At the Heart of Courage. Book 2

CHAPTER 1: March 2000

(15 months after the close of the first ATHOC Book)

Ron sighed in relief when it was finally time to close the shop for the night. He walked across the empty store, flipped the sign in the door front to "Closed," locked the door, whispered nox to dim the store lights and placed final security wards over the shop. Then he glanced out the front window and felt the involuntary shiver go through his body in reaction to the weather outside the warm and cheery shop.

March was always dreary in England. The skies were known to be perpetually grey, and the cold, pelting sheets of rain outside weren't helping the gloomy feel that seemed to have settled over him.

Shaking off the chill, he walked back to his office where he quickly locked up the till from the day's sales. Unfortunately, they'd only had five customers all day, but at least one seemed to be a rich grandmother excited to spoil her grandchildren. They'd once again seen success beyond their expectations before Christmas, but once the holidays were over and the kids were back at Hogwarts, it had slowed significantly. Ron was hoping that business would pick back up closer to Easter when parents would buy little things for Easter baskets and the children would be on holiday from school for two weeks. Following Rocks' advice, he had encouraged George to come up with special Easter themed products targeted both in the "cute" and "gross" categories. So, one set of jelly beans turned your head into an adorable chick or bunny for a few minutes. The other set of jelly beans made your breath smell like rotten eggs. And they had cute little pastel colored accessories for the pygmy puffs. They hadn't sold much of it yet, but Easter was still almost a month away, falling in late April that year.

April. Ron looked at the calendar on his office wall and just closed his eyes for a moment. Last spring had been rough. George had done really, really well from the time they returned from Australia until mid-March the year before. And then, despite the efforts of Ron and the rest of his family, George got lost in the bottom of a bottle for weeks on end. Ron had known that getting through that first birthday without Fred would be awful for George, but he had significantly underestimated how awful. But in a drunken ramble George had wept to him over how he would never be the same age as Fred again. He'd obviously mourned him since his death, but this was the first big milestone that would force George to move on without his other half.

Ron hadn't known what to do to help, and at one point even sought out advice from Rocks. But Rocks encouraged him to let George grieve as he needed to – to watch it and not let it go too far, but to let him try to work through it on his own.

They'd closed the shop for April 1st, which Ron knew was a bad business move but was a good brother move. The drunken stupor had lasted through the month of April and through the anniversary of Fred's death on May 2nd. It probably would have gone on longer, but Bill had intervened with the ultimate bribe. If George didn't get sober, he would not be able to be around his new niece.

And that did it. It wasn't instant, but it was slap in the face George had needed to crawl back out of the bottle.

Building on that success, Hermione had declared George needed a touchstone reminder to have on him to help him remember why he was working so hard to stay sober. She'd gone to a muggle jewelry store and purchased a black leather bracelet with a silver medallion in the middle. On that, she'd had the jeweler engrave it to say "F/5/2/V". Ron had asked why add the F and date instead of just Vic's name. But Hermione had insisted George had to recognize he needed to fight for both Victoire's and Freddie's sakes, and that the reminder that Vic was born on the day Freddie had died would help George bond with her in ways the rest of us couldn't comprehend.

Ron had thought she was nutty, but he'd once again been wrong. He couldn't have pictured George wearing jewelry, no matter how un-girly it looked. But now George didn't take it off. And while George would still drink occasionally, Ron had observed him looking down at his bracelet, touching the medallion and then asking for pumpkin juice after he'd had one alcoholic drink. Seemed to be his limit now, and whether it was for Freddie or Vic or finally for himself Ron wasn't sure. But he was so glad Hermione had been able to understand what George needed when no one else did. And while he wasn't sure if that bracelet could prevent a repeat of last year's birthday disaster, he was hopeful that at the very least it wouldn't be as bad.

Hopefully Victoire's influence would help. They'd all been shocked when Fleur had gone into labor on the evening before the anniversary of the battle. But, it had been such a blessing to have something positive to focus on that day, and it had given everyone the perfect excuse to be together as a family in the St. Mungo's waiting room instead of suffering through an endless memorial service. Harry had to go be in public for a bit, of course, and they'd taken turns babysitting George. But, all in all – it had been a great thing.

