BEDNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS

Author's Note: I don't own any of the characters, though I really wish that I did.

England-The Burrow

It was all still so surreal for her. Had she been a stranger visiting the house she would not have known that its inhabitants had just been through a climactic battle where one of their own had fallen. Fred's death hung over them all like a dark shroud, affecting everything from all of their moods and even making Mrs. Weasley's usually great cooking taste off, and Fred's funeral had happened only days before. For his part George had not been able to step foot inside of what had been his and Fred's room or return to the flat above their shop in London. Instead he had ventured forth thankfully from the Burrow and was now spending most nights at Percy's flat, mostly because nothing within it reminded him of his terrible loss. The trio plus Ginny had spent most of their time anywhere but within the vicinity of Mrs. Weasley, who was prone to bursting into tears at the slightest provocation. Mr. Weasley had managed to keep it together but every morning his eyes would be as red as his hair and they had quickly decided against asking him about it. Bill and Charlie had spent most of the time at the Ministry, doing their best to try and stabilize the ship as righting it still seemed months away.

A week after the battle found Ron oddly up before anyone else and out of the house, saying that he wanted to get an early start on his task of cleaning out a small garage that most of the family had totally forgotten about what was inside it. He hadn't seemed to have any interest in accomplishing the duty at first however and so when Mrs. Weasley had asked her to check on him for her she had jumped at the opportunity to do anything else than console his mother. The morning was cooler than she had expected and she was glad that she had nabbed one of his Christmas jumpers before she had headed out. She couldn't help but breathe deeply in his scent as it permeated every nook and cranny of the jumper, smiling sweetly to herself as she made a mental note to steal some more of his clothes, as she remember how he had looked at her when she had borrowed some of his clothes earlier. They had of course been far too large for her small frame however she had loved the experience all the same. The shed was quiet when she cautiously opened the door to find Ron standing on the far side, hands on the only clear space on the counter in front of him and he was staring out of the window, lost in his thoughts with his head down and shoulders slumped.

"R…Ron…Ron," Hermione cautiously said with a slight stutter as she could feel that something was wrong just by how quiet he seemed to be, as a lead weight slowly began to form in her stomach and she didn't like it one little bit. After standing stock still in the doorway in total silence for a few moments as she strained her ears to try and hear any response of his she could stand it no longer and broke the tension by drawing in what she planned to be a rather large breath but because of how nervous and scared she was she could only manage a few abbreviated hiccups before he finally answered.

"H…huh, oh…hey," Ron weakly answered, sounding more like he had a bad cold than being happy that she had come to spend some time with him, before he reached up and wiped his nose on the back of his hand, all without even casting a small look back at the brunette.

"E…everything okay in here," Hermione asked a bit more fearfully as she didn't like that he hadn't turned around to look at her and it was almost as if she could feel the pain radiating off of him, even though she was several feet away.

"Y…yeah, sure," Ron called back over his shoulder as he half turned his head towards her before snapping his attention to the window in front of him, seemingly doing his best to keep her from getting any look at his face.

"Oh really…look at me…Ron…please," Hermione started off demanding softly as she hoped that he'd listen and turn and face her at her words before she grew even more concerned when he didn't and she resorted to adding a bit of begging him.

"Fine…I'm fine, just go…alright," Ron replied without lifting his head before she heard him sniffle again and try to wipe his eyes on his sleeve as she finally crossed the gap between them and she laid a hand gently on his back.

"No Ron, you're not…what's wrong, tell me…Ron," Hermione said softly as she moved closer to Ron and tried to lay a hand on his arm but he brushed her off and then started to head towards the door.

"Just forget that you saw me okay, tell my Mum that I was already done…," Ron growled in an uncharacteristically angry tone of voice as he stopped at the door and half turned back towards her, earning an unintentional gasp from Hermione as she saw tears in his eyes.

