off the pillow.
Ron wasn't there. And then she smiled to herself as the obvious truth dawned on her. That's probably him now, he must have forgot his keys! He was always doing stuff like that! It was sweet of him to work this late to get them more honeymoon money! She heaved herself out of bed and trudged down the stairs to open her front door, not to Ron, but to a tall, solemn, and down right scary looking man.
"Um… c-can I help you sir?" questioned a befuddled looking Hermione as she surveyed the strange man standing in her doorframe.
"May I come in please? This is a matter of great urgency!"
"I…er… O-of course," said Hermione, stifling a huge yawn as she led the man into her lounge.
Hermione Weasley sat gracefully down on the leather, cream 3-seater sofa, as the man (who looked strangely solemn) sat in the cream armchair opposite her. She wasn't sure if she was being paranoid or not, but she had the strangest feeling that the man had not come here for any good reason. There seemed to be a strange expression of mingled sadness and pity on his face, in addition of the already terminally bored expression which looked so natural on him that he could have been born with it.
"Is something wrong, sir?" asked Hermione, nervously fingering a loose strand of her hair. Her will for nothing to be wrong almost caused her to cry, she wished Ron was here to comfort her. Then something dawned on her…
What if this has something to do with Ron…?
"You are Hermione Jean Granger Weasley, am I correct?" he asked.
"Yes sir,"
"There is a matter of great urgency concerning your husband, Ronald Billius Weasley,"
Hermione gulped, this was exactly what she had been dreading to hear. She could almost feel the colour draining from her face. Her stomach clenched so tightly that she thought she was going to throw up… Please, please don't let there be anything wrong, please…
"Yes?" she said, dreading the answer. And then another terrible theory forced its way to the forefront of her thinking. He's dead, isn't he? Oh, Merlin, please don't let him be dead, please?! I don't know what I would do without him; please tell me he's ok! But then she realised he must be ok, that he couldn't be dead, he would never leave her like that… he promised…
"I'm afraid, while on an IPR (Inappropriate Potions Raid) for the auror department, he came across a wizard who had taken too many drug potions, and… well… it didn't end too well… I'm very sorry Mrs Weasley, but I'm afraid he's dead…"
I just can't believe you're gone,
Still waiting for morning to come…
Hermione blinked, her expression was completely blank, still absorbing what this man had just said to her.
He looked surprised by her lack of emotion, and as though hoping to egg her on, he said. "If it makes you feel any better, Mrs Weasley, we arrested the man who was responsible!"
It was then that Hermione showed her first trace of emotion, she started to laugh. Not because anything was funny, but because it was so much the opposite, that she had to laugh. But mostly, she was laughing at this man's stupidity. She just sat there, laughing like a maniac, earning herself a funny look from the bearer of bad news in front of her. She shook her head.
"No, he can't be dead! He would never leave me… h-he promised!" Even as she said this, Hermione thought about how uncertain her voice sounded… But he couldn't be dead. Ron never broke his promises!
But as the seconds ticked by, the truth became more obvious. As the seconds ticked by, her world began to crumble.
As the seconds ticked by, Hermione became aware of what else the man had said to her. "What the hell do you mean, 'he's going to Azkaban'? That's it? He deserves worse than that!"
"Mrs Weasley, I insist you calm down-!" the man barely got out before Hermione cut in.
"CALM DOWN?! CALM DOWN?! YOU COME INTO MY HOUSE, TELL ME MY HUSBAND IS DEAD, AND YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM DOWN? NOT ONLY DID THAT BASTARD KILL MY HUSBAND, HE KILLED A PART OF ME TOO! AND WHAT DOES HE GET? A FEW YEARS IMPRISONMENT IN AZKABAN! THAT FUCKING BASTARD DESERVES TO DIE FOR WHAT HE'S DONE. HE'S THE REASON I CAN NO LONGER WAKE UP NEXT TO MY HUSBAND WHO I MARRIED FREAKING YESTERDAY! YESTERDAY? WE'VE HARDLY BEEN MARRIED A DAY, AND ALREADY HE'S BEEN TAKEN AWAY FROM ME? WELL I HAVE JUST ONE THING TO SAY TO YOU… It's not fair," she whispered the last part as she realised what she had just done. She had just admitted her husband had died.
