The Battle is Over, but the Pain Just Started (Dramione)

Chapter Sixteen

   "HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER! OH HOW I'VE MISSED YOU!"

    I was swept up in a bone crushing hug by one of the Weasley boys - which one I wasn't sure because as soon as I apparated into the kitchen all five came running into the sweet smelling room. I saw Bill and Charlie watching George sweep me off my feet with smiles on their faces, and Percy gave me an acute nod. Ron looked like he'd just won the lottery.

   George swayed around with me still in his arms for a bit before setting me down. He showed off his usual goofy grin before turning. Ginny gave me a hug so tight I had to refrain from gasping.

   "Oi! Gin! Let the girl breath, she just got here," A familiar voice said as the owner with dark hair and a mischievous smile walked in the room. 

   Harry gently pulled Ginny away and looped an arm around her shoulder, her arm wrapping around his waist in an affectionate gesture. I smiled at Harry and gave him a hug from his other side before finally turning around to Ron. 

   The ginger hadn't changed much in the past year. He still bore, like most of his family, the familiar road map of freckles that splattered his face. His red hair lay quiffed a-top his head, and his unusual feature of piercing blue eyes smiled down at me. I tilted my head to look him in the eye. Granted, I've never been very tall, but Ronald, being abnormally tall any how, stared down at me with our at least one-foot-apart height difference. I hesitated to make the first move but, as if reading my thoughts, Ron stooped down to my level without question and engulfed me in his scarred arms.

   "I missed you 'Mione," he whispered into my hair, and I felt his warm breath on my neck, making me freeze. Before I went completely immobile, I managed to get out at least a small "And I you," before George made a remark about us 'lovebirds', and Ron lowered me down to solid ground. 

   I smiled at George who wrapped his arms around the waist of Angelina Johnson, and I waved at her as she chuckled when George whispered something in her ear. 

   I was about to say something to him when I stopped in my tracks as a stout woman came running into the kitchen and screeched "Hermione, darling!"

   I laughed a little as Mrs. Weasley gathered me in her motherly embrace and made a gesture to George and Percy to take my luggage to Ginny's room. I returned the hug gladly, and gazed into her chocolate brown eyes as she took my forearms in her hands. 

   "My God you're a twig! We've got to fatten you up!" she exclaimed as she looked me up and down. I shook my head, my shoulders shaking from laughter as Ron let out a low moan of annoyance.

   Mrs. Weasley ignored it and ushered me over to where Ginny and Harry stood.

   "Ginny dear, go help Hermione get settled while I put supper on the table."

   Ginny agreed and we both walked upstairs and into the spacious room on the third floor. 

   Ginny's room was it's usual. Posters of Gryffindor colors splashed the walls in gold and crimson, a Holly Head Harpies poster hung above her bed with her acceptance note pinned to it. Pictures of herself and Harry filled any empty space, and seeing their pictures gave me an oddly sad feeling. I brushed it off as Ginny began pulling out spare sheets from beneath her bed.

   "Mum says dinner will be ready in ten minutes, so we better hurry," she said, messily flinging the sheets on the corners of my cot. She seemed to have misplaced her wand, again.

   "Let me help you with that," I said, pulling out my wand from my trousers and flicking it a bit, watching as the sheets effortlessly fell onto the cotton cot. Ginny stepped back a bit, wiping her palm on her forehead and eyeing my work graciously.

   "Thanks," she said, "I can't seem to remember where I've placed the old thing..."

   She continued to busy herself, looking around the room and admiring the old pictures of the Weasley family. Ginny would be lifted on the shoulders of her many brothers, or dancing with her dad at a friend's wedding. One in particular struck me hard. 

   I gazed at a picture of Ginny and Fred. Ginny was laughing with happy tears in her eyes as Fred watched her, anger evident in his expression. He had grown a mustache an inch thick, and as I looked closely in detail, I noticed a wrapper for Mustache Munchies, a popular product at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. This must have been during the testing phase.

   I looked away as I felt my eyes start to water, determined not to let Ginny see me cry. She was tough and whole hearted by nature, and I knew if I just broke down in front of her she wouldn't understand.

   "Ah, admiring the family memories are we?" she said with a smile. I nodded and bravely looked back at the pictures, sucking up my tears like a mop. I avoided I contact desperately with the particular picture.

   Ginny stopped and looked at them too, and she seemed to be in some sort of dream state. I was going to tap her shoulder to see if she was breathing when she said in the barest of whispers:

   "I'm glad you're here Hermione."

   She must have seen the picture I was admiring, and, like a flash of lightning, she broke down right then and there.

   I can imagine why. She has all brothers and a mother who has the emotional stability of broken glass right now, so probably seeing someone new, someone like me, that wasn't her brothers or her mum, or even Harry, gave her this emotional vulnerability she didn't have with the rest of her family.

   I smoothed the hair out of her face, holding her silently as I felt a small tear roll down my own cheek.

   She's only seventeen, she doesn't need this.

"I'm so sorry," she said, "It's just...its been really hard, you know?"

"You don't have to explain yourself to me," I cooed, calming her down and stoking her fiery hair with my hand, "I of all people know that pain doesn't go away overnight. You need time. You need to cry it out."

  Ginny nodded, and then, after a while, I felt her sniff up the last of her tears. Like a true Weasley, she rubbed her swollen eyes clean and brushed the mascara out from under her lashes. She gave me a weak smile and her eyes screamed thank you.

   "Girls!?" We hear Molly Weasley yell from a few floors down, "Dinners ready! Come quick before Charlie and Ron eat it all!"

   We giggle as we hear Charlie and Ron's protests from the kitchen and I help her stand up. We walk arm in arm down the hall to the stairs.

   "You know," Ginny says nonchalantly, "There are other people that are glad you're here too. Ron's been going about the house like a House elf making sure everything is perfect for your stay."

   "Oh shove off it," I roll my eyes she laughs, and together we enter the sweet smelling kitchen.

A/N

Hello world! I've got my phone back so I'll be spilling out regular updates again! Sorry for missing last week, really. But in bigger news I have an IMPORTANT QUESTION FOR YOU GUYS!!!!

If I started a Harry Potter One-shots book would you read it?

comment your answers

XOXO - Sarah