Eventually

It had been a couple of weeks since Hermione had heard the news about Teddy, which meant that Harry would be home soon, and they could start to get the whole adoption process under way, she had already gotten the necessary paper work in order so that all Harry would have to do is fill it out and sign it. And Hermione had written all of this in her weekly letter to Ron, she was the only person who had contact with him, and it killed her every time she saw how worried Mr and Mrs Weasley were about the whereabouts of their son. All she could do was reassure them that he was safe and that he needed his time.

"How long are we going to hide out here?" Dan said after reading Hermione's letter, "You have a life that is carrying on without you at home Ron." Dan had a life as well, and all of the trips to the West country to stay with Ron were becoming exhausting, his flat in London was sitting empty, and Ron's family were only becoming more anxious. As it stood they were both slumped on the floor of the lounge, a fire crackling in front of them, both wearing oversized knitted jumpers and their boxer shorts.

"I know."

"I don't think you do.. Do you realise how hard it is for me to keep this life of mine separate?" Dan sighed, untangling himself from Ron's warmth and sitting up in front of him, cross legged. Ron knew what this meant, Dan was going to go all psychologist on him. "I have friends and a family who all want to meet you, heck, I want to meet your friends! Hermione knows about me, I know she does. Stop kidding yourself, I exist."

Ron moved closer to Dan as Dan moved away, he gently took one of the dark haired man's hands into his and kissed it. "I know you exist. Why don't we meet Hermione for coffee? We can pack our stuff up here and go back to London."

Dan smiled cautiously, "Really? Is that what you want?"

"I'm not sure it's what I want, but it's what you need."

Dan grinned, leaping on top of Ron and kissing his lips roughly, sliding his fingers up into Ron's messy auburn hair and gripping his hair, straddling his hips he pushed himself against Ron, expressing his gratification.

"Woah woah, easy." Ron laughed happily, "Round two already?"

Dan licked his lips and kissed his way down from Ron's ear to his neck, "You bet."

"Fuck. What if she doesn't like me?" Dan was fussing with his shirt collar in the mirror, whilst Ron had just pulled on a pair of jeans and a clean sweater and was now laying back on their bed watching Dan worry.

"You meet people at work all the time, I don't understand why you're so worried about meeting Hermione."

"Because she's Hermione Granger."

"Oh. Yeah. I forget how much that means to people." Ron sighed, getting off the bed and snaking his arms around Dan from behind, he kissed the nape of his neck gently, "You are an incredible, intelligent and beautiful man. She will love you."

"How do you do that?" Dan leant back on to Ron's chest and held onto both of his hands, grateful for the feeling his tattoo pulsed through his body.

"Do what?"

"I dunno, make me feel better, just by saying a few little things and hugging me."

"I think it's why we're soul mates, Godrick knows how I got so lucky." Ron grinned, kissing Dan's cheek quickly and grabbing the keys and his wallet off the bedside table, "But we are going to be late, and she won't love you if we're late."

"Yep, okay, let's go!" Dan grabbed his pager for work, and his muggle phone, slipping them into his pockets before following Ron into the hallway where they apparated and then walked into the coffee shop where they were meeting Hermione. She was already there.

"Ron!" Hermione ran towards him, tears in her eyes, and threw her arms around him in the biggest, tightest hug she had given him in months. "I have missed you. so. so. much." She mumbled into his shoulder, pulling away and holding him at arms length, checking him over as if it were still the war, as if someone could have hurt him. But the man standing next to him didn't seem capable of hurting a fly, he was slim, with soft brown eyes that held a twinkle, high cheekbones and slightly quiffed brown hair, a smart shirt and jeans, he seemed bookish. In fact, Hermione could sense it, he was bookish.

"You must be Dan." She smiled, pushing her tears from her eyes and moving away from Ron, "I can't tell, are you a hugger?"

"Oh my, Hermione Granger, you're Hermione Granger."

Hermione laughed, not uncomfortably, just laughed at this whole bizarre situation that she'd been thrown into. "I am. We're in an elite club."

"No. Do not mention Lavender Brown." Ron groaned, walking away from the two of them over to the coffee counter, having a look at the cakes on offer behind the glass screen.

"Lavender Brown?" Dan raised an eyebrow, nervously giggling.

"Ron and this girl Lavender had a thing, I think it was fifth year? Merlin, she was like a bad rash."

"And you?"

"Once, brief kiss. Sort of a war fuelled, guilt fuelled thing."

Dan didn't know how to respond, here he was, stood in a coffee shop with Hermione Granger telling him how she kissed his future husband, and here she was admitting her thoughts and feelings to him. If someone had told him five years ago that this would be his life, he would've laughed at them, really, really laughed at them. Thankfully, Ron was back to save him from his serious dry mouth. He felt his arm protectively slide around his back, settling on his waist. Public display of affection? Ron must've been listening..

"Hermione was just telling me about the small club of people I am now a part of." Dan said, turned to face Ron slightly, keeping eye contact with Hermione though. She couldn't shake the twinkle that he had in his eye.

