I just want to say thank you to PrimroseEverdeen for your review. It means alot! Let me know how you think the story's going! :D

11th November 2002

It was the following morning and Ron was back at his flat, showered, shaved and officially sobered up. His bags were packed and the portkey was set up to go to London in an hour. He was ready. But yet, he wasn't ready.

He knew that it must be done but he was not looking forward to seeing the livid faces of the Weasleys once he got back. Bill and George would probably go to the extremes of actually beating him up. Come to think of it.. his mom and Ginny would probably go to the extremes of beating him up...

Ron shuddered at the thought. Ginny was still rather good at those bat bogey hexes and, come to think of it, much worse..

He grinned to himself as he leant against the wall of his flat but that grin soon faded. Looking around him, he didn't get that warm, safe feeling that you're supposed to get when you look around your home. The walls were bare, he hadn't bothered to decorate. There was hardly any furniture, he didn't really need it as he spent most of his time at the bar or in bed. Also, his clothes were strewn all over the floor which did make the place look a little more lived in, if you're feeling in a positive mood. But really, it was a dump.

He'd lived there for ages now, but it still didn't feel like home to him. Maybe it's because his family and loved ones were no-where near him and that he still felt lost in the city of Rimini. After all, he hadn't got up to much exploring in the time that he'd been there. Well, he hadn't even been further than the local bar, to be honest. He did not feel the need and nothing in this place was even remotely interesting.

Why had he even come to Italy in the first place?

Oh yeah... She used to talk about it all the time.

He never saw the fascination in the place himself, but it was the first place that popped into his mind when..well.. he bailed.

That's just great. His thoughts always seemed to lead to Hermione sooner or later, no matter what he started off thinking about.

Who was he kidding? She was all he thought about! As expected of course, their parting did cause a huge disruption in his life and probably hers too.

He always tried to keep his mind off it, but every time he failed miserably. Quidditch failed, His family failed, His work failed, Harry failed. Hell, even Isabella failed, and that girl was hot.

He knew it was silly to think that he could escape it, but he was scared. Scared of facing up to it. Scared of not being able to help Hermione in her darkest time. He felt like he'd failed her and before, he didn't have the strength to pick up the pieces of his mistakes.

He remembered the day he left as clearly as he remembered Hermiones face. It haunted him every second of every day and he could not get rid of it. Even when using a pensieve, the thought of it lingered on in his mind like a ghost and though he didn't have to remember the actual event, he still knew that he had left.

It started off with just a normal gathering in the three broomsticks with him, Hermione, Harry and Ginny.

9th February 2001

"Errggghh, get me a firewhiskey. Now."

Ginny groaned as she slumped down on the seat opposite Hermione, next to Harry. Ron immediately motioned to Janet, the bartender, to get the drink as soon as possible otherwise they would all have to suffer the wrath of the exhausted red headed women.

They'd all decided to go for a drink at the three broomsticks, to give them all a chance to catch up. Unfortunately, Ginnys quidditch training was very demanding and so she was tired and grumpy almost every evening except for Sundays which was her day off. She had only agreed to join them in the first place with a little persuasion from Harry which Ron didn't really want to know the full details for.

"Still training good and hard Gin?" He asked as he sipped his drink.

She glared at him icily and snapped "You don't know the half of it Weasley"

"Erm, helloo. Former keeper on the gryffindor quidditch team here! This guy" - He motioned to Harry, who looked sheepish -" worked us nearly to death. For days i had to keep ice on my-"

But he was interrupted by a painful slap on the head. He turned to Hermione, his face in a scowl.

"What d'ja do that for?!"

She just stared at him, stonily before replying:

"There are some things better left unsaid, Ronald"

Ron sat back moodily in his chair whereas Ginny looked as if Christmas had come early.

"Oh come on Ron! That was in the school team, i'm in the Holyhead Harpies! I have to work 10 times harder than you had to! It kills to sit on a broom for 8 hours straight every day"

But her mood had lifted considerably since the affliction of pain on her older brother.

Harry noticed the bitterness in Rons expression and thought it best to chance the subject. So they kept up idle chit chat of things such as George and Angelinas wedding last October and the upcoming birthday of Bill and Fleurs daughter, Victoire, in may. As it may be apparent, they were running out of the things to talk about until,

"Hey have you heard about that new assignment that we're meant to be getting soon, Harry?" Said Ron as he suddenly remembered his previous conversation with the head of the auror department. After school he and Harry had both been offered jobs at the ministry as aurors without having to complete their N.E. . Harry had been offered the top job available which was a stage lower than the head of the department, but he had declined the offer. He said that he wanted a little bit of peace and didn't feel up to the stress of the job. It was only natural that Harry got offered the job and Ron accepted this with full support. However, once Harry declined, they offered the job to him and he was thrilled. He accepted and had been working hard at it ever since.

