The time he had spent with Hermione since the war had made him forget and ignore things he didn't want to remember. But a day without her and the dreams had reared their ugly heads again. Images of Fred's dying smile and sounds of Hermione's desperate cries haunted his dreams and ensured that he had very little sleep in the night. Stop, he told himself sternly. It was bad enough having nightmares without spending his time thinking about it in daytime as well. He watched the city roll by as he sat in the back of a cab. He wasn't entirely sure he was looking forward to the rest of the day. Some of the looks Hermione's father had given him the day before had almost been vicious and he hadn't even known some of the things they had gotten up to. He held out hope that Hermione had managed to pacify them in the meantime to make things easier for them.

Ron carefully counted out the fare in muggle money as Hermione had told him when they reached parents' house. He rang the bell with some trepidation and heaved a huge sigh of relief when it was Hermione who opened the door. Grinning he embraced her before getting a quick snog in.

"What took you so long?" Hermione asked. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming!"

"Sorry," Ron said. "I woke up very late and well…very hungry so had an early lunch there,"

"I should have known," Hermione said, shaking her head.

"Everything alright?" Ron asked. To his relief, Hermione smiled. "A lot better," she replied. "Mum has come around and Dad has been better today,"

"Great," Ron echoed her smile. It was great to see her no longer carry the burden she had for almost a year.

He followed her inside. "Did they go to work?" he asked her, half hoping they had.

Hermione frowned. "Of course not," she replied. "And Ron….I told Mum about us,"

"Told her what?" Ron asked.

"Everything,"

"Hermione!" Ron groaned. "Do you want your father to de-bollock me?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Hermione huffed.

I'm not being ridiculous," Ron insisted, now fearful of the chat he was inevitable going to have with her father.

"You will be alright Ron," Hermione said and squeezed his hand. "When Dad gets to know you he'll like you,"

"And what if he doesn't?" Ron asked.

"He will," Hermione said firmly. "And don't you think otherwise,"

Ron nodded skeptically. He wished he had the same confidence Hermione had in her father. "Oh and Ron can you not use magic? Not that they've told me not to use it but—"

"Got it," Ron said cutting her off.

Her parents were sitting on the couch with a bunch of photo albums spread out before them. Her father seemed a lot more relaxed, he noted with a hint of relief.

"Hi, Ron," Mrs Granger said cheerfully. "I'm afraid yesterday wasn't the ideal first meeting but hopefully we can make it up today,"

"I'm looking forward to it Mrs Granger," Ron lied amicably. Hermione looked a lot like her mother. They had the same bushy hair, the same eyes and they were both short but he thought she took more after her father in everything else. He had a feeling yesterday wasn't the first time Mrs Granger had played peacemaker between the father and the daughter. There was no cheerful welcome from Mr Granger, just a measured nod. Still, Ron was grateful that there was no more animosity in his eyes.

"I'm sorry for what I said yesterday," Mr Granger said, surprising him. "That was uncalled for," He shouldn't have been surprised, Ron thought. After all, he was Hermione's father.

"We're sorry for your loss," Mrs Granger added. Why did everything have to lead to Fred? Thinking about it made him feel miserable and he was sick of feeling miserable. He missed Fred, everyone did but he wanted to move on. He yearned for the day when the thought of Fred would bring a smile on everyone's face not misery. "You didn't know," Ron replied.

"So, how did you two first meet?" Mrs Granger asked. Was she trying to embarrass him? "I'm sure Hermione's already told you," Ron said trying to keep his voice level. "That meeting…wasn't very ideal either. I was a complete prat to her," He found himself smiling at Hermione.

"You were a prat alright but I'm sure Hermione wasn't completely blameless," Mrs Granger said with a laugh.

"I wasn't," Hermione laughed before putting her head in her hands. "Oh god, I was so tactless back then,"

"Hermione, that implies you are better now," Mrs Granger said. "You aren't. You're still just as bad as your father,"

Mr Granger grunted in annoyance but stayed silent. "I am," Hermione said indignantly.

And so it went on for some time. Mr Granger would pop in with a word or two but it was generally the three of them conversing. Ron might have felt at home and even enjoyed the day if Mr Granger hadn't kept his eyes on him throughout. He could see Hermione periodically glancing at her father which did not help matters. He straightened up when Hermione's mother led Hermione out of the room on the pretext that they needed to talk.

