Ron Weasley had spent a good deal of his day doing paperwork and had been getting more and more frustrated as the pile beside him didn’t seem to shrink. All he could think about was getting home to his wife and three-month old daughter. She was growing so much at the moment that he felt as though he was missing years of her life just while he was at work.
He looked up from his desk and across the long room to where Harry’s office was positioned. Harry had been called out on a job about an hour ago and was yet to return. It seemed like it was going to be another late night for the head of the department; Ginny wouldn’t be pleased.
Just as he was about to give up for the day, Ron heard the lift clatter open and heavy, fast footsteps coming along the corridor. He looked up and saw Harry approaching him, his face white as a sheet and his expression grim.
“Ron, something’s happened,” Harry said, his voice completely lifeless.
Ron’s heart leapt to his throat. “What?”
“It’s Herm…” Harry’s voice cracked, “Hermione.”
“What about Hermione? Is she hurt? Missing?”
“Ron, she’s d…dead.” Harry’s voice failed him and he collapsed into the chair opposite Ron’s desk.
Ron felt the world disappear around him. Harry’s words swirled round and round in his head.
“I don’t understand? How can she be dead?”
Harry just shook his head.
“What about Rose?” Ron said suddenly, his heart filled with dread as he thought of his precious baby girl.
“She’s safe. They didn’t touch her “ we found her in the nursery, sleeping. Your mother has her now.”
“Where's Hermione?” asked Ron, his voice feeling strangely detached from his body.
“Your house. But, maybe you should wait until they’ve finished. You don’t want to see her like she is. They did some terrible things.”
But Ron was already on his feet. “She’s my wife, Harry. I have to see her.”
He almost sprinted to the lifts, ignoring the shouts of people around him. When he reached the atrium, he quickly turned on the spot and Apparated.
He arrived just outside the boundary of the house and ran up the path. He was stopped at the door by a young Auror, one he didn’t recognise.
“I’m sorry, sir, you can’t come in here.”
“Get out my way, you idiot!” Ron shouted. “She’s my wife.”
Without realising it, Ron had taken his wand out and was pointing it at the young man. Sensing it was no use trying to argue, the Auror stepped aside.
“Where is she?” asked Ron.
“The s…study, but please, sir…”
Ron heard none of this; he was already on the stairs, heading towards the study.
Reaching the door, he flung it open and instantly his eyes focused on her. Hermione’s beautiful body was lying completely still. Ron walked over and knelt beside her. Her eyes were wide open and there was a shocked expression on her face.
“Killing curse?” he said softly to one of the Aurors in the room. They simply nodded in reply.
Ron put his hand on her face and gently closed her eyes. His tears fell on to her face and he gave her a light kiss on the forehead. As he lifted his head, something red caught his eye. Looking at her arms he saw they had been cut in long zigzag lines, almost the same shape as a very familiar lightning bolt scar. His eyes moved to her legs and he saw the same cuts. He looked at the Auror.
“How did this happen?” he asked in horror.
“We don’t know. She had been bleeding quite badly; we cleared the blood once we had sampled it, but we don’t know what exactly happened. We’ll do more tests once we can take the body to the Ministry.” He was looking expectantly at Ron and he realised he was waiting for permission to remove the body.
Ron gave his wife’s beautiful face one last look. “Goodbye, Hermione,” he whispered. “I will find the people who did this to you.” He stood up and looked away as two Aurors came forward and lifted the body into their arms.
“We will let you know what we find out,” the older one said. “I am so sorry, Mr Weasley.”
As they left the room, another person entered and Ron looked up to see Harry standing in the doorway.
“What happened to her, Harry?” he said weakly.
“I wish I knew.”
“Did you see her arms and legs? Did you see what those cuts looked like?”
Harry had gone pale. “Of course I did. Ever since I found her, the image of them hasn’t left my mind. They were meant for me, Ron; they were a warning.”
“Do you think she was still…still alive when they did it?”
Harry dropped his eyes. “There was so much blood. I don’t know how she could have bled that much if she hadn’t been.”
“I don’t even understand how they got in!” Ron said, suddenly angry. “We have wards - spells to stop people gaining access through magical means.”
“They didn’t use magical means though, Ron. Hermione must have heard them trip the outer boundary, or something, because she sent us her patronus. Somehow, she knew she was in trouble. By the time it had been identified and our team arrived, it was too late.”
“But how did they get in the actual house?”
