A/N – This chapter is from Harry's point of view. It shows his feelings on what has happened and what happened at the hotel after Hermione left. There isn't a great deal of conversation in this chapter, as it's mostly Harry's thoughts on recent events.

Chapter Eight.

Harry ran a hand through his already dishevelled hair as he tried to pay attention to what the Auror was telling them. The last forty eight hours had been dreadful and Harry was far too tired to try and listen to what his colleague was saying. Harry was also still in shock, the previous day Ron's body had been discovered in the honeymoon suite and there was no sign of Hermione. What had initially been thought to be a murder and kidnapping soon turned into a killer fleeing the scene of the crime as evidence against Hermione began to stack up.

Trying to focus Harry heard the Auror say they could go home. Since the discovery of Ron's body the entire wedding party, all the guests and hotel staff had been required to stay on the premises as the initial investigation was conducted. Now however the inquiry would be based at the Ministry and everyone was finally free to go home and try to digest what had happened.

The Weasley's and their family all stuck together as they packed up and headed back to The Burrow. As Ginny's fiancé, and an honorary part of the family, Harry joined them. Molly had already been sedated by a healer and as soon as they were home Arthur whisked her away to bed. Harry watched the couple go, wondering if they would ever recover from losing Ron. Fred dying in the war had been hard enough for the family to deal with and Harry didn't know if Molly and Arthur could cope with losing a second son.

"Can we go home, Harry?" Ginny asked quietly, coming up beside her fiancé.

Harry turned to Ginny and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Sure sweetheart." He said, gently kissing her forehead.

After saying goodbye to the rest of the family Harry and Ginny flooed back to their house. Once they were home Harry magically sent their bags upstairs while Ginny busied herself making a pot of tea. Harry watched Ginny fuss around the kitchen, knowing she was just trying to distract herself from what was happening.

"How are you doing?" He asked, when the couple took their tea and settled in the front room.

"I'm numb." Ginny admitted. "I just can't believe what's happened."

Harry nodded understandingly, he knew exactly what Ginny meant. The last couple of days had all been so surreal and like everyone else he was also struggling to comprehend what had happened. In the space of a few hours he'd lost both of his best friends and all the Weasley's lives had been blown apart.

"I know, the whole thing's such a mess." Harry sighed.

"I still can't believe he's gone." Ginny whispered. Out of all of her brothers she was closest to Ron and his death had shaken her pretty badly.

"Neither can I." Harry said, wrapping his arm around Ginny and leaning his cheek against the top of her head. "I can't believe we'll never see him again."

"You know what makes this worse?" Ginny said quietly. "The fact someone we loved has done this. Hermione was part of our family and she's torn it to shreds."

"What if it wasn't Hermione?" Harry suggested tentatively. He knew the evidence against his best friend was strong and that all the Weasley's were assuming the worst about her, but Harry just couldn't believe the woman he loved as a sister was capable of such brutality.

At Harry's words Ginny pulled away from her fiancé and turned to glare at him. "I hope you're not going to stand up for her, Harry. Hermione killed my brother, you can't deny that."

"I just don't believe she did this." Harry said. "There has to be another explanation."

"I don't want to believe it any more than you do, but you have to look at the evidence." Ginny argued. "If she didn't do it, why did she run?"

"Maybe she was scared." Harry replied. Despite not believing Hermione had killed Ron the fact she had ran was proving hard for him to understand, she was just making herself look even more guilty.

"Scared she was going to be caught." Ginny snorted. "You have to face facts Harry, we didn't really know Hermione. The person we thought she was would never do this and she most certainly wouldn't have cheated on Ron."

Harry frowned at the mention of Hermione's supposed cheating. The revelation about her affair with Malfoy had come to light after Ron's death. A few hours after the wedding Seamus and Dean had overheard Ron begging Hermione to end her affair with Malfoy. While Harry didn't doubt what Seamus and Dean had overheard, something about it just didn't sit right with him. In Harry's opinion, if Ron had known Hermione was sleeping with Malfoy then there's no way he would have married her.

"I know it looks bad Ginny, but I just don't believe Hermione killed Ron." Harry told his fiancée.

"Think what you want Harry." Ginny snapped as she stood up. "I know she's your best friend, but so was Ron. He's the victim here, not Hermione. You need to accept what's really happened, not cling onto hopes of what you want to have happened."

As Ginny left the room to go to bed Harry watched her go, her words echoing in his head. Was he really just clinging onto false hope or was it gut instinct telling him something was wrong? Settling back on the sofa Harry stared into space as he thought about Hermione, Ron and the past few months. He needed to know if he truly thought Hermione was innocent or if he was just hoping for it.

First of all Harry had to admit that if he was the Auror investigating Ron's death and he didn't know the people involved he would place Hermione as chief suspect. Harry had been one of the first people on the scene and he'd witnessed the horror of what had happened to Ron. His friend had only been identifiable because of where he was found, his height, build and red hair, and the fact he was wearing his wedding ring and watch. Ron's face was completely caved in and the rest of his body looked to have sustained a severe beating. Ron hadn't just been killed, he'd been murdered in brutal style by someone who clearly hated him.

