Hey guys. This is my new story. The others are all a work in progress. I've noticed that my drive for writing has come back a little, so you might see updates to those stories soon. I'll primarily work on this one. This story is slightly AU and I decided to move away from Ron/Hermione for this one. Believe me, it is still my OTP, but eventually you've got to write about something else right?

"Bah! This is impossible." Ronald Weasley said, throwing his arms up in the air. "At this rate I am never going to find someone."

"I still don't know why you have to find someone mate." Harry Potter, his best friend asked him, adjusting the glasses on the bridge of his nose.

"Ginny told me to get you to stop doing that." Ron told him. "If I were you, I'd stop."

"Hey! I don't do it around her now, do I?" Harry asked Ron, who merely shook his head.

"It's her fault" Harry continued. "She got me these glasses, and I really don't like these glasses."

Ron rolled his eyes. For all the stoicism and poise with which he carried himself in public, Harry was the exact amount of whiney when in private.

He adjusted his hair, pushing if off his forehead as he turned his attention to the piece of paper in front of him.

"How long have you been staring at that?" Harry asked him. Ron chose not to say anything.

"Ron?" Harry asked him, his voice softer this time.

"You remember the bathroom Harry?" Ron asked him, a ghost of a smile on his face.

"I remember a lot of bathrooms, mine especially." Harry said, with a grin.

"Hey, I'm not joking around Harry." Ron said to him, his smile gone. He gripped the piece of paper, almost wanting to crush it.

"Yeah, I remember." Harry said, sensing Ron's tone. "You said something about house elves, I think it was to get them to fight?"

"Evacuate." Ron corrected him.

"Yeah. That's right. Evacuate."

They said nothing, Harry decided to concentrate on the paperwork for the case he was working on. He heard the crumpling of paper, it made him wince.

'I wonder if he's picturing Krum' Harry thought to himself.

"It's been five years since then, yeah?" Ron asked him.

"Six. I think." Harry told him. "Blimey, can you imagine how long it's been? Feels like it was just a few days ago."

They both said nothing. As Harry stared at the paperwork, he wondered what could have been if things had played out differently. He had dreams of taking the train, that one day in King's Cross. He wondered how his friends would have reacted to him dying.

He'd never told anyone what had gone on, not even his wife. It was the fact that Ginny only asked him once and figured out that she didn't have to ask him that ever again that made him love her so much. She'd been there for him the day after the war. The relationship wasn't easy, him leaving for a year and her missing out on a lot of what they did, combined with the secrecy Ron, Hermione and he were keen on maintaining meant that there were a lot of things that she never got to hear.

Ginny was a trooper. She persisted, and one day, Harry woke up without her beside him and realized that he never, ever wanted to do that again. That was around a couple of years after the war. They married a month later.

He looked at Ron. The paper in his hand was now a crumpled-up ball on the floor. His best friend seemed keen on looking at anywhere but at the paper, and yet Harry could tell that he wanted to un-crumple it and read it again. Maybe if he read it several times, he'd accept that it was happening.

"Ron?" Harry asked him. "Are you alright mate?"

He just looked at Harry, choosing not to say anything. Harry could swear that he saw his eyes glimmering.

-x-

Ginny

Ginny Weasley-Potter absent-mindedly rubbed her stomach, while staring at a piece of paper in her hand.

"What do you think?" Hermione Granger asked her.

The years had been kind to them. Hermione, who was rather well known for buck teeth and bushy hair now looked- mature. She was a fast-rising star at the University, with people raving about 'the future muggle-born minister'.

Ginny on the other hand, was a successful quidditch player. She'd often brag to her husband that she was going to make more money than he did by vanquishing the dark lord. The fact that her husband encouraged her and wished that they be remembered for her achievements rather than his, made her love him even more.

"Did you send these out already?" Ginny asked Hermione, who nodded.

"Yes. Viktor and I were so excited to send them out."

Ginny groaned internally at the 'Victor and I', she loved Hermione like a sister, but the man who's heart Hermione had broken was her favourite brother.

"Are you sure you want to invite Ron?" Ginny asked her. Hermione, who'd been smiling up until this point, stopped.

"What do you mean?" she asked Ginny. "What do you mean by that?"

Ginny was taken aback by how confrontational that sounded.

"Breathe, Hermione." Ginny said to her. Hermione relaxed her shoulders a little. "Why are you so tensed?"