"I ordered you a carrot cake, is that okay?"

"That's great, thank you." Dan glanced across the coffee shop and in a corner tucked beside two bookshelves and a fire place was a friend of his that he went through medical school with, she looked up and waved instantly, "Do you mind? I've not seen her in years."

"Oh of course not, we're sat up at the back." Hermione smiled, taking the coffee and the green tea that Ron had ordered up to the back, leading Ron. Ron had affectionately kissed his cheek before Dan had gone to greet his friend. This small action surprised Hermione, even more so than the arm wrap around.

Once the two of them were settled, Ron on the sofa and Hermione on the wing backed chair next to it, Hermione launched into questions.

"I have never seen you look so loved up in your life Ronald Weasley. What the hell is going on?!"

"Woah, bloody hell. Calm down."

"No, I haven't seen you in months and now here you are, with a lovely man, looking like a love sick teenager."

"I'm happy. It's hard, and we're taking it one step at a time but I'm happy."

"You seem it." Hermione reached her hand over and squeezed his hand gently, "Please say this means you're coming home. Your parents.."

"Don't do this." Ron sighed, "We are moving back to London, but I'm not ready."

At that exact moment Dan walked up behind the sofa Ron was sat on, he squeezed Ron's shoulder to let him know he was there, "Hey, woah have I um, walked in on.. um?"

"No, babe, it's fine, come sit down. Hermione was just asking where we were going to live in London."

"I live in Elephant and Castle, well I don't really live there at the moment, but my flat is there."

"So, Hermione. Elephant and Castle." Ron grimaced at Hermione, shutting her down with a look, as if to say, 'stop'.

"It's lovely round there." Hermione smiled, quickly scowling at Ron when Dan picked up his tea. "What do you do, Dan?"

"I'm a psychologist," Dan sipped his drink, very aware of all the tension between the two of them, he knew that they must've been speaking about something else before he turned up but there was nothing he could do about that now. "Mainly adults, but starting at 16 really."

"In St. Mungos?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm very lucky to work there."

"I imagine it's a tough job, especially in these times." Hermione had slipped into diplomacy mode, and Ron was pissed. Just because she had a problem with him, did not mean that she had to take it out on Dan as well, especially considering how nervous Dan was about meeting her.

"It's incredibly rewarding. In fact, that's how I finally met Ron. He made a fake appointment and there he was, sat on my sofa."

"It's all very romantic," Ron joked, sarcasm dripping from his voice, "How are you and Oliver? That's his name, right?" Two could play at this game.

Hermione huffed indignantly, you damn well know what his name is, "Yep. We're really great thanks, going to set a date soon."

"Wow that's fast!" Dan remarked, but he knew he wasn't in this tennis match, Hermione and Ron were scoring points off each other and he may as well have been sat in the audience.

"Time's ticking."

Ron rolled his eyes, "We've been too busy to think about the wedding."

Dan opened his mouth to speak, to say that actually they'd discussed this whole wedding thing at great lengths when they were curled up under the covers in the evening, and that they were probably under similar pressure to set a date from the Ministry.. But as soon as he opened his mouth, Hermione had dived in.

"Too busy running away from your friends and family?"

"STOP!" Dan shouted, drawing attention from the other customers in the coffee shop, he lowered his voice instantly, "Hermione, I'm so sorry, we barely know each other, but please put yourself in Ron's shoes. Before he met me he had no idea he was gay, is gay, his whole life has been turned upside down and Godrick forbid he need a little time to sort his own head out before involving his friends and family into our somewhat, in fact, incredibly dysfunctional relationship. And Ron, stop scoring points. You're better than that."

"He's right, I'm sorry Hermione," Ron sighed, slipping his hand into Dan's to show how appreciative he was for Dan's intervention.

"I'm sorry too. Look, I think it's best if I go, but if you're moving back to London.. don't be a stranger Ron. And Dan. It was lovely to meet you, maybe we could get dinner? Without our other halves, I'd love to actually get to know you." Hermione smiled, not politely this time, she actually smiled, and Ron realised how much he'd missed her. As a goodwill gesture she hugged Dan first, and then Ron, whispering into his ear as she did, "He's perfect."

Once they had bid each other goodbye, Dan noticed his pager had gone off three times in the last twenty minutes, signalling something urgent must have happened at the office or the ward, and that he'd need to get down there right away.

"Hey I'm going to have to get this, I'll only be a few hours.." Dan sighed, running his fingers through his hair, "Meet me back at home?"

"Give me the address and a key?"

"Oh yeah, um," Dan rummaged around in his grey overcoat's pocket and produced his house key, "It's 312b, Penton Place."

"Anything you fancy for dinner?"

"I have no idea, whatever you fancy." He was distracted. Ron kissed his lips and he didn't feel it, he was already out of the coffee shop and slipping into a back alley to apparate to St. Mungos. He ran through the corridors and down into the psychology department, the mental health wards ran from the central point where the main desk and the consultation rooms were, he instantly felt calm hang over him but he knew that that was induced. "Gwen what is it? I'm sorry I'm late to my pager."

