Chapter 1:
Sugar, We're Going Down

Am I more than you bargained for yet
I've been dying to tell you anything you want to hear
Cause that's just who I am this week
Lie in the grass, next to the mausoleum
I'm just a notch in your bedpost
But you're just a line in a song
-Fall Out Boy

Aparating right in front of an all too familiar wooden door, Ginny Weasley knocked on it hastily. She looked around and behind her, in a paranoid way, as if someone was following her. After pounding with her small fist a couple times, she gave up and turned the cold metal knob, realizing that it had been unlocked all along. As she pulled the door open a little, a strong pungent odor reached her.

The rather small, lonely and messy apartment smelled strongly of beer, cigarette smoke and sex.

She found him on the couch. He was snoring, with all of his long limbs hanging off and touching the dirty brown carpet. He was shirtless, and wore a pair of simple black shorts. She was grateful for that. His hair was beyond untidy and he smelled like sweat mixed with dragon dung. When was the last time he showered? Ginny shook her head, and looked around at the apartment once more, even sticking her head in the kitchen. After a glimpse of the many dishes in the sink, she retreated back to the living room.

It was a pig-sty.

He was a wizard, with a wand, and with the infinite number of cleaning spells that existed, why did his place look like such a mess? Was he really too lazy to just flick his wand and recite
a few words? Or was he more comfortable in this type of environment? After growing up in a magical household all his life, the witch figured he'd continue living like that.

Ginny walked over empty beer bottles, fast-food wrappers, and other various items that littered the floor as she got closer to the couch.

"Ron," she called, shoving his shoulder. He slurred and a line of drool left his mouth, yet his eyes were still shut closed. She pushed him again, this time hard enough to make him tumble off the piece of furniture and onto the floor. There was a rather loud thump that followed. She rolled her eyes, "Well that's one way to wake him up."

"Fuck," his voice was coarse. He looked up and noticed his younger sister standing above him with her arms crossed over her chest. He gripped his hair in pain, wondering what he drank last night to make him feel this way. Swallowing as much saliva down his throat as possible, he continued, "Gin, what the hell are you doing here? It's impolite to intrude someone's apartment so early in the morning, especially unannounced."

He looked up and down at the form of his sister, noticing how much she has grown over the few months since he's last seen her. Her hair was shorter than he could remember and her eyes were decorated with black eyeliner. Since when did she start wearing makeup?

She didn't even bother to look at the watch that adored her tiny wrist, "Ron, it's two o'clock in the afternoon."

"Well you don't see me barging into your house at two in the afternoon."

She rolled her eyes once more, "You don't even know where I live."

It was true. She had moved from the Burrow years ago and he never bothered to visit her at her new place regardless of how many times she invited him. He didn't even know the address, not that he would ever want it anyway. A part of her felt like it was because of the roommate she used to live with. Whenever she invited him to come over, he would always flat out decline her offers.

He would instead spend the night at a bar with the crazy regulars.

"What do you want?" His voice sounded annoyed, "I have quite a busy day ahead of me," he scratched his bare chest with one hand and rubbed his eye sleepily with the other. With a confused look on her face, Ginny couldn't possibly imagine what his busy day consisted of. From what she knew, he was unemployed, single and had very few friends.

"I came to bring you something."

"You couldn't send it by owl?"

"It's kind of important, I wanted to give it to you in person."

"What's so important that you had to come all this way to interrupt me from my sleep?"

"I'm getting married," she announced.

She stuck a squared white envelope out at him, which he could only presume was the invitation. On the front of it was his name written out in a pretty cursive handwriting that he knew belonged to the woman standing in front of him. Was she serious about this? Was she really going to get married? Wasn't it just the other day she was studying for OWLS and casting jelly-leg jinxes on Fred
and George?

He gagged.

Ron finally stood up from the floor and snatched the envelope from her hand, "You're getting married? Who would wanna marry you?" It sort of blurted out of his mouth. His head was pounding because of the hangover and didn't realize the harshness of his voice. He rubbed a large hand over his pale face then scratched his chin, discovering that he hasn't shaved in a while as well.

From the moment she got engaged and started inviting people to the wedding, it was done with a large smile on her face. Yet, this time she seemed irritated at her closest brother whom didn't even seem excited for her. Her family and friends had congratulated her with hugs and kisses, however her own brother stood there without a single shred of compassion.

Ginny wondered what type of cheap drugs or tonic her brother was on to make him act this way. Sure, a lot of things had changed in the past couple years- but this? He knew that she and Harry had been together since the war ended, so why did he pretend to be so clueless? She was genuinely worried about him and felt tears welling up in her eyes. A part of her wasn't sure if the tears were because of the abrasiveness of his actions or the fact that she was expecting him to care.

"Here," he handed the envelope back to her, "It's not like I'm actually going to go."

"Ron..."

"There's going to be people there that I really don't want to see."

"B-But-"

He sighed, "Look I'm just saving you the trouble from now. You don't have to reserve a seat for me or anything," he waved the invitation for emphasis, "You can give this to someone else, someone who's actually going to show up," his face was serious and his eyes held no emotions. Ginny peered up at him, first thinking that he was kidding, but when his mouth didn't crack a smile, she blinked hastily.

Her freckled cheeks were now decorated with tears as they slid down her face. How could someone who loved her so much just a few years ago, be such a jerk to her now? He was her brother , sure she had five other ones, but he was the one who always stood by her side. They were the closest Weasley siblings- apart from Fred and George.

