A/N: Yeah.. Not really feeling any of my other stories right now. This one isn't really going to be very depressing or complicated like my other ones have been, trust me. It may not seem like it in this first chapter, but I have a lot planned for this story. This first chapter is pretty amature but I wrote it a while back and decided it wasn't worth finishing, but I visited it again today and decided that it was salvageable. So, when you're criticising it, just remember that it is fairly old. Anyways, onto the story!
Enjoy! - Tweedlebugqueen(:


The Way I Loved You

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"When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life a thousand reasons to smile."

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Chapter One: The Broken Clock


The year after Lord Voldemort's downfall, Hermione couldn't believe it. She was convinced that this was going to be one of the best years of her life, and she would get to spend it with the best guy in the world. Ron and Hermione had gotten together during the final battle. Hermione had loved Ron even in their fifth year, though you would have had a tough time getting her to admit it. When Ron showed that he cared about the house elves' safety, well, Hemione couldn't hide it anymore. She didn't think that she had ever realized just how much she loved Ron Weasley until he had acknowledged that she was a woman who had feelings. Of course Hermione would actually love him, unlike Lavender Brown, who was a cow.

The trio had been out of school for a few months now and Hermione was completely happy with the way her life was going so far, almost. Hermione really did like staying with her parents for a last summer, she felt that she had to make up for all the years that she had already been away from them, and for the one when they didn't even know she had existed. The only problem was that Hermione wanted to be at the Burrow more than at home, sometimes she found it rather selfish of herself to think that way, but the wizarding world had high expectations of her now that Ron and Hermione had run off with Harry to destroy horcruxes and ultimately the Dark Lord himself.

Nowadays you found more often than not that the name 'Voldemort' was the pun to any joke imaginable. Once, Hermione's parents had been on a muggle website and she had heard a pun to a rather funny joke. Said pun contained of the words, 'Voldemort's nipple' and once she had retold this story in the kitchen at the Burrow, Fred and George had never yet ceased in saying this whenever an opportunity knocked on their door. They had even developed a line of exploding candy whose advertisement clearly yelled in bright red ink, "Voldemort and Nipple in the same sentence? How about exploding one of your own? Buy an Exploding Nipple Pop and listen to your children scream 'Die Voldy, Die!' as it explodes in their mouth in a sensuous burst of flavor!" and of course Hermione had insisted that they cut her some of the profits, it was an easy paycheck for her since their business had been booming for quite some time.

Tic, toc, tic, toc, tic, tic, tic. The blasted clock was broken again.

At the moment, Hermione was preparing herself to deliver a huge emotional blow in her parents lives. She definitely wanted to move to her own flat, or at least to the Burrow. There she could be with Ron for a month or two before, finally, getting a job at the Ministry of Magic and starting a new, seemingly boring life. A boring life was the only thing expected of her though, and she wasn't really sure if that was what she wanted. Which was why she would start with an internship. Hermione Granger was only eighteen after all.

She had already spent quite some time looking at flats in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, the only reason she was considering Hogsmeade Village was because she had thought about persuading Minerva into letting her take some nightclasses at Hogwarts. She had, afterall, skipped out on her final year of schooling. Even though anyone would hire her anywhere, Hermione (being herself) would feel much better with a final year of schooling or maybe even studying abroad for a few years to get more experience with herself and her wand.

Hermione's parents were at work at the moment. Of course they had hoped that even though she were a witch, that Hermione would follow in their footsteps and become a dentist, just like they were. To their dismay, however, she had never even considered it, she wanted something much more exciting than that and they couldn't really blame her. Though they didn't think she would really consider it, they had their opinions, and they had the exact same mindset in this case, they both thought that their daughter had experienced enough adventure for one lifetime. But Harry Potter's best friend would never listen to anyone who put that thought to words in a sentence, and her parents knew it.

Summer was coming to a close, and Hermione felt a sense of foreboding in the pit of her stomach just thinking of it. Everyone expected Hogwarts' little know it all to be fully prepared for the life she was going to lead after the completion of her schooling, and even she had thought it to a certain extent, but that wasn't the case in her situation anymore. In all reality, Hermione had no sense of what she wanted to do with her life. There was once a time where she wanted nothing more than to be a successful ministry worker, but after the things she had seen there this past year she didn't think she could ever view the place the same way again, even if Kingsley Shacklebolt was the Minister now. There were many things that Hermione swore she would never see in the same light again.

