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Ron stepped out from the fireplace, brushing off the soot from his shoulders and wiped his feet on the welcome mat. He peered around the cozy living room and sought out his girlfriend who usually hurried to see him whenever he arrived if she wasn’t already in the room reading.
The room was still and didn’t look as though anyone had been here for a while. Their soft blue blanket was perfectly folded and draped across the back of their couch which was usually crumpled from regular use. Often there would be parchment, books, and a variety of quills and pens littered across the coffee table in the middle of the room but it was clear of Hermione’s never yielding projects. There were also no cups of tea nor glasses of water which she usually collected throughout a quiet Saturday. None of her usual fingerprints were present.
“Hermione?” he called out.
It was only a little after 16:00 and they had planned on grabbing a bite with Harry and Ginny in about two hours, giving him and their black-haired friend time to wash up from their Auror duties.
No one responded.
He untied his boots and dropped them by the side of the fireplace and made his way to their bedroom. His eyes caught her navy jacket hung up on the hook next to the door; she hadn’t gone anywhere.
Ron made his way down their small hallway and pressed his hand against their bedroom door and was met with a wall of darkness.
There wasn’t a single pinch of light, not even peeking from the crevices between the windows and the blinds.
“Hermione?” he whispered. From the sliver of light he’d created from holding the door open he could see her form curled up under what looked like layers of blankets and their fluffy comforter. Ron gently closed the door and shuffled as quietly as he could to her side of the bed. When he did, he squatted down to her level and brushed a hand where her hair peaked out from under the covers to reveal her face, which was still largely concealed by the darkness of the room.
Ron leaned forward and stroked his thumb against her cheek softly, “Hermione, we have to get ready soon to meet up with Harry and Gin.”
Hermione gave a little groan but made no movement. Ron’s brow furrowed. Usually she was the one nudging him along to get ready and be on time for whatever outings they had planned. She also wasn’t particularly fond of naps in the evening as she usually found it difficult to fall asleep later in the night.
“Love?”
She seemed to curl further into herself.
“Are you not feeling well?” he asked. He moved to place the back of his hand against her forehead but didn’t feel a warmer than usual temperature. “You don’t seem to have a fever.”
Hermione made a croaking sound that sounded something like his name.
He leaned closer, “What is it?”
“My head,” she mumbled so quietly.
Ron held his hand against her cheek again, “Is this one of your headaches? Do you want me to grab you some of that potion the healer gave you?”
She gave no response but seemed to shake her head.
“Sweetheart?” He wasn’t sure what to do and he still couldn’t see her clearly. “Can I turn one of the lights on for a second?” he asked.
“Mmhm,” she protested. “Already took potion. S’not working.” Her speech was still mumbled and slightly slurred.
“Not working,” he repeated.
Hermione gave a little whimper, “Hurts.”
Ron’s heart clenched as he ran his hand gently over her hair. He couldn’t see very well but he felt moisture on his hand as a few tears traveled down her face. Nothing in the world was worse than seeing her in pain; what he wouldn’t do to make it go away.
About two months after the Battle of Hogwarts, Hermione had begun having somewhat regular headaches. Most of the time they were fairly manageable although still something of a nuisance. She hadn’t complained about them until one day Ron caught her holding a hot cup of tea against her head. She admitted that they were becoming more common and that the heat from her tea was soothing enough until they passed. However, by the time she had finished her last year at Hogwarts, the headaches had transformed into something more serious.
The healers at St. Mungos concluded that the headaches were a lingering reaction to the cruciatus curse. She and Ron - and occasionally Harry when Ron was pulled away for work - had spent numerous afternoons in treatment rooms as the healers tried to find solutions.
That had found a couple of potions and spells that seemed to help manage the discomfort. There were also long periods of time when she didn’t have any headaches at all. There seemed to be no real pattern for when they arrived. But on particularly bad days she would lay her head in Ron’s lap and he would massage her head and temples to help alleviate some of the pain. His large warm hands always felt so good as they stroked some of the tension away.
But he had never seen her quite like this. She was barely coherent and was struggling to speak.
“Okay baby, I’m going to go reach out to St. Mungos and see if the healer has anything we can get for you. I’ll be right back,” he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and tried to quietly and quickly make his way back out of the room.
Once he closed the door he raked his hand through his hair in worry and raced back to the fireplace. Hopefully the emergency fire-call center wasn’t too busy.
Ron kneeled down in front of the fireplace and jutted his head forward to call them. It was one of those few times he wished he could use the Muggle system of phones Hermione had told him about.
