A bit of familiarity with Together Forever in this one, which isn't that surprising really, it being the sequel! lol

If you could let me know what you think it would be much appreciated. Ta ;)

Chapter 3

He couldn't run any faster. His heart was pounding and his lungs were burning but he kept on running. Running to find her and help her.

He caught sight of her, she was lying on the ground, her hair clogged with her blood.

He landed next to her and lifted her into his lap.

'Wake up, Hermione. Wake up.'

Her eyes opened and instantly filled with tears.

'Where were you, Ron? You were here and then you left.'

Tears burned his eyes.

'I know. I'm sorry. I had to go.'

'You left me!'

Tears fell from her eyes and into her hair.

'I know! I'm so sorry Hermione, I'll never leave you again.'

'Ron, where are you? You're leaving me again aren't you?'

His brow furrowed. 'No! I'm still here Hermione, I'll never leave you again!' His tears joined hers in her hair. 'Look at me, Hermione, I'm still here, holding you.'

'Ron! Why have you left me? Ron? Ron?'

'RON!'

'NO!' he shouted as he jerked awake. Hands were holding him in his sitting position on the floor in Hermione's private room.

He looked at the eyes of the person in front of him, not aware that he had grabbed hold of their shoulders when he woke up.

'It was a dream, Ron. You're awake now. It was all a dream!'

'Harry?'

'I'm here, and so are you. You're in Hermione's room, remember? You sat down for a rest and you fell asleep.'

'Hermione,' Ron repeated before clamping his eyes shut before his tears escaped him. His dream had invaded his brain with full force.

'I left her!' Ron whispered.

Harry scowled at him, waiting until Ron opened his eyes to look at him before speaking

'Stop it!' he hissed at Ron. 'We promised each other we'd not do the guilt thing. I needed your help, she told you to leave me, you did both and we're still alive. This guilt shit stops now, okay?'

Ron glanced into Harry's eyes and was momentarily taken aback by the determination in them.

He managed a nod then looked past Harry at the other people in the room. His dad and Hermione's dad were looking over at him, obviously concerned. Arthur raised his eyebrows at him questioningly. He nodded at them both to reassure them he was fine. He looked over at Ginny who looked at him and mimed the action for drinking. He smiled at her and shook his head, instantly becoming aware of how dry his throat was.

'You okay now?' Harry asked.

'Fine,' Ron stated simply. 'Any change?'

Harry shook his head. 'There won't be, they haven't reduced the sedation yet. They're gonna keep her sedated over night and then reduce it in the morning.'

'Will they be able to find out any more when the do?' Ron asked as he got to his feet.

Harry nodded his head. 'Yeah, they'll be able to do more tests on her and see if the contamination did any damage, and they should be able to see how deep a coma she's in. Then again she might just wake up when the sedation wares off. Either way, they'll find out more tomorrow.'

Ron nodded. 'Yeah…tomorrow.'

…oooOOOooo…

He was staring at his boots again but this time they weren't blood spattered, his mother having cleaned them for him the night before when they got home. Well, it had been about half four when they actually got home and about seven by the time Ron fell into a fitful sleep, which was punctuated by nightmares and him waking himself up by shouting out loud.

It was now eleven o'clock; Hermione had been taken off her sedation an hour ago.

She hadn't woken up. Even an hour later she was still lying in the exact same position she had been put in after her last round of diagnostic spells. When they had spoken to Healer Watson outside her room, his words washed over him, the odd sentence sticking in his mind. '…are not discouraged…' '…she's fighting…' '…cautiously optimistic…'

One stuck in his head more than others, though, and he remembered the look in the Healer's eyes when he said that Hermione was in a deep coma. It wasn't the worst Watson had seen, he had said, and when Ron didn't reply, that's when the other more positive phrases had been thrown at him.

The result was still the same though. Hermione hadn't woken up.

He was sitting in an uncomfortable chair at the foot end of Hermione's bed. Her parents were on either side of her; her dad stroking her hair and her mum never letting go of her hand.

Harry was at the Burrow with Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys. They were both falling asleep on their feet and Harry had had something of a small panic attack. It was a few things that hit him at once that took him over the edge and it had happened quite suddenly. He had been talking to Arthur, managing the odd smile on occasion before he suddenly went pale and shaky and found it hard to breath. Once he had calmed down a little, Ginny took him to the Burrow and they had been there ever since.

Ron understood Harry's feelings. He had been teetering on the edge of panic since he had seen Hermione get hurt, but had, somehow, kept himself together. He felt he owed it to Charles and Veronica on some level. The last thing they needed was him panicking. They had an unconscious daughter to panic over, they didn't need him bringing his troubles to the equation.

