Chapter 22

The last night had been delightful, and they'd all enjoyed the meal and the company late into the evening. After Neville and Alice had left, Ron had been exhausted and had to lay down while Hermione packed up everything else in the room except what they would need in the morning. Naturally, she boxed and labeled everything before shrinking it down and packing everything up into her beaded bag. Then she finally crawled into bed, now loving how Ron could snuggle up to her on his own.

"The room looks so barren," Ron observed. "I guess I had forgotten how bleak this place was before you turned it into our home."

"Yeah, me too," she said.

"It really was our first home together, I suppose. I should say all kinds of thank you's and tell you how amazing you are, but-"

"But we're both too tired?"

"Yeah," he said as his eyes closed.

"Yeah," she agreed as she, too, quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Looking back, Ron could only describe that last morning as surreal. They'd had a quick breakfast before meeting with Healer Cooper and Alice to demonstrate how far he'd come in his rehabilitation as well as review the potion regimen they wanted him to follow. Finally they reiterated the importance of holding off on using any magic for several more weeks, and he nodded in resigned agreement. While he desperately wanted to use it, he knew how exhausted he was without it, and he could only imagine how draining those first few days of using magic would feel.

Their sneaky exit from St. Mungo's had been well orchestrated. Alice and Healer Cooper agreed to keep up the ruse that he was still a patient so that word wouldn't leak out that he'd been discharged until they were ready for the story to hit the press. Since he was still unable to floo or travel by side-along apperation, let alone apperate himself, it had been decided that the best plan was to travel by automobile. And, since all agreed that the Knight Bus was not really an option, it would need to be by muggle car. But then Harry, Ron and George fell into a debate – with Ron rapidly writing everything down – about how they could manage to get a muggle taxi car to pick him up at what would appear to be a vacant storefront.

But, Hermione gleefully interrupted them, "um, boys? How about I just drive us home?"

Simultaneously, all three boys gawked out their responses.

"You know how to drive?" Ron asked silently.

"When did you get a muggle driver's license?" Harry wondered.

"Where are you going to get a muggle car? We never got Dad's back after these two crashed it," George gaped.

With a knowing smile she said, "Well, yes, Ron, I do know how to drive. Harry, I got my license right before Bill and Fleur's wedding. And, George, I'll drive Mum and Dad's car. It's still in their garage at their house. It will be perfect, really. I'll apperate from here and then no one will see me leave. We can use some charms on Ron to change his appearance, and then maybe he and Neville just walk out the front door in the morning. No one would ever think it was him, as for all anyone else knows he is unable to even breathe on his own, let alone walk."

"She really is the most brilliant witch of her age, this one," muttered George, shaking his head in both awe and disbelief.

Hermione had simply smiled and returned to whatever she had been working on.

The sneaky plan had worked. Hermione had disapperated straight from the room. She'd had everything in her beaded bag and promised to be outside the front door to pick him up at the arranged time. Ron and Neville had hung out in the room for a while until it came time to disguise Ron with charms and stroll out the front door and into the waiting car. Nev helped Ron into the front seat. Hermione talked Neville through helping Ron with the muggle seatbelt and grinned as the two worked out the mechanism. Once settled, Neville shut the car door and waved them off, promising to catch up later. And that was that.

Suddenly it was just the two of them. Together. Outside of St. Mungo's.

Hermione grinned at him, put the car in gear and pulled out into traffic. Ron, unable to even speak silently due to the emotional onslaught, simply reached for her hand, pulled it to his lips and kissed it. They were both blinking back tears, but neither would let them fall. They were simply too happy. From there they just rode in silence for the rest of the drive, smiles plastered firmly on each of their faces.

Thirty minutes later they walked hand-in-hand into their new home. Both were blown away by what they found there.

"This is incredible," Ron said silently.

"Well, yeah, it is. And I didn't do it. Looks like Harry and Ginny must have gone a little crazy."

"This home is perfect, Hermione," he said silently as he leaned to kiss her.

"Here, let me show you around. This is the living room, obviously."

"I love it. There's the lounge-around-in-the-awesome-muggle-chair-and-listen-to-quidditch side and the rehab exercise side," he laughed.

"Well, I can't really take credit. I mean, that was the idea, but other than the recliner and couch, the rest must have been Harry and Gin. Look, he even has a wireless here next to the recliner. And a comfy chair over there so I can keep you company while you do your exercises."

"Or where you can curl up and read," he grinned.

"Well, yeah, that too," she admitted with a blush. "Then over here is the dining room and then the kitchen. Nothing fancy, but it's bright and airy, which I like. Then there is a loo here as well as one in our bedroom. And here are the two small bedrooms. I figure we'll use one as an office or library and the other if we actual have guests."

"The colors are great."

"Thank your sister. I am rather confident she picked them."

Ron was the first to step into the bedroom and started laughing immediately.