He almost gushed with relief when a young woman’s head popped through the flames.
“St. Mungo’s Emergency, I’m Nurse Kathington, how may I assist you?”
“Nurse Kathington, thank you, my girlfriend is experiencing a severe headache. Healer Lattimer had given her potions to help with them but it’s not working right now. She can hardly move and her speech is slurred. Is there any way we can get her another potion right away?” he nearly begged.
“Could I have the name of your girlfriend? I can check her records to see which potion Healer Lattimer has been prescribing.”
Ron nodded, “Her name is Hermione Granger. G-R-A-N-G-”
The nurse’s eyes widened and she cut him off, “Oh, yes of course! Uh, Miss Granger. Yes, I can pull up her record, just a moment Mr. Weasley.”
He nodded and gave a heaved sigh. Had his nerves not been fried he would have rolled his eyes, he hadn’t even told her his name.
A moment later the nurse reappeared, “Mr. Weasley, I’ve just grabbed Healer Lattimer so I’ll let her speak directly with you.” Nurse Kathington’s face slipped away and the familiar one of Hermione’s healer emerged.
“Ron, I’m so sorry to hear that Hermione isn’t feeling well. Nurse Kathington mentioned she’s having difficulty speaking? Not moving much?”
He shook his head, “No, I just got home and found her in our room, completely in the dark, and when I tried to ask her what was wrong she could only mumble. She said it hurts but couldn’t say much more.”
“And she doesn’t have any more of the potion I gave her?”
He shook his head again, “She said she already took some but it’s not working.”
The healer slightly pursed her slips and gave a look of empathetic concern, “Poor dear, sounds like her headaches are growing in severity. Ron, would you mind if I stepped through and checked in to see her?”
Ron nodded enthusiastically, “Yes, yes, of course! Please!” He moved away from the fireplace and just a moment later the petite healer stepped into their living room.
Ron nearly hugged her out of sheer relief but restrained himself, “Thank you Healer Lattimer, I can’t thank you enough for this.”
She patted her black hair and brushed away some of the soot, “There’s no need to thank me, Ron. Would you mind leading me to Hermione, I’d like to run a brief diagnostic to see where she’s at in terms of pain.”
“Of course! Uh, would you mind taking off your shoes though?” he looked down at the low heals she wore, “I’m sorry to ask, but I think noise makes her head worse.”
She gave him a warm smile and slipped them off, “Certainly, it’s not a problem.”
Ron led her down the hallway and when he reached their bedroom he paused and turned to Healer Lattimer, “Is it okay if it’s dark? She has even the windows completely covered.”
“That’s quite alright, I have a spell for my glasses so I can see even when it’s dark.”
Ron nodded and gently opened the door and shuffled his way back over to where Hermione lay. He crouched back down to her and touched the hand resting beside her face.
“Hermione, Healer Lattimer is here to see you. She’s going to run a diagnostic to see if we can get you some help,” he whispered.
Hermione gave a little sound and moved her fingers to slightly squeeze his.
Ron stepped back to allow the healer to come look at his hurting girlfriend.
Healer Lattimer, who was much shorter than Ron, didn’t need to kneel down but leaned slightly over the motionless witch.
“Hermione, dear, I’m going to run a series of diagnostic spells so we can try and see what is going on with your head. You don’t need to do anything, just continue to rest, and I’ll do all the work,” she said in hushed tones.
Ron leaned towards the healer, “Healer Lattimer, would you mind if I stepped out for a moment, I need to send a message to our friend and let him know she’s not well.”
Healer Lattimer, patted his arm, “Go right ahead, I’ll be here with her.” With that she pulled her wand from her sleeve, waved it over Hermione’s unmoving form, and began to whisper a series of spells Ron couldn’t pretend to know.
He turned and made his way back out of the room and pulled out his own wand.
“Hey mate, Hermione and I can’t join you and Ginny tonight. Hermione’s down bad, she’s having one of her headaches, and I have the healer here now checking on her. I don’t know how long she’s going to be down for but I’ve never seen her like this before. Sorry to cancel, the four of us will have to catch up later,” his terrier scampered away with his message.
A moment later a silver stag charged through the walls, “I’m coming now.”
Ron rolled his eyes and spoke to the empty room, “Don’t need you here mate.”
The fireplace burst into green flames as his favorite green-eyed wizard arrived.
Harry clomped out of the flames with a grim look in his eyes, “Is she okay?”
