𝑩𝑳𝑨𝑪𝑲|𝑺𝑰𝑹𝑰𝑼𝑺 𝑩𝑳𝑨𝑪𝑲'𝑺 𝑫𝑨𝑼𝑮𝑯𝑻𝑬𝑹

The World If You're Not In It

"We were there, we were there, but Yaxley had hold of me, and I...I knew once he'd seen where we were, we couldn't stay so I brought us here but Ron got splinched!" Hermione explained tearfully.

Ron's cries softened and his tears stopped falling. His chest relaxed as his breathing evened out and I exhaled in relief, he was going to be okay.

Hermione got up from her place on the floor and held out her palms, muttering words under her breath and waving her hands as she did so.

"What are you doing?" Harry questioned.

"Protective enchantments. I don't fancy another visit like the one we had in Shaftesbury Avenue, do you?" She said with a puff. "You can get going on the tent" she told us.

"Tent?" Fred scoffed.

"Where are we supposed to find a tent?" Harry frowned as if she were crazy.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

The tent we found in Hermione's bottomless bag was set up.

It was rather big inside, with camper beds and a kitchen table too. It wasn't like the tent we had at the Quidditch World Cup but it was more than enough to satisfy our needs.

Ron was lay in bed resting with his arm in a makeshift sling that Hermione had made. Harry and Fred were outside the tent talking and taking first watch together whilst Hermione and I sat at the table, occasionally glancing at Ron to make sure he was okay.

Seeing Ron so wounded and vulnerable was strange; he was usually so chatty and verbal with bright eyes. However now, he lay in bed, sweat lining his forehead and dark circles shadowing under his eyes, his lips mumbling Hermione's name.

Hermione stared at him with saddened eyes. She tucked some mousy, bushy hair behind her ear and brought her knee to rest against the table.

"Hey" I began, placing my hand over hers, "you okay?"

She let out a heavy sigh as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.

I often wondered if harbouring all that knowledge was a burden to her. She seemed to know so much that I wondered if she ever became tired of being the person people constantly rely on for answers-where did Hermione go when she had questions that plagued her?

"I'm alright, just seeing him so hurt is..." she trailed off, unsure of what word could encompass all her feelings.

"I know" I smiled sympathetically, "if it was my Freddie, I'd be in pieces" I admitted.

"That's different" she stuttered, "I shouldn't be falling apart like this, he's not even mine" she whispered, letting a tear roll down her flushed cheeks.

I tilted my head at her, catching the tear with the tip of my finger.

"Come on, 'Mione. I've known you since I was 14" I giggled, "you two have been destined for each other since the day I met you both" I told her with a fond smile.

She giggled through her tears. Her eyes sparkled as if she were reminiscing about our times together, before everything became so dangerous and complicated. Before, loving someone was hard-sure-but now it could get you or them killed.