This is sort of a sequel, from Hermione's POV and will be a lot fluffier towards the end! Also I am working with a beta to rewrite the first part and make it more descriptive so the first part is a lot longer now :) Cheers and thank you so much to Auror Ron Alan Weasley, cutopia, draconian666, notsing, ReggieVonHamma, and scrumptiousinternetllama for reviewing :)

This chapter hasn't been betaed however so sorry if there's errors, I will fixing this chapter later :)

[Prompt: A Picture of Grief]

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Hermione Granger was pacing the small floor of their battle tent, in the forest, waiting for him to return.

Ron Weasley had been missing for 10 days. 10 days of agony. 10 days of sleepless nights where she wondered if he had been killed by the Snatchers and Death Eaters. 10 days of fighting with herself and Harry if they could risk it all to save them, and they had tried. But at the last minute, she had been the one to pull Harry back. Because she didn't want to be responsible for both Ron and Harry dying, and no one left to save the world.

"No, he will come back," she said, and not even Harry believed her by this point.

"He will comeback," she kept saying frantically. "He'll come back to us just like he did last time with the Deluminator. He has his Deluminator."

"Hermione," Harry would remind her. "Last time, Ron left voluntarily. This time he was taken."

"We don't know that."

"Hermione, we heard him scream. You said it yourself, you heard him."

"Maybe he was just angry, like last time when he left, he was angry, he was screaming at me, I made him angry—" and she thought oh I'm so sorry Ron if I did it ever again"—I don't think we should jump to conclusions—"

She pushed back the tears to somewhere inside her where she was weaker and still trembling, instead of strong and still holding on the surface.

"Hermione he was probably taken by Snatchers, and they probably took him to Malfoy Manor, to bloody Voldemort himself—"

"Enough!" She couldn't stand that name, or her Ron being with there with that monster. She clenched her teeth together to hold back her tears, and though her breathing was so erratic she could barely stand up anymore, she leaned against one of the chairs along their table. Their table that has three chairs and oh god, the reminder that he is gone is everywhere but she can't she can't give up. The fact that they have to eat every night looking at that one empty chair.

"Enough, please Harry. I know he's coming back, I just know..."

"We can go to Malfoy Manor again." Harry pleaded, as desperate as her to get their best friend back, and there's as much rage and anger in his eyes as well. "If Voldemort or the Death Eaters took him, he'll be there, we can negotiate again!"

"Harry," she snapped, because as much as she loves Harry, she can't let him do this. "They don't want to negotiate, they want you to hand yourself over...They might not even have him, it could be a bluff like last time."

Harry's face turned stony, and she hated herself for making him feel bad but they couldn't just do this and jump to conclusions.

"Harry, please. We don't actually know where Ron is." And fuck it, if that's not the maddening part that has her tossing and turning every night wondering where Ron really was or whether he chose to leave on his own again. "Ron could be anywhere for all we know, he could be tucked in bed, warm somewhere with Ginny or one of the twins or one of his family on the run, you know how much he was worried about his family..."

"Then why hasn't he returned?" Harry asked breathlessly, his expression every bit as torn as hers. "He said he knew better from the last time he left us, he changed, he said he would never leave you again."

Hermione choked on her tears.

Because yes, she knows. That's the part that makes her cry every night. Knowing Ron said he wouldn't leave her again...and yet what did she do wrong?

"It was practically a confession of love, Hermione, he wouldn't just go again—"

"I know. Harry, I know that's why he's coming back. We just have to hold on a little longer, then we'll try again..."

"You've gone mental," Harry finally said and it was perhaps the cruelest words he said so far to her. But somehow it made her smile instead.

"That is what Ron would say. But I know he's coming back."

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More from Hermione's POV coming...thanks