Ron looked at Harry’s clunky boots and spoke in a loud whisper, “Could you take those off? Hermione’s sensitive to noise right now.”
Harry quickly bent over to pull them off.
“I don’t know what’s going on. I came home and she was in bed with the room completely dark. I thought she was sick but she doesn’t have a fever. I tried talking to her and she said her head hurts, but she was kind of slurring and her voice was all muffled,” Ron rambled and shoved his hand through his hair anxiously.
Harry stood back up after leaving his shoes next to Ron’s and lowered his voice, “Did she take her potion? Didn’t the healer give her something for the headaches?”
Ron nodded, “Yeah, but she mumbled that it wasn’t working. I don’t know, mate. I’ve never seen her down this hard before. Healer Lattimer is in there now running some sort of diagnostic.” He gave another deep sigh and glanced back towards their room.
Harry rested a reassuring hand on Ron’s shoulder, “She’s going to be fine. You got the healer here and now we just need to wait and see what Hermione’s going to need. You did good.”
Ron turned his face to the floor and shook his head, “Didn’t do nearly enough when it mattered most.”
Harry gave a frustrated sigh, “There was nothing you could have done differently. If anyone here is to blame it’s me. If I hadn’t-”
Ron cut him off and gave Harry a look, “No, no. None of that. If she were up she’d sick her canaries on both of us. But look, mate, there’s nothing for you to do right now. You didn’t have to come.”
Harry shrugged, “It’s what we do.”
Ron gave a little chuff and smiled, ‘Yeah. It is.”
They turned as they heard Healer Lattimer close the door to the bedroom. When she came around the corner she smiled gently at the two young men.
“Mr. Potter, it’s nice to see you again,” she nodded at Harry who returned the gesture. Healer Lattimer then turned to look at Ron, “Well it appears Hermione’s headaches are no longer just that. Uh, Mr. Potter perhaps if you wouldn’t mind giving us some privacy?”
Harry looked at Ron and gestured that he could leave.
Ron held his hand out to pause the motion, “No that’s alright, Healer, Harry can stay. What’s going on with her?”
Healer Lattimer nodded and explained, “Hermione’s headaches have been progressively accelerating from slight annoyances, to tension headaches, and now she’s experiencing migraines. Which can be quite grueling to experience. They have a wide range of symptoms and can be very painful.”
Harry cursed under his breath.
Ron’s shoulders moved up to his ears, “So what do we do? Are there potions she can take? Are these headaches going to get worse?”
The healer gave a tepid nod, “There are potions, and I’ll be sure to send them along to her, but they are not perfect solutions. The trouble with migraines is that you have to treat them at a very specific point, and unfortunately that window can be hard to catch since often patients don’t feel any pain yet. If she fails to take the potion by a certain point, the potion will likely be ineffective and all she can really do is wait it out.”
Harry gave a frustrated groan.
Ron gaffed, “How will she know when to take it then?”
She gave a regretful sigh, “It will be tricky. There is a diagnostic she can run that can help her identify when a migraine is coming on, but again should she run the diagnostic too late the potion will likely be ineffective. There is also the possibility that the potion itself will help with some symptoms, but it may not hinder them all. Regardless of the migraine’s intensity, Hermione will need to rest when they occur.”
Harry grimaced, “She hates resting.”
Ron shut his eyes for a moment, “Healer Lattimer, you know Hermione works extremely hard and is extremely busy. How much is this going to impact her day-to-day? And what do we do if things get even worse than they already are?”
He could feel the unsteady waves of panic tighten his throat.
“We can work with her and you to set up a series of systems to help her out and minimize her stress. With her permission, I will reach out to her office to see if we can get her working from home a few days a week and most especially on days when she’s unwell. In terms of the growing severity of her migraines, as you know we are working hard to find solutions to help those with long term injuries and conditions from exposure of the Cruciatus curse.”
Ron’s head hung slightly at the dreaded word. Harry placed his hand back on Ron’s shoulder and gripped him firmly.
Healer Lattimer continued, “We are making progress. Good progress. But a true solution will still take some time, I’m afraid. Until then we have some solutions to help Hermione have some relief during these episodes. I will add a number of spells to the list we previously gave to you that you can use to help relieve some of the tension she’ll experience. And of course, I will get you the potion I mentioned earlier.”
She gave Ron an encouraging smile, “She’s going to be okay, Ron. I don’t mean to minimize her discomfort, but we can keep her fairly comfortable. It will take some adjusting of her daily routine, but I think you’re both up to the task. If bad days do happen she’ll need lots of rest and quiet but she is not harmed by these episodes.”
