A/N: Thanks to each one of my readers for your continued support. The joy I get sharing my story with you guys is immense.

This is that one chapter that was the root idea around which I developed this whole story. Have been waiting to put down all I had created in my mind in words and share it with you all. I seriously hope you like it.

Although I'll refrain from replying to any of your reviews till the end of this chapter, I have to say two reviews came so very close to partly guessing it or asking for it. Will say no more.

Enjoy and leave a review please.

All characters, props and places mentioned here belong to their fantastic creator JK Rowling.

Chapter 16: Home Truths

She stood watching the snowy white grounds from her hidden chamber in the Gryffindor tower. The sun disappeared behind the green forest cover and the darkness of the night claimed her view and yet she stood like she had for hours. The room was silent except for the tinkling of the two charmed bells that were placed on the Christmas tree in the living room. She felt like she had either forgotten how to breath or was holding it all in and would continue to do so till this night died. The hourglass chimed softly indicating the passing of another hour and she mechanically reached for it and turned it over, her eyes glancing briefly over the still wrapped boxes on the table. They had bothered to send her presents, all of them, even the headmaster but not him. How much they put in for a show amazed her but it would all end tonight. Tomorrow would be another day and hopefully it would bring with it a new hope and a new goal.

The wait had been long, weeks, no months really. She shuddered to think what lay ahead, the culmination of days of planning and manipulating, laying out her pieces so as not to raise his suspicion but ensure that the pointers were all in place. And finally she had got it all the way she wanted; cross checked everything she needed to. Luck was with her, for he himself had picked the hour, midnight at Christmas, when majority of the students would have left for home and the remaining few would be too hung over after the festivities and the feast. It suited her just fine, gave her much more time and greater cover. She rubbed her hands together to ward off the chill that seemed to be creeping in despite her mittens and the warming spells, her heart had speeded up and every nerve ending seemed to be on alert. This was the night that could make or break her life. Dinner time came and went, the magical plates and the food appeared and then disappeared untouched. And still, keenly she waited for the sound that meant hope, his footsteps.

...

He looked at the mostly empty table that accommodated all of the remaining few students. The fidgeting of the only other Gryffindor was much too obvious and he wished Harry would stop being so paranoid. At this rate he would attract the attention of the teachers. In fact Ron thought he had noticed a particular gleam in the eyes of the headmaster as if the old man knew what exactly was going on in the castle. And yet it couldn't be, no one but Harry was aware of the plan. He knew his best friend was worried and not without reason. Katie had been attacked not many days ago and Harry had finally deduced that Malfoy was up to something in the Room of Requirements too; just like Ron and Hermione, he too disappeared off the map at times. Ron was not surprised that his mate had been sneaking inside the cloak and spending many nights walking across the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to find the room the blonde visited. So far he had been hopelessly unsuccessful but that hadn't deterred the raven haired boy's spirits in the least. In fact, now he was sure Draco was behind the attack on Katie. Ron didn't know what to think. Between all the information about Voldemort's past, the discovery of the theory of Horcruxes, classes and not to forget Lavender's over enthusiastic attempts at romance, he was much too tired to exercise his brains anymore. And then there was Her- Granger. He was so close. Days and days she had taken, requesting one location after the other, the Quidditch grounds, the Great Hall, Hogsmeade and the Forbidden Forest. It was like she was looking for something in each of these locations. Signs, marks, something...And though she had not mentioned it, he knew tonight was the night. She had requested to go out one final time when he had told her that these night time adventures had to stop; the security of the castle was getting more and more stringent as if there was some hidden storm that was fast approaching.

Was he ready? Harry would say no, Ron was sure he was. He glanced at his watch again, feeling the connectors tucked inside his jeans pocket next to his wand. Just a few more hours and he would find out...

...

She heard his footsteps before he called.

"Are you ready?" he asked softly. Did that face look different somehow? Like he knew a secret she didn't? She set the thought aside.

