Goes along to song- That ain't no way to go by: Brooks and Dunn

Taking another long swig of firewhiskey, Ron gingerly placed the bottle back down on the counter and looked around bar. Nothing was the same anymore. Life as he knew it would never be the same…especially with her out if his life. He never knew why she left. She never let on that she was unhappy. All he did was love her and try to make her content, but apparently that wasn't enough for her. Now, colors were no longer the same to him. Deep blues looked faded and warn, reds no longer meant passion or love but a sense of hurt and shame. How could this happen to him? She was his one true love, and she just walked out of his life without even saying goodbye to his face. The events of that dreadful morning were still glued to his memory. They would be there forever.

Sunlight had just begun to seep into his dreary apartment, causing him to crack his eyes open. It was another day...hopefully a good one. Turning over to kiss her good morning, his lips felt nothing and he quickly opened his eyes wider to find that she was no longer in bed, and the sheets had been pulled down. Tiredly, Ron pulled down the sheets from his body and slowly placed his feet on the floor. Rubbing his eyes, he began to make his way to the bathroom. He grabbed his toothbrush from the cabinet against the wall, placed some toothpaste on it, ran the toothbrush under the water, and began to brush his teeth. After finishing that, he quickly ran a comb through his fiery red hair, flattening down what sleeping had done to mess it up. He hurriedly walked out of the bathroom to go and see if she was downstairs. When he closed the door he heard the sound of paper falling, and he looked down to find a piece of paper with her writing on it, lying on the ground.

Bending down to pick it up, he brought the piece of paper to his reading level, and read what few words were placed on it.

Ron,

This is Goodbye. I'm sorry. I really am.

I don't want to hurt you this way, but I

have to leave.

Hermione

His face slowly began to redden at these words, getting close to the color of his hair. What was she talking about? She is leaving, she's sorry? This can't be real. What have I done to deserve this? We were doing fine. Newly weds; the perfect couple. At least that's what Ginny called them. It's a dream that's what it is…a terrible dream.

The piece of parchment Hermione left him fell from his hands as he ran downstairs from his bedroom to find an empty kitchen and family room. There was no one in the guest bedroom, and no one in the basement. She really was gone.

Red lipstick letter

'Cross the mirror this morning

Said, "Goodbye, baby."

You left without warning.

Like a thief in the night,

You ran away with my heart.

I can't believe my eyes,

Must be a bad dream.

You always said

We had a good thing.

You never once let on that we were falling apart.

Ron's face turned to a grimace as he remembered how quickly she had just left. He had become rash after that, desperate more like. He didn't remember why he did it. It seemed so stupid now, like she would really have gone to the places that he had checked.

Throwing on his coat, he ran out of the apartment. He still had his pajamas on, but he didn't care. All that mattered was finding Hermione, bringing her back, and solving whatever was wrong.

He quickly apparated on the spot, once he got out of the apartment, and appeared in front of a plain flat which used to be Hermione's old house before she moved in with him. Throwing open the door, he tore the place apart looking for anywhere she could have hidden…any clue to where she had gone. He found nothing.

Frustrated, he apparated to the only other place he thought she would run to if she was mad at him: Harry and Ginny's house. Their house looked empty when he walked up, but when he knocked on the door he could hear footsteps approaching, and his sisters face appeared when the door opened. "Is she here?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" his sister asked back, confused.

"Damn it, is Hermione here?" he shouted.

"No." his sister replied a little surprised. Ron began to sink down against the wall of the house as tears began to form in his eyes. She was gone. She was really gone. Bloody hell! How could she leave like that? Not one word of goodbye to his face. Just like that in the blink of an eye she was gone. Apparently she forgot about her friendship between him and Harry. Maybe it was just a lie for all these years. He slammed his hand against the house in frustration, ignoring the pain that it caused. He could still see some shock resting within his sister's eyes. "Ron?" Ginny asked softly. "Where's Hermione? What's wrong? What did you do?"

"Bloody well nothing." He told her. "I just woke up this morning to find a note from her saying 'This is goodbye. I am sorry. I really am. I don't want to hurt you this way, but I have to leave.'" He said to her in a mock Hermione voice.

"Oh, Ron, I'm so sorry." His sister told him, sitting down on the ground against the house next to him. She pulled her brother into a hug, and he leaned his head against his sister's shoulder, trying to hold back the tears that were forming in his eyes.

"Did she ever tell you anything?" Ron asked her. "Did she ever tell you she was unhappy or there was someone else?"

"No." Ginny said. "I'm sorry. I thought your relationship was going wonderfully."

"Ya." Said Ron, "Me too. Apparently she didn't."

That ain't no way to go.

Girl, it just ain't right.

Don't you think

That I deserve to hear you say goodbye?

That ain't no way to go.

Was it all a lie?

After all this time,

That ain't no way to go.

"Another firewhiskey." Ron told the bartender as he walked by, pushing his empty bottle forward to him.

"Okay." He told Ron as he took the empty bottle away. Ron turned around trying to stop the memories as they all began flooding in, but once he had started he just couldn't stop. It had been five years since she had left him. Five long years filled with pain. Five long years of trying to forget her face, her voice, her everything. Five long years of trying to move on. He just assumed that she had found someone else now. He imagined that she was married and had a kid. It was hard, but it was the only medicine he had to heal his broken heart: to move on. She had, so he had to as well.

"Here you go." The bartender told Ron, as he turned around and grabbed the firewhiskey that he was offering.

"Thanks." said Ron, as he took another huge sip. It burned as it ran down his throat, but he didn't mind. Nothing could match the pain that he had felt that day five years ago.

Getting nowhere,

I'm tired of thinking.

Guess I'll do a little

Wishful drinking.

Make a whiskey wish

Upon a star.

A whistle blew outside the bar, signaling that the Hogsmede train was leaving. Ron couldn't ever bring himself to ride that train again. He couldn't find it in himself to leave the town. He could run into her somewhere…wherever she had started her new life. That would be just as bad as finding her note the day she had left: seeing the man that she had left him for.

Train whistles blowing

Down the tracks.

Lonesome sound says

She ain't coming back.

It's such a cold blow

From out in the dark

Emptying the new bottle that the barman had given him, he placed the money that he owed on the counter and walked outside of the bar. As if fate really hated him, when he glanced up he thought he saw the familiar face of a woman, her brown curls bouncing around as she walked down the street, a young child holding her hand. I'm just drunk he thought, as he apparated away on the spot.

The popping noise that he made as he disappeared covered up the woman's voice muttering: "Ron, is that you?" She woman hurriedly rushed over to the spot where he had disappeared. "I'm so sorry." She muttered to nothing. "I didn't want to go…I really didn't, but I couldn't stay. I don't know why, but I just couldn't." she continued while her head began to look down, her brown hair covering her face. "This is your son, in case you wanted to know." she whispered, still to nothing. "I'm so sorry." She said again as she grabbed her son's hand and continued to walk down the street. Tears began to stream down her face. She couldn't go back to where he lived, that would hurt too much, but maybe if she just saw him in town she would muster up the courage to tell him…to explain to him the reasons she gave herself as to why she had gone. "Maybe Ron just wasn't meant to know." she thought aloud, as she disappeared out of sight.

That ain't no way to go.

Girl, it just ain't right.

Don't you think

That I deserve

To hear you say goodbye?

That ain't no way to go.

Was it all a lie?

After all this time,

That ain't no way to go.