You Won't Know

hey had been making love and Ron had tried to kill her.  It still had not registered.  One minute he had been fine—and the next—Oh God…

Hermione squeezed her knees to her chest, unable to understand and not really wanting to.  She did spells, she knew books, but for things like this—they were completely out of her territory.

She felt desolate and threadbare. 

Ron, had wrapped his hands around her throat and tried to kill her.  Or at least that was what he had tried to do.  He hadn’t succeeded.

When she came too, he was gone, and the mirror had been shattered.  She remembered wondering why he had done that.  Had he felt guilty?

Ron had never hurt her before, not physically at least.  Why now?

He stood in the doorway and tensed, careful not to look at his hands.  She’d always liked his hands—they were so much bigger than hers.  Who’d have thought he’d use them for that?

“Gin is here.”

Hermione didn’t really care.  What was Ginny going to do for her?  Unless Harry had tried to kill her too…

She heard another person come in and gingerly sit down beside her.  She didn’t say anything at first.

Wise.

Hermione chose to speak first, “Your brother tried to kill me.”  She spoke matter-of-factly, although her voice was hoarse. She could have been talking about the weather.

Ginny gasped, “W-what?”

“Scary, right?  We were making love, and then his hands were around my throat—and I think he meant to kill me.”

Ginny swallowed, “H-how do you know this?”

“Because he said, ‘die!’.”

Ginny was quiet for several moments, confused.  Ron had called her, yet if he was the perpetrator, then why would he…?

Carefully, she began, “He doesn’t seem to know what happened to you Hermione.  Could this have been…someone else?”

Hermione slowly turned to look at her, “It was him Ginny.  Unless someone has brewed polyjuice with the explicit goal of making love—and then attacking—me then we can rule out that madness.  Besides, the spells around the house would prevent someone like that from getting in.  This place is charmed, like the Burrow.”

Gin digested this, “Then if Ron did this, then why doesn’t he remember?  Was he charmed?”

Hermione stared at the floor, “I don’t know.  It was fine.  Then…it was horrible.”  She felt tears rise, “Gin, he’s been acting strange lately.  Distant.  Moody.  Sometimes he looks at me like I’m…I don’t know.  Like he’s looking for something.  It’s weird.”

Ginny took her in her arms and stroked her hair, trying her best to provide comfort but not knowing how.  All she could do was be there.  She couldn’t tell her it was going to be alright because she didn’t know if it would be.

“Do you want to come to my house tonight?  We can talk about this tomorrow—and you can decide what you want to do from there.”

Hermione nodded jerkily, “Yeah, I mean yes.  Yes.”

“Let me get you some clothes.  I’ll be back in a minute.”

Ginny emerged from the bathroom, and saw Ron sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands.  He looked up when he saw her and gave her an anxious look.

Ginny just shook her head, not wanting to believe herself that Ron would do such a thing.  It was Ron.  Ron would never hurt a woman.  But Hermione was never wrong either, and she was her friend. 

“She’s scared,”  Ginny quietly said, taking random articles of clothes, “And she thinks…” She paused, knowing this was not going to be nice, “She swears you did this to her.”

Ron’s jaw dropped in shock, and he fairly hissed, “What?!  I—I would—never.  You know I wouldn’t.  I love her.  She’s got my baby in there!” 

Ginny continued as if he hadn’t spoken, “I’m going to take her over to my house, but first we’re going to stop by the healers and make sure everything is okay.  When she’s ready, we’ll talk about this okay?”

Ron wanted to rip his hair out in scream. 

She thought he had done this?  What the fuck was going on?  Didn’t Hermione know him?  Didn’t she know that he would never--?

Unless…

“Gin…Hermione didn’t seem different…”  He trailed off, then stopped, not thinking it appropriate to ask his sister that, and under the circumstances.  He shook his head.

If that wasn’t his Hermione in there, then there would be trouble, but for now Ron was sure that was her.

Gin frowned, “What?”

“Nothing….can you just tell her that I love her?”

“Sure.”

Ginny took the clothes back to Hermione, still mulling over what Ron had said.  He definitely did not believe he had done this.  Hermione did.  But that last question had irked her.

Hermione didn’t seem different…

Ginny studied Hermione, and aside from the hideous bruises, and the marks around her throat—she looked like the same old Hermione.  If she wasn’t so shaken up, she would be the normal Hermione.

When they left, Ron was looking at Hermione, but she was looking at the floor.  The distance between them was so real that Ginny felt that they were an entirely different couple—so different from the laughing lovers at the engagement party just a few weeks earlier. 

It was a frightening reality.