What is Left Unsaid

By: angel74

Summary: AU. This story takes place during the summer after OoTP. Ron and Hermione are worried about their best friend after everything that has happened. They decide to take matters into their own hands and investigate whether or not Harry is truly "fine" at the Dursleys. What they discover was worse than they ever expected.

Disclaimer: This piece of fan fiction is for entertainment, and no profit is being made. I do not own Harry Potter or any other of J.K. Rowling's wonderful characters. I only wish to play with them for a while. I will give them back when I'm done.

Genre: angst and hurt/comfort

Pairing: If you squint and turn your head a bit, you might see the makings of a trio fic in here, though it's all very innocent. If that's not your thing, this is mainly Ron/Hermione.

Rating: T (for a small amount of violence and implied child abuse)

A/N: From what I remember from canon, I don't think Hermione knows very much about Harry's home life and that there could have been things that Ron and Harry had kept secret from her. What if there was a lot left unsaid? If I'm wrong about this, just go with it. I'm sure I'm taking quite a few liberties here. This originally began as a one-shot but it grew so long, I decided to upload it as eight short chapters which I hope to update daily. The chapters are only told from Ron and Hermione's POV so there will be a lot that will be tacit as to what actually is going on with Harry. As with all my stories, this is one big angst fest. Enjoy!

Chapter 1- A Letter from Surrey

There were few things Hermione enjoyed more than reading, and so when she found the opportunity to indulge herself with the written word she took full advantage of it. Contrary to popular belief, she wasn't obsessed with school books in general. She just loved to read.

Hermione sighed peacefully as she become engrossed with her book. She allowed the words to wash over her, let her mind to drift listlessly, and got lost in the worlds of fantasy and mystery. It was a chance to escape and to forget all her troubles. A chance for just a moment to squelch that nagging feeling that something may not be right in her little world. A chance to hope, that like the characters in her beloved novels, her friends might someday get their happy ending. But with the recent death of Sirius and the worry she felt deep in her heart for her best friend… hope was a precious commodity.

She lay comfortably against a pile of pillows, resting against the headboard of Ginny's antique bed. It was the only moment of peace she had had since she had arrived to the Burrow a few days ago and she was thoroughly enjoying it. As an only child, Hermione found that staying with the Weasleys took some getting used to. She loved them all dearly, but the house was always rather noisy. It was nice to escape into solitude when she had the chance.

Her own cot across the room had been quickly forgotten as she opted to lie in Ginny's bed instead. She knew her friend wouldn't mind. Positioned near the window, the warmth of the rays of the sun shone down on her lap, illuminating the text she was reading. A cool breeze wafted through the open window bringing with it the sounds of birds chirping and insects humming in the trees. She was in such a state of tranquility, mesmerized by the words neatly typewritten on each page, that she couldn't help but be completely startled when Ron came barging into the room abruptly.

"Hermione!" he said excitedly.

"Ron! You scared me half to death!" she shouted back, having nearly fallen off the bed and inadvertently tossed her book into the air.

Ron laughed at her frenzied appearance. "Sorry, but this is important!" he insisted.

Hermione straightened her now frazzled hair and then crossed her arms over her chest, still feeling a little annoyed for some reason. As much as she cared for her friend, he could be a pain in the arse at times. "Well, the least you could have done was knock!"

He looked at her strangely before looking back at the doorway. "But the door was open."

Hermione found that she didn't have a proper response to that. "Oh."

Ron gave her a satisfied looking smirk and crossed his arms over his chest, copying her irritated posture.

"So what did you want to tell me?" she asked, relaxing a little. She retrieved her discarded book, bookmarked the page she had been reading, and set it aside.

"It's Pig. He's back," Ron said simply.

Hearing that, Hermione anxiously asked, "Did Harry write?"

"I guess you could say that," he replied solemnly, shoving the piece of parchment at her as he sat down beside her.

Because of his close proximity, Hermione could feel the heat of his body next to her, and his presence filled her chest with a pleasant warm feeling she could not begin to describe or understand. She sighed deeply and began to look over the parchment.

They had been both very worried for their friend since school ended. They knew that Harry wasn't really dealing with what had happened to Sirius at the Department of Mysteries, and they were positive that his relatives weren't going to be supportive about it. In fact, they worried about Harry staying with the Dursleys at all. They hoped that the warning that Moody, Lupin, and Tonks gave his uncle at the train station was enough to keep them from making Harry absolutely miserable this summer.

