AN: I'm really sorry about not updating. I was in Seattle for a week and then my computer crashed! I could end my story here, though there is more I could and want to write. I am just going to see how the reviews go. Maybe I'll write a sequel.

The sun was just beginning to creep in the next morning, the birds were snot yet awake, but the crickets had quieted. There was complete silence throughout the Burrow. That is, until Ron heard a gasp and a soft whimper coming from Hermione's room. He woke form his half-sleep and whispered "alohamora" at her door, wand ready.

Hermione was twisted in her sheets. She was crying and sweating, shaking vigorously. Ron saw that she was not awake, but she was crying out "Please stop! You're hurting me!" She was having a nightmare, so Ron, growing concerned, touched her shoulder to wake her up. " 'Mione are you OK?" he said, and she jumped nearly completely off the bed at the touch of his hand.

She looked at Ron as he pulled his hand back, looking hurt and concerned. She couldn't stop shaking. She was covered in sweat. As she looked at Ron, she remembered her nightmare. All she could feel was Malfoy's cold hands all over her. She shuddered again and held back tears.

Ron wasn't sure what to do now. He wanted more than anything to take her sad, shaking body in his arms and make it all go away. But he couldn't do that; he was worried it would scare her away. Despite the situation, he was happy to be able to be near her again. So Ron just stood there, leaning against the post of George's old bed and gazing at her with baited breath. He knew she had a nightmare, he knew she needed to be comforted and feel safe, he just didn't' know how to do it. Ron remembered he had just posed a question and received no answer. Hermione just sat there shaking, staring at her hands. "Do you need anything?" was all Ron could think of to say.

Hermione looked up at him. She saw his face, filled with concern and sincerity, and she began to cry. For the first time since her return, she genuinely cried. Ron took his chances and began to wipe the tears off her check with his sleeve. She didn't flinch. He chanced to sit beside her on the bed. She didn't move away. Then, he bravely wrapped his arms around her, and she sobbed into his chest. He stroked her head and back gently, and felt himself begin to get bleary eyed.

"I'm so sorry." Ron croaked. Hermione pulled back and looked at him with her red, puffy eyes. She spoke to him for the first time since she was rescued from that awful place. "W.Why? Why would you be sorry?" she cried. He choked back a sob and said

"If I would have ran a little faster, I could have gotten to you in time. I watched you vanish and I couldn't do anything. It felt like I had lost everything." Hermione gasped at what Ron had just revealed.

"This isn't your fault." She whispered. He brushed a still damp curl back from her forehead. "You're soaked. You must be burning up!" he said. "You should change out of those heavy clothes before you collapse from heat exhaustion."

Hermione hung her head. "I can't." she said simply. Ron looked at her confused, and then it dawned on him. He remembered how he found her that day, chained up and covered in cuts and burns all over her body.

"Oh 'Mione!" he said as he put his hands on her shoulder. "What they did to you was horrible and painful, but scars will heal…mine did." He said as he lifted his sleeve. "You can barely see those ruddy brain marks now. Besides…" Ron looked at his hands "you are so beautiful, scars won't change that. Stinksap form Neville's plant thingies couldn't take away how beautiful you are." Hermione let her fingers run along the scars on his arm. Ron smiled smugly to himself, proud of his nearly articulate emotional sentiment.

Hermione looked completely dumbfounded by Ron's revelation, a feat quite unattainable under other circumstances. He began to lift up her sleeve, and she considered flinching back, but he ache for a friendly touch outweighed this impulse. He kissed her hand, kissed the rings that circled her wrists, and worked his way up to her elbow. She was lost in the feeling of Ron's kisses, something she had never really felt before. She jerked back suddenly, sweat dripping down her face.

Ron looked confused by her sudden action. He was trying hart to comfort her, but began to worry he went too far. "Hermione, I will always be there for you. Whenever you need me. I promise. Take as much time as you need." He got up sunken faced and began to walk out.

"Ron don't. I'm afraid to be alone right now." She admitted, not making eye contact. "You're right. I'm boiling, but I can't take off my shirt. I have a top underneath it, but I just can't. I spent so much time in that place, exposed. He could come in whenever he wanted to and just…just." Hermione began to sob.

"He can't get in here. I should have killed him that day. How could anyone do that to you? On day I'll make this right." He said standing in the middle of the room, knuckles white.

Hermione stood up, sucked up a large breath and walked over to Ron. "You got me through my time in there. Whenever the pain was too much, I thought of you." She said, finally looking him in the eye.

"Why would you think of me?" Ron asked dumbstruck.

"I heard you." She replied. "When I figured out I had the mirror, I listened to the voices." Ron still wasn't getting it. "You were talking to Harry about me being gone and…" Ron got it. "Oh! Umm…" she started "It's ok. You were upset about me being taken. People say all sorts of things in the heat of the moment. Just know that It helped me even if…" Ron butted in "I meant it. I mean it. Every hour you were gone, I didn't want to go on. I couldn't lose you without getting to love you first." Ron spat out so fast his head spun.

Hermione stood frozen. She turned around and took off her sweatshirt, revealing a light green tank top. Ron stood staring at her. All of the pain on her body and in her eyes broke his heart. He walked over to her and put his hands on her face. He looked at her questioningly. She reached up and kissed him softly. She was shaking again, but she kept her lips on his, afraid the first bit of happiness she felt in a long time was going to disappear.

But it didn't. Instead, his hands moved to her waist and his tongue brushed her lips. She complied and began to kiss him in a way she had never kissed a boy before. Ron was very careful not to scare her or upset her so he was slow and gentle. She pulled back and put her head against Ron's head.

"I'm so afraid this is never going to go away. All of this fear and hurt. I feel like I'm dirty and worthless. I get sick to my stomach when I think of him touching me." She said meekly.

"Well I'm never going away either. No matter what, love." He replied. He sat her on her bed and took her chin into his face. "You're fucking remarkable, Hermione. And that will never change."

She smiled for the first time in a long time, and hit his arm playfully. "Watch your language!" she mocked, pretending to be outraged. Then she kissed him again. He wrapped his arms around her and the kiss began to become passionate. She ended the kiss again, making Ron let out an involuntary whimper.

"I think I need to sleep, I've had a very long night." She lay back on the bed and beckoned for Ron to do the same. She and Ron turned on their sides facing the same way, and he wrapped an arm around her stomach. He nuzzled his nose into her neck and they both fell asleep almost instantly.

When Mrs. Weasley came in the next day to give Hermione her food, she found her youngest sun with his arms wrapped protectively around the bushy-haired witch. She smiled to herself and decided that breakfast could wait a few more hours.