Chapter Three – Updates and Kisses
Ron took a deep breath. "Like I said before, Hermione, we've been… well, putting it off. Not because you don't deserve to know – you do – but because… well, I don't know about Harry, but I just couldn't talk about it yet. I was too happy just to have you here. There's so much to tell, and I know I'll miss some… probably a lot… so we'll have to do the best we can."
Harry nodded. "There is a lot, Hermione. You're not going to be able to take it in all at once, I think."
Hermione nodded impatiently. "You can start with general things. Seven years is a long time to be away from the world, and you can't tell me every little thing I missed out on." She said this with a tone of regret in her voice. "I know I wasn't able to be there with you or for you. I wish more then anything that I had been. Go slowly… I know I'm intelligent, but… but guys, I'm still seventeen, in my mind. This…" she gestured to her body, "means nothing to me." Though she had a hard time admitting it, she knew that her mind was still seven years younger then theirs, and she knew that it might make her acceptance of some things more difficult.
Ron smiled and stood, then sat at Hermione's right, taking her right hand and clasping it in both of his. Harry followed suit, and his right hand was momentarily secured to her left.
"Where do you want us to start?" Ron asked.
Hermione frowned, thinking. "Well… the last thing I remember, we were in the Forbidden Forest. We had just been separated… maybe five, maybe ten minutes. I was deeper in then I had ever been before, and I tripped on a tree root… stupid of me, really… and I fell down. I started to get up, but I heard a laugh behind me, and when I turned, there was a Death Eater behind me. I pulled up my wand, and then… well, then I woke up yesterday, here."
Ron nodded again and rubbed the back of his neck. Hermione couldn't help but catch a glimpse of a silver chain disappearing into his robes, and Ginny's words echoed in her mind. He started building the house, and said that this was the house he would have built for you when you were married. He wears the engagement ring he was going to give you on a chain.
Harry had begun to speak, and Hermione pushed the thought to the back of her mind. Later! she told herself sternly.
"God, getting separated was the dumbest thing we've ever done, Hermione. And you of all people know we've done some god damned stupid things."
"Harry!" Hermione cried. "Language!"
"Jesus, I missed that." He smiled. "Anyway… Ron and I had also gotten split up, but after about three minutes we found each other again and started to look for you. We had all but forgotten finding that stupid plant for Snape – "
"Bloody git." Hermione interrupted, forgetting about her dislike for curses.
Ron and Harry looked unsettled, but Ron was the first to speak. "Hermione…" he said, squeezing her hand. "Snape… he's different. Ever since then, he's different. He stopped sleeping, and he started to look even worse, after your accident." Ron said this in a tone that implied it was hard for him to admit these truths.
"Accident?"
He started. "Attack. At first, we thought, well, what we always had – that he was all for it, that maybe he did it. We should have known better, I guess – we knew Dumbledore had sent him off for something important on our side in fourth year…Anyway… when the mandrake draught didn't work… all he did day and night was try and find something to help you. He locked himself in his dungeons, he cancelled classes he didn't even acknowledge students for months at a time. Dumbledore allowed him his private rooms and replaced him with another professor."
Hermione sat in shock. Of course, she had seen Snape smile at her today, and had been astounded – but she hadn't realized just why he was so happy. He had blamed himself.
Harry smirked at Hermione. "You know he's serious, 'Mione – It's was very hard for Ron and I to get over our bias. I think the only thing that convinced him he was really worried was when he exploded and gave Snape a bloody nose."
Hermione blanched. "You attacked a teacher, Ron?! You could have been expelled!"
Ron shrugged and smiled slightly. "I didn't care at the time. Amazingly, neither did Snape. He just pulled a handkerchief out of his cloak, put it on his nose, and wheezed 'I hope you feel better, Mr. Weasley. In the meantime, I suggest you save your aggression for more important matters then attacking the man who wishes to save her. Two points from Gryffindor.' That was it."
"Anyway", Harry continued, "we're already off topic. Where was I?"
"The plant." Hermione answered.
"Right. We were starting to look for you, and then we heard you scream, but we still couldn't find you. Finally we sent up sparks – not little ones, either – and summoned McGonagall. She got to us in a few minutes, and Dumbledore apparated right next to her, even though we hadn't used a summoning spell on him. He had your cat in his arms, and he dropped him to the ground. He didn't say anything, he just followed bloody cat, and we found you in a few minutes."
Hermione looked proudly at her cat, which was now sleeping on the hearth.
