Hermione had barely touched her foot down onto the doorstep when the front door flew open and Harry pulled her into his arms with a death-tight grip.
"Hermione, I'm so glad to see you."
His tone was tight and rough and Hermione knew he had been crying.
Draco kept his distance as the two old friends shared their grief.
"How is- how is Ginny holding up?" Hermione was almost afraid to ask.
Harry shook his head in sorrow. "Not well. Her entire family is at the burrow right now and I haven't been able to talk her into going over to be with them."
"Why wouldn't she want to be with her family at a time like this?"
"I think it would make this all too real for her. She's not ready to accept that he's…that he's really gone." Harry's voice caught in his throat at having to accept out-loud that his friend was really gone. His face turned a bit paler after having said it. "I wish you would have contacted me sooner- but I'm glad you're here now."
"I know, it's just that this has all happened so fast and it feels so unreal." Hermione explained.
Harry nodded his head in understanding. "I understand. Why don't you come inside?"
"Right, I'm sure you both have a lot of questions." Hermione looked back to Draco anxiously, he took her hand in support and they followed Harry inside.
Ginny was sitting on a couch inside of their living room with a blanket wrapped around her. Her face was pale and her hair was askew. She looked a mess. Ginny reminded Hermione of herself with Ron had first left her. As they got closer, she noticed that her legs were shaking and she was holding herself, her face was wet with tears.
"Oh Ginny," Hermione lamented. She dropped Draco's hand and rushed to pull her friend close in her embrace. "Gin- I'm so sorry that he's gone."
The two women cried, clutching onto eachother for what felt like hours but in actuality had only been minutes. When they pulled apart, Hermione sat next to her feeling helpless. She knew that there was nothing she could say or do to ease her friend's grief.
Harry sat on the sofa-chair across from them, while Draco chose to lean against the doorway separate from the group. He would observe and step in if he felt Hermione needed him.
After a few moments of awkward silence Harry finally asked, "Hermione…what happened?"
Hermione found it hard to swallow as she searched for the words to describe the ordeal. There was no great way to explain why it had happened because it didn't make much sense to her still. She could only tell the truth and she knew that the truth would hurt. But the truth was the last thing she wanted to tell the heartbroken pair before her.
Ginny was looking at her with tear-glossed expectant eyes. She needed a reason to understand why her older brother was gone. Until she understood the reason, she wouldn't be able to accept that he was really gone.
Hermione looked up at Harry sitting across from her. He was leaning forward, ready to hear why he had lost his best friend.
Hermione kept opening her mouth in an attempt to begin telling them what had happened but as quickly as her mouth opened, it would shut again until she looked like a fish gasping for air.
Sensing she was having difficulty starting Harry interrupted her gaping, "The ministry has informed us that they're doing an investigation on the event and that they'll be able to fill us in on the details in the next few days. But we would really appreciate hearing it from you. We assume you were there?"
Hermione nodded and tried to swallow again. Her mouth was so dry and her throat was tight, "I was. I saw it all-"She felt little relief as she managed to form actual words.
"Saw what?" Ginny interrupted. Her leg was bouncing up and down with wrecked nerves. "What did you see? Please, Hermione tell me what happened to my brother."
"He broke into her home" Draco interrupted.
Hermione shut her eyes in pain, she wish Draco hadn't interjected. His voice had been so matter-a-fact. As if it didn't matter that he had just made Ron sound like some criminal in front of his most beloved friends and family. Draco had no sensitivity for this kind of thing.
Hermione was quick to jump in and recover seeing the look of offense creeping onto Ginny's face.
"It's true," Hermione quickly rambled, "He did break in. It was quite late; I couldn't even tell you what time. But I awoke to find him in my room and he wasn't sober." She said it as if his drunkenness justified his actions. She had to believe that, it was too difficult to believe that the Ron they had all known would be capable of what he had done sober. "He was belligerent; I have never seen him so far gone." She wanted it to be clear to Ginny and Harry that Ron was not in his right mind.
"I knew we should have gotten him help Harry," Ginny cried.
