Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
Chapter Six
Conflict
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you showed up so late again," Harry said opening his door to his friend, as they made their way into the house, Ron went to the kitchen and returned a moment later with a few butterbeers, handing one to Harry. "Though, when you missed Sunday brunch at the Burrow, I thought you might be otherwise occupied."
"Oh, I was," Ron smiled as he thought of the last twenty for hours and how much had happened between Hermione and him in that time. It was true that Ron had come to Harry's house almost every day in the last week, just so he could try to distract himself from his nervous anticipation about the date. He could also see himself coming to Harry's more in the weeks ahead as he knew that Hermione had a busy schedule with her classes, and he wasn't sure if he could stay at home by himself, he would just think about her.
"It went well, I see," Harry smiled at his friend, though the last week had been stressful at times, with Ron's panic over the date, it was mostly a nice change of pace to see his friend so much, mostly due to Ron being happy … for the most part.
"Better than I could imagine," Ron was now beaming, "not that I'm going to tell you more about that."
"I don't want more details," Harry made a face at him. As he took a sip of his butterbeer, he looked at his friend closely, knowing that Ron came here for a reason this time, and it wasn't just to chat about the date or a way to distract himself.
"Good," Ron said, bringing his own butterbeer to his mouth and downing the whole thing. He sighed and leaned forward and started playing with the bottle in his hand. He knew that what he was about to ask was going to be very difficult for Harry to discuss, but he needed his friend's help. "I wouldn't have come to you if I had another option."
"What do you need?" Harry asked leaning back in his chair, starting to feel wary about the change in tone this conversation suddenly took.
"I have to tell Mione about the war," Ron said bluntly, knowing that if he fluttered around the subject that it would only make things worse.
Harry gasped as his eyes widened and then he shut them as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't remember the last time Ron had mentioned the war … other than on the anniversary of the final battle … it never came up in their conversations. It's not like either one of them had ever stopped thinking about the bloody war, and all they had lost because of it, but neither of them wanted to say it out loud. He felt the pain go through him as his mind traveled to the worse moments of his life … lingering, as they always seemed to do, on Ginny's face as she was cursed.
"I need to tell her in terms she can understand and try not to lie to her … too much," Ron added softly, he wished that he didn't have to put his friend through this kind of pain.
Harry looked at him then, realizing why Ron really didn't have anyone else to turn to. Ron couldn't go to his brothers, being purebloods, they didn't know any more than Ron did about Muggles. Going to Ron's dad would have been even worse, though Arthur was rather fond of Muggles and tried to learn everything about them, his enthusiasm got in the way more than it helped. However, Harry had been raised by Muggles … had even believed he was a Muggle until he was eleven, so he understood their world more than Ron ever could.
Harry nodded his head, indicating that he would help his friend, but he was still too emotional to say anything yet.
"I didn't realize it would come up so quickly," Ron said, deciding that it was best if he kept talking right now, giving Harry a bit of time to get a hold of himself. Not to mention, it would help Ron to organize his thoughts if he described his problem. "We were still walking to the restaurant when I started talking about my family, and then I was thinking about my brothers … and it just effing hit me, I couldn't tell her what happened. And I don't mean emotionally not being able to … sure it would have been difficult, but I reckon I would have. But I can't tell her about the war because she's never heard about it … and she's bloody brilliant so she knows everything about history … I can't tell her that it's a government cover up … she'd think I was a nutter …."
"Ron, breathe," Harry interrupted his nearly hyperventilating friend.
Ron smiled at him sheepishly as he tried to get control over his nerves. "I don't know what to say."
"Why don't you start with telling me what you've told her so far," Harry said, hoping that his friend wouldn't start listing his fears again. "Then we can see what we can come up with."
O
When Tuesday night came, Ron was nervous as he went over the story that he and Harry worked on, but as soon as he saw her, the nerves disappeared. He was still worried about how she would react, but just being near her made him relax and made him hope that everything would work out. However, it became clear after a few moments that he wasn't going to be able to confess that evening.
Hermione had been a little frazzled because she had a test on Thursday, at test that her professor hadn't told the class about until earlier that day, and she was filled with her normal pre-test craze. She had even thought about canceling their date that night, but she knew that Ron would have just filled her thoughts and she never would have been able to concentrate on her studies. Not to mention, she didn't even have his phone number, so she had no way to reach him without seeing him in person … and seeing him in person means there was no way that she could turn him away.
