Hello! I'm back with a new story! I was also writing wizardwideweb but i've reached a dead end on that as of now. But this plot came to me and i think it'll go faster than www.
So here's a new story. Its slightly different in having Ron as quite an active part. He isn't negative here nor will there be any Ron bashing.
But rest assured, it is a Dramione! As usual, it will be slow! and so i ask you to bear with me!
thank you! hope you enjoy it!
"Well well! Somebody's up awfully early today?" Ginny said as she walked down the stairs sleepily.
"Oh hello! Good morning to you too!" Hermione exclaimed as she manually straightened the sofa cushions.
"Hermione, its 7 am. What are you doing cleaning the house at this unearthly hour? And why are you even up?" Ginny questioned as she reached for her tea cup.
"Tea's in the kettle." Hermione answered before Ginny could even fill water in it.
"My my! Aren't we early as well as kind and considerate today" Ginny said. "Seriously what has gotten you so thrilled?"
"Nothing Gin! I had an early night and now I'm all bright and shiny", Hermione said serenely.
"If I know anything at all it's that Hermione Granger is anything but bright and shiny in the morning. Come on Hermione, the phrase burning the midnight oil was coined for you. Now be a good girl and tell me what's gotten you so excited?"
Just then a ridiculously ruffled owl banged against the kitchen window that got both the witches to forget their train of thought.
"Wait a minute. Is that Gurgles? Merlin! It is Gurgles!"Ginny exclaimed turning to Hermione as she went ahead to unfasten the window.
"Oh Merlin! No bloody wonder! That is why you are all shifty and charged today!" Ginny said accusingly. "You knew Ron was going to write to you."
Hermione appeared to look a little bit shameful.
"Hermione!" Ginny said shaking her head. "I don't know what to say. After all these years... I can't believe that prat brother of mine can still have this effect on you."
"Ginny please. Can I have the letter now? And you know very well that he has no such thing as an effect on me per se." Hermione clarified. "Its just that we've been best friends for so long and stuff like that doesn't go away easily. Now if he were to come visit, its natural i'd be excited about it."
"He's coming home? Ron is in England?" Ginny exclaimed. "And the idiot never bothered to write me that he was coming home?"
Hermione laughed. "See? Now look who's all bothered and excited?"
Ginny rolled her eyes as dramatically as she could possibly do. "For Godric's sake Hermione. He's my brother. He's not come home for almost a year. Of course I'd be excited."
"Exactly my point." Hermione stated with a satisfied smirk.
"You know it's not the same." Ginny said knowingly but nevertheless handed the letter to Hermione.
"I'm still enraged that he would write to you and not me." Ginny sulked.
"You know it's not the same Gin!" Hermione retorted with a cheeky grin.
Ginny sighed. "You both are highly dysfunctional you know that right? "
"I do. But it's all under control. Don't worry. And besides, there was a time you were crazy about the idea of me and Ron together." Hermione said.
"Yes I was!" Ginny stated, " but that was before when you two made googly eyes at each other and the whole school except you two knew you were crazy about each other. Now Ron's so far away and neither of you did anything about your so called love. He dates new girls every month and you've had your fair share of boyfriends. Correct me if I'm wrong but I really don't get the dynamics of all this and the excitement about Ron coexisting in the same sphere of life."
"Ron and I... Gin... look you've known about him the longest. You've been there during all my pining and yearning and also when I realised I fell out of love with him. You need to know that I may not be in love with him but I still love him. He is after all my best friend." Hermione said.
Ginny sighed. "As true as that may be... it's still unhealthy. You never get that excited when it comes to Harry."
Hermione laughed out loud. "Gin please. Spare me. Of course I won't get that excited about Harry. He's like a brother to me. And if he were living away and coming home after a year I would be excited too. Just not in the same manner I agree. But come on, Ron and harry are so different. My equation with them is so different. Besides, I don't think Luna would really appreciate me getting so excited about "Harry that way."
"Fine! Fine! All arguments accepted. But doesn't mean it makes sense. I still think you need to move on. Cut off completely. You'll never find the person for you if you keep these feelings for Ron as a safety net." Ginny said.
"Safety net?" Hermione exclaimed, "Whatever do you mean? It's not a safety net. It's just a mature acknowledgement of the truth. And I do not ever plan on doing anything about it. You know that I would never want to get together with Ron like a couple."