"What could we have done Ginny? Ron didn't want help. He was hell bent on destroying his life." Said Harry.
"You say it as if he was beyond recovery. We could have helped him!" Ginny protested.
Hermione decided to jump in quickly before the two of them started to fight. Grief changed people. She had seen it before and she didn't want Harry and Ginny to hurt any more than they already had to.
"I think that he just wanted to talk to me. Because he was telling me about Lavender and Dean and some of the problems he was having but then he seemed to forget why he was there." Hermione paused and wrung her hands nervously. "He tried to kiss me and things…they escalated from there."
Harry shook his head in disappointment. Ginny's eyes were clenched in pain, her head laid into her hands.
Hermione thought it was best to leave out Draco's involvement as much as possible. Harry and Ginny wouldn't be very understanding and she could imagine him quickly becoming their scapegoat for Ron being gone.
She continued, "Because of how intoxicated he was, he didn't take my rejection very lightly. He took my wand…and Draco's and he was trying to coerce me into saying I was still in love with him; which I refused to do. He then threw down his bottle of fire whiskey and ignited it-"
"I think you forgot the part where he tied and bound me," Draco injected, pushing his back off of the doorframe.
Hermione bit her tongue, why couldn't Draco have kept his mouth closed? Of course they knew the true turn of events but Harry and Ginny didn't need to hear every detail. Hadn't Draco lost someone he loved? Didn't he know how much it would hurt them to hear those things? She couldn't help but turn and glare knives at him.
"I'm sorry Hermione but they deserve to know the whole truth." Draco explained.
"What do you mean the whole truth? Explain yourself," demanded Harry in a state of confusion.
Draco stepped forward, closer to the group and kept talking, "Ron went crazy-plain and simple. He broke into her home and held us hostage. He had taken both of our wands before either of us had awoken. When we tried to calm him down he bound me with ropes that attempted to strangle me. While this was happening, he decided to set her room on fire. When Hermione finally got me free he refused to leave the room with us. So of course, Hermione went back into the room after him even though it was on fire. He then thought it would be a good idea to use her as a hostage against me, he tried to get me to abandon her in a burning building with him by threatening to cause her harm if I didn't leave."
"Why would he do that?" Ginny angrily interrupted.
"Because he was drunk," shot back Draco. "-and when people get that inebriated they make poor choices. When I refused to abandon her he pushed us down the stairs, grabbed a hold of Hermione and tried to pull her up the burning staircase. He was going to kill himself and take her along for the ride. So I got Hermione out of there and he chose not to save himself. That is the truth. It may not have been what you wanted to hear but it's what happened. Hermione and I got away from the fire as quickly as we could and we didn't look back."
"You're lying" Ginny growled, hot tears splashing down her face. Harry got up from his seat and rushed over to comfort his wife. "I know my brother and he would never do something like that."
"He would and he did" Draco insisted.
Ginny turned desperately to Hermione with tear ridden eyes, "Tell me the truth Hermione," she begged, "What did this monster do to Ron? I know he was involved, he had to of been. Everyone knows how much he hated Ron-."
"What are you talking about Weaslette? Why would I want to kill your brother?" Draco crossly interrupted
"What your mouth Ferret" Harry warned.
"Ferret? Very nice scar-head. You do realize that if I hadn't been there Hermione would be dead along with Ron?"
"Ron would never have hurt Hermione, he loved her!" Ginny shouted. Her fists were starting to ball up as she got angrier.
"Oh yes, he loved her so much that he screwed around behind her back and left her! He didn't love her. He felt guilty for fucking up her life, broke into her home in a drunken mess and lit himself on fire. Don't get angry with me because we chose not to sit around and burn down with him!"
"How dare you!" Ginny quickly shot up and pointed her wand threateningly in his direction.
"Ginny…"Hermione stood up slowly and tried to ease her friend down.
"Take it back!" Ginny growled at Draco as her jaw started to grind.
Draco stepped closer towards Ginny's wand in defiance. "Weasley, I don't care if you hate me. I understand that there are a lot of reasons why someone might. But you can't hate me for being a liar because I'm not one. So, go ahead and curse me for telling the truth. It won't make your brother any less dead." Draco spat.