Harry gestured to the window. “They used Muggle methods. They forced the window open and climbed in. Hermione must have been working in here.” He took something out of the pocket of his robes. “We found this on the floor.” Ron looked at it. It was his wife’s wand, snapped cleanly in two. “They must have overpowered her.”
Ron walked over to the window and examined the frame. The whole thing had been bent out of shape. “They must have done this all using force,” he said. “If they’d touched any part of the house with magic, the alarm would have gone off. My wand would have reacted. There must have been more than one. She was a good witch, Harry. She would have put up a fight.”
“I know,” replied Harry. “There’s so much we don’t understand. We have to just hope that somehow, we’ll find the answers.”
Ron did not know how he made it through the rest of the evening. He begged Harry to stay at the house, unsure how to cope alone. Ginny arrived, her own face stained with tears, and the three of them sat in silence, unable to express their grief. At some point, Ginny tried to get him to eat something, but everything he tried stuck in his throat. Harry asked whether he would like to see Rose, but the idea of seeing his beautiful baby, who didn’t have a care in the world, was unbearable. He must have fallen asleep at some point because he was woken by the sun streaming through the living room window.
He realised he was alone and could hear voices from the kitchen. He stumbled down the hall to find Harry and Ginny sitting at the kitchen table, their faces grim.
“Hi,” Ron managed to croak. He fetched himself a glass of water and then joined the other two at the table. “Do you know anything yet?” he asked Harry.
Harry hesitated for a moment and then said, “Ron…” He was suddenly interrupted by an owl, flying through the kitchen window and depositing the newspaper. Harry glanced at the paper and, seeing the headline, attempted to grab it. But Ron was quicker; he seized the paper and quickly read the headline, “Break-in at Gringotts.” Below another story was headed, “Wizarding Heroine Dead.” It was the second headline which caught his attention the most and he scanned the article which followed.
Hermione Weasley, better known as Granger, was found dead at the home she shared with her husband and daughter, yesterday afternoon. Authorities are treating the death as suspicious. Mrs Weasley is best known as one of Harry Potter’s closest friends and was instrumental in the final downfall of you-know-who. After the war, she went on to achieve top marks in her NEWT exams and was, until her death, an employee of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Rumours have been circulating that Mrs Weasley was working on a top-secret case for the Ministry’s prosecution service and her death has been linked to the break-in of a high-security ministry vault yesterday afternoon (see above).
Ron finished reading and looked up at Harry who was attempting to avoid his gaze.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “What on earth does Hermione have to do with a break in at Gringotts?”
“Ron, we know quite a bit more about Hermione’s murder than I let on to you last night. I needed to wait for the right time to explain all of this. I hadn’t expected the news to break quite so quickly.”
He took a deep breath and continued.
“For the past year, we have been receiving worrying reports about the use of dark magic. They have been kept strictly confidential for fear that releasing them would create a panic. Only a handful of people, mainly heads of departments, including myself, knew of it. Gradually we built up a picture of what was going on. A gang of wizards had been formed, seemingly intent on continuing to cause misery but with their own purposes and agenda, and far more gruesome methods. We began working to uncover the identities of these people and we realised that these were not Death Eaters, as we first thought, but an entirely new group made up of relatively unknown witches and wizards.
About a month ago we received a tip-off from one of our undercover agents and we made an arrest of what we believe to be two key gang members. They have been kept in maximum security cells and the arrest was kept as quiet as possible, again to avoid panic and also to protect the people involved with the case. We knew that even though we had managed to track down two, there were others intent on continuing their work.”
“So what does Hermione have to do with all of this? She hasn’t been to work in months,” Ron interrupted.
“When the arrests were made, we needed the best prosecutor possible to build the case against them. Hermione was our greatest hope to prove our suspicions. She agreed to take the case but only if she could work from home and as long as you didn’t find out.”
“Why wouldn’t she want me to know?”
“Because she knew that if she told you, you wouldn’t let her take the case. But it was something she had to do.”
“I would have tried to understand,” said Ron, his eyes watering. “I always tried to understand when things were important to her. I just wish she had talked to me.”
Ginny reached out and gave his hand a comforting squeeze.
“She hated not telling you, Ron,” continued Harry. “But she was scared that the more people that knew about the case, the more danger we would be in. We knew that at some point, other members of the gang would attempt to find out who was involved in the case and would take revenge.”
“So, is that what happened then? These people, whoever they are, managed to discover that Hermione was involved and so they killed her as a warning?”
