TITLE: Five Seconds
AUTHOR: ponderer
DISCLAIMER: I want for nothing.
SUMMARY: Five Seconds of Hermione and Ron. Not the ones you've thought of, promise.
SPOILERS: You might want to read "Five Firsts" before reading this, for it's a continuation.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay, you asked for it folks. Part Deux of "Five Firsts". So, here it is!

Five Seconds: Part the First

The second sighting.

-

Hermione survived roughly over the next few days after Harry and Ginny's wedding day; or more properly, the renamed Dumbest Day of Her Life. She was exhausted having getting absolutely no sleep each night, her work life was beyond stressful, and her lack of social life wasn't improving her morose mood.

She hadn't heard from Ron, her love, her ex, since the fateful dance at the reception. Afterwards, she had stood numbly on the dance floor, staring after Ron's back, held up strong. She wasn't sure how long she had stood there but knew that it was Neville and Luna that had taken each of her arms gently to lead her off of the floor to their table. They chattered nonsensically around her and she just looked down at her empty plate, willing herself to feel anything.

Harry had tried to whisk her away for a dance, but she couldn't dare meet his pitied look. "Come on Hermione, moving around will be good for you," he joked, trying to get her to smile. Her blank look told him all he needed to know, although he didn't give up. "For me? On my wedding day, I would love to dance with my best friend."

She wanted to refuse, but his look was too powerful. She felt herself being pulled up and into his embrace as he moved them across the dance floor to a song she had once known word for word, but she couldn't hear anything but her own steady feet hitting the ground in her heels. Harry didn't try to talk, but she could sense how much he wanted to say by the way his mouth opened every so often as if to begin a sentence but he would stop short every time.

Once, when he spun her around just right, she caught sight of a handsome red head looking her way. When she faced the same spot seconds later, nothing was there. She figured it was just her imagination.

She had returned to work like a zombie. She barely ate, didn't talk unless spoken to, didn't make any sort of effort to communicate to anything living. Even Crookshanks noticed something was off when his master didn't pet her when she came home; simply poured food into his dish, refilled his water, and moved stoically to her bedroom where she would lie in bed until the sun rose and she'd begin again.

Ginny and Harry were only on honeymoon for five days, cutting it short when owls arrived from Neville and Luna who had been keeping an eye on their friend. They weren't frustrated at their shortened getaway, but extremely concerned about Hermione's well being. She'd stopped answering the door, her phone, and letters remained unopened on her kitchen counter and table.

Harry stepped over her threshold with two bags full of food, making an attempt to cook her dinner that he knew she would most likely not eat. He found her in her bedroom wearing Ron's old t-shirt, lying on his side of the bed, staring at the wall. She was in a fetal position, and he could tell through the old shirt that she was losing too much weight.

"What have you let happen to yourself?" he thought. Setting his shoulders back, he began to set his and Ginny's plan in motion. "Up you go, my friend," he announced, lifting her small body in his arms and began to carry her into the bathroom.

At once, Hermione came to life with a vigor he welcomed. "Harold James Potter! Put me down this instant!"

"No, because you see, you aren't acting like yourself. I've only been away for five days and that's no reason to lock yourself away into your room like a hermit," he explained with a smile. Hermione was wearing a confused look. "You have to learn to share me with Ginny, Hermione. Didn't they teach you that when you were a child?"

Her eyes lit up slightly, enough for Harry to see that Hermione was beginning to understand his tirade. "No, I suppose they didn't."

Harry sighed dramatically. "What are they teaching youth these days?" He set her down on her feet beside the shower stall and reached in to turn the water on. "Now, I want you to shower and pamper yourself while I go out there and make a fabulous meal. Ginny will be here momentarily, as well as Neville and Luna, and we are going to explain the rules of sharing to you. Do I make myself clear?"

She nodded solemnly, but felt something odd happen to her face as Harry left her in the bathroom. She reached her hand up to her mouth and gasped. She was smiling.

It was a start.

-

"Oh, ickle Ronniekins! I come baring gifts!" Ginny called out to her brother's apartment a day after her dinner with a feeble looking Hermione. It looked much the same it always did, messy and cluttered with junk. She grinned though, because at least this much hadn't changed. Ron came out from the direction of the bathroom, his hair still damp from a shower. He smiled when he saw his baby sister.