When I see if the sun will rise,
And the way that you're by my side…
But more than that… she admitted he had broken his promise, he had left her… The day before their honeymoon, what was up with that?
When we had so much in store,
Tell me what is it all reaching for?
She'd had her life taken away from her, just because some guy wouldn't give up drugs. What the hell had she done to deserve this? Harry and Ginny, Molly and Arthur, George and Angelina, Bill and Fleur… They got their happy endings, when all she was left with was their memories, and they were good, but it was hardly fair!
When we're through building memories,
I'll hold yesterday in my heart,
In my heart…
And with that, hot tears began to spill from her eyes as she spoke the only words she was emotionally capable of. "Get out of my house!" It was said in barely more than a whisper, but the man didn't have to be told twice. He jumped out of his chair and hurtled towards the door at bullet speed, as though afraid the hysterical woman on the sofa was about to hex him for telling her of her husband's death. However, it didn't exactly make it any better that they had just got married the previous day! Before slamming the door shut he whispered.
"I'm sorry, m'am!" She probably would have believed him if he had not done this so many times before. She guessed that was where his bored expression originated from.
They can take tomorrow and the plans we made,
They can take the music that we never played,
All the broken dreams,
Take everything,
Just take it away,
But they can never have yesterday,
They can take the future that we'll never know,
They can take the places that we said we would go,
All the broken dreams,
Take everything,
Just take it away,
They can never have yesterday…
Hermione felt numb. She opened the newly shut door and peered out. It was pitch black and raining heavily, the occasional fork of lightning flashed across the sky. Hermione yearned not to think, not to feel… to escape. It was then she felt she had no choice. She stepped out of the door—still in her night things—and ran, just ran.
The rain was pouring down, and her clothes and hair were sticking to her skin. But Hermione didn't care about that… She didn't care about much anymore. And still she ran. Where to? She did not know, nor did she care. She ran for hours and hours, ignoring her body's protests, thoughts of her and Ron absentmindedly flashing across her mind. Why had Ron broken his promise?
You always choose to stay,
I should be thankful for everyday…
Hermione kept running. Her body was screaming in agony, her energy dwindling. But in some weird way, she knew that to stop running would take up a hell of a lot more energy than if she kept running, because to stop running would mean to stop trying to escape, and there was no way she could live like this, not without Ron. She had to get out somehow!
She remembered when she was a kid, and her parents used to take her to church on Sundays. She had always somewhat believed in God, yes she had her moments when she wasn't sure, but she believed at the best of times. However, she found herself questioning that belief now, because, God was a… thing… who supposedly made sure that the whole world was happy, and everything was well; so if there was a God, then why had he taken her Ron from her? What was she supposed to do now?
Heaven knows what the future holds,
Or at least how the story goes,
I never believed until now…
After hours and hours of running, Hermione finally gave in to her body's agony from so much running. She didn't know where she was, just that it was some countryside and that it was still raining; but she didn't care.
"Why?" She screamed to no one in particular, her head facing the cloudy, grey sky, her wet hair plastered to her sodden face. "Why did you leave me? You promised me you'd stay! You lied to me!"
And with that she collapsed in a heap on the floor and cried for hours on end, only stopping when her eyes ran completely dry. She felt suicidal, and was not afraid to admit it. She wanted to see Ron, and in her eyes, there was only one way to do that. She got her wand out and pointed it directly at her heart.
I know I'll see you again I'm sure,
No it's not selfish to ask for more…
Knowing that this was the only way she would get to see her sweetheart anytime soon, she took a deep breath, ready to say the incantation. She was going to be with him soon, she was going to see his gorgeous smile again. She counted down in her head.
3… Should I really be doing this?
2… It seems silly really; this is my life I'm talking about!
1… But then again… he is my life, and I would give anything in the world to have him back with me!
