Chapter 3. Home Sweet Home.
After a few more days in St. Mungo's, I was allowed to come home, but not before I was told that I had Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD. Which meant that I had been through something traumatic, and now my body and mind were reacting to what happened during the war. Harry and I decided to stay with the Weasley's, of course, and so they were told what to look for and how to deal with me. I could have trouble sleeping, have random outbursts of anger, and have reoccurring nightmares or flashbacks. All they could do is be there for me.
We packed up, and flooed to the Burrow, and that was the first time I had felt at home in a long time.
Ron and Harry insisted that they take my stuff up to the room I would be sharing with Ginny, even though I argued I could do it myself. They kept looking me up and down and I knew they thought I was too skinny, which I was.
That night, we sat down for dinner and Mrs. Weasley had made more than enough food for ten people, she could have fed an army. There was roast beef, sausages, Yorkshire puddings, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, onion sauce, a few loaves of bread, sausage rolls, cheese straws and for dessert, her famous Fruit Trifle. One look at all the food and my head started getting dizzy. I took a small portion of each, not knowing how much my stomach could handle yet. I managed to finish half of my plate, and I had a few bites of trifle. Ron finished everything I didn't eat, and had seconds…and thirds. Most people around the table looked concerned, but I was happy with how much I ate, they didn't realize I was stuffed to the brim.
Once dinner was over, Ron, Harry, Ginny, George and I played a few games of Exploding Snap. I lay down on the couch, and watched them play a few more rounds so they could play on teams.
Around ten thirty, everyone started getting tired and retired to their bedrooms. I decided to stay in the living room and watch the fire as it slowly died down. But I couldn't sleep; I wasn't even the smallest bit tired. I heard someone in the kitchen, grabbing a late night snack, and then I heard a glass break and some cuss words drifted to my ears.
I got up to see who it was, and to no surprise of mine, Ron was getting a snack, and dropped his glass of pumpkin juice. He was muttering to himself as I stood in the doorway and watched him try and clean it up. I silently used a cleaning spell and a reparo, and his eyes widened, seeing the mess disappear. I laughed and he looked up at me. He smiled and walked over to me, handing me one of the cookies he had found.
"Here you are milady."
"Why thank you, kind sir."
"May I escort this lovely maiden back to the couch?"
"But of course!"
We laughed as he took my arm and led me to the couch, laying me down. He grabbed my hand and kissed the top of it, looking at me while smiling.
"Another cookie, milady?" he asked, batting his eyelashes.
"I know I'm skinny, Ronald. But you don't need to force food down my throat! I already ate a damn cookie and my whole dinner, isn't that enough?"
He looked at me with wide eyes, and muttered an apology, his face going as red as a tomato.
"Oh, Ron. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to freak out; I don't know where that came from. I'm sorry. No thank you, I don't want a cookie."
"It's okay 'Mione. I understand. I'm not mad. It scared me when you used my full first name, you sound exactly like my mother." he laughed nervously, avoiding eye contact.
I pulled him towards me and sat up on the couch. He fell onto the couch with me and I pushed him back, lying against him. We didn't say anything else, just lay there, watching the fire die down, and before I knew it, I was asleep.
"Ron. Where's Harry? Ron? Ron!"
"'Mione. He went to the forest, he went to Voldemort."
I started to shake my head, not believing what I was hearing.
"No he didn't. He didn't! Why does he always have to be so bloody noble! Why death always knocking at his door!"
"I don't know."
We walked outside with everyone after hearing Voldemort call us, telling us Harry was dead, that he had try to flee the grounds, but we all knew Harry wouldn't do that. He was too bloody noble.
