5. "Meant To Be" -BeBe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line
Hermione walked slowly up the sidewalk as rain pelted her, feeling like she had forgotten something important. She couldn't remember much about the night before, just that she had gotten completely sloshed and then gotten a room at the Leaky Cauldron. And if hangovers always felt like this, she would never drink again. Her stomach was churning and her entire body was aching as if she had been hit by a truck.
She walked into an alley way and apparated, popping back into existence in the alley way beside her house. She walked around to the front door, and unlocked it with the key under the mat. The foyer was dark, made even darker by the pouring rain coming down in torrents outside.
Footsteps coming up the hallway gave her pause and she pulled out her wand brandishing it in front of her, but she immediately lowered it when she saw who it was.
"Hermione! Where have you been?"
"Ron, you gave me a fright." She said, clutching her chest before stowing her wand. "What are you doing here?"
"I've been waiting on you since last night! Harry said you told him you were coming directly back here and then you never showed up! I've been worried sick! Alerted the Department of Missing Witches and Wizards at the Ministry. Blimey, Hermione. You could have owled!"
Hermione's face flushed. She didn't want to admit her embarrassing night to him, but she saw no way around it. "I... You think I'm boring," she said, her voice shaking, partially from emotion, but mostly from how she was shivering in her soaked through clothes. "And Harry, he was on about how I never do anything, spontaneous or make mistakes. I just wanted to do something out of my comfort zone. So, I went to the White Wyvern and I got extremely tossed. I ended up getting a room at the Leaky Cauldron, because I couldn't apparate home."
"Bloody hell, 'Mione, the White Wyvern? How did you get to the Leaky Cauldron?" Ron asked.
Hermione frowned. "I- I can't remember," she said, looking up in alarm. "I don't know how I got there."
Ron frowned and sighed. "Look, Hermione, I'm sorry. I can't tell you how sorry I am. Harry really put it into perspective for me and I know that you're not anything like Lavender, and I love that! I don't want you to be anything like her and I shouldn't throw that in your face during an argument. It's childish, truly, and I'm sorry. I know you're not ready, you know, for sex, and that's fine. I'll wait. I'll wait for as long as it takes, because," he paused, sucking in a deep breath, "because, I love you, Hermione. I do."
Hermione's mouth dropped open. That was the first time he had ever told her that he loved her. Tears sprung into her eyes and she flung her arms around him. "Oh, Ron. I love you, too."
He stroked her soaking hair, and squeezed her tightly. "I'm sorry, 'Mione. Can you forgive me?"
"Of course. Of course, Ron. I'm sorry, too." She sniffled.
"You'd better go and have a hot bath," Ron said, as he pulled away. "I'll make you some tea. You're freezing." She nodded and headed upstairs as he turned for the kitchen.
She turned on the tap in her bathroom, heating until it was as hot as she could stand it. She began undressing, peeling layer by layer off of her sore body. She pulled her underwear off, taking pause as she noticed the blood. Her period wasn't due yet. She frowned, but dismissed it quickly. Maybe it had something to do with all of the stress she had been under lately. She had heard somewhere that stress could affect your monthly. She tossed the knickers into the rubbish bin and lowered herself into the now full tub of scalding water.
She hissed as the water washed over her, unable to fathom how people could do this every night. It was strange, how a little fire whiskey could affect her whole body. She was going to have to brew up a draught for the pain. She relaxed against the tub and slid deeper into the water.
Ron calling her name woke her with a start. "Coming," she called, hastily washing herself and clambering out of the tub. She used her wand to dry herself, and styled her her hair into controlled chaos. She grabbed clothes from the armoire and donned them quickly, barely glancing at the things she had picked.
She hurried down the stairs, her stomach churching at the jarring movement. Ron had readied the tea. A kettle sat on a tray with two cups, and all the fixings. "There you are." He smiled brightly at her.
She smiled in return, ignoring the boiling feeling in her gut. He must have read it on her face, because he said, "Hangovers suck, but there's nothing better to ease them than a strong pot of tea."
Hermione frowned, something surfacing in her mind. "Hm... I think I've heard greasy food is the best cure."
Ron chuckled, "Nah, it's tea. Here," he said, pouring her a cup. She plopped in one sugar and stirred it, bringing it to her lips and taking a tentative sip.
"See? Better, huh?" Ron grinned at her.
"Mm," she murmured, non-commitally. She wasn't sure if it was helping or making her feel worse. Ron handed her a vial and she eyed it speculatively.
"Pain draught." He said. "For the headache."
Hermione tried to hide her grimace, but Ron noticed. "I didn't make it." He reassured her, a small smile tugging at his lips. "You know I'm dead awful at Potions. Got it from Mum."
"When...?" Hermione wondered, thinking she might have seriously misjudged the length of the nap she had taken in the bath.
"Oh, not today. I've had it for a while. She sends me home with something every time I visit. Always worried I'll need something and I won't have it. Can't have that on her conscience, Mum can't."
"Bless her for it. My whole body aches." Hermione said, downing the vial and taking another sip of her tea. She noticed a dull in the ache as soon as the potion slipped down her throat.
"Harry and Ginny have asked us over for supper. If you feel up for it," Ron said, watching her intently as she sipped on her tea.
