It started with Harry and Ron. After spending so long cold and filled with fear, curling up around them seemed safe. At first, she would curl up with Ron while Harry kept watch, then again with Harry while Ron sat vigil. Then before the war was over, her boys started curling up together while she stayed up to keep guard at the mouth of the tent. When the war ended, she assumed her constant bed companions would scatter to their respective beds and leave her cold once more. She couldn't have been more wrong.
Number 12 Grimmauld Place once again became Harry's home. Hermione took over a room there at his insistence and tried to help make it seem more homely than it was but the darkness that seeped into her nightmares soon became part of her waking horrors too. The squeak of the stair, the shuffle of feet, the fluttering of a drape all brought fears and insecurities to the forefront of her mind. She swore that the shadows were Death Eaters and the sound of cars passing by on the muggle street was surely Voldemort coming to kill them.
Sleep alluded her and food seemed to have no flavor. She could still count her ribs even months after the battle was over and walking up and down the staircase left her out of breath. But she put on a brave face and kept on pushing through until the day she had a full blown panic attack inside the entrance to Diagon Alley. Too many people and too many noises made her relive the Battle of Hogwarts. The laugh of a small child outside of Flourish and Blott's had her hearing Bellatrix Lestrange in her ear. If Ron hadn't been with her, she would surely have been admitted to St. Mongo's instead of hurried home to her bed. After that, either Ron or Harry would sleep with her again.
Unbeknownst to Hermione, her boys were having trouble too. Harry lived in a pit of guilt that enveloped him, his dreams filled with the deaths of people who had died in the wars. His Auror training bringing those horrors to the front of his mind during the day, made it hard to sleep at night. Ron couldn't cope with his brothers death or with the fact that life would never be the way he thought it would. His dreams of being a Keeper for a famous Quidditch team on hold while he tried to make sense of what his life looked like now.
The first time Ginny found them in bed together, her brow furrowed and her lips pinched. But after standing in the doorway and catching Hermione's eye, she toed off her shoes and climbed in too. The next night she brought Luna with her who snuggled into Ron's side and curled her fingers around Hermione's wrist. One by one, people started showing up at night to sleep, and they all felt better for it, limbs tangled together and heartbeats evening out.
Before she knew it, her bed was the size of her room and bodies littered it in disarray. Neville lay across Luna's stomach with one hand clutching Ron's wrist. Ron's other arm was against Hermione's calf and lightly scratching Pansy's scalp. Draco held Pansy's hand with his nose buried deep in Hermione's curls. Pansy's fingers danced across Ginny's stomach and her leg thrown over Harry's hip while Theo snored softly between George and Daphne. Millicent's legs were entwined with Lee's and Tracy drew lazy circles across his spine with Seamus's arm under her head. Dean clung to Seamus's back with his fingers buried in Lavender's hair, lightly scratching her scalp, the occasional growl permeating the air if he stopped. Angelina lay across Lavender's hips and her fingers were wrapped around Dean's ankle. Padma and Parvati clung to one another while Blaise wrapped himself like Devil's Snare around Padma. Gregory had Blaise's hand curled around his own while Hannah laid across his pectoral muscles. Oliver lay between Hannah's thighs and Alicia had her whole body sheathed around Hannah's left leg and Oliver's arm. Dennis slept face down with Katie asleep against his shoulder while Marcus snorted lazily with her hand across his chest. Cormac seemed to be waking slowly while trying to pull himself away from Romilda's clingy hands and trying to move around Terry without waking him. Susan's wand buzzed beneath her head to wake her when Cormac finally got free of the tangle of limbs and began trying to slowly rise Cho from her cocoon made up of Michael and Graham, whom had Marietta in a strange headlock that she preferred. Astoria sniffled quietly when Ernie got up to wake Roger and Anthony but he soothed her worries and wrapped her around Justin to ease her back to sleep before she woke fully.
Slowly, people began to rise. Tea was brewed and showers taken, clothes donned and toast plated. The house came alive with whispered have a good day's and brushes of lips across foreheads. Some separated, others leaving in groups of threes and fours. Some went to work, some went home. Some lingered, while others all but ran for the door. Some went to their parents homes and Manors, while others hid in shadowy corners of the house.
Hermione sat in the kitchen after the worker bee's left this odd hive and sipped her tea. She would need to reinforce the bed today or it would surely collapse under the strain of so many bodies and she contemplate putting in a couple extra showers in one of the extra bedrooms. She had found Neville in her bathtub the night before and while it made her giggle when his cheeks turned red, she knew there wasn't alot of room with all the people sleeping here and the fear she felt when she accidentally ran into one of her bed hogging classmates was getting on her last nerve.
Setting her empty tea cup in the sink, she set a cleaning charm on the extra plates and cups that were used this morning and left for her job in the Ministry Archives. She would be the first one home and the last one to fall asleep but she knew that tonight, just like every night for the last couple of weeks, she would be able to sleep soundly next the other young victims of the war.
The fact that alot of the people she shared a bed with were once her schoolyard enemies, spoke volumes. How could the world pit man against man and hope that everyone came out unscathed? It was impossible. Eventually, these people would move on. They wouldn't need to cling so tightly to one another. But for now, she would welcome Pansy and hold her hand, let Blaise curl up beside her, kiss Theo's nose goodnight, soothe Millicent's fears at 2:36 am like clockwork, and move Draco's blonde fringe from falling in his eyes in the morning with a brush of fingers and a smile, as long as they held her and her friends in return when they needed it. They would get through this tangled together.