This chapter will have dialogue from my fic Harry Potter and the Other Side

Chapter 187: Saving Hermione

It had been two weeks and I had heard nothing from Hermione, nor Harry. Hermione wasn't answering the phone, which led me to believe that her family had possibly went on vacation without her telling me, which seemed odd. And Harry wasn't sending word back through Hedwig nor Pig. I was starting to get the impression that neither one wanted to speak to me.

That was until, Pig came in with a note from Hermione, telling me to call her as soon as I had gotten it.

"Hello?"

"Hermione, I- hey, what's wrong? You sound upset."

"Is anyone around you? Anyone that can overhear?"

"No, it's just me. Everybody else is out with Mum handling wedding shit. What's the matter?"

"I...I have to tell you something...but you can't tell anyone else, not even Harry."

"Not even Harry? What's so big that we can't even tell Harry?"

"Just promise me!"

"Okay, damn, I promise. Don't bite my head off!"

"Ronald!"

"Shit, Hermione! Okay, I'm sorry, what's wrong?"

"I've been reading and researching lately..."

"No surprises there. Go on."

"And I think I found a way to save my parents."

"What do you mean by that? Has something happened?"

"When we go on this hunt, they are going to wonder why we haven't returned to school. I've heard that they are keeping Hogwarts open."

"Yeah. It was in that sorry excuse for the Prophet the other day. What does that have to do with your parents?"

"What if they decide to target our families, Ron? I mean they probably wouldn't hurt yours. But I'm a Muggleborn...they might try to get to me through them. I don't need that on my mind, Ron."

"Shit. I didn't even think about that! I'm sorry, Mione. What if they all came to stay here with us? We have stronger wards now."

"It's still too risky, Ron. I've already thought about that and eliminated that possibility."

"You're right. So, what are you going to do?"

*deep breath* " I'm going to send them away."

"Send them away?"

"To Australia."

"Australia?! Why there. That's so far!"

"Exactly. I don't think that Death Eaters would think to go there."

"Maybe. Okay, well whatever you-"

"I'm also going to obliviate them."

Long pause

"Hermione..."

"I have to, Ron! I have to! What if they are found? They can't know me! I'm going to obliviate them and modify their minds so they think they are other people. So they won't remember that I'm their daughter."

"Hermione, I don't know. Are you sure?"

"I've already decided it, Ron. I'm doing it tomorrow night. I just want you to know because afterwards, I want to come to the Burrow if that's okay with you and your family."

"That shouldn't even be a question. I'll just make something up for Mum, but you know she wouldn't care ."

"Okay. "

"Hermione...are you sure you want to do this?"

"Can I Floo over to your house at 6? Do you think that would be safe since our fireplaces have been connected since fifth year?"

"Of course, but are you-"

"I'm sore Ron. Now please, stop asking me!"

"I just want to make sure you're okay."

"...I'll be okay. "

"Okay. Tomorrow at 6. Do you want me to maybe Floo over and be with you? For support?"

"Thanks Ron. But I think should do this on my own."

"Okay, Mione. I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Thanks Ron. See you tomorrow."

The next day felt insanely long. I had told Mum that Hermione's vacation had gotten cut short and she wanted to spend the rest of her summer here, which Mum was happy to hear. Probably excited to have note female help for the wedding because Merlin knows that Dad, me, and Bill were no help whatsoever, and the twins still had their business to run, so they weren't around to help much either.

Ginny was excited to hear that Hermione was coming. I guess she missed having a girl near her age to speak to. Her and Luna only spoke through letters, and Gin wanted zero to do with Fleur, only helping with the wedding because Mum made her.

At six, I was in the sitting room, waiting by the fireplace. When six-thirty had came, I just assumed that she just wanted some extra time with her family.

By 8, I was starting to worry. By 9, I was ready to go there myself.

"Hermione's not here still?" asked Mum as she came in to check on me. I was beyond speaking and nodding, so I just gave her a look that clearly stated no.

"Well, she might be coming tomorrow, dear. Go on up to bed."

"But Mum, what if-"

"We have things to do tomorrow morning Ron. Or have you forgotten that you're going with your brothers to get your robes fitted." groaned Mum. "Still can't believe you're going to a tailor, as if I can't do just as fine a job myself.

Fleur wanted us to look a certain way. A way that she apparently thought that Mum couldn't achieve, so she had made Bill book himself, me, and the rest of my brothers a visit to Madam Malkin's. Mum hadn't gotten over it, despite the plans being made two days after I returned from Hogwarts.