"What's so funny?" Hermione asked, coming from down the hall.

"Pretty sure Gin decorated this room too."

"Wha?" Hermione started to ask as she stepped into the room. Then after quickly taking it in, she erupted in laughter as well.

The walls were painted a calming, pale sage green, and the linens were a rich navy color. Which perfectly matched the blue of the giant Hollyhead Harpies painting above the bed, which was balanced by a giant portrait of Professor Lockhart at the end of the bed.

They both ended up doubled over in laughter on their new bed, where they also found a card from Harry and Ginny.

"Welcome Home! If for some reason you aren't in love with the artistic selections, the charm on the back of the card will change the two pictures in here to another option. Not that it's our preference, but it's your room. Love, Gin & Harry"

They performed the charm and then found the pictures transformed into two lovely paintings they both loved. One was a country side scene of rolling green fields dotted with cows and sheep. The second was a painting that was set inside the library at Hogwarts, rows of books taunting Hermione with their knowledge. But the scene showed the sunlight pooling through the tall windows that peered out onto the quidditch pitch in the distance with both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw banners blowing in the breeze. Hermione actually gasped looking at the two paintings, then leaned in to examine the artist's signature.

"Ron!" she exclaimed, "these were painted by Dean!"

His eye widened as he leaned in to see for himself. Then he realized, "Hermione, they were painted for us. That's the view looking west from that large hill just beyond the quidditch pitch at The Burrow. And look – is that you in the library?"

She leaned in as well, blown away to realize Ron was right.

"Wow," was all she could say as she took in the amazing personal details in Dean's artwork.

Ron was exhausted, and eased himself onto the bed, letting his eyes close before his head even hit the pillow.

"It's all a bit overwhelming," he said.

"Yeah. I know, and I'd been here before."

"I worry I overdid it this morning," he sighed silently as he winced trying to sit up on the bed.

"Not sure there was any other way to do it," Hermione said as she curled up around him. "And since we'll need to have energy to talk with Harry, George and Ginny here in a I think you should rest now while you can."

"The idea of standing up and walking down the hallway does feel like an insurmountable task," he admitted.

"Ron, being home doesn't magically give you stamina all of a sudden. We have a wheel chair, and I hope you will use it for as long as you need it. The previous owner of this home was in a wheel chair as well, so the house is all wood floors and all of the rooms are accessible by chair, including the backyard."

He said nothing, but reached his arm out to pull her body tighter against his own, kissing her head and rubbing his hand along her arm. And then he was asleep. When Ron woke up several hours later, he found that Hermione was no longer in the bed, and the sheets were cool to the touch, indicating she had been absent for some time. He heard some voices coming from down the hall and realized Harry, George and Ginny must have arrived while he was asleep. After finding the loo and freshening up a bit, he slowly walked down the hall and joined everyone in the living room.

"Hey, there's the wizard of the hour," smiled George. "It is damn good to see you outside that place."

Ron nodded in agreement and eased himself into the recliner, giving a warm smile to each of them. Ginny handed him the now-omnipresent muggle notepad and pen so he could jot down what he wanted to say.

"We were just discussing phase two of the 'Bring Ron Back to the Real World' plan," announced Ginny. "Now that you have been officially sprung from the clutches of St. Mungo's, the next phase is possibly harder, since we need to figure out how and when to break the news to the rest of the family and then deal with all of the aftermath."

Ron sighed. Hermione closed her eyes, and Harry grimaced.

"Oh come on, it's not all that tragic," protested George. "Let's just cut to the chase, shall we? We need to make sure they find out before the Prophet does. And since you can't floo or apperate in any way, the Knight Bus is out, and the drive in the Hermione Muggle Cab Company car would be far too long since it, sadly, is not a flying car, there aren't a lot of ways to get to The Burrow from here. So, there are only a couple of realistic options. One, the three of us tell the family either individually or one at a time, we count to three and then Mum will walk through that floo," he said, gesturing at the fireplace. "Or, two, we figure out some sneaky way to get the whole family here, then tell them, and then have Ronniekins here pop out of a cake like one of those muggle strippers."

Ron frowned and kicked his brother while Ginny snickered.

"OK. Realistically, I think it is better to tell them all at once so no one feels like they were the last to know," Harry said.

Ron nodded in agreement.

"I guess the first question is whether you want to be the one to explain everything or do you want to us to do that?" Hermione asked.

Before Hermione could answer, Ron had pointed at Harry and then wrote "Them" on his notepad.

"OK. One question answered," George pronounced. "I think we could get Charlie here for Sunday's mandatory showing at dinner. What if the three of us drop the bomb at dinner? Then one of us will floo over and give you a heads up how everyone handled it, and then maybe half an hour later the other two we'll bring the whole clan right on through."

