She woke with a start the next morning, her nightmare dissolving in the soft morning light. Fred was still sleeping soundly next to her so she rose silently and made her way downstairs. In the kitchen there was a fresh pot of coffee that she helped herself to. Turning to look out the window to the new garden Ginny and Harry had added, she saw her friend sitting on the outside steps. She went to join him and sat down without a word, sipping her coffee.
The garden was a peaceful area, with fresh plants that glistened in the rising sun. A small pathway weaved its way through the short trees Ginny had planted last week. There was the start of a swim set Harry had been building. She could already see Harry and Ginny's child running around in the space, laughing as they played on the swings. She and Harry sat silently together for several minutes, and in those minutes Hermione almost forgot what had happened to Ron yesterday.
After a few minutes Harry spoke, interrupting the peace of the morning. "Do you think he'll be alright?"
Hermione glanced at him, hearing the underlying concern in his voice. "I don't know." She sighed. "I really don't. It's rare to come across magic that the healer's aren't aware of, and that makes us nervous."
It was an answer she had told many patient's loved one and she found that hearing it about her own friend was not comforting at all. They fell silent again, thinking about their friend lying unconscious in his hospital bed. Hermione's thoughts then turned to Cho, who was only in there because she was with Ron.
"Harry." She said quietly, not really sure how to approach this topic. "Have you and Ginny talked about what's been going on? Not everything with Ron but just the overall threats?"
Harry studied her, knowing there was an underlying question. "Yeah, of course we have. It's hard not to with how much she has been worrying lately. Why?"
She was quiet for a second before saying softly, "I just keep thinking about Cho."
With that statement he understood what she was really worried about. He looked at his friend carefully, knowing exactly how she felt. "Hermione, Fred will be alright. So will Ginny."
She turned to look at him, her brown eyes wide and full of concern. "But what if they aren't? I'm sure Ron thought Cho would be alright and now she's lying in a hospital bed. They are only in danger because of us."
He nodded. "Hermione we are both worried. Ginny's pregnant and has a giant target painted on her because of me." He ran his hand through his hair roughly, "We both understand what being together means and unfortunately Ginny can't be convince out of anything. But she's strong and I don't think anything could keep her from fighting back with this."
Hermione was silent for several minutes before he spoke again. "Fred's strong too you know?" His voice quieter than before.
She felt tears prick her eyes as he saw right through her. "But he doesn't have to be. There wouldn't be a reason to be if it weren't for me. Wouldn't you do everything in your power to protect Ginny if you could? To make sure she is safe."
He looked at her in sympathy, understanding the war that was ranging in her mind. She wanted to protect Fred, but since being with her was the direct threat, the only way to do that would to not be with her. He had gone over this exact same thought process when he had ended things with Ginny before their seventh year. It was really hard knowing that you were a threat to the person you loved.
"Yeah I would. But unfortunately we all know that Ginny is her own person and will make her own decision," he smiled slightly thinking of his wife. "Hermione, we've all seen the way Fred looks at you. I know you're worried about him but do you really think not being with him would make him care any less? Would make him risk anything less for you?" He reached over to take her hand.
While she heard his words and understood the rationality behind them, there was an irrational part that would do anything to keep Fred safe; he wasn't going to end up like Cho.
They sat in silence for several more minutes before hearing commotion behind them in the kitchen. She could hear Ginny and Fred start to argue about who would get the last of the cereal. She smiled sadly, thinking about what she had to do.
The next two weeks slipped by without any changes in Ron or Cho's condition. Christmas was less than a week away and there had been no preparations done for the holidays in the Weasley family. Hermione had gone back to work right away; she needed the excuse to stay busy. She spent many nights in Ron's hospital room after her shifts and would only return home to collapse in exhaustion or shower before her next shift. Between her work schedule and the Christmas rush at the store, she and Fred had rarely seen each other since their vacation. In truth Hermione was avoiding him, trying to put distance between them to prepare herself for the inevitable.
She had just finished one such shift and had slipped up to Ron's room after evening visiting hours were done. His physical condition had improved since his initial attack, he was no longer on a ventilation spell and the multiple cuts across his body were healing nicely, leaving only thin red lines. Medically he should have been awake by now.
When she got to the room she went over to the bed to look at him and squeezed his hand, willing him to wake up and look at her. When he didn't she sighed and took her usual seat in armchair next to the bed, pulling her book out of her bag. During her free time at work she scoured the hospital library for any mention of what might have been done to Ron and Cho. Unfortunately, it was one of the few times in her life the library had failed her.
She read for an hour before movement at the door caught her attention. Her heart skipped when she saw a flash of red hair through the small window but then she relaxed when Ginny poked her head through. The witch smiled slightly when she saw Hermione sitting in the chair, her knees pulled up to her chest and a book in her hand. The scene reminded Ginny of their Hogwarts days which seemed such a long time ago.
