A/N: Alright, so it has been a really long time since I last updated this story, and I'm really sorry about that, but it has been really busy lately with exams and being drunk.
Well, chapter 12 is here now, and I promise it won't take this long until next chapter will arrive.

This chapter is from Hermione's POV.
Read and enjoy :)

I held my wand ready, not really sure if I was ready. I took another deep breath and nodded, a signal to Ginny that I was as ready as I could get.

"Why don't we start with something simple? Like expelliarmus? Do you remember the wand movement?"

I nodded again and pointed my wand towards Ginny. I silently mumbled the spell and watched Ginny's wand fly through the air and towards me. I grabbed it and threw it back to her. She smiled to me,

"Good. After the spell you cast on me that first night, I knew you could do this, though. Now, would you like to try an accio spell? You would need that one",

I just nodded and pointed the wand to a bookshelf,

"accio, Lord of the Rings". The book flew towards me and landed in my hand. I went over to Ginny and handed it to her,

"I know you probably still don't read much, but I think you would like this story. It's a muggle story, though, but I'm sure you'll like it".

Ginny looked at me and answered,

"during my last year at Hogwarts, I began to find pleasure in reading. I find it rather relaxing, actually".

I smiled widely. Who would have guessed? Everything had turned out so much more different than I would have ever expected them to do. She had to tell me everything some day. She put the book down at the table and turned back to me,

"okay, this seems far too easy, how about we try something a little more difficult?",

I nodded, she gave me an evil grin. This couldn't be good. She clapped her hands together and spoke,

"wonderful. Let's try a patronus charm, then",

my eyes widened. Shoot. Alright, I knew this. This would be no problem. I had done it so many times before, I had no problem doing it again, alright, here we go, then. "expecto patronium". Nothing happened, Ginny looked confused, so was I. Oh right, happy memory. Shit, did I have any happy memories? Couldn't remember. I was about to panic for a second, then I remembered the moment when I realized she was back to stay, she wasn't leaving. I focused on the memory and muttered the spell again. This time something happened, a silver raven was now floating around Ginnys head. She looked confused, so did I.

"I thought..."

I stared at it,

"Yeah, me too".

Ginny turned to me,

"I know this would be way out of line, but do you mind meeting up with dad? You don't have to come with, I could ask him about it when I get home, but I have never heard of something like this before, and what to know if he has. I can either get him to the leaky cauldron, or I'll owl you later?"

I thought about it for a second,

"Screw limits. I need to know this right away. This scares me",

Ginny just nodded, produced her own patronus charm, whispered a few words to it and sent it off. She turned back to me,

"He should be there soon. We should run now. It's probably nothing serious, but we should find out sooner, rather than later".

I quickly walked over to her and grabbed her hand,

"Get us there. It may not be serious, but hell if I take any chances. I want to know now".

My voice was demanding, but she just nodded. Moments later my feet touched the floor again, just like my head did a second later. I felt dizzy. I had to get used to this again if I wanted to travel larger distances without throwing up. Ginny lifted me up and carried me out of the room. This had me confused, but as soon as we entered the bar area, I realized that the leaky cauldron probably had its own room you could apparate to. Clever thing to do. Ginny put me down by a table in the corner, the very same we had been using earlier that day, just before we went to see George. What a day.

She returned moments later with three bottles of butterbeer, one shot of firewhiskey and a funny green liquid I swore I would never touch. Like that would happen,

"The green one is for the nausea after apparating and hitting your head, it will take the pain you might have too, it will make you really cold on the inside, hence the butterbeer, but before you drink the butterbeer, you will have to drink the firewhiskey to get the taste from the green one away. It tastes like shit, but will cure you".

Alright, too much information for my dizzy little head right now. I gave her a confused look and she smiled at me, probably understanding how confusing she was,

"First green, yucky one".

Bottoms up. Christ! This really was awful. Ginny held up the next one,

"Now to the yummy firewhiskey",

oh joy, bottoms up again, but a little more happy about this one. She held up the butterbeer to me while I tried to lick the last few drops from the glass. She took the glass away from me, probably a good idea,

"And now the butterbeer for warmth",

I swallowed down half the bottle at once. I took a breath, and swallowed down the rest. Christ, I didn't even know I was thirsty. A few minutes later, Mr. Weasly arrived. Ginny stood up to let him see where we sat. He came over and took a glance at Ginny, who nodded. I raised an eyebrow and mentally noted that I had to ask her about this. No, never mind, Mr. Weasly's face broke into a wide grin and he suddenly embraced me,

"Hermione. It's so great to see you again. Just amazing".

He then let go of me and sat down at the other side of the table. Ginny sat down next to me. I grabbed her hand under the table, I didn't know what the whole changing of patronus meant, and I was nervous about it. Ginny's hand felt relaxing and comfortable. She squeezed my hand reassuring before she spoke,

"What can you tell us about the changing of a patronus?". He thought about it for a moment before he said anything,

"Well, for a patronus to change, is rather uncommon, but sometimes it does, it happened to Tonks when Sirius died in the ministry many years ago",

I was shocked at this, but didn't say anything.