“Yes. Yesterday, I received a report that one of the ministry’s vaults had been broken in to. As yet, we have no idea how they breached security but it is being looked in to as part of the investigation. When I arrived at the vault, I was told the main theft had been of some confidential files relating to the case. In cases such as these it is our policy to keep all reports and files in one of the vaults. We know, after all, that it is possible to penetrate the ministry, whereas we believe it impossible to break in to Gringotts.”
“But it’s happened before,” said Ron. “What made you so sure that it wouldn’t happen again?”
“We just believed it to be the safest place,” said Harry. “Clearly, we were wrong.
So, the files which they took told them that Hermione was leading the case for the prosecution and she was the person they chose to target. As soon as I realised what had been taken, I contacted Hermione, telling her to look out for any sign of suspicious activity. That’s why she sent us her patronus “ she knew that she was in danger.”
Ron put his head in his hands. “I can’t believe I didn’t know any of this. How the hell could you have kept all of this from me?”
“Ron, we had to. Telling you would have put her in more danger.”
“No, because I could have protected her!” Ron shouted. “I could have made sure that I was here, instead of doing that bloody paper work. I could have stopped them. Why did you have the right to decide what I should and shouldn’t know about my own wife?”
“It wasn’t my decision, Ron,” Harry replied, attempting to keep his voice calm. “I would have told you but she was scared. She wanted to protect you.”
“Well she shouldn’t have done. And what about you? What part do you have in all of this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Those cuts, Harry. They were obviously intended for you, just like everything always is, and I want to know why.”
“Well, why do think? The injuries we saw on Hermione “ we’ve seen them before. This group have made it very clear that they have a target, and that target is me.”
Ron fell silent at this and Ginny suddenly stood up and became busy at the stove, apparently making breakfast.
After choking down some food, Ron tried to think of the things that needed doing. He had no idea where he was even supposed to start.
“When do you think they’ll let me have her body?” he asked Harry.
“I’m not sure. I’m going to have to go in to the office today though so I can find out. Are you going to be OK?”
“I think so. I just don’t know how I’m supposed to organise a funeral on my own.”
“Why don’t you go to your parents if you don’t want to be here? Rose will be missing you.”
Ron didn’t seem to hear the last part. Instead, he put his hand to his mouth. “Oh, Merlin!” he gasped. “Her parents “ they don’t even know. What am I going to say?”
“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want. I can send someone else.”
“No, I couldn’t let someone else tell them. It’s just going to be hard to face them. They have no idea that anything has happened.”
“Do you want me to come?”
“No, I need to do this alone. You go to the office and I will visit the Grangers.”
Harry gave him a long look. “Fine, but you must promise me that after you’ve done that you’ll go to The Burrow to see your parents and Rose. She’s all you have left of Hermione. You can’t ignore that.”
Ron sighed. “I know, it’s just… hard,” he finished at last.
Harry gave his mate a quick pat on the shoulder and then left the room with Ginny. After a few moments, Ron stood up and realised he had better make himself look a bit more respectable before going to visit his parents-in-law, even if it was the last thing he felt like doing. He dug out a Muggle suit from his wardrobe and left the house. As soon as was outside the boundary, he Apparated to an alley near the Grangers’ home. He then made the short walk to their house. They had been to visit many times and so by now he knew his way around the Muggle suburb reasonably well. As he walked, he tried to think of what he could say to them. He knew that her parents had never fully understood the wizarding world “ he wondered if they would blame him. They probably should, he thought bitterly. If he had been a better husband, he could have protected her and he wouldn’t be having to do this.
When he reached the house, he hesitated for a moment in front of the door, before reaching out and pressing the doorbell. He heard the chime somewhere in the house and then, a minute later, footsteps came down the hall and Mrs Granger opened the door.
“Ron!” she exclaimed. “What a surprise. Come in.”
“Hello, Jean,” he replied, following her into the house. “Is Jack home?”
“Yes, he’s in the living room. So, how are you? Enjoying fatherhood? I suppose Hermione is at home with Rose? You really should have brought her. We do love to get the chance to play the doting grandparents!”
Ron said nothing to this. The words he had planned seemed to stick in his throat now that he was actually here.
“Would you like a cup of tea?” Mrs Granger asked, gesturing for him to sit down.
“Um, no thank you. I actually have some… bad news.”
Mrs Granger stopped her bustling at the tone of his voice. “What do you mean?”
“Well, yesterday, our home was broken in to and, Hermione was attacked.”