Ron laughed. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know – you're widdle Crookshanks is a genius."
At the mention of his name, the huge cat had rolled over on his back and stretched, then settled his big green eyes on his mistress.
"When we found you", Ron continued for Harry, "we both thought you were dead. Your eyes were closed and we couldn't find your wand at first. After we went back to the castle with your…" he swallowed and continued hoarsely, "With what we thought was your corpse… Hagrid went back into the forest to look for the person who did it, but all he found was what we left of your wand. It was in about eight pieces – they're in a box in the nightstand next to your bed."
Harry nodded. "The whole way back, Ron and I… well, we wouldn't let anyone come near your body. Professor McGonagall tried to take you from us, and we screamed at her till Dumbledore told her that it was okay. We carried you back together – we couldn't organize ourselves enough to use magic." Harry turned a bit red. "We put you on a bed in the hospital wing, even though we thought it was a moot point, and we just sat on the bed and held you. We wouldn't let anyone come near us; we were so sure you were dead. Finally, Madame Pomfrey got to examine you, even though she couldn't get us away. Even she thought you were dead at first – but then your heart beat, and she yelled that you were alive. Turns out, your heart only beat once every ten minutes while you were in that coma… sleep. The doctors called it permanent petrifaction, and thought you would stay that way until your natural life span expired. You stayed in the hospital wing for the next two months while school finished, and then we graduated."
Hermione's face went from intrigued to downcast. "That's right. We were so close to graduation. Do you… do you suppose I'd be able to make up the last two months somehow, and get my diploma?"
Ron grinned at her. "You don't need to. Dumbledore said that he felt you had done more then enough to merit full credit for graduation. Actually… you were valedictorian. Your diploma is hanging in the library, next to mine. Bloody wonder I graduated, though."
Hermione was flabbergasted. "I graduated? Really? Honestly? That's… that's… oh, wonderful! Oh, this is wonderful; I can start where I left off! Oh, wonder – huh? Wait, in the library? The Hogwarts library? Oh, no, in my room? Bit of sarcasm on your part, by the way – keeping my bed in the library."
Ron stared at her incredulously. "Maybe we should have the medi-wizards examine you again. Seems you've gone soft over the last few years. That's not the library you were in – that's your room. The library is between your room and mine, and it's much bigger. Actually there's a door in your closet - you can go straight through."
Hermione stared. Her mouth opened. It closed. It opened once again. A faint "Hwza?" was all she could manage. "There's a library in this house? In your house? My…you've changed."
"Not in that aspect, I haven't. I don't read all that often – Ginny gets the most use out of it. I suspect you'll earn that title soon enough though." He paused, and then paled a bit. "That is… if you stay here. I mean, I don't expect you to, or anything, but, while you're, you know, getting better…"
Hermione nodded. "That's fine… I'll impend on your hospitality for a bit longer, I think. When I get a job, I'll pay rent, I promise."
Ron looked relieved. "Aw, you don't have to do that, 'Mione. We're fine off with my money. Aurors get paid a good bit."
Harry winked at her. "Especially aurors who work as much as he does."
Hermione shook her head. "This is all fine, but it's…" she checked her watch, which had been replaced by the one she owned seven years ago when it had stopped working, "almost nine, and we still have six years to get through."
Ron threw up his hands in mock sorrow. "Up a day and already a slave driver!"
Hermione tried, unsuccessfully, to look stern. "Continue."
"Fine, I think I will. So we graduated, even though Harry and I basically failed the last two months. We almost never left your bed, hoping you'd come out of whatever it was naturally. When school ended, we weren't quite sure what to do with you. We didn't want you to have to stay at St. Mungos for the rest of your life. My wonderful mum decided to come through for us though. She said that since George and Fred were out of the house now, there should be no reason you couldn't have their room. Said she could take care of you just fine now that she didn't have to watch out for the twins so much. So that's how it basically was for the next couple of years. Somewhere in the middle, I decided that you would have been ashamed of me for not having a job and just moaping around the house, kicking things, so I went to the Ministry and applied to be an Auror."
Hermione nodded again. My neck is going to hurt if I keep nodding this much., she thought briefly, but oh well. "Ok… so we've vaguely covered two or so years. But Harry," she said, turning to her friend, "What about Voldemort? I mean, before I went into this coma, or sleep, or whatever it was, there was news in the papers every day about people finding the Dark Mark over their houses and Voldemort's ascension to power. What about that?"