"It's nothing." Hermione told her.

"Well, that's a load of." Ginny paused. Should she be swearing anymore?

"You can swear Ginny." Hermione said to her. "Molly isn't around."

Ginny wasn't sure if she wanted to tell Hermione that it wasn't Molly she was worried about.

"I wanted to invite Ron, because I want the awkwardness between us to stop." Hermione told Ginny. "We used to be best friends Ginny, and then after we broke up…" she trailed off.

'You mean when you dumped him.' Ginny thought, a little bitter about the situation still.

"I want my best friend back Gin." Hermione said. She sounded pained, and Ginny softened a little.

Ron and Hermione were dysfunctional. Even their biggest well-wishers, Molly and Arthur Weasley couldn't help but talk about just how dysfunctional they were.

Ron was the kind of person who liked leaving messy plates on the counter. Hermione was the kind of person who had panic attacks upon seeing messy plates on the counter.

Their relationship was full of passion when it began. They couldn't keep their hands off each other. Molly Weasley gave up on getting them to sleep in separate rooms five days after they moved into The Burrow. Ron even managed to sit in an aircraft (that was what Harry called those flying death traps) and go to Australia to help Hermione get her parents back.

Cracks started to show after Ginny and Hermione went back to Hogwarts to finish their schooling. Ron and Harry moved into Grimmauld Place together and began attending the Auror Academy. The distance took its toll. There was more fighting, and less making up. Ginny and Harry were there for all of it. Staring. Helpless.

No one was surprised when they announced that they were no longer a couple. It happened at a family dinner that Ginny had not yet forgotten. There were some disappointed faces. Some others chose to nod. Harry and she didn't react. It was a little too much for them.

Things didn't get better. Ron, for his part, took the break up well. He was out and about the next day and had thrown himself into his work. Harry told Ginny later that he'd never seen Ron work this hard, not even before finals at the Auror Academy.

Whenever he ran into Hermione, Ron smiled and shook her hand, exchanged pleasantries. If it was possible for him to leave after that, he left. If it wasn't, he'd stay as far away from her as possible, avoiding her until leaving became a possibility.

Ginny still remembered when Hermione announced that she was seeing Viktor Krum. This was also at a family dinner. A dinner Ron had no choice but to attend.

Ginny remembered looking at the love of her life, instead of bothering with deciding between whether to look happy or sad. Harry had his eyes closed that day. A lot of the others did too.

The announcement wasn't well received by anyone, except Ron, who smiled and congratulated her, even whooping.

Ginny had been surprised by how far along her brother had come, but then she realized that it had to happen sometime. Still, she couldn't help but wonder how hurt he was on the inside.

"What about you?" Hermione asked Ginny, snapping her back to reality. "You said you wanted to talk with me about something?"

Ginny rubbed her stomach again. She hadn't told anyone yet, Hermione was going to be the first.

"I'm pregnant."

Ron

Putting on a brave front was harder than he thought it would be. The day he found out Hermione was engaged to Krum, he went home and cried. He didn't let anyone see it then, and he didn't let anyone see his pain the day he found out they'd set a date and invited him to the wedding.

A lot of people told him that he and Hermione were made for each other. In hindsight, Ron thought it was ridiculous that he believed them. They were as different as could be, and he didn't know that Harry was the glue that was keeping them together.

The minute Harry's life was not in ever present danger, Hermione and Ron grew apart. He still remembered the first crack. This was back when she was attending Hogwarts and he was in the academy. She hadn't written him for a week, despite promising to write every day. Ron remembered being furious, controlling every impulse to send her a strongly worded letter. He thought it'd be better if he waited for a letter from her, and then holding on to that so she could get the message.

Of course, he found out that she was just stressed about her exams, and suddenly Ron felt terribly about the whole situation, and let it go. He'd been thinking about it ever since that happened, was he not even worth a letter?

Things didn't get any better when she came back from Hogwarts. Ron had already found a job and picked out a flat for them to live in, but Hermione told him that she wasn't comfortable moving in with him yet.

Eventually he asked her about it, she told him that she needed time to think about it. Ron asked her what she needed time for, she was quiet about that.

"We should do it over dinner, yeah?" Hermione asked Ron. She'd shown up to collect some of her things from the flat.

"Yeah." Ron could barely get the words out. His eyes were red, but it gave him great comfort that Hermione looked as bad, if not worse.