"If you have suffered severe trauma and pain, it can change. Have you had any of that lately?"

He looked at me. I shook my head and spoke,

"No, Mr. Weasly. Not lately. Ever since the day the war ended and Ginny told me off, I haven't experienced any kind of trauma, really",

he looked shocked,

"Not since the war? But why have it changed now? This makes no sense at all",

I hesitated a moment while he was mumbling to himself,

"Mr. Weasly? It may have changed back then. I haven't used my wand since then, not until Ginny came over a few days ago".

His eyes widened,

"Really? Wow. Who would have thought. That does explain why you have been so difficult to trace trough the years".

I raised an eyebrow and moved my gaze to Ginny, but I didn't say anything. We were going to talk about this later. Mr. Weasly probably understood he had said something he shouldn't have, because he swallowed and quickly continued,

"Anyways, that could explain why you didn't know sooner. But the most important thing is what it changed to. When you first produce a patronus, it can be a random animal, but sometimes it isn't. If the animal is not random, it usually can't change, it takes major trauma to change that one. What was your first patronus?"

This was confusing, I had to read up on patronuses sometime. I could probably get some books in the Diagon alley tomorrow.

"An otter",

I answered.

"The otter, a strong, smart animal. It knows what it takes, and are a great leader. It builds, and it always build strong. To break down something an otter has built, will take a lot of time, strength and stamina. You had no random patronus, it was you in animal form",

I blushed,

"So this can only mean that either the war, Ginny or a combination of both, was very traumatic to you, what is your theory on that?"

This I did not expect, I didn't know anything about patronuses, much less at the theories, I just guessed something,

"Well, I used patronuses during the war, and even after.."

I paused, I hadn't told Ginny about what had happened at Malfoy manor with Bellatrix, and wasn't sure if I was ready to talk about it with her yet either. Mr. Weasly knew, though. I had to meet at the ministry and give my part of the story to them, just so they could have it recorded and to use for history on a later basis, I took a breath and continued,

"..what happened", Ginny gave me the same we-are-talking-about-this-later look I had given her earlier. I just ignored her for now,

"Even after that happened, I produced an otter patronus, up until the day of the battle of Hogwarts. It may have been a mix of both, but I think what happened with Ginny, might have pushed me over the edge. It's the best theory I have, at least".

Mr. Weasly nodded,

"That would make sense. After what happened during the war, I was sure it would have changed then if it was to change, but I guess that wasn't the worst that could have happened to you",

he turned to Ginny,

"Do you know why a patronus changes?"

She shook her head,

"When you face a dementor, you are forced to remember all your worst memories. When you create an patronus, it is made of happy memories. A happy memory can only be defeated by one thing, to experience the worst thing one can imagine, for some, it's torture, others losing someone or something. For Tonks it was Sirius. Can you guess what it was to Hermione?"

Ginnys eyes widened, and tears appeared, she whispered,

"Me"

Mr. Weasly nodded slowly. Ginny whispered again, but this time her voice was a little stronger,

"But why didn't mine change?"

My heart dropped, looking me wasn't her worst fear. I was pathetic,

"Losing Hermione is your worst fear?",

Ginny nodded,

"Well, once again I only have a theory, but Hermione wrote you letters, you never truly lost her. You knew she was within reach, but for Hermione you were gone for good. As far as she knew, you were no longer someone she could rely on to be there if something happened".

Both me and Ginny nodded. This made sense,

"But Mr. Weasly? You said something about the meaning of the animals, and it is never random what animal you get what it changes. Well, mine is a raven now, do you happen to know why?"

Mr. Weasly took a deep breath before he answered,

"A raven, you say. Well, a raven is also a very bright animal, but according to mythology it has been through a lot, suffered. This is a very strong animal, but can also be very sly. You can find a raven both high and low, and it's good at hiding. Again, it's very bright and strong, it just had a rough life"

I nodded, not quite sure what to answer to this. Alright, we knew it was not anything dangerous, and I knew I had some explaining to do now, and so did she. She turned to her father,

"Thanks dad. I'll be back at the Burrow in an hour or so",

he nodded and turned to me,

"It was nice to see you again, Hermione. Don't be a stranger now, alright?"

I nodded, but truth is, right now I couldn't promise anything, Ginny had to tell me about the tracking thing, and that could be very bad. And she would ask about what had happened, and I wasn't sure if I could tell her about it right now. It may have been many years ago now, but it still gave me nightmares.

We apparated back to the apartment, easier than walking, and we needed every moment of privacy that we could get now.

