Chapter four
When Harry and Hermione arrived in the forest, they instantly saw the tent and walked towards it. They stepped inside and looked around at all the mess, snatchers had gone through everything. So they went into the bedroom part of the tent, Hermione found her bag, so she quickly checked to see if everything was in there. She knew most of the important things were still in her beaded bag, but she took her clothes out and stuck them in the other bag.
Harry was going through his rucksack, checking to make sure all his stuff was there, but mainly his photo album Hagrid had given in. He opened it up and was relieved to see it was in one piece. As he was putting the album back in his rucksack, he spotted Ron's bag. He sat on the bed, pulling the bag onto his lap.
'God, Ron,' Harry said softly as he stared at the bag and felt Hermione sit beside him, 'This shouldn't have happened, Ron should be with us.'
'I know,' Hermione put her head back on Harry's shoulder as she stared at the bag. 'We'll have to give that to the Weasley's.'
'Yeah, but let's leave that for a while, I don't think they will cope with anything at the moment. Is there anything you want from in here?'
'No, let's just pack it up and get out of here,' Hermione and Harry stepped outside and Hermione magically packed up the tent, then put it in her bag before she took Harry's hand and they apparated back to Hogwarts. They slowly walked back inside the castle when Charlie Weasley walked up to them.
'Charlie, what are you doing here?' Harry asked looking a little surprised.
'Dad wanted me to come see when you two were coming home.'
'We're not Charlie, if death eaters found out I was there, it would put your family in danger, they don't need that, not now. So I had Kingsley let the Prophet know I'll be here, resting, that way your family will be safe.'
Charlie seamed to sag with relief, 'Thanks Harry and you're right, but what happened?'
'We don't know, Hermione said Ron needed some air, we went to find him,' Harry sucked in a breath, 'I will find out, one way or another and I'll make them pay, painfully.'
'Harry, don't say that,' Hermione said as more tears leaked from her eyes.
'Hermione will keep that temper of yours in line Harry. If you two end up married, I'd watch her.'
'Um Charlie, Hermione was Ron's girlfriend, not mine, we're just friends.'
'I'm sorry Hermione, we never knew, Ron never said anything to us.'
Harry could see Hermione was too upset, 'They only just got together, even if they liked each other for years.'
'Okay, I'll tell dad and I'm sure he would be grateful even if he would still want you to stay.'
'I know he would, but it's safer this way. Can you let us know when,' Harry hesitated as he looked at Hermione, but couldn't say the words.
'I'll send Errol or Pig, probably be in a couple of days.'
'Okay, I'll let you get back to your family Charlie, tell your dad and mum how sorry we are, none of this should have happened.'
'I'll tell them, go rest you two,' Charlie patted Harry on the shoulder, squeezed Hermione's hand for a minute, then walked away.
'Let's go have our showers and change,' Harry led Hermione up to Gryffindor tower, 'Go on, I'll be here when you're finished.'
'Um, before I go, do you mind if I sleep in Ron's bed, we've been together for so long, I don't want to be alone at the moment?'
'Of course you can, but we are going to have some dinner after we shower, so I'll meet you down here when you're done,' Harry waited until Hermione went up to the girls dorm rooms before he headed up to the boys rooms. He put his stuff away, then grabbed some clean clothes and went into the bathroom.
When Harry finished, he was sitting down in the common room waiting for Hermione, but he's thoughts were on what happened to his friend. He had put Ron's bag over near his bed, knowing he would have to give it to his family, but knew it was too soon to for them and for him. Harry heard Hermione step into the room and gestured for her to sit next to him, she sat down and put her head on Harry's shoulder and they both sat in silence, knowing the other was thinking about Ron.
After a long silence and a few tears, Harry had Kreacher bring them both some dinner and drinks. They ate in silence as well, both still lost in their own thoughts of Ron.
'Come on Hermione, we need some sleep. The next few days is going to be hard on everyone,' Harry took her hand and pulled her to her feet and they headed up to the boys rooms. Hermione instantly got into Ron's bed and started crying into his pillow, so Harry lay down beside her with his arms around Hermione, just holding her while she cried. When Harry realised she was asleep, he got up and went over to his bed, but kept his eyes on Hermione until sleep claimed him.
The next couple of days, Harry and Hermione mainly kept to themselves. Sometimes Neville and Seamus would come to Hogwarts and sit with them, but neither of them said a lot either. They knew Harry and Hermione were thinking about Ron, so they mainly sat with them, supported them in silence, but Harry was grateful they were there. The four of them mainly sat together in the common room, so Harry had Kreacher bring them some lunch. They were eating when Errol flew into the room and fell onto the couch next to Harry.
Harry took the note from its beak and gave him some food of his plate and let him drink from his cup before letting him fly off, then unfolded the note, reading it.
'Tomorrow at ten, for both Fred and Ron,' Harry said staring at the writing.
'I'll let everyone else know Harry, you don't need to worry about that.' Neville said sadly as he got up with Seamus.
