All characters, settings, etc, are the copyright of JK Rowling and Bloomsbury Publishing.
Freeze
Chapter 4: Frozen
The next two weeks of Ron’s life seemed to stretch on for months.
He was extremely bored with no one but Crookshanks to talk to, and the walls were starting to cave in on him. During the weekdays, Hermione worked from nine to five at the city’s public library, where she secretly did research work for the American Department of Aurors. On Saturdays she did “volunteer work” at the local bread line. What she didn’t tell Ron was that some of Chicago’s homeless were in fact witches and wizards working for the ADoA. This was their best cover since most Muggles looked the other way upon seeing them. Most homeless that slept on park benches, in doorways and in Union Station were actually undercover Aurors on assignment. Each Saturday, they would report to the bread line where Hermione would turn in her weekly reports on whatever historical Muggle data they might need to track down whomever they were assigned to find.
On Saturday evenings, Hermione would meet Thomas for dinner. Ron turned a blind eye to this and did his best to ignore it. If she wanted this Muggle, she could have him as far as he was concerned. Ron figured once he was a free man, he could return to London and start looking himself. He figured that he had been so busy with work, he’d forgotten about women and that Hermione must have more time on her hands than he did.
Still, he found himself wishing she would talk to him. Or argue with him. Or look at him. She barely did any of those things. In fact, it was as if she was going out of her way to completely ignore him.
One day, after the soaps were over, Ron decided to do a bit of exploring. So he started where anyone else would - in Hermione’s bedroom. He figured, if anything, she would find out and at least yell at him, thus giving him something new to do with his time.
He wasn’t surprised to find that the bedroom had a more feminine side to it than the rest of her home which was very neutral. There was a pink and white quilt lying on a double bed which Crookshanks was lying upon at the moment, a vanity with an old stool under it with green paint chipping off, a stack of large books which formed a crude night stand topped off with a small white lamp, a full-length mirror and a closet. He had to chuckle at the table made of books. Obviously she had so many, she had resorted to building furniture with them.
Ron walked over to the vanity and saw the same hair brush Hermione had used at the Burrow when she had stayed with his family in the summer. She probably used it at Hogwarts as well. He found himself staring at it. Backing up against her bed, he sat down and his head snapped up as he closed his eyes and sighed at its softness.
He missed his bed.
“This is pathetic. Pull yourself together, Weasley,” he scolded himself and got up to return to the living room.
He had no sooner sat on the sofa and turned on the television when Hermione walked in, startling him. She was home unusually early. He was grateful she hadn’t caught him after all.
~*~
Hermione briefly glanced at Ron lounging on her sofa, hung her keys on the hook next to the door as usual, and walked to the kitchen. She prepared tea with her TV blaring in the background as he noisily switched the channels. As she watched the kettle, she realized that it might have been this way had they stayed together. Except the tea would be making itself, there would be no TV, and he would probably still be at work. Harry and Ginny might come over for dinner. They would all laugh just like old times. Ron would kiss her. They would be sharing a bedroom…
The kettle whistle blew and Hermione jumped, brushing the back of her hand against it, causing an immediate burn. She cried out and jumped back, turning the heat off with her other hand. Ron rushed in the room to see what was the matter.
“Are you alright? What happened?” he asked, rushing over to her. He seemed truly concerned and this took her by surprise so much so that it took her mind off of the pain for one split second.
“Oh, it’s nothing, I just touched the kettle “ it’s fine.” The pain was horrible. She felt like a baby, holding her wounded hand to herself as she avoided his gaze.
“Nothing “ right. Let me see,” and he took her hand to look at it. He winced as he saw the faint white line of burned skin on the back of her hand. “Oh, Hermione… Bloody hell. Sit down. If I had my wand-“
She looked up in alarm. “No, Ron! No magic. Really, it’s nothing,” she winced.
He sighed and shook his head. “Okay… I saw this on the TV the other day. We’ll need ice,” and he went to work immediately, pulling a towel out of a drawer and going to the freezer for some ice.
She stared at his back as he worked, shocked that he seemed genuinely concerned. She felt a tear slide down her cheek. It had nothing to do with the pain in her hand.
He returned again with ice wrapped in the towel and knelt down next to her. “Here now, give this a try “ easy…” and he gently placed it on the back of her hand. “Better?” he asked, looking up into her brown eyes. She was crying. It must be worse than he thought. “Do you need a Muggle doctor, do you think? Is it that bad?”
“Oh,” she sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her good hand. “It’ll be fine. You must think I’m a baby.” She looked at him and he was smiling.
“No I don’t. It’s a decent burn. Besides, I thought you were just trying to give me something to do.” He was still holding her hand.
His smile took her breath away. Suddenly she needed to know what happened three years ago. Why did he break her heart? “Ron…”
They both jumped as the phone rang. Ron’s smile disappeared as he gently let go of her hand and walked back to the living room. She sat there a moment before picking up. It was her mother. She took the phone to her bedroom and closed the door behind her.
Ron sat on the sofa, staring at the TV but not hearing it. She’d cried out and he went running. After she left him three years ago he didn’t think he would ever talk to her again, let alone paw all over her like a puppy. She must think he was absolutely bonkers. After all, he did.
~*~
Saturday, while Hermione was doing her volunteer work, a Muggle package arrived for Ron. Excited, he tore open the box and stared in awe at his new toy. He had found a way to purchase a Muggle contraption he had seen on the Home Shopping Network; the Xbox 360. It even came with a wizard game called Wizard World and he was anxious to give it a go.
