A/N: Hey guys! Here's another chapter for you, this one is a bit shorter than the last two (sorry about that) and it focuses mainly on the dynamic between Ron and Fred. I hope ya'll enjoy and lmk what you think!

I do not own this franchise or any characters or settings from it, it all goes to J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter franchise.

"What happened?" Harry asked, a hint of panic in his voice as he took in the scene. He saw Hermione quietly crying, back in Ron's arms. He met Ron's gaze, an incredulous look plastered on his face. The three redheads looked around at each other, none of them wanting to answer Harry. Harry looked at each of them, his hands flailing around uselessly.

"I'll ask again. What the bloody hell is going on?" He asked this time as though it was an obligation to answer, not a request. George cleared his throat and looked at Harry, thought clear in his features as he decided what to say.

"Hermione's dad he… I mean he… he beat her Harry. Pretty bad." Harry raised his eyebrows in shock but nodded his head in understanding. He knew what George was talking about. He didn't need any further explanation.

"What can I do?" He asked softly, looking down worriedly at the pair intertwined. He crouched by them, his hands hovering over Hermione, unsure of what to do with them next.

"You can grab her some new clothes and just make sure Ginny and my mum don't find out what's happening in here." Fred's eyes never left Hermione while he talked and Harry nodded in agreement and left, locking the door behind him.

Again Fred muttered a spell under his breath, thread the needle, and began to sew Hermione's back back together. She cried as the needle pierced her skin and buried her face into Ron's shoulder. He just continued to run his fingers through her hair, watching Fred as worked. After an excruciating few minutes, it was over and Hermione sat slumped over on Ron's shoulder. Not long after, Harry returned with new clothes, just an old t-shirt of Ron's and some shorts and the group of boys left Hermione to change.

"You're sure you got it?" Ron asked softly before he closed the door. Hermione was still putting most of her weight on the wall, breathing heavily and looking down at the floor. She nodded slowly, her face still to the ground. Ron moved out of the doorway and crouched down in front of Hermione.

"Mione. Are you sure? I don't want you to rip your stitches." He spoke with concern, not sure he could take it if another thing happened to her. She turned her face towards him. Her eyes were still red and puffy and her hair was a mess, but still, she somehow looked beautiful.

"Ron, you're gonna have to try harder than that if you want to see me in my bra. Honestly." Hermione smirked a little and a bit of the light returned to her eyes. All at once, Ron's entire body relaxed and he realized that she was going to be okay. If she could still scold him at a time like this then she could get through anything. He smiled and left the small bathroom, closing the door softly behind him.

Ron walked back to his room where the rest of the boys were sitting, all looking anxiously at each other saying nothing. Ron felt as though his entire body was going to collapse, the adrenaline of the situation suddenly vanishing from his body leaving him feeling drained and shaky. He slumped onto the bed, scared his legs wouldn't be able to support him anymore.

"Is she okay?" Harry asked after what seemed like hours of silence.

"Yeah, she should be okay," Ron replied, his voice devoid of any emotion besides relief, still grappling with what had happened. The four boys sat there in silence, each alone with their thoughts until Harry stood,

"I can't believe her dad would do that to her. Why would anyone do that to her? I mean did you see her back? Did you see her scars? This has been going on for years, at least as long as we've known her… and we never knew? She never said anything?" Harry's chest was heaving and with each anger filled word, Ron's chest began to constrict. He put his head in his hands hoping to make the room stop spinning. He desperately wanted Harry to stop talking, but his words just kept coming. Soon they just faded into a ringing, and it became hard to breathe. Ron felt as though he was going to pass out and couldn't stop seeing Hermione's faced, warped by pain and grief and guilt.

"Everybody out." Fred's voice sliced through Harry's rage and Ron heard the shuffling of feet as Harry and George left the room.

"Ron." Fred's voice filled the room but Ron couldn't focus on anything except Hermione crying as George muffled her screams. He shuddered. He pressed the back of his hands into his eyes, trying desperately to get rid of whatever was happening to him. To his dismay, he felt tears start to well in his eyes as he pictured what she would have looked like as her father stood over her jamming his boot into her back. Quickly the silent tears turned into heaving sobs and before he even knew what was happening, his entire body was shaking, racked with emotion. He vaguely registered Fred shifting his weight so he was closer to Ron and before he knew what was happening, he was his arms around Fred. Fred was shocked at first, his arms staying limply by his sides, but he quickly returned the favor, holding his little brother as he stained his shirt sleeve with tears. He let himself settle into the newfound responsibility of truly accepting the role of being an older brother and found that not all responsibility was bad.

"Ron, she's going to be okay. I swear to you, I won't let anything happen to her again. Ever." Although the promise was illogical, something in Fred's voice told Ron that what he was saying was completely true. That as long as Fred was around, he would do everything in his power to keep not only Hermione safe but himself safe as well.

"I just keep thinking about the years she's spent there. She could have died. And she never said a word… why didn't she tell me?" Ron spoke between hysterical breaths, struggling to put air back into his lungs so his words came out jagged and quick. He looked up at his brother, completely filling the role of the little brother, looking to his siblings for all the answers.

"I don't know Ron. She could have been trying to protect you. I mean, look at what this did to you. Or maybe she was embarrassed. No one wants to admit that they're this overpowered, especially someone like Hermione. But I do know that she didn't keep it from you to hurt you." Ron poured over Fred's words, trying to find an explanation that seemed real enough to satisfy the nagging feeling in his stomach.

"But she told you. She told you and George." Fred sighed in response to Ron's accusation.

"She only told us because she had to. We found her crying out in the woods, she couldn't lie. We told her to tell you, Ron. But she didn't want to worry you. She said she already felt like a burden, being here and all, and she didn't want to make matters worse." Fred knew it would take some convincing to get Ron to believe anything other than an explanation filled with self-hate and anger, but Fred was praying he would leave Hermione out of this. He knew Ron always acted with pure intentions but his emotions tended to get the better of him.

"Ron, she did what she thought was best and that's it. You know how stubborn Hermione can be about things like this. She would have never asked for help unless she needed to." Fred stood up, making it clear that was the extent of any explanation Ron was going to get.

"I know. I know. I just… I just hated her seeing like that. Fred, I have never hated someone as much as I hate her father right now. Anyone who does that to their daughter deserves the same done to them." Rage flashed in Ron's eyes that surpassed the petty childish anger that had lived there before. This was a real vindictive rage. It left as quickly as it came, however.

"If… if something had happened to her… If she had died in that house or ours, I don't know what I would have done." Ron's eyes met Fred's and Fred wished he could take this away from him, but he couldn't. No one could. Sooner or later he would have to have been exposed to something like this, a war was coming after all.

"But she didn't. So it's no use talking about." Fred opened the door and with one last glance to Ron, left him alone in his room to figure out what to do next.