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“you complete arse, ronald weasley!”
harry and i share a worried glance and wince when hermione swings ron’s backpack at his shoulder once more.
“you show up here after weeks and you say ‘hey’?” she huffs, flinging the fallen yellow tree leaves at him.
at least she’s dropped the backpack.
“i’ve wanted to come back the moment i left! i just didn’t know how to,” ron explains desperately.
“yeah, how did you find us?” i ask
slowly, ron tells us about the deluminator, which dumbledore has left ron in his will, and how he heard hermione’s voice in it and allowed it to guide him back to us.
i didn’t miss the way hermione’s expression softened slowly as ron finished his story. we were all silent for a moment and i looked around to take our current states of being in: the sheer exhaustion on all our faces, hermione and i’s barely brushed hair and ron and harry’s slight overgrown facial hair.
but it felt like the air was less tense somehow. hermione had clearly missed ron and was heartbroken over the way things were left between them, but we were truly just relieved that our little group was back together and safe - as safe as it can get for now anyway.
╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮
night fell and the only thing illuminating the area around our tent was the moonlight. i was collecting our clothes that were left outside to dry and heading back when i heard hermione’s giggle near the lake. ron was right behind her his chest against her back placing a rock in her hand and guiding her stretched arm just slightly backwards at an angle before sending the rock skipping onto the lake water
he stepped away turning to face her and grinned “you’ll get it”
i smiled to myself, watching them. it was nice seeing them so happy together. they both deserved it.
i headed to the tent. harry was sitting on his bed, knees to his chest and arms resting on them languorously twirling the golden snitch dumbledore had left for him after his death.
it wasn’t unusual seeing harry sit in silence staring into space for a long time. he had a lot of weight on his shoulders. it seemed like his brain just couldn’t relax anymore.
i set the clothes aside on the table and made my way to him. it’s not until i sit next to him, nudging his shoulder with my own and mumbling a quiet “hey” did he finally snap out of his daze. he blinked suddenly fumbling with his glasses.
“hey” he replies
i was about to say something when we heard another giggle from hermione outside.
“what are they up to?” he nods at the tent entrance curiously.
“ron’s teaching hermione how to skip rocks,” i huff out a laugh “well.. he’s trying to at least.”
and he smiles my favorite smile, the one with the dimple on his left cheek.
“she’s not very good, is she?” he snickers
“yeah, she’s terrible”
we both dissolve into fits of laughter at that thought and it sounded comfortable.. familiar. it felt like we were back in the burrow sitting on ron’s bedroom floor chattering all night long.
together, we recall happy memories from hogwarts. six years was a long time, so we were never running out of things to say. hogsmeade trips, encouters with malfoy and nights spent in the astronomy tower.
before we know it, we’re laying side by side giggling about harry’s stories from the boys dormitories.
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HERMIONE AND RONS POV
hermione rolls her eyes as ron rants about how the spider practically attacked him (it did not) and how he didn’t scream like a little girl (he definitely did) and that hermione should not accuse him of something like that.
as they enter the tent, hermione holds up a hand to silence ron.
“what is it?” he asks her confused. he follows her line of sight til his eyes land on harry’s corner of the room.
their two bestfriends have apparently fallen asleep.. cuddling? harry’s arm is wrapped around her shoulder drawing her close. her head’s resting on his chest, nose brushing against his collarbone.
“well finally. can’t say i’m surprised” ron whispers to hermione, the two of them smiling at the sweet sight of the shared love of their bestfriends.
╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮
the future is uncertain. and the nearing fight between hogwarts and voldemort and his followers is frightening.
nevertheless, they’re there for eachother til the end. always.