Disclaimer: I own nothing but the actual storyline; everything else belongs to J.K Rowling.

~ Stolen ~

Ron sighed when he heard the door knock gently, slowly getting up from his seat as he put down the drink he had been holding in his hand. He frowned, wondering who could possibly call to see him at three in the morning – then again, he thought, Harry didn't know his limits since the war.

The rain was falling heavily, and he had been relying on the lightening flashes as his only source of light for the past few hours as he had sat in the sitting room, thinking back on life before everything seemed to go wrong.

He bit down on his lower lip, feeling in his back pocket for his trusty wand as he approached the door – he knew he was being stupid, anyone who could have been a danger to him wouldn't have bothered to knock the door but he had to be careful. He tried to think about who could be on the other side of the door as he slowly opened it, staring at the girl on the other side, getting ready to slam the door in her face.

He took in her appearance for a moment; she was tiny – in height and width. Her long hair was matted and dirty, completely drenched from the heavy rain as it hung over her shoulders. Her head hung low as she looked down at her bare, cut and bloody feet as Ron looked at the one garment she was wearing that was soaked through to the skin – an old, dirty dress that looked as though it hadn't been washed in years.

Ron gasped when she finally looked up at him, their eyes meeting; piercing blue eyes mixing with chocolate brown. She noticed him looking at her, a small blush creeping onto her pale, bruised and cut face. She quickly turned away and murmured an apology as the realization suddenly came over Ron and he shook his head, grabbing her arm and pulling her to him.

He felt her shaking beneath his grip as he shut the door behind them, tilting her chin up to look at him, "H-Hermione?" She nodded a little as he too one more look down at her terribly thin body as it trembled from fear and the cold. He sighed, and then pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her as tears dripped down her face.

"I-I d-didn't know where else t-t-to go.." She stammered, sobbing into his shirt, her shaking fingers clinging onto his shirt as though it was a lifeline. Before Ron could open his mouth, she carried on, "I-I-I c-can g-go.. if y-you want.." He shook his head quickly, panic rising at the thought of losing her again.

"I don't want you to go, please don't leave me again.." He whispered, tears forming in his own eyes as he wrapped his arms around her once more, closing his eyes as he tried to hold back the tears that threatened to fall down his face. "Do you want anything to eat?" He finally asked, trying to run through everything she could possibly need. She nodded slowly, biting her lip – something he knew she only did when she was nervous.

Ron nodded too, taking her hand in his and leading her to the kitchen she knew so well, quickly making her something to eat. He watched her eat, wondering how long it had been since she had last eaten something. He sighed, brushing her hair gently from her face, wondering if he should call someone – the ministry, Harry, call for his parents upstairs. Anyone, or wait until she was cleaned and sleeping.

"How about we get you cleaned up?" He offered, smiling a little when she nodded slowly as she stood up from the table. She tried to force a small smile onto her face as she followed him upstairs, looking down when tears found their way down her face instead.

She watched him as he ran her a bath; glad for the chance to finally get clean and feel somewhat like the old Hermione. Ron turned to face her and slowly helped her life the torn dress she was wearing, up over her head. He winced at the sight of the bruises, and deep cuts that covered her entire body – some fully healed, others fresh.

He could see the pain in her eyes as he shook his head, lightly tracing some of the bruises with his fingers, a lone tear falling from his blue eyes and down his now pale cheek. She shuddered under his touch, but she didn't flinch away – she knew Ron would never hurt her. She had clung to that thought for so long.

She smiled gratefully as he lifted her up into the warm bath, sighing in relief at the feel of the water – she hadn't washed in so long. She frowned as the clean water quickly turned brown, a stark reminder of how long it had actually been since she was given the chance to wash.

Ron watched her, kissing her gently on the forehead, walking out to find something for her to wear, sighing as he closed the bathroom door behind him as more tears fell down his face, trying to grasp the fact that she was actually here. It had been two whole years since he saw her, two whole years since the war and two years of pain and loneliness. He bit down his lip before walking to his parents room, taking a deep breath before knocking the door.

"Mom? Dad?" He walked in as they sat up, looking at him, rubbing the sleep from their eyes; "she's here.." He whispered, smiling a little as he said it, the smile only growing when he saw the pleasure on their faces.

After a while of explaining everything to them, he knocked on the bathroom door, slowly going in to hand her one of his T-shirts. She smiled at him before putting it on, glad to get out of the clothes she had been wearing for two years now. He led her into his bedroom, smiling wide when she picked up the photograph that Harry had taken of them before the war had ever began. "You still have this?" She whispered, almost to herself, tracing the smile on her face back then; she had changed so much and she hated herself for it.

Hermione looked up at Ron as he nodded, "I just hung onto the hope that you would come back, and here you are." She nodded and put it back down, looking at him before sitting on his bed. "Y-You've changed a lot since then.." He frowned, sitting down next to her, pretending not to notice the pain in her eyes when she said it.

"I can't believe you're nineteen," He said, laughing a little as he laced his fingers through her, she nodded a little, "You look amazing.." She blushed a dark shade of red as she looked at him, as he flicked back his red hair, grinning. "I get that a lot." She smiled and nodded,

"There's that ego I always loved." He smiled and nodded, before softly kissing her lips, biting his lip as she pulled away, looking down, "Had many girlfriends then?" She tried to casually put the question in, dreading the answer,

"None.. how could you even think that?" She looked at him again, muttering an apology as she looked down at her feet dangling over the edge of the bed;

"I would never do that to you, Hermione. I tried to imagine my life without you and.. damn it, it was impossible. I tried to move on, people just kept telling me that you were... gone.. for good.. but I could never believe that. I clung onto the hope that you were out there and you were alive. I keep looking at that photograph and the various other ones we have and wondering when you were going to come back to me so I could you again." She looked up at him, wiping the tears from her face as she rested her head in the crook of his neck.

"Y-you were the only thing that kept me going, I just kept thinking to myself that one day I was going to see you again and then everything would be okay.. everything would be better again because you're the only person I know that can make all the bad feelings go away."

"Am I making them go away right now?" She nodded and clung onto him, closing her eyes tight, "I love you,"

"I love you too," He whispered into her ear, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her back into to the bed, he smiled when she kept her eyes closed, finding himself hoping she wouldn't have too many nightmares tonight. He kissed her cheek before closing his own eyes, happy that she was finally safe in his arms once more – just where she belonged.