"Fine Mum. I'm going." I lied. I got up and went upstairs. I kept my door cracked open just in case.

Mum didn't go to bed until about 11, and Hermione still hasn't showed up. I was getting paranoid. What if You Know Who suspected something and decided to attack them now?

I waited another hour until I knew that Mum, Dad, and everyone else was asleep. I crept down the stairs, took a handful of Floo powder, and quietly flooed over to the Grangers.

The house was eerily quiet. There were sheets over the sofas in the sitting room, as if they had already packed and left. Was that what happened? Had Hermione decided to go with them?

I walked up her long staircase. The pictures that hung there the last time I was there were gone.

When I got to the landing, I rushed to Hermione's door and knocked.

No answer.

I began to knock even harder and longer, my hand starting to hurt.

"Ron?" I heard Hermione say quietly from the inside.

"Hermione, open the door"

"Wait, how do I know it's you?"

I sighed in frustration. "I guess ask me something only I would know the answer to. Make this quick"

"Fine. What's the last thing I said to you when we got off the train?"

"Be good to your mother Ron and I'll see you soon" I said in a monotone voice.

"Anybody could have heard that"

"DAMMIT HERMIONE!" I yelled.

"Okay, okay!"

She opened the door and I walked in. I gave her an angry look, but inside, I was more worried than I was angry with her, but I wasn't going to let her know that.

"You said you'd be at the house by 6 it's after midnight now! I got worried and thought something had happened to you." I began to scold.

"I'm fine. I had fallen asleep. I had to take care of some things around the house and it wore me out." she said shakily. I could see that she was about to fall apart. She started shaking as tears fell effortlessly out of her eyes. Without hesitation, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close to me. She buried her face in my chest, breathing in deep. I stroked her hair and whispered over and over that it would be okay.

"They don't remember me Ron. They don't remember me!" she sobbed, looking up at me.

"You had to do it and you did brilliantly, Hermione. You saved them." I said, looking at her tear streaked face

"But what if I never get to restore their memories, Ron? What if something happens to us? What if..."

"Let's get you to my place okay? Nothing is going to happen. And if it does, at least you know that your parents will be okay" I said.

I took her hand and led her down the steps and back into the sitting room. She took a quick look around and then got into the fireplace with me. I dropped more Floo powder, yelled "The Burrow!" and seconds later we were walking into my sitting room.

I quietly led her up to my room. "Ginny is sleep and it's best not to wake her. She hasn't been herself lately. So you can sleep in Harry's bed if you want." I said as we entered my room and shut the door.

"I'd rather sleep with you if you don't mind." she said looking into my eyes. She looked too innocent and sad for me to refuse, so I nodded and turned away while she changed into her PJs.

When she said she was done, I turned and sat on my bed. I watches her as she walked over to my bed wearing nothing but short shorts and a small tank. It took everything on me not to jump her

I took off my shirt as my room was boiling hot. As I tossed it, I caught her staring at me, licking her lips. I couldn't help but smile.

"See something you like?" I asked. She smiled and shook her head, pushing me out of the way and climbing into my bed. I climbed in beside her, put my arm over her stomach, and snuggled up close, as if she were a teddy, making her laugh.

My fingers traced circles on her stomach and I found myself coming dangerously close to the top of her shorts. She must have liked what I was doing, because she pressed her bum against me. Immediately I felt myself harden against her shorts, and I was embarrassed that she would feel me and be permanently grossed out. To my surprise however, she pushed into me even more, causing me to instinctively push back. She was doing it on purpose.

Hermione was driving me mental. I literally couldn't think. The way she had just pressed her ass on me?! What the hell! Did she not realize that we were in my bed? In my room? With no one knowing that she was there?!

My mind started playing every fantasy I had had about her over the years. Her in her uniform. Her in nothing but her robes. Her in one of my shirts. Her in a bikini. Her being a bad girl in a Slytherin uniform. All ending with her wearing nothing at all.

Yeah. I've had some pretty fucked up thoughts about my best friend. And I wasn't ashamed at all anymore for having them.

She turned around and faced me, those gorgeous chocolate eyes of hers shining in the moonlight. She looked like a fucking goddess right then and there. At that moment she could tell me to do anything her heart desired and I would have done it.

"Ron?"she asked hesitantly."can I ask you a question? Promise you won't get upset?"

