After lunch, the mood was still melancholy as the unspoken issue of helping Rose hung in the air around them. Ron knew that her being there was a huge problem for many different reasons, and he also knew that Hermione and Harry were thinking the same things as he was. They were after all, the most wanted teenagers in all of the magical world, and every single second for them was rigged with the potential danger of being caught and brought to Voldemort. If that were to happen, they would surely be done for, and if Rose happened to be with them, Ron was almost positive that she would end up meeting the same grueling fate as them. He knew what Voldemort was capable of; after all, he had tried to kill Harry when Harry was just a baby, and Ron knew that he would kill Rose without a second thought just because she happened to be traveling with them.
Even if they were lucky enough not to be caught though, the girl would be another mouth that they had to feed, another person to take up space in their cramped tent, and since she was just a kid, her well-being would be entirely up to them and none of them had any experience with taking care of children.
He glanced at Rose, who was sitting by herself on the couch, her legs tucked under her, her face solemn. During lunch, the trio had quizzed her a bit more about how she had sent herself back in time, trying again to figure out a way that they could help. While at first she had tried to explain her plight to them in more detail, she must have gotten frustrated at how little she really knew about the 'thing' that had sent her back because she had then stopped talking altogether. They had quickly changed the subject and had started talking about different things, hoping to cheer her up, but they could all sense that she was getting increasingly upset at the hopelessness of her current situation and had completely ignored them.
When they had gotten no response, they had all sadly looked at each other, silently agreeing to go ahead and give her some space, and she had been sitting silently by herself on the couch ever since. It had been about thirty or so minutes and she had yet to do anything but sit and stare at the floor, still paying zero attention to any of them.
Ron watched as Harry decided to be the first to try and engage her again and slowly walked over to the couch to sit by her. Ron was relieved when he saw them start talking quietly to each other and he felt a rush of gratitude for his best mate, as Ron literally was clueless about what to do himself. He knew that she was his daughter, but he didn't feel like he was her dad. He hadn't raised her, taken care of her, watched her get older every day for eight years. He wanted to protect her of course, but that would have been true for any lost child that they had happened to find in the middle of the woods.
He could tell that his behaviour towards her was starting to upset her as well, and he couldn't blame her for this at all. To imagine his own parents looking at him as if he were a stranger rather than their son made him feel like crying, and he wasn't even a little kid!
He turned to stare at Hermione as she was cleaning up the plates and silverware from their lunch, her face still furrowed in concentration as she thought, completely oblivious to being stared at. As he watched, he wanted nothing more than to just run over and grab hold of her, to protect her from everything for the rest of his life. He took a deep breath before walking towards her and lightly grabbing hold of her elbow, urging her to turn around and face him. When she did and looked up at him expectantly, he momentarily forgot what he was going to talk to her about. His feelings for her had gotten much stronger as the years had gone by, but since Rose's news of her not being in his future, the love that he had for her was now mixed in with fear and despair at the thought of losing her in any way.
"You okay?" she asked him quietly, probably confused by his silence.
"I just- I feel awful." he responded as he let out a sigh. "I really have no clue what to do."
"Yeah, I feel the same," she responded, nodding her head in understanding.
"It really is a shitty situation."
She didn't even chastise him for his language as she looked over his shoulder to stare at the girl, her beautiful face etched with worry. With the limited information that Rose had given them, Ron knew that there was no way that they would be able to help her get back to where she needed to be, but maybe they could try and get her to someone who could.
"We can't help her Hermione," he went on. "We can't get her back to where she belongs, but we can't let her stay here with us either."
Hermione's eyes moved to his face again and she nodded in hesitant agreement. "So what are we going to do with her then?" she asked sadly.
He paused, the answer coming to him. "I want to send her to Bill and Fleur's-they can keep her safe for the time being. Bill's a curse breaker so maybe he will know more about the stone that Rose is talking about. Anyway, it would at least be a start."
Hermione bit her lip, again looking over at Rose. "I agree with you. Her being here with us is much too dangerous...but I have a feeling that she's not going to take kindly to your plan. I don't think she'll want to leave you."
"I know-I mean I sort of figured." he sighed wearily. "So how do we go about telling her?"
Hermione paused, seemingly deep in thought again. "I'm sorry Ron, but I have no idea...you just need to go and talk to her," she finally said.
Without allowing himself to think too much about it before doing so, he pulled Hermione into a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around her. She stiffened for a second before hugging him back, though hesitantly, as if she were confused as to why he was doing it.
"What's the hug for?" she finally asked, her face sideways against his chest.
He shrugged. "Moral support I guess. I'm terrified to tell Rose that we're going to send her away."
Although it was true, and he was nervous about telling Rose of his plans, the truth was that he just really wanted to hug Hermione, and figured that it was a valid enough excuse.
She lightly laughed. "She's eight years old Ron, she can't be that scary."
