Crossroads
Chapter 8 – Time Is Running Out.
"So far away from where you are
These miles have torn us worlds apart
And I miss you,
And I wish you were here."
From Where You Are - Lifehouse
*~*
Ron, October 24th.
I rolled over to find a warm body sleeping close to mine. Hermione's. I smiled into my pillow and reached out to touch her, but she disappeared before I could.
She wasn't lying there next to me. I woke up, startled, before I remembered the reason for her absence.
Vienna.
One week.
I took in a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. I was trying to reassure myself that everything was fine, that everything would be fine once she got back.
I could never sleep well without having her by my side, even before we got married. It was a deeply ingrained habit dating all the way back to those months we had spent chasing Horcruxes across Britain.
Ever since, her steady pattern of breathing had lulled me into sleep, assured me that we were safe. What's more, after we had gotten married and managed to spend nearly every night together, her presence next to me in bed made everything we'd built so far real. Itreminded me that we were no longer a couple of terrified, starved adolescents with a burden too heavy and difficult to be carrying around.
Without Hermione around, without her frizzy hair tickling my chin as she shifted in her sleep, I could no longer tell myself those things. She wasn't there, breathing next to me, stealing the covers whenever she got the chance.
She had been gone for four days, in which after fitful nights of sleep, I would wake up to the illusion of having her body next to me.
If this continued on for much longer, I would go insane before the week was out.
I told myself that there was only three more days until she came back home and we could go back to being Ron and Hermione again. Only three more days.
*~*
Hermione, October 24th.
My knees hurt from the abuse I had been putting them through over the course of that week. Trying to Floo Ron every day had taken its toll on my body as well as my purse. I was sure that when the checkout time came and I closed the hotel bill, those international Floo calls would cost me a great deal of money.
Even though I'd only managed to reach him twice, it was all worth it – to see his eyes light up when I greeted him those two nights, to hear his voice before I fell asleep on an oversized bed. I was restless, because his breathing wasn't there, setting the pace of my heartbeats.
I missed my husband.
To know for sure that he was coming home, and alone, was almost as good as me being there with him.
It was the first time in my life I felt relieved to be wrong – Sarah was no threat to our marriage. Ron wasn't having an affair. He was faithful and sincere, and I had nothing to worry about. After the end of the week, I would go home and we would patch things up. We were already starting to.
Two nights ago, I had gotten a connection to our place and had gotten to tell him about how I'd nearly set the Austrian Minister's beard on fire. After I finished telling him my story, Ron had laughed for what felt like hours, and it was the most light-hearted conversation we'd had in months.
I felt silly to have ever been anxious about this trip in the first place. It seemed like we were getting back on track again.
At least, that was what I was hoping for.
So, once again, I knelt on the cold, marble floor of the fancy hotel room and attempted to call my husband back at our home. I managed to get a connection after only fifteen minutes. His smile was a sight for sore eyes, and I found myself beaming back at him. It felt almost like the real thing, almost like coming home again.
"Hermione," Ron smiled at me. He settled in front of the fireplace in our drawing room. "What part of the Austrian Minister did you set on fire today?"
My heart swelled, and even though my body ached from exhaustion due to the marathon this convention in Vienna was turning out to be, I still spent the next twenty minutes in pointless chitchat with the man I loved.
I dreamt of him that night and when I woke-up the next morning, I could almost feel his body lying close to mine, within reach.
Three more days until I could go back home again.
*~*
Ron, October 25th.
Two more days and she would be home again.
When lunchtime approached and I no longer had the luxury and comfort of having Sarah pick up my favourite take-out food at The Leaky, I had to swallow my pride and knock on the door to Harry's office. Growing up in a large family like mine, I had never gotten used to eating alone.
"Ron?" he greeted me, clearly surprised.
"I'm heading down for lunch at The Leaky." I couldn't bring myself to actually say the words. If I did, it would mean everything was all right between us when it wasn't. I'd yet to come to terms with Harry's shitty opinion of my work.
"Okay..." He trailed off, not catching up, as always. "Oh." Finally. "Can you give me five minutes? I just need to send this report off and I'll be ready."
