Romione❤️ one-shots

Education

It struck Hermione as odd that a place as welcoming and homey as the Burrow could feel like such a prison. Being there had always made her feel comfortable, like a natural fit. But after spending so long away from it, after going through so much on their own, just her and the boys, the old, crooked walls surrounded them like a cage. It was more than a bit constricting to be enclosed with so many other people, with so many emotions, and not to mention the rules that were suddenly back on them. Perhaps she had become too accustomed to life away from parents, and to breaking the rules.

A million thoughts flooded her head, making her stomach churn. There was a conversation happening around her, but she wasn't keeping up with it. She watched as Harry's mouth moved, as Ginny smiled, as Ron said something back, but her ears weren't picking any of it up. She felt like she was watching them from afar. Her chair scraped back as she stood, and their eyes went to her.

"I need some air," she said. She made her way to the door, feeling their stares bore into her back.

She walked deeper into the Weasleys' property, vaguely towards the orchard. The long-unattended grass had grown tall enough to tickle her calves. She tried to focus on that sensation, to ground herself, to pull her head out of the cloud of worry and doubt that had gathered. The afternoon sun beat down on her as she walked, scalding the tops of her shoulders. It had been hot all summer long, hot enough that her outfits had consistently been a rotation of the only two beat up pairs of shorts she owned, a couple of tank tops, and some loose-fitting t-shirts. At first it had been hard, wearing clothes that would show so many of her scars, old and new. But over time the heat won out and, she had reasoned, it was better to get used to them being seen now—they'd be on her forever, after all.

The sound of frogs croaking drifted up from the pond as she passed it. It should have made her smile, bringing back memories from the past several years, from summer days spent on this very property with her best friends, but it didn't. Her mind was already too full.

Finally, Hermione reached the orchard. The trees there provided decent shade, and she sat beneath one, leaning against the trunk at first. She thought that the rough bark might feel nice on her back, but it proved uncomfortably scratchy and so she moved her whole body down, eventually lying flat on the soft earth.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed when Ron got there.

"What's going on?" he asked.

It was too bright to look up at his face, so instead Hermione focused on his shins, which were covered in a light dusting of fair hair and a generous helping of freckles.

"I already said. I just needed some air."

"If that were all you needed," Ron said, "I don't think you'd walk all the way here and clearly have no intention of coming back for awhile."

Hermione squinted up at his face. She needed to see if he was actually mad or just frustrated. When he frowned down at her she realized that it was neither of those things. He was feeling hurt. She crossed her arms over her stomach, resisting the urge to just curl up into a ball.

Ron sighed. He lowered himself to the ground and sat there, hunched over, his elbows resting on his bent knees. She watched him, slightly in awe of his pale body, how it glowed in sunlight.

"You're going to get sunburnt," she said.

He brushed her statement aside with a question. "Does this have to do with last night?"

Hermione closed her eyes. Images of the previous night swirled through her mind hazily. They had met up with many of their school friends, mostly DA members. Most hadn't seen each other since things had died down earlier that summer, following the whirlwind that was May. The mood had been light for most of the evening, until the subject of school came up. They'd all received letters inviting them back to Hogwarts for the following year. For some, it'd be the continuation of their educations within the schedule that they had always been meant to follow, but for others, like Hermione and Ron and Harry, it would mean returning past their expected graduation date, catching up on studies that had been impossible to pursue. For everyone it would mean returning to the castle where they had already seen too much in too few years.