"I'm so scared!" he said in a phony voice, smiling when he felt Hermione's arms tighten around him, mockingly patting him on the back.
Still smiling, he turned to rest his cheek on top of her head and spotted Rose watching the two of them, a hurt scowl on her face. When she realized that he was looking at her, she quickly changed her face into a neutral look and turned her eyes back to the chessboard that Harry had apparently just pulled out. Harry had been too concentrated on setting up the game to notice the look that she had given his two best friends.
Ron was still certain that she had a lot of things that she was hiding, and he knew that for some reason a big one had to do with Hermione. He got nervous again because he didn't want to upset her and make her so angry at him that she wouldn't open up and tell him the truth.
"Why don't you tell her," he suggested.
"I'm not the one that needs to tell her and you know it," Hermione said as she stepped back from him, tucking her stray curls behind her ears. She needs her dad."
"I'm not her dad!" he exclaimed before sighing at the look she gave him. "I mean yet, I'm not her dad yet."
"Well, you are the closest that she's going to get to it right now, so it's you that she needs."
He nodded. "Fine, I know. I'll try."
He slowly made his way to the couch and Rose didn't even so much as look at him when he slowly sat down beside her.
"Harry, do you mind giving us a moment?" he asked.
Harry looked at him and nodded before standing up and making his way to Hermione where they started their own quiet conversation. Ron figured that Hermione was clueing him in to what was happening.
Once Harry was out of earshot, Ron turned towards Rose. "Hey," he said softly.
Her eyes didn't leave the floor and she didn't answer, but he could see her tighten her jaw, and knew that she was listening.
"I'm sorry that I'm not-that I'm no good at this," he said sincerely.
He watched as her bottom lip started to lightly quiver, but she still made no other movements.
"I just-"
"None of you know how to help me get back, do you?" she cut him off, her face slowly turning to meet his, her eyes welling up with unshed tears.
He was torn on what to do, but he figured that he shouldn't lie to her or give her false hope. "No Rose, I'm sorry."
With his words, she let out a sob and threw herself to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and sobbing into his shoulder.
With wide eyes, he turned to look at Hermione and Harry, both of whom had turned to watch them at the noise she had made. Ron's eyes sought Hermione's, silently asking her what he should do about the now hysterical child. She looked at him as if he was daft before mouthing the words 'hug her back'. He swallowed before slowly turning some and wrapping his arms around Rose, whose face was now on his chest as he sat awkward and stiff. He made little shushing noises and slightly stroked her hair, hoping that he was at least able to give her a little comfort. He didn't say anything to her, as there really wasn't anything that he could say that would make the situation any better. He just held her until she quieted, her body still shaking with tremors with every inhale.
"Rose," he started gently, knowing that he was about to make her even more upset than she already was. "It's too- it's too dangerous for you out here. We are already at risk, and none of us would ever forgive ourselves if anything bad were to happen to you while in our care-and-well, right now-that's a high possibility…"
Rose let go of him and sat back to study his face, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What are you saying?" she asked slowly, her body already tense with what looked like suspicion.
"I'm going to take you to Bill and Fleur's house in Cornwall. It's a safe house and you'll be much safer there than-"
"No!" Rose almost screamed, a terrified look on her face. "You can't leave me!"
Ron was at a loss as to what to do, the poor girl looked panicked, as if he had just told her the worst news in the world. He had expected her to be upset of course, but he hadn't been prepared for this.
"I want to stay with you," she pleaded, tears pouring down her face.
Ron certainly wasn't able to deal with crying girls, no matter their age. He stuttered a bit trying to find words of comfort, but was unable to and just clamped his mouth shut.
Hermione must have sensed that he was stuck, because she quickly made her way to the couch and sat down on the opposite side of Rose.
"We just don't want you to get hurt, and we don't know what else t-"
"I don't want your help!" Rose yelled at her, her face a mixture of betrayal and rage. "This is all your fault!"
Hermione sat back in shock as Rose squirmed out from between them and took off running across the tent, pushing against the flap to get outside before disappearing, her cries having resumed even harder than they had before.
Hermione's face was a mixture of hurt and confusion, and Ron reached over and gently squeezed her knee before standing up. "I'll go try and fix it," he told her before making his way out of the tent, stopping only to bend down and pick up Hermione's extra pair of snow boots that Rose had worn earlier.
He found Rose standing and watching a small stream of melting snow as it flowed down a small slope. She was now quiet, but he could see that tears were still making their way down her face. She said nothing as he stood beside her, but she took the boots when he wordlessly held them out in her direction. He then bent down and used his wand to dry the socks on her feet one at a time before she put on the boots. Once done, he stood up, putting his hands in his pockets.
"What else do you think we should do?" he finally asked her. "If you know all about what we are doing, then you know how much danger that we are currently in."
Rose sniffed and nodded her head. "I know," she said quietly. "But you're my only chance Daddy. You're the only one who can help me, I just know it, and if you leave..."