Even though they had both realized that the night was going to be brief, they had enjoyed the meal and each other's company for as long as they could. Ron had even walked Hermione back to her flat to prolong their night as long as possible, but he restrained himself to just a goodnight kiss (snog) at her door.
Though they didn't say anything, Hermione wasn't surprised when she showed up at the coffee shop on Friday and found Ron at his corner table (that she now thought of it as his because it's the one he always sat in). The evening passed pleasantly, she didn't even mind when Jess teased her about how adorable they were together. And she didn't feel embarrassed at all to profess to her friend that she had never been happier. After she closed the shop, Ron grabbed her hand, and they walked back to her flat.
"Oh bugger, I forgot about him," Ron grumbled as she shut the door and she wasn't surprised when she saw Ron and Crookshanks glaring at each other … It seems that her gingers didn't like each other much.
"Come here," Hermione said grabbing Ron's hand and leading him to the kitchen and then she opened a cupboard and pulled something out, as well and getting something from a drawer. "Here."
"Er…" Ron said looking at the objects that were now in his hand, judging by the picture on the can, he figured it had to be some kind of food product, but he had no idea what the other object was.
"I thought if you fed him … Crookshanks I mean … maybe he might like you better," Hermione explained.
"Oh … that makes sense … blokes are ruled by their stomachs," Ron said putting the can down and then moving the other object up and down trying to figure out how the hell he was supposed to use this.
"I supposed your used to an electric can opener," Hermione said grabbing the tool and the can and opening it, before handing it back to him. "His bowl is over there."
"Thanks," Ron said relieved that she didn't think it was odd that he couldn't open a can and started walking to the bowl she was pointing at. When he noticed that the cat was standing by the bowl, still glaring at him, he was sure that Hermione's hope wasn't going to work this time. Still, he put the food in the bowl and was pleased that cat hadn't scratched him again. No, the cat just looked at the bowl and then turned its nose up at it.
"Come on, Crooks, don't be that way," Hermione said leaning down and scratching the cat behind the ear and it started to purr. "I don't want you to starve."
"Meow," Crookshanks cried as he looked at Ron and narrowed his eyes warningly, and then turned to nod his head against Hermione's hand before eating the food.
"Thank you," Hermione said to her cat, running her fingers through his hair before turning around to face Ron, a smile on her face. Ron knew his expression must have shown his annoyance, because he could see that she was struggling not to laugh, her eyes dancing with amusement.
"I think it's going to take more than some food," Ron said and she did laugh this time.
"You're probably right," Hermione said as she walked towards him, "but do you really want to talk about my cat?"
"Definitely not," Ron said, pulling her to him and leaning down so he could kiss her, which was something he wanted to do all night.
"Mm," Hermione moaned, "I've wanted to do that all night."
"I just thought that," Ron smiled, resting his forehead against hers.
"But I'd like to take this someplace more comfortable," Hermione said softly as she took his hand and led him to her bedroom.
O
Ron decided it was his turn to make breakfast, even though it was still her food, he felt the act of making the meal had to count for something. Last night had been just as amazing as the week before. The snogging session seemed to be more intense in the passion, and Ron could tell that she felt more comfortable with him as his hands moved along her body (and her hands had done plenty of roaming too). Then she had smuggled into him, her fingers drawing patterns on his chest as they chatted idly before she had fallen asleep.
When Ron got to the kitchen, he quickly cast a silencing charm so that she wouldn't be able to hear him and started looking for a pan. He set it on the counter after he found one, and then went to look in the icebox and pulled out the eggs and some cheese. He couldn't find anything else, so he decided to make scrambled eggs. It wouldn't be as good as her omelet but he was determined to treat her this time.
Crookshanks was glaring at him when he turned around. Ron had half a mind to tell the cat to scram, but he thought better of it. It was clear that Hermione loved her cat, and he knew she would be happy if he was nice to it. So, he reached into the cupboard that Hermione had opened last night, to get another can but he noticed there were different color once. Shrugging he picked the same color as last night.