"I came here thinking that you would be happy for me. You are my brother, and I love you, but you cannot treat me like I am last week's trash," her round face was red with rage, "Actually last week's trash must be more important than me, considering you still have it laying around," she gestured toward the piles of junk around the apartment, "Everyone told me not to waste my time on you. Bill, Charlie, Percy, and even George... they all told me not to bother with even inviting you because they knew that you would act like this," she was breathing hard, "When was the last time you even saw Mum and Dad? Christmas? Of two years ago?"

She threw her hands up in frustration, and Ron blinked at her.

Shaking her head, a few more tears fell from her eyes and this time they were due to the anger building up in her chest. She walked to the door and gripped the knob hard, "You know," her back was facing him, "I came here today because I wanted to prove them wrong. I wanted to prove that you still had a heart somewhere inside of you. But in the end, I was the one who was wrong."

With a loud slam, she shut the door behind her.

Ronald Wealsey was left standing in the middle of his disgustingly messy living room, still clenching the envelope in his hand, feeling like the biggest asshole in the world. His baby sister was getting married and he just flat out admitted that he didn't want to go to her wedding. Is this what his life has dissolved to? She was right- it was bad enough that he hadn't seen his parents in years.

He could picture Percy clearly in his head, now calling him the biggest prat.

Oh my how things have changed.

Sunlight poured through the spotless windows and into the rather large kitchen as a young woman stood in front of the stove, stirring something delicious. A warm steam erupted from the large pot as she tippy toed to get a better view of the substance within. There was a bubbling substance inside and every so often she would throw in chopped vegetables and add spices depending on the flavor.

Soon, the entire kitchen smelled of onion and peppers.

"What's for dinner?"

Hermione Granger stiffened slightly as she felt someone creep up from behind her. She recognized the voice immediately and relaxed into his chest as he placed his hands on either sides of her hips affectionately. He often did this while she was cooking, and the witch really didn't mind. She continued stirring, "Chicken stew, your favorite," her voice was soft and delicate, like it always was when talking to him. Despite the summery brightness from outside, it was actually a rather chilly April day.

She leaned the back of her head on his warm chest as her famous curls framed her round face.

For a while, he watched as she cooked, but never released his affectionate hold of her petite body. Eventually, he tilted down so that his lips were brushing against the skin below her ear, "It smells yummy," he kissed her neck tenderly, and she moved her head slightly. The woman giggled as his mouth tickled a subtle part near her shoulder. Hermione turned around to face him, and wrapped both of her arms around his neck before planting a kiss on his lips.

He deepened the kiss instantly as his fingers trailed up the back of her t-shirt.

"Mmm, Cormac," she giggled and detached her lips from his before things were taken any further.

The tall man smiled as his face moved away from hers and she reached up to ruffle his dirty blonde hair. "How was work?" Her tone was mellow and tender as she massaged the top of his head. She knew that he loved when she did that, and when he closed his eyes slightly, she knew that he was really enjoying the feeling on his scalp.

"Stressful," he replied, "Coach was really pushing us hard today. Our season starts next month so he's being tough on us during practice. After our winning streak last year, it would be embarrassing if we lost our first games," he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the top of her forehead. His muscles felt sore and his body ached with every move he made. And after such a hard day, he really couldn't wait for the warm chicken stew to envelope the insides of his body.

"I guess this is what you have to go through, after all, being on the Puddlemore United team was always a dream of yours."

"I know," he smiled, "Even Wood was all worked out today after practice, which says something, because that guy is an animal when it comes to Quidditch."

Hermione laughed, remembering Oliver Wood from her days at Hogwarts when she was so much younger. The older Gryffindor student was known for his over-excessive obsession over the wizarding sport. The few times she actually talked to him during school, the conversations were almost always Quidditch related. The witch could even recall all the times Harry and Ron complained about him overworking them on the field during practice.

Ron.

Her heart fluttered and the happy expression on her face dropped.

"Are you okay?" Cormac must have notice the dramatic change because lifted her chin up with his pointer finger. He peered deeply into her coffee brown eyes, observing something that wasn't there before. Was it sorrow?

She faked a smile, "Oh yeah, I was just thinking about something else. It's not important," and when her boyfriend nodded and continued to explain the duration of his stressful day, Hermione's mind wandered to the certain redhead. When was the last time she heard his voice? When was the last time they saw each other? Actually talked? She remembered that he made an appearance during the battle at Hogwarts, and killed off a few death eaters, but was said to have disappeared afterwards. There was a rumor that he attended Fred's funeral, but the girl was in Australia retrieving her parents at the time.

She closed her eyes for a moment, picturing his bright blue ones.

Oh, Ron.

This story is really different from my other Ron/Hermione fic, and I wanted to try something new. It's sort of raw and tough for all characters as they go through their problems in life. Later in the story, you'll find that each character is going through their different issues.

Also, I can already tell that a few of you are upset from the whole Hermione and Cormac thing. I just want to make this clear: I am not a fan of Cormac McClaggen. In the books I thought he was a prick and I do not ship that couple. On the other hand, I am a huge Ron/Hermione fan, hence this fic. So don't worry, we all now that Cormac will be going bye-bye eventually.

At least she's not with Draco, right?

*Also, this is very important! I'm looking for a beta-reader for this story, so if you are interested, please pm me! Thank you.

xoxo Kelly