If Harry hadn't grabbed hold of Ginny's wrist and turned the direction of her wand at that moment, Draco surely would have needed medical attention. The curse shot out of Ginny's wand and punctured the wall.
"Get out of my house! Now!" Ginny screamed. Harry had ripped her wand out of her hand and she was now going after him with her fists. It took both Harry and Hermione to hold her back in true Weasley spirit.
"Draco, you are not helping! Why couldn't you just let me handle it?" Hermione exasperated in frustration as she struggled to tame her friend.
"Because you were going to give them some fake story to make them feel better about him being dead that would have been furthest from the truth."
"That's what friends do!" Hermione let go of Ginny in annoyance and faced Draco hotly. Harry, left alone to hold back his wife, barely had a grip on the fiery redhead. When Hermione let go, he considered letting her go for a moment just to let Draco get a feel of his repercussions.
"No, that's what cowards do Hermione," Draco was adamant. "I've seen enough people die in my life to know that lying doesn't comfort anyone. The truth comes out eventually and when it does, it just hurts more. If you have to grieve you might as well get it all done at once! She'll realize that one day when she calms down-"
"IF she calms down!" Hermione snapped as she stomped her foot.
"Hermione, I think you and Draco should leave now," Harry was barely restraining his wife from pulverizing Draco's face.
Hermione heaved a heavy sigh, "I'm so sorry Harry. I know this can't have made things any easier. If it makes you and Ginny feel any better, I acknowledge that Ron did this because of me and I blame myself entirely." She felt helpless and overwhelmed. Everything seemed to be falling apart.
Ginny finally managed to rip herself out of Harry's restraining grip on her. "That makes no sense!" she snapped at Hermione instead of going after Draco. "Regardless of what you and Ron went through, we all know that is was you being with this death eater that drove him crazy! It drives us all crazy! Ron knew he was dangerous from the beginning, he tried to warn us and we didn't listen to him. Now he's dead! You probably killed him to keep him out of Hermione's life for good, didn't you?" she blamed Draco.
"You're mad woman," Draco rolled his eyes at her accusation. "I told you what happened, exactly as it happened. It's your problem if you can't accept reality."
"We'll see what's real when the ministry reports their findings!" retorted Ginny.
"That we will." Draco agreed, "Then you'll realize that you're as stark-raving mad as your brother was!"
"Draco!" Hermione was appalled that he was attacking Ginny like this when he knew that she was grief-ridden. Despite how angry Ginny was behaving, she had a reason to be acting that way. Draco had no excuse.
This time Harry was the one with his wand drawn, "I'm not going to let you insult my wife any further Malfoy. Now, for the last time I'm going to ask you to leave. If I have to say it again I'm going to force you out of my home."
"No need to set the place on fire Potter," snarked Draco, "I'm leaving."
Hermione couldn't help but gasp at Draco's remark. How could he say that to Harry?
"You don't have to go with him Hermione. You can stay here with Harry and I. You know that you'll always be family. We're not going to force you stay at that man's place while you look for somewhere new to live," offered Ginny.
Draco waited for her reply.
"Ginny, I'm so sorry that Draco is behaving like an ass-"
"Hey!" interjected Draco.
"You are!" she snapped back at him than turned back to Ginny "But," she calmed her tone. "But please believe me that he had nothing to do with Ron's death." She felt she had to defend him. She couldn't leave knowing Harry and Ginny thought Draco could do such a thing. "It was a tragic incident that I wish I could have prevented but I couldn't. None of us could. I never wanted him dead and I know that Draco didn't either."
"Hmmph" Ginny crossed her arms but continued to listen. Harry still hadn't taken his eye off of Draco and held his wand steady in case he needed it. They both remained very suspicious of him as Hermione spoke.
"I wish I could tell you that everything Draco said was a lie but I can't do that because it's not. I know that the man in the fire was not who your brother was in his heart. I will always believe that. But Draco's is right- I would have sugar-coated the truth. And the truth is that if we hadn't gotten away from Ron in that fire, neither of us would be standing here now. I am so sorry that it ended up this way." Hermione was crying by the time she finished her explanation.
