A few weeks had passed since Harry and Hermione had shared their first kiss, and they were now currently out in the middle of the Forest of Dean, with little progress from when Ron had left them.
In fact, they even had a close call when they decided to visit Godric's Hollow on Christmas Eve. Harry had sworn that some lady who had been following them was trying to tell him something, so he'd follow her and it turned out that the woman was actually Naigini. Both were lucky to escape with their lives, and Hermione had a feeling that none of that would have happened if Ron was with them.
The truth was, neither of them could do this individually, or even in a pair. No, the three of them had to be together like it was from the start.
This was what Hermione had primarily been thinking about until Harry had returned. His hair was dripping wet and his clothes were soaked too.
"What in Merlin's name happened to you?" Hermione yelled out in shock
"Hermione, I need you to come outside." Harry said, somewhat out of breath as if he had just randomly decided to go for a run.
He didn't wait for her to respond, and instead turned around and walked right back out of the tent. Hermione, of course had followed him, though was not pleased to find Ron standing a few feet out in front of her.
"Hey." he said breaking the awkward silence.
Suddenly, her emotions had gotten the best of her and she ran up to him and pushed him, causing him to stumble backwards and the bag on his shoulder to fall to the ground.
"You are such an arse, Ronald Weasley!" Hermione yelled and then bent down and picked up his bag, only to throw it at him. "You show up here after weeks, and say hey?"
"I know, I shouldn't have left--" Ron started again, but Hermione was quick to cut him off.
"No, I needed you Ron! We needed you! But you just had to let your jealousy get the better of you! And for what?"
"Hermione," Harry said softly, trying to calm her down. "Ron was wearing the horcrux when all of that happened. Surely you can understand the horrible things it makes you feel." he said "Besides, Ron came back. Sure, he didn't have to leave in the first place, but he also didn't have to come back."
Hermione took some time to consider all of this, her eyes no longer showing as much hatred as they had.
"Fine." she finally spoke up "But if you ever pull something like that again, I swear--"
"I'll let you throw any hex you want at me." Ron said "You can even slap me like you did Malfoy back in our third year. Deal?"
Hermione smiled "Deal."
***
Ugh I haven't updated in forever bc I started re reading 'After' the Harry styles fan fic lmao. I was such a directioner growing up so it was a fun trip down memory lane but I'm back now and stanning the better Harry am I right?
