Chapter 3:

Emotional turmoil

'Urgh, God. No,' Hermione thought after Harry had left. She pulled her other pillow, the one that wasn't on the floor, over her face in shame and kept muttering to herself, 'He knows. He knows. Harry Potter heard it. Harry Potter of all people...'

Hermione wondered how she could possibly get into such a mess.

Apparently it wasn't enough that she had been kidnapped and had no memory of what had happened, she had to blurt out to Ron Weasley's best friend that she had a crush on her trainer, of all people.

She could only hope that the only thing she had said, or more like groaned, was Ron's name.

But despite the humiliation Hermione felt, she couldn't help but think of how Ron had seemed to care for her while she was unconscious. His harsh words still stung Hermione's heart as soon as she thought about them, but at the same time, a feeling of warmth filled her as soon as she thought of how Ron had cared for her.

She was about to scold herself for these thoughts when a soft knock snapped her out of them.

As the door opened Hermione expected to see her healer, but gasped slightly when she saw Rob, who as unfortunate coincidence would have it, tripped over the pillow she had thrown at Harry not so long ago.

At first it seemed as if Ron would catch himself, but he lurched dangerously across the room to finally land on the floor with a dull thud.

Hermione let out a shrill scream as Ron cursed softly to himself and tried to stand up as gracefully as possible.

Hermione just looked at him with wide eyes as he threw the pillow at the foot of her bed and took a seat next to her.

"Mr Weasley Sir, are you alright, have you hurt yourself?" asked Hermione worriedly as she tried to look him in the eye, though this was quite difficult as Ron stared stubbornly at the floor.

He shook his head and Hermione watched in fascination as his long red curls moved rhythmically.

"Gra-, I mean, Miss Granger. I'm so sorry about what happened, about what I said. I was such an idiot. I...I don't know what Kingsley was thinking putting me in charge of a trainee."

Ron looked up and looked Hermione in the eye for the first time now, letting her see what kind of shape he was in. His hair was all stringy and he probably hadn't shaved in several days either. Ron's eyes were all red and irritated, with dark black circles under them.

Hermione's first impulse was to take him in her arms and she probably would have done so if Ron hadn't kept talking:"I'm obviously not capable of taking responsibility and I put you in danger and that's the last thing I wanted to do and then I didn't even ask you how you were-"

Hermione smiled at him and nodded.

"I'm fine so far, sir. Please don't worry and especially don't blame yourself. I was the one who acted against the rules."

Before Ron could think what to do, he put his hand on Hermione's and squeezed it lightly. At this, a sudden heat ran through Hermione and she abruptly thought of her dream and all that Ron's fingers had made her feel.

She immediately closed her eyes and tried to think of something else.

"Can you forgive me?" spoke Ron in a soft, gentle voice, bringing Hermione back to reality.

Not having found her voice again, she simply nodded and gave Ron a smile that visibly put him at ease.

He smiled back and they both sank into pleasant conversation about their work until Ron was forced to leave by a healer as visiting hours were drawing to an end.

Hermione was both disappointed and relieved that Ron had to leave, because he'd began to ask her more personal questions and she didn't know what to answer him.

She didn't want to give too much of herself away, but also had trouble to lie to Ron. She tried to be as vague as possible, but was glad when the end of visiting hours put her out of her misery.

After Ron left, Hermione was given a potion and ointment for the pain and a short time later she fell asleep.

Over the next few days, Ron visited Hermione regularly and she was eagerly awaiting his visits.

They talked mostly about work, but in between they got personal. Hermione learned more about Ron's friendship with Harry, listened to various stories about his siblings and found out - much to her personal delight - that Ron didn't have a girlfriend at the moment. Whenever Ron wanted to know more about Hermione and her family, Hermione always changed the subject. Until that day, Ron had always been satisfied with Hermione's excuses, but on this visit, he pressed the issue a little further.

"Miss Granger, I have been visiting you for almost a week now but I seem to be your only visitor. Does your family live far outside London?"

"Erm, yes... sort of," Hermione stammered to herself and began to change the subject again.

"By the way, I'm almost through the book you brought me yesterday on Mr Shacklebolt's recommendation. It's really interesting."

"I'm very glad to hear that. But what about your family?" Ron asked. "Do they live outside London, is the journey to St Mungos too far for them? If that's the case, I'd like to-"

Hermione, not knowing how to shut Ron up, did so in the only way she could think of.

"Mr. Weasley, Sir," Hermione began in a stern, authoritative tone, "you are my trainer, but these kinds of questions are getting too personal for me. My private life is absolutely none of your business and I wish you would refrain from such questions in the future."

She barely managed to look Ron in the eye and tried to suppress her tears.

Ron, on the other hand, looked at her with a mixture of bewilderment, shock and hurt and jerked up from the chair he had been sitting on.

He clenched his fists, took a deep breath and pressed his lips together before speaking.

"Don't worry Miss Granger, from now on our relationship will be purely professional. I won't bother you anymore."

Hermione would have loved to take it all back right then and there, wanting to fall around his neck and tell him that she hadn't meant any of it, but Hermione just couldn't tell him the truth.

Standing at the door, Ron spoke to Hermione again, but looked sternly at the wall.

"Your healer told me earlier that you would be discharged the day after tomorrow. I wish you a speedy recovery and expect you in the office at 09:00am on Monday. Goodbye, Miss Granger!"

With these words Ron shot out the door and slammed it shut hard and walked quickly towards the exit.

When Hermione arrived at the office on time on Monday, she greeted Ron kindly and asked what tasks she was supposed to do for the day. Ron answered her only briefly and avoided looking Hermione in the eye as much as possible.

The next few weeks followed a similar pattern. By now the whole department had noticed the icy atmosphere between Ron and Hermione and even Harry approached Ron about the strained relationship with Hermione.

Ron just grumbled at him and told him to mind his own business, hiding behind his piles of papers on the desk, showing Harry that the conversation was over for him.

Hermione looked so miserable that Kingsley had already asked her into his office several times and offered her another trainer.

Hermione denied each time and continued to try to work with Ron.

When she and Ron were sent on a multi-day mission three days later, Hermione realised that she had to come up with an explanation for the situation in the hospital as soon as possible, otherwise the days alone with Ron would become torture.

As she went home that evening to pack her bag, she began to think about how she could explain her behaviour to Ron without making the true nature of her behaviour obvious.

Hermione really needed to come clean with him, because nothing was worse for her than the rejection she had experienced from Ron over the past few weeks.