The look on Gwen's face said it all, she was rarely an emotional woman, you had to be strong in this department, but she looked sad today, "Emilie took her own life this morning."

Emilie was one of Dan's longest standing patients, she'd been admitted onto the ward for roughly 3 months, but that was over a year ago and she was positive about the future now, her anxiety and postpartum depression were in good check, she had 3 appointments a week and sometimes she even brought her baby in with her.

"Have you got the file?"

Gwen handed it to him and squeezed his hand afterwards, she understood.

"I think I'm going to go home, for the paperwork. Does her husband know?"

"Dr Montgomery is talking to him, he was picking Alice up from nursery."

"Please tell him, from me, that I am available 24/7. Give him my number."

"Are you sure that's wise?"

"Please Gwen." And with that he left, grabbed the rest of Emilie's paperwork from his office and went straight home via the floo, as soon as he emerged he saw Ron's face and crumbled. He found he couldn't support his own weight so dropped to the floor, silently crying, the papers scattered in front of him from when he'd dropped them.

"Dan? What's happened?" Ron's arms were around Dan instantly, he picked him up and got him to the deep corner sofa that he hadn't expected to find in Dan's apartment. He didn't speak for a while, so Ron slowly unlaced Dan's shoes and pushed them off, unpopped his jacket and slid one arm off at a time before putting it on the back of the sofa, and then eventually Dan's crying seemed to stop, and he managed to take some deep breaths to regain his composure ever so slightly.

"One of my patients, they took their own life this morning."

Ron had no words, they had spoken about work a little, but mostly it was confidential and Dan couldn't say much, sure, Ron knew if he'd had a tough day at work, but generally it was small talk at best. He'd never really witnessed how emotionally invested Dan was. For what felt like hours he held Dan close to him, curled up between his legs with his head tucked in the crook of Ron's, he didn't care how clingy he was being, or how unhealthy this was as a psychologist. Throughout his training he'd been warned that getting attached to patients would only end badly but that didn't seem important right now. It was days like this that made him rethink his choice to go into mental health in the first place, he could've stayed on as a sports psychologist.

"You need to eat, Dan." Ron whispered, kissing his temple gently. "It'll help, I promise."

"I've not really got an appetite. I have her paperwork to do."

"Can it wait til tomorrow?"

"Well yes, but.."

"But what? You can give me half an hour to eat."

"I don't have an appetite, Ron."

"I made your favourite."

"Chicken and potato soup?"

"Mum's recipe. I got some bread too. The muggle supermarket confused me, but we got there eventually."

"Did you use the machine?" Dan laughed, in a sort of broken, this is funny but I don't feel like laughing, way.

Ron nodded, puffing out his chest proudly, "So will you give me half an hour?"

"Yep, okay. Sure."

By the time Ron had portioned the soup out into two bowls and made a mug of green tea for Dan, he had picked up the papers from where he'd dropped them and was filling out the first of many forms he would have to pour over in the coming days. Ron sighed, stood in the doorway. Dan couldn't see him, and probably wouldn't hear him, he was so engrossed in what he was doing, but Ron had to shake him out of it. This wasn't going to help. He placed the two bowls down on the coffee table, clearing space from the files, and sat down next to him with his tea in his hands.

"This is for you."

Dan didn't reply, or acknowledge his presence. He was scared to touch him in case he jumped, or got a fright, Ron had learnt this over the last few weeks, that sudden touching made Dan flinch, or hide.

"Dan, baby. I have tea."

Again, nothing. He probably didn't even know Ron was there.

"Dan, it's Ron. I'm going to touch your shoulder," Ron reached out, holding the tea as far away as possible, and brushed his hand against Dan's shoulder, he flinched, but nothing major, and finally looked up at Ron. "Hey."

"I didn't.. I didn't realise you were there."

"I know. You need to put this stuff down, til tomorrow."

"I can't. I have to do this."

"You told me, it can wait until tomorrow."

"Dan can I be straight with you?"

He nodded, and Ron sighed inwardly at how he didn't make a sarcastic joke about how Ron wasn't straight - he needed to get Dan out of this dark space he'd got himself into. This wasn't positive grieving, and this wouldn't get him anywhere.

"Ever since Zack, you've thrown yourself into your work, and you've not stopped and thought about yourself once, yeah, maybe you've told yourself you've been looking after yourself because you hang out with your friends and you visit your parents. But this bubble you've created for yourself? It's not healthy.." Ron sighed, reaching out and squeezing Dan's hand, "I can't even begin to understand what you went through, and I want to beat the living daylights out of him, but you are bloody brilliant. Don't let him take away your control."

"I'm going to go to bed." And there it was, Dan unfolded his legs, picked up the file and put down the mug of tea, walking out of the room and down the corridor away from Ron.