"Well," he began, "Ron only covered what was happening with you the first two years. With the rest of the world, everything was very different. About eight months after you were attacked, and six after we graduated, Hogwarts was attacked." He squeezed her hand as Hermione gasped. "Yea, we know. On December 15'th, a group of Death Eaters stormed the castle and broke their through the enchantments. It took them a while, so the students were alerted. The teachers told them that sixth and seventh years would be allowed to fight, if they so chose. Everyone else was locked in the common rooms, and the spells on them were reinforced so it would take even longer for the Death Eaters to get to the students. McGonagall sent out a message to all of the families in Order of the Phoenix nearby, and they started to apparate outside of the common rooms depending on where their children were, or where they had been themselves when they went to school."
"Harry," Hermione sighed, exasperated. "You cant appa-"
He laughed. "I know Hermione, you can't apparate inside the Hogwarts grounds. Or, you couldn't then, and you can't now. Well, when the Death Eaters attacked, that was one of the first spells to go. We were lucky that there were also separate anti-apparation spells around all the common rooms, and that the Death Eaters had so many other protection spells to break around the rest of the grounds that they never had the time to get to the younger students. It gave members of the order and six and seventh years time to rally against them. Ron and I were called sooner them many others, so we couldn't apparate – they Death Eaters hadn't broken the seal by that time. We were forced to apparate behind the group of Death Eaters, just inside of Hogsmeade. Many of the residents of Hogsmeade had come out of their houses when they had seen the Death Eaters, so there was already fighting." He frowned, as if pained by his memories. "I watched Mr. Wizzlwug – you remember, the owner of Dervish and Bangs - die. All of the shop owners left the shops open and started to fight when they saw what was going on, and a few, including Mr. Weasley, apparated from the Ministry when their families or the order called. Not many, of course – the Ministry had instated heavy penalties to what they deemed "traitors", and people were scared.
Ron reached behind Harry and patted his friend on the shoulder. "S'ok, mate. So wizards started coming from everywhere, and I even saw a couple of goblins and hags, and apparently, whatever work Hagrid and Madame Maxime did after fourth year worked, because two giants showed up. We started to fight with the Death Easters so they couldn't concentrate on breaking the spells protecting the castle. We knew they were trying to get Dumbledore, but we had completely forgotten that they also wanted Harry. We saw the teachers and older students materialize from the front of the grounds and also start to fight, and after the apparation spell had been broken, other members of the order. We wedged the group of Death Eaters between us, and pushed on them from all sides. Even my mum and all my brothers were there. We were all surprised when Ginny showed up in the ranks of student fighters, but none of us had the time to try and force her back to the common room. We were gaining the upper hand, and then Voldemort came. He apparated into the center of the Death Eaters who were still fighting, and it seemed to give them a second wind. We started suffer heavy losses all at once, while Voldemort just stood there."
He paused, and looked to Harry. "Do you want to tell the next bit?" Harry shook his head and motioned for Ron to continue.
"Harry and I fought our way into the center, and we saw Dumbledore and Voldemort preparing to duel. We both ran straight to them, and Voldemort turned to Harry. Dumbledore kind of just shook his head, and Harry just stared back at Voldemort, not flinching or anything."
He smiled proudly at Harry, who was looking a bit queasy from the memory. "So they just kind of stared at each other for a bit, and then all of a sudden, Voldemort smirked and cast Crucio on Dumbledore. He told Harry that if he even tried to touch him, he'd kill Dumbledore, so we didn't do anything. Then all of a sudden, even though he was on the ground, Dumbledore forced his head up and stuttered 'Death is the next great adventure, Harry. I'm not afraid, and there are more important matters then my life.' So Harry attacked Voldemort. Since his wand was on Dumbledore, he couldn't turn it to Harry, and their wands couldn't lock. Harry tried to cast Avada Kedavra, but it wasn't working. I figured I wasn't being of any help just standing there, and I tried it too. Still, nothing happened actually happened, except that Voldemort dropped his wand and grabbed his head. We heard a girl scream, and when I looked, Ginny and Snape were attacking a Death Eater behind us. They stunned him, but Snape had blood all over him. It turns out that the Death Eaters had rallied against him, of all the other teachers, the most. They all wanted to kill him and make their master happy, and he was torn apart. Still, he walked up next to Harry and I, then raised his wand and also cast Avada Kedavra. Then the most amazing thing I've ever heard happened – Ginny cast it. She once told me that she'd never cast an Unforgivable curse if she could help it… she was pretty bad off afterwards, even though it was Voldemort. When Snape had turned his wand on him, Voldemort dropped. It was the most awful thing I've ever seen, Hermione…" he shuddered at the memory.
