It had all been quite a blur. Hermione surveyed the room around her, where all the Weasleys were present. Ron sat next to her with his eyes drooping, and she was grasping onto his hand gently, stroking his knuckles with her thumb; all thoughts of betrayal forgotten for now. She was here for Ron.
Ron stood pale faced and brow furrowed beside Hermione. Excitement had died down several hours ago, and now the Weasley family were nervous wrecks, Hermione included.
Approximately fifteen hours had passed. Ron looked about to pass out. He was shaking.
"Ron", Hermione whispered, nudging his shoulder gently.
Ron barely stirred on her shoulder. "'m jst resting m'eyes" he mumbled, burrowing his head deeper.
"Yes, I know. You need a bed." Hermione frowned.
"No- Ginny..." Ron began, but Hermione was pulling him to his feet gently, and he hardly had the strength to finish his sentence before Hermione was saying her goodbyes to the Weasley family, Molly pulling them both into a warm hug and promising she would send her patronus as soon as there was news.
The Healer in charge of the maternity ward at St Mungoes was a plump witch by the name of Hilda. Hermione had greeted her earlier and engaged in a conversation about house elf rights, where Hermione had reminisced about S.P.E.W and the memory of Hermione and Ron's first kiss. Hilda was only three years younger than Hermione, but there was still a certain innocence about her that made Hermione feel so much older. Hermione flashed her a smile as she and Ron made their way to the Floo network set up near the hospital exit.
Ron practically fell into bed once they got home, snoring loudly as soon as he hit the mattress. Hermione let out a quiet chuckle. Truth be told, the locket was the furthest from her mind at that moment, but it quickly became the focus of her thoughts as soon as she had a moment to think about things, settled into bed beside Ron but far from tired.
Yes, Ginny was her family. Without a doubt. This was an important time, not only for Ron, but for Hermione too. But the locket was unsettling her. Could they really put it off for much longer? There was obviously something big going on. Something that had to be dealt with immediately.
Of course, she still had no idea what was inside the locket. Ron had said not to open it until she had found him, hadn't he? And there was still the matter of once again going against the Ministry. Just how many people were working with Hornrock, and what were they up to?
Ron shuffled beside her, mumbling something about pain. Hermione's brows furrowed as a guilty pang crossed her chest. Should she wake him? He needed sleep, and he wasn't thrashing about, but clearly his dream was far from pleasant. Rather quickly, however, Ron settled, snoring loudly once again.
It was funny; Hermione used to complain about Ron's snoring, but once he went missing she would have done anything to hear the sound again. She couldn't really have held her grudge about Ron keeping her in the dark about everything for long, even without Ginny distracting them from everything. They had lost far too much time already.
Then there was the fact that Ron still wasn't fully stable. He clearly had a lot of sleep to catch up on.
Tomorrow, Hermione promised herself, we'll talk about it tomorrow. Hornrock, after all, was unlikely to wait until a convenient time to carry out his plan, whatever it was, and someone had to stop it. Even if Ron and Harry couldn't be there. Hermione would stop him.
"You think so, Granger?" Hornrock snorted from in front of her. They were standing in a dark room again. She had seen this room far too many times.
"This isn't real." Hermione attempted to poise herself, but her sentence came out rather shakily and her body was trembling. It was cold. Freezing, actually.
The clothes draped on her were ruined. Torn. Much like the rags they had found Ron in.
Hornrock just snorted, but circled around her, grinning widely. It was possibly one of the creepiest facial expressions that Hermione had ever witnessed, and that included those of You-Know-Who in his reign of terror.
"I'm real, Granger." A wicked laugh drew from his dry and cracked lips. "We are, however, inside your pretty little head." Hermione flinched, but Hornrock continued unfaltering. "I expect I will be seeing you soon."
With that, Hermione shot upwards, her heart beating at a dangerously fast pace. She patted the bed beside her, before her hand fell on Ron's shoulder. He was still there. Something was amiss though. Her gut was twisting. Something was very, very wrong.
Guys, I am so sorry about the unexpected lengthly hiatus. Life sort of got in the way. Then once my personal problems cleared up, there was GISHWHES which took up a hell of a lot of time. (So worth it though!)
Anyway, thank you all for being so patient while I sorted out my own personal shitstorm, haha. There are approximately three chapters to go here, so all shall be resolved soon. And as always, please review!
And I've started my next fic, though it's not Harry Potter related. Good news for Destiel shippers though! My head is swimming with ideas for those two adorable fuckers. I just want so much to smoosh their heads together.
Anyway, yes. I guess this note is kind of long, and went off topic. This is what happens when I'm gone for a while. So I'm just going to end with another apology, and hope that those who were reading before haven't given up on me! I'm making no promises about when the next chapter will be uploaded as my summer holidays have ended, but I certainly don't expect it to be as long as the wait for this chapter!