"Why weren't you able to stop him? You could have stunned him, bound him, or done something to get him to stop!" Ginny sounded more like she was begging rather than asking a question.
"He had our wands Gin, I'm so sorry. And by the time we managed to get them back from him he was making threats and we weren't able to draw them out without him acting hostile. He could barely stand or speak Ginny. He wasn't thinking." Hermione shook her head in remorse.
Ginny seemed to be overcome with grief as the truth of her brother's death finally started to sink in. She silently walked away from them all in a comatose-state and walked up to her room without excusing herself. She needed to be alone to process everything she had just heard.
"She needs to be with her family Harry," said Hermione.
"I know that Hermione. But she's a Weasley; she's stubborn all get out. I think she just needs some time. I'll go check on her in a few minutes to make sure she's' okay and handling all of this properly."
"How are you handling this?" she asked.
"I'm not right now. I need to take care of her first and then I'll figure out how I'm doing."
Hermione just nodded in understanding. Harry always needed to be strong for everyone else. He may no longer be the Chosen One but he still felt the need to be the Hero whenever it was needed.
"Ginny is right though, you can stay here if you need. You know you're always welcome."
For a second, Hermione forgot that Draco was standing behind them still waiting for her to follow him. Her eyes flickered for a second as she recalled this.
"Can you give us a second?" Harry asked Draco over Hermione's shoulder.
Draco shrugged and waited outside the front door.
Harry took hold of Hermione's arm and made direct eye contact with her.
"Hermione, promise me that Draco didn't have anything to do with Ron's death." He reiterated.
"I promise you Harry that he didn't. If anyone is to blame, it's me."
"How can you say that?"
"You know that he was drinking because of me being with Draco-"
"Yes, and because of Lavender, Dean, the kids and all of the other mistakes he was making. Don't blame yourself Hermione. It won't do any good. I nearly drove myself crazy trying to think that I could have prevented Cedric's death, or Sirius' or Dobby. Dwelling on the unchangeable is frivolous. You're smarter than that."
Hermione didn't argue.
"Are you going to stay here with us?" Harry asked again.
"No, Thanks Harry. I need to go home with Draco. I mean this with all the love in my heart, but I can't let Ron slow down my life any more than he already has."
Harry held back any judgment and just nodded his head in understanding. "I just want to make sure it's safe for you to be around him."
"Harry, Draco has never harmed me and I know that he never would…" her voice quieted down a bit as she realized that she never would have dreamed in a million years that Ron would have tried to kill her…She shook away the thought and gave Harry a half smile. "I trust him Harry. I promise you, he's really a good man with a terrible mouth."
"Alright then Hermione-I trust you."
Hermione gave him a close hug. "I'll speak to you later Harry." She couldn't help but apologize again, "I'm so sorry about everything. Please, give Ginny my love."
"I will Hermione. You know where we are if you need us."
"Of course." She gave him another half-smile before turning to follow Draco back home.
/
Draco was leaning against Harry's house with his hands in his pockets as he waited.
The door finally swung open and Hermione walked out. Her face held tear stains all the way down to her chin that became suddenly apparent in the sunlight.
"Did the boy wonder decide that it's safe for you to come home with me?" Draco remarked.
"Something like that." Hermione slipped her hand inside of his. "So, take me home then."
"With pleasure" Draco pulled her in close to his chest, stepped back and apparated them back home.
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A:N/ So, while most of you are soon to be starting your spring breaks, my break has ended and I'll be starting back at school again. Which sadly means I might slow down the updates. But the good news is I'm still working on a new Fanfiction. I want to have a good chunk of it completed before I post the first chapter. It will be a Dramione. What else is there worth writing? ;P Also, for those of you reading Prohibited Behavior- I'm still going to finish it but my muse has run away temporarily. I haven't forgotten about you. Thanks to you all for the support and feedback! I can't believe Torn is over 400 reviews! Thank you! I wonder if it'll hit over 500... ;)