'Do you want a drink, Ron?' Charles asked, bringing him back to Hermione's private room.

'What? Oh! Er, yeah, tea please.'

'Milk and sugar?' Charles replied with a smile.

'Yes and three, thanks.'

Ron expected some sort of comment about the amount of sugar he took in his tea, but if Charles thought it strange, or objected on a purely professional level, he didn't show it. He left the room quietly, leaving Ron and Veronica with Hermione.

'How are you, Ron?' Veronica asked.

Ron was taken aback, he wasn't expecting her attention to wander from anyone but Hermione.

'Oh, er, I'm fine.' He smiled, trying to reiterate his words. 'Are, er…are you okay? I mean…obviously…' he sighed, knowing he was stuttering. Veronica smiled at him. 'Sorry,' he said, returning the small smile.

'We haven't really had a chance to get to know each other, have we Ron?'

Despite everything that was going on, Ron's stomach squirmed for a new reason. It was true, he didn't know Hermione's parents very well. He had met them a few times before, the last two being the times they had actually conversed fully, but they had been fleeting visits. Even so, it had gone from a 'Nice to meet you, Ron,' from Charles during the first of them, to 'Keep her safe for me, Ron,' the second time. That was quite a jump in anyone's book.

Ron cleared his throat, ignoring the fact that it had suddenly become quite hot in the room. 'No, I don't suppose we have.'

Veronica nodded at the chair and looked back at Ron. He took the hint and walked over to the chair Charles had been sat in. He sat down and instantly took Hermione's hand in his own.

'I can't thank you and your family enough, Ron,' Veronica said with a smile. 'Your mum and dad, they let Hermione stay with you every summer during school. They made her feel welcome, treated her like a daughter. And then you, well,' she smiled at Ron, and he felt himself go red, 'you captured her heart and gave her yours in return.'

Ron looked at his boots again. He realised where Hermione had got her way with words from and allowed himself a small smile.

'Yeah she did, long before I realised it.'

'Oh I think it was the same with her, Ron. As much as you will never hear her say it, you stole her heart a long time before she let herself realise it.'

'You know, a lot of things could have been avoided if someone had told us both this!' Ron said with a chuckle.

Veronica laughed out loud. 'But where was the fun in that?'

Ron nodded.

'Plus,' Veronica continued, 'it's much more exciting realising these things for yourself, wouldn't you say?'

Ron thought for a second. He remembered the feeling when he realised he was in love with Hermione. Once he'd got over the scared feeling he didn't think would ever leave him, he felt excited, nervous but overwhelmingly happy.

'Yeah,' he replied quietly. 'Yeah you're right. I love her, I need her in my life, she's…she's…she's in this mess because of me.'

'No Ron!' Veronica said sharply, staring at him with wide eyes. 'Hermione was there because she wanted to be, no one forced her to be there did she? Neither you nor Harry dragged her along kicking and screaming against her will, did you?'

'No! Of course not! But…are you blaming Hermione for landing herself in hospital?' Ron hadn't meant to sound accusing, but his protective instinct had taken over. His need to protect Hermione's honour becoming predominant.

'Blame doesn't come into it, Ron. If you absolutely need to pin blame on someone, blame the man who decided to try and oppress your people with darkness and prejudiced ways, or the person who threw the damn spell at her, but there was a reason why you were there, both of you. You were there because you needed to be, because neither of you are the type of people who take the easy way out of things. You were there because you couldn't have lived with the idea of not being there.'

Veronica's eyes didn't leave Ron's and he nodded his head the tiniest amount.

'Charles has already told you it wasn't your fault, Harry has told you to leave the guilt behind, maybe a third person's opinion will finally be able to fight it's way through that red hair into your head.'

Ron chuckled and nodded. 'It might not be instant; I can't help thinking of the 'what ifs'. What if I'd managed to finish off the Death Eater who cursed her? What if I'd taken just a few more seconds to make sure she was okay? What if I'd made her heal herself before I left—'

'Ron, stop. What if Charles and I hadn't let Hermione go to Hogwarts? What if we'd stopped her going on the travels you've been on? What if we'd stopped her having the chance to become the caring, determined and loyal person she's become? Every decision that is made has its consequences, Ron; we are in no position to second-guess any of them. It's a one way trip to madness if you do.'

'Oh don't worry about that, I've already got my ticket booked for that journey, they're just waiting for me to arrive at the station!'

Veronica allowed herself to smile.

'That's okay, they do return trips as well. You'll be back before you know it. Talking of coming back, I wonder where Charles is with our tea?'

'Do you want me to go and find him?' Ron asked, glad of the change of subject.