"Ron stop, what is it…what's wrong, why are you crying," Hermione demanded with a bit of a hard edge to her words as she momentarily found herself unable to move from the spot that her feet seemed rooted to before she shook herself free and hurried over to him just as he turned away again.

"Not…not crying, just got something in my eye, so much dust in here," Ron grunted back though he kept his face aimed directly at the door, again making it a point to look anywhere but at Hermione who was standing directly behind him standing up on her tiptoes, trying to catch his eye.

"You've barely touched anything in here, what's really going on here Ron, talk to me," Hermione pointed out as she cast another look around the garage and noticed that only a small amount of things seemed to have been disturbed while the rest looked totally the same as it probably had for months if not longer.

"It's stupid…nothing," Ron tried to reply by making it sound as if she would find the whole thing funny if she knew the whole story as she could tell that he was mired in a deeply personal struggle to keep it together.

"No Ron, it's not nothing if it's gotten you this upset, just tell me…let me help you," Hermione stopped him dead in his tracks with her words as she closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing herself up against him until her tears mixed with the back of his shirt.

"It's just…I was cleaning like I was supposed to…and then…," Ron almost whispered back as his voice was so soft as he did his best to answer Hermione without making his words sound like an excuse as to why he hadn't done more in cleaning the garage as he could almost feel Hermione biding her time and taking in his every word.

"And then…what," Hermione wondered softly as she slackened her grip on Ron so that she could slide around him and position herself in between Ron and the door and her heart clenched painfully at the look of utter sadness and pain on his face and to see just how red his eyes were.

"Fred…I found it and then BAM…it just hit me…and I couldn't help it," Ron started off answering her softly while looking over her shoulder at the door before he balled up his hands into fists with a look on his face of one who wanted to hit something, making Hermione almost jump out of her skin, before his shoulders slumped and he spun around so that his back was against the door and she was standing next to him. "Sorry," Ron mumbled weakly looking suddenly very guilty as his opened his hands back up and then slid down the door until he was seated.

"Found what Ron, what did you find…what did it have to do with Fred," Hermione demanded as she steeled her nerves and knelt down beside him with a hand on his shoulder, taking heart that he didn't pull away or get angry at her touch.

"This," Ron relented with a look that Hermione could only describe as one of self-loathing as he reached into his pocket and then pulled out a small dingy metal cylinder that looked like it had been through more than a few wars. There seemed to be writing on it but before Hermione could lean in close enough Ron had suddenly looked very sad and jammed it back into his pocket.

"Er…Ron, what was that," Hermione asked as softly and gently as she could as she crawled around so that she was kneeling in front of him with a hand on his knee as she was heartened by the sight of him lifting his head and actually looking her in the eye before he spoke up.

"It's a regulator…of sorts, Dad made it…his own creation…it goes on a broom see, you use it to keep from going to high, handy for little kids and those that have a fear of heights," Ron tried to explain as best he could in as few words as he could as he tried to look her in the eye at the important parts but every time that the did he felt a surge of emotion starting to well up within him and he forced himself to look away.

"Sounds quite…useful," Hermione admitted out loud with an impressed and slightly proud smile as she shuffled forward on her knees a bit so that she could garner his full attention and make sure that he couldn't turn away again.

"A lot…see when I was a little kid I wasn't exactly…thrilled…with heights, one day I'd seen Fred and George chasing Bill and Charlie on their brooms and I wanted to join them, Mum said no but I slipped out while she was changing Ginny…we'd had strained peas for lunch and…," Ron explain slowly as the memories began to flood back into his mind and he had to dig his fingernails into the palms of his hands until he almost drew blood before he forced himself to calm down, helped greatly by Hermione's hand on his shoulder, before he stopped talking and looked at the ground.

"I don't think that I need to hear that part Ron," Hermione groaned with a rather pointed roll of her eyes and a slightly disgusted expression as she edged a bit closer to him until she was leaning a bit on his right knee.