"What happens to us now Ron?" Hermione asked him just as she was about to leave.

"Well. You were the one who made this decision, maybe you can figure out the other part too." Ron said to her bitterly, before slamming the door shut.

He closed his eyes and slumped against the door, as he heard the crack of Hermione disapparating, out of his life.

He was going to go to the wedding of course. The Golden Trio needed to put up a united front after all. Ron laughed. When he was fourteen, he was jealous of Harry and his fame. Now he was twenty-four, and he just wanted to give up all the fame.

Today was going to be hard. It had been a month since he'd gotten the invitation, and he did have some time before he'd have to respond. He figured that since Hermione was going to be there today, he might as well give her his response directly.

He smiled. Ginny and Harry announced the pregnancy a week ago, and mum had thrown them a party today. Everyone who mattered to them was going to be there. Even Charlie had decided to take some time off from seeing his dragons and drag his ass home. George told him about how mum had tied him up and cut his hair.

He was happy for Harry. After everything the bloke had been through, he deserved to have the family he never had growing up, and over the years he'd realized that Ginny was perfect for him. They were perfect for each other. He closed his eyes as he thought about how he dreamed of having that family with Hermione, and how she was closer to having that dream with someone else than him.

Ron shrugged. It was hard, but he'd put on a brave front before. He could do it again.

Hermione

She'd spent all of dinner staring at Ron. Everyone else was just a dull buzz in the back of her head. She would dip in to listen to Angelina and Fleur joke about baby names, occasionally she'd hear Molly talk about how grandkids were easier than children. She didn't care about any of that. She only had eyes for him.

Viktor couldn't make it today, he had quidditch practice.

Hermione thought it was for the best.

He looked good. Better than when she had last seen him, properly seen him. Their meetings these days were awkward greetings before Ron just- ran. She didn't have a better way to describe it.

He was happier too. She couldn't tell if he was putting on a show or not. He seemed to smile, joke around with Harry. She heard arguments over who the godfather was going to be. Ginny had asked her to be Godmother a long time ago.

The party wound down to a close, and one by one, everyone left. Hermione offered to stick around and help Molly clean up. Molly gave her a knowing look before agreeing, asking Ron to help her clean up too. He didn't seem to fight it very much at all.

Perhaps that was a good sign?

They settled into a comfortable routine, as all the plates began scrubbing themselves. Hermione hadn't thought this through. They were magical. Clean up could be done in a minute, maybe two. She watched as Ron began vanishing the decorations. There was an almost comfortable silence between them, but it had to break soon, and sure enough, Ron took the first step.

"Feels like we're fifteen again, doesn't it?" He asked Hermione, who smiled.

"Remember cleaning Grimmauld place?" She asked him. He groaned.

"Do you reckon life would be easier if Dumbledore told us about the horcruxes earlier?" Ron asked him. "You remember that locket, don't you?"

How could she forget? That locket had already taken him away from her once.

"I wanted to talk to you about something." They both said to each other simultaneously. They stared at each other for a minute before they broke into laughter.

"Man." Ron said. "We haven't been this in sync since…" He stopped. "Well, since, you know." He finished, rather awkwardly.

She didn't blame him.

"You go first?" She asked him.

"Oh." Ron said. "Yeah. So, I got your invitation, and I meant to respond to it earlier, but I never got the time, you know?"

Hermione just stared at Ron. She knew that was a lie. Just last week, she'd heard that Ron had taken Harry out to get drunk for the last time ever.

"But, you know, you're my best friend Mione." He said to her. Hermione's heart leapt, and she felt her breath catching. She'd forgotten how much she loved being called that, by him.

"Of course, I'm going to be at the wedding." He told her. "Sorry it took so long to respond. Also, I lost the invitation, so er…you can take care of that right?"

'Liar' Hermione thought. 'Harry told me that you crumpled it and threw it in the bin.'

Hermione told Ron that she wanted to ask him about the invitation. Ron looked relieved that it wasn't anything else. They hugged each other, and Hermione tried to smell as much of him as she could.

That night, Hermione thought of Ron and her making love as she went to bed.

The morning after, she woke up hating herself.

She realized she needed to talk to Ginny.

Krum/Hermione is not the final pairing. The story is going to be mostly told in long periods of time because that way at least I know I have an ending that is achievable. Other characters will also be featured throughout the story and have their own arcs.