"Sure, yeah. I think I'll have a nap before we go, if you don't mind." Hermione said, realising she was knackered, now that the pain and nausea had eased some.
"Of course, yeah. I'll just watch the box." Ron nodded toward the television in the living room.
Hermione laughed, "Okay, the box it is. Wake me when it's nearly time to leave."
She scampered upstairs and buried herself beneath her thick layer of blankets, snuggling up and listening to the rain pounding the roof. She was out in minutes.
"'Mione... 'Mione, wake up..." Hermione was shaken awake by Ron some time later. The window showed that it was pitch dark outside.
"Is it time to go now?" Hermione asked, stretching with a loud yawn.
"Yeah, they're waiting on us." Ron said, grabbing her hand and helping her to stand. The soreness in her muscles had returned and she groaned.
"I am never drinking again. Remind me of that if I ever suggest it."
Ron laughed, "I will. Trust me, I didn't much like not knowing where you were or if you were okay. Thinking about you blacking out in the street is a bit scary."
Hermione frowned, still unnerved by not being able to remember how she got to the Leaky Cauldron. She remembered drinking shot after shot of fire whiskey, sitting alone at the bar and wallowing over her fight with Ron. She could remember getting a room at The Leaky and she remembered waking up there. But between the two, there was nothing. Just a blank space where her memory should have been. She frowned.
"Hermione," Ron interupted her thoughts. "We should get going. They've turned on their floo so we don't have to apparate in the rain."
"Thank Merlin for that," Hermione said, not eager to step back into the freezing spray.
She stepped into her fireplace, grabbed a handful of floo powder from the urn by the grate and threw it at her feet, speaking Harry's address clearly. She was deposited in his and Ginny's fire place a few moments later. She dusted the soot off of the clothes before stepping out, doing a quick Scourgify charm on the carpet to remove any grime that might have come from her shoes.
"Hermione!" Ginny squealed from the kitchen. "Ron said you went out and got tossed. How was it? Did you vomit?"
Hermione shook her head at her friend, to used to her antics to be bothered by them. "Not that I can remember, but I feel like complete rubbish. My whole body hurts, like I've been hit by the Knight Bus or something."
Harry appeared in the kitchen then, "Who got hit by the Knight Bus?"
"Nobod-"
"Oomph." There came a loud clatter in the grate as Ron appeared, seemed to lose his footing and tumbled out onto the beige carpet, leaving black smudges in his wake.
Ginny rolled her eyes, "Honestly, Ron Weasley, this is exactly why we keep the floo turned off."
"Shoddy fireplace," Ron grumbled. "Almost took a wrong turn."
"How on earth did you manage that?" Harry asked, perplexed.
"Couldn't remember the numbers right. I almost ended up having tea with a crazy old bat and her thirty cats."
"Ah," Ginny said. "That'd be Mrs. Tumnus. She's a sweetheart, but you can smell her cats from the other end of the hallway."
"Right," Ron said, waving his wand to clear away the soot from the carpet and his clothes. "Whatare we eating? I'm starving."
"That's all you ever think about." Ginny complained. "Food, food, Quidditch, food, food."
"Steak and Kidney pie. We're having steak and kidney pie. Sometimes I worry that you two will blow this apartment to bits with your quarrelling." Harry said, running his hands through his already mussed up locks.
"Hey," Ginny protested. "I haven't even taken my wand out yet."
"I know. I'm stopping it ahead of time, seeing as last time you two took out a lamp and several throw pillows before I could disarm you."
"He said the Cannons were better than the Harpies! He can't say that, I'm his ruddy sister. He's supposed to support me." Ginny exclaimed.
"I didn't say they were better than you, I said they were better in general." Ron said, shrugging.
"They haven't won a match in ages!" Ginny snapped. "We're undefeated as of yet, this season."
"When is your next match Ginny?" Hermione asked, effectively cutting off Ron's retort. 'Thank you,' Harry mouthed at her and she winked.
"Two weeks from now," Ginny grinned enthuiastically. "We're playing Puddlemere United. We're going to crush them." She said happily, bringing her fist down hard on the counter.
Harry set the table as Ginny continued to gush about the upcoming match and her teammates. They all sat down together and began eating. "I saw Malfoy today, as I was leaving the market. He seemed upset about something."
Hermione paused with her fork nearly to her mouth. Ron chuckled, "The git probably ran out of hair gel."
Hermione frowned. "I don't think he uses hair gel much these days. Every time I see him out, it isn't styled."
"Pay him a lot of attention, do you?" Ron asked, raising an amused eyebrow.
Hermione laughed. "Oh, yes, Ron. We're secret lovers, didn't you know?"
Ron rolled his eyes. "Don't even joke. I mean, could you imagine?" He turned to look at Ginny and Harry across the table, "Hermione and Malfoy?" Every one laughed, including Hermione. It was a ridiculous notion, but why were her cheeks pinking up? She shouldn't be flushing, it was only a jest.
"Any way, did you catch the muggle football match? Dean owled me about it the day before yesterday. I don't know what I was doing before watching the box. It's the greatest invention. It's like moving pictures, but for hours at a time. Remarkable."