1 fic - challenge #58, "grimmauld place".
Title: Nighttime
Rating/Warnings: PG
Characters/Pairing: Ron/Hermione
Summary: Hermione hates for other people to see her fear. Ron is the exception.
Word Count: 983
Author's Notes: The line in Deathly Hallows where Harry mentions that Ron and Hermione may have fallen asleep holding hands is like, the most adorable thing I've ever read in my life. So I wanted to write something based around that.
Registered purchases?: Both registered.
Grimmauld Place was the perfect choice for a hideout, Hermione thinks. Between it being Unplottable and in a busy, bustling London neighbourhood, it basically allows them to hide in plain sight. It’s not anywhere that the Death Eaters will think to look. That is, unless someone asks Snape.
And that’s what scares her the most, actually. That Snape knows about the house, that he’s been inside it countless times thanks to the time when he was working for - spying on, Hermione thinks bitterly - the Order of the Phoenix. Grimmauld Place isn’t like the Room of Requirement. There’s no way to hide inside and convince the building not to let any Voldemort supporters through the front door. They have to rely on the fact that Snape’s betrayal will have prevented him from being able to see the house, and therefore preventing him from being able to access it and enter.
But they don’t know if that’s what has happened. They know that Snape hasn’t come for them yet. They don’t know if that means he can’t, or if he’s just biding his time.
Hermione doesn’t often tell the boys when she’s scared. They’re both so brave and so often do things without complaint (well, Harry does things without complaint) that she’d feel guilty whining about her fears. She’s the female of their group, and she’s read enough books to know that females are often thought of to be the weaker sex. So she keeps in her fears and her tears as much as she can, because Hermione will give anything not to be weak.
Sometimes, though, after Ron and Harry have fallen asleep, she lies awake and stares at the ceiling for hours. She keeps her ears peeled for any creak, and squeak of a door, anything that might imply that danger is coming. Maybe she’s being paranoid. But she likes to think that she’s keeping her friends safe. Harry and Ron do so much to help her hold it together during the day; the least she can do is protect them at night.
“Can’t sleep?”
Ron’s whisper in the dark makes Hermione jump.
“What?” she asks, rolling onto her side and blinking down at him. None of the three had felt right about sleeping in a Black’s bedroom, so they had been spending nights camped out in the parlour. Harry, sound asleep on the other couch, snores quietly as his mouth hangs open. Ron, though, is wide awake, and he’s staring at her curiously from his spot on the floor.
“You haven’t even shut your eyes,” he whispers, and Hermione feels a blush creep over the back of her neck. “Are you okay?”
She shrugs. “I don’t sleep a lot, here.”
“Is it the couch?” Ron asks. “Too lumpy? Because I’m sure Harry won’t mind if you take Sirius’ bedroom, it’s not as if you’d trash the place.” And here is Ron, one of her two best friends, sleeping on a hard floor and worrying about her comfort. It’s so sweet and so Ron that it makes her want to cry.
She shakes her head, suddenly glad that the dark is there to hide her blush and the tears that are starting to swell up in her eyes. “No. No, the couch is fine.”
Ron sits up a little on his elbows, a look of serious concern crossing his face. He’s looking at her so intently, trying so hard to figure out what’s wrong. “Then what is it?”
“I just -“ Hermione sighs. “What if we aren’t as safe here as we think?”
“Snape can’t get in,” Ron says at once. “He can’t see Grimmauld Place anymore, he won’t be able to find us.”
“How do you know that?” she says, her voice bordering on frantic.
“I -“ Ron pauses, a little taken aback. “Because you told us.”
“What if I’m wrong?” Hermione asks.
“Come on, Hermione.” Ron offers her a little smile. “You’re never wrong.”
Hermione swallows and shakes her head, trying to keep herself calm. The last thing either of them needs right now is for her to panic and wake up Harry. “But what if I am?”
It’s not often that she expresses any self-doubt. Hermione usually has a library of resources at her fingertips, and can usually find the answer to any question or problem so long as she has time enough to look. But they’re on the run now, flying by the seat of their pants, and Hermione doesn’t have time to stop and research. She has to go by memory, by instinct, and it scares her that the boys still trust every last thing she says.
The darkness makes it easier for Hermione to hide her eyes. She doesn’t want her gaze to meet Ron’s - not now when she’s practically admitting that she could be putting them in danger. She doesn’t want to see his worry or his disappointment.
But then she feels a large, warm hand wrap around hers.
“It’ll be fine,” Ron assures her quietly. “We’ll be fine. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Hermione knows they’re just words, knows that if Snape were to burst in here in the next few minutes, Ron wouldn’t be much of a match for the man who was able to disarm and kill Professor Dumbledore. She knows that they’re no safer than they were ten minutes ago. But the thing is, she feels safer. She feels like maybe they’ll all get out of this okay. With Ron’s hand around hers, she feels protected.
“Okay,” she whispers.
And when she finally does drift off into sleep, Ron’s hand is still wrapped tightly around hers. It feels natural, right, to sleep like this, Hermione realizes right before she drops off.
And though she doesn’t know it, Ron lies awake, eyes focused on the ceiling and hand around Hermione’s, making sure she stays safe until the sun rises.
end.
983 words/30 = 32.7 33
+ 10 points for purchases
= 43 points for Hufflepuff!
