Patronize
Part Eight
Ron woke up in the wee hours before dawn spreadeagled in the middle of his bed and very hot. He usually woke at about this time, his body in anticipation of being woken by the alarm clock anyway.
Did I turn it off last night? He thought groggily. Don't think I did.
He opened his eyes and went to kick off the second blanket and roll over to turn off the alarm clock, but something stopped him. Hermione. He'd forgotten in his sleepiness that she was staying with him. She was curled up into a small ball at the edge of the bed by his bedside table. He looked down at himself to see that he'd taken up all the room and she'd moved to the only unoccupied space.
Merlin, he thought, I'm a git, even in my sleep.
Ron pulled the second blanket off himself, careful to not pull it away from Hermione as well, and lent over her and turned the clock off. He felt incredibly stiff and tired and sort of slumped back into his spot in the bed. Hermione murmured a little in her sleep and snuggled into her blanket as if she were cold, but didn't wake.
Ron couldn't help but smile as he doubled over the blanket he had shared with her and put it over her shoulders. She was so pretty when she slept with her hair all tousled. He felt the urge to stroke her cheek, but he held himself back.
He reclined back with his hands behind his head and closed his eyes; there were still a couple of good hours before dawn.
He had nearly dozed off again when he heard Hermione fidgeting and kicking the blankets. Ron's eyes snapped open; she was obviously having a nightmare.
"Get away, all of you...you can't have him," she mumbled.
Ron rolled onto his side and gripped her shoulder firmly and gently shook her.
"Hermione," he whispered, "wake up. You're having a nightmare."
She stopped thrashing almost immediately and went rigid. "'Mione, it's alright. It was just a bad dream."
He felt her posture soften. He withdrew his hand as she rolled over to face him. Ron thought he could see traces of tears in the moonlit room.
"Ron..." she sniffed.
"Yeah. I'm here. You're OK now."
Hermione nodded; she still looked half asleep.
"Go back to sleep, Hermione," Ron whispered softly, rolling onto his back and relaxing.
"You're still here," Hermione said sleepily.
"Told you I would be, 'Mione," Ron said with a yawn.
"Really here," she said reaching out and patting him on the chest as if to prove that his presence was genuine.
Ron grinned to himself. "Yeah, really here," he echoed, patting the hand that rested on his chest.
"Good," she whispered as she burrowed against him, her head resting on his shoulder and her hand curling under his.
Ron Weasley took a sharp intake of breath as a siege of butterflies took over his stomach, then let it out slowly as Hermione's deep sleepy breathing began.
If only I can remember this moment for the rest of my life, I'll be a happy man, he thought sleepily, as soon, he too fell back to sleep with the girl of his dreams in his arms.
Ron woke to the noise of rustling and opened his eyes in time to see Hermione getting out of bed and into her dressing gown once more. She bustled to the curtains and opened them wide, flooding the room with sunlight.
"Aww, 'Mione," Ron mumbled, shielding his eyes with his arm. "Ow," he groaned aloud as the muscles in his arm smarted.
"Are you OK, Ron?" Hermione asked concernedly. "I thought you'd want to see the sun after last night."
"Yeah, well, I do. Just not when I'm trying to be asleep," he said, moving his arm back to his chest to look at her. He grimaced again as the pain lept through his muscles.
"What's wrong, Ron? Are you hurt?" She had obviously noticed his wince and knelt on the bed looking at him. She looked so worried that he couldn't bear to tell her how sore he was.
He was still lying on his back in bed, (Hermione must've been hugging him all night, he realized), but he felt as if he'd been lying on a concrete floor for weeks. Every part of him was stiff and riddled with aches and pains. He tried to sit up in bed, and fought another urge to groan.
Hermione was still watching him intently. "You are hurt, aren't you? Why didn't you say something last night?"
"It's nothing, Hermione. I'm not hurt."
"Well, Ron, you certainly look like you're in pain to me."
"Nah, just a bit of morning Spattergroit," said Ron with what he hoped was a disarming smile. It seemed to work as Hermione's frown disappeared and she smiled back.
"Well, I better get back to Ginny's room before I'm missed."
"Yeah, I guess you should. Though someone opened the door last night," Ron observed. "I distinctly remember it being shut last night after you came in."