"How'd you get past the nurses?" Hermione asked, watching her friend went to stand next to her brother. Her pregnancy had started to become more and more noticeable every time she saw her.
"Told them that I had something very urgent to discuss with healer Granger." Ginny said without looking at her. Her tone was not playful like Hermione would expect, instead there was a hardness to it which made Hermione concerned.
After a few minutes of checking on Ron, Ginny turned and sat on the small couch along the wall. She tried to make herself comfortable which seemed to be getting more difficult with each passing month. She sighed and gave up before turning to Hermione. "Now, care to explain to me why you are avoiding my brother?"
Hermione faltered, she hadn't thought it had been that obvious with everything going on. Ginny must have seen her expression because she continued.
"Hermione you rarely leave this place anymore, and when you do go home it's only to sleep. I understand that you want to be here with Ron but I think there is something more going on. It isn't like you to be avoidant of someone and I'd like to know why."
Hermione bit the inside of her lip. "It's nothing Ginny. I'm just needed here."
Her friend scoffed and shook her head, "No, you're not. There hasn't been any changes in over a week which you would know considering you've spent all of your free time here." She looked pointedly at Hermione. "Harry told me you said some things to him but then he refused to tell me what. So my only option was to hunt you down myself."
"Did Fred say something to you?" Hermione asked sullenly, knowing that Ginny was not going to drop this until she got her answers.
"Of course not, he doesn't need to. You can see how upset he has been just by looking at him. I stopped over a few days ago and he told me that you two have barely seen each other in almost two weeks. Blamed it on work and the holidays but I'm not stupid, I know something is going on. He just seems confused, Hermione. And hurt."
She leaned forward towards Hermione. "Did something happen between you two? I know you had just gotten back from Greece, did something happen there?"
Her statement about Fred's condition both surprised and hurt Hermione. She didn't want to think of Fred being upset with her but she also couldn't stop thinking about him in a hospital bed like the one Ron was laying in.
"No, nothing happened. Greece was wonderful." She said to the redhead. And it was, it had been perfect actually. She wished on a daily basis that they would never have left that beach.
Ginny was getting frustrated. "Then what is going on? You two seemed so happy before you left."
Hermione looked down at her hands and shook her head. "It's really nothing. I just think we should be taking precautions to stay safe." She looked up to stare at Ron, seeing nothing but his older brother.
"Safe?" Ginny said next to her. "There is no such thing as safe in our lives."
"You don't think I know that? The majority of our lives has been spent in fear. I mean look where we are Ginny. Fred is not going to end up here." Hermione snapped, finally letting her frustration through.
Ginny's eyebrows rose with her friends change of demeanor. "And you think avoiding him is going to protect him?"
She shook her head and said quietly, "No, I think not being associated with me is going to protect him."
This surprised Ginny. She knew they were all scared about what had happened to Ron, but she never thought that Hermione would go to such lengths to try and protect her brother. "You know that it's not going to work, right?" She said to the brunette.
Hermione turned to look at her before Ginny continued. "If you just end things without a reason, or with this reason for that matter, Fred will not be able to let it go. He loves you and I know you love him. You seriously think he wouldn't fight for you?"
The tears returned thinking about Fred. "I just need him to be safe."
"Not being with him won't make him any safer. He's a Weasley; that makes him a prime target already. Being with you just means that he has the smartest-witch-of-her-age around to protect him. You didn't think he was with you for your looks did you?" Ginny joked.
Hermione smiled slightly and Ginny reached over the squeeze her hand. "You are both stronger together. The only thing being apart will do is make you distracted."
Ginny snorted, "You should have seen him at the shop yesterday. He could barely make it through the simplest potion before blowing it up. George actually had to send him upstairs to cool off."
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Ginny continued speaking. "You know Harry tried to send me away."
Hermione looked over in surprise. From her earlier conversation with her friend he had sounded like he had accepted Ginny's role in his life. And he had certainly had never mentioned trying to intervene in their situation.
Seeing the shocked look on her friend's face, Ginny nodded. "Yeah, after he found out about the baby he tried to convince me to take Mum's offer of Auntie Muriel's hideaway. He even started packing my bag to leave."
"But you didn't want to?" Hermione asked, watching the redhead.
Ginny huffed slightly, "That's the thing, I did want to. I would do anything to protect this baby. It's scary how much I love it already. But the thought of not being here if something happened to Harry kills me. We need to be there to protect each other." She looked at Hermione, "Just like you and Fred."
They sat together for a while more before Ginny got up to go home having done her part.
"Talk to him," she said to Hermione as she opened the door to leave. "He deserves to know what is going on."
