Chapter 7: Somewhere

That night, Hermione was on the roof of the apartment complex where she, her parents and the pure-bloods lived. She was blissfully waiting for Ron to return to report that the rumble had been diffused. She knew he would be able to do it; who could resist that adorable lop-sided grin of his? As she dreamed of the memories she and her lover would make that night, she began to dance gracefully around, barely able to contain her joy.

Her reverie was interrupted when the door leading downstairs opened with a bang. She turned to see Cormac staring at her. He was breathing hard, he looked dirty and his eyes were wet.

"Hermione, come inside where it's safe."

"I'm alright, Cormac-"

"Please, now! The Aurors will be here soon if we aren't careful. They'll be asking questions about the rumble."

"Oh, there was no rumble," Hermione laughed as she turned back to the skyline with a smile.

"Yes, there was." Cormac rebutted, and something about the heaviness in his voice made her take pause and turn back to him. "It was going to be a fair fight between Draco and Neville Longbottom, but it escalated. Draco and Potter pulled knives on each other, and they both got sta- sta- stabbed." Cormac barely finished before the tears came.

Panic filled Hermione, so much so that she forgot who she was talking to when she blurted out, "And Ron? What happened to Ron, Cormac? Is Ron alright?" Cormac's eyes flashed to meet hers, and she was chilled by the anger she saw in them. His face went from ghostly pale to red to purple. Finally he screamed in her face, "HE KILLED YOUR BROTHER!" before storming downstairs.

Hermione stood rooted to the spot, hardly daring to believe her ears. Draco…dead? My Ronniekins killed him? No, she could not believe it, she would not believe it. She flew downstairs and jumped when she heard a cry of anguish. Looking around a corner, she saw several girls supporting Pavarti.

"No, no, no, Draco isn't, he isn't dead!" she wailed.

"Cormac says he saw the body himself, Pavarti. We're so sorry."

Horrified, Hermione ran into her room and locked the door. She knelt before a small statue of the Virgin Mary that was on a shelf.

"Oh Mother of God, please don't let it be true. Please don't say that Draco and Harry are dead. I know I don't usually pray like this to you, but please, please don't let it be true. Please tell me Ron is safe. I'd never forgive myself if I sent him to his death at that rumble. I'd never forgive-" she froze when she saw someone through the mirror enter from her window. There was a shock of red hair. Ron. She slowly turned to him. Both stared at each other silently. Then, she launched herself upon him, the cries of anguish claiming her at last.

"KILLER! KILLER! KILL-LL-ER!" she sobbed as she beat on his muscular chest with her fists. She wondered if she was really angry at him, or was just doing so to feel some pain from Draco's death. Ron took it like a man, before wrapping his arms around her and seating them onto the small couch in the room.

"I tried to stop it," he told her. "I never wanted to fight Draco, but Harry…you and I both know, he was like a brother to us when we were little. He tried to protect me from Draco and when Draco stabbed him…I don't know what came over me, I couldn't stand it. Can you ever forgive me?" He wiped away her tears and gazed at her. "I'll make sure you are not harmed because of what happened tonight. I'm going to turn myself in to the Aurors."

"NO!" Hermione cried as she reached for his hand and clung to it like a lifeline. "I forgive you, Ron. I love you! Stay, stay with me!" she begged.

"Hermione, I love you so much," Ron gasped as he took her in his arms.

"Don't leave me!" she pleaded.

"Whatever you want, I'll do it."

"Hold me."

"Forever," Ron vowed. He could think of no better fate than to have Hermione wrapped in his arms for all eternity. "Everything'll be alright. We're really together now!"

Hermione sniffled. "But it's not us. It's everything around us."

"Then, I'll take you away, where nothing can get to us," Ron promised. "Not anyone or anything." The pair reaffirmed their love that night, promising to never abandon each other. Ron kissed Hermione and both lowered themselves onto her bed. They took comfort in making love to each other.

The sky was just beginning to gray when Ron and Hermione awoke. Both were tangled in the bedsheets and each other's embrace, naked. When they had both shaken the sleep from their systems, they decided to play a game. Hermione had gotten the brilliant idea that her parents might accept Ron if he knew more about Muggle customs. So, she quizzed him on all things Muggle using magic to conjure images from her wand.

"Are you ready?" she asked him.

"I think so," Ron confirmed.

"Ok, here we go."

The images appeared in rapid succession. A concrete sidewalk and lamppost appeared.

"Corner," said Ron.

Walmart.

"Store."

An LED bulb.

"Lightbulb."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"I'm…sure," Ron affirmed.

Hermione smiled. "3 out of 3, you did alright."

Ron grinned back. He was rather enjoying this game. "Teach me a little more."

