Saving Hermione - Ch. 8: The Rescue
During the third week of their training and with only three days left to rescue Hermione and Ginny, Harry and Ron were deemed fully able to fight and were finished with their War Auror training.
Due to this early finish, Dumbledore decided a little surprise attack on Voldemort would be in appropriate. Ron and Harry highly agreed with this.
Dumbledore told them of his plan for them and they were to carry it out immediately after preparing.
The two wizards were to Apparate (they had also had training in this area of magic to better equip themselves for battle) into the forest surrounding the tiny village of Little Hangleton, and proceed stealthily up to the Riddle House and enter through the basement window. They were to go from there, find Hermione and Ginny, and then get the hell out of there if it was possible to not have to face Voldemort. In any case that they had to face Voldmort with the girls, duplicates had been made of all four wands by Mr. Ollivander, so that the boys could have extra wands and the girls their own to protect themselves with.
Dumbledore did not like telling Harry and Ron to save Hermione and Ginny by any means, which entailed killing any Death Eaters that tried to stop them from reaching their goal. Harry and Ron, however, did not have any problem with this.
A new charm enabled them to speak to one another telepathically and to Dumbledore as well, so it there was any trouble that they could not get out of, Dumbledore would be there in an instant, no matter the consequences.
Ron and Harry, with their new training, also had a new confidence about them. They were not as nervous or even remotely scared about delving into Voldemort's lair. All they thought about was saving Hermione and Ginny. That was all that mattered.
After being equipped with their fighting fatigues, which consisted of black cargo pants, black tight shirt, and lightweight robe (all for better movement), and weapons (guns, potions, and wands), they were ready to leave.
Dumbledore escorted them out of the grounds and explained again the procedure. They shook hands and Dumbledore turned to leave. Harry and Ron looked at each other and then, in a blink of an eye, were gone.
Two strange looking teenage boys, one with raven black hair and another with fiery red, walked out of the forest in the town of Little Hangleton late on a Thursday night dressed in full black. Not even the nosiest village people dared to stop the odd boys and ask whom they were and why they were there. They radiated off the feeling of being dangerous to the people, and that scared them.
Ron and Harry's booted feet walked slowly and quietly up to the huge, eerie mansion on top of the hill. There seemed to be no movement inside the house. This unnerved them even more. They crept around to the back of the house to the nearest window. Ron silently removed the glass and slid through, with Harry right behind.
What they saw when they landed amazed both of them.
They were in a long, stone, dimly lit, corridor that seemed to go on forever (and that was certainly too big to be part of the house's foundation) with many other smaller halls and doors leading off of it, all with grimy, carved, Gothic number above, marking them for navigation. They were at '10'.
They both realized that it that there had to be miles of corridor that had been magically enhanced. It seemed to be like a huge dungeon, even bigger than the Hogwarts dungeons.
They looked at each other, nodded, drew their wands and set of to the right.
Through the training, Ron and Harry had acquired strong reflex skills. They were both poised to strike at any one sudden movement. Ron had a deep frown that seemed to be permanently carved into his face, while Harry looked to be concentrating deeply.
They walked on like that for about five minutes before they came across a single Death Eater. He was an average sized man and didn't see the two boys jump into an adjoining hall. He walked by the corridor unscathed until a strong hand reached around him from the back and grabbed his neck, efficiently pinning him to the wall.
He stared into the icy blue eyes of one raging red head and the equally stormy emerald eyes of The Boy Who Lived himself. Even being a Death Eater, he still stared at the scar on Harry Potter's forehead. His face was however hidden by his mask and hood.
"Where does your master keep his prisoners?" The way the red head (which occurred to him could only be a Weasley, and Ron Weasley at that) asked this, disturbed the Death Eater to no end. No one would like to cross a pissed of teenage boy (nonetheless a huge teenage boy) on a bad day.