Janna/Hufflepuff
Rating/Warnings: PG
Characters/Pairing: Ron/Hermione
Summary: Hermione hates for other people to see her fear. Ron is the exception.
Word Count: 983
Author's Notes: The line in Deathly Hallows where Harry mentions that Ron and Hermione may have fallen asleep holding hands is like, the most adorable thing I've ever read in my life. So I wanted to write something based around that.
Registered purchases?: Both registered.
Grimmauld Place was the perfect choice for a hideout, Hermione thinks. Between it being Unplottable and in a busy, bustling London neighbourhood, it basically allows them to hide in plain sight. It’s not anywhere that the Death Eaters will think to look. That is, unless someone asks Snape.
And that’s what scares her the most, actually. That Snape knows about the house, that he’s been inside it countless times thanks to the time when he was working for - spying on, Hermione thinks bitterly - the Order of the Phoenix. Grimmauld Place isn’t like the Room of Requirement. There’s no way to hide inside and convince the building not to let any Voldemort supporters through the front door. They have to rely on the fact that Snape’s betrayal will have prevented him from being able to see the house, and therefore preventing him from being able to access it and enter.
But they don’t know if that’s what has happened. They know that Snape hasn’t come for them yet. They don’t know if that means he can’t, or if he’s just biding his time.
Hermione doesn’t often tell the boys when she’s scared. They’re both so brave and so often do things without complaint (well, Harry does things without complaint) that she’d feel guilty whining about her fears. She’s the female of their group, and she’s read enough books to know that females are often thought of to be the weaker sex. So she keeps in her fears and her tears as much as she can, because Hermione will give anything not to be weak.
Sometimes, though, after Ron and Harry have fallen asleep, she lies awake and stares at the ceiling for hours. She keeps her ears peeled for any creak, and squeak of a door, anything that might imply that danger is coming. Maybe she’s being paranoid. But she likes to think that she’s keeping her friends safe. Harry and Ron do so much to help her hold it together during the day; the least she can do is protect them at night.
“Can’t sleep?”
Ron’s whisper in the dark makes Hermione jump.
“What?” she asks, rolling onto her side and blinking down at him. None of the three had felt right about sleeping in a Black’s bedroom, so they had been spending nights camped out in the parlour. Harry, sound asleep on the other couch, snores quietly as his mouth hangs open. Ron, though, is wide awake, and he’s staring at her curiously from his spot on the floor.
“You haven’t even shut your eyes,” he whispers, and Hermione feels a blush creep over the back of her neck. “Are you okay?”
She shrugs. “I don’t sleep a lot, here.”
“Is it the couch?” Ron asks. “Too lumpy? Because I’m sure Harry won’t mind if you take Sirius’ bedroom, it’s not as if you’d trash the place.” And here is Ron, one of her two best friends, sleeping on a hard floor and worrying about her comfort. It’s so sweet and so Ron that it makes her want to cry.
She shakes her head, suddenly glad that the dark is there to hide her blush and the tears that are starting to swell up in her eyes. “No. No, the couch is fine.”
Ron sits up a little on his elbows, a look of serious concern crossing his face. He’s looking at her so intently, trying so hard to figure out what’s wrong. “Then what is it?”
“I just -“ Hermione sighs. “What if we aren’t as safe here as we think?”
“Snape can’t get in,” Ron says at once. “He can’t see Grimmauld Place anymore, he won’t be able to find us.”
“How do you know that?” she says, her voice bordering on frantic.
“I -“ Ron pauses, a little taken aback. “Because you told us.”
“What if I’m wrong?” Hermione asks.
“Come on, Hermione.” Ron offers her a little smile. “You’re never wrong.”
Hermione swallows and shakes her head, trying to keep herself calm. The last thing either of them needs right now is for her to panic and wake up Harry. “But what if I am?”
It’s not often that she expresses any self-doubt. Hermione usually has a library of resources at her fingertips, and can usually find the answer to any question or problem so long as she has time enough to look. But they’re on the run now, flying by the seat of their pants, and Hermione doesn’t have time to stop and research. She has to go by memory, by instinct, and it scares her that the boys still trust every last thing she says.
The darkness makes it easier for Hermione to hide her eyes. She doesn’t want her gaze to meet Ron’s - not now when she’s practically admitting that she could be putting them in danger. She doesn’t want to see his worry or his disappointment.
But then she feels a large, warm hand wrap around hers.
“It’ll be fine,” Ron assures her quietly. “We’ll be fine. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Hermione knows they’re just words, knows that if Snape were to burst in here in the next few minutes, Ron wouldn’t be much of a match for the man who was able to disarm and kill Professor Dumbledore. She knows that they’re no safer than they were ten minutes ago. But the thing is, she feels safer. She feels like maybe they’ll all get out of this okay. With Ron’s hand around hers, she feels protected.
“Okay,” she whispers.
And when she finally does drift off into sleep, Ron’s hand is still wrapped tightly around hers. It feels natural, right, to sleep like this, Hermione realizes right before she drops off.
And though she doesn’t know it, Ron lies awake, eyes focused on the ceiling and hand around Hermione’s, making sure she stays safe until the sun rises.
end.
983 words/30 = 32.7 33
+ 10 points for purchases
= 43 points for Hufflepuff!
Janna/Hufflepuff