a/n: Remember... REVIEWERS ROCK.
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All characters, settings, etc, are the copyright of JK Rowling and Bloomsbury Publishing.
Freeze
Chapter 2: Roommates
Hermione had removed the wards surrounding her townhouse the morning after receiving the letter. She wasn’t sure if Ginny wouldn’t just Apparate or try to use a Portkey, and Hermione didn’t want to keep her friend from reaching her destination safely. She still couldn’t believe that shortly she would be seeing Ginny again.
Sure enough, when Hermione unlocked her door that afternoon after work, she was greeted by a shock of red hair fanned out over the arm of her sofa. Her heart skipped a beat at the familiar color and her mouth dropped open involuntarily. Before she could react, Ginny jumped to her feet and ran to give her old friend a tight hug. “Hermione!”
Hermione laughed and hugged her back, kicking the door shut at the same time. “Ginny!” She held her at arms length and looked her up and down. Ginny would be nineteen now, one year younger than Hermione. The girl standing before her seemed in much better spirits than the lonely girl in the graduation photo. Now she had a relaxed look about her and a twinkle in her eye that had been missing earlier. Ginny’s familiar red hair was a bit longer too, reaching the middle of her back and falling in soft waves.
“Ginny, you scared me to death “ not to mention I had to remove wards for you and your Apparition was undoubtedly suspected by any dark wizard in the immediate area. I hate to be so rude “ I haven’t seen you for a long time, but what is going on?” She dragged Ginny by the hand and sat down on the sofa in the living room.
Ginny followed and sat down next to her. This should be interesting, Ginny thought. But she reminded herself that this was the only way.
“Hermione, I’m sorry about the lack of warning “ and the wards. I promise I’ll- we’ll replace those. I just need a favor, a huge favor, and you were the only person that could help us.” Ginny’s face had a desperate look about it before she looked down at her tightly clasped hands.
Hermione blinked. “Us?” She looked around but the two of them were alone in the room. She furrowed her brow and looked at her, willing Ginny to look back up and explain. “Ginny, what’s going on?”
Ginny bit her lip and looked straight into Hermione’s eyes. “I need you to… no, the Order needs you to perform a Freeze for one of the members who’s gotten themselves into a spot of trouble.” Ginny gave her a sympathetic look that said, “I’m sorry.”
Hermione’s eyes became round as saucers. “A Freeze! Me? But Ginny, all of my work “ I’m gone most of the time at my Muggle job, and “ “ She stopped abruptly as realization dawned. “Oh,” she said with resignation. “It can only be performed in a home that’s been magic-free for over... one year, right? I understand now.” Ginny nodded slowly and once again Hermione wondered at the reason when, for a second time, realization dawned. Her eyebrows rose as she asked, “Ginny, are you a member of the Order now? You became an Auror and you need a Freeze? I thought you…“ She stopped again and took a closer look at her friend.
Hermione had thought that performing a protective Freeze for an Auror was a huge risk to both the witch or wizard who performed it, and to those whom they were protecting. Freezes were only used in extreme circumstances as it rendered the Auror in-hiding useless for at least one month (as well as their host) because that’s how long the spell lasted. The wards were so dangerous to conjure in fact, that it was advisable that only one Freeze spell be performed per host, per lifetime. Hermione thought Ginny must have made the wrong witch or wizard really angry.
Ginny only shook her head and smiled. “Hermione, the Freeze wouldn’t be for me. Well it would be, in a sense,” she mumbled as the smile faltered and she started over. “The reason I became an Auror… well you know how much I wanted to be with Harry and he wanted to be with me and well… Hermione,” she took a deep breath because she knew her news would come as a shock. “Harry and I were married last month.” In a huge emotional about face, she flashed a huge (yet somewhat guilty) smile and held up her hand, displaying an intricate band with stones and symbols on it.
Once again Hermione’s eyes grew big and she gasped, grabbing Ginny’s hand to look more closely. Had it been so long? She hadn’t talked to Harry in ages and she missed him. She missed them all. She’d missed Harry’s wedding.