"Answer me now, if you value your pathetic life." Ron spoke in a deathly calm whisper and the Death Eater squirmed in his tight grasp as he regained his composure.
"I don't know."
Both boys could tell that this was a lie and decided to use more extreme measures. They both whipped out their wands as Ron dropped the man's bruised neck from his hand and pointed them at his chest.
"One more chance before you truly pay for being a supporter of Voldemort." It was Harry's turn to speak.
This didn't seem to have any effect on the Death Eater, so Ron and Harry resorted to the measure to their first method of extracting information out of people so difficult.
It was one of the newer spells they had been taught and could be used for many purposes. "Verito," Ron's voice was strained, but firm. This particular charm worked just as the Verituserum potion would. It would make the victim tell them whatever they wanted to know if they asked.
"Where does Voldemort keep his prisoners?"
"In the 13th corridor, the 10th room on the left."
"Are there the two girls in there now?"
"Yes."
"Are they all right?"
"I wouldn't know."
"Why not?"
"Because I haven't tried to visit them, like some of the others have."
"What do you mean 'visit'?" Harry sounded extremely worried now. He did the questioning because Ron looked ready to tear his throat out at any moment.
"I mean, that they are being used as what any teenage girls in a place swarming with men would be used as." The spell did not stop him from being sarcastic, even if he was telling the truth.
Ron's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, practically when the Death Eater said this.
"And you haven't 'visited' them yet?" Ron took over now, his sharp voice laced with fury.
"No, after some of the things I've heard that have happened to the others, I won't ever. I value my life."
"What happened to the other Death Eaters?" Ron was genuinely curious about what had caused some of them to stay away from his sister and Hermione.
"Well, some of the men come out with injuries that have surpassed that of some of the bar fights I've seen."
"You mean their fighting them off?" Harry was stunned that Hermione and Ginny could hold off so many of Voldemort's probably most ruthless advocates.
"Supposedly so, although they have had their punishments for resistance."
Ron's hands were at the man's neck and he was up off the ground in less than a second. "What kind of punishment?" His voice was voice was menacingly low.
"Beatings and the Cruciatus Curse the most."
"Oh, God." Ron dropped the man and pointed his wand at the again crumpled form of black. "13th corridor, 10th room on the left?"
"Yes, I believe that young Malfoy was headed that way just fifteen minutes ago," the man gasped out, telling them this in hopes of being left out of harm's way. Death Eaters were not even eternally loyal to the Dark Lord. So why would they be to their fellow Death Eaters. They, like Voldemort, favored their own lives and would sell one another down the river in a second if it meant that they would be saved.
At that, Ron bound the man with his wand and he and Harry looked up at the nearest corridor.
"27. Figures. We don't even know if the 26th is on the right or left," Harry said.
"You take left, I'll take right. Meet back here when you find out the next corridor's number."
"Right. Be back here in a few minutes."
Ron nodded to Harry and they ran as fast as they could in their assigned directions.
Ron sprinted for about twenty seconds before coming to a hall marked '26'. He ran back and waited, somewhat upset for already passing Hermione and Ginny.
Harry, however, did not find such luck. He almost passed the corridor marked '28' before running head long into two bulky figures that rivaled Ron's huge height and build.
"Crabbe and Goyle." Harry figured this as they made low grunts as he ran into them. "For being such a well-trained War Auror, you sure are stupid, you great prat!" he berated himself.
The two big gits must have recognized him as Harry Potter (but then again, who wouldn't with his trademark hair, glasses, and scar?), because they made clumsy grabs for him as he dodged out of the way and shot red sparks into the direction of Ron, but all two soon, his agile movements lost out to sheer brawn (not that he was so tiny himself, though) and he was in the clutched of the two stupid minions.
Ron saw something red and shining zooming in his direction. Right before they came and pelted him in the stomach, he hit the floor. He let out a low growl and swear word that would have made Hermione and Ginny smack him upside the head and thanked God that he had his quick reflexes.