They knew very little of what life was like for him there, mainly because Harry had said very little about them. The few words he did occasionally speak about them was troubling enough. Hermione knew that the Dursleys must be quite awful to him because Harry never wanted to go back there. He never wrote home to them and never received Christmas gifts from them. They had even once forced him on some sort of diet because of his cousin's weight.

Harry was very closed-lip about the whole affair, which led her to believe something more might be going on. Ron had been to the Dursleys before, but she never had. Hermione suspected that Ron knew a little more than she did about the Dursleys, but wasn't offering anything more to share on the subject. To be honest, they had never really discussed Harry's home life at any length with one another. It was hard to think that something might be happening to their friend, let alone voice those concerns aloud to somebody else. But they seemed to have an unspoken understanding that they were both worried that something more was going on at the Dursleys than Harry was willing to say.

At first glance, Hermione didn't understand why Ron had told her Harry had written back. The piece of parchment she was holding in her hands was the letter they had written to him. But turning the parchment over, she discovered Harry's response on the back.

Hey everyone-

Everything is fine at the Dursleys. They are treating me great. I hope you are all having a good summer.

-Harry

"That's it?" Hermione asked lamely, turning the parchment over in her hands to make sure that she hadn't missed anything.

Ron shrugged, his arm brushing against her own so that it sent tingly sensation shooting down to the tips of her fingers. "Yeah, that's it."

"But it's so-"

"Short," Ron finished for her.

"And he didn't answer any of our questions."

"I know," Ron sighed. "His letters have always been short, but never this short."

"Do you really think the Dursleys are treating him 'great'?" Hermione asked hopefully, looking up into Ron's face.

"I don't know. Maybe the warning they were given by the Order finally worked or something," he said softly.

Hermione could tell by the tone of his voice that he really didn't believe that. "What are you really thinking?" she asked, setting the letter aside and turning her body towards him.

Ron was quiet for a long while, looking as though he were gathering his thoughts. When he finally did speak, he looked into her brown eyes and simply said, "I can't help but think that something is wrong."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, holding her breath now. She had feared the very same thing.

"I think they made him write those things," he said, looking away now.

"What?" Hermione asked, taken aback. "Why?"

Ron shrugged once more. "I don't know. It's just a feeling I have."

Hermione glanced at the discarded letter lying on Ginny's bed and couldn't help but nod in agreement. There was something strangely off about it. They sat in silence for several long minutes before Hermione found her voice once more.

"So what do we do?" she whispered, feeling a lump forming in the back of her throat. She was growing more and more worried about Harry the longer they sat there.

"The Order has been keeping a guard on him at all times. Maybe we should ask my dad if anyone has noticed something," Ron suggested.

"That's a good idea. If something were wrong, they'd have to know, right?"

"I guess so," he said, rising to his feet now. Hermione felt almost saddened that he was leaving so soon. "Let's ask at dinner."

She nodded in consent and then watched as Ron silently left the room. The tension in his body was evident. He was just as worried about their best friend as she was, if not more. She had asked him on more than one occasion if there was something going on with Harry that he wasn't telling her, but he had insisted that everything was fine. But there seemed to more to it than that.

Hermione lay back against the bed, feeling the worry clawing at her stomach. She just had to find out if Harry was okay. She would never forgive herself if something really was wrong and she never did anything about it.

She sighed loudly as Ginny entered the room, not realizing her younger friend had come up the stairs. "Everything okay?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah," Hermione replied. She sat up and plastered a fake smile on her face. She knew how much Ginny cared for Harry and she didn't want to worry her. Ginny could be quite melodramatic once you got to know her. She would fret endlessly if she thought something were amiss.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. I just miss my parents. I didn't see them much this summer, and they are travelling now to a convention in the U.S," Hermione replied. What she said wasn't a total lie. Her parents were attending a convention, which is why Hermione had came to the Burrow, but that wasn't the true reason for her discontentment.

"That must be hard," Ginny said sympathetically. "You could always write a letter. That might make you feel better."

Hermione nodded in false appreciation. "That's a good idea. I think I'll go write to them now…"

Hermione quickly left the room before she was forced to lie anymore for her friend. It left her feeling quite awful. Looking back she caught Ginny's worried eyes and knew that her friend hadn't believed her little act. The youngest Weasley looked hurt as well, having been left out of something yet again. Hermione hurried downstairs, hoping to avoid her for a little while longer. For whatever reason, Hermione wanted to confide only in Ron just now about her fears for Harry.

A/N: So let me know what you all think. As this story is already completed, you should be expecting updates everyday if not every other. Don't forget to leave me a review.