I sat down in the couch. No, more like fell down at it. Ginny went to the kitchen and got me a bottle of water from the refrigerator. I'm sure she would have spent ages checking it out if I hadn't been at the couch, about to throw up or pass out. I had to begin to apparate again. I tried to sit up to drink, Ginny got down on her knees again and supported my head. Thank god, because I'm not sure how long I could have kept my head up on my own. As I was about to put my head back down, I felt that I couldn't, something was stopping me from it. I lifted one of my hands to feel under my head and feel what was keeping me there. A knee? I felt some more, it was a complete set of legs. I felt something caress my hair, a hand. I opened my eyes. Wait a minute, opened my eyes? When did I close them in the first place?
I saw Ginny, my head must be resting on her lap, and it must be her hand stroking my hair,

"How are you feeling, love? You passed out, gave me quite a scare, you know".

I was seriously confused now, passed out? Why hadn't I felt it coming? I just shook my head,

"I'm feeling fine. A little dizzy, but fine. I just need some fresh air",

Ginny nodded and helped me to stand up. She held an arm around my back and followed me outside. I sat down on a chair and took a few deep breaths,

"Ginny, please tell me the truth, what did your father mean about tracking me through the years?"

She sighed, but didn't hesitate much before telling me,

"Remember I told you about how I kept meaning to come see you? Well, I never knew where to find you, so I had dad tracking a few of your letters, but I always chickened out, you know. And since you haven't used magic, it was more difficult to know where you were since the letters had little to no trace of magic around them. Sort of creepy, now that I think about it".

I let out a short laugh. Ginny looked confused at me,

"Oh, aren't we the perfect match? You are getting me tracked, and I collect every word ever written about you in a magazine. Such a wonderful couple".

Ginny had to laugh at this too,

"Yes, we are indeed a charming couple. Good thing we were stalking each other, then, and not some random persons".

We laughed at this for a couple of minutes. Then Ginny became silent. This couldn't be a good sign,

"Hermione, can I ask you about something?",

I sighed. I knew what she wanted to ask about,

"You want to know what your dad meant the he talked about what happens to me during the war, right?"

Ginny just nodded, suddenly very interested in my hair. I think she understood it was something big, because she seemed a little ashamed. I sighed again and sat up, turning around to face her,

"Ginny, I need you to look me in the eyes, you need to know I'm telling you the truth"

She didn't look up at me, so I put one hand under her chin and lifted her face, more or less forcing her to face me,

"A while before we broke in to Gringotts, we were captured and held prisoners at Malfoy manor",

I slid up my left sleeve, where the word 'mudblood* was carved into my skin. Her eyes widened at the sight, but she remained silent in order to let me continue,

"I was tortured by Bellatrix, she marked me with this word, but also she was happily handing out crucio curses to me. I thought you knew about this, I was sure Harry or Ron would have told you about this?"

She shook her head, her eyes still the size of dinner plates. I shrugged,

"Well, I'm glad they didn't. It's a rather painful memory, I never planned for you to know unless it was necessary"

Ginny stroke two fingers over the old wound,

"That bitch! If she weren't already dead",

she lowered her head and kissed it carefully. She raised her head again, stick looking at the word and whispered;

"Never again. I'm here now. Never again",

I think she was speaking more to herself than to me. Suddenly she threw her arms around me and began to cry,

"I am so sorry, Hermione, I am so sorry. I'll never let anyone hurt you ever again, I promise".

At the last word I froze for a second before I pushed her away,

"Don't promise anything like that, Ginny, it's not something you can control. Don't promise me something you can't keep",

Ginny raided an eyebrow,

"Fine, then I swear I will hunt down every poor bastard that ever hurts you and I'll hex him or her into the next millennia. How does that sound?"

I giggled, but nodded,

"If that's what you want, then go ahead".

Ginny grinned,

"wonderful".

I guess she would never change. And speaking of the devil,

"Now, how about I kiss you now? And then I have to leave".

Leave? Why did she have to leave? Oh right, quidditch. Stupid game. I just nodded, and leaned slightly forward as a sign for her to go on. Her lips met mine, they were soft, but yet demanding. Her kiss told me everything I needed to know right now, about how she wanted me right now, but wouldn't push me to anything. What a wonderful woman I had.
She broke the kiss,

"I want you so bad now, so I should leave. Better not push my luck".

I pouted, but I knew she was right. Besides she needed the focus tomorrow, and that would be all gone if I fucked her brains out tonight. Not that she would be able to focus if I kept on tempting her either. I loved knowing what I could do to her. I gave her one last peck on the cheek,

"Good luck tomorrow. I'll be listening to the game as always. Owl me about you next visit, will you?"

She nodded,

"I might drop by tomorrow night, though, but I'm not promising anything yet".

This made me smile. I wasn't sure why, because I was still worried about the whole me and Ginny thing. I still needed space, at the same time as I needed her here. Fuck, this had me all confused. She went in to the kitchen and got the book and the leftovers from dinner. After that she leaned over and gave me a peck on the cheek before she disappeared and left me there alone, once again.