“Attacked?” Mr Granger, who was sitting in an armchair, interrupted. “What do you mean? Is she OK?”
“She’s…I mean…well…she’s dead.” Ron felt his tears returning as he watched his parent-in-laws’ faces change from smiles to looks of horror.
“Oh, god,” breathed Mr Granger. “What do you mean? How can this have happened? I thought you were magic “ why couldn’t you have stopped it?"
“I was at work. There was nothing I could do. I’m so sorry.” Ron was almost sobbing at this point.
Mrs Granger came and sat beside him. She put his arm around his shoulders, her own eyes shining with tears. “It’s OK, Ron. We know you would never have put her in danger. You just never expect to open the door to hear that your daughter is dead. We just need to understand.”
“I wish I could give you answers, but I don’t understand myself.”
“Where is Rose?” asked Mrs Granger.
“At my parents. I haven’t seen her yet. I don’t know if I can.”
“She is your daughter, Ron. She’s the last part of Hermione that we have left. You mustn’t let her go.”
“I know,” he choked. “I’m going to collect her this afternoon.”
“Will you bring her to see us?”
“Of course.”
Suddenly, Mr Granger spoke up, his voice broken, “Please, is there nothing you can tell us? I need to know what happened to her. Everyone always said she was a good witch “ how can that have changed?”
“It didn’t. She was the best witch I ever knew. No one could have done anything about what happened. I still don’t understand, but I will tell you what I know.”
So, for the next half an hour, Ron spoke, retelling the tale that Harry had shared with him the night before. He edited some details, avoiding telling them about Hermione’s injuries. When he had finished, Mrs Granger gave him a hug.
“It’s going to be hard for you, Ron; no one can deny that. But we will always be here for you. Hermione may be dead, but you are still our son-in-law and your beautiful daughter is our granddaughter. Please never forget that.”
“I won’t,” he replied and then added, “Thank you.”
Soon after, Ron left. He walked back down the street, waiting to find a safe place to Apparate. He was lost in own thoughts, trying to process everything the Grangers had been saying. It was for this reason, perhaps, that he didn’t hear the footsteps behind him or see the approaching shadows. Just as he turned into an alleyway, someone grabbed his arm from behind. He tried to shout but a second person used their hand to cover his mouth. He tried to use his other arm to get his wand but it too was grabbed and pinned behind his back.
A cloaked figure appeared in front of him, their face obscured by a hood. Ron saw a gleam of silver and then a knife was slashed across his face. The pain was immense, but there was nothing he could. Over and over again, the knife swept across his face and he could feel the blood dripping down his face.
This is it, he thought dully. I’m going to die, the same way as Hermione did.
But then an image of his daughter came into his mind and he felt a sudden sense of determination. His strength was failing due to the blood loss but he managed to kick out his attacker. The cloaked figure stumbled backwards. The one who was holding his arms, released his grip for a fraction of a second, but that was all the Ron needed. He wrenched his arms away and grabbed his wand from his pocket. Aiming another kick at one of his attackers, Ron focused on the first place he could think of and Disapparated. He barely had time to register his surroundings before he heard a shout and the world went black.
When he awoke, Ron found himself in a room that was almost completely white. As his surroundings gradually came in to focus, he realised he was in a hospital, presumably St Mungo’s. There were two figures in the room, talking in low voices. Neither of them seemed to notice that he was awake. He tried to speak but his throat was so dry that no sound came out. He saw a jug of water on the table next to him and attempted to sit up, but found himself too weak to do so. His movement, however, seemed to draw attention to the fact that he was awake and the other two occupants of the room immediately came over to him. One was Harry and the other was his mother, who gave him a big hug.
“Oh, Ron! We’ve been so worried about you. How are you feeling?”
“A bit weak,” he croaked. He gestured to the jug and his mother poured him a glass of water.
“How much do you remember?” Harry asked in a serious voice.
“Harry, not now! He needs to rest,” Mrs Weasley scolded.
“Molly, please, these could have been the same people who murdered Hermione. We need to know as much as we can about them.”
Ron gave his mum a reassuring pat as he managed to pull himself up in the bed. “I had been visiting Hermione’s parents and just before I Apparated, they ambushed me. I think there were about three of them. They had a knife and they-“
“Wait, this was done by a Muggle knife?” asked Harry.
“Yes.”
“Did they use any magic at all?”
“No, but they were all wearing cloaks, so I assumed they must have been wizards.”
“Did they speak at all?”