"You remember how Hagrid once told us that there wasn't enough life in him to die anymore? He was pretty close. We had to concentrate on killing him for nearly five minutes, and when the surrounding Death Eaters realized what was going on, they attacked us. Luckily, our side had taken the upper hand again, and they were able to keep us safe so we could concentrate. Finally, Voldemort died. His eyes started to bleed, and rips started to appear on his body. His robes and face were covered with blood, and then his limbs… they started to turn to ash, one by one. He was screaming, and even after he didn't have a mouth, we could hear it. Finally, it stopped, and all that was left was his cloak and a pile of ashes." He took a deep breath.
Hermione's heart beat double-time. "He's dead. He's gone. Wonderful…" her eyes were downcast. "It really is wonderful. I just wish I could have helped."
Ron put his arm around and put his hand on her head. "You did."
Hermione turned, staring questioningly at him. "In what manner? In staying alive while everyone who was caring for me was out of the house? That's not much to be proud of. I know it sounds bad… but I wanted to be there when he died. He… he killed my parents, Ron. I wanted to get revenge for them. I wanted to make him suffer… I know it sounds awful, but I wish I had been there."
Ron smiled softly. "It's not awful. And you were there, in part. You see, before it all happened… only just three months, actually… well, wait. Let me start over. When you were asleep, the doctors couldn't wake you or make you exhibit your powers, but they were there. They checked again and again, thinking it was a mistake, but it wasn't. All of your power was locked inside of you, and was just sitting there. So a few months before the attack, we talked to Dumbledore. Everyone knew that Voldemort was going to have to attack somewhere, at some time, to attempt to overturn the Ministry. When didn't know when or where, but we knew it would happen. We also knew that you would have wanted to help, so we tapped you. Harry and I, we took your power from you."
Hermione looked alarmed. "I'm not a witch anymore? My power is gone?"
"No, no!" Ron quickly replied. We borrowed it temporarily. You're still a witch - you're fine. While you were in the coma, after we took some of your power, you only had about a quarter of your normal magic level in you – that was what was keeping you alive. A muggle would have died instantly, and it was your natural power that kept you alive. So we borrowed seventy-five percent of your magic and split it between us for when we'd have to face Voldemort. If either of us had died, your magic would have returned to your body."
Hermione was obviously relieved. "Okay… I understand. You had me worried – since I don't have a wand, I haven't done any magic since I've woken up, so I didn't know either way." She turned to her friends and smiled at them. "Thank you, Ron, Harry. Thank you for knowing that I wanted to be part of it no matter what."
They nodded and Harry spoke again. "It was all we could think to do, Hermione." He hugged her and continued. "After Voldemort was killed, the Death Eaters apparated back to wherever they had come from. They left their dead and wounded behind, and we collected them. During the attack, members of the Ministry who had wanted to fight but would have been considered traitors attacked Fudge's office. There was a coup, and a new minister was instated. Fudge was sent home, not punished or anything. We identified the dead Death Eaters, and then locked up the wounded. We didn't use Azkaban – the dementors had released many of the Death Eaters who had returned to Voldemort. They were put under guard the old fashioned way – manpower. When they were examined, we found that the Dark Mark on their arm had slit open and wouldn't stop bleeding for days. Finally, it did, but it left a deep groove lined in black, and the skin inside the mark turned a bruised color. Stayed that way, too. Most of them are still locked up, and more have been added, thanks to Ron and other Aurors."
Ron's ears turned pink. "Mostly other Aurors." Harry glared at him.
"Don't you play it down, Weasley." He turned and addressed Hermione. "He's caught over a hundred Death Eaters in the last five years, and ninety-seven have been convicted and sentenced. None of them will get out before they die. The other seven killed themselves before they went to trial. They only person remotely close to him Angelina, and she's only caught fifty or so of those bastards."
Hermione gaped at Ron. "I think…" she began. "That even though I still have plenty of questions, I've heard enough for one night. That is, of course, unless the next six-and-a-half years were as exciting as the first."
"Actually," Ron said, smirking a bit. "Life got pretty anti-climactic after that."
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The fire had crackled down to ashes, occasionally popping. Crookshanks was asleep with his feet tucked underneath him, bottlebrush tail twitching every now and again. Hermione had closed her eyes, still trying to absorb all of what her best friends had told her, and Ron watched her raptly. A short while later, she opened her eyes and smiled at him.