"So, my daughter claims to love you," Mr Granger began casually, his tone indicating that he thought it was a load of nonsense.

"She does," Ron replied carefully.

"She's eighteen," Robert replied.

"I know," Ron replied before he could stop himself.

"And don't you think that's a bit too young to be professing love to someone," he questioned.

Ron weighed his answer carefully. "I can't speak for her Sir but I do love her and I'm eighteen," he replied. "We're not normal eighteen year olds," Ron shrugged.

Robert Granger maintained his gaze on Ron for a moment before sighing, almost as if he was slipping his mask off. "I believe you, I believe her,"

"You do?" Ron asked in disbelief.

"Say what you want about Hermione and I've got a choice of words for some of her actions but she's not a fool," Robert grimaced as if the realization did not please him. "If she says she loves you she probably does,"

"That I can agree with," Ron said agreeably.

"What's wrong with her?" Robert asked abruptly.

"What?"

"There's something wrong with her," Robert said. "She has nightmares when she sleeps, she has unexplained scars on her arms and her eyes….what happened to her?"

"We were in a war," Ron said carefully. If Hermione hadn't told them then he wasn't sure he had any right to.

"Hermione is a good liar. You are not," Robert said bluntly. "She thinks she can get away with glossing over the details but she cannot. I want to know,"

"I….it's not for me to tell," Ron replied.

"Hermione will not tell me," Robert said getting annoyed. "She thinks she's doing us a favour by keeping quiet. We just want to help her. But if we don't know what's wrong with her then there's nothing we can do but see her suffer. I'm sick of arguing with her when all I want is to the spend time with my daughter without feeling like she's hiding things from me,"

"She was tortured," Ron said slowly. And he told her father everything that had happened at Malfoy Manor. "Her nightmares….I told her she should see a mind healer at St Mungo's but she thinks she'll get better with time. Maybe she's right," he added. He wanted what was best for Hermione but he didn't want her to be forced into anything.

Hermione chose that very moment to enter the room. Before she could say anything her father got up and embraced her. He could almost feel Hermione's bewilderment but she looked happy as well and put her arms round her father. They stayed like that for a few moments before Robert Granger pulled away and left the two of them alone.

Hermione turned to him. "What did you do?"

"I told him about what happened at the Manor," Ron replied and Hermione smile faded away. "I had to Hermione. He knew something was wrong and it was eating him, probably your mother as well."

"I didn't want them to know," Hermione said looking away.

"Why?" Ron asked. "What do you gain from it? They just want to help you. They love you and so do I,"

"I…." her lips trembled. Ron crossed the distance between them and put his arms around her. Her body shook and trembled as she sobbed on his chest as he gently ran his hand across her back trying to soothe her. Sitting down on the couch, he let her sit on his lap not caring if her parents saw them. "I don't know what's wrong with me Ron," she continued to sob. "I c-can't even f-fight my nightmares anymore. I'm weak,"

"Shh," he tried to console her. It pained him to see her like this but he shouldn't have been surprised. She had had no time to sit down, reflect and get over the last year. Even after Malfoy Manor they had almost immediately started planning to break into Gringotts. After the battle she had held him, stayed strong for him as he struggled to deal with Fred's death. Since then she had devoted her time to finding and bringing back her parents, never devoting any time to herself. Hermione was the strongest person he knew but she was as human as anyone. She prided herself on being strong and dealing with everything else never wanting to be seen as week or needy.

He held her until her sobs subsided but she made no effort to get off him. Looking up he saw her parents looking at them. Any other time and he might have flushed with embarrassment but not now. Mrs Granger pointed to a room towards the far end of the house and Ron understood. It was a measure of how broken Hermione was that she never uttered a word of complaint when he got up and carried her to the room. He kissed her on the temple and made his way back to her parents wondering how much they had heard.

Their faces wore a concerned look and were in quite discussion when he returned. Ron resigned himself to another chat with them. All he wanted to do now was go back to Hermione and hold her until she was right again but he knew he owed them an explanation.

"How is she?" they both asked simultaneously.