Ron sighed. "I'm not some-some hero Rose, I can hardly take care of myself, much less someone else. And I know nothing, I repeat, nothing about time travel."
She didn't say anything.
"Bill's older, smarter; he might be able to figure out what to do. He's your best chance."
She took a shaky breath, and he could tell that she knew that she had lost this battle. "Can we wait- just until tomorrow?" she asked quietly, looking up at him.
He nodded. "Sure. If that's what you want."
"Leaving you is not what I want," she snapped. "But I know that I don't have a choice in the matter," she added sadly.
They stood in silence for several long moments.
"I also wanted to ask you-"
He stopped talking as the girl violently shook her head no, her eyes still on the stream.
Undeterred, he continued. "What happens-happened to Hermione?"
"I don't know," she answered stiffly.
He sighed. "I may not know you yet Rose, but I know me, and like me, you are a terrible liar. So I'm asking you again, and I want you to tell me the truth this time. What happens to Hermione?"
Rose slowly shook her head no again, but didn't say anything.
"Please, Rose. I need to know." he begged, his voice coming out desperate. "If there's any way that I can fix it, I need to know everything beforehand."
Rose paused, but Ron watched as her shoulders fell, the fight leaving her. "She's dead." Rose said quietly.
He felt his heart drop. He had suspected as much but to actually hear it made his insides go ice cold. He bit his lip and shut his eyes tight, not wanting to accept the truth of her two words. "Fuck." he muttered, too upset to even caring that Rose was hearing him.
"Hermione," he moaned, his hands gripping the sides of his face. "Wh-what happens to her? Is it the war? You-know-who? Death eaters?" he asked hurriedly.
"No." Rose shook her head." She died in 2006."
"How?" he rasped out, his chest feeling like it was caving in. Hermione would have only been in her twenties. What the fuck had happened to her?
"Someone..someone killed her."
Ron took a deep breath, trying to control his emotions. "Do you know who?"
Rose nodded. "Lucas Miller."
"Lucas Miller," Ron repeated slowly under his breath. The name was completely unfamiliar and he was positive that he had never heard it before.
"How?"
Rose shook her head. I'm not- I'm not sure. Nobody has told me the whole story and you never talk about it. All I know is that he was-ill in the head- and he escaped from St. Mungo's. Hermione was in the park when she saw him and she tried to help him but…" she trailed off.
"Ohgod." Ron moaned, his hand coming up to run through his hair. Just the vague scene of what she was describing was enough to make him feel sick.
"Was there not anybody with her? How could she let her guard down like that? I mean, what was she even doing there?"
"She was...she was pushing her baby in a stroller," Rose said softly.
"Baby?!" he asked.
"Yeah. Me," she sighed. "I was the baby."
Ron swore that his heart had stopped beating. "Hermione is your mum?" he asked breathlessly. His insides crumbled at the unfairness of the situation. He was finding out that not only was his greatest wish going to come true, but his greatest nightmare as well.
Calm down, he internally told himself. Now that he knew what was going to happen, he could stop it right? If he knew beforehand, he could stop it couldn't he?
"Rose, can I stop it from happening? Now that I know? I mean, I can just prevent it from happening, and then Hermione will be just fine right?" he asked quickly.
Rose shook her head a little bit, her eyes widening. "I-I don't know. You said that- that you couldn't save her without the stone because the timeline was already set."
He felt defeated, and knew that he was going to need a lot more information and soon. As for Rose's behavior, everything was clicking into place in his head and it was like a lightswitch had been turned on. "That's why you said that this was her fault then? It was because I...I was trying to go back in time to save her?"
Rose nodded.
"It wouldn't be her fault though. It's not like she asked to be-to be murdered Rose."
The girl shook her head. "You can't understand! It's her fault that you're sad all of the time! And then ever since you found the stupid time turner, saving her is all you seem to care about. You don't ever have any time for me anymore."
Ron watched as her bottom lip started quivering, and he could tell that she was trying to stop herself from crying again so he tried to make her feel better. "I-I know that I can't really apologize for something that I haven't even done yet, but I am sorry." He sighed. "But-shouldn't you want me to save her? I mean-she's your mum. Don't all kids love their mum?"
"Can you love someone that you've never met?" Rose shot back. "You're my Daddy, but I see it now when you look at me that you don't love me." Her eyes welled up with tears and he felt awful.
"I'm sorry Rose, I really am. But I suppose being a dad is like-you have to fall in love with someone over time I guess, even your own kids."
She shook her head adamantly. "You tell me all of the time that you fell in love with me the very first time that you saw me."
"Okay, I'm sure that's true but- right now I don't know how to be a dad and again, I am sorry about that."
Rose looked behind him, her face turning stony. "She's watching us."
Ron followed her gaze and saw Hermione standing there and he again turned to Rose. "Let's go inside. Not a word about this to anyone else alright?" he said as he held his hand out to her.
Rose nodded, taking his hand, and together they made their way back into the tent.