"Can I carry my wand tonight?" she asked and then quickly lowered her eyes demurely; "Please?" she added watching him from behind her lowered lashes. Did that jaw clench for a while? No, maybe it was just the light.

"Okay." he said after a thought and stretched his hands for her to hold. Sudden elation coursed through her veins but she held it from flashing across her face. Hermione took a deep breath that did not seem to fill her lungs at all before she placed her cold hands in his larger, warmer ones. The jolt of magic passed through her once more as she looked up at that impassive face. Would she really have the heart to hurt him if it came to that? Maybe... maybe not. She had still not forgotten the memory she had witnessed and each time she remembered it the pain seemed to intensify. He belonged to someone else, at least for now, but wasn't that how it would always be? Even if he left that bimbo, tomorrow it could be another girl that captured his fancy but would it ever be her again? There was very little hope. Their relationship had only deteriorated over these months and many a time due to her own folly, although Hermione would kill herself before she admitted it to him. But the thought of him belongings to someone else was, to put in simple words, agonizing. Only bit of consolation was that those eyes did not roam over Brown the way it did over her, she had her memories to justify her claim to her own self. Was it a consolation really? No, more of a hopeless reminder of his changed persona, of a chance lost, quite possibly forever. How long would it be before he found that special someone? And did she have the strength to bear the sight of losing even that bit of him that she secretly cherished as her own?

He left her hand for a minute to pull out his wand and then those long fingers clasped around her wrist jolting her back to reality, reminding her why she was taking this risk in the first place, to get away from him and the pain he was putting her through by being so very close and yet so far. She shook him off and held his hand properly. He always did this, try pulling her by her wrist and she hated it.

The door at the end of the archway to her room melted at his touch and they clambered in and immediately out of his bed, much more noisily this time than the times before, their subconscious realizing there was no one in the Gryffindor tower apart from their confidante to hear the ruckus anyway. Potter never spoke to her, she didn't know if it was on principle or if he was ordered not to. The single glance he gave at their direction showed that he did not support his best mate's idea of getting her out. Silently she thanked her luck that it was Ronald who had been assigned as her custodian. Potter would have been more difficult to manipulate perhaps. The tall Gryffindor broke her line of thought once more as he threw a long cloak over her pulling their bodies closer together causing, yet again, her nerves to go in an overdrive with the effect of his touch and fragrance. His broad self guided her out of the room and down the stairs purposefully and soon they were out in the corridor.

How long it took for them to reach the seventh floor she did not know, her randomly thudding heart pounding away in her chest. What if it all went wrong? What if her worst fears came true and things messed up and he got suspicious of her intentions? What if the Order realised that she had identified their deception and decided they could finally treat her like the captive that she was? She gulped hard at the visual of a dark, cramped room and unknown, dirty men groping her with their filthy hands and stale breaths in the guise of guarding her. She fumbled and finding it clasped his warm calloused hand, holding it like it was her sole support against the world, just like the night he had guided her to the school blindfolded. If she was not that preoccupied, she would have noticed the hitching of his breath as his fingers closed around hers and she felt calm and focused back on the self assigned mission.

"Would you like a try this time?" He asked in a whisper, shocking her. Could this be really happening? She had thought long and hard before deciding on the way she would plead him to let her work it and here he was offering her that chance without even asking. Doubt crept in, was he playing? Was this a trap? She shrugged that thought aside; he was Ron Weasley much too open a book to play mind games.

"May I?" she asked, tilting her head up to meet his eyes, her own displaying surprise and joy.

"This is the last time so you might." came his reply close to her ears as he exhaled softly and her whole body seemed to tense in anticipation the way that soft gush of air tickled the flesh below her ears.

"What do I do?" she asked controlling her breath although she knew the answer well. She had spend days making notes about this one room because even the book Hogwarts, a History had no information on it. She knew what she wanted, and she had already worked out the exact words long ago.

"Just think what you want clearly and walk thrice, here..." he replied.

Licking her dry lips, she curled her fingers around her wand drawing strength from the wood and closed her eyes as she chanted the sentence she had framed and began pacing.