I made a noncommittal noise of agreement and shut the door so he could have some privacy. Not that I felt he deserved any consideration on my part when he sure as hell hadn't shown any consideration for me.
It was easier to be angry with Harry than to admit how disappointed I was at how easily he'd set our friendship aside, how little consideration he'd had for me.
A trace of Sarah's coconut smell hit my nostrils and I found my whole body tensing up – I was anything but prepared for dealing with her again after our confrontation.
We had been avoiding being in each other's presence ever since, which was a very difficult thing to do, given that we were partners. Only a little over a week and we would no longer be required to deal with the awkwardness between us.
"Weasley, have you heard?" Sarah rested her shoulder against a potted plant outside Harry's office, determinedly avoiding my gaze.
"A local, last-minute raid came up tonight, and since we're on call, we're going with the new trainees – Hilton and Mulberry."
Terrific. A last-minute raid meant less preparation time, and having newbies on the team as well meant a lot of questions and sloppiness.
"We start prepping promptly at half-past ten."
With that, she pushed past me to let me know just how irritated she still felt.
There was nothing I could've done to pacify her that didn't involve risking my marriage – even though I hated hurting Sarah, I couldn't lose Hermione.
That was what surely would happen if I kept it up with Sarah. There were too many lines already crossed, and many more blurred.
If I overstepped any more than I'd already done, even a little, who knows where I would end up down the road?
I couldn't risk my life, my marriage, my family. Even if every time Sarah looked at me and the admiration and desire I saw in her eyes were no longer there – I ached to see them again, to feel needed again – it wasn't worth it.
Only two more days until Hermione came back to me.
*~*
Sarah, October 25th.
I shook his unmoving body, struggling to keep it together and not scream myself hoarse by repeating his name over and over again, as if it were a prayer. I felt the tears I'd never realized I was shedding running down my face.
The numbness I'd felt spreading through my body when the unexpected curse hit him in the back was what kept me functioning as I tried every reviving spell we had ever learned during Auror training.
My hands were covered with his blood. His hair was a sticky mess, a darker shade of red than the one he was famous for. His work robes were soaked through.
It was just supposed to be a raid, just like the ones we'd done countless times before.
Hilton wasn't supposed to come down sick with the flu this suddenly, leaving our team odd-numbered and split up for the raid.
I wasn't supposed to be sidetracked while breaking a curse on the first floor of the house. I wasn't supposed to leave Ron with an untested Auror on his hands, one just out of training, to raid the second floor while he was up at the third.
Mulberry wasn't supposed to stumble on some odd piece of furniture lying around. She wasn't supposed to break a lamp and knock over a chair in the process, causing a ruckus that woke up the man living next door.
Mulberry wasn't supposed to have hurt her ankle so badly that she couldn't even stand up straight without help, let alone Apparate.
I wasn't supposed to leave and help her back to Headquarters. I wasn't supposed to leave Ron to lock up the house and return before the owner was aware we had broken in.
The neighbour Mulberry had woken up wasn't supposed to alert said owner. The owner wasn't supposed to return to his house that night and stumble into Ron as he was about to Apparate.
I wasn't supposed to return to the house just as the man I was in love with was about to be hexed. I wasn't supposed to stand there and watch as the curse hit him, the force of it knocking him off his feet, his head hitting the sidewalk with a sickening crack, split open, and his blood gushing out everywhere.
I wasn't supposed to cradle his unmoving form in my arms and try to fix his wounds while praying with everything I had for him to be okay.
The blood was no longer running and the Healers were on their way, but he still wasn't responding to any stimulation. I was scared to death.
I couldn't lose him – not without him knowing how I truly felt about him.
Not without knowing how he tasted, and what his kisses would be like.
Not without having a chance at showing him just how much he meant to me, or how happy I could make him. How good we could be together.
I prayed for the Healers to come faster and help him. I couldn't do any more.
Ron still showed no signs of waking up.
*~*
A.N: My Inner-Bellatrix sends her love to all of you out there reading and reviewing =)
