Harry walked into the exam room at Saint Mungo's. He had been forced to leave his wand and badge at the desk by Kingsley when he found out who was sitting in the room. Her face and body covered in bruises.
Hermione looked up in fear when the door opened then smiled out of the side of her mouth that was not bruised, "Harry!" She exclaimed in relief.
Harry sat on the side of the bed and let her collapse against this chest as she began to cry. He stroked her hair for several long minutes before she calmed herself.
"I got your shirt wet." She sniffled eventually.
"It'll dry." He quietly said as she pulled back to look into his face.
"I'm sorry Harry. I thought he would be better. I should have told you. I should have done things differently. I thought i could change him, make him grow up. He just. His temper. It never got better it only got worse." She glumly said.
"Hermione you have nothing to apologize for. You cared and loved him. You did all you could for him. This is his fault not yours. Please don't blame yourself." Harry begged. "You didn't do anything wrong."
She ran her fingers over the spot on his uniform wehre the badge should be. "Where is your badge?" She asked idly, trying to distract them both.
"Kingsley made me take a few days off. He thinks I might be a bit compromised if I remain on duty right now."
"So what are you going to do?" Hermione asked softly.
"What do you want me to do?" Harry replied heartfelt.
...
Months later Ron was drinking in the Hog's Head as that was the only place he could afford. Hermione had gotten with Susan Bones and taken him for everything except the skin on his back in the divorce. He was lucky that Headmaster McGonnegal had allowed Hagrid to hire him to shovel the Thestral stalls out.
He slowly set the glass on the bar as Neville and Harry slid onto the stools beside him. Both of them set their auror badges onto the bar then slid them down to a petite blonde woman in green coveralls. Luna loked at him cold enough that he felt his blood chill.
"Hello Ron." Harry said staring straight ahead into the mirror without looking at him. Ron noticed the bar had grown even more quiet and empty than usual.
Swallowing nervously Ron said, "Hi guys. Long time no see eh?"
"Not long enough." Neville quietly grunted.
"So uh. What brings you by here?" Ron tried to show some bravado. "Hermione send you?"
Harry smiled briefly, a bare shadow, "My fiance doesn't know we're here. She won't know we've been here. This is just a nice polite visit from old friends to remind you of something."
Ron slammed back his glass of Victory Gin and sneered, "Remind me of what?"
"That you've been lucky. Lucky she recovered from her injuries, lucky she went so light on you during the divorce. Lucky I owed you my life. Only the books are balanced now Ron. From here on out anything that happens is a new book." Harry said in a calm controlled, too tightly controlled, voice. His hands clasped on the bar in front of him as if in prayer.
"What do you think is going to happen?" Ron sneered. "Its not like I can do anything now."
"I think you are going to stay away from Hermione. You're going to realize you've been given a second chance to behave like a good man Ron. Because if you don't there are things I learned during the war that you will not want to see. Things that will make what you did to her look and feel like a soft summer day. Then I will share you with Luna, and if there is anything left of you, Neville will get a turn." Harry stated flatly. His unblinking eyes boring into Ron from the mirror.
Ron glanced down the bar at Luna who had not moved, he wasn't entirely certain she was breathing as she stared at him like a predator. He had overheard Hagrid and someone talking about Luna working with dangerous magical creatures. Neville looked like he was carved from stone as he sat on the stool unmoving except for a small pulsating vein in his temple.
Ron was going to say something but Harry and Neville stood, moving smoothly as a well oiled machine. Harry's firm hand gripping his shoulder as he leaned in and whispered, "Remember this Ron. The only reason you are still breathing at all is because Hermione asked me not to killl you. So I promised her I will never kill you. But there are things far worse than death."
Ron wanted to reply. He wanted to spit in Harry's face, or punch him. He wanted to do something besides shiver in terror as the whispered words burrowed into his brain. The heavy hand that clenched his shoulder released and they were gone, sweeping into the afternoon light as if they had never been there. Only the terror in Ron' sheart taht they would be watching him, waiting for him to make a mistake would remain.
OfficerDonNZ: True and true. Exploring how Harry and company got here, what they do afterwards. Its going in the notebook for that reason.
