Normally it wouldn't really matter, her making a joke like that, but these days it just didn't sit right, especially not right after Harry. He knew it was just a joke but he still felt uncomfortable hearing it but he tried not to let it show. He hadn't taken any time off work, though it probably would have been better if he had. Of course it's not like they were letting him anywhere near Harry's case anyway.
He gave her a rather crooked grin in response, nodding. "Yeah, I know what you mean." Ron leaned forward then and pulled her into a hug because it felt like the right thing to do but also because he just hadn't had the comfort from anyone else for a while and maybe he had needed it. He'd been offered it, of course, but he just didn't think he could accept it from anywhere else. None of them could understand, not like Hermione could. He hadn't meant for it to go like this, for his chest to clench in the way it was now, for these feelings to burst through him and then the words—the words he'd been avoiding all week, "I miss him, 'Mione." His voice cracked a bit, and he held onto her tightly. "I dunno what to do now."