He realized that red sparks only meant one thing and that was a request for assistance. He hurried to the left of the hall and came upon Harry being manhandled further down the corridor by two men that were as big as him. Each Death Eater had a hold on either of Harry's arms and were letting him walk by himself
He came up from behind with his perfect stealth and saw Harry look back at him as the two grunted in triumph to one another. Harry's eyes widened in relief and he and Ron quickly, but silently, formulated a plan.
Harry pulled up his legs to his chest so that Crabbe and Goyle were carrying him and shoved the hard heels of his heavy boots into the feet of each unsuspecting goon and they quickly dropped him.
Ron had come up even closer from behind when Harry had done his part and they stood side by side. When the Death Eaters quite hopping around in pain they turned around to seek revenge but were swiftly greeted by fists in their faces. This once again disabled them and Harry and Ron took this as the time to magically bind and stun them, and also, due to their size, put a very powerful body bind on the both of them.
Satisfied, Ron turned back to Harry.
"26 is down this way, but we've got to hurry if Malfoy's there." Ron sounded near panic.
All Harry could do was nod. They both were afraid of what would happen if they didn't get there in time and did not want to think about it.
It took them only two minutes of breakneck speed to reached hall #13.
They hastily counted the doors on the left and found ten, only to hear something going on inside.
Ron and Harry's hearts sunk as they heard whimpers and the sounds of muffled crying that sounded distinctly like Ginny and Hermione's. They then heard Malfoy's voice ring through the near silence, "STOP THAT!" and then a smack, followed closely by another, and louder whimpers.
That was all it took to set Ron off.
The rage that had been building inside of him for the past few months, no the past seven years, towards Malfoy and Voldemort and anything that had ever tried to hurt Hermione, ever since Malfoy had first insulted her, Riddle petrifying her, the attacks to the kidnapping, and all the other incidents involving the two, burst through him at that moment and it all flowed through his wand.
The blinding red light that shot through the door and expertly at Malfoy, blew the door into splinters and Malfoy into the wall next to the bed.
Ron stepped through the door, more infuriated than ever before, a look of pure hatred on his face. Harry stepped in behind him, looking increasingly irate, if not downright pissed off.
Ron turned his wand on Malfoy with a hasty look at the bed, where Hermione, with her robes half way open, and Ginny lay still, becoming more upset by the moment. Not even Ron thought he could be this angry!
The black heap on the floor lay unmoving.
Harry turned to the bed after seeing that Ron had his wand on the deathly still lump that was Malfoy, and said the counter curse to the Full Body- Bind. Ginny sat straight up with her eyes darting around and breathing heavily before launching herself into Harry's arms.
Hermione, however, turned to Ron. For the first time in her seven years of knowing Ronald Weasely, she was deathly scared of him. He looked very different. She never knew that someone could change over the course of a month. He looked bigger than ever before. He must have done some kind of physical labor again. The look on his face was barbaric and savage, one to rival Voldmort's. It immensely scared her to see the enraged look on his face and to know that he was second from killing Malfoy, which could easily land him in Azkaban. She could never let this happen and had to do something but couldn't think of anything. For once in her life, she couldn't do anything to stop Ron. He had always put up resistance to her pleas, but always eventually had agreed to stop whatever he was going to do. Now, all she could do was quietly say his name.
He heard it. Not more than a shaky, feeble whisper spoke his name. He spun around, not thinking to remove the glare from his face or fire from his eyes, but when the first thing he saw was Hermione's tear-streaked face flinch, he considerably softened his gaze. He lowered his wand and stared at her, while she in return looked at him.
He, still being a boy with hormones, looked to her half open, tight fitting, green robes.
She noticed this and closed her robes, looking at him with a half glare and half frightened look. He then realized that she as afraid of him. Him! How could she ever be afraid of him? He could never hurt her or anything she loved. All he wanted to do was protect her!
