Hermione apparated home feeling confused and surprised by what her visit to Malfoy home had unearthed in her. Only one thing was certain the war had changed him, hopefully for the better. But, she supposed, the war had changed all of them. Not all for the better she thought as the sounds of loud rock music drifted down through the stairs. She opened the door and entered her and Ron's flat. Pointing her wand at the sound system she turned it off and welcomed the sudden silence. Walking through the the kitchen she noticed that Ron wasn't there. He had however left out numerous beer bottles and dirty plates so she supposed he had invited some of his beer drinking friends over and then left to go out to a nightclub. She had hoped that after his show of affection this morning that he would manage to go an entire day without any booze, that he would be there to comfort her when she got home. No such luck. She made to go and tidy up after Ron but suddenly she stopped herself. It wasn't her job to tidy up after Ron, she could go out and have a good time with her friends to without getting drunk though. She sent an owl out to Ginny and Luna and started getting herself ready. Dressing herself in her favourite short, red dress and leather jacket. Today she even put heels on which she didn't do very often declaring them impractical and useless. An hour later she apparated to their favourite pub where she grinning saw her friends.
"God, Hermione you look amazing!" called Ginny
"You too, Gin!" she replied.
"Well what can I say, Harry chose it".
Hermione smiled, happy for her friends. Then she saw Luna and finally her girls were back together. Arm in arm they strutted into the pub like they had done in their seventh year. Hermione had returned to Hogwarts for seventh year joining Ginny and Luna's year. That had been when their threesome had really ignited, she had always been friends with Ginny but she used to think Luna was well... strange, now she appreciated it and it made her laugh.
"So Hermione how's Ron?" asked Ginny.
Hermione knew she meant well but whenever anybody mention Ron it hurt her.
"Ron's..." Shoot, what was she supposed to say. She couldn't remember the last time they had had a civil conversation excluding this mornings. They just argued whenever they were together and even that wasn't very often. But these were her friends, she knew she could trust them. "Ron's still hurting, I don't know what to do he drinks all the time and he's always out with those friends of his and they encourage it but if I try to speak to him about it he just shuts me out and tells me it's none of my business"
"God, Hermione I'm sorry. I know Ron's my brother but... but sometimes he can be a real arsehole." said Ginny sympathetically, "Mum's gonna loose it if he doesn't visit soon. He hasn't been home since Fred's funeral which he came to drunk"
The three of them winced remembering Fred's funeral. Ron had ruined it for all of them, eventually having to be kicked out. Suddenly Luna lightened the mood:
"I've always thought Ron had a strange ora about him, he has too many whackspurts around him."
There was a moments silence before the three friends burst out laughing,
"But you know what I don't want to even think about Ron, I'm out with my friends and I'm going to have a good time" said Hermione downing her drink.
"Hear hear" chorused Ginny and Luna doing the same.
It was past midnight before Hermione said goodbye to Ginny and Luna and walked home. She hadn't drunk that much but the one time she had apparated drunk she had ended up in some obscure village north of Manchester which had been enough to put her off for life. She was in a good mood as she opened the door to her flat and walked in, her heels in one hand. Rubbing her feet she remembered why she had always said heels were unpractical. She listened out for Ron but there was nothing. That was weird she thought to herself, no matter how much he had drunk he was almost always home before midnight because he normally he had fallen asleep and been sent home in a muggle taxi. Despite her determination not to think about it she couldn't help the nerves sliding into her stomach that he had got hurt in a fight or something. Don't be stupid she told herself, he's probably at Harry's or I don't know somewhere else. She cleaned up the kitchen because the mess was starting to annoy her and she wanted something to do. Eventually she decided to call Ginny and see if Ron was at her and Harry's place.
"Ginny hi I was wondering if Ron was staying at your place tonight?"
A male voice replied "Oh hi Hermione, Ginny is just in the shower, this is Harry."
"Oh sorry, hi Harry" she replied
"Ron came over about two hours ago and he was drunk and in a bit of a state so I sent him home. Is he not at yours?"
"No. God, where the hell is he?" Hermione nerves were growing, "What am I supposed to do if he doesn't come home? What if he's gotten into a fight and he's hurt? Or worse what if he's lying by the side of a road somewhere?"
"Woah, Hermione calm down, Ron is perfectly capable of looking after himself I'm sure he's fine. I mean you know Ron, he's probably asleep on a bench somewhere." Harry tried to reassure her.
"Okay, look I'm gonna go to bed and if he's not here in the morning il give you a call" she replied.
"Goodnight Hermione"
"Night Harry"
She went to bed but she couldn't sleep. Images of Ron haunted her, they had been through so much together and she couldn't loose him. Not like this. Hours passed as she tossed and turned throwing off her blankets because she was too cold and then having to pull them back up again because she was too cold. When would he come home?
