Four Word Prompts

Ship: Romione

Prompt: Romione

Rated: K+ for language

It had been three days.

Three days of silence. Three days of avoiding eye contact. Three days of not being able to find the words to say.

It had happened immediately after Fred's funeral. Everybody expected George to be the one to be this way and had prepared themselves to deal with it, but it wasn't him.

It was Ron.

Ron had shut down all of his emotions as he watched the casket being lowered into the ground. When they started to pile dirt on top of it, he had gotten up and walked away.

Hermione was eager to follow him, but Harry had told her to give him his time. That Ron just needed a moment to himself to think. He would come around.

Three days later Hermione was still waiting.

In those three days, Ron had not said more than a few words to people, and that was only required talking. A few "yes ma'am and no maam's" to his mother, and "I'm not really hungry" when offered food a few times. And when he did eat, it was a few bites and then he would excuse himself from the table and either go to his room or disappear into he and Ginny's old treehouse.

Hermione was done with it. Being an only child she didn't have the slightest clue in what it meant to lose a sibling (or anyone for that matter), but she knew that Ron had to come back to himself. It wasn't right for everyone to treat Ron as if he was going to snap at any second.

She took some of Mrs. Weasley's roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and a couple biscuits, put them on a plate, and headed up to Ron's room, determined to break the solespell that had been placed upon him.

She knocked and didn't wait for him to answer. She opened the door and entered his violently orange room that her eyes were still trying hard to get used to. She sat down at the edge of the bed where Ron was laying down, staring at the ceiling.

"I've got your favorite here," she said in a low voice, showing Ron the plate of food.

"I'm not hungry, Mione." he whispered, eyes not leaving the spot on the ceiling in which he was staring.

"You have to eat something, Ron. You haven't eaten properly in days. Your Mum is worried about you." insisted Hermione.

"I said I'm not hungry," said Ron a bit louder this time, his voice slightly irate.

Hermione huffed. "No need in getting upset with me, Ronald Weasley. I'm only trying to look out for you."

"Well maybe I don't want to be looked after like some bloody puppy dog, Hermione." said Ron sharply, sitting up in his bed so fast, he made a tiny breeze against Hermione's cheek. "Maybe I just want to be alone. Why can't anyone just leave me alone?!"

Hermione looked down at the plate of food and then back at Ron. His bright sapphires were glittering with the glossed over tears that he was holding back from shedding. Anger and hurt were etched onto his face, almost breaking Hermione's heart to see.

She stood up and put the plate of food onto Ron's bedside table. Then she headed for the door. Maybe she would try another time.

"Wait," she heard Ron say, almost in desperation. She turned back around to face him, despite not wanting to. She already felt like she herself was about to burst into tears.

"I'm sorry for snapping, please don't go." apologized Ron, holding out his arms, as if he were begging for her to come to him.

Hermione walked back over to Ron's bed. Ron scooted over to make room for her to sit beside him. She say down and took Ron's giant hand into her two small ones.

"Please, talk to me." she whispered as she moved one of her hands to his left cheek, grazing her thumb gently over it. "Tell me what's wrong. I hate seeing you like this."

Ron took Hermione"s hand from his cheek and held it. He laid his forehead on her shoulder, still not speaking a word. Hermione sat there, allowing Ron to grasp her hand. Whatever he needed to do. It had been more contact made since before the funeral.

For awhile no words were said. Hermione felt like though Ron was close to her at the moment, she had still failed.

Then...

"I told you how it was Fred that had turned my teddy into a giant fucking spider when I was a toddler, right?" croaked Ron, his voice halfway muffled by his lips being against Hermione's arm.

Hermione didn't say a word. She was scared to lose this moment. Instead, she gave his hand a small squeeze to encourage him to go on.

"He was also the one who thought it funny to give me an Acid Pop. I'll never forget that pain." continued Ron. "Nor will I forget the time he and George tried to get me to make an Unbreakable Vow, and all the times he would throw crab apples at me when we would play Quidditch claiming I needed to know what a bludger felt like. One time while I was in the bath he made the tub of water freeze solid and Mum and Dad didn't discover me for almost an hour because he had put a charm on the door to keep my screaming from being heard."

"That's barbaric, " said Hermione, scrunching up her nose. Fred had been so cruel to Ron over the years. Even as teens he would sometimes bully, torment, and belittle Ron. So why did he seem to be mourning more than George?

Ron turned his head to where the right side was laying on Hermione's shoulder.

