Hello again. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, it really means a lot :D

Here's the next chapter. I hope you like it. Let me know what you think.

Oo, I'm off to London on wednesday, and I won't be back until the following tuesday so I won't be updating until then. For me that's a long time! Don't worry though, after that I won't keep you waiting :D

Sarah XxXxX ;)

Chapter 2 – In the arms of a lover

It was five months into our quest to find the remaining Horcruxes, and the three of us were back at Grimmauld place. It wasn't where we wanted to be, we had had to go back there, the three of us had been hurt whilst retrieving the first Horcrux we had found, which had turned out to be Hufflepuff's cup. I wish I could say it was skill and intelligence that had made us find it, but it wasn't. We had literally stumbled upon it.

Harry had decided that it might help us if we went to look at the house Voldemort's father had lived in before his son had killed him. Whilst Ron was sceptical that Voldemort would hide something like that in the place he had resided during our fourth year, whilst awaiting Harry's arrival at the nearby graveyard, Harry realised that we couldn't second-guess anything when it came to Voldemort.

I was curled up in bed coming out of my potion-induced enchanted sleep when I started to cry. Instead of being open about it I tried to hide it, I stuffed the quilt in my mouth to muffle the sound of my sobbing and pulled the pillow over my head, I'm not sure what I thought it would achieve, but it seemed like a good thing to do at the time.

I was falling back to the place in my mind I had been taken to in the hidden room Harry had discovered in the house. Ron had said it reminded him of the Chamber of Secrets – a room only penetrable by Parseltongue and entered by a tunnel, which went deep under the house. I had gone to peer down the tunnel but had been struck by a force so powerful it knocked me off my feet and sent me into the wall, but that wasn't what bothered me, I was in excruciating pain, I thought for a second I had been hit by the Cruciatus curse but then I could think no more as I writhed on the floor, the pain consuming every fibre of my being.

I heard voices in my head, every bad thing that had ever happened to me came flooding back to me, but it felt ten times worse. If I had been able to think I would have noticed the tears escaping my eyes, as it was, the pain was all consuming so I could think of nothing.

Ron entered my bedroom and hurried over to my bedside when he saw me trying to disappear under the covers and the pillow.

'Hermione what's wrong?' he asked, the panic obvious in his voice.

I tightened my grip on the pillow and clamped it over my ears, trying to drown out his voice. Ron took hold of my hand and tried to lessen my hold on the pillow.

'Hermione stop fighting me, let go, I'm here; I'll make things better. I promise I will, just let go.'

I had refused to let go but Ron managed to prize my fingers out of the grip I had and threw the pillow on the floor. He pulled the quilt away from my face and brushed the hair out of my eyes.

'Hermione please, tell me what's wrong. I can't fix it unless you tell me what's the matter. Please.'

He had managed to grab both of my hands even though I had tried to pull away from his grip, I struggled against him for a minute but then I had looked at him and I couldn't tear my eyes away from his. This was probably the best thing I could do. Something in my subconscious mind told me the eyes that I was looking at were ones to be trusted, instantly my breathing slowed a little and I stopped trying to pull away from Ron.

'Hermione say something, anything. Just tell me what to do.'

'R…Ron?' I managed to choke out as I started to think a little clearer, the horrors in my mind's eye slowly leaving me.

'I'm here my darling, I'm here,' he said, not taking his eyes off mine.

I calmed down quickly, knowing nothing would happen whilst Ron was next to me. He perched on the edge of the bed and took his hand off mine and started to stroke my cheek with his thumb.

Before I realised what I was doing I had sat up and thrown my arms around his neck, clinging on as if for my life. His hand went around my back holding me to him with the comfort and strength he always did. I started to sob.

'Hermione, you need to lie down, you're not well enough to be sat up. Please, for me.'

I made a sound, which I meant to be a 'no' but came out as a muffled squeak. Ron, however, interpreted my protest correctly.

'I'm not going anywhere Hermione, I'll be right next to you the whole time. I'm not letting go of you, okay? Just lie down for me, please.'

I took in a deep shuddering breath and pulled away from him ever so slightly.

'Promise?' I whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear.

'I promise, I'll stay here for as long as you need.'

I pulled away from him fully but took his hand in mine. I laid back down not letting go of his hand. He kicked his shoes off and they landed haphazardly on the floor. He climbed onto the bed behind me and got under the covers, he slid his arm under my neck and put his arm across my waist. I turned towards him and wrapped my arm around him pulling him as close to me as was physically possible.

'Ron…I…I was back in that room…I was-'

'Hermione, if you don't want to go through this again, I'll understand, I don't need an explanation. Just try and relax, close your eyes and relax. I'm here now; nothing's going to happen to you. He moved his arm up my back and to the bottom of my neck. He started stroking the skin just below my hairline, something he knew comforted me. He kissed my forehead and I raised my head to him. I looked deep into his eyes, the blue colour calming me deeply.

'I love you Hermione, so much, just remember that. Any time you're lonely, or any time you're sad, just remember that I love you and that you're the most important person to me in the entire world.' He kissed my nose, but I didn't take my eyes off his.

'I love you too Ron, will you be with me forever? Will you promise?'

I now know I should never have asked him to answer that, with everything that was going on, it was unfair to say the least. He must have known there was a chance he wouldn't be able to keep his promise, but he said what I needed to hear, as he always did. Anything to make me feel better.

'Forever Hermione, I promise.'

That was the second way I cried – In the arms of a lover.

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