"She's resting," Ron replied.

"Was there any…..lasting damage from…what happened to her?" Mrs Granger asked.

"I don't think so," Ron said. "Fleur, that's my sister in law, looked at her and didn't find anything wrong,"

"What about the mind healer you were talking about?" Mr Granger asked. "Could that not help with whatever's troubling her?"

"Maybe," Ron said doubtfully. He was the one who had suggested it but it was more out of anger that Hermione had things from him.

"Then, do you suggest I just sit here and watch her suffer?" Mr Granger said raising his voice. Mrs Granger put her hand on his arm to calm him.

"You could go back to London," Ron said quietly. "She needs to lead a normal life. Hell, we all do. She's spent far too much time worrying and being strong for everyone else,"

"We were considering it," Mrs Granger said after a quick glance at her husband. "But it will take time to wrap everything up here,"

Ron hesitated. "The Ministry will help you out…..if you want it," he said. "They could wrap up everything in a few days or so."

They shared another look but did reply back. Ron wondered if he had gone a bit too far in suggesting they take help from the Ministry.

OoO

Ron spent rest of the day looking through the Granger's muggle house while periodically checking in on Hermione. Like most muggles Mrs Granger seemed to be amused at his lack of knowledge about muggle contraptions. After a couple of questions, stupid questions if the laughter that accompanied it was anything to go by, he decided keeping his mouth was the best option. He felt he had made a decent impression on her parents and he wasn't about to spoil it.

Hermione was stirring from sleep when he went back to her room. She sat up on the bed before leaning back against the pillow. Her hair was bushier than ever and her eyes still red and puffy. But she still managed to look beautiful. "I must look awful," Hermione said as she saw him staring at her.

"You're beautiful," Ron said.

"Are you mocking me?"

"Nah," Ron replied. "You're always beautiful,"

Ron maintained his gaze on her wondering if she was going to pretend nothing had happened. But the next words out of her mouth proved him wrong. "I'll go to the mind healer if you want me to go there,"

"I want you to be happy," Ron replied. "I want things to be normal again. You can always talk to me you know?"

"Ron, it's not you. I've told you that," Hermione said. "It's me. I feel like I've disappointed them,"

"I know a thing or two about that," Ron said wryly.

"I didn't mean to—"

"Hermione, it's alright," Ron said, as he held her hands. "And as someone who loves you, I'm going to tell you that you're talking complete nonsense,"

Hermione's eyes narrowed and she glared at him. "No, seriously," Ron said. "You are not disappointing your parents. You did their best to save their lives and they know that. No one thinks you are weak because you have nightmares. Hell, no one else could have survived that Hermione, no one. You survived that and you survive a bloody war and the bitch that did it is dead. You brought your parents back safe and sound. Fact is, you're bloody brilliant and I'm not letting you disagree with that!"

Hermione eyes were large when he finished speaking but he wasn't done. "You've helped me Hermione. You were there for me when I was acting like a prat last year and you told me I was being silly. You were there for me when I was worried about my parents. You were there for me when Fred died. Let me do the same for you,"

"You know, how you keep on saying you aren't good with the emotional stuff?" Hermione said in an oddly calm voice.

"Yeah?"

"You're wrong," Hermione said with finality in her voice. "Completely, utterly and ridiculously wrong,"

Ron grinned, glad to see her smiling. "I surprise myself sometimes," Ron replied.

"You're wonderful," Hermione replied before adding in determined tone, "I'll get better,"

"I know you will not that there's much wrong with you," Ron said. "You've always been a bit mental I reckon," Hermione gave him another mock glare but her eyes were twinkling with amusement. She pulled him towards herself and planted a kiss on his mouth.

"I'm looking forward to it," Hermione said. "You, me living a normal life without having to worry about being killed. Doing what we want, going where we want. I'm excited for the future,"

"You do paint a good picture," Ron replied echoing her smile. He looked at the girl across him and his mouth widened into an even bigger smile. He could see a future for himself, for both of them, together. The eleven year old him had seen dreams of becoming Head Boy and Quidditch captain in the Mirror of Erised. The eighteen year old him realized he had been silly. An entire life stretched out in front of him to be spent with the woman he loved. It was perfect.