'Actually, I think I'll go, I think I need to stretch my legs a bit. Will you stay with her?'

'Of course,' Ron said, shifting his weight on his chair.

Veronica stood and made her way to the door. When she got there she turned and looked at Ron.

'Remember what I said, Ron, the blaming and 'what ifs' stop now, okay?'

'Okay.'

---

When Veronica had left the room Ron took Hermione's hand in both of his and kissed her knuckles. He stood up and leant over her, perching on the edge of her bed.

'Hey sleepy,' he said with a smile. He leant forward and kissed her forehead gently. He pulled back and smiled. She looked peaceful and that thought comforted him.

He slipped back onto the uncomfortable chair. He leaned forward and rested his head on the bed, his hand still tightly curled around Hermione's. He closed his eyes; he was just so tired. He realised that at that minute there wasn't anything to stay awake for and a few minutes shut eye would be good for him. He inhaled deeply and relaxed his mind. Hermione had taught him how to minimise the horrors that sometimes invaded their thoughts before they went to sleep. He visited his calm environment; on a broom over an endless field, the wind in his hair and the sun on the back of his neck.

He sighed, content, he'd be able to do that again soon, now that their 'adventure' was over, he'd go flying as often as he liked. But he'd always come back down to where Hermione was waiting for him.

---

Merlin, I've missed flying!

He took his hands from his broom and stretched his arms to the side, tensing the muscles before relaxing and taking the broom in his hands again.

He had been in the air for a while now and he wanted to feel the luscious grass he could see, beneath his feet.

The wind suddenly strengthened and he tightened his grip on his broom, frowning slightly and wondering where the sharp change in wind had come from.

The sky darkened quicker than he had ever seen before. The wind whipped his hair into his eyes and then in the other direction before he had chance to notice the discomfort.

At the first clap of thunder he urged his broom towards the floor. Lightening hit the ground on his right hand side and he swerved to the left but still diving for the ground. He didn't slow down as he got nearer to the grass, he knew how his broom behaved and knew at what height he needed to be to slow down and stop safely.

That distance came and went and he panicked as his broom didn't slow no matter how hard he pulled the handle upwards. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable crash.

There was an unbearable pain in his head, so much so he brought his hands to his temples in a vain attempt to lessen the throbbing that pounded in time with his heartbeat.

The pain disappeared as soon as it arrived. He cautiously opened his eyes, expecting the pain to return again in full force, but it didn't.

He was on his back, and he blinked. As he did an image filled his mind, there was a tree with engravings on it. He blinked again and he was sat with someone on the grass, their foreheads together. Once more his eyes closed and he saw a sunset rising, but that didn't fit with the other images, it was from another place. He shook his head and opened his eyes, looking at the grass.

He didn't know if the images he was seeing were real or not. He stood up suddenly and whirled around. He stopped dead when he saw a tree, it was the one he had just seen in his mind's eye and he moved towards it, hoping it would tell him…something, anything.

His eyes sought the markings he knew were there and after a few steps around the tree, he found them.

His gaze dropped to the bottom of the tree and he crouched down. He looked at the roughly carved heart at the bottom. He looked at the rest of the tree but the rest of the shapes weren't there. He reached out and touched the letters.

Pain shot up his arm and into his head. Images crashed through his mind one after the other, his heart raced as he started to remember. He remembered things that he thought he'd never know about; images from that one month, over two years ago that he and Hermione lived but didn't remember a second of.

Then it hit him. Hermione wasn't here. As if someone had control of the memories he was seeing, he saw her coming to find him and comfort him when he had been ill in hospital after being poisoned. She had found him here, in the same place he was, but if he was here when he was ill, then where was Hermione when she was?

He scrambled to his feet and ran away from the tree.

'Hermione!' he called, still running. 'Hermione! Are you here?'

He stopped running and listened, waiting for a sound, any sound at all. He heard none.

'Hermione, where are you?' his eyes searched all around him. When he saw nothing he ran on, still calling her name and hoping against all hope that he would get some indication that she was there with him.

Eventually he stopped running, his search for Hermione fruitless.

He turned around and something on the ground caught his eye. Something was moving in the long grass and was moving away from him. He walked after it, quickening to a jog when whatever it was started moving further away from him.

'Hey, slow down!'

He shook his head when he realised he didn't even know what he was talking to, or whether there was actually anything there.

He stopped abruptly, however, when whatever it was, brought him to a large rock. He slumped down beside it and cautiously reached out his fingers and touched the stone.

He expected it to be cold but it wasn't. Heat was radiating off it. As he stared at it, the markings that he thought were random patterns in the stone started to merge together to form letters.

His brow furrowed as he read the words and as soon as he had, everything went black.