"Meow," Ron turned to look at the cat as it shook its head. Raising an eyebrow, he pointed at a different color can and the cat nodded its head. Ron gulped, but exchanged the cans and then opened the can using his wand (he'd have to learn how to use the can opener soon). "You can't be a normal cat," he said putting the food in the bowl.
"Meow," Crookshanks responded, and Ron could almost hear, like you're a normal man.
Ron put the odd behavior of the cat out of his mind as he started preparing breakfast. He worked quickly, Hermione had told him she was an early riser, and he wanted to finish before she could wake up so that they could have the meal in bed like last week. Still, he cooked the food the Muggle way just in case she came out, and he was pleased that half an hour later she hadn't appeared.
"You're up," Ron said as he opened the door and found Hermione sitting in the bed with a book in her hand.
"I saw you cooking when I woke up a little while ago," Hermione smiled at him shyly. "But I wanted … er … and I thought you …"
"Thank you," Ron smiled at her, loving the fact that she wanted this just as much as he did. He put the tray on the bed, and they moved around so that they were able to eat comfortably.
"That was very good," Hermione said as she finished her last bit, though the meal was peaceful, she could sense that he was starting to get tense.
"Not as good as your omelets," Ron protested lightly.
"I think it was sweet of you to make breakfast for us," Hermione said as she removed the tray and then started to get more comfortable on the bed. "And don't think I missed that you fed Crookshanks."
"Er…" Ron was surprised that she had noticed that but just shrugged in response. It was now time to tell her everything and he was finding it hard to concentrate on anything but his panic.
"I wish you would relax," Hermione said moving so she was now laying on her side looking him in the eyes, her hand moved along his face softly trying to comfort him. "I know you wanted to tell me something on Tuesday night, but I'm almost glad that I had a test so you couldn't."
"Why?" Ron wanted to say more but he was finding it difficult to talk right now, and he knew if he listened to her, he would start to feel better.
"Even without a test, a school night is not the right time for an emotional discussion," Hermione said, "we couldn't be like this together in the morning, I'd already be in class by now. And there's always the possibility I would be distracted by school."
"I'll remember from now on that the weekend is better for long and meaningful discussions," Ron joked, a good deal of the tension leaving him as she talked … just like he knew it would.
"I'd appreciate that," Hermione said moving closer to him and resting her hand on his chest, a smile spreading across her face as his arms wrapped around her.
"I don't know where to start," Ron admitted, now thinking about the conversation he had with Harry and what they had finally decided to tell her. 'I don't know mate, I reckon you tell her the truth, just leave out all the magic bits,' Harry had finally advised, and though Ron wasn't sure how this was going to work, he did think it was the best option.
"The beginning is usually a good place," Hermione said as her fingers traced invisible patterns on his chest.
"I told you a bit about my school, right?" Ron asked.
"Hogwarts, right?" Hermione said sitting up so she could look at him in the eyes, she had not expected him to start there, but he just nodded so she went on, "All you said was it was a specialized school. Oh, and you went there for seven years."
"My family have all gone to Hogwarts," Ron went on, "and I don't just mean my siblings and parents, or even grandparents. I mean my family has been going there for generations. I reckon there probably was a Weasley at Hogwarts when it was built over a thousand years ago. So, when I said it was specialized, I don't necessarily mean the lesson (though those are too), I meant that certain people…" he paused to figure out how to word this.
"They only allow legacy, I mean family members of former students, to attend," Hermione filled in realizing what he was saying.
"That's it exactly, at least for the most part," Ron smiled at her. "They couldn't keep it completely in the old families, there wouldn't be enough students for one, and word got around a bit because of marriages and stuff like that.
"That's where the problems started, there were arguments about who should be allowed to attend Hogwarts, and the arguments started just a few years after the school started," Ron explained, a little surprised that he was going this far back into history, but he was trying to let the story come out naturally. He hadn't lied to her yet, and if he kept going like this everything would be fine. "The resentment that came out of that argument had grown quite corrosive over the generations, a lot of the old families thought they were more important and that they deserved more than any of the new people that came later. It was ridiculous really, how they believed that they were superior because they just happened to be born into the right positions. But worse was how they started to think how inferior the new people were, how undeserving they were to even be allowed to attend the school."