"Ginny, I didn't expect you home yet, thought my friend would have kept you away for a few weeks!" he cheered, coming over to hug her. Ginny gave him an odd expression before answering.

"Well, we came home early for… well," she began, unsure of what to say. He looked down at her in pure concern.

"For what?"

"You don't know?" she asked. He shook his head. "Hermione's been having a rough patch it seems," she finally admitted, watching his face carefully. His eyes widened momentarily but quickly went back to his usual mirth.

"That's too bad," he said finally. His mood changed too fast for Ginny to say much else before he changed the subject. "So, I heard you said you had gifts? Harry gave you time to shop, eh?"

Ginny stared at her brother in wonder. Was he in denial? "Ron, we need to talk about this."

"About Harry letting his bride roam the city streets to shop instead of shagging her?" he laughed, searching through her bag excitedly.

"Ronald," she huffed, smacking his hands away.

"What?" he asked, still a large smile on his face.

"I don't understand you, not one bit," she said and Ron's face fell slightly.

"Of course you know me Ginny. It's still me."

Ginny shook her head. "No, because Ron wouldn't be here like this. He would be hurting, especially knowing that his sister and best friend had to cut their honeymoon short because of his girlfriend who won't come out of her room."

Ron looked at her with a stern face she had seen her father wear on certain occasions of trouble making. She became still. "Ginny, it's none of your business." He sat down on his couch, a squeak echoing throughout the apartment as the springs gave in to his weight.

Then she was mad because he brushed her off. "Of course it's my business! She's a complete wreck, missing you and loving you! I've never seen her like this, never! She shouldn't be like this! You shouldn't let it happen!"

Ron sat staring at the fireplace, saying nothing nor moving. Ginny continued on her rant, falling to rest beside him. "You're a bloody fool to sit here and act like nothing's wrong. You two belong together. It's stupid that you're not trying to win her back!"

Ron snapped, standing up from his worn couch. "I am upset Ginny! I'm so upset that sometimes I feel like I can't breathe! I can't just sit here and wallow like a bloody woman! So I stay busy and smile because I have to move on! And it's hard, harder than anything I've had to do!"

"Then go to her, Ron!" Ginny cried, placing a hand on his arm. He jerked away at the touch.

"I won't. I can't. I've always done the running. I need time to… process and move on. We've been so childish, never really growing up with each other. And I've finally grown tired of it. I'm ready to become an adult in an adult relationship. She's not ready for that."

"How do you know?" she whispered.

Ron bowed his head and when he looked back up, he looked so broken and worn out that Ginny wanted to console him. "Because I had asked her to marry me once, and she'd said no."

-

It had went something like this.

Ron and Hermione were strolling leisurely around the grounds of Hogwarts mere days after the final battle, holding hands and silent in conversation, but thoughts on those they had lost. But, they had each other. And that's how it was supposed to be.

Finally, Ron stopped, effectively pulling Hermione back a bit because she had kept on going. "I love you," he'd said when she turned around with a raised eyebrow.

She'd grinned, but had stayed silent otherwise. "I want to marry you," he'd whispered that time, because he had been nervous. Her smile had faded away then, and she was looking at him with concern.

She stayed silent still and he looked at her and it was silent and still and he hated it. Finally, he had shaken his head and began to walk again, his hand holding hers a bit too tightly for her liking but she said nothing. "Nevermind," he murmured and she'd teared up at that, but still said nothing.

-

Ginny was in shock when Ron finished his story. "What happened the next day? Or later on that day?"

Ron looked dazed, apparently still trapped in his memory. "Nothing. We never talked about it again. She was embarrassed and clearly not in the same boat as me at the time. I was crushed, but I figured as long as I had some part of her in my life I had to take it. So I'd sworn to myself I would never ask again because I had been so sure then that it was right. I was wrong. I didn't want to make the same mistake again."

"No one else knows?" she asked quietly. He shook his head.

"If anyone would have known, I suppose she would have told you, but I guess I was wrong there too," he muttered, running his long calloused fingers over his clean face. Ginny frowned.

"Okay, but you obviously know now that she wants to be with you. She admitted it, even. So, why not go to her and propose after all?" Ron was already shaking his head.

"Ginny, my heart is broken. I can't start again, I can't pretend that it didn't happen. Not anymore." Ginny looked at her brother, his saddened face, his sunken eyes, the sag to his shoulders (even his clothes looked sad) and nodded.

