It's pouring rain outside, and now Hermione is dripping wet. She wonders briefly if the world just has a shitty sense of humour or if rainstorms just always happen to happen during drama, but Ron is gone and she has no clue what to do. Ron is gone, she thinks, and she can't believe it anymore than she can believe that Harry is a chihuahua.
It's pouring rain outside, and Ron sort of regrets that he left the tent behind. He's still seething, but he's seething while thinking to himself that he should have grabbed his jacket before he left. Then it all hits him, and he regrets more than the tent. He left Harry, Harry who has been his best friend since they met on that train, Harry who has stuck with Ron even though Ron has not always stuck with Harry. Maybe this is Ron's eternal punishment, to be second best, because even though he's left Harry behind now, he knows it makes him a worse friend to have done so.
It's pouring rain outside, and Hermione screams in frustration at a tree, then spins on her heel to try screaming in the other direction, but it is too late and Ron is gone.
It's pouring rain outside, and Ron regrets everything he said, and most of all that he left. He left Hermione, whom he's never been fair to. He hates himself.
It's pouring rain outside, and Hermione is lying in her bed. Harry is still fuming in the other bed, but all she can feel is hurt. Hurt that Ron would choose to leave them after six years and who knew how many near-death experiences and the start of a war, hurt that Harry would drive Ron away, hurt that she hadn't been enough to stop either of them.
It's pouring rain outside, and Ron is soaked to the bone. Hating himself won't do any good, and he knows already that it's true that he's the worst friend that Harry's ever had, and there's not too much to be gained from thinking it over and over. He sits on a fallen tree and tries to think of what to do next. He can go back, apologise, trust in Harry's goodness to be let back in, but he doesn't know if Harry can forgive him for running out. He can't forgive himself, after all.
It's stopped raining, and Hermione and Harry are silent. She can't stop the tears now, as they pack up the tent and Apparate away. They're hidden the whole time, and she can't help herself thinking that now Ron has left them and they have left him. She wonders if Ron feels left behind all the time, and she suspects so.
It's stopped raining, and Ron is sitting at Bill's kitchen table. Fleur is pretending to be busy by the sink and pretending not to listen as Ron blubbers to Bill. Bill isn't happy, Ron can see that, but Bill isn't about to hang Ron out to dry either, and he tells Ron that he can stay, but that he has to find a way to apologise to Harry. Ron doesn't argue. He's glad to be out of the rain, and he's glad that Bill is willing to take him in, and he's so sorry for what he's done that the apology could never be enough.
It's stopped raining, and Hermione sits in their tent, staring at nothing. Ron is gone, she thinks, and it's like thinking that Harry is a chihuahua, thinking that they've lost 33% of their little group.
