SECOND CHANCES 10

Author's Note: I don't own any of the characters.

The Golden Trio's Tent-The Bathroom

She sat huddle in the tents bathroom, completely unsure of what to do. Ron had returned almost two months ago and her emotions were still wreaking havoc within her. She was still beyond furious at him for leaving, sickened worse than her bout of morning sickness that she had with Henry by his last words to her and the thought of that she might have done something to make him think that. After he had left she had gone over every day of their trip, desperately trying to figure out whether she had hugged Harry a little longer than usual or sat a little bit closer to him than normal. She knew that it hadn't been her fault and yet she still decided that she deserved some of the blame, even if only for allowing things to get that bad.

She had been the most miserable that she had ever been during his absence and though every insult and punch that she had hurled at him felt good she knew that in the back of her mind she was holding back, heartened greatly by the notion that she couldn't cause him to much damage if it meant threatening their future together. She had both terrified and thrilled herself at the thought that she still wanted a future with him. She had meant to completely divest herself from all of the love that she bore him, and it had worked, or at least she thought that it had worked, for all of a few seconds before the truth had come crashing back down upon her. Her knees were drawn up under her chin and she felt a sudden urge to vomit again, something which happened every time that she thought of his last words to her, but fought against it as she remembered the first night that she had noticed Ron talking in his sleep.

She'd thought that it was cute for all of five seconds before she'd stopped and actually looked closely at him and stopped to listen to his ramblings while asleep. Her heart very nearly broke in two when she realized that he was actually having a nightmare, and a particularly nasty one at that. He had seemed to be sweating and appearing almost as if he was struggling against and unseen foe, with his sheets gripped so tightly in his clutches that his knuckles were turning white. Fighting back tears she had nearly sprained her ankle leaping out of bed to sit beside him and try to either calm him down somehow or get him to wake up, though she couldn't quite decide which was a better idea.

"I love you," She blurted out in a loud whisper and her hands tightly gripping his wrists before she was greatly relieved to see that her words seemed to have their desired effect and the nightmare seemed to calm. When he woke up she had acted as if nothing had happened. It had taken a few more days before she could corner Harry to try and get a straight answer out of him about what had happened with the locket.

"Hermione…what are you doing out here, you should be asleep," Harry exclaimed harshly as he almost jumped out of his skin and whipped out his wand to point it at her as she had surprised him.

"I will Harry, but there's something that's troubling me," Hermione replied with a nervous smile and her hands up in defeat as she cautiously walked out of the tent and sat down on a large rock on the other side of the small clearing, using the blue light from the jar to see that Harry was looking a little sleepy.

"What is it," Harry asked with a curious expression as he began to idly twirl her wand in between his fingers, mostly for something to do with his hands and something to look at besides seeing the intense look in Hermione's eyes.

"What really happened with the locket Harry," Hermione demanded with an intense bit of staring at Harry as she hoped that the close scrutiny that she was giving him would make him fess up and tell the truth about what had really happened.

"Er…I told you, I opened it and Ron stabbed it…," Harry rushed to try to brush off with an all to cheesy of a grin, one that Hermione knew was as fake as their Dumbledore's Army galleons, as he began to stare very intently at her wand that he was still using.

"And it screamed a bit when Ron did that," Hermione continued with a skeptical edge to her words before she picked up a small rock that was at her feet and tried to make it look like she was studying it closely.

"Uh yeah, best that we just count our lucky stars and move on right," Harry tried to rush through and go on to something, anything, else with a shaky and obviously nervous laugh as he did his best to avoid looking anywhere but at Hermione, an act that she noticed with some dread.

"Don't lie to me Harry Potter, I know that there's more to it than that, every time that I bring it up the two of you instantly clam up and won't look at me or each other, and Ron…Ron…," Hermione snapped back angrily at first with fire in her eyes before her tone changed to more worry and anxiety as she tried not to let herself tear up.

"You noticed the nightmares too huh," Harry uttered with his voice full of fear and concern as he finally forced himself to look Hermione directly in the eye and was heartened a bit to see that she felt pretty much the same as he did.

"Yes and…wait, you knew about them," Hermione replied in a shocked gasp and eyes wide before her brows furrowed and she lightly glared across the blue flame at Harry for knowing about the nightmares and not telling her anything about them until she discovered them for herself.

"Kind of hard to miss, with how he carries on sometimes," Harry returned with a very visibly nervous smile that quickly fell from his face as he picked up a small stick by his feet and then looked back and forth between her wand and it.

