Stay the Course
Harry and Ginny were having a late breakfast the next morning when an owl arrived. Harry had been out into the wee hours of the morning making sure Draco was secure in the holding cells at the Ministry, and all the paperwork was processed correctly to assure nothing would prevent him from going to trial. Despite the fact that he wasn't an Auror, Harry often worked with them and was deeply respected by everyone in the Ministry, so no one questioned his attention to the matter. Ginny removed the letter from the owl's leg and handed it to Harry. "Ron," she said.
Harry opened the letter to find Ron's scrawled handwriting.
I just saw the paper. Is she alright? I'll be home tonight.
Harry slid the note over to Ginny. He hadn't looked at the paper yet, so he pulled over their copy of the Daily Prophet. On the front page was a massive headline: Malfoy Caught. Below that was a photo of Harry and the Aurors bringing Draco into the Ministry building. The story was fairly accurate for the Prophet, giving Hermione credit for finding Draco and biting off part of his ear so he could be traced, but still they mostly touted Harry's role. Below the fold was another large photo, this one of Viktor and Hermione, surrounded by Puddlemere United, moving through the hotel lobby. The photographer had had a lucky break and managed a shot between the shoulders of two of the Quidditch players that showed Hermione's battered face. Harry sighed and looked back at Ron's note. "Dobby can you get me a piece of parchment and a quill?"
A moment later, everything he needed to respond to Ron appeared on the table. He stared at the blank parchment unsure of how to answer. He knew Hermione's injuries were healed, but he suspected that wasn't really what Ron was referring to. As for her emotional state, Harry was less sure, but there was nothing Ron could do about that anyway. He sighed again and wrote:
She's okay. Gin and I are looking forward to seeing you.
He looked at Ginny. "I don't know what else to say." She leaned forward to look at what he'd written.
"What else can you say? It's not like he can do anything."
"I hate this."
She stroked his cheek. "I know you do, love, but you can't fix it for them."
He pressed his cheek more firmly into her hand and glanced back at Ron's note. They almost never used Hermione's name. Hermione was the eternal 'she' between them. No need for a name. Harry missed them both so much. Even though he saw Ron regularly, Ron without Hermione wasn't really the Ron he knew. For Harry, Hermione's absence in his life was like a missing limb, a smarter, bossier limb that made him a better version of himself. He could only imagine what her loss was like for Ron. He looked at Ginny, who made him feel like a man not an icon. Ginny, whose love and understanding soothed all ills, was an essential part of his life. He couldn't imagine what his life would be like without her. He thought of Ron's dogged determination to succeed and the endless stream of women that paraded by his side as if he thought, if he kept switching them out, he'd find one that fit like Hermione. So far none of them had. He seemed like a hearty projection of himself lately, rather than his true self. Hermione too seemed always to be wearing a mask in public. With the exception of a few candid instances, in most photos, she had the same look of fierce determination. Her expression screamed "I'm not bothered" in a way that only made her seem more broken. That the press photographer at the hotel managed to catch her without her mask only made it worse to her see her hurt. He wondered if Ron thought that too. He sighed and folded the note and attached it to the owl's leg and sent it on its way. Looking at Ginny, he smiled. "I love you so much."
"Right back at you, Potter," she said, and pulled him into a hug.
xXx
Harry was surprised not to hear from Ron later that night. Generally, when he return from travel, he'd stop by to see Harry and Ginny straight away. When they didn't see him the next day at breakfast either, Harry decided to stop by Ron's flat before going home after work. It was almost seven o'clock. Ron's shop closed at six and Harry was generally done at Hogwarts by five, but he'd had a consultation with a seventh year who was struggling to cast a Patronus. Harry Apparated to Diagon Alley right in front of Ron's building and made his way up to Ron's flat. He knocked on the door but there was no answer. He knocked again, louder this time, and heard a mumbled response, but Ron didn't come to the door. Harry waited a couple of minutes and then drew his wand and cast Alohomora. The door opened and he poked his head inside. Ron was sitting on the floor in front of his sofa with his head in his hands. There was a half empty bottle of Ogden's and the newspaper with the photo of Hermione at the hotel in Venice next to him.
"Oh, Ron," Harry said. He hadn't seen Ron drunk for almost a year.
Ron looked up at him bleary-eyed. "What are you doing here?"
"I thought I'd check on you. You usually come to see us when you get back from a trip."
"Yeah. Sorry."
Harry sighed. "I'll fix you some coffee." He went into Ron's small kitchen and opened cabinets until he found a bag of instant coffee next to a box of chamomile and another of Yorkshire Gold tea. He used his wand to fill the kettle and then cast a spell to make it boil.