...

The door that appeared looked just like the other times. As her hand went out of the cloak, a creepy image of a disembodied part as it floated in mid air and turned the knob, Ron had a strong urge to hold her hand and run backwards at the tower. He did not get premonitions but something deep in his gut told him one step into this room would change their lives forever, he couldn't decide whether it was a good thing or not.

She entered and he followed and furrowed his brows at the darkness inside. Before he had lit his wand, the door closed behind him. The sudden glow from her wand blinded him for a minute before he removed the cloak and stuffed it deep inside his jacket pocket and lit his own. Dense network of thick trunks and branches greeted his vision.

"Where are we?" he asked looking all around. They had been in the Forbidden Forest and he knew by experience that for some reason the Room did not, or perhaps could not, replicate the living creatures except the trees and the foliage. It had been the same when they had tried Hogsmeade, it had all the shops and its wares but no shopkeepers. They had also been unable to take anything outside the room, the quill he had noticed her pickup had simply disappeared the moment they stepped out. That was a good thing. However even without any of the moving creatures or creepy crawlies the place seemed to breathe as if every tree here was alive and watching over the uninvited guests as they whispered eerily amongst themselves. She turned around and even in the faint light of the two wands he could see a gleam of joy in her eyes, somehow it made him queasy.

"We are in the forest outside the Granger Mansions. This, I mean the original version of it, guards our place against intruders." She breathed softly.

He knew now. Somewhere beyond this forest would be the great mansion, her home. And that was her destination. He wondered if it would replicate the way she remembered it or be in its present burnt down state and realization dawned. That was exactly what she wanted to know herself, the truth.

"You said it guards your place, how?"

"It has enchantments and creatures that keep away intruders and muggles." She replied as she walked directing her wand on the forest floor and moving it over the trunks. He followed her closely as dead leaves and twigs crunched under his shoes. He glanced up at the sky but the canopy of the leaves successfully blocked off any view or any snow for that matter from reaching the untouched floor.

They walked for minutes or perhaps hours, Ron never left sight of her back as she manoeuvred through small gaps between the branches and jumped over innocent looking patches of vines that lay on the ground. He mirrored her actions, trying his best to place his feet at the same points as hers. Without the usual sounds that made up a forest, even a sleepy one at that, the silence of the place was strangely daunting as if mute but deadly assailants were following them close on their heels. More minutes passed as Granger walked on before finally he could feel the density of the trees decreasing slightly.

She stopped suddenly. From between the tree trunks he could roughly make out an open space. A faint blue light glowed. Mesmerised he placed his foot down on an intricate carpet of creepers with small white flowers that glowed in the faint light. He had almost lifted his leg up but realised a minute too late the way the vine curled around his foot and flowers sprung on them even as he watched mesmerized. He looked up. Granger was standing slightly ahead looking at something in the clearing. He bent down to release his leg from the entanglement. The moment his hand touched the thin stems they suddenly turned thicker, gripping his foot harder and he gave a yelp. He looked down in horror as the small white flowers on his leg began transforming into long spikes that pierced through his jeans and entered his leg as a searing pain burned through him.

"Relashio!" he yelled and the vines tore off releasing his leg as he scrambled out of them careful not to place his foot on them again. The part of the creeper that was still clinking on to his leg was slowly turning red from the blood oozing out of the points where the spikes were digging into his flesh. As he bed down to throw the vine off he only hoped it wasn't poisoned.

A jolt on the connector pulled him and he watched Hermione walking ahead. She had not even tuned around. He followed her quickly, limping slightly and wincing at the pain as the tree cover around him fell off to reveal a large open, snow covered space at the centre of which stood three large trees which he realized with horror were Womping Willows. Just beyond the clearing stood a thin layer of trees and Hermione was walking straight towards them ignoring the slight swaying branches of the three monstrous sentinels that stood guard.

"HERMIONE LOOK OUT!" he yelled and running as fast as his injured leg wound allow crashed on the girl and rolled the two of them over just as a heavy branch landed exactly where she was a moment before.

