"A Bond….."
Chapter One
A Bond Between Friends
Harry didn't want to be there right now, that much was obvious. But, as it was safest at Grimmauld Place while Hogwarts was closed indefinitely. Not even McGonagall knew when or if exactly the school could open safely. All that was known was that with Dumbledore gone; either the world was royally screwed, or it was finally nearing the end of Voldemort's reign. That and class sizes would be considerably shorter, not being entirely due to the increased Death Eater attacks.
One of the last promises Harry silently made the dying Headmaster was that he would do his best not to get killed without taking Voldemort and as many Death Eaters down with him. Especially Snape, Dumbledore's killer. Staying safe until then, included going back to those damned Dursleys until his birthday.
Unfortunately, Ron couldn't (and Harry expected wouldn't) stay at the magic-hating home with him. Just Hermione and that remained his small and meager beacon of light for the month he was there. She stayed to help him train with actual magic since she was of age and her presence covered him doing magic. She also provided a way of helping him deal with all his grief, which had been building up since the previous summer when Sirius had died, going through the veil.
They talked about everything from battle tactics to feelings for the youngest Weasleys.
Talking to Hermione made Harry realize two things: 1) The 'feelings' he had for Ginny were only based on the wish to be normal which the Weasley girl had indeed made him feel, but Harry was anything but normal by far. 2) Talking to Hermione came easier than talking to anyone he'd ever known. Sirius, Dumbledore and even Ron simply because she didn't judge, pity, laugh, or compare/expect things that James would have done in a similar situation.
One small problem staying at Grimmauld Place at this particular point not having anything to do with the small fact that the house had essentially been bound and sealed when Sirius died. The Weasley family was also staying with him and Hermione. With all the complications, old and new, of the breakup between Harry and Ginny and the lack of action/reaction between Ron and Hermione; if either Weasley caught wind of the bond between Harry and Hermione, all hell'd break loose to be sure. That's the only description that could be found to describe what would happen.
If something that needed to be shared by either Harry or Hermione; a specific word followed by a look and "I'm going to do something in such and such room for a bit."
Ginny discovered this and followed them to the room for that particular conversation. She yelled until Ron came to see what was going on.
When she told him what she found, he looked shocked but sounded optimistic nonetheless. "Maybe you just missed something, Ginny. Right Harry?"
Harry hesitated while he tried to find a plausible excuse. "Well Ron….You know it's kinda funny--"
"Do you mean Ginny's right?! You two are hiding stuff from her? What about me, huh?! I thought we were best mates!"
When neither Harry nor Hermione could answer, both red heads stormed to their rooms and slammed the doors shut.
"Well at least we won't be hiding stuff from them no more." Harry said sitting down on a nearby couch with his elbows on his knees.
"Yeah, but we lost our best friends in the process." Hermione replied sitting next to him, putting her hand on his back and rubbing it in unconscious and soothing movements.
When it came time to go to bed, Harry and Hermione found their trunks outside their doors. "I guess they want us elsewhere for awhile." Looking at Hermione, he realized she was crying because of this. "C'mere. It isn't your fault or mine. Not completely. They overreacted. Okay? C'mon. Let's go find a place to sleep tonight." he said as he enveloped her in his embrace where she broke down and cried. Seeing a girl cry didn't hurt him half as much as it did seeing Hermione cry. That absolutely broke his heart.
After she calmed down some, Harry shrunk their trunks, and lead her on a search for two rooms with single beds. Quite sometime later, they settled for a room with two twin beds.
Harry led a tired Hermione to her bed and returned the trunks to normal size before getting in bed and following her into a fitful slumber by mere seconds.