Ron glanced at Hermione and saw her eyes squeezed tightly, jaw clenched and tension visible on her face as she attempted to massage her eyes. Instead of asking her to speak for him, he wrote on his notepad again and handed it to George.

"I'll be fine. But this is brutal on her. She was basically abandoned by the people she had seen as family. I don't expect her to forgive everyone anytime soon – if ever. She was really hurt. If Mum and Dad aren't falling over themselves apologizing, then I don't know that we need to have them here at all. If that's the case, then maybe we need to arrange to meet at Grimmauld or something. We can drive there from here much easier than to Devon. I just don't want this to be any harder on her than it has to be."

George grimaced but nodded in agreement. He glanced at Hermione, relieved to see she had her eyes shut tightly and was massaging her forehead with the tips of her fingers. He then nodded at Ron indicating her understood.

"You know what," George offered aloud. "I think there's a better idea. Why don't we tell Charlie to show up Sunday at The Burrow. Gin, Harry 'n me will go and talk to everyone at dinner. But then we won't let everyone immediately descend on these two. And, since they don't know where you live they can't just show up. Instead, we'll get a sense of everyone's reactions, give people a chance to process things, and then come back and give Ron and Hermione the lay of the land. We won't make any decisions about how to proceed from there until later."

Hermione's eyes opened, and the tension melted from her forehead.

"Really?" she asked hopefully.

"Really," George said confidently. Glancing to Ron briefly he continued, "None of us have treated you two the way we should have been treating people we loved. And I hope you know we DO love both of you very much despite how terribly we showed it. So, to be fair, we shouldn't expect you two to suddenly be forced to host the entire clan of us tossers who treated you so poorly. We'll play it by ear."

"Mum will kill us, you know?" Ginny said.

"Yeah. Well, that's while we'll have Harry tell her. She likes him better," he joked.

"Ha ha," said Harry as he rolled his eyes.

"But seriously, they won't stand for it," Ginny argued.

"Well, they'll have to," George said. "They can send owls expressing love or outrage. And then these two will decide what they want to do next."

"Thanks," Ron wrote on his notepad. "Tell everyone I love them, but after all H has done for me, taking care of her is my first priority now."

George patted Ron's back and nodded his head in understanding. "It's the right thing," George said softly to his little brother. "I just hadn't thought clearly enough about it to see it myself."

Ron smiled and touched his heart.

"And, well, you both, well, I can only say I'm sorry so many times. But know that we are here to help. And anything you need, just let us know, ok?" George said.

"We know. And we love you, George – all of you. It's just, well, it's been a hell of a few years, you know?"

Ginny laughed, "An understatement if I ever heard one. But, yeah. George is right. For now, anyway. We'll drop the bomb and let you know how everyone reacts. We won't let them know where you are, but don't be shocked if an army of owls and a patronus or two show up Sunday evening."

"Thanks. This means a lot," Hermione said. "I didn't realize how much I was dreading dealing with everyone here on Sunday until you just made the problem go away," she admitted.

Ron wrote out, "Did Hermione tell you how much we loved the decoration? Especially those paintings Dean did. They're bloody brilliant."

"Yeah," Harry smiled. "He's gotten really good, hasn't he?"

Ron nodded.

"They were the two most perfect spots, too. I don't know how to thank you," Ron scrawled on his notepad.

"No need. We were happy to make it happen. You guys deserve it, and we loved the chance to support Dean as well," said Harry.

"What?!" said Ginny in mock horror. "You didn't keep the Hollyhead or Lockhart pictures? I swear! Some people just have the most horrid taste."

They all laughed, and then they settled into a more relaxed afternoon. Eventually George announced he had to get back to the shop and took off. Ginny found a quidditch match on the wireless and then she and Harry helped Ron through the afternoon's rehab exercises while they all enjoyed listening to the game. Hermione took advantage of the time to get more settled, unpacking from the hospital, setting up the kitchen to her liking and making sure the pantry was stocked with their favorite foods. Harry and Gin ended up staying for dinner, and only left once Harry pointed out to Gin that both Hermione and Ron were clearly yawning and trying to stay awake.

"Yeah, yeah – I can take a hint," Ginny teased. "We'll clean these dishes quickly and get out of your hair. But we'll both pop 'round tomorrow to check on you. Just don't be shy about telling us when you need some time alone, ok?"

"Ok," Hermione said. "We promise."

Less than an hour later, Ron and Hermione were snuggling into their covers for their first night in their new home.

"You know," Ron said silently. "I had all kinds of daydreams about what I would want to do to you on our first night home."

"But we're still too exhausted, aren't we?"

"Yup," he said. "So, please don't take my lack of moves personally. It's just I can barely keep my eyes open."

"Not offended. Even if you were putting on those Weasley moves I can't resist, I really am utterly exhausted."

"Good."

"But, know I love you anyway."

"I love you too."