House: Gryffindor
Position: HoH
Category: Short
Prompt: [Setting] King's Cross Station, Platform 8 3/4 (Meaning you get to pick the train's destination.)
Word Count (excluding header): 1048
Beta: Tigger
Hermione sat on a cold, wooden bench waiting for her train to pull onto Platform 8 and 3/4. She had planned to spend the morning with her friends having a last minute brunch before leaving on her trip, but instead came to King's Cross hours early, fuming.
Ron had once again made it clear that he thought her trip to study Mermish was a waste of time.
"Why would you want to talk to a bunch of pissed-off, underwater harpies anyway?" he argued while she was packing her last minute items that morning.
"Because Ronald," she spat, "I need to master many foreign and magical creature languages so I can advance in my career with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."
"But you don't need to do that. I make more than enough money for us. What you need to do is look into quitting your job."
Hermione blinked. "Quit—quit my job?" she asked in disbelief. "Why would I ever do that? I love my job."
"Well, you won't be able to work when we have children," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"WHAT?!" she screamed. "What makes you think I want to have children with you?"
"Well, of course we'll have kids," Ron spoke slowly, as if she were stupid. "Harry and Ginny just had James and we're next."
"Did it ever occur to you to ask me whether I wanted to have a child anytime soon? Or ever?"
"No," Ron shrugged. "But everyone expects us to," he stated as though that were reason enough to procreate.
"I don't care what everyone else expects," Hermione hissed, barely keeping a lid on her temper. "It's my life."
"Well it's my life too!" Ron said. "And I don't want my girlfriend running all over the world to learn all these stupid, useless languages when she should be at home, taking care of me and our family."
In a deadly calm voice, Hermione said, "It may have escaped your notice, Ronald, but I am not your girlfriend. I am your friend. I am your roommate. I have never been your girlfriend."
"That's because you insist on denying the inevitable."
Hermione angrily shoved the last of her clothes in her bag and zipped up her suitcase. "I'm heading to King's Cross now."
"Now?" he asked. "But I thought we were going to meet up with Harry first."
"You can meet Harry if you wish. I need to get away from you right now before either of us say something that we are really going to regret."
She'd Apparated to a Ministry approved safe location just outside of the train station and walked to her platform. The train wasn't scheduled to arrive for a while, but she was content to just sit and think.
Hermione could not believe that Ron had her future all planned out without getting her input. It boggled her mind that he thought she'd been amenable to quitting her job and playing housewife and mother. Not that there was anything wrong with a woman wanting that role; Hermione would never condemn someone for wanting that life, but it wasn't what she wanted her herself.
She wanted to explore the world. She felt driven to protect the rights of magical creatures and fight for justice for the downtrodden. She wanted to learn every foreign and magical language she possibly could.
She wondered if there was some sort of mythical language that she could learn to communicate with Ron. Many times she felt like he didn't understand her, but deep down she knew it was because he refused to actually listen to what she had to say.
Hermione was startled out of her thoughts by the appearance of a wispy white stag.
"I'm so sorry, Hermione. I couldn't stop him," Harry's voice said from the stag's mouth. "Gin and I tried to talk him down, but you know how he doesn't always hear what people are saying."
Perhaps the Ron to English was necessary for other people besides her.
"Hermione!"
Her head snapped up to find the ginger-haired man in question running down the platform.
"I talked it over with Harry," he said when he reached her. "He made me see that you were right that I never asked you to be my girlfriend."
Hermione smiled, thankful for Harry at this moment. "I'm glad you see that now. But what are you doing here?"
"I'm asking you now. Well, I'm asking you to marry me," Ron said as though that should have been obvious.
Hermione's jaw dropped. "Why?"
He grinned. "Well, if you marry me, then you'll stay here. We can wait a little while before you quit your job and we have kids. It's perfect."
"No," she replied, flatly.
The grin slid off his face. "No? What do you mean 'no'?"
"It's simple," Hermione said, "No. I'm not going to marry you."
"Don't be so stubborn, Hermione. We're perfect for eachother."
At that moment, the Atlantis Express pulled onto the platform. Hermione stood and addressed Ron. "Clearly, we aren't perfect. You don't care about what matters to me. You unilaterally decided what I should do with my life. So, no, Ronald. I will not marry you. And unless you get over your delusion about what I will do with my life, I don't even want to be friends with you."
She watched the tips of his ears flare red with anger. "If you get on that train, we're through."
Hermione felt a pang of sadness pass through her. The boy who had been her friend for a decade was completely gone. In his place was a man who couldn't be bothered to understand her.
"Then this is goodbye, Ronald," she said as she walked towards the train. She could hear him sputtering in disbelief behind her, but did not turn around to look. He represented the expectations that others had for her, but the train in front of her represented the expectations she had for herself.
Quickly finding her reserved compartment, she allowed herself to shed a tear for the end of one chapter of her life. But as the Atlantis Express pulled away from Platform 8 and ¾, she had no regrets about starting a new chapter.