Author's note: For all of you who reviewed with "Aww, Ron is so sweet!" and things like that, I TOTALLY agree. He is pretty much my favorite character (besides Fred and George) and I just had to make him Prince Charming.

Where we left off last time:

I rested my head on his shoulder. "Thanks."

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I did not know how long we sat there, Ron and me, but I knew it was a while. It could have been a minute, an hour or an entire day. Neither one of us moved a fraction of an inch, or so it felt.

The only thing that shattered the silence was my small clock ticking as the seconds went by, but we ignored it.

I couldn't remember the last time I had been this happy; happy to just sit here, my head on his shoulder, our hands entwined, the sound of our breath as one, our hearts beating at the same rhythm. It was peaceful, so different than anything else, so amazing that I could die at this very moment and not regret a single thing.

A grumbling in my stomach brought me back to reality.

"I think it's time to get some food," Ron told me, squeezing my hand lightly.

"I know," I said sighing.

He got up, pulling me along with him. Ron let my hand drop and moved towards my fridge. "Let's see what you have..." He opened the door and frowned. "Is this all you have?" he asked, motioning towards the almost empty selves.

I nodded grimly. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, looks like I'm doing this the easy way." He took out his wand from his trouser pocket and waved it, muttering something under his breath. Blue sparks shot out from his wand and ham sandwiches appeared on a plate. "Sorry," he said, grinning sheepishly. "I'm not exactly the world's best cook."

I smiled. "It's okay," I told him before picking up a sandwich and eating it slowly, trying not to show how hungry I really was.

"So, why are you here?" I asked him after eating a few bites. "How did you know where I lived?"

Ron picked up something off the floor and held it out to me. "You forgot your clothes at Mum's house, so I thought I'd return them." He gazed at me for a moment, seeming lost in his thoughts. "It's a good thing I came when I did. That Mike bloke seemed to want to do something bad to you. If anything had happened to you Hermione... I dunno what I would have done." He hung his head in shame.

I wrapped my arms around him. "Thanks Ron. I mean it." He held onto my waist and pulled me as close as he could.

"Anytime, Mione, anytime."

I tried to pull back slowly, but his hold was tight. It seemed that he didn't want to let me go now that he'd found me. "Ron, are you okay?" I asked.

He nodded. "It's just... it's been too long. I've missed you."

I smiled. "I missed you too, Ron. I'm sorry I haven't been in touch. Things were just... complicated."

I shook my head, trying not to let those thoughts ruin my mood.

"I can tell." He leaned in, close enough so I could tell what he wanted, but far enough for me to pull away if needed. I did the latter, regretting it immediately, but knowing it was for the best.

He seemed stunned for a moment, but he composed himself as best as he could.

I changed the subject. "How did you find me?"

He shrugged. "I have friends at the Ministry."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Why did you come find me?" I asked in a barely audible whisper.

Ron moved closer to me. "I needed to find you, to see if you were okay..." he paused for a brief moment, "to know if you had moved on."

I could feel the colour drain from my face. "Well, you found me."

"But you're not okay! You have bruises everywhere, scars on you that shouldn't be there. You aren't the Hermione I used to know," he accused. I knew that it was all true. Life and circumstances had harden me, changed me, making me into someone I loathed. "The Hermione I used to love."

The last sentence was said in such a whisper, I wondered if I had imagined it. "What?"

Ron's face turned red, although if it was from embarrassment or from anger, I could not tell. "It was a mistake to come here," he said.

Tears sprung to my eyes. "No, it wasn't!" I told him, trying to control my voice. "I've missed you Ron. Believe me when I say that I wanted to come see you every single day I was gone, hoping you'd forgive me for leaving in the first place."

"Well, you never came." He stormed out, leaving me there with my clothes in one hand, the other outstretched and trying to reach his receding form.

My brain screamed at my legs to run after him, but they betrayed me by letting me fall to the ground in a weeping mess.

----

I stayed there, on the floor, for hours, the tears having dried up within the first hour. My hand still clutched my clean clothes, the other one was wrapped around my middle, trying to fight the pain that had exploded within me.

A tapping on the window shook me out of my pitiful state and I got up. I opened the window and a plain brown owl perched itself on the window seal. It stuck out its leg and waited patiently for me to take the letter. I placed my clothes on the sofa and untied the paper.

It read:

Dear Hermione,

Do you know where Ron is? He told us HOURS ago that he was going over to your flat to drop something off. He said he'd be right back, but he never came back home. Is he there with you? If he is, tell him that Mum is worried. If he's not... well, just owl us back.