Ron watched as Hermione's eyes darted to the door to confirm this statement. Her hands rose to her face as she stood and faced the doorway. "Oh, no..." she whispered.
"What's the matter?" Ron asked, puzzled at her behaviour.
"Someone opened the door, because they knew I was here in bed with you," she gasped.
"Um, yeah. That's pretty much what I said, isn't it?"
Hermione gave him a look which made him stop smiling. "What if someone thought...Well, what if someone got the wrong impression. What if we're in trouble?"
"I don't think we have anything to worry about Hermione. There's only one possibility, and he's not likely to make a fuss," Ron said, successfully sitting up in bed.
"What do you mean? There are seven other people in this house at the moment, Ron."
He grinned. It wasn't often that he was on top of something before she was.
"Well," he began, "let's see. First there's Ginny. If it were her, she'd probably drag you off to bed, or else she's climb in bed with us too. She used to do that all the time when she was younger and got scared. Then there's Fred and George...they would've woken up the house in glee." He counted to two on his fingers. "Likewise Mum would have roused the house, but not in a good way, probably. Fleur would've just left us alone. She's French," he nodded knowingly. "Then that leaves Bill and Dad, and you must remember that the person who left the door open would've had to have opened it first to check on me."
"So it was your Dad then?" Said Hermione, no less alarmed. "What if he thinks that we're, that I'm..." she trailed off.
Ron felt his smile waver at the sour look on Hermione's face that seemed to find the thought of being with him that sort of way utterly repellent.
"Don't worry about it, Hermione," he sighed, " he knows we're friends, and if he thinks anything else it just means that he'll take me aside for an extremely embarrassing talk. Nothing that you have to worry about. And don't worry, he won't tell Mum. He knows better than anyone what she can be like."
Bloody nutters, thought Ron as he watched Hermione chat animatedly to Bill at the breakfast table. If Ron had been baffled by the actions of girls before, than he definitely was now.
It had been a week since she'd shared his bed after the dementor attack, a week, which had for Ron meant much confusion. Hermione seemed determined to not even look him in the face when there were other people around – and of course in the Weasley household there were always people around.
When they were alone however, she was the total opposite. She'd always sit right next to him, even if all the furniture in the room was vacant, and on a couple of occasions he'd woken in the night and could have sworn that he could smell the scent of her shampoo lingering in his bedroom.
Ron felt totally out of his depth with this hot and cold treatment. He didn't know if Hermione wanted him to kiss her, or if she was still annoyed at him. Part of him wondered if she was embarrassed that his family might think there was something going on between them. This thought didn't console him in the least.
Occasionally he wondered if she might fancy Harry and not him, just because whenever she wanted to talk, it was never about something fun, or even something serious concerning the two of them. Most of the conversations they entered into were either about OWL results or about Harry. Ron cared about Harry very much, but it was getting a bit trite when Hermione asked his opinion constantly on how Harry must be coping, feeling, what he was doing, how the Dursley's were treating him, what toothpaste he was using! It was all getting a bit much for Ron...
Of course, there had been the universal decision to not tell Harry anything about the dementor attacks. He had enough on his plate without worrying that he was putting the Weasley family in danger. As it was, he was probably still trying to cope with the recent death of his godfather.
All in all, the Burrow had turned into a rather serious household with the twins moving out. Ron had a hard time getting used to it, and tried his best to deflate situations as his brothers had done. Luckily, Bill was on his side and the two of them had to defuse many a stand-off between Fleur Delacour and the Weasley women. Hermione also, Ron noted, held a grudge against Fleur. He happened to think she was very nice, though he still felt wary around her, least he get a jolt of Veela shot at him, like he had before the Yule Ball in fourth year.
Ron was very pleased to arrive at the breakfast table one morning to be told that Harry had turned up in the night. It was a like a great weight had been removed from Ron's shoulders as the dynamic between himself, Harry and Hermione went back to normal. He no longer found himself being ignored in general public by Hermione, though the very few times they were alone she did tend to sit close to him. Not that he minded this at all.
The last weeks of the holidays flew by quickly and it wasn't long until the trio found themselves aboard the Hogwart's express as it made it's way to the castle.
