Stripped Bare

Chapter 29

Spencer Reid couldn't help but have a slight bounce in his step as he walked into the BAU the next morning. Hermione had a large breakfast and a pot of coffee waiting on him when he awoke. Spencer smiled. After eating supper, they had stayed up watching Star Wars. She had surprised him by knowing the movies line by line. Things were going great for Spencer. It was an amazing day.

"Well, don't you seem like you're in a good mood," Derek drawled as greeting to Spencer. He turned slightly to see Derek coming down the hall with a large cup of coffee in his hand. "Have a good night with a certain consultant?" The brown headed man blushed slightly at the innuendo behind the drawl. He turned his eyes back to the front as Derek came to stand beside him.

"Yes," Spencer answered honestly. He couldn't deny it. He wanted to tell the world about her. He was euphoric!

"What'd ya'll do?" He asked with a perverse wiggle of his eyebrows. Spencer rolled his eyes and shoved his best friend with his elbow. It didn't have an effect. Derek barely wobbled to the side.

"We ate dinner then watched a few Sci-Fi movies," to keep Derek from asking about what they did after the movie (went to sleep), he began to ramble, "did you know that she likes all the same movies I do? I mean she knew the Star Wars movies line per line!" Just as he predicted, Derek held up his hand with a small chuckle.

"I'm glad you finally found a beautiful nerd, Reid, really I am…" He told him. Spencer smirked slightly in amusement. Derek shook his head as he walked away. He couldn't help but wonder aloud, "geez, if he's this happy by just a movie night and dinner, how will he be when they have sex…"

"Hey," Derek heard Penelope greet the nerd. His heart skipped slightly at the sound of the tech-analyst's voice. He ignored it and listened. "Did Hermione tell you that she got her stitches removed yesterday?" Spencer furrowed his eyebrows slightly. Derek's eyebrows rose. "Or better yet, did she show you?" Penelope teased with a smirk. Spencer blushed heavily.

"No," he muttered, leaning away from the highly amused Penelope. "She didn't tell me nor did she show me." His cheeks turned even redder at the idea of her showing him. He blushed heavily and began to walk away from Penelope. Derek was chuckling when giggling Penelope met his gaze.

"Nerd love is adorable," she sighed as she sat down next to him on his desk. Derek laughed.

"That it is," Derek agreed. They all glanced up when they heard Prentiss coming. When she was finally in sight, they were shocked by what they saw. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were slightly sparkling.

"Oh! Now that's so not true!" She drawled into the speaker. "Fine, prove it!" She demanded teasingly over the line. Derek looked at Penelope and raised his eyebrows. He motioned toward her with his thumb.

"Who is she talking too?" He wondered in a low tone. Penelope shrugged.

"Probably Draco, they were pretty chummy at Hermione's coming home party," she informs him. Derek twisted at his waist to follow the black headed beauty.

"Am I the only one that's not in a relationship?" Derek questioned. Penelope laughed and patted his hand.

"No," she laughed; she let her hand fall onto Derek's. The large man pondered on when the relationship between the two of them change. Derek turned his hand and entwined his fingers with hers. Despite his calm exterior, his heart was racing. When had their flirtatious, comfortable friendship changed? When had those feelings and statements become serious for him? "Derek?" He looked over at the tech analyst. "Something wrong?"

"Naw, not at all," he stated, slipped his hand out of hers. He stood with a small stretch. Penelope watched him with a small tilt of her head. Hermione's words kept circling through her head: "How long have you fancied Mr. Morgan?" The blonde analyst sighed and watched him walk away.

'Never gonna happen, girl,' Penelope thought as she turned toward her office.


Ron sat still. His eyes were fixed on the white wall across from his bed. Harry wouldn't visit him because of the amount of anger Harry still felt toward his abuse of Hermione and Lavender. Lavender was divorcing him because of something he had done while the darkness had overtaken him. He closed his eyes. Then again, it was the darkness that brought the idea he had had to be unfaithful to Hermione into reality. It was then his life began to fall apart.

While he sat there, the dark whispered: "Who are you kidding? I made you do nothing. These things you were already thinking about. Remember how angry Lavender made you in school? How annoyed you would be at her clingy nature, at the way she whined?" Ron tilted his head until his neck cracked and attempted to ignore it. The new nurse's worried face entered his vision. She was smart enough to stay a good arm's length away from him. The hospital had been smart enough to take away his wand.

