Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling and her publishers. I get nothing from this (except derisive laughter). Don't sue me, please.
It was white light. All Ron could see was white light. It burned. He closed his eyes and it was still there. He tried to scream, but his mouth would not work.
He wondered if he was dead. But if he was dead, why was there still pain? Please make it stop, Ron begged.
After what seemed an eternity, the light began to fade, and so did the pain. Ron welcomed the end. Blackness was coming. He wondered if Harry succeeded. He wondered what become of…
"Her-my-nee," Ron croaked.
Ron head a voice from what seemed a million miles away. "Ginny. Get the healers. I think he is waking up!"
Ron was sitting up now, after hours of being prodded and poked and examined. He head felt three times its normal size, and the room kept spinning if he kept his eyes open too long. Every muscle in his body ached, and he wondered if the white light wasn't so bad after all.
Harry was in the room with him. Ginny was at his side. They were holding hands. Ron smiled. It seems that at least one thing had worked out.
When he was reasonably certain he was not going to throw up he asked, "Harry, what happened? Is it over? Did you?"
"Ron, you been out for almost three months. Take it slow. But to answer you, it is over. Voldemort is gone. I just thought of all the people I cared about, everyone that I loved. Then I made him touch me. I forced his hand up to my scar. Ron, the love poured from me into him, and he couldn't take it. He exploded."
"Love hurts."
"Funny. Good to see your wit is back to its normal level. Go back to sleep."
"Haven't I slept enough? Every muscle in my body aches? What happened to me?"
"Well," Harry said, "The muscle ache is from the charms the healers are using on you to keep your muscles from atrophying. As far as how you got here, when Voldemort exploded a huge amount of magical energy was released. It affected everything in the area, including you and Hermione. She…" Harry hesitated.
"Hermione," Ron croaked. "Is she…"
"She is alive and safe. The energy affected her differently." Harry changed the subject.
"Remember when we agreed that we would get a flat in London if we succeeded? I got one. I'm sorry I didn't consult you, but you were out of commission. All your stuff is moved in. It's just waiting for you to get out of here."
Over the next week, Ron had an obscene amount of visitors. His Dad and Mum, Bill, Charlie, the twins and even Percy, though he came by himself and stayed very shortly. Tonks and Lupin came, and Lupin played chess with him. Most of the surviving Order had visited. One, however, was conspicuous by her absence.
"Harry, why hasn't Hermione visited me?"
"Umm, Ron, she can't come to St. Mungo's right now. Did I mention she's staying with us? She wants to be near the Ministry for a while. Did they tell you that you get to leave tomorrow? You'll see her then."
Harry smiled sheepishly. Ron wondered what as up, but decided to let it wait until the next day.
Since Ron did not feel comfortable apparating yet and the flat was only a short distance from St. Mungo's, Ron and Harry walked to their new place.
"So, Hermione has been staying at our place," Ron said.
"Yes," Harry replied. "She wanted to be close by the Ministry."
"Are you going to tell me why she didn't visit me there?"
"This is the place. Don't worry Ginny and your mother has moved all your stuff in your room."
Harry opened the door and Ron looked into the sitting room of their flat. It was decorated in red and gold and resembled the Gryffindor common room. It was also quite neat and orderly, and lacked the thrown together quality of the Burrow. The walls were decorated with pictures of Harry, himself, and Hermione, along with pictures of Ron's family. Over the fireplace was the picture of the three of them at Hogsmeade station after their first year. Ron looked down at the shiny wood floors and spotted an otter lying there reading a book. Ron felt his blood rush to his feet.
Ron awoke in his bed sometime later. He saw Harry sitting at his bedside.
"That went worse than I thought it would," Harry sighed.
Ron started sputtering. "Why didn't you tell me? Is that really her? What happened?"
"Slow down, Ron, I'm going to answer everything. First, at St. Mungo's they didn't want you to get upset about this. After that, well, I just didn't know how to tell you, so I just let you see for yourself."
"Good plan."
"I was wrong to tell you like that."
"You didn't tell me."
"OK, I was just wrong. I'm sorry, mate."
Harry continued, "Second it is Hermione. Third, like I told you, when Voldemort exploded, a tremendous amount of magic energy was expended. For some reason I got very little of it. You got a hefty dose, but it appears Hermione received the worst of it."
"She was transfigured?"
"No, it actually just harnessed her potential ability to become an animagus. She had not been trying to become one, but it appears if she had she would have been able to become an otter."
"But her patronus is an otter."
"Sometimes they are the same, and sometimes they are not."
"How do you know?"
"Lupin told me."
"Oh, so now she is an animagus. Why doesn't she just change back?"
"She can't, Ron. The blast of energy did severe damage to her magical ability. She cannot change back into you human form now. She can only wait and rest and hope it returns in time."
"She's an otter," Ron said aloud, meaning to say it just to him.
"No, she's Hermione, our friend, the person you belched slugs for in second year. She can still read, given help getting to books down. She can understand us. She can't talk back, but I've been trying to rig a muggle ink pen so she can write. I've set up a couple of bells in the kitchen so she can answer yes or no questions. It's Hermione there and she needs her friends."
"Her magic will return, right?"
"We don't know, Ron. We have to give it time."
"How much? Months? Years?"
"We don't know. But," Harry lowered his voice, "If it doesn't return in a year, the healers and Lupin think it may never return."
They sat in silence for about five minutes.
"I need to take a walk," Ron said.