“Ginny. Oh, it’s beautiful.” The Freeze was temporarily forgotten as she smiled and hugged Ginny, who she thought sighed with relief. “Congratulations to both of you. I… I wish I could have been there,” she whispered in her friend’s ear. Ginny’s married and I slam the door in my date’s face.
Ginny smiled sadly. “We went away, Hermione. Nobody knew, not even my parents. The dark wizard ring we’re after are former Death Eaters. Some of them are still after Harry. They were trying to find us and had almost stopped the ceremony from happening…” her voice faltered as she shuddered and looked down. “The Order discovered this and set up a watch but the ring leader found out about it. There was a huge standoff during the ceremony “ but this particular member of the Order “ he saved us. He’s in terrible danger, Hermione. We need your help. He needs your help.”
She didn't understand when suddenly, Ginny's meaning dawned on her. Hermione's mouth dropped open. She regained her composure as she folded her hands in her lap, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. If she was correct, she was about to come face to face with the past she had been trying to forget for two years. “Where is he?” she asked in a deadpan voice.
“Hello Hermione.”
Her eyes flew open but she didn’t breathe. She felt goose bumps all over her body as she stood and turned toward the kitchen where the deep voice had come from. She looked straight into his blue eyes but did not return his smile. His red hair mimicked that of his sister who remained seated on the sofa, nervously watching the exchange. Hermione’s face was totally void of expression as she found her breath.
“Hello Ronald.”
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Ginny took her time saying goodbye to her brother while Hermione was outside conjuring the Freeze wards on her home, following Ginny’s carefully laid out instructions. After the ten or so minutes it took Hermione to finish the incantations, Ginny made her sit down while she searched for something for Hermione to drink. She looks so pale, Ginny thought to herself, searching through Hermione’s fridge.
Ginny gave Hermione a hug before handing her a glass of milk and mouthed the words, “I’m sorry.” Ginny touched Hermione’s hand and without saying a thing, the two girls knew what was going on inside each other’s minds. Hermione knew that Ginny felt badly about bringing Ron to her home, taking her by complete surprise and possibly jeopardizing her work. Ginny knew that Hermione wanted to kill her.
Putting on a brave face, Ginny thanked Hermione once more and with tears in her eyes gave her yet another hug before turning her attention to Ron.
Ron’s brow furrowed as he watched the exchange before him and he started to speak. Ginny interrupted him, dragging him back into the living room so Hermione could get her wits about her again. Hermione hadn’t heard exactly what she said to Ron but thought it sounded something like, “Be nice,” and then Ginny was out the door and past the wards, leaving the two of them alone.
Hermione, feeling a little more herself after the brief rest became stunned and angry all over again. She would never be able to conjure Freeze wards for anyone else again and was amazed at her lack of argument to waste the ability on someone like Ronald Weasley. Staring straight ahead, Hermione returned to the living room and slowly sat down on the sofa again as Crookshanks quickly joined her. She thought the cat seemed as happy to see Ron as she was.
Ron looked around and, clearing his throat, sat down in a large chair as far away from Hermione as he could possibly get. She laughed inwardly at the gall.
What she didn’t know was that Ron was stunned by how beautiful she was. He had taken in everything about her, especially her hair. She was wearing it longer these days. He wondered why she had looked so tired when she came in earlier but quickly told himself he didn’t care.
Looking around at her Muggle-furnished home, he nodded and said, “It’s nice. You’ve done a good job. No one would know by looking that you’re a witch. I’ll bet the… ADoA is it?... are so very proud,” he said with a smirk.
She took immediate offence to his condescending tone and looked up at him. “You always did know just the right thing to say, Ronald.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.
He sighed and leaned forward. With elbows on the knees of his trousers, he rubbed his temples with his hands. Hard. Dropping his hands in an act of defeat he looked at her once more and said, “I know you hate this. I hate it too. I’d rather fight than hide. But Harry and the others; Remus, Tonks, my parents ““ he laughed and shook his head, “Especially mum - they wouldn’t have it. It took a hex from Ginny to get me here, Hermione. I didn’t want this anymore than you did.” He held out his hands in defeat.