Ron gave a slight nod although the tension remained in his shoulders, “Okay, yeah. Could I hop over to St. Mungos now and grab the potion?” He wiped a large hand over his face in exhaustion.
“Mate, why don’t you let me do that. You stay here with her and I’ll bring it over to you,” Harry offered.
Ron smiled with relief, “Thanks Harry, that would be great.”
Healer Lattimer gave a concluding nod, “Excellent, Mr. Potter. Just follow behind me. Ron, I will send instructions and guidance with the potion. When Hermione is up for it, it would be good to get her an appointment in the next few days so that we can review it together and make sure she has all the tools she’ll need. For now though, just let her get as much sleep as she can. She will likely be better in the morning.”
“Thank you Healer Lattimer. I can’t thank you enough for coming tonight.”
She smiled and patted Ron’s hand, “My pleasure. Your girlfriend is a remarkable young woman, I’m happy to help.”
They both slipped their shoes back on and Ron waved them goodbye as green flames carried the healer and Harry off to St. Mungos. He then slipped back down the hallway and back to Hermione’s side.
When he entered the darkened room he silently conjured their soft velvet chair from the corner to quietly move beside where Hermione lay. He feared hurting her more if he jostled the bed so he sat in the chair instead.
He leaned over her unmoving form and brushed her hair back once more. “I’m so sorry, Hermione,” he whispered and placed a kiss on the top of her head. He moved his hand down her curled arm and when he reached her hand she curled her fingers around his again. This was as much as he could do, and oh how he wished he could tug some of the pain into his body so that she didn’t have to carry the full burden.
A short while later a note slipped under their door and floated over to Ron.
Potions are on your kitchen counter with directions from the healer. Send a patronous if you or Hermione need anything, let us know when she’s feeling better. - Harry
Ron smiled but then shifted back to a frown. It was a relief to have the potion but for tonight it would do no good. They would just have to wait until the pain subsided. Ron continued to hold her hand all through the night hoping every second that the next one would bring relief.
– –
A little groan woke him up.
“Ron?” It came out as a whisper.
Ron’s eyes rapidly fluttered open. He was in a slumped position in the chair with one hand still resting on Hermione’s. His bushy-haired girlfriend was slightly stirring and trying to open her own eyes.
“Hey you,” he whispered as he rolled his neck back and forth, trying to release a night's worth of tension. He leaned closer to her, “Feeling any better, love?”
“Mmh,” she groaned. Hermione fluttered her hand in front of her face as she tried to push away the hair that had ended up in her eyes. Her eyes finally settled open but seemed confused, “It’s so dark.”
She patted her hand forward trying to find him. The room was still completely coated in darkness, whatever spells she had cast to keep the light out had kept throughout the night.
Ron grabbed his wand from the side table, “I got it. Are you okay with a little light?”
She nodded, “I think, just a little though.”
He flicked his wand and lifted the spell that kept away the light that outlined the blinds of their windows. Little shimmers of the earliest hints of morning began to slip through and a softness dimmed the dark.
Ron smiled down at her as he could finally clearly see her face. She gave him a small smile back and reached her hand out to touch his face.
“Thank you for staying with me all night,” she whispered.
He held her hand against his cheek fondly, “Nowhere I’d rather be, love. How’s your head doing?”
She started to shuffle into a sitting position. She pressed a hand to her head and chaos of hair as if to test it, “Better, still feels a little weird though.”
He cocked his head to the side, “Weird how? Does it still hurt?”
“Mm, it doesn’t really hurt, just kind of dizzy. A little twinge-y maybe,” she turned her face to his and gave him a beseeching look. “I’m sorry for worrying you. I would have sent you a patronus to give you a heads up but the pain just came on so quick. All I could do was climb into bed and turn out all the lights.”
“I just hated seeing you like that. I’ve never seen you down so hard,” he paused and backtracked. “Well not since-” he paused again.
She reached her hand back out to hold his, “Not since the Manor.”
He nodded and looked down at their hands, “Yeah.”
Hermione shuffled over slightly, “Want to join me in bed?”
Ron smiled and nodded. He uncrunched his long body from the small chair and slid in next to her, wrapping his arm around her smaller body and holding her against him. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and leaned his against her tousled curls. They just sat quietly for a moment, soaking up the soothing feeling of being so close.
“Harry dropped off a potion Healer Lattimer prescribed to help with the migraines going forward. We’re going to need to schedule an appointment with her to walk through everything.”
