Ron's POV

"Does it hurt anywhere?" I asked Hermione. She was sitting up now and her head was resting against the headboard of the bed in the hospital wing. Her face was pale and beautiful at the same time, and her mouth was parted slightly. When she spoke, she lifted her head up to look at me.

"Yes," she said. "It hurts." Her voice was so quiet and familiar, its soft pitch had always been enough to mesmerize me.

I looked at her and she locked gazes with me, refusing to look away. I knew what she was feeling of course. Anger at me. Of course, she would be angry. She had every right to be. I was an absolute idiot. If I hadn't gone to Abby and Vanessa, she would not have been thrown over the Astronomy tower, and she wouldn't be in the hospital wing.

Her doe brown eyes stared back at me with so much feeling hidden behind them, but it was almost impossible to tell exactly what that emotion was. Anger? Probably. Sadness? Maybe. Betrayal? Yeah.

"Look, Minion, I know I...." I began, but she put a hand up and winced.

"Don't call me, Mione," she told me and I flinched, knowing it was my own fault.

"Okay," I said. "But I just want you to know that I'm sorry, okay?"

"Weren't you sorry the last time you left us? Hermione asks. "Back when we were hunting horcruxes?"

She stared back at me, her eyes narrowed and her jaw set. I could see she was in pain. The bandages were bothering her, but she could not take them off right now. I looked back at her and inhaled before starting. "When I left, I wanted to come back the second I left."

Hermione stayed silent for a while, interlacing her fingers together and looking down at her hands. Then she looked up and her eyes were shining with tears. My heart sank. "But this time...when Abby and Vanessa were there, you didn't want to come back. Did you?"

I knew the answer to that, but I just could not say it out loud. It hurt, knowing that it would hurt Hermione even more and that she probably wouldn't want to talk to me anymore. But there was a small voice inside my head that said I had to tell her no matter what.

"Hermione," I began carefully. "I...was under a spell. I didn't know what I was thinking most of the time. Sometimes, I didn't even know what I was doing. But once it wore off, once I saw you lying there, it broke, and there hasn't been a moment after that I haven't regretted everything."

Her eyes softened for a moment, but then they grew hard again. "What about before that? When they cane and they were all over you...you never thought they could be death-eaters? They were literally always there around you and you never even suspected their motives?"

I took a deep breath, letting her words sink in. She was right. Of course she was. I had been incredibly stupid. I knew I should not have let them come between us like that. She was way more important than any random new students.

"I'm sorry," I murmured, squeezing her hand. Then as if just realizing what was happening, she flinched and yanked her hand out of my grasp. "Hermione, I...." But she narrowed her eyes.

"Ron, I.... I can't do this. Just...don't talk to me for a couple of days, okay? I need time." Her voice was almost breaking and it had lost all the strong conviction it used to have. I guess falling off the tower did that. Or getting betrayed by me.

I could feel my heart sink as she sank back on her pillows and closed her eyes. Her bushy brown hair felt soft under my fingers and I sighed. This was all my fault. She was slipping through my fingers and it hurt. It hurt knowing that after seven whole years, I would let a couple of stupid girls ruin it all.

I let her hair fall back on the pillow and spread around her face. Cursing my stupidity, I got up from beside her and slowly made my way towards the door of the hospital wing.

Harry and Ginny were waiting outside beside the door with anxious looks on their faces. Hearing the sound of the doors closing, they fell silent as I came out. Harry looked like he had been pacing back and forth for a while now and Ginny was a nervous wreck.

Smiling a little, Harry asked me. "Can we go in? Is she doing alright?"

I shrugged. "Go ahead. At least you guys are welcome there." I couldn't help sound a little jealous. She would talk to them, laugh with them, be her usual self around them. But not with me. I started walking to the end of the hallway with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Hearing the doors open, I assumed they went inside, but then I heard fast footsteps behind me and turned to see Harry walking towards me. Once he caught up with me, he sighed.

"What happened in there, mate?"

I stayed silent for a moment before answering him. "She more or less hates me now." Harry stopped walking and so did I. His face was set in confusion as he said.

"Hates you? That can't be true."

"Well, it is, from the looks of it," I told him and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"You're probably over-thinking the whole thing, Ron. I mean you two are..." He trailed off, searching for the right word. But I stopped him.

"She doesn't want to talk to me," I told him with a sigh. Harry scratched behind his neck for a moment before answering.

"Give her some time."

"That's what she said, but..."

"Listen to me, Ron," he said putting a hand on my shoulder and locking gazes with me. "She's been through a lot, okay? When you weren't.....there, I saw how she was. She was devastated, and then she fell from the tower. She needs time. But she'll come round, okay?"

"I shouldn't have put her through that," I said angrily.

"Well, you were under a spell. It's okay. Just wait for a bit. Try to give her space for a bit and then talk to her."

"That's what she said too," I remembered and he grins.

"See, that means she does want to talk to talk you," Harry pointed out.

"But what if she doesn't? What if she wants nothing to do with me. Harry, if that happens, I'll never forgive myself. "

"It won't," he told me with a knowing glint in his eyes. When did he become so good at giving advice? I never even thought this day would come. "She just needs a little time to sort of her feelings out. Give her that, and then try to talk to her. Besides, I don't think you two could stay away from each other."

I stopped walking and faced him. "What was that last part?" Harry grinned sheepishly and turned away.

"Oh, nothing, nothing at all."

"No, you said something."

"Nope."

"Fine, don't tell me, Potter."

"Fine."

We chuckled simultaneously, and I feel a swell of emotion inside me. Harry was being so understanding about everything. He had been the first to start talking normally to me. Even now, even-though I practically almost got Hermione killed, he was walking with me, joking around to cheer me up. This was pretty ironic, seeing as how in the past he had never attempted to be this carefree.

"We could play wizard's chess," Harry said. He sucked at wizard's chess.

"You don't have to do that," I told him with a weak chuckle. He shook his head.

"Do what?"

"Make me feel better. You don't have to, after everything I did." I felt pathetic when I said this. But Harry just shrugged and said.

"You were under a spell and I've forgiven you. End of story."

"Harry, are you sure?" I asked him. "I know I...messed up and..." He cut me off with a pat on the shoulder.

"I'm sure. Now come on. Beat me at wizard's chess. It's been a while."

He was obviously only saying that to make me feel better, and I appreciated it.

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A/N

I hope you liked the chapter guys xD. Thanks for reading! Please leave votes and comments because they seriously mean a lot :)