Without speaking, he took her hand and helped her up to her room. She almost didn't need the help anymore –she was walking rather well, and there was no pain. She didn't pull her hand away to walk by herself, however. They made their way up the stairs, and Ron turned back the covers on her bed.
An overwhelmingly familiar sight met her eyes when she looked up. Ron was staring down at her, tips of his ears red, looking uncomfortable.
"Well, goodnight then." He said.
Hermione tilted her head, and then slowly nodded. Ron turned to leave the room.
"Ron?"
He turned back. "Yeah, 'Mione?"
"Thank you." She held out her arms.
He jumped slightly and walked back to the bed, and was pulled into a hug. Suddenly, he felt her warm breath at his ear, and a whisper.
"I would have died if it had been you. Thank you for believing I'd come back."
Ron closed his eyes and buried his face in her warm neck, taking her scent in. She moved her small hand to the nape of his neck and rubbed it. He pulled back.
"Can I…" he gulped. "Can I kiss you?"
She smiled. "We've kissed before, you don't have to ask."
He shook his head slightly. "Not like before… I mean, can I kiss you… not as a child…" his face reddened further. "As a man, kissing a woman he… is in love with?"
Hermione's limbs went numb, and the bottom dropped out of her stomach. As an answer, she closed her eyes and tilted her head, moving closer to Ron.
Ron wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her body flush with his and placed his lips softly to hers.
Hermione was lost. There was nothing but the feeling of Ron's lips against hers, his arms across her back. For the third time in her life, the concept of time was lost on her. They could have been there for a second, for an hour. It was all the same to her – it was perfect, it was good and kind, it was loving, it was undeniably right.
Slowly, the world began to return to her. Her hand was still on his neck, and she felt the cool metal of the chain he wore. Without thinking about it, she pulled it up and out of his shirt, still kissing him. He pulled back from her kiss, reaching for the chain.
His voice shook. "A lot of things have changed, Hermione. Ginny told me she talked to you about…" he now had the ring in his hand, "this. Someday…" he held left hand, and gently put it on her ring finger, chain still attached, and linked his fingers with hers. "Someday… I want this here, forever. For now…" he kissed the palm of her hand and pulled the ring off again. "You need to know me."
Hermione began to protest. "I know you, Ron, you're…"
"Different." He finished for her. "I'm not the same Ron, and you might not… feel the same about me as you did seven years ago."
"Of course I do! There was no time between then and now, for me, and-"
"But there was time for me. I might not be the same person you were in love with. I'm older, and not much wiser, and I'm a workaholic, and I'm socially inept. I want you to… I want you to love me the way you loved me before, even if I'm different. So…" he dropped the ring and chain back into his robes. "For now, it stays here. When you know for sure… you can break the chain and the ring is yours – either way you choose, I want you to have it. And so, if you want it, is my life. In the meantime…" he held her hand and gently put it to his chest, where she could feel his heartbeat softly pounding, "this is forever yours. For better or worse. It's been like that since before I was fifteen. Irrevocably and totally. Goodnight."
He put his hand to her cheek and gently kissed her again, then walked from the room, giving her a quick smile over his shoulder before he closed the door. A moment later, she heard his door shut. The tap in the bathroom went on, then off again, and she heard no more from him.
Hermione wasn't able to move. She sat, mind blank, for minutes after Ron had gone to bed. Somewhere in the house, she heard a small sob, and a moment later, there was a timid knock on her door. The knob twisted quietly, and Xandie poked her head in, mouth quivering. Tears were streaming down her little cherub face, and she sniffled softly.
"Auntie Hermione, I had a bad dream."
Hermione smiled and held out her arms, as she had for Ron. Again, a redheaded wonder came to her.
"It's okay", said Hermione, smoothing the girl's hair and wiping away her tears. "You can sleep with me tonight, and in the morning, we'll go shopping for books and wands, and all kinds of wonderful things, if your daddy doesn't mind." She kissed Xandie's forehead and patted her back.
The girl grinned happily and hopped under the covers. Hermione lay down next to her and turned out the light, and in minutes the girl's slow, rhythmic breathing indicated that she was again sleeping.
Hermione closed her eyes, remembering the feeling of Ron's lips on hers, and of the ring around her finger.
I hoped you all enjoy reading. I'm really having a lot of fun writing it. And for reference – I never know what I'm going to write till I write it. I rather surprised myself by bringing physical romance – even just a little – into the story this early on. In any case, this is becoming a bit of an obsession, writing fiction, so I hope people like it.