Ginny

I re-read the note over and over again, its message not quite making its way to my brain. Ron was missing?

A million and one scenarios passed through my mind. Was he hurt? Was he lying in a ditch somewhere, dying? Was he already dead?

The pain in my middle increased tenfold, so intense that I doubled over in pain.

I hobbled over to my desk and pulled out a scrap of parchment. I scribbled a small note explaining that Ron had been by, but that he left a few hours ago. I told Ginny that I did not know where he was and if there was anything I could do, to come get me. The owl dutifully raised its leg and I wrapped the note, not forgetting to give the bird a treat for its patience. It flew off from the open window, hooting lightly.

I watched as it flew off into the distance, into the setting sun.

-----

The sun had set and the moon had risen, but still no word from Ron. I paced the floor of my flat, going from the kitchen to the living room to my bedroom and back to the kitchen.

I was inwardly debating whether or not I should go back to the Burrow to see if Ron had turned up yet when I heard a pounding on my door.

I hurried to the door, checking the peep hole before flinging it open.

"Ron!"

My red-headed friend stumbled into my flat, his head sticking up in all directions and smelling strongly of alcohol.

"Hermione!" he all but yelled. "I've missed you!" He draped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me along to the couch.

"You're drunk." It wasn't a question; it was a fact.

"So I had one too many spirits. Big deal!" He rolled his eyes.

"Your family was looking for you! They are worried about you and so was I. You could have been lying somewhere in a ditch dying!"

"Ah, but I'm not! I'm here with you." He gave me his famous crooked grin. I felt like smacking it off his face.

"We need to get you back to the Burrow."

"Aww, come on. Why don't we have a little bit of fun here first?" He tried to wiggle his eyebrows in a suggestive manner, but he ended up furrowing his brow together, as if he couldn't remember how to do it.

"You are drunk and you don't know what you want. I'm not going to be a-a common whore for your entertainment!"

"Hey! You aren't a whore."

"Well, at least you know that." I sighed. "You have to go home Ron." I tried to pull him to his feet, but he sat there looking up at me like a lost puppy.

"I don't wanna go home right now," he told me. "I want to stay here with you." He suddenly got up, catching me before I fell backwards. "Now that I've found you, I never want to leave again." He hugged me close, wrapping his arms around my waist.

I didn't try to break away this time; I relished the feeling of his body pressed to mine, the feel of his warmth heat up my shivering body.

"I don't want you to leave," I whispered. "Never again."

Knocks on the door resounded throughout my flat, shaking us out of our little world.

"Hermione? Are you in there?" Harry's voice was followed by more pounding on the door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I flung open the door and stared at the bespectacled man standing there. "What do you want?"

"We still haven't found... Ron!?" He looked past me to see his friend standing in the middle of the room, a grin on his face. "So, Ron's here. I thought you said he wasn't..."

I whacked his arm as hard as I could. "He wasn't here when I owled you. In fact, he just got here and I was trying to persuade him to go back to the Burrow." I lowered my voice. "He's had a little too much to drink and I was worried about letting him Apparate all by himself."

Harry nodded. "Okay, well, I'll help him back. Thanks Hermione." He walked past me and went towards Ron. "We've got to go now. Your Mum's been worried and Ginny's in a frenzy." He tugged on Ron's shirt. "Come on!"

"I'm not leaving my Hermione here all by herself."

My face probably turned twenty different shades of red at that comment, but Harry ignored it.

"Hermione can come with us too. Would you like that?" It sounded as if Harry was talking to a five year old instead of a 23 year old. I suddenly wondered if they had had days like this before, where Ron was drunk out of his mind.

"Okay." Ron moved towards me. "You are going to come back with us, right? You aren't going to leave me again are you?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm coming. Let me just get a bag and I'll be back in a minute."

I hurried to my room and took out a duffle bag, stuffing in a few essential items. How did I get roped into going back to the Weasleys? I had hoped to take it slowly, now that I was back in their lives, but it seemed like they were coming to me in concentrated doses.

Two days ago, I never would have guessed that I would ever see Ron again, let alone having him save me... twice.

"Hermione?" Ron's unsure voice passed through the thin wood of my door. "Are you still in there?"

I grabbed my bag and opened the door, avoiding the red-head that came crashing down. He must have been listening at the door for sounds of me escaping through my window.

"I'm ready," I told them. "Let's go."

I wasn't prepared for the whirlwind of emotions that were going to follow.

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Author's note: Another chapter done, and believe it or not, I'm still not quite sure where this story's heading. Reviews please!