Then he looked down at himself. "If looks could kill," he thought. He was a gigantic, fully-grown man and fully trained wizard (even at eighteen) that had just blown a door to bits and probably looked ready to kill with his wand and the look on his face.
He couldn't let her be afraid of him.
He moved slowly. She looked up at him with fear in her eyes. This hurt him beyond anything. He made it to her side of the bed and bent down.
He circled his arms around her waist and felt her tense up. She relaxed, however, when he lifted her up into a tight embrace.
She could never have been happier. She didn't know how she could ever have been afraid of him as she circled her arms around his thick neck and felt him squeeze her gently, but tighter.
He would never let her go again as she hugged his neck. He could feel her warm breath on his shoulder and feel the hiccoughs that racked her body to signal that she had been crying hard before. He felt a fresh wave of anger rise in him once more as he thought of what Malfoy and the other had done to her.
He was fully aware of the funny feeling in his stomach and chest, which felt like a vice, when she was around him. And also the strange need to protect her from everything. He was also aware of what these feelings meant. He just didn't want to be rejected. After that night in the common room when he kissed her, he could never be rejected like that again. But now, after all this, he threw caution to the wind and acknowledged his feelings.
"I love you." It was said in a husky whisper, even for his deep voice.
Hermione jumped at the confession, startled, but quickly recovered and returned his sentiments.
Ron nearly dropped Hermione when she didn't say anything right away, but nearly dropped her again when he heard a small voice say, "I love you, too," into his ear.
She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked into his blue eyes. They were so full of love and adoration, it overwhelmed her. She leaned forward, still being held off the ground and crushed her lips onto his. It was a kiss that said everything that had been needed to be said for the past seven years.
Harry and Ginny watched all of this, with Ginny still sitting in Harry's arms as he hugged her tighter. They both smiled as they heard Hermione and Ron say the three words that both of them had desperately wanted to hear from each other for such a long time now.
No one noticed Malfoy wake and collect his wand while still lying on the floor. He looked up carefully to see a mass of black, green, brown, and red clashed together, and figured it was that damn Mudblood and Weasel. He then saw Potter and the little Weaslette, looking on not ten feet away from the others.
He smiled for the distraction and swiftly, but quietly, stood up. He pointed his wand at the back of Ron's fiery red head.
Ron, however, fully anticipated his attack and had slipped Hermione's wand into her robe. He carefully and barely whispered, "You have your wand, do not look back at Malfoy, he is ready to strike." Hermione slightly nodded.
Harry, having the same training, did the same to Ginny. The boys still had their wands in hand thankfully.
"Well, if it isn't Potter and his sidekick Weasel?" drawled an unpleasant voice.
Ron slowly put Hermione back down and slid his wand up his sleeve before turning to face Malfoy's wand directly pointed at his face. He placed himself in front of Hermione and she retrieved her wand. Harry let Ginny down slowly, but did not let her go.
"Give me your wand, Potter. Now, if you don't want to loose the only friends you ever had."
Harry looked at Ron and let go of Ginny. He threw his wand to Malfoy who caught it in his hand and before turning his wand on Hermione. "Now you, Weasley."
"Don't do it, Ron. He'll just hand us all over to You-Know-Who," she pleaded.
Ron did it anyways. Hermione knew that her plea would never work. He would never endanger her life, just like she wouldn't his. But she still didn't know about his spare wand.
"Good, now I think, before I send you all to the Dark Lord, I shall have some fun punishing you all," he said as a mad man's grin crept onto his face.
A/N - I know what you're going to say. Too sappy. I know, I know. And not enough action. I'm still trying to get grip on this though, so deal with me for a while. I'll update soon, don't worry. At least you got a little more action, right? *Sighs in self-disgust* Oh, well. Tell me what you think. I also realized something though. It's titles Saving Hermione, but the idea of including Ginny came later so the title is actually messed up, but I'm not going to change it since this is mostly a R/Hr story. Thanks for reading!