“No, they were completely silent. All I could think was that they were going to kill me, but then suddenly I realised I needed to fight back and I kicked out at one them, which seemed to distract the others giving me time to get away from them. All I could think about was The Burrow. I remember arriving and someone shouting but then nothing. What happened to me?”
“Well, I was at The Burrow with you mum when you arrived. You looked a complete mess and you had lost so much blood. When we realised you weren’t moving, we thought you were dead. We brought you straight here and the Healers managed to seal the cuts and get a blood replenishing potion in you. They say it may take a while to properly take affect though, which is why you might still be feeling week.”
Ron moved his hands up to his face, feeling for the cuts.
“There’s nothing there,” said Harry. “The Healers were able to get rid of them completely. The fact that it was a Muggle weapon rather than a curse helped.”
“So, when can I leave?”
“Soon. I have somewhere I want to take you.”
“No!” interrupted Mrs Weasley. “I’ve told you that I won’t let you. It’s the last thing he needs.”
“It’s exactly what he needs. I promised him, I would let him be involved. He can only understand the case if he sees it.”
“What?”
Harry took a deep breath. “Shortly after you were brought in here, I received another call. It seems that after you escaped, the attackers found another victim.”
Ron felt his heart rise in his throat. “Who?”
“We don’t know. From what we can gather she is a Muggle “ dressed in Muggle clothing and with no wand “ but we could find no identification on her at all. It has been reported to the Muggle police and that’s all we can do.”
“Does she have the same cuts as Hermione?” Ron asked, his voice trembling.
Harry nodded. “The crime scene is still in tact. I know you wanted to be informed as soon as we knew anything and I felt it was only fair to tell you about this.”
“I want to see her,” said Ron firmly.
“Are you sure?” asked Mrs Weasley. “You don’t have to if you’re not feeling strong enough.”
“I’m fine,” he replied. “I have to go, mum,” he pleaded. “I have to understand.”
“Fine, but you promise me that then you will come home to see your daughter.”
“OK,” he conceded, giving her a hug, before turning to Harry. “Can we go then?”
“Now?” he asked in surprise.
“Well, yes, if you’re feeling OK. I’ll just go and find the Healer.”
Half an hour later after some strong arguments with the Healer, Ron was allowed to leave and Harry side-along Apparated him to the sight of the most recent murder. They arrived a little distance away from the actual sight of the body.
“I wanted to give you time to prepare,” explained Harry. “You might get quite a shock when you see her.”
Ron said nothing and just followed him to where a group of Aurors were standing. They were in a deserted area, underneath a busy Muggle road. He could easily understand how someone could have been attacked here. When the Aurors saw them coming, they stepped aside and Ron was given his first view of the body.
“Oh, Merlin,” he whispered. “She looks just like…”
“Hermione,” Harry finished for him. “We don’t know how or why but somehow these people managed to attack and kill someone who looks almost exactly like Hermione.”
Ron studied the woman. She was lying sprawled on the floor. Trousers and a coat covered her arms and legs, but he could see the cuts on her face. She had bushy brown hair which was matted with blood. Her eyes held the glazed look of someone who had been killing with the killing curse.
“I don’t understand,” he said at last. “Why do they use Muggle methods for everything apart from the final curse?”
“I’ve been thinking about this. My guess is that they use Muggle methods for as long as possible, cutting in to their victims until they are close to death, but of course there is always a chance that they can be revived at this point and so the killing curse is their way of making sure the job gets done.”
“You mean, Hermione was let to bleed almost to death?”
“I think so, it’s impossible to know for sure.”
Ron shivered. “I just can’t imagine the pain she must have been in, knowing she was going to die. And I wasn’t even there to help her.”
“Ron, you have to stop blaming yourself! You have experienced these people; their methods are brutal “ there is nothing you could have done to save her.”
“I just can’t stop picturing her lying there in so much pain. I have to understand, Harry. Why would anyone want to kill her?”
“I don’t know, but we’re going to work it out somehow. I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to stay here anymore. Let’s get to The Burrow. Molly will be worried if we don’t get there soon.”
Harry insisted on side-along Apparating again, as he didn’t want Ron leaving any parts of himself behind, and so they left together for the Weasley home.
The Journey to Understanding by coolh5000
Story Notes:
Canon compliant with exception of epilogue.
Suicide warning is for a later chapter. Violence is present throughout with some fairly bloody attacks/descriptions.
Chapter Endnotes: I love reviews so please let me know what you think of my first gauntlet attempt!