From her third story bedroom Hermione could hear a car pull into the driveway of her parents' new townhome. She eagerly looked out the window to see who it was, highly expecting it to be her parents. So of course she was more than shocked to look out of her bedroom window and see a full head of ginger hair in the passenger's seat and Harry Potter at the wheel of a car in her driveway. The pair continued to emerge from the vehicle and walked to the front door.

Most girls would run to the mirror to gloss their lips and fix their hair with their wands if Harry Potter were to show up on their doorstep, but only Hermione Jean Granger would do it for Ronald Weasley instead. Once she finished doing said act Hermione Granger spun on the spot and apparated into her sitting room, thrusting the door open and throwing her arms around Ron's neck before stepping back and giving Harry a kiss on the cheek. "I didn't expect you guys until later this evening!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"We were bored, sitting in Mum's kitchen while she rambles about my dear brother Percy and his girlfriend Penelope's impending engagement really does get rather boring after a whole day's discussion." Ron informed her.

Hermione nodded, her slightly bushy hair bouncing with her head, "I can see how that would be slightly frustrating." then she flashed a brilliant smile, "I'm informing my parents that I want to move out of this house soon."

With an uplifted brow Harry looked at her quizzically, "When do you plan on doing that?"

"Tonight."

Ron ran a hand through his hair, "That's . . . soon."

"Well, yes actually, because I'd rather not live here until I reach the age of eighty-two." she reminded him.

Harry's gaze flickered between the two of them, "Is there something wrong?" she asked him.

"No." he replied and looked at his foot, which was currently tracing a triangle into the carpet, a few minutes passed with only the sound of the broken clock ticking endlessly upstairs.

She rolled her eyes, "Okay, don't tell me."

Ron shifted his weight to his other foot, "Maybe you should go wait in the car for me Harry." he muttered.

"Yeah, see you Hermione." he gave her an uneasy hug before he left the house.

"Now you're scaring me, what's really going on? What happened?"

"Nothing happened, everyone's fine." Ron said.

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest, "Than why did Harry have to go sit in the car?"

He ran a hand through his hair, "Because I need to talk to you."

"Just spit it out Ron." she laughed.

"Can we sit down?"

Hermione indicated to the sitting room, "Sure."

Ron walked past her without another word and sat on the edge of a rather bulky leather armchair, it was apparent that he was uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry that my parents don't have more comfortable furniture for you, but they don't spend much time at home." she apologized from the kitchen.

Ron rubbed his hands together in a nervous habit, "No, it's okay. I can't stay long anyway."

Hermione poked her head around the corner, "What was that you said? I didn't hear the last part of your sentence, the tea will be done in a few minutes by the way." and she retreated back into the kitchen.

"I just said it was okay, the sitting room looks nice." he lied.

"Oh yeah?" she said as she brought the tea tray in, "I thought it looked a little . . . I dunno, like my parents' waiting room at the dental office. Do you get that vibe?" she set the platter on the coffee table and sat down on the plush velvet couch.

"Why don't you sit over here? It's much more comfortable than that stuffy leather armchair."

"I think that the furniture just needs to be broken into, it's not the Burrow though." he said.

Hermione looked around, "Well, I won't be here much longer. I'm sure that my parents will be happier when I'm not here reprimanding them for making their house so . . . unhomey."

"I need to talk to you about something." he said.

Hermione pushed a mug of tea into his hands, "Drink some tea, you look kind of pale."

He rolled his eyes, "You're so pushy."

"It's one of the many things that you adore about me, right?"

He just took a sip of his drink.

"You don't have to drink it all at once, you'll get a headrush! What was it you wanted to talk to me about? Did you want me to come to the Burrow with you tonight? Because I think that my parents will still want me to stay a few more nights with them even if I'm going to-"

"I think we need a break Hermione."

She turned to look at him, "What?"

He set his cup down and ran another hand through his hair, something Hermione had noticed that he did when he was upset. "Are you serious?" she whispered.

He looked up at her with a sad expression on his face, "I'm sorry." he muttered, "I just need a break, I don't want a rebound relationship."

"What are you saying? That I'm the rebound girl from your relationship with Lavender? Have you gone mental? This is the best relationship either one of us has been in . . . ever! And you can't deny that we have chemistry more than just physically."

Ron got to his feet, "You might think that she's a cow, but I told Lavender that I would make it through the war for her, so that I could come back to her and then I went off and went with you in the middle of the battle and we shared the most amazing kiss I have ever experienced. It was like setting a fire to a dry, dead field. I'm really confused right now! Lavender and I shared more than a 'physical' relationship you know! I didn't just use her for sex!"