She nodded and watched the redhead leave. Ginny was right, but it didn't make her any less worried. Thoroughly chagrined she felt somewhat childish in her avoidance of Fred and kew she had to talk to him. Before leaving she went over the look at Ron again, somehow hoping that his condition had changed since she had arrived. Seeing his still sleeping features she sighed and made her way down to the floo system to go home.
She went to her own apartment, thinking that Fred was likely staying at his in her recent absence. She would stop by the shop and talk to him tomorrow morning. However when she went to her bedroom she jumped seeing a figure laying in her bed. With his unexpected presence she immediately felt how much she had missed him over the past weeks. Without bothering to change out of her scrubs, she slipped under the covers and pressed close to him.
He normally wasn't a light sleeper but he jumped at her movement next to him and opened his eyes. Seeing her he relaxed slightly but furrowed his eyebrows, thinking about the events of the past few weeks.
"Hi." He said softly.
She tried to smile up at him. "Hi."
She took a deep breath, knowing that she need to explain herself to him. "Fred, I.. "
He cut her off quickly, pulling back slightly, "No."
She looked up at him confused. "No?"
He shook his head and put his hand on her arm. "No. You don't get to break up with me. Not because you're scared something is going to happen."
She almost laughed at how easily he saw through her. "I just keep thinking about Cho and about you." She said quietly.
He gripped her tighter knowing how her mind worked. He had had plenty of time to mull over why she had been avoiding him in the past weeks. He understood her reasoning but was surprised at her actions as normally it was Harry's job to play the martyr and push everyone away. "Cho made her own decision to be with Ron. She knew about the threats to him and knew that by being around him it would place her in danger. Just like I know."
He continued, "Hermione, I understand how dangerous this whole situation is and I'm not afraid of what could happen to me. But I am scared of what could happen to you. I'm scared of you getting hurt and me not being there. I know that the logical solution for you would be to shut me out to keep me safe, but I get a choice in this too and I am choosing you."
Tears had started to fall from her eyes as she listened to him. She leaned forward to kiss him shakily and he kissed her back, pulling her as close as he could. He could still feel some hesitancy in her touch, something that hadn't been present before.
When she pulled away she drew in a deep breath, her eyes were still glassy as she looked at him. "I just want you safe."
He nodded and leaned against her forehead. "I know."
After a few minutes of silence in the dark of the room he spoke again, "Love, you aren't alone in this but I can't be there if you don't allow me to."
She nodded and pressed closer to him. They both stayed like this until they drifted off again, sleeping comfortably for the first time in weeks.
The next day she slept though Fred getting up in the morning for work, waking to find the bed empty. She mulled around the apartment before getting ready for work. During her break later on she decided to run up to check on Ron again. She opened the door expecting to find the exact scene she had left last night but she almost dropped the coffee she was holding at what she saw. Cho was standing at Ron's bedside holding his hand and talking to him.
She faltered in her step seeing the girl, almost not believing it after weeks of waiting. "Cho?" She said softly, not wanting to startle her.
Her classmate turned to look at Hermione who could see she had been crying. "Is he okay?" She was still gripping Ron's hand tightly.
It took several minutes before the other Weasley's starting showing up after Hermione sent patronuses out. Mrs. Weasley rushed into the room to embrace Cho. Mr. Weasley and Percy showed up quickly afterwards from the ministry followed by Bill, Ginny, Harry, Fred and George.
Hermione looked in question at Fred as both of the twins had arrived on a work day. "This is more important." He said as he came to stand next to her, watching the scene unfold before him.
Cho was being examined by the lead healer on the service. She hadn't said much about the attack other than to relay what had happened, or at least as much as she could remember. She had met Ron that day at the Ministry after he got off work and they were going to walk back to her apartment. It was dark already and they hadn't gotten far before four people appeared out of nowhere, wearing cloaks similar to the ones Fred and Hermione had seen.
They ambushed the couple and took them somewhere dark and wet, Cho didn't know where exactly. From there she couldn't remember much, something Hermione was silently grateful for remembering the extent of the girl's injuries.
After she had told the story for the third time Cho began to complain of a headache and was promptly escorted back to her own room to rest. The two other healers on her case whispered to themselves as they left the room with her. The rest of the Weasley's were left in Ron's room, some with hopeful glances as they expected Ron to wake up at any moment just as Cho had. They sat for several minutes before Mrs. Weasley surprisingly was the one to step forward.
"I don't think there is a need for everyone to stand around waiting for Ron to wake up. I am going to stay here and will let everyone know if anything changes." She sat on the edge of Ron's bed, giving them all a pointed look.
The group shuffled out into the hall, saying good byes as they made their way to the floo system until Hermione and Fred were the only ones left.
He turned to her and pulled her into a quick hug. She knew that they were all feeling hopeful again with Cho's recovery. But it still nagged at her that Ron wasn't awake, and Fred felt the same way. They parted ways, promising to talk when she got home.