After their regular meeting in the Prefect's carriage, (minus Malfoy, Ron was pleased to note), they returned to join Harry who was sitting with Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. Ron still didn't know what to make of Luna. She seemed to know an awful lot about things he'd never even heard of, and not in the same way that Hermione did.
As the train journeyed onwards Harry and Neville were delivered an invitation to meet the new teacher, Professor Slughorn. Ron thought it awfully odd that they had been invited to something and himself and Hermione had not. Still, Ron thought, it would be nice to spend the last few hours of homework-free time with Hermione before she became tethered to the library.
It was a long time before Neville arrived back at their car; they were not far from Hogsmeade now.
"So what was Slughorn's meeting all about?" Ron asked, as he polished off another pumpkin pastie.
"Well," began Neville, "it's sort of a club, I think, for people who are really talented, or for people who have famous relatives."
Hmph, thought Ron, no wonder I wasn't invited. Though if they were looking for brilliant people they missed one. He glanced at Hermione.
"Where's Harry, Neville?" Hermione asked, looking up from the book she had been riffling through.
"I don't really know," replied Neville as he sat down next to Luna. "He just siad 'Later,' and disappeared."
Ron and Hermione exchanged looks: The invisibility cloak.
"But where's he got to?" Ron asked the car at large.
"Perhaps he does have a wrackspurt problem," said Luna dreamily as she leaned in a little too close to Ron so he felt he had to pull back.
"Wrackspurt? What the hell is wrackspurt?" said Ron.
"Never mind that," Hermione said, "I bet I know where he's gone."
"Where?" asked Ron, turning to look at her.
"I bet he's gone to spy on Malfoy. He seemed awfully interested to hear that he wasn't doing his Prefect's duties."
"Well, it could have been a case of wrackspurt," nodded Luna, returning to the copy of the Quibbler that lay in her lap.
Ron spent the rest of the trip keeping an ear out for Harry and thinking of ways to get his Patronus working better. If he wanted to be in the 'Slugclub' then he'd have to get pretty good pretty bloody quick. Who am I kidding, he thought darkly, I'll never be that good. Though if Hermione's not in that club after our first week back than I'll eat my Chudley Cannon's hat. He hated to think of a club for the two of them; one in which he didn't have a hope of joining. He disliked the idea even more after he heard that Ginny had been at the meeting after Slughorn caught her hexing someone. Well, he agreed, Ginny was a pretty formidable witch when it came to cursing.
By the time the train rolled up at Hogsmeade station Harry still hadn't returned. Ron wasn't too worried, as he knew Harry could take care of himself. How much trouble could he get into onto a train anyway? Hermione on the other hand was looking decidedly anxious.
"Look, Ron, there's Tonks," said Hermione, breaking him out of his reverie.
And it was, but not as he had remembered her. Her hair was brown and dull and her face looked sad and forlorn. She smiled briefly at them as she made her way up the platform.
"Hey Tonks," Ron said. "Didn't expect to see you here."
"Wotcher, Ron. Hermione. I've been posted here in Hogsmeade for the time being to give the school extra protection," she said in a voice that had only trace amounts of it's original pep.
"That's great, Tonks," beamed Hermione. "It'll be nice to have someone to visit on Hogsmeade weekends, won't it, Ron?"
Ron nodded, and a thought suddenly struck him. "Erm, Hermione, you and Neville go grab a carriage, I just want a word with Tonks. If you have a minute, of course," he added.
"No worries Ron," smiled Tonks wanly. "What can I do you for?"
Ron waited until Hermione was out of earshot before he began. "Erm, I wondered if you could help me? I'm training to develop my Patronus Charm. I can sort of do it now, but it's not very strong, and with you being an Auror and everything, you'd know how to do one, right?"
"Well, yes," admitted Tonks, "I can, but I thought you covered this in your DA classes last year? Hermione told me all about her otter Patronus last time I saw you all."
'Yeah, well, she's much better than I am," said Ron. At everything, he added mentally. "But I'm only just getting the hang of it. I've had Fred and George helping me and I've been practicing all summer. I asked Professor Lupin to help me, but he said he was busy with the, well, you know..." he trailed off.