Ignoring her frustrated yelp, he looked up just in time to see the three trees come to life in total fury, swaying their branches, sweeping the snowy floor with their whip like appendages to stop the intruders from crossing their watch post.

"Let me go Weasley!" Hermione struggled to escape the confines of his arms.

"ARE YOU BLOODY INSANE? CAN'T YOU SEE THOSE DAMN THINGS?" he yelled furiously.

"LEAVE ME YOU BRUTE! THEY CAN'T HARM ME, I AM A GRANGER!" she screamed back and his hold on her slackened.

"Are you sure, didn't seem like they know it."

"They do!" she hissed. "Every tree here knows not to harm the family, they only target the intruders. Now let me go!" He left her unwillingly as the silence of the night was still being shredded by the swishing of the branches.

She stood up and he followed suit, standing merely inches away from the limit of the willows. "Granger..."

She did not bother to hear him out and took a couple of quick steps and he noted in horror as three branches swooped down in speed towards her.

Hermione realised a minute too late and was paralyzed with terror as she saw the branches approaching but instead of the whiplash she expected, she felt a push that threw her off the reach of the approaching threat and she landed a little distance away, the snow cushioning her fall. She turned around sharply getting drawn uncontrollably towards where he stood as if invisible ties bound her to him before he screamed 'Relashio!' again and she fell backward as if released from the hold. She turned around to notice that the trees were concentrating on the one prey they had captured as three thick branches whipped across Ron's face and torso throwing him feet away from where he stood. He tried scrambling on his foot and managed for a moment before his leg buckled and another heavy stump hit him straight on his chest. Blow after blow he took and yet he fought to inch closer to her.

"RON!" she yelled and ran as fast as she could towards him on the slippery snow.

"NO! HERMIONE! LOOK OUT!" he screamed instead and she turned around in terror as another swaying branch reached her and hit her straight in her chest. She felt like she had blacked out for a while and it was his urgent voice that woke her up.

"GET UP!" he yelled hunched next to her as the tress swayed all around, hitting them mercilessly. Holding her by the arms, his blood soaked clothes smearing her as well, he pulled her with as much strength as he could muster. At his voice she opened her eyes marginally and yelled at what she saw. "RONNN!" he turned around and was what he saw scared him to bits. A thick branch was making towards them and he made a split second decision and crashed on top of her, shielding her body as much as he could with his own.

The pain that hit him was unimaginable and as his eyes closed he hoped she wasn't hurt bad.

...

It was warm and felt as if a fire was crackling close by. Where was he? He seemed to be lying on hard, uneven ground but his head was resting on something soft. As consciousness returned slowly, so did the pain that seemed to course throughout his body but most of it on his back.

Hermione! He forced his eyes open, trying to push himself into a sitting position before the world seemed to swim around and he fell back into the soft cushion, a small hand pressed on his chest.

"Don't..." her voice was soft and soothed him more than he thought it would.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice sounded scratchy and she laughed a little sadly.

"You have broken a few bones Ron. And are covered in cuts and bruises, and you are asking me if I am fine?"

He opened his eyes slowly this time. The world came into focus and so did her tears and grime soaked face. Melted snow and mud stuck to her scalp and hair and what he had assumed to be a cushion was actually her lap.

"Where are we?" he asked, skirting off her question once more.

"On the other side of the Willows."

"And this place is safe?"

"Yes I hope so. I asked for a safe place and this fire and this circular spot glowed up around us, so I am assuming it is safe here." She replied.

"How did we escape?"

"I lost my wand in the snow when I fell, I used yours to cast a Shield Charm on us, but not before that branch hit you and you lost consciousness. Then I had to use magic to bring you here and keep us shielded at the same time. Thankfully I found my wand back too."

"Thank you." He muttered softly and watched as her eyes pooled with more tears. She wiped them off with the sleeves of her robes.

