A/N : Hope you'll like this one. It was invading my head as I was listening to "Shake it out" by Florence and the machine. It's not very related to the lyrics, but that's just something I picked up from the mood of the song. Anyway, it hasn't be beta readed so if you see mistakes please point them to me, English is not my mother tongue and I'm sure I made mistakes !
Ugh this is also probably way too cheesy, sorry (probably not a good thing to say to make you read it...)
I do not own Harry Potter.
Harry finally saw the shift in their relationship. Yes they were kissing now, and probably more, not that he wanted to know, but their trio dynamic stayed the same despite his best friends finally coming to their senses. He had known they both had feelings for the other for years, he always expected them to be together one day. That's why watching them physically expressing their feelings wasn't a surprise, nor a problem for him.
It's been 9 days since the war ended, they had buried their dead. They had buried Fred, and Ron has been quiet since. All the Weasleys have been. The Burrow didn't hold its usual warmth, it was too crushed by grief. Hermione and Fleur had been taking charge of keeping the house functioning despite its matriarch unable to maintain her composure more than a few minutes. Harry was too overcome by guilt to do anything other than constantly apologizing or feeling like he didn't belong. He spent days in the garden looking at the clear blue sky or throwing gnomes in order to attempt to keep his mind occupied by something else. Sometimes Hermione would join him and they would talk. They'd talk about his plans for the future, hers, the Weasleys, her parents. She'd tell him her plans to go get them in Australia. Sometimes Ron would join them and they'd look at the sky and the clouds together. But it was always too quiet. Until this day. Harry was sitting in the kitchen, making tea when he heard their voices. He felt like he was back in the Gryffindor common room, witnessing yet again another row between his oblivious best friends.
"I don't understand how you can even think about doing this right now !" Ron's voice echoed in the stairs as he entered the kitchen.
"They are my parents Ronald," Hermione followed him in the room, not acknowledging her surroundings,her eyes on Ron, "and they don't know it. I want to see them, I need to see them and set things straight. I'll be back quickly, I don't plan on being gone more than a week." Her voice was small and shaky. Harry noticed that they must have been rowing for a few minutes already, both their faces were red with annoyance and frustration.
"Fine, go then. Leave me." Ron said bitterly at Hermione, his voice hoarse as if he hadn't talked in weeks.
"That's short coming from..." she stopped, face crimson, tears flooding her eyes.
All three of them knew what she was about to say next. Hermione inhaled deeply, her body shuddering from the pouring emotions coursing in her veins.
"I am not leaving you, Ron." She finally spoke, softly and calmly, "I want to be with you. I need to see them, don't you understand that ?" she asked tears now falling on her cheeks, her eyes leaving Ron's to land on her shoes.
Harry never saw her abdicating on a row, especially with Ron. That's when he finally saw it, the shift in their dynamics, the fact that they were a couple. Hermione wasn't fighting Ron back, she wasn't trying to hurt him because he hurt her feelings too, they were rowing as adults, as a couple. Harry saw the tears falling from Ron's eyes before Hermione did. When she did, she quickly grabbed his hand, releasing a relieved sigh when he didn't back away from her.
"It'll only be a week" she repeated tenderly.
He tried to shut eyes to keep tears from rushing on his cheeks, but his feelings were too raw and his face was soaked and his body shaking.
"We haven't been apart since..." Ron's voice rifted as his right thumb traced the letters of the still red raw and angry scar she'll wear for the rest of her life on her left forearm, ugly reminder of what they fought against. And won. Her eyes followed the path of his finger, she swallowed the heavy lump that formed in her throat and opened her mouth to speak.
"Go with her."
Hermione and Ron startled by the intervention, seemed to suddenly realise that they had an audience. Molly Weasley was watching them intensely from the front of the stove where she was boiling water for Harry and her. They were going to have a talk she told him strongly before she was cut off by the rowing couple. Harry had a fairly good idea what Molly wanted to talk about, beside brooding or talking with Ron and Hermione, he spent most of his time with Ginny.
Ron's mother had her eyes filled with tears, but her voice was strong and unshaken when she repeated her words.
"Go with her Ron."
"Mom" Ron spoke gently, his right land locking into Hermione's left and looking at his mother like he was 5 years old again. "I can't leave here..."
"Why not ? Hermione needs to bring her parents back home and she needs you to do that. You two are together now right ? I may be grieving but I'm not blind, you two seem to think I didn't know Hermione is spending her nights in your room Ron." said Mrs Weasley bluntly.
"Mrs Weasley..." Hermione started weakly.
"Oh don't worry dear and call me Molly, we've known each other long enough." stated the older woman a small smile at her lips, but eyes still wet. "I don't want to interfere on your..." she sputtered "talk, but, Ron, why not go with her ?"
Ron flushed, his eyes apologetically meeting Hermione's and then his mom's, then spoked quietly "It...it's safe here..."
"Oh Ron !" Hermione said distressingly, hugging him and burring her face in his t-shirt.
"It's not that I don't trust you Hermione, I know you can fend for yourself." Tears falling freely again against his cheeks, the words blurted rapidly into her left ear. "But if you stay here, I know nothing can happen to you, I don't want anything to happen to you. Too much happened already. What if...what if...what if-" He buried his face in her hair, holding her tight against him, unable to keep his emotions controlled.
Hermione took a step back to look at Ron. Her hand coming to cup his left cheek. She took a deep breath to calm herself, willing her body and mind to settle down, before she spoke.
"Things are going to happen, wether you want it or not. We may have won that war, but there is still people against what we fought for. There will always be people who won't agree. And that's okay, that's how things can change. But Ron, you can't keep me locked in forever, you can't lock yourself forever. I don't want to take you away from your family, I understand why you want to keep them close, because that's for the same reasons that I want to go find my parents and make them remember who they are, who I am." Her voice was firm and her right hand came to rest against his chest. "You don't have to come with me if you don't want to, I'll never ask you to leave your family, that's why you have to know that I am coming back. I love you. This won't change, because I've loved you for so long now that I don't remember how not to. I will be back because I know I belong with you."
"Ok." Ron nodded watching his mother who hasn't moved from the stove since she interrupted them.
"Ok ?" asked Hermione, her eyebrows delicately raising.
"I'll go with you." replied Ron hoarsely, his forehead resting against hers. "You are family Hermione wether you want it or not and I am not leaving my family behind."
"That's my boy." Molly inhaled sharply, her smile bigger than its been in weeks, tears still floating in her eyes. And that's how you grieve, Harry thought breathing unsteadily, because even though death took loved one away, you keep on living.
Harry remembers when he saw the shift in their relationship. They weren't three anymore, they were two plus one, life went on Ron went with Hermione to Australia, their trio survived another storm and came out of it stronger than before.