Chapter 5: The Clouds Part
Draco Malfoy thought he had experienced the worst that could ever happen. That he'd experienced the epitome of fear. And that nothing could be worse than all that he'd endured the previous year.
He'd lived in fear for his life.
He'd be reduced to tears when he remembered his family would die if he didn't succeed.
He'd nearly killed a person.
Finally it was over, wasn't it?
Draco Malfoy was very wrong. It had just begun.
It turns out that things are always worse when the Dark Lord decides to reside in your home. In this case, the Malfoy Manor.
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Ron hugged her, let her tears fall on the bare skin of his arms revealed by his half-sleeved Muggle t-shirt. The full entity of the task that Dumbledore had left them had just hit Hermione. It hit her so hard that all the wind was sucked from her lungs and she couldn't breathe enough. It hit her so hard that she broke down.
"We'll be there—I'll be there, Hermione. All through the way."
"Wh-when's Harry coming here? Did Hedwig come with any l-letter?" she asked, ashamed of her tears, as always. They were the reason she chose to ignore Ron's soothing words and pretend her thoughts were still coherent.
"Hermione, Harry isn't coming. We're going to fetch him. Didn't you hear the plan?"
She groaned mentally. "Oh right, of course." So much for sounding coherent.
Ron smiled, his feelings for her clearly shining in his eyes. Somehow she couldn't quite meet his blazing stare. She dropped her gaze to his mouth instead.
Ron misinterpreted this. He leaned in.
Oh no! Hermione craned her neck up at the ceiling quickly, and her eyes filled with fresh tears. She decided to pretend that she'd noticed nothing. "I'm scared about the fact that Harry doesn't even know where most of the- all of the Horcruxes are. What will we do? How can we possibly—" she choked on the last few words, burying her head in Ron's neck.
So Ron simply held her tight as she tugged on his Muggle t-shirt, soaking it.
Author's note:
I'm extremely sorry for updating so late! God, why does school have to be so time-consuming?
Alright, back to the story. Besides taking the story forward, this chapter was basically written to show that Ron is most certainly not a git, like most Dramione stories seem to.
I don't know why it's called The Clouds Part. Probably because after the chaos post Dumbledore's death everything goes back to normal. Well, as normal as it gets with the darkest wizard of all time crashing at your place.
Hermione's conflict continues, and now with the added pressure of saving the wizarding (and Muggle) world. I kind of feel sorry for all three of them now.
You feel like telling me what you thought of it? Then you know what to do! (Hint: there's a space for writing stuff below this. I've made it blindingly obvious now.)
And- this probably sounds conceited, but- I'd love for you all to read the one-shot I recently wrote. (It's the first time I've written a Romione, and was much harder than I'd expected! Give it a read, pretty please?)