"Mr. Weasley, are you alright?" She asked warily. She pushed her brown hair out of her face. Her brown eyes were expressive and truly concerned for her patient. She had no idea just how much she reminded the struggling man of Hermione Granger despite the differences in the hair. This nurse's hair was straight as opposed to Hermione's wild mane of brown hair. Ron struggled to tell the difference as the darkness whispered louder. "I'm going to go get a doctor." The nurse said as she retreated from the room. As he slipped completely into the darkness one of the doctors in charge of caring for him rushed in.

Meanwhile, Lavender Brown-Weasley sat on the couch in the Burrow with Charlie across from her. She listened avidly as his smooth, deep voice informed her of what he and Bill would be doing. Mrs. Weasley hovered close, listening as well. She was so proud of her eldest son. Despite his love for dragons, after the war he retired from that work and joined Bill as a curse-breaker. When asked why the change, Charlie only stated that he could no longer work in an area where people, more often than not, encouraged violence among dragons; in other words, the workers began to fight dragons. The bosses allowed it because it drug in more money. Charlie grew enraged at the thought of it even now.

"Will it hurt?" Lavender whispered finally. Charlie shook his head while Bill answered that it shouldn't. Finally, she nodded and extended her hand to both of the men. "Get it off."

"There's one more thing, Lavender," Charlie said. "That I feel you need to know." Lavender tilted her head and lowered her hand to her knee. "I can't be the one to break the marital bonds between Ron and you." Lavender opened her mouth to ask why. "I'm a single man. If I were to break your bond with Ron, it would mean that I was staking a claim of some sort instead of simply helping you." Despite hardly knowing Charlie, Lavender found her heart racing. After all, who wouldn't be excited by the concept of Charlie Weasley, the rugged one?

"Okay," Lavender agreed. "Now, get it off." She pressed. Charlie and Bill gave a small chuckle before starting. Lavender didn't understand the language that they spoke next, but she did understand the change in magic currents as Bill touched his wand to the ring. Her eyes widened in slight awe as entwined golden and silver strands appeared before her hand. Slowly, Bill's magic sliced through them. As Bill stepped away, Charlie stepped forward. He began to speak in a low but rhythmic voice. Lavender's eyes widened still as another more strands appeared. This time one was black while the other was the color of her namesake. Instead of slicing at it, Charlie ran his wand over the black. The black receded from atop the lavender. She didn't watch whatever happened next because, in the next moment, she found herself slipping into unconsciousness.

"Is she alright?" Molly asked, rushing toward Lavender. Charlie and Bill stepped aside before they were knocked away.

"She's fine, mom," Bill told her.

"I imagine living with that curse on her caught up to her near the end," Charlie said. Bill turned to his brother and tilted his head. Charlie's eyes were fixed on Lavender's sleeping form. "It takes one hell of a strong woman to deal with such a curse for as long as she did…"

"Language, Charlie," Molly scolded halfheartedly, but even she noticed the respect Charlie's tone held. Bill, on the other hand, was looking at his brother with a strange expression. A sharp shout came from all three of the Weasleys as a sharp crack sounded. Bill and Charlie spun with their wands out. Molly Weasley turned around the same time as her sons. They found themselves face to face with a sheepish looking Hermione Granger.

"Sorry to startle you. I just went by the hospital to find Lavender gone," Hermione admitted. "I was coming to see if you had seen her and to check up on Ron."

"He's in Saint Mungo's, Hermione," Molly said. Even with the seriousness of the topic, the three Weasleys couldn't help but take in the glow that surrounded Hermione. Even the news of Ron's commitment didn't dull it. There could be no argument: Virginia was being good to Hermione. "After Sirius and Remus went to get him, they took a peak into his mind." Molly closed her eyes. "It's as Ginny said. There's darkness in there that completely possesses him…so far they haven't found a cure…" Hermione swallowed.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione whispered.

"There's nothing you can do, dear…" Molly reassured despite wishing so strongly there was something the girl genius could do.

(A/N: Too those of you who have mentioned Charlie's career change, I hope that the explanation offered in this chapter is enough. Thank you too all of you that have reviewed. I will attempt to keep the chapters coming at a fast pace.)