Hermione turned her head slightly towards his and scrunched her eyes in question, “Was Healer Lattimer here last night? I vaguely remember her but I wasn’t sure if it was just a dream or some sort of hallucination..”
He nodded, “Yeah, fortunately she was around when I sent an emergency fire-call to St. Mungo’s. She came through and ran some diagnostics, looks like your headaches have transformed into migraines. There’s a potion that can help but, it’s not a perfect fix. You have to take it before a certain point, but you might not be able to because once you show symptoms it might be too late.”
“Sounds a little flawed,” she mumbled.
He nodded, “I know, but she said there’s a diagnostic you can run that can help you check.” He rubbed his hand up and down her arm assuringly, “We’ll figure it out. We just need to get you more rest.”
She gave a little laugh, “I’m not very good at resting.”
“You’re good at everything. You’ll just need to practice.”
“I’m not very good at cooking,” she reminded him.
He chuckled, “True. But fortunately this requires far fewer steps. Just come home, climb into bed, and let me take care of you.”
She nuzzled her head against his chest, “You’re very good at that.”
Ron smiled down at her, “I like taking care of you.”
Hermione grinned as she looked up at him, “I can be a tad high strung at times.”
Ron pursed his lips humorously, “I wouldn’t call it that.”
“Annoying?” she offered.
He grinned, “Perhaps a little swotty on occasion.” Ron leaned down and nuzzled his nose against hers, “But it’s one of my favorite things about you.”
She giggled, “I’m eternally grateful for that.” She reached up and pressed her lips against his, he hummed in agreement and stroked her cheek as he leaned closer.
As they pulled apart he brushed his nose against hers, “Are you sure you’re feeling better?”
“I promise, Ron. I’m okay. Wasn’t very pleasant in the moment and I’m not looking forward to a repeat, but I’m okay right now.” Hermione ran a hand through his hair soothingly.
He frowned slightly.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Sometimes it just feels like we can never get far enough away from what happened. Seeing you last night in so much pain, I just- I don’t know - it made it feel like maybe we aren’t as far past it as I thought. It’s like I’m still in that cellar and I can’t get to you.”
“But you did, Ron. You did get to me. You pulled me out from the broken chandelier and you got me to Shell Cottage. And last night was no different; you saw that I was hurting and you got me the help I needed.” Hermione’s finger touched one of the scars that swirled down his arms, “I know it’s hard sometimes. We still have the occasional nightmare, Harry does that spacing out thing, I’m not sure if George will ever be able to summon another patronus. You feel aches in your arms, I feel aches in my head. I have days too when I feel like we’ll never outrun it, that we’re still in that tent with only threads of hope to keep us going. But then we visit with Teddy,” Hermione smiled, “or we see little kids dressed up like Harry running around Diagon Alley and the worries subside.”
Ron chuckled at that.
“The point is, Ron,” she spoke quietly, “we’ll have bad days, sometimes a few too many. But I think we’re getting to a point where there are more good ones than bad ones; more brighter days than dark ones. We spent so much time in that tent just hoping for a better world. And now we’re living in that hope but that doesn’t mean all the pain has gone away. Some of it will probably always be here. Some losses never fill in.”
He placed his head against hers again, “But at least we’re together.”
“Mm, that’s my favorite part,” she agreed.
“Mine too, Hermione.” He gave her a little squeeze.
“And I know you always have my back and you know I always have yours. We’re in this together, even if that means you sit next to me and hold my hand until it gets better.”
Ron leaned down again to kiss her, gently but firmly brushing his lips to hers. “I love you more than anything in this world, Hermione Granger,” his voice gravely with emotion.
She gave him a soft smile and returned his kiss, pressing even closer and sinking into the warmth of his arms as they wrapped tighter around her and practically pulled her onto his lap. When they pulled just a hair apart she whispered, nearly speaking against his lips, “I love you so much Ronald Weasley.”
“I’m really glad Harry and I saved you from that mountain troll,” he whispered.
She nodded agreeably, “It’s really worked out well for us.”
“It certainly has, love. Now how do you feel about spending the day in bed? I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t call last night particularly restful.”
Hermione hummed, “That sounds nice. It will be good for me to practice.”
Ron grinned and tugged her down to lie down with him.
He gave a contented sound that was part groan and part sigh, “If you wake up before me, get me up and I’ll make us breakfast.”
“Okay,” she whispered as she allowed sleep to roll through her as she snuggled up closely against Ron’s chest.
As they curled around each other, their breaths settled and rest finally came for them both.