"You know that just proves my point right, there's something that the two of you aren't telling me…was it all a lie Harry, what really happened that night, the night that he came back," Hermione declared with more than a hint of anger in her words as she jolted up to her feet and tightly clenched her hands into fists and glared down at Harry, almost literally accusing him of being dishonest with her.

"I can't tell you Hermione, it's…not my place, but no everything that we told you wasn't a lie…most…almost all of it was true, no…it was all true, right up until that bit with the bloody locket…Ron still destroyed it and all but…," Harry replied slowly with his eyes never once leaving the ground as Hermione's sense of dread and foreboding only grew in how hard she saw it for Harry to tell her even that much.

"What happened Harry," Hermione pleaded with a heavy weight in the pit of her stomach that kept her rooted to the spot where she was sitting before she cast a nervous glance over her shoulder back towards the tent.

"You've read up on the horcrux's right," Harry talked a bit, sounding as if he were trying to communicate with someone far off in the distance that only he could see, as he looked away from the ground and to the blue flame instead.

"Yeah," Hermione said softly as she struggled to keep from chewing her bottom lip off knowing that what Harry was about to say to her was definitely not something that she would probably like to hear.

"You've read how they defend themselves, like with what the ring did to Dumbledore," Harry informed her in the form of a question as he worked hard to find the right words to explain it all to her without giving it all away on Ron's behalf as he held her wand up in front of his face and studied it intently, if only for something to do with his eyes rather than look at her.

"Yeah," Hermione slowly nodded as she scooted to the front of her seat meaning that she was barely being supported by the rock that she was sitting on just as Harry spoke up again.

"Well…the locket…it…didn't…go quietly…at all," Harry chattered softly as he looked to Hermione like he was forcing himself to say every word and dreading them at the same time as the Boy Who Lived looked more like a scared friend than hero to her at that moment.

"What did it do Harry," Hermione demanded as she scooted a bit closer to him and clasped her hands together very tightly to keep herself from wringing them in anticipation, a nervous habit that she'd begun during their time spent traveling in the tent.

"I don't like thinking about that night, just ask Ron and hopefully one of these days he'll tell you because it's definitely not my place to tell you and I don't need to start having nightmares about it too," Harry cautiously answered with a clear tone of dread as he stared straight across the gap at Hermione, looking as if he had to stare intently at her lest he wouldn't be able to get it all out.

"Alright, just tell me this then…how bad…," Hermione asked softly while looking more than a bit worried as she stood up and crossed her arms in front of her chest in hopes of keeping warm and as a manner of trying to almost guard against whatever Harry was about to tell her.

"Bad Hermione…you could almost call it…torture," Harry groaned out calmly as he hung his head and balled his hands up into fists as he glued his gaze to the ground and wished that he had covered his ears before Hermione could answer.

"Torture…Oh Lord," Hermione gasped out loud in a small squeak of pain and concern, that thankfully Harry seemed to take as just worry for a friend, as her knees felt weak and she sunk back down onto the rock, finally hiding her face with her hands to keep Harry from seeing the tears.

"That's just my opinion Hermione, you really should talk to Ron about it…after all he almost got the password yesterday, maybe if he gets it tomorrow the two of you can then talk about things and sort this all out…it'd certainly be a load off my mind if you did," Harry nervously added while scratching the back of his neck and looking anywhere and everywhere but at Hermione as he suddenly felt that there was an awkward silence between them and he didn't like it.

"Right…Harry…thanks," Hermione sniffled back softly with a pained expression before she wiped her nose on her sleeve and struggled back up to her feet, making sure to not look in Harry's direction to keep her tears a secret.

"Don't mention it…no really…don't, if he asks just tell him that this was all your idea…please," Harry pleaded with an anxious scowl as he cast a nervous glance over his shoulder at the tent's entrance, seemingly checking to see if Ron had heard them before he returned his gaze back to the blue flame in the jar.

"Okay Harry," Hermione nodded slowly and agreed more out of habit than truly wanting to honor her own words before she forced herself back towards the tent, her mind working at blazing speed in trying to process what Harry had told her and then what to do about it.