"I do know that. Then why don't you ever act like that? I even believe that you believe that. But you can't deny the twinkle that comes in your eyes when Ron is in the picture. It's like you want him and don't at the same time. Hermione, you're still in love with the idea of him if not him. Admit it. And get over it. If not, you'll never move on." Ginny said sadly. " I know I sound harsh, but it's for your own good. I know it doesn't affect Ron at all like it does you. Say whatever you want to, but you and I both know that when it comes to you two, even though he loves you with all his heart as a friend, if there ever was anyone who'd get hurt in this equation, it would be you."
She looked beseechingly at her best friend of almost 13 years before she left, to leave Hermione alone with her letter.
Hermione stood alone in the kitchen for almost a minute without moving. Everything that Ginny had said was true. More than true. Hermione herself could not have put it in better words.
She and Ron were so highly dysfunctional that if it were the same situation with other people then Hermione was sure she herself would be judgmental about a relationship like that.
But she couldn't help it. She just couldn't.
Ron had been her first love. And she had been his. Granted, they had never acted upon it when the time was right and somehow with the war and their careers and life generally getting in the way, the magic had dissolved and somehow it all became a thing of the past. They had never openly acknowledged it with each other but somewhere she knew that both had known about it.
Her reasons for not doing anything about it at first was uncertainty. She really didn't know then if he felt as strongly as she did. And if he didn't, she wouldn't have been able to bear the rejection. Also, the negative impact it would have on their friendship was massive. Not only would she lose Ron as a best friend but also their dynamics with Ginny and Harry would change.
If anything were to go wrong with Hermione and Ron, Ginny and Harry's loyalties would be torn in half. At that time with their lives in danger it seemed too much of a risk to take. Also on retrospection she was more of a lets be happy with what we have than covet for more and make things worse.
So she had decided that having Ron as a friend for the rest of her life was way safer than having him as anything more.
And over the years, it proved to be a good decision. Inspite of the obvious something that they both shared, their friendship blossomed and Hermione realised that her childhood love was clearly meant to be only her childhood story. She loved Ron. But she wasn't in love with him anymore. And it wasn't a sad revelation or anything. It just happened over time. Smoothly. Without any heartache or pain involved. Maybe Ron being away so often had helped the situation.
He didn't want to settle in England and was away in the United States of America as a beater for their national quidditch team. He loved it and seeing his potential, the coaches had granted him the spot without much thinking.
Sure, it was hard at first to see him go. But it had been 6 years now and she had gotten used to the idea. She had been through all his relationships and he knew everything about hers. They constantly talked over the phone. Wizards in America were extremely muggle technology friendly. So Hermione knew all about his conquests. It had hurt the first time, talking to him about his new girlfriend. She had even given him advice on how to date a girl. But later, it just started getting easier since they were used to talking about everything with each other. He encouraged her to stop being boring and go out with fun guys and she constantly told him he was better than someone dating bimbos. But Ron didn't want a serious relationship yet. He wanted to focus on his career and he thought that having a serious girlfriend would hamper that.
Hermione didn't really agree with his logic but understood how he could so easily be distracted. Thus if Ron needed to excel at something, it needed his undivided attention.
Hermione, on the other hand, preferred to be in it for the long haul. That is why she had realised that she and Ron would never work. They may love each other. But they would never work as a couple. And she had come to accept that. She had no regrets about it.
Except maybe one. She would never know what it would be like to be with Ron.
It would always be an enigma. A mystery. There was an attraction, a pull between them whenever they would meet. A kind of tension which emanated only when they met.
They wrote so much to each other, they spoke so often over the phone. But it just wasn't the same as it was when they met. There was always something residual. Something nagging. Something incomplete. Something that was missing. Something that was so pent up from all the years of yearning.
Of course the dam had to burst sometime. All the years of history and pent up emotions had over flown their boundaries the year before last when Ron had come to visit.
That was when a lot of words were exchanged and feelings were acknowledged. That was also when they had mutually decided to finally be mature about their status by separating their current attraction from their existing relationship.
By becoming friends with benefits.
And never talking about it when he wasn't here.
The only 2 rules were:
It could never ever harm their friendship come what may, because that was one thing that was unanimously precious to both.
And the other was that if ever either of them found someone they wanted to get serious with, the arrangement would be off and everything would go back to normal. And everyone would be happy again.
Yes, it was unusual. And highly unhealthy.
And absurdly dysfunctional.
