Hermione gathered her things and apparated with Ron to his dreary flat. He excused himself to his room to get his things. Which left Hermione on his couch, with much too much time to think.
One thing that kept echoing in her head was a question that Arthur had asked her during supper. He asked if she was going to continue teaching at a muggle school, or if she going to work in the wizarding world. It was an innocent enough question, but it was one that set her on edge. Chiefly, because she had no answer for it.
When she had been introduced to the magical world, not a month ago, it was all so overwhelming. She thought she might pursue a magical career eventually. But, back then, she was barely able to cast even the most rudimentary spells. She figured it would be years before working in the wizarding world would even become an option.
Not only that but, as Hermione, she had thought little of what she wanted to do with her life. She had decided pretty early on that she would not go to university (much to her parents' disconcertment) and would work in the wizarding world. In her early years at Hogwarts, she had toyed with many different career paths; Professor, Ministry of Magic employee, Wizengamot Solicitor. But, as she grew, and her future began to become more and more uncertain, she forced herself to push the thoughts of her future out of her mind.
It wasn't until the war was over that she allowed herself to plan her future. But, she wasn't any more sure than she had been at 11. She was planning on going back to Hogwarts to finish her education. After that, she wasn't certain. She hoped that another year at Hogwarts would help to clarify things.
She wanted to go into a helping profession. Something having to do with magical creatures and their rights seemed to fit. But now, she just didn't know. She still wanted to help, but there were so many ways to do that. Plus, she had changed a lot in the last five years. Whether or not she liked it.
She did enjoy her job now. But, she felt like she needed to be doing more. Not that teaching English wasn't enough. Maybe it just wasn't enough for her.
Could she even get a job at the ministry now? She hadn't any N.E.W.T's, after all. She didn't think that being a war hero would help her get the jobs she wanted. Could she go back to Hogwarts? After everything? That really didn't seem like a valid option.
If she were to get a job in the Ministry, would she even be needed? Maybe there were laws now that protected house-elves and other creatures. She made a mental note about checking on any laws that had been made in the time that she was gone.
She looked at her watch; Ron was taking his sweet time, and now she had to use the loo. She didn't want to interrupt him and cause him to lose his focus, so she decided to just find the loo herself.
She walked up the staircase, and having seen him go to the right, she went to the door on the left, assuming that it was the loo. Upon opening the door, she could tell that she was incorrect.
The room was small and dark, an apparent theme of his flat. But, unlike the rest of his flat, this room was filled to the brim with things. Curiosity overtaking her, Hermione turned on a light to see better.
Upon seeing the room's items, she gasped. There she was, staring back at her current self, in no less than 20 pictures hanging on the walls. But, the pictures weren't just of her. Most of them seemed to be clippings of articles; with words circled and parts cut out. Next to her pictures were other articles, or other pictures, lines drawn on them, and on the wall to connect them.
The sight was jarring, but she felt an urge to move closer. She walked up to one of the closer clippings and picked it off of the wall. It was from a wizard paper, with her picture moving and smiling, two arms around her. The people who the arms belonged to had been cut out of the clipping. However, Hermione recognized the photo; it was one of Harry, Ron, and herself in 4th year after Gryffindor had won a game. Ron and Harry had been cut out of this photo. She glanced at the caption;
Golden Trio No More? Rumours Swirl as Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley are Presumed Dead.
Her stomach dropped, this must have been written when she and Ron had been kidnapped. She went to read the rest of the article, when she noticed Ron in the corner of her eye, making her jump.
"Sorry," he said, presumably for scaring her.
"It's alright," she responded. "I was looking for the loo, and I stumbled in here, and I-".
"It's okay," he said. "I probably would have shown you this room anyway."
"Oh," she responded quietly. She put the picture back on the wall. "And what exactly is this room?" She had an idea, but she wanted to hear his description.
Ron looked around, trying to find the right words. He walked past Hermione to the far wall, where the entire wall was covered with clipping, pictures, and theories.
"It's how I coped," he replied, answering her question that she asked earlier that day. "This is where I collected everything after the aurors." He picked up a picture with a big red "x" on it and ripped it in two. "All of my dead leads."
"You never said what happened with the aurors." Hermione knew she was prying, but she didn't care. She needed to know what happened when she was gone.
"Yeah, I-," his words trailed off. "It was rough," he was no longer looking at Hermione, no longer looking at anything really. He was staring at the wall, lost in his reverie.