Two hours later, Hermione arrived home, hung her keys next to the door, and turned around to find Ron on the floor with boxes, papers, and her tool kit spread out all around him. He looked up at her, ears red, and mumbled, “Help?”
Sighing, she walked toward the mess, wondering what he had done. Placing her hands on her hips she asked, “What is “ oh.” Realization dawned as she realized that he had bought a video game console. Thomas talked about his all the time. Men.
He held up an instruction booklet with one hand and in the other, he held some small cables. “I didn’t think it would be this difficult. But it says to hook these red, yellow and white things in but all I see are buttons, and-“
“Alright, wait a minute…” she cut him off. “My father bought me something similar when I lived back home and I’ve been living here long enough to be able to figure this out. Give me the instructions,” she said as he gladly handed them over.
Fifteen minutes later, with Hermione’s help, they had the game hooked up and together managed to figure out how to work the controls thanks to the instructions. Although she was none too pleased with him for using her credit card to purchase something without her consent, she relented when he told her she could keep it when it came time for him to leave.
She laughed when she saw the game that had come with it. She was used to not using magic by now, but she could tell Ron was going insane. Maybe this was his only outlet.
“Hey, we can both play at the same time,” Ron said as he skimmed the instruction manual.
“I’ve never really liked these things much, Ron,” Hermione said as she made to get up, but he persisted.
“Come on, one game. I don’t even know how to use the bloody thing.”
“I just showed you.”
“Yeah, and how many times have you been able to show me something just once?”
She rolled her eyes at him and huffed, “Fine. One game.”
Two hours later they were still playing, using spells that made no sense to defeat evil trolls (Ron pointed out over and over that the troll he had defeated in Hermione’s honor was much bigger than these) and goblins. Hermione enjoyed the game and found herself laughing, especially when her witch (clad in a bikini top and short skirt) managed to kill more enemies than Ron’s wizard who looked more like a barbarian than any wizard she had ever seen.
“I like your costume, Hermione,” Ron snickered. “Hogwarts should change their school robes.”
She nodded, never taking her eyes from the game. “Yeah, we would have gotten a lot of homework done wearing close to nothing, wouldn’t we?” Her witch simultaneously wounded two goblins with a spell and used physical combat to ward off a third.
Ron smiled and thought to himself, Depends on what kind of homework you’re doing. Out loud, he said, “Remember when you turned yourself into a cat in second year?” The barbarian wizard shouted a spell that made Ron chuckle. Another troll dead.
Hermione couldn’t help but laugh, “Oh my gosh, that was absolutely horrible!” She paused the game to glance at her cat lying on the sofa. “No offense, Crookshanks.”
Suddenly there was a knock on the door that sent Ron into Auror-self-defense mode as he quickly jumped up and reached for his wand “ only to remember that Hermione had taken it when he arrived.
“Shh “ Ron, it’s okay!” She stood up slowly as her eyes widened . “Thomas! I’d completely forgotten “ oh goodness…” She was supposed to meet him twenty minutes ago for dinner and now he’d come to her house. She realized she couldn’t let him in with Ron here.
Thinking quickly, she ran down the hallway and grabbed her robe from the bathroom. She returned, kicked her shoes off, mussed up her hair, and motioned for Ron to keep quiet. There was another impatient knock at the door. Hermione cracked it open three inches and used her scratchiest voice to apologize to Thomas.
“I’m so sorry,” she added a cough for effect, “Thomas, I’ve been so ill this afternoon and I must have fallen asleep. I wonder if we could reschedule?” She clutched her robe tighter so he wouldn’t see her work clothes.
Ron heard Thomas ask if she was okay, if there was anything he could do, maybe come in and tuck her in. Ron clenched his fists causing the knuckles to crack and glared at the door.
“No, no, really I just need to rest. I’ll phone you later, okay?” She faked a weak smile and another cough. “Goodnight.” She closed the door and mentally breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly she wondered what on earth made her break a date with a man she really liked?
She turned and glared at Ron.
Ron whistled innocently and turned away to click off the game console and TV. Crookshanks curled up on the opposite end of the sofa. Hermione took off her robe, laid it on a chair, and picked up her cat taking his place on the sofa and giving him a pat resulting in a loud purr. She took a moment to smooth her own mussed up hair.
Ron stopped whistling and started putting the game and its controls away. He didn’t look at her but merely asked, “Why did you do that?”
“Do what?” She cuddled Crookshanks. Why did I do that?
Ron looked over at her. “Why did you break your date?” Her long brown hair fell in soft waves over one eye as she stroked Crookshanks. He closed his eyes and looked away, pretending to fiddle with the game.
“I don’t know. I… guess I wanted to stay home.” She rolled her eyes at that lame excuse. It hit her like a ton of bricks.
She wanted to stay here with Ron.
“I see.” He straightened to his full height and looked straight at her. “You wanted to try to even the score, did you?”
She looked up, startled. “What?” Crookshanks stopped purring when she stopped patting him.
He motioned to the game console. “I was catching up. Now that I’ve gotten the hang of the controls…” (Hermione rolled her eyes.) “It’s no competition really. Just like Wizard’s Chess back at school.” He grinned at her.
She set a disappointed-looking Crookshanks aside and stood to face him. “Oh yeah?” Grabbing her controller, she turned on the television and then the game console. The Wizard World theme song filled the silence.
“We’ll see about that.”
a/n: Thanks goes out to my new beta, Bjorn.