A year and a half after the birth of their daughter, Ron and Hermione still adored Rose more than anything in the world. One day, Ron had witnessed Rose say her first word ("Book!") and had frantically called Hermione, who had rushed into the room and was just as ecstatic as her husband.

One Sunday morning, Ron woke to find the space where Hermione usually slept next to him empty. He got dressed and checked every room in the house, calling Hermione's name, but only Rose was to be found in her room. There was no note.

Now panicking, he frantically swept Rose out of her crib, and left the house with her to go to the one place Hermione would be if she wasn't home: Harry and Ginny's.

Ron stopped at their small home only a block away from his own. He knocked desperately on the door. Please let her be here…if she's gone it's my fault…

Ginny answered the door while wrapping herself in a dressing robe. "Ron, what's wrong?"

"Is Hermione here?" Ron asked frantically. "I can't find her anywhere…"

Ginny, wide-eyed and looking frightened, shook her head. "Ron, I haven't seen Hermione since we got together two days ago."

Suddenly, Harry came into view, carrying Albus on his hip and James trailing behind him, all still in their pajamas. "Ron, what's up?"

"You haven't seen Hermione, have you?" Ron asked him.

Harry slowly shook his head. "Why, what happened?"

"I woke up and she was completely gone. No note or anything."

"We'll help you," Ginny said at once, turning her back on her brother to quickly get dressed.

"No!" Ron said loudly, grabbing her arm. "I need you to look after Rose. If it gets serious, I'll let you know. I just need Rose to know that everything…seems to be alright." Ron forced Rose into Ginny's arms and turned his back on the two, leaving them looking bewildered.

Ron's next stop was the Ministry, which was difficult enough to get into, due to the fact that it was a weekend. He checked Hermione's office and every other department, but the whole Ministry was empty.

Now in a full panic attack, Ron fled the Ministry to send a Patronus out to everyone in the family. Soon, there were many silver Patronus-shaped replies bombarding him, all telling him that they hadn't seen Hermione and would help to find her.

Ron rushed down the road; his mind now set on going to Grimmauld Place to search there, when he passed an alleyway and caught a glimpse of brown out of the corner of his eye. He backtracked and his breath caught in his throat at what he saw.

Hermione was sprawled facedown in the corner of the alleyway, her body very still and her hair covering her face. Ron's heart stopped beating at the sight of her. From his view, she looked very much dead.

Ron could feel his heart beating in his ears, and it was a moment before he was able to figure out how to use his legs again. When he did, he rushed to Hermione's side and rolled her over on her back, only to gasp at the state of her face.

The whole left side of her face was covered in blood. Her eyes were closed and Ron could see a gash under the dried blood on her face. It looked as if she had fallen from twenty feet, possibly from the rooftops above. He immediately checked her heart and found it was beating slowly, but surely.

He scooped her up in his arms and looked back at the street, feeling quite helpless. He decided the best thing to do was to get her to St. Mungo's…

Ron was pacing the hospital waiting room. He had burst through the doors of St. Mungo's, looking round wildly and yelled at the innocent receptionist that his wife needed a Healer…bad. A Healer had shown up and levitated Hermione away from Ron and through the doors that had the words Emergency printed on them.

Ron had notified the family and they were now all here, along with Hermione's parents. He stopped pacing to look over at Rose, who was drifting off to sleep while Ginny stroked her red hair in the chair next to her. Rose, of course, was too young to understand what was happening, but she must've felt the uneasy vibe of the room, because she started crying for absolutely no reason a few minutes after she arrived at the hospital with Harry, Ginny and her cousins.

At the moment, the same Healer who had taken Hermione away a few hours ago came through the emergency doors. Ron rushed over to him.

"D'you know what could've happened to her?" Ron hurled at him.

The Healer looked grim. "We have some estimates. You say you found her in an alleyway?"

"Yeah," Ron said slowly, "I woke up this morning and I couldn't find her anywhere. So I went a few blocks from our house, and I saw her just lying there, facedown…as if she had fallen from twenty feet." Ron inhaled and waited for the Healer to respond.

"We think that's a possibility," the Healer said calmly. "There is something you need to know, however, Mr. Weasley."

Ron tensed and braced himself for the worse.

"She's been under the Imperius Curse."

This was not what Ron was expecting. His eyes widened and he struggled to keep calm and resisted the urge to lash out at the innocent Healer. "How long?"

"We can't say," the Healer went on, "We can't measure the length of time she's been under the Curse. The important thing is, she's out of it now."

Ron's tense body loosened with a relief only a bit, but he still had one last question. "Can I see her?"

The Healer nodded and led him down the corridor and into a small room at the end.

Hermione lay barely conscious in the hospital bed, a heavy bandage over her face, and her whole body was deathly pale. When she saw Ron in the doorway, however, her brown eyes lit up with happiness.

"Ron," she breathed. She sounded so worn down that Ron felt like crying just hearing her voice and seeing her condition. He quickly took the empty spot by her bedside and grabbed her hand.

"Hermione," he started, keeping his voice as gentle as possible. "D'you remember what…what happened to you at all?"

Hermione shook her head, her eyes now filled with sadness. "I remember going to bed with you last night, and the next thing I remember, I was falling twenty feet from the rooftops. Then I woke up here." Hermione was shaking with sobs and Ron embraced her tightly.

"I wish we knew," Ron said, "then I could kill whoever did this to you."

He looked into her eyes and saw the love he had seen for the last nine and a half years. She dropped her gaze and stroked his hand in hers with her finger.

"I was so afraid I had lost you," Ron said, taking her into his arms once more, feeling her arms around his torso. "It doesn't seem like we can trust anyone anymore."

"D'you think we'll ever know?" Hermione asked, her eyes meeting his once more.

Ron pursed his lips and gave her his honest opinion. "No. I think there are some things we will never know, Hermione."