Nearly finished with college! Two days left! I can't wait to finish up for the summer. I imagine that my updates will speed up too. For those of you who were interested and hadn't noticed yet, I put the uncut version of the new chapter as a oneshot named The Tone of Surprise. Go read and review! It's feeling very inferior to this one with it's three (greatly appreciated) reviews!

Ron still wasn't his old self, but he was certainly a lot closer compared to the shell that Hermione had found in Dirkstone. Or, Hermione thought, hadn't he found me? It was true that she was grateful to have him back, but she hadn't intended on him needing to rescue her. She never was, or wanted to be for that matter, the damsel in distress often portrayed in muggle fairytales.

He was sleeping a lot less now. They had been at her home for two weeks and Hermione was growing concerned for the safety of her parents. In fact, if she didn't know about the risks of too many memory charms so well, she would have considered modifying their memory and sending them abroad again.

She had spoken to her parents on a number of occasions about relocating, and explained that they may be in danger, but her parents being muggles had insisted that the police would more than suffice. Hermione had to get moving. She couldn't risk staying there much longer.

It was for this reason that Hermione was packing quietly in her bedroom at midnight. Ron was snoring loudly from her bed - something that she used to get irritated with. Ironically, after his disappearance she had trouble sleeping without the disturbingly loud background noise.

Hermione still hadn't asked Ron about his disappearance, feeling that he still wasn't ready to talk about it. She was surprised, then, when Ron snaked his arm around her waist from behind, his bare chest resting against her back, and leaned his chin on her shoulder telling her "we need to talk" as she threw a ball of black plain socks into her bag - the same bag they had used while hunting Horcruxes. She hadn't even noticed that his snoring had stopped, let alone the fact that he had risen from the bed.

She turned to face him, taking in his worried expression. Ron took her hand as they walked side by side back to Hermione's single bed, pushing aside her pink bed cover which had been crumpled as Ron had risen. Hermione waited for Ron to talk.

The couple sat in silence for a minute as Ron gazed thoughtfully at the floor, most likely deciding where to start. Hermione waited patiently.

"I'm ready." He said finally.

Hermione nodded. She wasn't sure if she fully believed him, but she knew they had to discuss matters soon. They had wasted far too much time. She waited on Ron to continue in silence, not wanting to put him under any pressure.

"Shit, where do I start- Hermione, I don't remember much of what happened. You should know that first." Ron said decidedly. "Once I was captured my memory was heavily modified. All I remember is being in hiding. I don't remember what from."

Hermione frowned. This wasn't the explanation she was hoping for. As much as she knew it wasn't Ron's fault, she couldn't help but feel a little put out. However, she allowed Ron to continue.

"All I remember is-" Ron paused as his voice began to crack. "is being in that room. Hornrock was there. I thought he was coming to help me at first, but he proved me wrong." He looked down at the scars dotted around his chest. Hermione had noticed these on several occasions.

Ron stopped talking. Hermione watched as his face fell, and he buried his face on her shoulder. For the first time since Fred's funeral, Ron began to break down. His shoulders were shaking with silent sobs as Hermione flung her arms around him and pulled him closer to her.

"S-stop." Hermione whispered. Something had just occurred to her. She mentally slapped herself for not thinking of it earlier. "You don't need to tell me."

"B-but it's important" Ron protested between sobs. "I-I need t-to-"

"Stop." Hermione repeated, firmer this time.

"I-I'm such a fucking mess, Hermione." Ron sobbed even louder as Hermione tightened her grip. "I c-can't even... I d-don't want you to s-see me like this."

"Shh." Hermione soothed, stroking his hair as he sobbed into her lap. "It's ok. I understand." she whispered softly to him. Then, to Ron's surprise, she said "we need to get to the Burrow."

Ron looked up at her, his bloodshot eyes tear stained. Hermione looked closely at his face. Since he had cleaned and shaved, she had noticed a few new scars. There was a cut below his right eye and one on his left cheek. She hadn't asked him about them, of course. She wiped his eyes softly and gave him what she hoped was a compassionate smile.

"The Penseive." Hermione explained. "Harry has it."

Ron's eyes widened in understanding, then a flash of panic grazed his face. "N-no, Hermione, I d-don't want you to see-"

"I already saw." Hermione interrupted calmly. They hadn't yet spoke about the locket, but she felt that this was the time to bring it up. "I saw you in that room. I saw you chained up. I saw you being t-tortured- oh, stop it Ron." she sobbed as Ron moved to take her into his arms. "I d-don't want you to comfort me. It's you I'm worried about."

Ron looked a little hurt, but he lowered his arms and Hermione's expression softened again.

"I'm s-sorry." Hermione whispered shakily. "But it's obviously difficult for you to talk about," she took his hand into hers, "and Harry will w-want to know. He wants to help."

It took another half an hour of protests from Ron, but Hermione eventually managed to talk him around. The fact that any time he tried to talk about what had happened he broke down seemed to be the winning point.

Ron helped her finish packing everything into her deceivingly small bag. As she lifted it from the ground, she heard a familiar clutter of books. She had decided not to let her parents know where they were going - the less they knew the better. Thanking her lucky stairs for enlightening charms, she grasped on to Ron's hand and with a loud crack, they disapparated.

The Burrow lay in the middle of the dark field - an oddly shaped house, even by wizarding standards. Hermione always felt that this was part of the charm, though. Still holding onto Ron's hand, they made their way to the house. The lack of lights indicated that no one was awake. Of course, why would they be?

The door creaked as Ron pushed it open, pulling Hermione inside by the hand. A strange sense of nostalgia hit her as she remembered the last time she and Ron had sneaked through the Burrow at two in the morning. She smiled to herself. Reminiscing with Ron about their early morning bedroom meet ups, however, would have to wait. They had more important matters to attend to.

As they reached the landing containing Ginny's bedroom, Hermione paused, before knocking gently on the door. She heard a muffled voice at the other end mumble "whozzat?"

Hermione peeked her head around the door to see Harry and Ginny occupying two single beds which had been pushed together. Ginny sat up, rubbing her eyes and shaking Harry, who awoke with a start.

"Sorry." Hermione whispered. She entered the room followed by Ron, who seemed to have gone quiet. "It's urgent."

I promise, the next chapter will be one of great reveal! I know things have been a little slow lately but we need to allow for Ron to recover. Next update should be either posted by the end of this week or the start of next week. As always, please review! They are very much appreciated.