"I'm going to fix things Ron," she whispered, leaning into his broad, strong shoulder.

"Why? I'm not sure it's worth it anymore," he whispered back, tired now.

"Because you're my big brother. And you would do the same for me."

-

"Would you like to order your drink while you wait for the rest of your party?" a pretty, young waitress asked Hermione as she sat twisting her fingers in a restaurant. Harry and Ginny were running late, but that wasn't the reason why she was on edge.

"Um… yes, I'll have raspberry tea please," she smiled and the waitress nodded and went to place her drink order. She looked around the fairly crowded restaurant, surveying the faces and décor. Before long, her fingers were twisting around each other again, her stomach in knots. The day before when Ginny had asked her to join her and Harry for a dinner, something had been off with the way Ginny had smiled. It was unsettling.

But, she knew she couldn't say no either. She put her new dress on (the one Ginny had insisted on her buying on their impromptu shopping spree the week before) and did nothing with her hair, nor did she wear much makeup. True, she had been feeling better, actually talking to her friends on her own time and slowly becoming herself. It was when she was left alone in her lonely apartment when she remembered things…

"Oi, sorry we're late," Harry said, he and his wife making an entrance to their table. Hermione grinned up at them, shaking her head.

"Its fine, I just ordered my drink," she said, accepting a kiss on the cheek from the blushing husband. Ginny reached down to do the same while Harry pulled out her chair. "Is everything okay?"

Ginny and Harry's blushes were Hermione's answer. She felt a pang of jealously in her stomach, but put a smile on her face instead. "Oh, I see," she said, nodding.

They spent the rest of the evening chatting about this and that, mostly keeping Hermione involved in conversation all night; so much in fact that she felt like she was talking the most. It didn't appear to bother her friends though.

"All right, I've said enough this evening. Why don't you two go home and be married on your own?" she joked, taking a last sip of her drink. Harry rubbed his full stomach and looked over at his wife.

"I'm not so sure he'll be any good for me tonight, not after that huge meal he just ate," Ginny quipped. Harry pouted as his wife continued. "He'll most likely hit the bed once when we get home."

"And snore all night long…" Hermione added.

"And wake up in the morning and try to wake me…" Ginny went on, and Hermione finished.

"For some morning love!" The two women laughed like school girls while Harry looked crestfallen.

"I'm not that bad yet, am I love?" he asked, giving Ginny a look. Hermione blushed and looked away from their glances of intimacy. She felt like she was intruding and wished desperately to leave before she felt other pains of misery. Ginny's gasp interrupted her.

Hermione looked up and turned around in her chair. There stood Ron, his arm slung low around Lavender Brown's waist. Open-mouthed, she stared at him while the couple looked back.

"Hello Ronald," Hermione said finally, breaking the silence. "Lovely to see you, Lavender," she added. Lavender grinned, bemused, looking down at the low-cut neckline of her black dress. Ron looked handsome as ever, but Hermione wasn't fazed. She only saw red in her vision.

"Hermione, maybe we should go…" she heard Harry behind her, hoping to get her out of the restaurant without making a scene.

"That's a good idea, Harry. I say, we should head back to my flat, I just bought a nice red wine that would be a lovely ending to our evening. I'll have to ask my neighbor Danny if he'd like to join in. He's been asking me over almost every night this week and I've always been so busy. Goodnight you two," she said strongly, pushing her chair in and grabbing her things. Ginny and Harry followed behind her, amused and confused, while Ron looked like a fish out of water.

"See you," Harry said, passing his male companion. Ron could only nod in response, his eyes looking at the way Hermione's hips swayed as she walked away.

Outside, Ginny caught up with Hermione first. "Hermione, are you okay?" Hermione turned and it surprised Ginny to see that she wasn't crying, nor did she look hurt. She looked determined.

"I'm absolutely fine."

"Do you have any plans with this Danny fellow?"

"Danny? Oh, he's only four and has been begging me to play checkers with him since he has no other young children to play with."

Ginny laughed. "So, what was that back there?"

"I plan on winning Ron back," she answered gleefully, a new bounce in her step. "I might need help in certain areas, but I'm sure you're the witch I need in this situation. Are you in?"

Ginny nodded, putting her arm through Hermione's. Nobody bet against Hermione and won.