"There was some sort of conflict that happened between these two groups," Hermione supplied as Ron had paused as he tried to figure out what to say next. She found it hard to believe that there was some kind of little-known school that seemed to have shaped its own community with their own sort of hierarchy. How could she not have heard of that before? However, it wasn't hard to believe how being included in such a school (especially if it was from the beginning) could instill a sense of pride in people and how that pride could turn into something ugly … and how that ugliness could turn into a conflict. History, after all, was littered with bloodshed caused by a group of people believing they were superior to others.
"Conflict sounds too nice of a word for what it was like," Ron said bitterly.
"I suppose when you said your friend Harry was famous, you meant he was famous at school," Hermione said after a few minutes of silence, she decided to try to change the subject a bit because Ron seemed to be struggling with his feelings.
"That's right, everyone knows Harry's name where I come from," Ron agreed, focusing on what she brought up and not on his bitterness about the war and the reason why it had to be fought in the first place.
"And in a good way, seeing as your sister pretended to marry him when you were younger," Hermione added.
"That's right," Ron laughed genuinely. "She wasn't the only one that had embarrassing stories … er … I used to pretend that I was him … or pretended that we would go on adventures together," he shook his head at how naïve he had been when he was a kid. "Everyone my age sort of thought of him as a superhero."
"A superhero," Hermione was surprised.
"Yeah," Ron smiled at her sadly, he was grateful that she had distracted him for a few seconds, but it always seemed to go back to the war. "The conflict," he went on deciding to use her word from it because it just made things easier for him, "actually started before I was born, several years before really. You see there was this extremist group that decided that they would take action and they caused all sorts of terror. They started off slow but soon they were committing utterly vile acts. It wasn't just the extremists though. They were the ones that were hurting people … and worse … but there were too many old families that thought they had the right idea and would let them get away with all kinds of shite that they shouldn't have."
Hermione squeezed Ron, telling him wordlessly that he didn't need to go into more details about this.
"Anyways, back to Harry," Ron said after he gathered himself again. "You see, the leader of the extremist had decided that he wanted to get rid of the Potters, all of the Potters."
"Why …" Hermione started to ask and then shook her head, knowing it was already difficult for him to talk about this, she didn't want to stress him more with questions.
"The Potters were prominent figures opposed to the effing psychopath," Ron answered her anyways. "He saw them as a threat, so he went to their home to take care of them. No one knows what really happened that night, but in the end, Harry was the only one left ….
"When their leader had vanished that night," Ron went on and Hermione found it odd that he said vanished, but resisted questioning him this time, "the extremist group deteriorated … they couldn't stay organized after that … and everything sort of went back to normal. And since Harry was the only survivor … people saw him as the reason why the terror had ended, and he was seen as …"
"A superhero," Hermione said, using the word he had earlier. "That must have been hard on him … to be famous for something like that."
"He hated it, how everyone would stare at him … expecting all sorts of things of him," Ron nodded in agreement. "What was worse was he didn't even know he was famous until he was eleven and then he was at Hogwarts, and everyone knew more about his past than he did."
"I don't understand," Hermione frowned.
"Remember I told you that Harry was raised by horrible people … his mum's sister," Ron said.
"Of course," Hermione rolled her eyes, annoyed as she always was when someone questioned her memory. Ron chuckled and then kissed the top of her head as a way to apologize.
"You see, Lily … that's Harry's mum … was the first in her family to go to Hogwarts," Ron said, feeling a little uncomfortable knowing he was getting close to breaching the Statute of Secrecy. He really hoped that Hermione didn't ask for details.
"So, Hogwarts does allow students that have never heard about it, even now," Hermione did ask a question, just not the one that Ron was expecting. He looked down at her and saw that she was making a face and then suddenly his mouth thinned in amusement.
"Upset that you didn't get invited," Ron said, trying not to let her see his amusement, but her slap to his chest showed that he didn't succeed. "Ow."
"Don't tease me then," Hermione muttered, she had been thinking that, when he had told her the school was exclusive, she thought there had been no way that she could have gone to Hogwarts but hearing about Harry's mum … she was wondering how she couldn't have been invited.
"Anyways, Harry's family didn't really know that much about us, and they didn't really want anything to do with us, and that included nothing to do with Harry," Ron said feeling his hatred color his tone.