"He was also the one that showed me how to ride a broom properly." he said.

"I thought Bill taught you that," said Hermione.

"No, it was Fred. Bill was at school at the time and I was around 6. I had begged Bill to teach me before he went for his next term, but told him no, and he refused to, the scared git. Fred, being the rule breaker he was, taught me anyways. Charlie had taught the twins, so when Mum and Dad would go off to bed, Fred and I would sneak out of bed and he would teach me how to fly properly around our makeshift Quidditch pitch. By the time Bill and Charlie came home for Christmas holiday, I was an expert."

Hermione smiled at the thought of an 8 year old Fred teaching Ron how to ride a broom. She wondered how many cuts and bruises he had suffered from it.

"He was also the one that told me that I fancied you." chuckled Ron slightly, making Hermione's heart skip a beat.

"Yeah he sure did. Shocking that he didn't tell anyone else, not even George. He told me he would keep it to himself. That was in our third year, when I was still trying to deny that I liked anything past Quidditch."

"Why Ronald Weasley, had I but known," giggled Hermione, causing Ron to laugh. Hermione shed a tear at his laughter. She didn't realize how much she missed hearing him laugh until that moment.

"You know what our last conversation was about?"

"What?"

"You, Mione. And other things. " said Ron, feeling a slew of emotions begin to wash over him suddenly. "It was at the wedding when we were taking a break from dancing, you and I. He was a touch pissed, but everything he was saying made sense. He told me how you were the one and to never do anything to damage whatever it was we were going to have, and how he would sing loudly and quite terribly at our wedding."

Hermione smiled and allowed the other tears that were welling up to fall.

"He also told me that even though he wasn't the ideal brother to me and he felt terrible for that, and that he had started to admire me ever since that business with first year. Can you believe that? My older brother, a guy that was praised and popular admired me for not really doing much except for being there for you and Harry. He said that he didn't think he could have ever been that way with people that were not his family. Maybe Lee Jordan and Angelina, but not at that particular time. He said that he had never really had a hero in his life, but I..." Ron began to break down. "I had become his."

Ron lost his composure and began to sob. Hermione turned as quickly as she could and pulled his face into her chest, rubbing his back with one hand and running her fingers through his hair with the other. She whispered all the comforting things she could think of while Ron allowed the tears of pain and anguish to fall from his eyes and onto Hermione's shirt.

"I couldn't be his hero that night, Hermione, "sobbed Ron so loudly, that Hermione had thrown a silencing charm at Ron's door so no one else could hear. "I couldn't save him. He was right there and I couldn't save him. I would have took that blow for him, Hermione."

"I know you would have darling, I know," said Hermione in a soothing tone.

"I would have taken everything he endured. He should be here. George should have his twin. We should have our brother!"

Ron continued to cry and to blame himself for well over five minutes. Hermione felt she couldn't do anything for him but be there for him to let it out on.

After awhile, Ron calmed down. He felt as if a giant weight had left his body. All the tears had been shed, the screams had been left out, and for the first time in YEARS, Ron felt almost peaceful.

He looked up at Hermione and gave that lopsided grin that seemed only reserved for her. "Made a mess of your shirt, have I?" he said, blushing.

Hermione smiled and kissed his forehead. "It's fine, no worries. You needed to get it all out, yeah?"

Ron nodded. He sat up and hugged Hermione tightly to his body.

"Thank you," he said.

"I didn't do anything but sit her and listen."

"That's all I needed, I gather." he said, kissing the top of Hermione's head. "You didn't sit here and tell me how it'll be fine and everything would be okay and Dad have been trying to do. You actually listened to me."

Hermione smiled and kissed Ron on the cheek. Ron gently took Hermione's chin and guided her lips to his, sharing what was their first kiss since the one in the Room of Requirement.

"Do me a favor though?" asked Ron, reluctantly moving his lips from hers.

"What's that?"

"I know this may seem hypocritical seeing as what I did during the hunt, but please, don't ever leave me. I don't think I can take another loss." said Ron, as if he were pleading to her.

"Oh Ron," breathed Hermione, "I wouldn't dream of it."

"Good," said Ron. "Now, what's the situation with that plate of food there?"

Ron grabbed the plate of food that Hermione had put a warming charm on and began to eat. His hunger kicking in rather quickly had him demolishing the plate of food as if it were a mere snack, with him begging for more.

"There's my Ron," said Hermione, pulling Ron by the hand from his bed and out the door.