Chapter Twelve
by The Steppy One
Pacing isn't something a girl like me normally does.
A girl like me normally finds a way out of a problem by finding a book and seeing how other people have dealt with similar situations, learning from their successes and failings and then applying it all to her own.
But instead of doing that, I was pacing.
It seems I've picked up on one of Ron's habits.
Ron. The person who's been missing for half an hour already and the one person I need to have stand in front of me right now. We didn't survive all the rubbish we went through, for some psychotic witch who apparently has taken a fancy to Ron, to hurt him now that the war is over.
I was still pacing and I had no idea why.
I had volunteered to go to all the 'safe' places where it was a possibility Ron might be, granted it was the smallest possibility, but still, it was better to check them first, before we got ourselves in a panic only to find him sat in the twins' joke shop after we'd all been haring around trying to find him.
He wasn't at the shop though; Fred and George hadn't seen him today. We all knew he had planned to go there after he had heard Wormtail and his cronies inside the dodgy pub, but the psychotic witch had stopped him from doing that.
He wasn't in Hogsmeade as Ginny had checked there, and he definitely wasn't in Diagon Alley. Aurors from the Ministry had searched every shop and hadn't found Ron, or any clue that would help us find him.
He wasn't at Grimmauld Place, either. I knew that because that was where I started pacing, and had continued to do so for five minutes solid.
Hermione, this isn't helping at all!
I was about to take a seat at the kitchen table when the door burst open and Ginny fell through it.
'Is he here?' she demanded through gasps for breath.
'No, no he isn't,' I replied quietly.
'Well, why are you still here then? You should be searching somewhere else!'
I was instantly annoyed. I knew Ginny was just stressed about Ron's disappearance but that didn't give her the right to be rude to me. She wasn't the only one worried out of her mind.
'I just needed a minute to think that's all!' I snapped at her. This didn't help her mood.
She began to reply but then stopped. I could see her brow furrow and I knew she was thinking about something, going over something in her mind she didn't understand.
'Dad said he was upset.'
And?
'What…what's that got to do with anything?' I stammered. I had a sneaking suspicion I knew where this was going. If I was right, then I really needed to leave now.
'Well, if he hadn't been upset, he wouldn't have been in the pub, would he? Why was he upset?'
'Why are you asking me?' I replied, trying my best to keep calm. Getting hysterical and angry wouldn't help Ron. 'Your dad would know that, considering he was the one talking to him!'
'He wouldn't tell me all of what he said.'
'Well, if it was a private conversation then that's not really surprising, is it?'
Oh well done Hermione! She's already pissed off and now you've just added to it!
I knew she was about to shout at me, so I bit the bullet and decided to say what she'd been dying to say since she fell through the door.
'Look Ginny, I know you're thinking that if Ron and I hadn't argued, then he wouldn't have been upset, so he wouldn't have been in the pub with your dad to then disappear to Merlin knows where, so at least have the decency to come out and say it to my face.'
For a second, she was stunned, but then she composed herself, rage burning in her eyes. Maybe that wasn't the best thing to say after all.
'You're talking to me about decency? You're the one who thought he'd gone to loan sharks to borrow money so he could go back to school! And you call yourself his best friend? You could probably be more if you'd actually admit it to yourself, and you wonder why he's upset?'
'How did you find-?'
'Harry told me. I went to the hospital to tell him what had happened. He told me everything that was said after you'd woken up.'
'After we'd both woken up, were shocked from what had happened to us and were angry at what had happened you mean?'
'Don't use that as an excuse! There was no reason to accuse him of that!'
'If Harry told you the facts, Ginevra...'
Not thought through, Hermione!
'...then he would have told you it was him that accused Ron of that, and not me!'
'You didn't defend him though, did you?'
I have to get out of here. Why are we wasting time arguing when we have far more important things to do?
I sighed.
'Look Ginny,'
Better to be safe than sorry!
'We do not have time for this now. I know you're upset, we all are, but I will not stand here and argue with you whilst Ron's still out there somewhere. By all means, you stand here and rant 'til you make the light bulbs explode and wake up the wench in the hallway, but don't mind me if I go and do something useful!'
I walked towards her. I had to get through to the door. Hopefully, she wasn't going to do anything stupid.
I paused slightly as I passed her.
'Coming?' I asked. I was surprised she hadn't said something in reply to my previous little statement.
She still didn't reply, but turned on her heel and preceded me out of the kitchen and through the house.
'Where to?' I asked as the house slid into oblivion behind us.
'Er…back to The Burrow, that's where everyone seems to be going back to with reports and stuff.'
'The Burrow it is then.'
I went to Disparate but Ginny caught my arm before I had moved two inches.
She didn't say anything, so I tried to catch her eye. Eventually, she looked at me.
'I'm er…I'm sorry about what I said. It's not your fault...of course it's not. I just need someone to blame, you were the easiest target. I'm er…I'm sorry.'
She tried to hide the tears welling in her eyes but she couldn't. She sniffed.
'Shall we go then?' she said quietly.
Instead of answering her, I pulled her towards me into a hug. It was more for me than for her, if I was honest. I needed some sort of comfort.
It was too much for Ginny, though. She started to cry and it was all I could do to stop my tears falling.
'I'm sorry, Hermione!' she said through her sobs. 'You know I d…didn't mean anything I s…said.'
'Shh, I know, I know. Come on, Gin, we'll find him, he'll be fine. Harry and I didn't keep a tight hold of him during a war to lose him after it's all over did we?'
She chuckled quietly and pulled back from my hug.
'No…no you didn't.'
'Come on, let's get back.'
She nodded and we both turned on the spot and Disapparated from Grimmauld Place.
We arrived outside The Burrow and Ginny walked towards the front door but I hung back and looked at the place I called my second home.
'Are you coming in?' she asked when she realised I wasn't following her.
'Er…I'll be in in a minute. I just need to er…'
She nodded in an understanding way.
'I'll say you won't be long.'
'Thanks.'
She turned towards the house and I watched her walk through the big wooden door.
I looked around and saw the wood at the top of the hill. I smiled as various memories came back to me. Mainly ones of Ron being chased up the hill and into the wood by the twins, which always makes me laugh, but this time as they flooded my mind, I felt the familiar burn of tears in my eyes.
I made a decision there and then. When we found Ron, (I know we would find him) I would make my feelings clear to him. We'd wasted enough time already, there was nothing stopping us being together now, except maybe our own embarrassment.
The next time I saw Ron, I would…I would tell him I love him.