"Hmmm," Hermione hummed, she was starting to see why Ron got upset whenever he mentioned Harry's family, she had no details, but she could already tell Harry had been neglected and she knew it had to be worse than that.
"Don't worry, my family took him in," Ron said softly, loving that she already seemed to care about his best mate just by listening to him talk. "Mum even made him a Weasley sweater for our first Christmas, before she even met him … officially."
Hermione smiled into Ron's chest; she loved hearing about how warm his family was to the poor boy. Ron obviously came by his compassion naturally.
"I had met Harry on the train ride to school, and we became best friends before the ride was over," Ron said shaking his head, "I couldn't believe how easy it was to become friends with him. Of course, it was unbelievable because he was Harry Potter, but it was never about that … he was just Harry, and then he was just my best friend."
"You're so lucky," Hermione said, envying the fact that it was that easy for him to make a friend that quickly.
"I know I am," Ron smiled at her. "Nothing had felt more natural than becoming friends with Harry … that is until I saw you in the coffee shop."
"Laying it on a little thick again," Hermione said, but she was touched by the honesty of his words, and leaned up and kissed him. It was sometime later that she asked, "So, did you have many adventures being Harry Potter's best friend?"
"Nonstop," Ron laughed with her at her joke. But the laughter couldn't last long before he sobered up, thinking about the actual adventures he had and how terrifying and horrible they were. "In truth, Harry's fame gave him a lot of enemies."
Hermione gasped and then nodded her head, it actually made sense once she thought about it, there probably were family members of the extremist, or at least people that sympathize with the extremist, going to school at that time. Harry would be an easy target for them to hate.
"They were my enemies too," Ron said, "as you can imagine, my family didn't believe in the effing superiority crap, and we are called 'traitors' because of it. In fact, the Weasleys are known as the biggest traitors," he added his voice filled with pride. "So yeah, we had enemies, and adventures, and some fights, hanged out together, and played matches … oh, and I guess we went to classes and learned things too."
"Yes, learning should always be at the end of the list when talking about school," Hermione rolled her eyes at him, and he smiled.
"I guess the conflict started …."
"No wait," Hermione said, she could tell he was going to get to the point of this conversation, and she had something she wanted to know first. "I'm sorry … it's just you mentioned Harry and Ginny …"
"Oh … right," Ron said not bothered that he could put of talking about the war, but it wasn't exactly easy to talk about Harry and his sister's relationship either. "I've got to go back a little for that … you see, before we went to Hogwarts, Gin was by best friend. It was always me and her against the twins. Fred and George were always pulling pranks on us … on me mostly … and Gin would help me get back at them, usually she was the one to come up with the prank.
"Then I went to Hogwarts, made friends with Harry, and Gin was left at home. Harry had come to visit us that summer after our first year (every summer really) and Gin …" Ron smirked at the memory, "couldn't be in the same room as him without turning into a tomato." The smile vanished quickly as he went on, "so when school started, I sort of ditched her."
"She wasn't in your year, though," Hermione frowned, she could tell that he was upset, but she didn't know why.
"She had a very bad first year," Ron said softly, "I mean nearly dying … bad …"
"What?" Hermione gasped. "How?"
"An effing arsehole gave her something dangerous," Ron growled. "She became possessed with it, isolating herself from her classmates all that year, and I did nothing to help her. I know on some level it wasn't my fault, but I still feel that way, even now. I didn't do anything until I learned that she was taken …"
"Taken?"
"By the bloody arsehole," Ron hissed, hoping that she didn't realize that he wasn't talking about the same person he mentioned the first time. He knew he was being misleading, but he had to walk this line closely. "Harry and I went after her … but she nearly died."
Hermione frowned, she knew he wasn't telling her something here, things didn't quite make sense, but she also knew he wasn't lying.
"After everything she went through, I knew I couldn't leave her alone, so when the next year came, I made sure she hung out with us," Ron said. "It was really awkward at first, because Gin still had her crush, she couldn't even talk to Harry for a while. Though at least she was able to talk to me when he was around after the first few days. I think it was the way that Harry handled the situation that made it work. He just sort of treated her like she was his friend, even though she would blush and not respond to him, he would just act like she hadn't and treated her normally. Things got better quickly, and we all became best friends after a few months.