He pulled himself up slowly. "My bones, are they still broken?" The pain was unbearable but he assumed from experience that the bones had healed.

"No. I healed them, I hope. You need to visit Madam Pomfrey once we are out of here. You are very injured Ron. We need to get away from here at the earliest." She added in a quiet voice that was strained with the effort of holding back her tears.

"Not before we finish what we came here for Granger."

She looked at him in the eye and Ron noticed that she too had multiple scratches on her face.

"You want to see the mansion, to know the truth. Do it and then we can go back."

"You know...?"

"You are not as difficult to predict as you think you are." He smiled but with all the pain in his body it came out more as a grimace. "Where is it?"

She indicated behind him. "Just beyond those trees." She muttered softly. Suddenly she did not want to see, what if her worst fears came true? What if the Order had been telling her the truth all along?

"Get it done, you can't spend your life wondering and this is the safest way to check on your mansion. So do it. But, will you believe what the room shows you?"

"This room doesn't lie." She replied, her eyes downcast. "I checked you know, it maps the place exactly if we word it correctly. I have asked for it to be as the place is now." She finished with difficulty.

He let out a sight and painfully scrambled up on his injured leg. The jeans was all blood stained and he realised it would be difficult to put his weight on it for very long.

"Come on get up." He called softly and extended a hand out for her to hold.

"You are not strong enough." She said looking into those blue eyes behind that scarred face.

"I'll manage. Just tell me the safe path through the forest."

"There is an intricate web of low growing creepers." She indicated with her fingers and Ron found them to be the same ones with the small white flowers."

"But these..."

"They ensnarl the one who steps on them and pierce them with spikes."

"I know." He replied. "How do we cross them?"

"There is a safe walk pattern that changes every day. There is a code book inside the house that shows what pattern it assumes but I don't know the pattern of the day."

"How did you plan to cross it then?"

"Nothing in the forest touches or harms a Granger. I thought..."

"You would be safe, I get it." He finished for her. The unspoken truth that she had not bothered for his safety hung in the space between them but he did not point it out. He wasn't expecting her to worry about him in the first place.

"I don't know what to do now." She murmured.

"Simple. Ask the room to provide you with a safe path." He answered stunning her. Such a simple solution really! How had she not thought of it earlier?

"I need the safe path till the mansion." She spoke to no one in particular but a pattern appeared on the dense growth where the creepers simply disappeared. It was a very narrow track, twisting and turning till it reached the trees at the further end.

"Let's go." He called and she nodded slightly and took a step forward slipping instantly on the loose rocks and falling straight into the glowing flowers. Her hands instinctively touched the bindings and the vines wasted no time in curling around her torso tightly before Ron released her and pulled her away to the safe circle.

"Oh Merlin it hurts!" she yelled as he helped her sit. Not many flowers had begun blooming on the vines around her torso yet and he pulled them away quickly as she clasped his hand and yelled in pain.

"W-What happened?" he asked.

"T-There is a ... spike..b-back R-Ron!"

He turned her around and noticed one single thorn that had broken off from the vine and was embedded deep into her robes. Only a very small portion of it was visible.

"Gosh... It's deep..." he tried pulling it out with his fingers but could not hold it at all.

"Do you know of any spell?" he asked.

"-No..." she replied in pain.

"How do I pull it out?" he murmured as blood gushed out from it.

She fidgeted with the buttons on her robes.

"What are you doing?" he asked shocked.

"T-taking the clothes off a-and then m-maybe..." he stood shell shocked at her suggestion.

"RON DO IT!" she yelped and he took in a deep breath and helped her remove the heavy robe off, pulling it off the protruding thorn. He realised with horror that she was wearing a long gown underneath and removing it would mean...

"W-Wait... I'll just... maybe..." He pinched up the cloth and using his teeth tore off a rough patch over the wound. He dare not use a spell fearing that he would end up hurting her instead. The patch was bigger than necessary and her fair creamy skin stood out against the dark gown in the firelight. Ron hated the rush of blood that flooded his nether region at the sight of her bare back even as he drew his eyes away from it to her wound that brought him back to his senses. He tried holding the fine thing between his fingers but they were much too thick and way too clumsy.