'Oh shit. What was she gonna say?' I thought.

"I can't make that promise. But I'll try not to."

"Did you...did you and Lavender...did the two of you.."

"Nope. Absolutely not" I answers without skipping a beat.

"You don't even know what I was going to say."

"Were you going to ask if we fucked?"

Hermione winced. "Not in such a colorful way but yes... that was the general question"

"No we didn't. That's not to say she didn't try." I said, thinking back to her many advances.

"Oh" she said with a small smile.

I put my other arm around her and pulled her closer to me. It was like I couldn't get her close enough. I wanted her to be all over me.

"Why didn't you?" She asked.

"Dunno. Well...I just didn't want to...I didn't see myself wanting to have sex with her."

"Oh.."

"I was always taught that sex was something not to be thrown around. That if you had sex with someone that meant that that person meant more to you than just to get off."

"Were all of you taught that?"

"Yeah. I guess"

"Then why do Fred and George have sex like it's nothing?"

My eyes widened. "How do you know about their sex life?"

"Us girls do talk, Ron" she said with a giggle.

"Oh. Of course"

"Lavender made it seem like you two had sex before"

My eyes grew wide with anger. "WHAT?! FUCK NO!"

"Language and don't shout, Ron! But yes. She used to brag about your chest and how you would... embrace her, and how sometimes you were gentle but other times you were rough... Ron shut your mouth before something flies in"

I was shocked. I was pissed. How in the bloody hell could she lie on me like that?!

"Well she must have been fucking some other bloke while she was with me, because I never even seen her damn knickers. Why didn't you tell me she was lying on me like that?!"

"Because...at first I thought she was kidding. Even Parvati had said she was. But the more she would go on and on about it, the more I started to believe her, and I didn't want to have that conversation. Not with you"

I looked into her eyes. She looked hurt by the very memory of what Lavender had said.

"Hermione, you are my best friend and I tell you everything... well almost everything. If I was having sex already I would have told you and Harry. We don't keep secrets from each other"

"What do you mean 'almost everything'?"

"Ummmm... like there are some things you don't know. But they are mainly because it's a guy thing. And some things you probably wouldn't want to know"

"Like what?"

'Like how badly I have wanted to throw you on my bed and fuck your brains out...kinda like I want to do right now.' I thought.

"Again just guy things. You really wouldn't understand." I said quickly, trying to get rid of the thoughts in my head.

"Oh.."

We stayed silent for a while. She was tracing patterns on my bare chest driving me wild. I was bruising my thumb against her waist and she acted as if she liked it because she didn't say otherwise nor did she try and stop me.

"Ron?"

"Yeah, Mione?"

"Thanks for coming to my rescue."

I looked over at Hermione and scoffed. "Rescue? I only came to get you."

"That whole day was horrid for me, Ron." said Hermione. "That morning I had to act as if everything was fine when feel down, I wanted to just cry in my Mum and Dad's arms. I allowed Mum to take me shopping, something that I hadn't done in the muggle world with her since my third year of Hogwarts. I sat and watched programmes with Dad. I just tried my best to enjoy them as much as I could. And then tea time, that's when I did it. I modified their minds and disillusioned myself and watched as they talked as if I never existed, packed their things, and left for the airport. I altered the pictures around to house so that I wasn't in any of them. I took some of the more important ones and stored them in my trunk, but any signs of me living there are gone. When I was done making the house look as if they were taking a long vacation, I just went to my room and cried. I lost all concept of time, and cried myself to sleep. If you hadn't came, I would still be there, probably waking up to cry again."

I felt my own eyes watering. Hermione had done something that I knew that I would have never been able to do. I was so fucking proud of her. I was also extremely scared for her. I told myself to prepare for the breakdown that would eventually come. Even if it was days from now.

"I don't have a home anymore, Ron."

"Don't you dare say that." I said to her, taking her chin into my fingers. "You always have a home. Here. This is your home. And it'll always be your home, even when this shit is over and your parents return. Do you understand?"

Hermione gave me a small smile and nodded. She kissed me softly on the cheek, laid her head under my chin, and a few minutes later, her breathing relaxed, indicating that she was asleep.

I kissed her on the top of her head. I made an unspoken promise to always be there for her through this entire thing, no matter how long it lasted. And when it was over, I would help her find her parents and bring them back. I would protect her. Protect her with my life. That was the last thought I had as I drifted off to sleep myself.