She couldn’t help her sneer of disgust. She had loved him once. She had thought he loved her. But he proved her wrong on two different occasions. Why should he act any different? He hadn’t seen her in three years. Why should she expect a hug? She told herself she didn’t want one. Not from him.
“Ronald. Stop talking.”
Ron’s mouth opened and closed. He knew she wouldn’t like him being here, but he hadn’t realized how much. Her cold manner was a shock. After what she had done to him; however, he told himself not to care. So instead of arguing, as they would have back at school, he sat back and waited.
Hermione took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Giving Crookshanks a pat (not missing Ron’s glare at her pet) she got up and walked to one of the many bookshelves lining the living room wall. She took out what looked like a large book on landscaping, but was, in fact, a book of magic she hadn’t used in quite a long time. Blowing off the dust (again, not missing Ron’s look of shock that any book in Hermione’s library should be dusty) she began to read aloud about the Auror Freeze. Ron continued to look around as she read, knowing at any minute she would speak. He didn’t have to wait long.
“Well basically it’s simple. A Freeze is exactly that. The Auror in hiding is ‘frozen’ in one particular area that is surrounded by particular wards that deflect any possible detection. The wards themselves are virtually undetectable once they are up which makes them particularly difficult to conjure.”
Ron didn’t see Hermione almost blanch at this as she remembered the difficulty and level of concentration. She had to speak the incantations three times before they even worked and had fallen down in exhaustion afterward. It had taken awhile for her breathing to come back to normal and she thought she might faint. Ron hadn’t been aware that this was going on. Hermione figured that was the reason Ginny had kept him in the house while she was outside.
She continued pacing and read, “The frozen witch or wizard is not to use magic under any circumstances because the area within the wards has already been magic-free for twelve months and must remain so,” she held her hand out and looked at him with one eyebrow raised.
He clenched his teeth, stood and handed her his wand, and then sat back down again.
She put his wand under her arm and continued, “Nor are they to leave this small, protected area for less than a month or they must face the consequences.”
Ron rolled his eyes and steepled his fingers, resting them over his mouth as he watched her pace. She looked sixteen all over again. He fought back a smile at the familiar sight. She was different now though. For one, she was wearing snug tan trousers and a red jumper instead of school robes.
Her body had changed too…
His mind snapped back to the matter at had as she started to speak again.
“I managed to place the wards earlier.” Ron thought she rolled her eyes but he couldn’t be sure. She continued, “So there really is nothing left for me to do, other than offer you a place to stay.” She gulped. “For one month.” She almost dropped the book and instead gathered it to her. She had to keep her hands from trembling and almost dropped his wand. Why is he still affecting me this way?
“Right,” he said with a grin as he looked up at her. “So which side do you sleep on? I prefer the left side myself.”
Hermione rolled her eyes as she put the book back into its resting place on the shelf and put his wand in her back pocket. “You get the entire sofa to yourself, Ron. Unless,” she added, “Crookshanks decides to join you.” Ron flashed the cat a horrified glance. The cat returned it and Ron did a double-take.
“Meanwhile, I’ll be taking a bath. You’ll find another half-bath off the study, and extra blankets and a pillow in the cupboard down the hall. I suppose you may help yourself in the kitchen. The kettle is on the stove. Um…” she glanced at him, frowning, “you do know how to work a Muggle stove, don’t you?”
He frowned and shook his head.
Hermione sighed. “Great,” she said, the word again dripping with sarcasm. “I’ll have to teach you then. In that case, don’t help yourself. I can’t have you burning my house down. I’ll be back out shortly. Don’t touch anything that you don’t understand.”
As she wandered back to her bedroom, he thought he heard her say, “That includes most everything.”
Even the cat looked at Ron with distaste. It jumped off the sofa and followed Hermione down the hallway.
Ron stood and gave up the mental fight he was having with himself because he couldn’t help but watch her until she was out of sight. He sighed heavily as he sat back down in the chair and threw his head back. He closed his eyes and muttered quietly, “What have I gotten myself into?”
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a/n: Once again I want to thank my Beta, Grimmrook, for being freakin’ awesome. Have you hugged your Beta today?