"Bloody hell!" he muttered after several unsuccessful tries as she continued to whimper in pain, bend forward in front of him.

"T-Try pulling it out with your t-teeth."

"W-What?"

"RON PLEASE!"

Gulping audibly, he lowered his lips on her bare skin and felt her shudder even as a primitive need coursed through him and he struggled to keep his focus. He felt the thorn with his tongue and then holding the offending article between his teeth pulled it off. Spitting it away he turned back to see more blood oozing out and he instinctive sucked it without once wondering if it was poisoned.

Once the bleeding staunched he paused to hold his breath, the way her body shivered indicated that either she was in much pain or cold, or... Shoving the last thought away he helped her get the heavy robe on again covering her properly.

By the time Hermione looked at him he had turned away and was getting up again.

"Let's be careful." He said and held her hand guiding her through the maze towards the other end.

...

The band of trees was thicker than they appeared and the two walked gingerly along the twisting narrow passage holding on to each other for support. By the time the path ended behind just a single row of trees, the darkness had melted away to be replaced by the golden rays of the rising sun.

As he left her hand Hermione paused in her steps. Just beyond this last barrier were the gates, the driveway and then... She swallowed hard. Her destination was just a few steps away. How long had she planned for this one moment? Months, since the time she had known about this room. She had chalked out how she would reach here unharmed and nick his invisibility cloak near the Womping Willow grounds. Then once she had confirmed the lie of the Order, she would escape hidden under the cloak. She would send an owl to her parents and wait outside the Slytherin dormitory till she found someone who could take her in. If she found no one, she would sneak in herself. How difficult it would be to find out the password hidden under the cloak? And then she was sure Father would come down instantly to get her. She could finally go home!

She let out a shaky breath and turned around at the young Gryffindor standing behind her. His face was still caked in grime and blood and cuts from the willow; that gorgeous hair was sticking out at various angles covered in dry leaves and more blood. She had removed the few remaining thorns from his leg but the jeans leg was still a dark reminder of the blood he had lost and he was still limping slightly. She knew there would be many whip lashes and bruises all over his body, the ones he had received while saving her. There were so many instances from this one night that shattered all she thought she knew about him and she was no longer sure what she wanted. She wanted her parents alive reminded her heart and she also wanted, no, needed Ron...

"Go." He said softly and she nodded and with tentative steps crossed the last boundary as he stood behind.

He released a sigh and limped his way out. There was a huge wall with an intricate wrought iron gate that had been pushed open. He walked towards the gate slowly, the gravelled path making the task difficult for his injured legs. He had barely crossed a few yards when there was a heart wrenching sob from beyond the walls and even before he could cross the gate, a blurry image with flying curls ran out and crashed on his chest.

A/N: Thanks for reading. Please do leave a review!

Auror Ron Alan Weasley: Thank you so much for your continued support!

whdixon63: Thank you. This chapter should have told you who the cat is.

heronlove: Thanks a lot! Well fluff will be tough to come by, more of angst actually. Hope you liked this chapter.

notsing: As always I am looking forward to your views on this final reveal.

Wallflower Weasels: Thanks a ton! (Specially for saying 'your Ron' *blush *blush)

Zalini: I know it was creepy and here is the chapter that paves the way for many changes. Do let me know what you think. Thank you for your review

nirdoodle: By now I'm sure you know that you are one of the two reviews I mention about at the beginning. Do tell me what you think of this chapter

JeanandBilius: Thank you so very much!

chemrunner57: I absolutely understand where you were coming from and although I had this chapter I had to create that grim foreshadowing before the big bang. I am glad you are enjoying the story and I hope to receive your continued support.

ShilenKnight: Thank you so very much for those words. Really, thank you.

EisforElephant: Well I am happy that my story got you reading a Romione, and enjoying it. Keeping my fingers crossed. Thank you for your review.