The first person I saw was Hagrid. He was carrying someone. He was carrying a boy. A black haired boy with a scar and glasses. It couldn't be Harry, there must be someone else with glasses and a lighting bolt scar, there must. Harry couldn't die! He was our only hope! Hagrid put him on the ground at Voldemort's feet and he started laughing, as well as the rest of the death eaters. I turned to my right, expecting to see Neville run and kill the snake. But he never did. Voldemort called a few of us forward who he knew were close to Harry; Ron, Neville, Luna, Ginny, McGonagall, George, Seamus, Dean, Parvati, Colin and Dennis Creevy, and me. One by one, he started torturing us. First, Dean, then Seamus, followed by Neville, George, Colin, Dennis, Parvati, Luna, McGonagall and then Ginny. The Death Eaters started laughing as they lay there, motionless. He then killed them, one after the other, until it was just Ron and I, with all of the bodies between us. He made us come forward and stand next to each other.
"Ronald Weasley, the blood-traitor and Hermione Granger, the mudblood. The two people closest to Harry Potter, the half-blood. You have made this quite difficult on me, and so you must pay the price. Mudblood, turn to the blood-traitor."
I did as I was told, too scared to do anything else.
"CRUICO!" Voldemort yelled.
"NO!" I saw Ron, convulsing on the ground, writhing at my feet. I bent down to hold him and felt something pull me back to stand up. I looked at Voldemort and saw him glaring at me, behind him Bellatrix was pointing her wand at me, holding me up with some spell I didn't know.
I looked back at Ron, back arched and eyes shut tight, letting out a blood-curdling scream.
I finally let my tears escape, the one's that were keeping me strong, and I was showing that I was vulnerable. This man was taking away the love of my life and my best friend. I couldn't handle it.
He finally stopped and I bent down to Ron. I touched felt his wrist, looking for a pulse, and I couldn't find one. He was dead.
"NOOOO!" I started yelling, letting out my frustrations. Voldemort silenced me, and I could scream no more.
"Oh, Fenrir, you were right. She IS feisty. I'll let you keep her, I don't need her dead, she is just a mudblood." Voldemort sneered at me.
Greyback came up and picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder, and I started punching his back. He laughed and squeezed my arse, causing me to cry harder.
"Hermione! Wake up! 'Mione? Please. Wake up!"
I felt strong arms around me, and I let the tears flow.
"Their dead. Their all dead. Neville, Luna, George, Harry, Colin, Dennis, Ginny. Everyone is dead. Ron. My dear sweet Ron. My love is dead."
"No Hermione! I'm right here! I'm not dead! None of those people are! I love you Hermione, you're safe. We're at the Burrow. It's morning, you're sleeping on the couch with me, and the war is over. You're safe. You're safe. You are safe."
I looked up and saw tears falling down his face as well. I lifted my hand and wiped them away, the realization of what he was saying finally hitting me. He loved me and I was safe, and that's all that mattered.
We got up and he took me upstairs so I could shower. I turned on the water, and put it as hot as I could. I undressed and looked at my body properly, for the first time. They had removed all the mirrors at St. Mungo's but I didn't know why. Now I did.
My eyes were sunken into my head, there were bags under my eyes and bruises and cuts covered my face. My hair was messy and felt like straw. My knee, shoulder, elbow and ankle bones all stuck out and my stomach was less than flat. The scar mudblood stuck out and looked fresh still.
I started to feel ill looking at myself so I got in the shower. The hot water burnt my skin, but it felt good. I was washing the past year away and I was going to get better and start a new life.
After my shower, I went into my room and pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a tank top, they were both almost falling off my body. I took my wand and shrunk them so they fit me, which made me look even smaller, but I didn't care.
I met everyone else in the dining room downstairs after putting my hair up in a bun, and saw the table full food. There was so much, it reminded me of eating in the Great Hall back in Hogwarts, and I became overwhelmed, thinking back to my almost worry-free years in school. I sat down against the wall and started to cry, even more memories flooding back. Ron noticed me straight away and ran directly to me, asking me what was wrong. I stood up, pushed him away and ran out the back door. I kept running until I came across the river, where I sat down under my favourite tree. I put my head in my hands and started to cry harder. I was letting him in and then pushing him away, I needed him, I knew that, but my mind couldn't decide.
I expected him to come after me, but he didn't. I couldn't bring myself to go back inside, so I spent the day by the river, thinking about what to do next.