Tonks' face seemed to change slightly at the mention of Lupin, it was a tiny change, Ron noticed, but one that seemed to lighten her sad face slightly. She was obviously still grieving over the death of her cousin, and Lupin reminded her of this, he assumed.
"Well, I don't know how much time I can give you," Tonks began. "But I'll do my best."
"That'd be really great, Tonks," said Ron appreciatively. "Even if it's just a lesson or two. It's really important. Next time there are Death Eaters around I'm going to be more than something for them to just trip over." He gritted his teeth.
"You bet," grinned Tonks in a dark face matching his own. "Let me know by owl when you can get out of school, and I'll come and meet you at one of the passageways – yes, Remus told me about the secret passages," grinned Tonks as Ron's ears went pink.
"Great. Thanks, Tonks," Ron said turning to leave the platform. "Oh, by the way, Harry might be on the train somewhere under his invisibility cloak. We haven't seen him for a while. I guess he could have gotten off though," he added. "Well, bye then."
Ron's first Patronus Charm lesson came within the first week of term. After Harry had gone to see Dumbledore, Hermione and himself had spoken for a while about the mysterious Half-Blood Prince. Although Ron had enjoyed seeing Harry win one over against the Slytherins, and even Hermione for once in potions, the novelty was now beginning to wear thin. He couldn't help but be jealous of Harry. After all, how many other people did he know that owned a magic map, an invisibility cloak and now a book that had all the answers?
"And of course," he muttered to Hermione, "I can't read the writing very well anyway."
"That's not the point, Ron," Hermione snapped. "Even if you could understand the script, you still shouldn't be using the instruction. What if it's wrong? What if it's dangerous? Anyone could have written that!"
"Yeah, I guess," agreed Ron reluctantly. "It would still be nice to do well for a change." He shot another glance at Hermione's essay on 'The Principals of Re-Materialization', but she caught him and turned the page over.
"Honestly, Ron, all you need to do is study a bit harder," she sighed.
"Well, I figure you do enough study for all three of us," Ron grinned disarmingly.
Hermione smiled back, though not as enthusiastically as he would have liked. It was so great to have ordinary Hermione back, and even sitting here with her in the Common Room talking about books and homework was a fair price to pay for her company.
"Harry won't be back for a while, so I'm going to fact check my essay one last time in the Library. Maybe you should think about coming too," she added, standing up and giving him a very McGonagall-esque look down her nose.
"Nah, I might go visit Dobby. He's probably missed us over the holidays."
"You just want another dessert," Hermione said reproachfully.
Ron grinned. He loved how she could see right through him sometimes. "Yeah, I could go another spotted dick."
"Well, say hi to Dobby and Winky for me, won't you? And be nice to Kreacher if you see him."
Ron nodded, and thought that if he saw Kreacher he'd give him a kick in the pants as soon as be nice. Hermione left the room and Ron leaned back in his chair. It's not really that late, he thought. Perhaps I should see if Tonks is free now?
Tonks had sent Pigwidegeon back almost immediately and Ron wasted no time in chucking his jacket on and borrowing the Marauder's Map from Harry's trunk. It wouldn't do to be caught by Snape exciting the castle.
Ron was met by Tonks as promised as he clambered out of the back door of Honeyduke's. She still looked pale and wan and just...plain Ron noticed as she lead him to her small flat nearby.
It was sparsely furnished but not unpleasant. It was certainly a step up from Grimmauld Place at any rate. The lesson itself lasted about an hour and a half, as Tonks talked him through the technical side of conjuring a Patronus Charm.
Ron demonstrated what he could do, and felt shame wash over him as Tonks grinned at his small and utterly cute Patronus. He felt like such an arse. Why couldn't he have something manly like an eagle or a tiger, instead of a bloody puppy?
Thankfully Tonks didn't say anything about it, and continued with the lesson. At the end Ron had a rudimentary idea of how to send a message by Patronus and felt quite pleased with himself. Still, he felt somehow quite depressed as he took leave of Tonks and headed back through the castle to Gryffindor Tower. What had happened to her? Sure, Sirius was dead and it was awful, but she'd only just met him, really. There was something in her demeanor that he found oddly familiar, but Ron just couldn't place his finger on it.