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Shell Cottage

Even though they had arrived at the small cottage over a week ago she was still sore, and Ron and Harry didn't look much better. Despite the multiple times that she had told them that she was fine she could still see them both tense up when she was around. Especially Ron as he would look like he thought that she was made of glass of something and that he seemed to hold his breath every time that she was around and not let it out until she left. She knew that he was worried about her because of what she had been through at the manor but in her mind the constant worry emanating from him was beginning to get annoying. She knew that he only meant well and was terrified at how close he had come to losing her but now he had begun to take long walks on the beach by himself and always come back looking worse than he had when he left.

She'd asked him about it several times and only received shrugs and mumbled answers. Becoming more and more infuriated by lacking answers Hermione had decided to take matters into her own hands and follow him the next time that he went off by himself, especially since Bill was gone at the time and Harry was in another one of his funks. She guessed that was because he had broken a promise to Ron by showing her what had happened the night when Ron had destroyed the locket via an old pensive that Fleur had gotten on Bill to throw out ever since the two had moved in.

Two hours later that day found her coming to after an unexpected nap, then again crossing the line with Ron that day had taken more out of her than she had expected it to. Grimacing as the windswept sand blew into her face she wondered instantly why she was so cold. Forcing an eye open she glanced back over her shoulder and suddenly remember the events of what had led her to this point. She'd been carrying a couple of blankets under her arms as she had hurried out of the cottage and took off after Ron, finally running into him in a secluded cove about as far from the dwelling as the protective charms covered. She'd just seen the events of that terrible night in the pensive and been formulating what she was going to say to him the entire way until he had whirled around and she'd gotten a good look at him, her own brown eyes staring deeply in his twin blues.

All rational thought had evaporated from her mind when she had seen that there were unshed tears in his eyes. Acting purely on instinct she had dropped the blankets without a second thought and grabbed the front of his shirt with both hands before pulling him down and into as forceful and passionate of a kiss that her body could manage. That kiss and what followed had left her a bit lightheaded but the image of them both laying on one blanket and the other one being the only thing covering them left little doubt in her mind how things had gone afterwards.

"Sleep well," Ron joked with a highly amused tone to his words as he rolled over and angled down so that he could place a soft kiss on the small of her back, which tickled the brunette a little.

"Er…something like that, what happened," Hermione wondered aloud with an uncomfortable frown as she raised herself up onto her elbows and tried to glance over at Ron without getting to much sand in her face.

"You're asking me, you showed up and we snogged like there was no tomorrow and…the usual happened," Ron replied with a sly wink before he leaned down again and started to leave a trail of kisses up her back from the first one in the small of her back to the last one just at the base of her neck.

"Oh…makes sense, I saw it Ron…I saw it in Harry's memory, the night that you came back and destroyed the locket…I saw what it did to you, there's more than one way to torture someone Ron, why didn't you tell me," Hermione remarked with a slight blush as she let some hair fall over her face to try and cover her blush at her actions even though she was grinning through it all before she grew far more serious and could feel a few tears falling as she got to the heart of the matter.

"Because," Ron awkwardly answered as he sat up fully with his hands behind his back supporting him and he looked away from her and at a small shrub a few feet away, obviously feeling embarrassed.

"Because why," Hermione softly demanded as she turned and scooted a bit closer to him while resting on her right hip, her left hand on his jaw in an effort to make him look at her.

"Because I wanted to earn your forgiveness alright, I didn't want you to think that you were obligated or pushed into it and…mmpf," Ron somberly explained, sounding as if admitting the truth was painful to him because it meant admitting his earlier failure in leaving them, as his eyes got a bit misty before she could stand that look no longer and pulled him into a strong and meaningful kiss.

"Really," Hermione finally asked almost without breath as she only backed off enough so that they could each get a breath and speak without their lips touching before Ron answered her.

"Yeah," Ron admitted with a slight hitch in his answer and quirky nod of his head as she knew that it was the truth but it was something that Ron felt a little silly telling her just like that before she couldn't help but laugh openly, making her feel more at ease than she had been earlier.

"Good, just proves that I was right about you," Hermione reminded him with a warm smile as she reached a hand up and wiped any tears that threatened to slip from his left eye with the soft pad of her thumb, all the while holding the two close together.

"How so," Ron shot back with a confused frown as he reached his left arm under her right arm until he could slide it around her body and pull her nearer to him, almost to the point of her sitting on his lap.

"That you're not a complete and total git…well…most of the time anyway, and very worthy of my heart," Hermione let out with a randy grin, one that only got bigger by his reaction of his eyes growing wider, before she shrugged her shoulders as much as she could while she slid her right arm as far around his back as she could reach.