'Thanks Neville, that would be good,' Harry watched as his two friends left the common room before he turned back to Hermione and saw tears falling down her face, so he put his arm around her and just held her as she cried. He wished he knew what to say to her to help her through this but he'd never been good with what to say to girls when they were upset. He remembered the time with Cho when she kept crying, and he never knew what to do then either. So all Harry could do was hold Hermione until she stopped crying and let her know he was there for her.
That night, Harry knew Hermione needed him, so when she got into bed, he curled up next to her and kept his arms around her until she felt asleep. Only then did he get into his bed, but it took Harry a long time to fall asleep knowing what tomorrow would bring.
The next morning, both Harry and Hermione were quiet. Hermione went to shower in the girls bathroom, while Harry showered in the boys. Harry had Hermione transfigure his clothes for the day. She turned his jeans and t-shirt in a nice pair of black pant and a nice shirt, then did the same with her clothes. Neither of them had any decent type clothes packed. When they were ready, they headed down to the grounds and saw all the professors in their best robes. Neville, Seamus, Dean, Luna, Susan, Hannah and the Patil twins were all waiting for them. Professor McGonagall gave Harry a small nod before they all apparated away. They arrived in the small cemetery in Ottery St Catchpole and all stood around waiting for the Weasley. There were a lot of other people already there, friends of Ron's, but also friends of Fred and George's. Harry also spotted five aurors talking quietly to Kingsley.
When Harry spotted the Weasley's walking towards them, he tightened his hold on Hermione as her quiet sobs got worse. Harry saw Mrs. Weasley being held up by her husband, with Percy on her other side. Charlie and Ginny both had their arms around George and Bill kept his arm around his wife Fleur as they stepped around the burial plot that held two of their own.
Harry never paid much attention to what the magical minister was saying about Fred or Ron, he just kept staring at the two coffins. Then he heard his name being called. He looked up and spotted reporters but the aurors moved over to them to keep them back. Harry felt the anger rise that the reporters were disrupting the service and was just about to go say something to them, when he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Kingsley shake his head. The aurors had moved them all away and had them quiet again as the service continued. The magical minister was going on about Fred's jokes and how his dream was to open his joke shop with his brother, then he started talking about Ron. How he had been brave and helped Harry bring about the end of the war for everyone.
When the service finished, everyone followed the Weasley's back to the Burrow to pay their respects to the family. Harry sat down with Hermione, keeping his arm around her and Neville and their friends all sat together, all around Harry and Hermione.
'Neville,' Harry whispered, 'can you stay with Hermione, I want to go see Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.'
Neville nodded and sat next to Hermione, but he also put his arm around her while Harry got up and walked towards the house. He took a deep breath before stepping inside and he went over to the older Weasleys.
'Mr. and Mrs. Weasley,' Harry could feel himself choke up and tried to make his voice work, but nothing, just tears fell from his eyes before Mrs. Weasley got up and hugged Harry and Harry hugged her back just as tight as she hugged him. They both cried onto each other's shoulders. 'God I'm so sorry.' Harry managed to say after a couple of minutes.
Mrs. Weasley let Harry go, but looked into his eyes, 'Find out who did this to my boys Harry, if you can kill Voldemort, you can find them.'
Harry stared at Ron's mother, then nodded, 'I'll find them and I'm going to make them pay for what they have done, that's a promise Mrs. Weasley.' Harry noticed the worried look Mr. Weasley gave him, but ignored it, then hugged Mrs. Weasley again, 'Your son was a loyal and brave young man, the best friend anyone could have. So I will find who did this, who took your son, who took my friend,' Harry felt himself losing it again, so he quickly let go and hurried out of the house. He darted round the side of the Burrow and put his head against the wall.
'Harry,' Mr. Weasley said as he put a hand on his shoulder, 'Don't go doing anything dangerous, Ron wouldn't want that.'
'He was my friend,' Harry shouted as the pain over his loss just exploded from him. 'I'm going to make them suffer.'
'Harry, please,' Mr. Weasley tightened his grip on Harry making him turn around and could see the pain on his face as footsteps could be heard behind them, 'He was your friend, but he still wouldn't want you to do this.
Ginny stood beside her father staring at Harry, staring at the young man she had fallen in love with. Hermione pushed past everyone and wrapped her arms around Harry and they just held each other as they cried.
'Hermione, go make him sit down,' Mr. Weasley said looking worried.
Hermione and Neville both helped Harry back to a seat, but Hermione never let Harry go as she sat beside him. Ginny kept watching, feeling jealous that she couldn't be the one comforting Harry, he needed her, but she hadn't had a chance to speak with him. So she just stood there and watched as Hermione did what Ginny wanted to do.
Mr. Weasley, his two oldest sons, Kingsley and Minerva all stood together watching Harry, but they all had the same worried looks on their faces. They were all wondering what Harry might do after losing another person that he was close to. Just like Minerva and Poppy had both said, everyone else noticed how much older Harry looked. Like he'd aged ten years and realised that everything that he'd been through over the last seven years had taken its toll on him. Now they just hoped Harry didn't go too far after losing Ron. So they all were determined to keep an eye on him, just to make sure he didn't go seeking revenge for the loss of his friend.