He went back into the parlor with a cup of strong coffee. He handed one to Ron who was still sitting on the floor. "Drink that."
Ron looked at the black coffee and reluctantly took a sip. "Thanks."
Harry took a seat in a leather arm chair and waited. They sat in silence until Harry couldn't take it anymore. "What happened? Why are you drunk?"
Ron shook his head sadly. "I fucked up."
"Why? What happened in Kenya?"
"Not in Kenya. Kenya was great. The conference went well. I met this wonderful woman, who showed me around. It was a good time right up until I went to the Nairobi Ministry of Magic to get my Portkey home." He closed his eyes. "They had a rack of International papers, so I picked up the Prophet to look at while I stood in line and there she was. And then I remembered I was coming back to nothing."
Harry scowled at him. "You didn't come back to nothing. You've got family, friends, a successful business. That's not nothing. For a lot of people, that would be everything."
Ron shook his head. "But I don't have her. What's the point of the money if I don't have her? It's my fault. I bollocksed the whole thing up."
Harry decided to seize the opportunity of Ron's drunken state to possibly get the real story of what happened between him and Hermione. "How?"
Ron shook his head. "She left."
"I know that," Harry said, trying to rein in his impatience. "But why did she leave?"
"Because I'm shit," Ron said. "I'm shit and now I'll never get her back because she has Krum and apparently his whole bloody Quidditch team. Do you see the way they've got her covered? She's never coming back to me. It doesn't matter how much money I have. It doesn't matter that I'm sober now. None of it matters. She loves Viktor."
"You're not shit," Harry said firmly. He didn't point out that Ron wasn't sober at the moment, but instead decided to take a risk and say something that Ginny would most definitely not approve of. "Besides, I don't think she does love Viktor. Not in the way you mean anyway."
Ron looked up at him. "What are you saying?"
Harry shook his head, already regretting that he'd gone down this path, but in for a penny, in for a pound. "When I saw her in London, after that photo of her appeared in the paper, the one from the hospital in Paris…"
Ron nodded and took a long drink of his coffee as though he was desperate to be clear headed to hear this.
"She and I had a bit of a row." He cleared his throat. "I was upset that she was moving in with Viktor. The way she talked about it…it was so…I don't know…resigned maybe."
"Resigned?" Ron said. He got up and sat down on the sofa across from Harry. He leaned toward him. "How do you mean?"
"She just wasn't excited about it. She talked about it in completely practical terms as if geography alone was reason to move in with someone. It was disturbing how blasé she was."
"But she's been with him for over a year now. Why would she stay if she wasn't in love with him? Why would she move in with him? That doesn't make sense."
Harry nodded. "That's what I'm saying. What happened between you two?"
Ron shook his head. "I want her back."
"I know but—"
"If you're right, and she doesn't love him, then maybe I can get her back."
"Ron," Harry said, absolutely sure Ginny was going to kill him if she ever found out about this conversation. "Maybe you shouldn't focus on that so much. Maybe—"
"What?" Ron said. "Date around? Focus on work? I've done that, but I'm running out of witches to date, and I'm not interested in Muggle women. The shop is doing really well. I want the next step and no matter how I look at it, I want that step to be with her."
"Have you told her that?" Harry asked.
"How can I?" Ron said. "She's still with bloody Krum, isn't she?"
"Does that really matter? How does that prevent you having a conversation? It's not like you and Krum are mates. Are you really that worried about his feelings if you talk to her?"
"No, of course not. It's not about him. It's her. When I've seen her, she can barely stand to look at me. She won't let me within arms-length. You know that."
"Yeah," Harry said. "Why is that?"
Ron shook his head again, avoiding the answer. "Maybe I just need to stay the course, like I did with the Quidditch cushion. You know, be there when I can. Be her best mate again if she'll let me."
Harry frowned at him. "But she won't let you."
Ron looked at him and sighed. "Right. The cushion thing was a fluke. Right place at the right time. And it was that bloke she was with that agreed to let me help. That's not likely to happen again soon."
"No," Harry agreed. "If you want to change things with her you're going to need to be more proactive. Waiting around to see her isn't likely to get you anywhere fast."
"The trial is coming up," Ron said. "Maybe I can approach her then. Puddlemere United has a match the night before, so maybe Viktor won't be with her."
"Maybe," Harry said. That Ron seemed to know Viktor's game schedule off the top of his head was worrying.
Ron finished his coffee. "I'll see her at the trial. That'll be good."
"Sure," Harry said, but he had his doubts about how good it would be to approach Hermione at Draco's trial, when she would probably be upset, but he didn't say anything to Ron, who seemed to take heart and got up to make another cup of coffee.