During the third week of their training and with only three days left to rescue Hermione and Ginny, Harry and Ron were deemed fully able to fight and were finished with their War Auror training.
Due to this early finish, Dumbledore decided a little surprise attack on Voldemort would be in appropriate. Ron and Harry highly agreed with this.
Dumbledore told them of his plan for them and they were to carry it out immediately after preparing.
The two wizards were to Apparate (they had also had training in this area of magic to better equip themselves for battle) into the forest surrounding the tiny village of Little Hangleton, and proceed stealthily up to the Riddle House and enter through the basement window. They were to go from there, find Hermione and Ginny, and then get the hell out of there if it was possible to not have to face Voldemort. In any case that they had to face Voldmort with the girls, duplicates had been made of all four wands by Mr. Ollivander, so that the boys could have extra wands and the girls their own to protect themselves with.
Dumbledore did not like telling Harry and Ron to save Hermione and Ginny by any means, which entailed killing any Death Eaters that tried to stop them from reaching their goal. Harry and Ron, however, did not have any problem with this.
A new charm enabled them to speak to one another telepathically and to Dumbledore as well, so it there was any trouble that they could not get out of, Dumbledore would be there in an instant, no matter the consequences.
Ron and Harry, with their new training, also had a new confidence about them. They were not as nervous or even remotely scared about delving into Voldemort's lair. All they thought about was saving Hermione and Ginny. That was all that mattered.
After being equipped with their fighting fatigues, which consisted of black cargo pants, black tight shirt, and lightweight robe (all for better movement), and weapons (guns, potions, and wands), they were ready to leave.
Dumbledore escorted them out of the grounds and explained again the procedure. They shook hands and Dumbledore turned to leave. Harry and Ron looked at each other and then, in a blink of an eye, were gone.
Two strange looking teenage boys, one with raven black hair and another with fiery red, walked out of the forest in the town of Little Hangleton late on a Thursday night dressed in full black. Not even the nosiest village people dared to stop the odd boys and ask whom they were and why they were there. They radiated off the feeling of being dangerous to the people, and that scared them.
Ron and Harry's booted feet walked slowly and quietly up to the huge, eerie mansion on top of the hill. There seemed to be no movement inside the house. This unnerved them even more. They crept around to the back of the house to the nearest window. Ron silently removed the glass and slid through, with Harry right behind.
What they saw when they landed amazed both of them.
They were in a long, stone, dimly lit, corridor that seemed to go on forever (and that was certainly too big to be part of the house's foundation) with many other smaller halls and doors leading off of it, all with grimy, carved, Gothic number above, marking them for navigation. They were at '10'.
They both realized that it that there had to be miles of corridor that had been magically enhanced. It seemed to be like a huge dungeon, even bigger than the Hogwarts dungeons.
They looked at each other, nodded, drew their wands and set of to the right.
Through the training, Ron and Harry had acquired strong reflex skills. They were both poised to strike at any one sudden movement. Ron had a deep frown that seemed to be permanently carved into his face, while Harry looked to be concentrating deeply.
They walked on like that for about five minutes before they came across a single Death Eater. He was an average sized man and didn't see the two boys jump into an adjoining hall. He walked by the corridor unscathed until a strong hand reached around him from the back and grabbed his neck, efficiently pinning him to the wall.
He stared into the icy blue eyes of one raging red head and the equally stormy emerald eyes of The Boy Who Lived himself. Even being a Death Eater, he still stared at the scar on Harry Potter's forehead. His face was however hidden by his mask and hood.
"Where does your master keep his prisoners?" The way the red head (which occurred to him could only be a Weasley, and Ron Weasley at that) asked this, disturbed the Death Eater to no end. No one would like to cross a pissed of teenage boy (nonetheless a huge teenage boy) on a bad day.
"Answer me now, if you value your pathetic life." Ron spoke in a deathly calm whisper and the Death Eater squirmed in his tight grasp as he regained his composure.