"Thanks, I'm sorry about everything…about leaving, still don't know how the deluminator brought me back or why that bloody locket affected me more than you or Harry," Ron blushed deeply as he spoke and hung his head a bit as he set his right hand on her side, using his thumb to lightly brush up against the bottom of her left breast, sending a pleasurable shiver through her body.

"You're welcome…and forgiven, don't ever doubt that okay…as for the deluminator I'm not sure…maybe it had something to do with us being in love, that it brought you back to the one that you love the most or are the most connected to," Hermione said softly while looking deeply into Ron's eyes as she leaned up against him as much as she could and used her left hand to rub the line of his jaw.

"And the locket," Ron wondered with a nervous tone to his words as he started to slid his right hand down her side until he got to her backside, giving it a quick squeeze.

"Who knows…unless it had something to do with what happened at the Ministry, when that brain attacked you, Madam Pomfrey did say that thoughts could leave deeper scars than almost anything else…maybe, bloody hell what more is going to happen to us, haven't we suffered enough," Hermione responded, deep in thought, as she lowered her head until her forehead came to rest on his chin, all the while she tried to sort things out as she spoke as she slid her hand down from his chin to his chest and smiled briefly at the end before tearing up again and squeezing her eye tightly shut.

"Sadly I think that there's more for us yet to come, as scary as that is," Ron commented with a look of dark foreboding in his gaze as he momentarily tightened his grip on her before placing a quick kiss on the top of her head.

"Please don't…I don't want to think about it," Hermione argued with her eyes still squeezed tightly shut as she vigorously shook her head back and forth a few times before Ron could respond.

"It's okay Hermione, nothing can hurt us here, we're safe," Ron replied with as comforting and supportive of a tone of voice as he could as he gave her another supportive hug before he loosened his grip and she pulled back enough so that she could look him in the eye.

"But for how long Ron, as soon as we leave here it's right back to us being in danger, when will it end," Hermione asked pointedly with a very clear look of frustration and anger as unintentionally she began to dig her fingernails into his chest a bit before she realized it and snatched her hand away.

"When You Know Who is dead and gone for good," Ron declared strongly with a determined expression before he leaned down and gave Hermione a quick kiss on the lips.

"And when will that happen," Hermione asked with a very curious look to her as she leaned in closer until their noses touched and they both shared a brief smile when Ron spoke up.

"No idea…but if I did do you think that I wouldn't be out there stopping him rather than here with you...uh I mean I'm right where I want to be," Ron answered with a slow shaking of his head before he realized the hole that he was digging for himself and changed his tune as he slid his right hand down Hermione's leg until it got to her knee and he used that spot to fully pull her onto his lap.

"Good answer…very good answer Ron," Hermione chimed in with a very appreciative and relieved smile, and a hand overtop the one under her knee, before she leaned all of her weight forward until she caused Ron to flop back down onto his back with her on top of him. With a daring grin she leaned down for a kiss that ended up taking up the next couple of hours.

Afterwards they only managed to get back to within sight of the small cottage, with sand in places that sand should not be and her knickers stuffed in her pockets before Bill caught up with them and ushered them back inside. Harry gave them both a very odd look, which they gave a weak lie to and he seemed to accept it, however Luna walked up to Hermione later on with an almost giddy smirk before giving her a hug and telling her congratulations. That action had left Hermione shaking her head in total confusion before she headed into the bathroom to take a long awaited hot bath and get cleaned up.

END OF CHAPTER 10

Author's Note: Thanks again to everyone for reading and reviewing this and the other chapters. As always reviews, comments, and questions are greatly appreciated. The first half is about Hermione trying to come to terms with Ron being back and what happened with the locket. That and how she tries to get information out of Harry but he's reluctant to talk. The rest of the chapter is that Hermione finds out what happened the night of the locket and to some degree flips out but yet tries to keep her cool and not blow her top. She runs off to find Ron, and she's healthy enough then for some fun. In the book the trio is at Shell Cottage for like a month or so and in the time that it takes Harry, Ron, and Dean to dig a grave Hermione is already up and around. Sure she's unsteady on her feet but give her like a week of getting medical help and a chance to sleep and recover. And sleeping with Ron would be about as much of an opposite of what happened to her at Malfoy Manor as she could get and I liked Ron's reasons for not telling her about the locket fight as a way to get her to forgive him. Still more fun and excitement to come. Thank You.