Strangers
It was the day before Valentine's Day the next time Hermione saw Ron and Harry. Her last awkward experience with Ron was completely out of her head as she was so happy to see the two. The boys had agreed to meet Hermione and Ginny at the Hogs Head for a small celebration. Ginny was dressed up in a nice light pink top and skinny jeans for the occasion, her hair done up in a bun. Hermione caught the spirit of things from her overly excited friend and put on a nice pair of slacks and a rose adorned top.
They walked to Hogsmeade with the throng of other students and stopped off at the pub to meet their boyfriends. Both boys were wearing their work attire as they had taken an hour off to see the girls. Ginny practically swallowed Harry's tongue upon their greeting, Hermione gave Ron a chaste kiss.
"How's school?" Harry asked the girls.
"Boring," Ginny replied immediately.
"Not nearly as much fun as it used to be," Hermione admitted. "I love the work, but I miss you two!"
"Well I can't say that I miss the school," Ron told his companions. "But it's good to see you girls. George might as well brand me as his servant. If he needs something done I'm the first he calls."
"Well it's sweet," Hermione told him. "He's wanting to include you."
"He wants to enslave me, more like," Ron grumbled.
"Oh, Ron, get over it. George needs a friend to help him run the store," Ginny admonished. "I would think that you would want to help him. He's your brother."
"You sound just like Mum," Ron told her at which she reddened considerably and probably would have walloped him had Harry not been between them. "Good luck with that one, mate," he said to Harry.
"What about work?" Hermione asked, changing the subject. "How do you like it, Harry?"
"I love it. Moody really got me interested…well the fake Moody, anyway. I think the real one would have gotten me interested as well."
"I can't wait to be an auror!" Ginny said, getting up. "It'll be amazing working with Harry!" She walked over to the bar and placed her order for four butter beers with Madam Rosmerta.
"I don't think Mum will think it's all that amazing," Ron said before his sister returned. "She wants Ginny to be something less dangerous."
"Ginny will do what she wants," Harry replied. "I don't think Voldemort himself would have been able to stop her." His friends laughed.
"True. She nearly punched out Draco Malfoy in potions the other day for calling her a 'Weaselette,'" Hermione told the boys. "He might be friendly enough to be passably innocent, but he and Ginny will never be on good terms."
"Who would want to be on good terms with that prat?" Ron asked as Ginny sat down with four butter beers in her hands.
"What prat?" she asked, handing them out.
"Malfoy," Ron said, rolling his eyes.
"Is Hermione going on about him being a good person now?" Ginny asked. "She apparently thinks that he can change. I think the little slime should rot in Azkaban."
"He did help us out," Harry pointed out.
"Only because he was afraid of Voldemort and was praying to Merlin that you would get rid of him so the Malfoys could go on being evil on their own."
"Well said, Gin," Ron said, tapping his butter beer to hers." Harry and Hermione were a little more accepting of the blonde than their counterparts, but said nothing. Unless a Weasley wanted to believe something it was useless to argue about it.
The rest of their hour was spent joking about the season, even though obviously both girls were excited about it. Both of them joined in, however, not wanting to look too girly. Hermione was sad to see Harry and Ron disapparate outside of the pub, but knew that if she was patient they would all be able to get necessary evils out of the way and get on with what they really wanted to be doing.
She and Ginny walked around the village for a while, looking around shops at the various festive decorations and new items on sale. Hermione picked up a few quills and some chocolate at Honeyduke's then followed her red haired friend back up to the castle. It would be a while longer before she would be able to see her best friends. Harry was going on assignment for a few months and Ron was busy helping George out. She probably wouldn't see either of them until her graduation ceremony.
An owl came for Hermione in mid-April from Ron. Pigwigideon circled the great hall at breakfast before coming to rest in the middle of Hermione's plate of eggs. She rolled her eyes, realizing that Pig ate like the animal of his namesake and untied the scroll from his left leg. She opened the letter and read the following:
'Hermione,
I can't believe I haven't seen you in two months. Things are slowing down here at the shop and I know you're probably studying like mad for your NEWTS, but I'd like to see you. When are you free. Maybe you could come here for a weekend or something.
~Ron'
She pulled a self-inking quill out of her bag and scratched a hasty reply that she could see him over the weekend if he was free, then attached the reply to Pig's leg and sent him off, back to Ron. She thought about her boyfriend through half of History of Magic. Fortunately she had read ahead the previous night and already had the notes so she wasn't missing much. It was rare for Ron to be sentimental. She found it strange that he would want to see her, but she wanted to see him after all and had hopes of him wanting to be a little more connected with her.
It was true that they didn't owl each other that often and fireplace calls were out of the question because of the other students in the common room, so perhaps he was feeling the loss of her like she was missing him. She smiled inwardly, and thought about the day dream charm that George had given her for Christmas. Perhaps she would use it that evening and prepare herself more for her encounter with Ron.
