A/N: I started playing with this chapter who knows how long ago. It's been sitting on my laptop and I would open it, write a line or two and then close it up and not look at it again for weeks. Then the Attention Deficit Disorder lifted!! Many hugs to Pilar, Erin, Annette, Nattie, May and Shannon for looking it over and giving me suggestions and comments. Thanks to Stacy and Shannon for the pre-beta work. Doraemon is the best beta. She can take my dribble and turn it into something wonderful.
These characters belong to the wonderful world of J.K.R. Butchering of said characters belongs to me.
Chapter 7- She's Fine
She's sleeping now. And I know she's not dreaming because her breathing is finally even. When we first got her here she was moaning and the tears were coming non-stop from her eyes. I've never seen her look so small, so frightened, so fragile, so…still.
They hurt her.
I wanted to kill them.
She's the strongest person I know. The bravest and the smartest and nothing gets to her when she sets her mind to it. I've seen her stand up to Death Eaters, seen her hex people twice her size without breaking a sweat. But what they did to her was… different. What they did was beyond anything we learned in any book. It was beyond anything I've ever heard of, ever! That, she couldn't stand. That she couldn't take. I can still hear her screaming; I'm going to hear it for a very long time. I can still see her curled up in a ball at Bellatrix's feet, shaking. Why did they torture her? Why Hermione? Because she's a muggle-born? You would have thought they'd take me. I'm a pure-blood. I mean the Weasley line goes back hundreds of years and I've certainly proved that I don't believe in keeping the pure-blood line intact. If you think about it, I'm just like Harry's dad; I've 'dirtied' the wizarding world by falling in love with a muggle-born witch.
Yes, I love her. It's no secret anymore. I admitted it to myself and then to her. I was so afraid of what she was going to say. I knew there was no way she would have ever felt the same way about me, I mean how could she? I'm not so good looking, I don't have a lot of money and I'm not famous or important. Yeah, I know all of Gryffindor and some of Ravenclaw were singing, Weasley is Our King on a regular basis but it's nothing compared to what Fred and George have done with their joke shop, or how Charlie works with dragons or what Bill has done for the Order or what Harry will have to do.
Then when I started dating Lavender, she ignored me. It hurt more than I ever thought it would and I know that I deserved those canaries. I deserved the comments and the coldness. I started out being upset with her because she had kissed Vicky and it annoyed me that I hadn't kissed anyone. I wanted to be her first kiss. I probably should have told her that. It would have saved us both a lot of trouble.
The funniest thing is, she apologized to me! When I woke up in the infirmary after I was poisoned, she was there. I never would have dreamed she'd be there. She apologized for everything she had done, every nasty comment she had made. And you know what the best thing was? She said that she fancied me! Hermione Granger fancied me! Plain and ordinary Ronald Weasley. She waited while I ended my relationship with Lavender! I mean what girl would wait for ME? Hermione Granger, that's who.
Things haven't been easy, especially this year. We've been on the run since Bill and Fleur's wedding. It hasn't been easy, living so close together with Harry. We've had to hide what we feel towards one another and stealing kisses when Harry wasn't around just didn't do it for me. There's something about Hermione that makes me want more. I want it all with her. And I mean ALL. It's something I think about a lot and when I left Harry and her, I missed her something horrible. I know it's not going to happen for a while and I have no right thinking about it now. Not after what she's been through.
I've been scared before, I've been angry before. But I never experienced anything like what I felt in the dungeon at Malfoy Manor. I would have pulled those bricks down one by one to her. I've never felt so helpless in my whole life. Harry kept yelling at me to be quiet but I wanted to make sure she knew I was there. She needed to know I was trying to get to her. I had to be strong for her. Every time Bellatrix yelled a question at her she was so brave. Yeah, I know she was crying but even so, she was brilliant. I wish I could have been there in the room with her. I would have used Avada Kedavra without even a second thought. Harry said you have to mean those spells in order to use them. Let me tell you, I would have meant every single word. No one hurts Hermione Granger and gets away with it. She's mine!
"Ron, she iz still sleeping, yes?"
Fleur just came in. Funny, I didn't even realize she walked in. Bill had once mentioned that after he fell in love with Fleur, he was able to be in the same room with all her Veela relatives and he never really had a reaction to any of them. I guess I really do love Hermione. No, it's not a guess. It's a fact.
As I nod, Fleur walks over to the bed and smoothes the blanket down over Hermione, and brushes a curl away from her cheek. It reminds me of the first time I kissed her. She was sleeping in a chair in the common room and I reached over to touch a curl and she woke up. I was so surprised that I almost forgot the reason I was there. I still remember that kiss as if it was yesterday. A kiss that kills, she had said…
"I zink I will leave you for now. Hermione, she will be fine. Just let her rest. "
Let her rest.
Fleur leaves and standing up from the bed, I move over to the window. I can see Harry in the distance. It looks like he's still digging. How am I going to tell Hermione that Dobby is dead? How am I going to tell her that he died saving us? I can feel the tears in my eyes but I'm not going to cry. I need to be strong for her, for all of us. I can worry about telling her later. She needs to stay calm. She needs to rest.
Let her rest.
I wish I could just leave her here to rest. I wish with all my heart that she would stay here with Bill and Fleur, away from the Death Eaters and the danger. But I know she won't. I won't even mention it because I don't want the argument it will start because I know, no matter what, she'll insist that we need her with us. As hurt as she's been, she's still that strong. It's just one more thing I love about her.
"Ron?"
Looking over at the bed, I see she's awake. I cross the room and carefully sit down next to her. She's staring at me and I slowly lay my hand on her cheek. "You had us frightened Hermione. I thought I was going to lose you." Funny, it feels like there's a lump in my throat. Clearing it, I continue, "We were so worried that we wouldn't be able to reverse the spells. Bellatrix used some we didn't recognize. It took a while but Fleur and Bill figured it out and were able to heal you. You're going to be fine, love. Just fine."
I can't figure out why her eyes just got so wide.
I can see the tears flowing from her eyes again. Oh Merlin, I didn't want her to cry. She's not supposed to upset herself. "Don't cry love. Please don't cry." I use my thumb to wipe the tears and she turns her head so that I can reach her other cheek.
Then I feel it, a soft kiss on my palm and then I hear her voice, not louder than a whisper. I have to learn forward to hear her. "The emotional range of a teaspoon my arse…so wrong…I love you, Ron Weasley."
The tears I've been holding back fall from my eyes and I lean down and kiss her lightly on her cheek, my tears mixing with hers. "I love you, Hermione Granger."