The rest of the battle played out epically. Harry Potter was alive. He had managed to slip under the invisibility cloak while Voldemort was distracted and reappeared just in time to finish the evil wizard for good. Now, the Weasley family, Hermione, and Harry stood in the Great Hall hovering close to Fred's body. Hermione wasn't sure how she had any tears left, but they streamed steadily from her eyes down her cheeks. So many lives lost. So many families broken beyond repair.
She moved to Ron's side, and he looked down at her with his own tears in his eyes. She slipped her arms around his waist and buried her head in his chest. He pulled her in closer to him and rested his chin on top of her head. She didn't know how long they stayed like that. It felt like an eternity and merely a second at the same time.
Before she was ready for him to, Ron pulled away from her, leaving his hands holding lightly onto her elbows. "I think it's time to go home," he said to her as she looked around and saw that Fred's body had been moved and Harry and the others were gathering up to make their way out of the castle.
Percy, Charlie, Bill, Fleur, and George joined Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley back at the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley did her best to prepare a meal for them all to eat, but food tasted like sand in Hermione's mouth and she suspected the same was true for the others as she looked around noticing them all pushing the food around on their plates.
Mr. Weasley was the first to speak, saying, "I don't think any of us knows exactly what we should do now, but I think getting some rest is a good place to start. I believe I speak for Molly as well in saying that I hope you all will stay here, at least for tonight. We're a family, and we should be together."
No one argued as sleeping arrangements were made. Charlie and George would share the twin's old bedroom, Bill and Fleur would stay in his and Charlie's room, Percy would get his room back, Harry with Ron as usual, and Hermione would bunk with Ginny. The trio and Ginny hovered in the living room as the others made their way up the stairs to their respective rooms.
"It feels strange, the idea of sleeping apart from the two of you after all this time," Hermione pointed out.
Harry nodded and Ron smirked before wrapping her in a hug, "No way us sleeping in the same room is happening under my mother's roof. At least not until we're married." He pulled back from her and placed a finger under her chin, "If you need me, though, just come find me upstairs. Mum be damned."
She smiled up at him and stood on her tiptoes to place a light kiss on his lips. When she pulled away, she noticed Harry and Ginny locked in a similar exchange before Ginny turned toward her.
"Come on, Hermione," Ginny said, walking over and looping an arm through hers, pulling her toward the bedroom they would be sharing. "Dad's right. We all desperately need some rest."
They said their final goodnights to Harry and Ron before the boys headed up to Ron's attic bedroom, and Hermione followed Ginny into theirs. Her room was slightly larger than Ron's with a double bed instead of a twin.
Mrs. Weasley was in the bedroom already putting linens on a rollaway bed they kept for when Hermione stayed there. When she finished she walked over to the girls and placed a hand on each of their arms, rubbing gently. "You girls get some rest, yeah? I'll see you in the morning," she said before moving past them to leave.
"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione affectionately called after her.
The girls stayed quiet for a while as they changed into their sleep clothes and crawled into their beds. The rollaway was more comfortable than the bunk beds in the tent that Hermione had gotten used to, but that didn't mean Hermione herself was comfortable. She struggled to find a position where she felt relaxed and kept tossing and turning.
"Are you okay?" Ginny asked her from her bed, but before Hermione could answer, she spoke up again. "That was a stupid question. I'm sorry. Of course you're not okay."
Hermione shifted her position so that she was on her side facing Ginny's bed, though she could not see the other girl in the darkness of the room. "It's not a stupid question, and I am okay, at least in the broad sense of the word. I'm here. I'm alive. We did it. We won," she let out a long breath before continuing, "but my body doesn't seem to realize it's over. I can't seem to relax," Hermione paused before continuing, "and I'm afraid of the nightmares."
"What nightmares?"
Hermione didn't know how to respond. Ginny didn't know what happened to her at Malfoy Manor. She didn't know that she saw Bellatrix Lestrange's wild stare whenever she closed her eyes, hovering over her with a knife, laughing maniacally, ready to carve into Hermione's skin.
"Never mind, it's silly," and it was. Bellatrix Lestrange was dead. Voldemort was dead. Logically, Hermione knew there was nothing for her to be afraid of, but trauma was fickle that way. It didn't care. Hermione was sure when she closed her eyes, the nightmares would come, just as they had every night since they'd left Malfoy Manor.
Ginny was quiet for a moment before clearing her throat, "Do you want to, uhm, share my bed with me, maybe?"
Hermione's stomach swooped unexpectedly, and she felt her cheeks heat up. She'd never shared a bed with anyone before. Sure, she'd shared a tent with Harry and Ron for months, but she never slept in the bed with them. The thought of sharing a bed with Ginny made her palms itch and her scalp tingle the way it did when she was anxious. What if she took up too much space or touched Ginny without meaning to, making it even harder for the other girl to get a good night's rest?
She was just about turn down the offer when Ginny's voice came to her softly in dark, "Please? I don't want to be alone."
Hermione cursed herself silently for being so oblivious. She wasn't the only one who had experienced trauma. Ginny fought in the battle, nearly died at the hands of the same woman that plagued Hermione's nightmares, lost her brother. She didn't just want to be a comfort to Hermione. She needed comfort, too.
Now that her eyes had adjusted to the dark, Hermione could just make out Ginny as she got up to stand at the edge of her bed. Ginny pulled the covers back and scooted her body to the side opposite where Hermione stood. Even though it was a double bed, there still wasn't a whole lot of room for Hermione to slip in without feeling like she was encroaching on Ginny's personal space. Her heart was beating unnaturally fast as she hugged the blanket up under her chin and tried to lay perfectly still.
"Thank you," Ginny whispered, moving closer to Hermione's side, resting her forehead against Hermione's shoulder.
Hermione let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and allowed her body to finally relax, Ginny's even breaths soothing her anxious mind. Before she knew it, she was falling into a nightmare-free sleep.