"I don't know."
Both boys could tell that this was a lie and decided to use more extreme measures. They both whipped out their wands as Ron dropped the man's bruised neck from his hand and pointed them at his chest.
"One more chance before you truly pay for being a supporter of Voldemort." It was Harry's turn to speak.
This didn't seem to have any effect on the Death Eater, so Ron and Harry resorted to the measure to their first method of extracting information out of people so difficult.
It was one of the newer spells they had been taught and could be used for many purposes. "Verito," Ron's voice was strained, but firm. This particular charm worked just as the Verituserum potion would. It would make the victim tell them whatever they wanted to know if they asked.
"Where does Voldemort keep his prisoners?"
"In the 13th corridor, the 10th room on the left."
"Are there the two girls in there now?"
"Yes."
"Are they all right?"
"I wouldn't know."
"Why not?"
"Because I haven't tried to visit them, like some of the others have."
"What do you mean 'visit'?" Harry sounded extremely worried now. He did the questioning because Ron looked ready to tear his throat out at any moment.
"I mean, that they are being used as what any teenage girls in a place swarming with men would be used as." The spell did not stop him from being sarcastic, even if he was telling the truth.
Ron's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, practically when the Death Eater said this.
"And you haven't 'visited' them yet?" Ron took over now, his sharp voice laced with fury.
"No, after some of the things I've heard that have happened to the others, I won't ever. I value my life."
"What happened to the other Death Eaters?" Ron was genuinely curious about what had caused some of them to stay away from his sister and Hermione.
"Well, some of the men come out with injuries that have surpassed that of some of the bar fights I've seen."
"You mean their fighting them off?" Harry was stunned that Hermione and Ginny could hold off so many of Voldemort's probably most ruthless advocates.
"Supposedly so, although they have had their punishments for resistance."
Ron's hands were at the man's neck and he was up off the ground in less than a second. "What kind of punishment?" His voice was voice was menacingly low.
"Beatings and the Cruciatus Curse the most."
"Oh, God." Ron dropped the man and pointed his wand at the again crumpled form of black. "13th corridor, 10th room on the left?"
"Yes, I believe that young Malfoy was headed that way just fifteen minutes ago," the man gasped out, telling them this in hopes of being left out of harm's way. Death Eaters were not even eternally loyal to the Dark Lord. So why would they be to their fellow Death Eaters. They, like Voldemort, favored their own lives and would sell one another down the river in a second if it meant that they would be saved.
At that, Ron bound the man with his wand and he and Harry looked up at the nearest corridor.
"27. Figures. We don't even know if the 26th is on the right or left," Harry said.
"You take left, I'll take right. Meet back here when you find out the next corridor's number."
"Right. Be back here in a few minutes."
Ron nodded to Harry and they ran as fast as they could in their assigned directions.
Ron sprinted for about twenty seconds before coming to a hall marked '26'. He ran back and waited, somewhat upset for already passing Hermione and Ginny.
Harry, however, did not find such luck. He almost passed the corridor marked '28' before running head long into two bulky figures that rivaled Ron's huge height and build.
"Crabbe and Goyle." Harry figured this as they made low grunts as he ran into them. "For being such a well-trained War Auror, you sure are stupid, you great prat!" he berated himself.
The two big gits must have recognized him as Harry Potter (but then again, who wouldn't with his trademark hair, glasses, and scar?), because they made clumsy grabs for him as he dodged out of the way and shot red sparks into the direction of Ron, but all two soon, his agile movements lost out to sheer brawn (not that he was so tiny himself, though) and he was in the clutched of the two stupid minions.
Ron saw something red and shining zooming in his direction. Right before they came and pelted him in the stomach, he hit the floor. He let out a low growl and swear word that would have made Hermione and Ginny smack him upside the head and thanked God that he had his quick reflexes.