The months following Victoire's birth had been good – Hermione and Ginny had graduated from Hogwarts, and Harry had graduated from the Auror Academy. His mum had thrown a big party for them at The Burrow, and they'd all enjoyed the late summer night out under the stars. But while Hermione and Ginny took some time to enjoy the summer, and even Harry had a few weeks off before he had to start reporting to work as an auror, Ron had had to be back at work the next day to keep the shop going. He'd tried to ignore that pang in his gut that day when the three of them were being celebrated, but no one really said anything about how hard he'd worked that year. He'd shaken off the thought and chastised himself to stop being whiny and selfish, but every now and then those thoughts of being overlooked and ignored definitely crept back in with vengeance. They didn't dominate his thoughts, but he was frustrated he couldn't totally eliminate them.

After he'd finished training, Harry had moved into Grimmauld Place, but he spent much of his time at The Burrow whenever Ginny was home. She'd spent much of the summer practicing and training before her tryout for the Hollyhead Harpies. And once she made the team, she got a small apartment in Wales near their home pitch where she stayed much of the time. So, unsurprisingly, Harry was now a huge Harpies' fan and spent much of his time in Wales.

But really, it had been Hermione who had surprised him the most after graduation. Instead of taking one of the many, many offers she'd had for prestigious positions at The Ministry, she had elected to stay working at Hogwarts. She worked with McGonagall helping orient muggle-born students and their families to the magical world. And she kept up her reading and her research on both law and the rights of magical creatures. But, what seemed to become her new passion was helping Madame Pince rebuild and even expand the library resources. While the library itself hadn't been destroyed in the battle, many of the books and other documents had been lost or destroyed. So, Hermione had begun working with the librarian to establish a master list of what texts needed to be tracked down and replaced, and Hermione had begun hunting them down. So far she had only ventured as far as the library at The Ministry, but she had written hundreds of inquiries to magical libraries around the world to help find some of the missing texts. But, he knew she really did want to go visit these magical libraries around the world – presumably to get copies of these texts, but probably just to see them and trace her fingers reverently across the spines of the books there as well.

Unconsciously he ran both of his hands through his hair and blew out a sigh thinking of Hermione. He constantly reminded himself that he should be happy now that he had everything he had ever wanted – he was with the love of his life. They were living together, in love, and both working jobs they enjoyed. She was smart and gorgeous and sexy as hell, and somehow she loved him.

But...

There it was. There was a "but," and it made Ron cringe to acknowledge that. Hermione was – well, she was brilliant. But, she was different that she had been before, well, before everything.

He was too, he supposed. He'd never pictured himself as the strong one of the two of them. Or the one who would be pulling along his older brothers either. But that's where they were.

Hermione was both more stubborn and more fragile that she had been before. She seemed to be less likely to compromise about anything she'd set her mind on, which Ron had expected in many ways – maybe he just hadn't thought through what it would feel like to live with that every day of the year. But she had also changed in subtle ways that concerned him. She would tire easily, and she still hadn't gained all the weight back that she needed to gain. But, he had to concede that she had been diligent at trying to eat right and not skip meals. She was still drinking those nasty muggle protein drinks her mum had recommended. And, ironically, she had asked one of the Hogwarts' elves who had taken to following her around like a rock star to please remind her if she lost track of time while she worked so that she could be sure to eat lunch each day. And bless Tanny's little heart, it seemed she now lived to serve and was so happy on those days she could gently interrupt to bring some bread, soup or a sandwich to Hermione.

Tanny adored her. And since Ron adored her too, they had been quick to like each other and collaborate in keeping Hermione safe and as healthy as possible. But when Hermione had discovered that the two were keeping tabs on her, she was not happy at all. Ron cringed just thinking of it. He'd slept in a spare bedroom for weeks after that afternoon Hermione had walked in on he and Tanny talking about her schedule. She'd been livid. And poor Tanny, she'd been horrified at offending her favorite witch and had promptly beat her head with a frying pan, which upset Hermione even more and then she blamed that on Ron too. It hadn't been pretty.

Eventually they'd all worked through it. And now, Tanny wouldn't talk to him unless Hermione was there or had sent her to deliver something to Ron. While Ron understood how Hermione felt like he'd invaded her privacy or something, he still felt like he was in the right to utilize every resource at his disposal to keep her as healthy and safe as possible. But, he realized he couldn't convince her of that, so they'd eventually made up. Sort of felt normal to have one of their old rows again, and he was glad they'd figured out how to fight and make up as a couple. And frankly, making up as a couple was ever so much better than making up when they were just friends.

Ron still tried to be sure Hermione was healthy and safe. She always kept her charmed hairclip on her, so he always knew where she was. Similarly, they'd charmed a clip he kept on his wallet so she could always find him as well. And he tried to make sure they had healthy foods at home and that they got outside when they could so she could get fresh air and sunshine for a change. And, he always kept an eye out for when she needed to go to bed early, or skip a gathering at The Burrow or needed to consider an extra visit to see Becky. But, while she hadn't had another episode of going nonverbal on him again, that fear was always present in his mind. He loved her so much, but he didn't think he had it in him to try to talk her back to the land of the living again.

As he finished closing up the shop for the night, he thought more about how Hermione was different than the girl he'd fallen in love with at school. It got under his skin how she was much more reckless than she'd been growing up – and that was saying something for a girl who had been petrified by a basilisk when she was only 13. But while she still liked structure and order and cleanliness and schedules, she was faster to ignore rules, authority or at some moments, Ron cringed, even common sense. She drank more, let lose more – which he'd thought he would think was a good thing, but somehow she did it in a way that made him sad instead of excited. But she was also more forgiving, more intuitive about knowing what Ron was thinking, and better at reading people than she had ever been growing up. And she still loved books. As long as she still sought out things to learn and books to read, he knew she was still "his Hermione."

Of course he knew he'd changed too. Who would have thought he'd be the diligent worker, the one keeping track of appointments, birthdays, schedules and making sure they ate healthy food? He'd become more confident in his own decisions and his ability to somehow know what to do to help people. While his dream of being an auror seemed to be fading daily into the "could have been" path of his life, he had morphed into a respectable businessman. He turned out to be good at the financial and planning side of the work, which he never would have even considered as a possibility. Kingsley still reached out to him every few months to see if he was ready to join the aurors. Ron kept turning him down, but he was increasingly collaborating with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to help tailor some of the WWW products into tools for a security line the aurors could utilize. And, while Ron hadn't mentioned it to anyone, he had been quietly working on some different potential business plans to build that line into its own business, and to explore opening not only other locations in the UK, but also to begin to watch for possible international expansion opportunities. He doubted he'd ever show them to anyone, but it felt like a helpful exercise to test the things he'd learned over the past year.

Yeah, the business plans were more to prove to himself he could do it, but he was too worried about George to try and rock the boat anytime soon. While George had done ok the past six months or so, Ron was really concerned that he was going to slip into another calendar-induced depression any day now. Similarly he'd noticed that Hermione, though physically stronger, seemed like since the calendar flipped to March that something in her eyes had dimmed - or maybe like she was retreating from him somehow. He had tried to ask her if it was the anniversary of everything at Malfoy Manor. Bloody hell, everything was an anniversary of some horrible thing now. But, despite that, she insisted that she was fine and that the calendar wasn't bothering her at all. Well, if it wasn't the calendar, he wasn't sure what it was, but it was bloody well something.

Ron sat down at his desk for a moment, crossing his arms on his desk and deciding he'd rest his head for just a moment before calling it a night. Wasn't like he had far to go – he was supposed to meet Hermione up at George's flat for dinner and the three of them were going to eat some muggle take-away. He knew she had probably been up there for more than an hour by now, but neither of them had come down to see him. He tried not to be hurt by that, but he was busting his tail trying to hold everything together and didn't have the luxury of hiding at home or getting drunk to relieve the tension. Somedays he felt like the least one of them could do was to thank him. But, he shook his head and chastised himself for thinking like that. He loved Hermione and his brother, and he had come far too close to losing both of them multiple time. In many ways he'd let them both down over the years, and this was just his chance to help them for a change.

He sat up slowly, running his hands over his face to try and wake up a bit and have some energy for the evening ahead. So often he felt like he had to carry the conversation with both George and Hermione, or at least work to keep it positive. But that truly was exhausting, and despite enjoying them both, all he really wanted at that moment was to go home and go to bed. But, his loved ones needed him, so he stashed most recent note from Kingsley pleading with Ron to join the aurors into a folder so neither George or Hermione would accidentally see it, plastered a smile on his face and headed upstairs for dinner.

Opening the door to the flat, he found both George and Hermione sitting in the living room. Hermione was lost in a book, and George simply seemed lost in thought. Both seemed to have had something to drink – but neither was drunk, per se. Though, it didn't appear that anyone had given any thought to getting food for dinner.

"Evening you two," Ron said as he closed the door.

"Oh, hi, Ron," Hermione said with a genuine smile. "Did you close up early?"

"Early?" Ron asked, confused. "It's after eight."

"Really?" Hermione said, sitting up straighter. "We must have lost track of time. I thought it was only six or so."

George nodded in agreement, but his eyes were still somewhat distant.

"Neither of you got hungry?"

Both shrugged.

Ron grumbled in his head, but outwardly said, "No worries, I'll pop out and find us some supper. Be back in a tick." Then he apperated to an alley near their favorite muggle sandwich shop.

Figures, he mentally whined as he made his way towards the shop. I'm the one working all day, but between the two people who haven't had to do a single sodding thing since they got up that morning they couldn't manage to know the time or realize I would be starving after working the shop alone all day.

Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes and tried to exhale his tension. Don't say that, Ron, he chastised himself. They're not hungry because George is utterly depressed and Hermione is still recovering from being cursed and starved. Just because you made it through with no permanent physical damage and still have the appetite of a hippogriff is no reason to be angry at them.

He ordered the food – a sandwich for George, two for himself and one that was theoretically for Hermione but that he would eat most of in the end either that night or the next day at lunch. Grabbing some crisps as well, he headed back to George's place to eat.

The three of them managed to all sit at the table, and Ron tried to keep the conversation going by talking about the Easter products George had developed. George said a few things, but seemed to be lost in thought. So, Ron turned to Hermione to ask about her day.

"It was an interesting one, actually," she smiled. "I finished reading that history book I'd been telling you about – the one on goblins and elves, and it was quite good. With that one finished, I spent some time with Madame Pince this afternoon trying to track down some other texts I wanted. Unfortunately they ended up being some of the volumes that were lost with all of the destruction at the castle. But," she added excitedly, "I talked Madame Pince and she thought that a library in Warsaw might have them, so I sent letters inquiring about getting copies made for Hogwarts."

Ron nodded, knowing he really didn't care but that the library mattered to her.

"Oh," said George suddenly. "I forgot, what time is it?"

"Quarter til nine I think," mumbled Ron, mouth full of food. "Why?"

"Ron, can you chew and swallow before you speak, please, that's disgusting."

He swallowed audibly, earning him an eye roll from his girlfriend.

"Just that Ginny had sent an owl saying there was supposed to be an interesting show on the wireless tonight about how they're re-building the English quidditch league. Should start in a few minutes."

"Huh, sounds good," nodded Ron.

One thing that everyone – even Hermione – had agreed on was that the magical community really needed some positive things to happen, and the top of that list was that the quidditch league needed to get back to full-swing after having been shut town most of the previous two years when all of the muggle born players had to flee or hide and then it took almost a whole year to rebuild the teams. Unfortunately, a number of the top players had died or moved away permanently, so initially there were only demonstration games and scrimmages instead of the regular league. Ron was desperately hoping they wouldn't shut down any teams, as that would most likely mean the Cannons first. But, Ginny had said that their team had been told that the full league – including the Cannons – would be back up and running by summer.

The brothers each filled a glass with firewhisky and moved to the living room to click on the wireless. Hermione followed, though more interested in the company than the program. Ron settled on the sofa, and she leaned up against him and returned to her reading as the program started. Ron smiled, leaned down to kiss the top of her head and let his eyes close contentedly as he listened to the program with his arms around the woman he loved, a full belly and his throat warm with the Firewhisky.

His first snore was approximately three minutes later.

Hermione chuckled softly at him and carefully took the still largely full drink from his hand, sipping at it herself.

George chuckled too, "Well, that didn't take long."

"No, poor thing," Hermione said quietly. "He really is working himself into the ground."

George sighed. "I know, but he doesn't have to, and so it's a bit aggravating, you know?"

"Oh yeah, I know," said Hermione, rolling her eyes and taking another drink. "I mean, I know you and I were – well – to put it delicately – utterly worthless there for a while. And he saved both of us. But, it's like he got stuck in martyr mode or something and doesn't know how to get back some of the lazy Ron we both knew and loved too."

Nodding and laughing at the last comment, George downed his drink and filled it again, waving off the raised eyebrow from Hermione. "Good way of thinking of it. He is stuck in martyr mode, and frankly it's beginning to piss me off. He's tip-toing around me down in the shop like I'll shatter into a thousand pieces if he says the wrong thing. He tries to suggest I see a counselor about my birthday! I don't need a mind healer to tell me I am upset about facing another birthday without Freddie. Doesn't take a fucking genius to know that it is fucked up, but that's nothing Ron can fix, or should fix – we just have to keep going is all."

Hermione nodded thoughtfully as she drank more of Ron's firewhisky. Draining the glass, she poured a second one, rolling her eyes at George's returned raised eyebrow.

"I know he means so well, and we'd be screwed without him. But it's like we can't be strong anymore because he's claimed that role now. And honestly I wonder if this is how he felt all those years when I organized everything for him. Was it as irritating and yet endearing as this behavior is to me?" she pondered aloud, eyes redder now from the alcohol as she kept drinking.

"Dunno," George said. "I'm not saying I don't appreciate it or love him for it, but it can just get – well, just can get a bit much, eh?"

"Yeah, bit much at times," she said gently, looking at him lovingly as she did. "But I adore him. He means well. He's just doing it because he loves us. I don't want him to think we don't love him and need him because we do – or at least I do. But sometimes I worry he thinks if he wasn't saving us all of the time we wouldn't love him."

"Well of course I love him. But, well - maybe we just have to show him we aren't so fragile or something. Show him we love 'im for the git he is, not for making sure were fed and watered regularly."

Hermione giggled at the image, spilling a little of the drink, and then she scrunched her forehead together thinking about this. George recognized her expression as one where she was concocting something, likely elaborate. He tried to wait her out, but patience is not helped by Firewhisky.

"Spit it out, Granger. What are you plotting?"

"Well, I think you should plan yourself a birthday party," she said with a confident nod, but then almost spilled her drink trying to put it on the table.

"Throw a party for to celebrate a day I can't share with Freddie anymore?" he said, pain in his voice.

"Well, yes. I mean – tell me if I'm off base here, but you said you don't remember the funeral. And if my memory serves, you probably don't remember your last birthday either. So, you never got to give Fred a proper Weasley Twin send off, right? It was all sad and proper and formal, which is so unlike your brother that he was probably offended by the whole damn thing. But maybe you plan a 'not forgetting Freddie-fest' and finally do it up right. You know with drinks and foods that make us turn into inappropriate things and fireworks and the whole lot. And then Fred would have the celebration he deserves, as will you, and Ron can see that you aren't going to crack in a million pieces and that you can hurt but still make it, you know?"

"Huh. It's barmy, but I kinda like the idea of a Freddie Fest."

"Me too," she smiled.

"So what about you, how are we gonna show your martyred lover-boy over there that you can stand on your own two feet?"

She hiccoughed and giggled as she downed the rest of the firewhisky. "Maybe I should come up with that plan when I CAN actually stand on my own two feet without falling over. 'Cuz I don't think I could do that right now."

"Me either," he laughed.

She looked at him guiltily, glancing between his drink and his bracelet talisman. He waved her off. "I had too much tonight, but I'm home and not going anywhere. It's fine. You didn't turn me back into an alcoholic. Not sure I was technically addicted to the drink as much as I was running from hurting. I'm still committed to being the best damn uncle around," he said raising up the wrist the bracelet was on. "But I can still drink too much every now and then, ok?"

"Ok. We'll show him how strong we are another time then," she smirked. Then after yawning and reaching to pull the afghan up over them, she curled up on Ron and fell asleep.