"I know that." she whispered.

"Apparently you don't." he said, "Because I never did have sex with her!"

"What brought this on?"

He ran a hand through his hair, "This has been a long time coming, I love her."

"Don't you love me?"

Ron looked her square in the eye, "No."

"I can love you enough for the both of us!" she yelled, a single tear ran down her cheek as Ron stormed out of the house. She felt stupid even as she said it.

Before he slammed the door behind him he turned and said, "Don't send those ugly canaries after me again, because it won't do anything. Oh, and don't go to the Burrow either, that's my house."

He had driven the knife into her gut, the most horrible thing he could ask her to do for him, and it was to leave the rest of his family alone. Who was Hermione Granger without the Weasleys? Hermione didn't know.

She climbed the stairs morosely, tears pouring down her face. As upset as she was, as broken as she was, Hermione decided then and there that she would not shed another tear for Ronald Weasley. The boy had broken her heart too many times, had decided that her feelings were too insignificant compared to his own to be considered in any action that he did that might even slightly affect her. There was first year, he was found making fun of her and it had wound her up in the girls bathroom with a troll, but he had saved her from the troll as well. When she had bought Crookshanks in her third year Ronald had nearly strangled her for it, he was always hiding his rat from that cat and when the stupid thing went missing he thought that Crookshanks had killed him, but the rat had been Lord Voldemort's pet, Peter Pettigrew. In fifth year he hadn't wanted her to go to the ministry with them, and she had gone anyway. Sixth year he went with Lavender Brown and Hermione thought that it was the worst thing that he could have ever done to her, until last year when he walked out on her and Harry when they had needed him the most. But even after all of that, Hermione Granger didn't think that after they had both survived the worst war of the century that she would end up losing him anyway.

How could he have done this to her? Ron and Hermione Weasley, it sounded so wonderful to her. Weasley and her own name just rolled off of her tongue, she had thought of it most of her school years, even if she hadn't ever voiced the opinion out loud. Hermione had always thought that she and Ron were a match made in heaven, and when they had finally gotten together she had been her happiest.

She closed the door behind her slowly, letting it creak in the silent house, she didn't even walk to the window to see if he had pulled out of the driveway yet. How could he have dragged Harry into this? Just because he couldn't drive a muggle car? Ron could apparate, even if Harry preferred driving over the sensation it left the body with. He could have flooed in, except for the fact that the Grangers were muggles. Had he been out for a good time with Harry and just decided that it was in his best interest to dump her? Couldn't he have waited until he was alone? She felt horrible for Harry, he didn't deserve to be in the middle of another one of their fights.

She let herself slide down the back of the door, would this affect her friendship with Ginny? Ginny was the only friend of hers who was a girl besides Luna, and Luna was never with Hermione if Ginny wasn't there too. Ginny had been the single light at the end of every dark tunnel of fighting between Hermione and Ron, she had always helped Hermione get through it, becuase she knew just as well as anyone how much of a git Ron could be. And he definitely was a git, he couldn't cut her off from her best friend, and the Weasleys may not have been blood relation to her, but they were her wizard family, if no one else was.

Now it looked as if Hermione wouldn't be moving out of her parents' townhouse for a while. Maybe if she hadn't thought of Ron as her soulmate the pain wouldn't hurt as much as it did right now. It was like someone had taken all the light from her world. All the bones in her body had gone numb and she couldn't feel anything but her heart, which was shattered into a million peices that were stabbing each other as well as trying to beat and throb all at once. How could someone live like that?

What killed her the most was that he didn't deserve her tears, which were still rolling down her face despite what she had sworn to herself. He never deserved her, Ron had always used her. He had used her for test answers, used her as a referee between himself and Harry, and used her as a punching bag for eight years.

How was it possible that the broken clock hadn't stopped yet? Tic, tic, tic.

Hermione got to her knees and crawled into her bed,

tic, tic, tic . . .

she pulled the covers over her head,

tic, tic, tic . . .

and she let the waves of heartbreak swallow her,

tic, tic, tic . . . .

tock.


A/N: Okay, it wasn't the best, but was it really the worst? Don't answer that hahaa. Anyway, I've decided to discontinue the following stories until further notice :
- A Troubled And Distant Hope
- The Love I Never Knew I Had

I just don't like either of those stories anymore, and there are way too many plotholes that I dug for myself. I wouldn't recommend you read them at all. Anyways, please review!
You know where people who don't review after they've read go right?
I don't know either, hahaa.
xoxo
Tweedle(: