Romione: Love & War

A Woeful Christmas

This first one-shot is based in their 5th year Christmas before Arthur was cleared to go back home at 12 Grimmauld Place.

It was a woeful Christmas, filled with worry and wait. Arthur Weasley was laying unconscious in St. Mungo's, the punctures of Nagini's razor sharp teeth still etched upon his skin. Was he dead? Was he okay? No one knew, not even his own family. Mr. Weasley wouldn't be released just yet, nor would any information. And because of this worrisome news, it was a woeful Christmas. For all who cared.

It was just a day till Christmas and the snow was rushing down, it's white complexion draping itself over the city of London. In this city, there lay small and quiet street in a gloomy town with a name as peculiar as the people who lived there. It's name was Grimmauld Place.

On that street was an immeasurable amount of houses, all embellished with gold number plates, plastered on the wooden doors. But there was something out of place, something peculiar. You see, there was number one, and number two; number three and number four, number five, number six and number seven. It would go on and on; but you would stop to stare at number 11 and number 13. You would stop to stare because there wasn't a number 12. It was a secret to muggles as to where number 12 went, but to magical folk, they knew just where it was held.

Thinking of the secret phrase, the walls of 12 Grimmauld Place would open, to reveal the secret House of Black. Inside were the family known as the Weasleys, who waited anxiously for news regarding their father and husband.

It was pitch black, as all the lights were turned out. There was hardly a noise emitting from any corner of the house. The only sounds you could hear were the soft snores of Ginny Weasley, and the not so quiet shuffling of the restless Ron Weasley.

He was shifting in his bed, trying to force himself to sleep, but he just couldn't. He would close his eyes and would see his father dead. Ron couldn't try anymore and fled from his bed . (Ron had is own room, Mrs. Weasley shared with Ginny, and Fred and George shared a room.) Ron was quietly tiptoeing down the stairs, wand in hand when he heard the door to Mrs. Weasley's room fling open. He stopped in his tracks, hoping she didn't see him. Mrs. Weasley stared into the darkness, and when she was content with what she saw, she walked back into the room and shut the door. As it shut, Ron could swear he heard a small sob.

Ron carried on down the stairs and made it to the kitchen. Hoping Hermione and Harry would be there soon, as they were supposed to come the next morning. He grabbed a mug and heated some water on the stove. As Ron shut his eyes to think, he envisioned a funeral in a beautiful site a few miles from the burrow. It was covered in flowers, and there was a silver gravestone placed upon the soiled ground. The tombstone was engraved with the words 'here lies the body of Arthur Weasley, a cherished husband, father, son, and friend. May you rest in peace'. Ron was worried that this vision was only days away. That broke him. He could feel the watery tears well up in his blue ocean eyes. As he sobbed the door to 12 Grimmauld place opened to reveal the one person Ron was hoping for.

Hermione threw her keys aside, fumbling with the wrapped presents she was holding in her arms. After placing each present carefully under the tree, she flopped on the couch with a sigh. 'Finally' she thought, 'this must be so hard for the Weasleys, I hope they're alright'. Her thoughts were drowned with the sounds of Ron's sobs. Hermione rushed to the source to see Ron leaning on the kitchen counter, with his head buried in his hands, and the pot of water boiling over, spilling onto the stone floor. She stood frozen, not sure what she could do as she had never had to comfort Ron before. But before he could pretend he was okay and before Hermione could think, she wrapped her arms around him. After a while of her embrace, Ron turned around and buried his face in Hermione's neck, while she stroked his hair in silence. Hermione didn't know how he was feeling, and didn't even try to understand, she just held him in her arms, feeling the shaking sobs of Ron's crying, and felt her own eyes started to well up. This was the first time she had seen him cry.....and she hated it.

It was 4 am, about 30 mins after Hermione arrived. You could feel the sadness graced upon the household from miles away as Hermione led a puffy-eyed Ron into the living room.

They both sat down with a sigh as Hermione laid her head upon Ron's shoulder. They sat in silence for a while, taking in their moment before. Hermione broke the silence, "He's going to be alright you know?... Your dad."

"How do you know," Ron croaked,
"Because he's a Weasley"
"Humph" Ron grunted in disbelief, and Hermione lifted her head off his shoulder. She turned to look at his face which was pointed downwards, streaks of dry tears outlining his cheeks. Hermione lifted his chin with her index finger until his ocean blue eyes were staring back at her. She started to blush and smiled softly as the tips of Ron's ears turned red.
"Look Ron, you have to believe he's going to be fine. You can't lose all hope. Harry warned you and Dumbledore just in time. You have to trust me. Do you trust me?"
Ron shifted under her stare and mumbled, "Yes."
"Okay, so don't worry. He'll be back before you know it", and as Hermione finished her sentence, Ron's eyes grew heavy and his head dropped onto the arm of the sofa and he started to drift off to sleep. Hermione smiled to herself as Ron finally dozed off. She lifted herself off the sofa and cleaned herself up before placing herself next to Ron once more. Before she could fall asleep, she felt his warm arms embrace her, her head falling on his chest, and Ron's soft voice whispered "Thanks 'Mione and Merry Christmas". With all the warmth and shivers that fell down her spine, Hermione forced out a last sentence before she fell into her dreams, "Merry Christmas Ronald".

Thank you all for reading this one-shot. I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing! I'm really proud of it and were wondering what you thought of it. Please comment some ideas and vote!

Thank you,
Hermione. W