One more night,
One more day,
One more smile on your face…
It was time, but Hermione couldn't do it. Not because she didn't want to go to Ron, but because Ron had come to her. There he was, pearly white, and semi-transparent. Hermione gasped, her husband had chosen to come back as a ghost! Or had he? He looked too transparent to be a ghost.
And as though he had read her mind, he said. "I can't stay long. But I had to find some way to get back to you," he said. "I know what you're trying to do; please don't do it! You have your whole life ahead of you!"
"But you were my life, you are my life, and I just want to be with you!" said Hermione, as the tears once again began to flow.
"Well I'm here now!" said Ron.
"Yes, but you said yourself that you're only here for a short time!" she half yelled.
"So, let's just enjoy the time we have together please?" pleaded Ron, a sad smile across his transparent lips as he watched his wife break even more in front of his dead eyes.
"And then what?" screamed Hermione. "You just leave me? Leave me to cope with life on my own? Leave me alone to raise a fucking child?"
Ron's eyes widened in shock. That was the first time Hermione had ever told anyone of her pregnancy. She had planned to break the news to Ron at their honeymoon; little did she know that time would never come.
"Y-you're pregnant?" asked Ron.
"Yes Ronald, I'm pregnant. I have been for 6 weeks now,"
"When were you gonna tell me?" he whispered.
"On our honeymoon. But you went and got yourself killed, so you'll never know your child,"
"'Mione, it's not like I planned it like this!"
But they can't take yesterday…
"You lied to me…" said Hermione, barely audible. "You promised you would never leave me; not only yesterday morning, but at our wedding as well."
They can take tomorrow and the plans we made,
They can take the music that we never played,
All the broken dreams,
Take everything,
Just take it away,
But they can never have yesterday,
They can take the future that we'll never know,
They can take the places that we said we would go,
All the broken dreams,
Take everything,
Just take it away,
But they can never have yesterday…
Under any normal circumstances Ron would have retorted. "Actually, I believe at our wedding I said ''till death do us part'" But for obvious reasons, that would be cruel. He floated down to her side and said softly "I know. I'm sorry, can you ever forgive me?"
"No," said Hermione sternly. "Because there's nothing to forgive. You couldn't help dying. But I wish you could stick around for longer, because quite frankly, I don't know what I'll do without you. I don't know what your child will do without you. I kept putting things off, because I thought I would have you for the rest of my life! I've never regretted anything so much! I guess we just weren't meant to be together…"
"No! Don't say that! Of course we were! How else would I have been able to come back like this? Even if it is only for a short while."
I thought our days would last forever,
But it wasn't our destiny,
'Cause in my mind we had so much time,
But I was so wrong…
"I'll have to go soon, so please promise me something," said Ron
"Anything," replied Hermione.
"Promise me that, when you think about me, you won't cry, you'll think of the happy times?"
"I… of course," answered Hermione, wondering how she would keep that promise through his funeral.
"My funeral doesn't count," Bloody hell, can he read my mind? I wonder if all ghosts or whatever he is can do that? "Just try not to cry for too much of it! And no more moping after that, just remember the happy times, and… make sure my child knows who I was," he gave a week smile at the last statement.
Hermione nodded, and forced herself not to cry with every fibre of her being.
No I can't believe that,
I can still find strength in the moments we made,
"I love you!" he said.
"I love you too!"
I'm looking back on yesterday…
And with that their lips met. And instead of feeling like she had been drenched with a bucket of icy cold water like she did when touched by the Hogwarts ghosts, Hermione's lips felt warm against Ron's. It was almost as if he was alive. And she had to keep reminding herself that he was dead, so as not to set herself up for an even bigger fall when she opened her eyes.
They can take tomorrow and the plans we made,
They can take the music that we never played,
All the broken dreams,
Take everything,
Just take it away,
But they can't take yesterday,
They can take the future that we'll never know,
All the broken dreams,
Take everything,
Just take it away,
But they can never have yesterday…
A few hours, or possibly stormy days, they broke apart. And Ron began to fade. Hermione knew she was never going to see him again, but in addition, she knew she hadn't lost him either, not completely. She placed her hand gently on her stomach, and remembered the promise she made to Ron.