"Not much happened until my fourth year, you see there was this Yule Ball ..."
"Did Harry and Ginny go together?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, but they went as friends. Harry had asked another girl first, he had a crush on the other girl for a while, but she was already going with someone else. Ginny couldn't go unless she was asked by someone in fourth year or up … and Harry needed a partner … so they went together." Ron sighed. "It was all very awkward … especially to me."
"To you?" Hermione questioned.
"Well, I had asked Parvati to the ball, she was in my year and we're housemates, but I didn't really know too much about her, so we had nothing to talk about," Ron sighed. "Harry and Gin were at a different table for dinner and then they had to start the dance … after a while Parvati made me dance with her … that was so not fun … and then I basically sat by myself the rest of the night."
"Okay I can see how it was awkward for you," Hermione said, but he hadn't mentioned the awkwardness she thought he was talking about.
"Harry was staring at Cho … the other girl he had a crush on," Ron started to explain knowing that's what she wanted to hear. "I could see that Gin was really annoyed by that … but she must have brought it up to him, because they started to dance again and seemed to have fun. That's another reason it was awkward for me … I started to think there might be something between them. However, after the ball nothing really changed, except that Gin started to spend more time away from us.
"In fifth year, we found out Gin was spending less time with us because she was dating a complete wanker, Michael Conner," Ron shook his head making a face. "I still haven't gotten over the shock of walking in on her and Michael snogging … it made me want to beat the snot out of him … and you should have seen how angry Harry got."
"What did Harry do?" Hermione asked, not sure if she was amused or annoyed by Ron's protective nature over his sister kissing her boyfriend.
"He didn't say anything, he just glared at Michael like he wanted to beat him," Ron chuckled, "no clue how I didn't see he was jealous at the time."
"How long was it before they started dating?" Hermione asked.
"About a month," Ron laughed. "Not sure why it took that long, really."
"Was it hard for you, when they started dating?" Hermione asked.
"Not as much as I feared it would," Ron admitted. "Not much change with our friendship, we still hung out all the time, they just spent a little more time alone together than I ever what to think about."
"Are you going to tell me what happened to them?" Hermione asked softly as Ron became quiet again and she knew they were getting back to the hard part of their conversation.
"Before I do, you have to understand that the conflict was starting to heat up again. Little things started happening in my first year, but it was the end of fourth year we discovered that the extremist leader wasn't actually dead." Ron said, he was trying to keep his tone neutral, but he talked as quickly as possible to get through this. "The leader had just been injured badly and went into hiding. He probably could have returned sooner, but his organization had imploded. So, instead he worked behind the scenes to rebuild everything, getting his followers to set things up so when he moved in the open again, he could take over.
"All the while he was still causing chaos and even more, he was still trying to go after Harry," Ron went on and Hermione gasped, and he nodded his head. "I know, it seems ridiculous that he would find a fifteen-year-old as a threat, but Harry was a symbol to the rest of us, the leader couldn't live down the failure of not taking care of him as a baby. Effing bastard.
"I probably would have been in the fight no matter what, but obviously I couldn't leave my best mate, even when a lot of shite happened, and he (we) had to go on the run." Ron shook his head, "worst time of my life, so much shite happened … and then there was the final battle … as it worked out both sides met at Hogwarts … it happened during the school year, so the students were even caught in the middle …."
Hermione grabbed his hand since she could tell Ron was lost in dark memories, she could only imagine the horrors he had seen in that battle.
"That's when it happened … when my brothers died," Ron said sometime later, but he had to try to get this last bit out. "C-charlie … he died saving Bill, pushing him out of the way … that was really tough on Bill at first, his little brother saving his life and all … but Bill was already married, and they have a beautiful little girl (and another child on the way) and I couldn't imagine our lives without them. I know Charlie would have been proud that he was able to save all of them.
"But Fred …" a knot formed in Ron's throat as he could see the last smile on Fred's face … "I was there … I saw it … one second, we were just standing in a corridor and then there was an explosion and … he was just gone …"
Hermione pulled Ron so he could wrap his arms around her as he clung to her. It was so stupid … there never should have been a stupid fight … he should have been able to just be kid … he shouldn't have lost his brothers when he was only nineteen. He shouldn't have battle scars … both on his body and emotionally. He took comfort in Hermione's embrace, this was the first time he had ever talked about that night … about the war in general, and though it was horrible, having her support meant everything to him.