A candle flame.

"Heat." He grinned as he thought of another kind of heat and began to trail kisses down Hermione's neck.

The moon.

"Last night," Ron breathed against her skin.

A scab with a band-aid.

"Pain."

Hermione grinned and blushed. "That's right," she told him.

A telephone.

"Call me."

Ron's eyes.

"Blue."

A heart.

"Love me."

"Perhaps I do," Hermione whispered seductively. Ron laughed and flipped himself on top of her, ready to resume having sex. Before they could begin Phase 2 of their love-making, however, there was a knock at the door.

"Hermione?" Pavarti's voice called. Her voice sounded raspy, as though she had been crying all night.

Ron and Hermione froze, and then began to throw their clothes on as quickly and quietly as they could.

"I'm going to go to the Leaky Cauldron and borrow money from Tom. Meet me there tonight after everyone is asleep and we'll run away and elope," Ron told her.

Hermione nodded, her heart fluttering at the last word. There was another knock at the door. "Hermione?" called Pavarti. "One moment, Pavarti," called Hermione. She turned back to Ron.

"Stay out of sight today, you don't want to get caught by the Aurors." She pulled him into a tight embrace, leaning her head against his chest. "Be careful," she told him.

Ron kissed her passionately and touched his hand to her cheek. "I will."

Hermione closed her eyes and pressed her check into his hand. Then, she felt him let go and opened her eyes just in time to see him slipping out the window. A third knock jolted her back to her senses and she rushed to open the door. Pavarti stood there, eyebrows raised.

"What took you so long? And who were you talking to?"

"I wasn't talking to anybody."

Pavarti frowned and marched over to the window. She watched as Ron jogged down the alleyway below to the street. At the entrance, she saw a figure suddenly approach Ron and hug him. Then, the two disappeared into the early morning together.

Pavarti whirled on Hermione. "You are still SEEING HIM? AFTER WHAT HE DID TO MY BOYFRIEND? TO ME? YOU ARE WITH A BOY WHO KILLED YOUR ADOPTED BROTHER? HOW CAN YOU LOVE A BOY WHO KILLS? A BOY WHO KILLS CANNOT LOVE!" Rage was not a strong enough term for what Pavarti was feeling; she looked quite demented.

Hermione tried to reason with her. "Ron did not mean to kill Draco. He's honest, he's sweet, he would never do anything to hurt me intentionally. I love him!"

"So you love him?" Pavarti spat. "What he did was wrong!"

Hermione wanted to cry. "You loved Draco, Pavarti," she said in a small voice. "Can't you let me love someone, too?"

Pavarti studied her silently for a moment. At long last, she pulled Hermione into a hug. All seemed to be forgiven.

Suddenly, there was another knock at the door. "Ministry of Magic! Open up!" a voice boomed.

Hermione and Pavarti exchanged panicked glances. It seemed Cormac had called it right when he said the Aurors would be showing up. Pavarti went to the door, hoping the pause had not garnered suspicion. There stood Daedulus Diggle. He flashed his badge at her.

"Daedulus Diggle, Deputy Head Auror. I have a few questions for you regarding a gang fight under Warlock Bridge last night?"

Pavarti numbly ushered Diggle inside. When the Auror saw Hermione, his eyes narrowed. He remembered she had been a source of trouble at the dance a few nights earlier. Once the circumstances came to memory, he stepped toward her eagerly.

"Just the girl I wanted to see. Ms. Granger-" he began, but Hermione interrupted him.

"Officer, I would love to answer questions, but I have to run an errand. Medical reasons," she lied with an alarming ease.

But Diggle wouldn't budge. He had encountered this kind of evasiveness before during interrogations. Persons of interest would convince Aurors they needed to be somewhere before submitting to questioning, and then beat it and never come back. Nevertheless, Diggle kept up his casual, calming front.

"Ms. Patil can get it for you," he offered.

Hermione looked to Patil and then asked her to go to the Leaky Cauldron to pick up her "medicine."

"Tell Tom I've been detained," she finished.

Pavarti nodded slowly, indicating that she had understood the coded message behind the request. She quickly left.

Diggle turned back to Hermione. "A few nights ago, you were with a boy at the dance. We believe he has, ah, connections to one of the gangs in this area. Who was the boy?" he asked.

Hermione knew if she divulged Ron's identity, he would be caught and sent to prison. If she lied, she might get away with, or risk getting caught for perjury and sent to prison herself. So, she took the lesser of the two evils.

She lied.

"Brandon," she said. "Brandon Dudley."

Diggle nodded, thanked her and left. As soon as he was gone, Hermione smiled to herself. She did not have to worry about Brandon.

Because Brandon didn't exist.