Ron stared blankly at her fow a few more seconds. Then he spoke, in a flat, dry voice, to nobody in
particular.

"I must be dead."

Hermione stared back at him, then sat down heavily in a chair and sighed.

"You're not."

Ron snorted.

"Well, your dead. and here you are, so I must be dead, too."

"No, your not. I was never dead in the first place," she said quietly.

He stared at her again. Hermione put her head down and refused to look him in the eye.

"Where were you then?"

She groaned inwardly. She really wasn't looking forward to this discussion.

"In the Forbidden Forest mostly."

"Mostly, huh? Where were you the rest of the time?"

He said this in a very sarcastic voice, and Hermione had to choke down a sob.

"With you."

She said this flat out, with no hesitation. Even when she was staring at her knees, she knew exactly
what Ron would do one he had grasped what she had just said. As if to prove her
point, a glass of water fell from the table next to Ron's bed and hit the floor, shattering.

For some reason unknown to even herself, this affected her greatly. Still looking down, she got up and
walked hesiantly to his bed. Grabbing a napkin, she wiped up the water.

"I'll pick it up," she said softly. "There's no use in y-"

Without any warning, Ron interupted her, speaking in a loud, bewildered, and furious voice.

"What do you mean you were with me? You can't have been. Your DEAD. I'll bet this is just some stupid
joke that Harry cooked up. When I see him, he'll sure get it! The only people ever with me
were my family, Harry, and Cal-"

As suddenly as he had begun to speak, Ron's voice dwindled away. Hermione still hadn't looked up at
him, but she heard his breath catch. He muttered something, so softly that she had to struggle to hear
what it was.

"Shit."

They both sat there in silence for a moment, then Hermione began to walk towards the door.

"I'm leaving."

"Don't."

He said it so suddenly that she stopped in midstep. Stuggling to keep herself from breaking into tears,
she fought to keep her voice steady.

"I have every right to leave. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't."

There was silence for a moment, in which Hermione considered leaving the room without waiting for him
to answer. She had just considering her choices, (leave or stay?) (run or sneak?) when Ron threw his
covers off and started to walk towards her. Hermione froze.

"Because I don't want you to."

He enveloped her in a hug, and Hermione let the walls around her fall down. She started to cry into his
shoulder. She was strangly unaware of everything around her for a moment.

"Why not?"

There was a short silence, in which she leaned into Ron's chest and counted her blessings.

"Because I love you."