"Oh…right, anyway I took my chance and slipped outside, it took some doing but I finally convinced George to let me ride on his broom with him, he swore that he wouldn't let me fall and stupid me…I believed him," Ron gave in quickly as he blushed and frowned at his own bit of stupidity as the events of that day came back to him and he could only acknowledge that he had not thought of those days in years as he caught sight of Hermione watching his every minor twitch very closely.

"And he let you fall…how horrible," Hermione gasped out loud as she set her elbow on top of Ron's knee and supported herself against his leg, her gaze never leaving his face as he pried a bit of dirt out from underneath one of his fingernails.

"Hell if I know, he may have done it intentionally or it might have been a true accident, but after a few minutes we were soaring up and up…almost level with my window and then it happened, almost like ole George forgot that I was with him and did a barrel roll…I was hurtling towards the ground before he even knew I was gone," Ron shrugged as he leaned his head back up against the door and stared straight up at the ceiling as he continued the story, buoyed by her constant physical contact with his knee, as he pressed the pad of his left thumb into his knee as hard as he could in an attempt to relieve some of his anxiety.

"But," Hermione gasped out loud in shock and alarm at the thought of what had almost happened to Ron so close to home those many years ago before he continued just as she was about to ask a question.

"Fred caught me before I hit the ground and Bill chewed George out about it…that wasn't the worst part, about that time Mum came tearing out of the house like she was on fire, I'm not sure which scared me more, almost dying or Mum screaming like she did, my hair wasn't all that was red that night…the others too," Ron reassured her with a an embarrassed smile and his ears reddening as he laid his left hand on her arm and relaxed a bit as he saw her seem to calm down noticeably at how things had gone even though he had obviously survived.

"So the regulator means a lot to you because Fred saved you while using it…makes a lot of sense," Hermione declared with a few calming breaths as she shuffled up a bit closer to Ron before she laid her hands on his chest and felt his fast heartbeat, trying not to blush deeply with the hope that she was the one who was causing it in him.

"Nah, after the fall George apologized a lot but for a time I was scared silly of heights and flying, swore up and down that I'd never touch another broom," Ron remarked as he shook his head before he then looked very guilty and embarrassed as he again found it very hard to look her in the eye but he did so only as briefly as possible before she cut in.

"I find that hard to believe," Hermione scoffed heavily with a look of total disbelief before she couldn't help but smile as she reached a hand up to gently rub her hand against his stubble, something that still drew a lot of her interest even though she wasn't quite sure why just yet.

"Now yeah…but back then I was little and scared, it took some time but Fred convinced me to try it again, he used our oldest broom with Dad's regulator on it, took me up as high as it would allow…helped me get over my fears…taught me everything about quidditch too…I wouldn't love quidditch like I do or love to fly if not for him, and it was just the two of us, one of the few times that the twins didn't do something together," Ron chuckled through his words at first as he tried to show that any fear that he may have had had quickly disappeared as he brushed some dust off of his jeans with one hand while sliding the other around her waist and pulling her close as she made to move to resist him.

"How nice of him, but why…," Hermione began to say back with a warm and thankful smile before she grew a bit confused and wrapped her arms around his neck and held herself against him, not quite sitting in his lap but still on her knees, which were just beginning to hurt a bit from their contact with the garage's hard floor.

"See a few days after that I was trying to fly the broom all by myself and got into a bit of an accident, broke a couple of windows…Fred took the fall for it instead of me, after that we inscribed our names on the regulator after we dug it out of the trash to remind us of how he helped me…course a few years later it got lost in the shuffle somehow…then I found it today and…I don't know, it just hit me…that memory came rushing back…with Fred gone…I don't know…I feel kind of stupid really," Ron began to continue with what he hoped was a bit of calm in his words before he was shocked to discover that the whole time he was crying silent tears as he remember his older brother's actions before he noticed that he wasn't the only one in the garage shedding tears.