He realized that red sparks only meant one thing and that was a request for assistance. He hurried to the left of the hall and came upon Harry being manhandled further down the corridor by two men that were as big as him. Each Death Eater had a hold on either of Harry's arms and were letting him walk by himself
He came up from behind with his perfect stealth and saw Harry look back at him as the two grunted in triumph to one another. Harry's eyes widened in relief and he and Ron quickly, but silently, formulated a plan.
Harry pulled up his legs to his chest so that Crabbe and Goyle were carrying him and shoved the hard heels of his heavy boots into the feet of each unsuspecting goon and they quickly dropped him.
Ron had come up even closer from behind when Harry had done his part and they stood side by side. When the Death Eaters quite hopping around in pain they turned around to seek revenge but were swiftly greeted by fists in their faces. This once again disabled them and Harry and Ron took this as the time to magically bind and stun them, and also, due to their size, put a very powerful body bind on the both of them.
Satisfied, Ron turned back to Harry.
"26 is down this way, but we've got to hurry if Malfoy's there." Ron sounded near panic.
All Harry could do was nod. They both were afraid of what would happen if they didn't get there in time and did not want to think about it.
It took them only two minutes of breakneck speed to reached hall #13.
They hastily counted the doors on the left and found ten, only to hear something going on inside.
Ron and Harry's hearts sunk as they heard whimpers and the sounds of muffled crying that sounded distinctly like Ginny and Hermione's. They then heard Malfoy's voice ring through the near silence, "STOP THAT!" and then a smack, followed closely by another, and louder whimpers.
That was all it took to set Ron off.
The rage that had been building inside of him for the past few months, no the past seven years, towards Malfoy and Voldemort and anything that had ever tried to hurt Hermione, ever since Malfoy had first insulted her, Riddle petrifying her, the attacks to the kidnapping, and all the other incidents involving the two, burst through him at that moment and it all flowed through his wand.
The blinding red light that shot through the door and expertly at Malfoy, blew the door into splinters and Malfoy into the wall next to the bed.
Ron stepped through the door, more infuriated than ever before, a look of pure hatred on his face. Harry stepped in behind him, looking increasingly irate, if not downright pissed off.
Ron turned his wand on Malfoy with a hasty look at the bed, where Hermione, with her robes half way open, and Ginny lay still, becoming more upset by the moment. Not even Ron thought he could be this angry!
The black heap on the floor lay unmoving.
Harry turned to the bed after seeing that Ron had his wand on the deathly still lump that was Malfoy, and said the counter curse to the Full Body- Bind. Ginny sat straight up with her eyes darting around and breathing heavily before launching herself into Harry's arms.
Hermione, however, turned to Ron. For the first time in her seven years of knowing Ronald Weasely, she was deathly scared of him. He looked very different. She never knew that someone could change over the course of a month. He looked bigger than ever before. He must have done some kind of physical labor again. The look on his face was barbaric and savage, one to rival Voldmort's. It immensely scared her to see the enraged look on his face and to know that he was second from killing Malfoy, which could easily land him in Azkaban. She could never let this happen and had to do something but couldn't think of anything. For once in her life, she couldn't do anything to stop Ron. He had always put up resistance to her pleas, but always eventually had agreed to stop whatever he was going to do. Now, all she could do was quietly say his name.
He heard it. Not more than a shaky, feeble whisper spoke his name. He spun around, not thinking to remove the glare from his face or fire from his eyes, but when the first thing he saw was Hermione's tear-streaked face flinch, he considerably softened his gaze. He lowered his wand and stared at her, while she in return looked at him.
He, still being a boy with hormones, looked to her half open, tight fitting, green robes.
She noticed this and closed her robes, looking at him with a half glare and half frightened look. He then realized that she as afraid of him. Him! How could she ever be afraid of him? He could never hurt her or anything she loved. All he wanted to do was protect her!