"The fight was almost over when …" Ron again forced himself to talk as soon as he was able, "this mad woman shot at Ginny … I thought she was going to died, but then Harry was there, stepping in front of her and I thought he was going to died. But it went straight through him and hit her … he saved her life … but how it hit her was worse … the damage that was done … she'll never recover from it … it was bloody devastating ….
"When it was all over, Harry blamed himself for what happened to Gin," Ron went on, his voice was still thick, but they had taken another pause and Hermione had held him. He took the time to gather himself, knowing that he had gotten through all the hardest parts, he didn't have to talk about horrible things happening to his family anymore.
"It's not his fault, he had tried the best he could … he took the bullet," Hermione said, her voice was thick too, as she had shed tears listening to everything he had said.
"He has his reason for letting it get to him," Ron shrugged. "A lot of people have saved Harry at the cost of their own lives. His parents when he was a baby, his godfather when he was fifteen and a year later his mentor … the leader of our organization."
"Oh, that's terrible," Hermione said, she could only imagine how hard it was on Harry to lose so many people … how he would probably blame himself for those deaths ….
"Then he couldn't even save the love of his life," Ron said what she had been thinking, she looked at him and saw that Ron wasn't blaming Harry, he was just saying how Harry had felt. "No one else blamed him of course … not for any of it … he always thought we were in more danger because of him … it was a load of rubbish and we let him know it. But he was still really broken down after all that fighting was over and he saved the day. He's locked himself away in his fortress like house and just tries to get by. Of course, when didn't let him completely get away with that, He's part of our family now and we made sure he comes over to the Burrow … that's my parents' home … all the time. But still he hides away most the time, he doesn't need to work because of his family's wealth … the Potters were always wealthy …"
"And how did you handle everything that happened," Hermione asked, she thought he might be focusing his attention too much on Harry and not thinking about himself enough.
"Not sure really … I was gutted right afterwards," Ron frowned, "but I couldn't really think of myself, not with everyone else being broken. Harry was shattered … George was lost without his twin … Mum was unreachable at first … it took us a long time to start living again after everything."
Hermione frowned; she had a feeling that no one had taken care of Ron like he so desperately needed. "How long ago was this battle."
"A little more than three years ago," Ron answered, he could tell she was worried about him. "I was nineteen at the time," he added hoping he could distract her.
"You're only twenty-two," Hermione said, allowing herself to be distracted, after all how could she say more when she wasn't sure how his family had been there to support him. They were obviously close, and she was sure they had helped him a lot, but they were grieving too.
"Do I look older?" Ron asked amused.
"I guess I just thought you would be older because you're already an inspector," Hermione admitted, "I thought you were twenty-five at least. I guess I'm dating a younger man, I turned twenty-three a few weeks ago."
"An older woman, hm, that should be interesting," Ron teased.
"I can't be more than a few months older than you," Hermione said glaring at him and he grinned.
"It's more like six," Ron laughed at her expression and then kissed her. It didn't last long; he didn't really feel in the mood after everything that he had just talked to her about. They didn't really do much after that, just lied in bed, Ron playing with her hair as he tried to pay attention to Hermione's finger drawing patterns on his chest again, but he also thought about everything that happened. He was just glad that she had seemed to accept his story, and he didn't really have to lie to her, he just left out the magic, like Harry had advised.
A/N: So much for shorter chapters, this one ended up being about 7000+. So, this was the first completely original chapter I had written for this fic. I had no idea where the part with Crookshanks came from, they just sort of came to me while I was writing. Not to mention I thought I would have more of the talk with Harry at the beginning, but I realized I didn't want to spoil the conversation with Hermione later on, so it became very brief. I just hoped I showed that Harry was being a good friend to Ron. I know I had said in the first chapter that I wanted to edit out the war conversations, but this wasn't the part I was talking about. This conversation was the one that I had Ron bring up on their first date in the original story. This ended up being more in-depth than I thought it would be, but I hope it flowed okay.