"Oh yeah, Franco told me. It's meant to be pretty serious"

Here he turned to Ginny and Hermione and started to explain..

"We're not really meant to say, so don't breath a word to anyone, but there's been quite a few strange attacks lately around London"

Ginny suddenly perked up and looked at him with wide eyes.

"They know that it's not the work of muggles because there's been loads of incidences with the killing curse but also, many people have gone missing. Men, women, i think about 20 people have disappeared in the last week."

Ginny gasped and covered her mouth with her hands, "I had no idea, there's been nothing in the daily prophet about this!" She exclaimed

"Well, the ministry's trying to keep it all hushed up" Explained Ron, with a sigh. "They suspect it's the work of remaining death eaters and they don't want the public to get all worked up about it before we can find out what's really going on."

"Yeah" Continued Harry "and they feel that we should start up the order of the phoenix again and plan some form of action if it does turn out to be death eaters. But first, Franco, you know, the head of the auror department?" Ginny and Hermione nodded "Well he's sending us all off to inspect the missing peoples homes more carefully and search them room to room to make sure nobody's missed anything, which Rons in charge of."

"A little tedious isn't it?" Asked Ginny

"A little, but it needs to be done. we don't have any more leads. I mean, majority of the death eaters are in Azkaban now and those who aren't, are going to be questioned but other than that we have no reason to suspect them really. I can tell this is going to be stressful." Explained Ron.

Harry agreed and took quite a few gulps of his firewhiskey which ended up in him coughing and spluttering with Ginny thumping on his back to try to help.

While this was going on Ron turned to Hermione and noticed that she had gone deathly pale and was fidgeting with her hands; something she only did when she was nervous or guilty. She had hardly spoke all evening but she hadn't spoken at all since they starting talking about work. Just as he was about to question her on this she stood up abruptly and said

"Erm, i think i'll just go home now. I'm pretty tired"

Ginny stopped hitting Harry on the back and looked up at her questioningly

"But it's only 8 o'clock.."

"I know but its been a long day and.. i just want to go home is all. I'll talk to you all later" Grabbing her coat, she ran outside before anyone could get another word in.

Ron was extremely worried about her but Harry persuaded him that it was probably nothing to worry about and Ginny backed him up by saying she was probably just "On her period". After this, Ron preferred not question it any further and ordered another drink.

He'd spent a long time at the 'sticks, longer than he had expected. It was late and he'd had a few too many drinks, but he was happy. He expected Hermione to be asleep when he got back so he tried to be as quiet as he could, but when he looked in the bedroom, the bed was empty. Undisturbed. He checked around the whole flat and called her name several times but she was nowhere to be seen. It was 1 o'clock in the morning, where was she?!

He was starting to get seriously worried as he checked the bedroom again in desperation, but then he heard a crashing sound in the study. Their flat was pretty big with a few bedrooms, a living room, 2 bathrooms, a dining room and a little hallway off the living room with the study and a cupboard at the end of it. He hurriedly pulled out his wand and crept silently but quickly to the study door which was ajar. He peeped in and saw Hermione crouched on the floor, a broken vase next to her. He relaxed considerably but then noticed that silent tears were pouring down her face and he wondered why she was so upset about a broken vase..

That's when he noticed the blood. A small puddle of blood underneath her but he couldn't identify where it was coming from. He noticed bruises on her face and his initial reaction was to rush in to her and hold her in his arms but a part of him refused. He had remained terrified about his distance with Hermione but had shoved it to the back of his mind. This scene in front of him forced it to resurface and he felt paralyzed with fear. He knew that she would not be responsive. She wouldn't explain how this had happened to her. He'd noticed strange bruises on her before but she'd brushed them off, saying that she'd fallen over. He knew she was lying.

He suddenly felt small and claustrophobic like he was in a little ignorant bubble. He had to get out. He had to get now, he couldn't stay here any longer. Not now, not when his presence was not helping and probably only making things worse.

So he left. He rushed to the bedroom, grabbed a few vital possessions and apparated away.

A decision that he would regret for the rest of his life.

What do people think about Rons reason for leaving? Do you think it was realistic? ~ xXxRomioneLovexXx