Hermione made the top of the suspect list for a few reasons. The most incriminating thing was the fact she had fled and not informed anyone of Ron's death. Harry knew her bloody fingerprints had been found on the beater's bat that had been confirmed as the one used on Ron. While the killing curse had been cast, it hadn't come from Ron's wand, leading the Auror's to presume it had been cast with Hermione's. Then there was the fact the room didn't appear to have been broken into, making it hard to argue that someone had broken in and killed Ron while he slept. Then there was the ferocious argument everyone heard the pair having during the reception and when that was combined with the information from Dean and Seamus it wasn't looking good for Hermione.

As well as all the damning evidence against Hermione, Harry was also able to see the other side of things. He'd known Hermione since they were eleven years old and he truly believed she didn't have it in her to commit such a cold blooded murder. He also had the events of the past six months to contemplate and the uneasy feeling he had surrounding his friend's reunion. As he started to think back, Harry found himself wishing he'd acted on his doubts earlier.

Right from the beginning Harry had been sceptical of the reunion between Hermione and Ron. Their engagement had come from nowhere and Harry had gotten the distinct impression that Hermione was unhappy with what was happening. Sure she acted happy and when he confronted her she claimed to be fine, but Harry wasn't convinced. After their earlier brief try at a relationship Hermione had sworn that nothing would ever happen between them again and that they were better off as friends, so it made no sense that she would agree to marry Ron without even giving the relationship another try first. Jumping into marriage with someone she didn't love wasn't something Hermione would do, so Harry was confused as to why she was doing it with Ron.

Harry's confusion continued to grow over the six months they were engaged. While Ron was always chattering about the wedding and planning everything, Hermione kept quiet on the subject. She seemed content to let Ron organise every little thing and several times when the wedding was mentioned Harry thought she seemed repulsed at the idea. However Harry didn't say anything at the time, much to his frustration now he was looking back on everything. Maybe if he'd spoken to Hermione during the engagement he could have worked out what was going on and why she was marrying Ron when it was something she was clearly unhappy about.

Since he hadn't said anything the wedding went ahead, leaving Harry to think back a few days and ponder over events of the weekend. The wedding itself had been pretty smooth sailing and to be honest Harry had been so caught up in the ceremony as he pictured his own wedding to Ginny, he'd failed to notice how Hermione reacted to the whole thing. The reception however had been a different matter and Harry had definitely noticed the frosty atmosphere between the bride and groom.

Almost as soon as the speeches were over and the first dance was finished Hermione disappeared from the marquee. Harry didn't really see Hermione again until early evening when she'd had the massive argument with Ron. Harry had been standing close enough to the pair to see the hate in Hermione's eyes as she looked at Ron, and for a brief minute as she fled, the emotion was reciprocated in Ron's eyes. Ron however quickly recovered and played the whole thing down, claiming that Hermione was just over tired from events of the day.

Looking back Harry could once again see where he should have intervened. He should have either confronted Ron to find out what had really happened, or went after Hermione to check she was okay. As it was he did neither, instead he let himself get distracted by Ginny. Before he knew it the evening had worn on and Ron was heading off to bed with a bottle of champagne for him and Hermione. As it turned out that was the last he saw of Ron as his friend headed off to enjoy his wedding night.

When neither Hermione nor Ron were around the following morning Harry allowed himself to believe they'd worked things out and were enjoying their first day as husband and wife. He was quite content to believe that all morning and his illusion was only shattered shortly after lunchtime when the manager of the hotel approached him and told him something terrible had happened. The manager explained how one of the maids had been delivering a pre-ordered lunch to the honeymoon suite and had found Ron.

Harry had grabbed The Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shackelbolt, who was a guest at the wedding, and the pair headed up to investigate. There they had found Ron's body and no sign of Hermione. Initially they had feared that someone had killed Ron and kidnapped Hermione, but when Kingsley called in a couple of Aurors and they began investigating a different picture began to emerge. Before the end of the day Hermione was officially a wanted woman as the Aurors in charge of the investigation were convinced she'd killed Ron in a fit of anger and fled the scene before she could be caught.

Looking back on everything Harry could see why Hermione looked guilty, but he was convinced she was innocent. There was definitely something strange going on between Hermione and Ron and he was determined to find out what. He also had no idea who could have killed Ron, but he wasn't going to follow what everyone else said and blame Hermione. He knew the Aurors in charge of the case had Hermione down as the killer, but he was going to make sure they explored every avenue and didn't just assume Hermione was guilty.

Getting up and heading upstairs to bed Harry vowed to discover the truth about Ron's death. Not only did he owe it to his two best friends to work out what had happened, but the Weasley's also deserved to know the truth. If Hermione was guilty he would have to accept it, but Harry knew in his heart that she was innocent.