"You having nothing to feel sorry or stupid about Ron, you lost a brother that you loved…you'll be grieving for the rest of your life over him in one way or another, and a memory like that is nothing to apologize or feel guilty about, at least not to me," Hermione told him point blank with a very serious look in her eyes as she pulled a hand back and used it to wipe away some of her tears for a few moments as she then stumbled back into a short bit of laughing with a slight sniffle.

"Thanks…stupid me, blubbering like a baby, I must look…," Ron hiccupped softly as she discovered that he was crying a bit and seemed to view it as a massive dent to his macho self-image and struggled to regain his composure and wipe away the tears as best that he could before he caught Hermione looking at him oddly.

"Like someone that's holding up very well…given the circumstances, after I sent my parents away I…was a wreck, you saw…and I don't think that Fred would want you to drown yourself in his memory either…do you," Hermione pushed herself to remind him with a small smile that faltered noticeably when she spoke of her parents as she leaned forward until their foreheads touched and she felt more than saw him smile weakly back to her.

"Hmpf, if he saw me now he'd probably never let me hear the end of it," Ron snorted quickly before she leaned his head back and bit his lip as a few more tears fell and he then allowed a wide and weary grin to spread across his face as his free hand slowly started to slide up her back, causing her to clench her jaw and feel an excited shiver course through her. A few tears of her own soon joined his and she hoped that no one interrupted them as they would look quite the pair to anyone that hadn't been privy to their entire conversation.

"No doubt…no doubt, and um…speaking of my parents…you wouldn't…want to come with me…to Australia to repair their memories, by any chance…would you," Hermione nodded slowly as she tried to keep her smile from faltering as she made up her mind there and then to not be alone during her trip to recover her parents and their memories before she went silent, hoping that he'd answer quickly and not leave her hanging any longer than necessary.

"Wild horses…and all of that," Ron commented with a flourish and slight waving of his free hand that had been on Hermione's back, earning him a disappointed frown before she brightened up and smiled hopefully.

"Is that a yes," Hermione asked softly with a very hopeful and expectant look in her eyes as she moved back in as close to Ron as she could while not being able to keep an ever growing grin from her face as she felt his free hand come to rest on the small of her back.

"I don't know…you tell me," Ron joked with an amused grin before he pulled her into a kiss that both were glad that neither felt funny about or pulled away from. They both knew at that moment that although there would definitely be more tears for both of them in their future whatever may come to pass, they would be able to face it together. Face it and get through it.

THE END

Author's Note: This story was just a little thought that popped into my head, I apologize if it makes no sense or is all jumbled up as I have to many thoughts about story ideas in my head to know what to do with and sometimes I have a hard time getting them all out straight on paper or whatever. I still can't read any stories with Hermione paired with Harry, Draco, Snape, or Krum. And no I don't read stories with Ron paired with others as well. I don't think that Hermione would be the Minister of Magic, not because a woman shouldn't or couldn't be Minister as we already know that there have been female ministers and will be again in the future. For me it's more like with Dumbledore, he could have been a terrific Minister but never trusted himself and thought it better that he never take the job. With Hermione I compare it more to her time with the time turner; she tried to do too much and got burned in some ways. I think that she'd try to do everything and help everyone and then just get to much work and get into trouble because of it. On top of that she'd probably start to miss family engagements and such and she's said before that family and friendship and such were more important than brains and such. And no I don't see Harry or Ron going anywhere near the job either.

Then again I could easily see Ron having had his fill of bad food and bad travel during his time searching for horcrux's that being an auror would be too much like that for him to take for very long. That and I can't see Ron letting Hermione go to Australia without at least him, not because she'd need his help or couldn't do it alone but because he'd want to be close to her and probably get out of the house and away from his mother and all of the sadness after Fred's death. And then I think that all four of the main group would be sorely missing each other during their time at Hogwarts and auror training after the end of the books, as in school it was really only the trio that stuck together, as the trio really didn't have any friends outside of each other. Though I could see Ron not wanting to be near where Fred died and Harry not wanting to return to Hogwarts without Dumbledore and after what happened during the battle. I'm not sure what the next story is but I do have a few ideas…