The healers at St. Mungo's kept Hermione asleep for the first few days she was there and on those rare occasions when she was awake she was often confused about why she was there in the first place. Everything that happened that night seemed like such a distant, fuzzy memory to her that she wasn't even sure it was real, but every time she moved a sharp stabbing pain shot through her chest and she remembered just how real it was. Harry was the only visitor she was allowed other than her parents and as much as it pained him, he had to remind her each time.
"When can I see Ron?" She asked Harry this every day when she woke up, and today was no different.
"I don't know. I reckon when the healers say you can." Harry gave her the same answer as gently as he could every time, today was no different.
She sat there contemplating his answer, the same familiar one he gave her every day she was there. She sat up to look at him, grimacing and breathing through the pain it took to do so.
"Harry… do you think, if Ron and I…," She was tired and uncomfortable, and she didn't know how to ask what had been on her mind the whole time she had been there so far, so she just blurted it out, without pretext. "If Ron and I were married, do you think… do you think he'd be allowed to see me?"
"If you were married?" Harry was caught off guard by her question but couldn't tell her anything but the truth. "Yeah. I think so."
She slowly laid back down in her bed, enduring quite a bit of pain in her chest to do so. She knew she should feel angry at Ron, or even scared of him, for what he did to her to put her in the hospital in the first place, but she wasn't. If she didn't know what he had been going through these last few years, she probably would be scared of him at the very least, but she did know about all of his troubles, and she knew exactly why this happened. So instead, she worried about him and how this was affecting him, wanting to make sure he was doing okay. But there was nothing she could do without being able to see him, so she stared at the ceiling, thinking about Harry's answer until she fell asleep.
It wasn't until a few days later that she finally received the okay from the healers that she could have other visitors. The Weasleys were the first to visit her- Molly and Arthur, Ginny, George and Angelina, and even Bill and Fleur, the latter of whom was just starting to show a small baby bump, showed up to check in on her. As thrilled as she was to see them all, she was constantly waiting for Ron to show up. It was the same thing when Neville and Hannah visited her with Hagrid the next day, and once again when she got an unlikely visitor in Mona, her younger co-worker, later that same day. As much as she enjoyed having visitors it was confusing that not one of them asked what happened to her, which she later found out was Harry's doing, as he told them all if they asked her about it they should be glad they were already in a hospital.
"Harry?" Hermione asked weakly as night approached and she was exhausted from her visitors. "When can I see Ron?"
"Soon, Hermione." He smiled reassuringly at her, but deep down he didn't know. "I promise. I think he just wants to wait so he can see you alone."
"I'm worried about him." She leaned her head back against the pillow, thinking back to the question she asked him a few nights before before falling asleep.
The next morning, after the healers checked in on her and gave her another round of entirely unpleasant potions to drink, they told her that she would be able to go home soon, the next day to be exact. While Hermione was happy to hear this and glad that the stabbing pain she felt in her chest was beginning to go away, she still wanted Ron to visit her, even if it was just for five minutes. She distracted herself with a copy of the Daily Prophet like she did each morning she was stuck there until she smelled something good and heard a soft knock on her door.
"Hey…" Ron was standing there with a nervous smile and a bag in hand. "I brought breakfast. Thought you might be sick of hospital food."
"Ron!" Hermione excitedly shot up in her bed and did her best to hide how much it hurt to get up that quickly.
"Whoa whoa whoa." He rushed over to her and stopped her from getting out of bed. "Take it easy, Hermio-"
He couldn't finish saying her name because she grabbed him by his collar and pulled his lips down on to hers, kissing him like she hadn't seen him in years.
"Where have you been!?" Their kiss was over as suddenly as it had begun, Hermione hitting him in the arm as it ended. "I've been worried sick about you!" All the excitement and emotion suddenly coursing through her was a bit much and she fell back against her pillows, catching her breath.
"You were worried about me?! I-" Ron took the seat beside her bed. "Are you mental?"
"They do have me on at least four different healing potions right now, so, maybe a little bit?" She saw the guilty look in his eyes and tried a joke, with mixed results. "Did you make eggy bread?" She asked excitedly, which was much more effective than a joke at distracting Ron from his guilty conscience.
"Yeah, I know it's your favorite." Ron nodded and started pulling breakfast out of the bag. He set it up for them and watched Hermione tear into hers. Ron picked at his a little bit, but he couldn't focus on it as he got more anxious until he couldn't keep it in anymore and stood up. "So that's it, then? We're just going to sit here and eat breakfast like nothing happened? Aren't you mad at me or… something!?"
Hermione, while surprised by his outburst, just smiled at him as she swallowed a bit of her breakfast. She was proud of him, admiring how much he had grown emotionally over the past year. The Ron of a year ago would have tried to get through this without saying anything and sulk endlessly, and as much as it pained her to admit it, it might have been enough to tear them apart. Now, though, she didn't think anything could do that to them.
"Ron," She winced as she sat up in her bed, taking his hand. "I love you, and of course I'm concerned about what happened, but right now, I'm just happy to be with you. Is that okay? Can we just be together, for now?"
Ron nodded, understanding because he missed her too, before digging into his breakfast.
They spent the entire day together, disturbed only by the healers when it was time for her afternoon round of potions. Once night came Ron passed out holding hands with her from the chair next to her bed, long after she did. He stayed up as late as he could, scared he might hurt her again if he fell asleep, but being with her calmed his troubled mind, and eventually, he fell into a peaceful sleep too.