"Like you know, as soon as I was released from Saint Mungo's and stopped taking the calming drought, I was determined to find you. I was put on a special force with Harry, to find you and the death eaters responsible. Most of them were dead by the time Harry arrived and found me."
Hermione did not know about the death eaters. But, she really didn't know much about any of what happened. She hung on every word Ron said, desperate to learn more about his past, about their past.
"There were still some to find and some to interrogate," he continued. "I think that was my first mark against me. They didn't want me to interrogate any of them. But I did. And, it didn't go well." Ron had crushed the article in his hand, dropping its crumbled remains on the floor.
Hermione wondered if she wanted to know what Ron had done during the interrogations. She had an idea and wasn't sure she wanted him to confirm her speculations. She didn't have time to ask, as Ron continued on, words now falling out of his mouth uncontrollably.
"They kept trying to get me to give them my memories. You know, to help find you. They needed that information, too. I knew, as soon as they got them, that would be it. It would be over. So I gave as many excuses as I could," he paused, apparently not wanting to say what he was going to say next. "Eventually, they won, and saw everything."
Hermione thought about what that meant. Ron would likely have to go with whoever was watching his memories, to help explain what was happening. His last words echoed in her mind. Everything. Whoever was with him saw everything. The horror of thinking of Ron reliving that was replaced with the horror of Harry seeing it as well.
"Who saw them?", she whispered.
"It was just Lead Auror Sarraf, I made sure it was just one other person with me."
Thank Merlin for small victories.
"The next day our force had been disbanded; we had caught all of the death eaters responsible. And you, well they didn't need to look for you anymore, did they?", Ron's face was twisted, and he was just about spitting in anger. "I knew it was coming, but I still lost it. I knew you were still alive. Most of them were already pretty mad at me for elongating everything when they felt like we didn't need to. I was almost fired on the spot. But, Harry and Kingsley stuck up for me, and I was assigned to desk duty." Ron paused, struggling to relive these moments.
"I knew I wouldn't last much longer, so I began compiling everything I could about your case, I even snuck in one night and got your folder. Eventually, I just couldn't do it anymore, and I had all I needed, so I made them fire me."
"What did you do?", Hermione asked before she was aware she was doing so.
"I punched one of the other aurors."
"Ron!", Hermione reprimanded. She was shocked at his behaviour. It was so unlike him. And so physical.
"He was a twat, you should have heard how he talked about you when he thought I wasn't there," he said, his anger evident in his face. "He deserved it, and I got what I wanted."
What he wanted. To be fired. Why would he want such a thing? Why couldn't he have just resigned? She looked up at him. He was purposefully avoiding her eyes, looking down at the crumpled paper at his feet. She felt bad for pushing all of this out of him. But, there was something else she just couldn't shake. A question she had had since she had learned of the whole ordeal.
"One thing I don't understand," she said softly, hoping her tone would help to calm him. "You said you saw a death eater cast the killing curse on me."
"I did," he said forcefully, finally making eye contact with her.
"I believe you," she said reassuringly. "It's just, how is it possible? I mean, I'm alive."
Ron's eyes moved back to the ground.
"Maybe it was like Harry," he suggested.
"Perhaps." This was something that Hermione had considered. But, it didn't quite add up. "Though, no one sacrificed themselves for me." She saw him hunch down lower when he heard this. She moved over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. It was very chaste for a couple, but it seemed to lighten him, somewhat.
"I know you would have if you could."
Ron's eyes glanced up, and she could see the extent of hurt he was feeling. She wrapped her arms around him. For the first time, she felt like he was smaller than her. After holding each other for some time, she had an idea.
"Do you know which death eater did it?", she asked him, her head still resting on his chest.
"Yeah"
"And you've caught him right? Maybe we could interview him?", her excitement was starting to grow.
"He was one of the ones that was dead when Harry arrived."
Her excitement was quickly squashed.
"We only know because I recognized him; it was the really short one. And because his wand had cast the killing curse."
"Do you think they still have his wand?", she said, thinking, perhaps, there was another way to solve this mystery.
"Yeah, they keep all of the wands of criminals locked up in the aurors office."
"Maybe we, or someone, could see what other spells he cast? It could give us an idea if something was wrong."
She could feel him shaking his head in agreement.
"He might have also been the one to alter my memory. Maybe we can find out what spell was cast."
"That's a great idea," he said with a chuckle. "I'll ask Harry to do it as soon as he gets back."
She looked up at him and was surprised to see that he was smiling.
"What?", she asked, curious as to why his expression had changed.
"You're brilliant. If we had you on our force we would have found you five years ago."