She certainly didn't want to move too fast with him, but felt that it was alright to move a little further than she had let him go the last time. She wanted to express her feelings for Ron, but really wanted to find an emotional connection that was stronger as well as a physical one. She really hoped that Ron understood. She spent the rest of the morning thinking about how wonderful it would be when they really connected with one another.
Hermione dressed up a bit for her departure on Friday evening. She was scheduled to arrive at the Burrow at 6 for dinner and had waited until five thirty to make her way down to the gates so she could apparate. With the bottomless bag slung over her shoulder she traipsed down to the gates and once outside, turned on the spot. The Burrow came in to view and she took a deep breath, glad that she would get to see Ron. Ginny had opted to stay at school with friends so it would just be Hermione and Ron along with Ron's parents and George for dinner.
"Hello, Hermione!" Mrs. Weasley greeted her beaming. "We're glad you decided to visit for the weekend. We had hoped Ginny would come along too, but she's got quidditch practice and all that…we understand."
"Hi," Ron greeted from the couch.
"Hello, Ron."
"I'll let you two kids have a moment while I get the food on the table. It's lovely to see you, dear," Mrs. Weasley said with a wink.
"I've missed seeing you," he told her as soon as his mother was out of earshot.
"I've missed you too," she replied. She threw her arms around him and he reciprocated her embrace.
"I just figured we could talk and stuff if you came here this weekend," he said by way of explanation when they broke apart.
"Right. Well I'm glad you asked me. I've been dying to see you and Harry. School just isn't right without you two. I'm glad it's almost over."
Ron laughed. "I never thought I'd hear you say that you want school to be over," he told her. She returned his smile.
"Neither did I."
"I half-expected it sooner," George said as he entered the Burrow. "Glad you two are having a lovely little reunion, but if it's gonna get mushy take it outside."
"Hi, George," Hermione greeted him.
"Hello to you too."
"Why did you think that she'd ever get tired of school?" Ron asked his older brother.
George shrugged. "You have to sometime. And sure she's a genius and all, but she's got a wild streak in her somewhere…I can tell it."
Ron rolled his eyes. "That's what you said about Verity as well."
"I was right, though, wasn't I?" George asked with a huge wink.
"You are not testing that particular theory on my girlfriend!" Ron told him, leading Hermione into the kitchen by the hand. George simply laughed and followed them to the table.
After dinner Hermione took a walk in the garden with Ron. They didn't talk at first, both sated from the good food and thinking about other things, just content to be in the company of others, then Ron asked her to sit down beside him on a small bench. He took her hand and she thought that perhaps he was about to say something either really sweet or really important.
"I think we should see other people." The statement came out in a rush and she was frozen, unsure if she had actually heard Ron say the phrase that could crush her heart to bits. "It's not that I don't want to be with you, but I've been thinking. We're apart so much that maybe we could see other people until we can be together exclusively. I still want to be your boyfriend, but…could we…"
The tears were starting to well up in Hermione's eyes and she tried to swallow to unlock her throat. Ron was actually trying to break up with her. When she opened her mouth a sound like that of a wounded animal poured forth. Ron was obviously taken aback. "I still want to be with you…but we should see other people as well," he tried again.
She couldn't breathe. Hermione couldn't breathe. Ron had broken up with her and her lungs were refusing to work. After a moment the burning sensation of being smothered spread over her internal organs and she whimpered again. Her vision was growing cloudy, but Ron couldn't know that. She wasn't breathing…
Hermione woke up with three concerned faces floating above her. Slowly the faces spread out and became bodies, and then she recognized the faces and felt like she wanted to throw up all the food that had been presented to her at dinner. Ron and his parents were looking her over with concern all over their faces. "What happened?" Mrs. Weasley wanted to know.
"She just stopped breathing!" Ron said. That wasn't true, Hermione wanted to protest. What had happened was that the man she had loved for several years who had finally agreed to be her boyfriend told her he wanted to get rid of her…and then she stopped breathing. She was levitated into the air by Mr. Weasley and they followed her into the house and upstairs. Mrs. Weasley changed her and tucked her into bed, then Ron came back in.
Hermione felt like a stranger was staring at her as she lay helpless in bed. She hadn't tried talking again, but at least she was breathing. "I'm sorry, Hermione," He said quietly. She didn't reply, merely looking up at him with teary eyes. He walked out after a moment and left her to think about what had happened in the garden.
He still wanted to be her boyfriend, a part of her said. But he wanted other girls, the rational half of her replied taking charge. She couldn't figure out why he would want other people while he was away. Was he not committed to her enough to wait for her to finish a bit of school? She only had a month or so left! Of course he wanted to be an auror. He had planned on working for George over the summer and then starting his training. But Harry was an auror and he still only wanted Ginny. Hermione was dying inside, trying to figure out why she wasn't good enough for Ron. She was still wonder when dawn broke and she had to get up and go face him for the rest of the day.