Then he looked down at himself. "If looks could kill," he thought. He was a gigantic, fully-grown man and fully trained wizard (even at eighteen) that had just blown a door to bits and probably looked ready to kill with his wand and the look on his face.
He couldn't let her be afraid of him.
He moved slowly. She looked up at him with fear in her eyes. This hurt him beyond anything. He made it to her side of the bed and bent down.
He circled his arms around her waist and felt her tense up. She relaxed, however, when he lifted her up into a tight embrace.
She could never have been happier. She didn't know how she could ever have been afraid of him as she circled her arms around his thick neck and felt him squeeze her gently, but tighter.
He would never let her go again as she hugged his neck. He could feel her warm breath on his shoulder and feel the hiccoughs that racked her body to signal that she had been crying hard before. He felt a fresh wave of anger rise in him once more as he thought of what Malfoy and the other had done to her.
He was fully aware of the funny feeling in his stomach and chest, which felt like a vice, when she was around him. And also the strange need to protect her from everything. He was also aware of what these feelings meant. He just didn't want to be rejected. After that night in the common room when he kissed her, he could never be rejected like that again. But now, after all this, he threw caution to the wind and acknowledged his feelings.
"I love you." It was said in a husky whisper, even for his deep voice.
Hermione jumped at the confession, startled, but quickly recovered and returned his sentiments.
Ron nearly dropped Hermione when she didn't say anything right away, but nearly dropped her again when he heard a small voice say, "I love you, too," into his ear.
She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked into his blue eyes. They were so full of love and adoration, it overwhelmed her. She leaned forward, still being held off the ground and crushed her lips onto his. It was a kiss that said everything that had been needed to be said for the past seven years.
Harry and Ginny watched all of this, with Ginny still sitting in Harry's arms as he hugged her tighter. They both smiled as they heard Hermione and Ron say the three words that both of them had desperately wanted to hear from each other for such a long time now.
No one noticed Malfoy wake and collect his wand while still lying on the floor. He looked up carefully to see a mass of black, green, brown, and red clashed together, and figured it was that damn Mudblood and Weasel. He then saw Potter and the little Weaslette, looking on not ten feet away from the others.
He smiled for the distraction and swiftly, but quietly, stood up. He pointed his wand at the back of Ron's fiery red head.
Ron, however, fully anticipated his attack and had slipped Hermione's wand into her robe. He carefully and barely whispered, "You have your wand, do not look back at Malfoy, he is ready to strike." Hermione slightly nodded.
Harry, having the same training, did the same to Ginny. The boys still had their wands in hand thankfully.
"Well, if it isn't Potter and his sidekick Weasel?" drawled an unpleasant voice.
Ron slowly put Hermione back down and slid his wand up his sleeve before turning to face Malfoy's wand directly pointed at his face. He placed himself in front of Hermione and she retrieved her wand. Harry let Ginny down slowly, but did not let her go.
"Give me your wand, Potter. Now, if you don't want to loose the only friends you ever had."
Harry looked at Ron and let go of Ginny. He threw his wand to Malfoy who caught it in his hand and before turning his wand on Hermione. "Now you, Weasley."
"Don't do it, Ron. He'll just hand us all over to You-Know-Who," she pleaded.
Ron did it anyways. Hermione knew that her plea would never work. He would never endanger her life, just like she wouldn't his. But she still didn't know about his spare wand.
"Good, now I think, before I send you all to the Dark Lord, I shall have some fun punishing you all," he said as a mad man's grin crept onto his face.
A/N - I know what you're going to say. Too sappy. I know, I know. And not enough action. I'm still trying to get grip on this though, so deal with me for a while. I'll update soon, don't worry. At least you got a little more action, right? *Sighs in self-disgust* Oh, well. Tell me what you think. I also realized something though. It's titles Saving Hermione, but the idea of including Ginny came later so the title is actually messed up, but I'm not going to change it since this is mostly a R/Hr story. Thanks for reading!