When Hermione entered the Ministry Monday morning she encountered a few more stares and glares than unusual. It wasn't until she entered the Department of Mysteries that she found out what was going on from the department's gossip loving receptionist.
"Ms. Granger if it's true you should be ashamed." The receptionist announced as Hermione walked through the door.
"If what's true Dahla?"
"That you crashed Harry Potter and Ron Weasley's welcome home party and that you interrupted Mr. Weasley's proposal to" she checked the article to get it right, "long-time love Lavender Brown. It also says you got into a heated argument with her."
"What?" Hermione asked and grabbed the paper. "This is insane; if you must know, I was invited and trust me when I say that Ron has no intention of marrying Lavender Brown."
"Well according to Rita Skeeter…"
Hermione interrupted her, "I've had enough of Rita Skeeter. I should have done more about this a long ago but now that they are back, they can put a stop to her outrageous lies."
"What are you muttering about Ms. Granger?" She said with a false smile.
"Nothing, I just have a few things to take care of." Hermione left reception area and headed to her office to make a few floo calls.
I couldn't believe what I was reading in the paper. What was worse was that mum believed the part about a proposal and had been crying all morning that Hermione messed it up.
"Mum, for the millionth time I don't have any interest in Lavender. I have no idea what she's been telling you but we broke up when I was in seventeen. I'm twenty-three now."
"But she's such a sweet girl."
"Mum, I hate to break it to you but she's a conniving bitch; besides."
Mum looked appalled and my dad, who was on his way out the door laughed but turned and said, "Don't use that kind of language son. That's just a taste of what has been going on while you've been gone." He told me pointing at the paper. "I'll see you and Harry for lunch."
"Why would you say that about her?" My mum asked.
"Don't you think it's strange the way she's wormed into your life? She's the one telling the papers that we were going to get married when I can't stand to be in the same room with her. She's using you to get to me, but I don't want her."
Harry entered the kitchen and I showed him the article, to which he laughed almost uncontrollably. "I told you that you'd never live it down."
After breakfast, we headed to the Ministry. There were several things that we needed to have taken care of apparently. After bearing the crowd of onlookers in the lobby, we headed to the Education Department to discuss taking an equivalency test to get our Hogwarts diplomas. Apparently the test was not needed; they awarded our diplomas in absentia.
Feeling a little like I had cheated on my OWLS, we headed down to the Associate Minister's office. This was a most peculiar meeting; the various Ministry departments paraded in, told us about their departments and what job openings they had available. I used to desperately want to be an Auror but even though it was a logical choice for both of us, we had to turn them down. Harry and I were sick of fighting off dark magic.
Harry didn't seem interested in any of the offers but I had my eye on one. There was a junior position available in the Department of Sport. It wasn't much but I'd be working with various quidditch teams and organizing some of their events. I didn't accept; decided to think about it.
We promised to meet dad for lunch and headed to the lobby to meet him. As we rounded the corner, I literally ran into Hermione sending us both to the floor. I was surrounded by people immediately all helping me up and checking my condition; Hermione, on the other hand, was left to her own devices. Harry couldn't help but laugh at me and the fuss that was made. He then reached down and helped Hermione before she was trampled.
"Are you alright Mr. Weasley? We saw the whole thing and I'm willing to state for the record that she attacked you." The man turned and gave Hermione the evil eye.
"I didn't attack him." She said in protest while dusting herself off.
"Don't try to lie, we all saw." The man countered.
A woman from the crowd spoke up too. "I've read all about you young lady. Why don't you leave these two young men alone? It's plain to everyone they want nothing to do with you or your muggle-born ways."
Hermione looked like she was ready to spit daggers but I interrupted, "She didn't attack me, I rounded the corner and ran into her knocking us both down."
Harry then added, "Ms. Granger has never done anything and what you read in the paper is all lies."
Hermione mouthed a word of thanks before sprinting off.
"What's going on here?" Asked my father as he came upon the scene.
"Nothing Minister." Was the reply and everyone scattered off.
We decided to head to the Leaky Cauldron and once we were there Harry relayed the entire incident to my father. "Like I said before, that's what the poor girl has dealt with. I almost guarantee that this evening's Prophet will have a story about her attacking the two of you. I'll need to do damage control or she'll be fired."
I felt terrible and my lunch, though delicious, wasn't very satisfying. We talked about the jobs that were available at the Ministry and my father offered us his advice.
"I think with the reward money we'll receive and what I have left from my parents, I'm going to lay low for a while and just rest." Announced Harry.
"That sounds good."
"Ron, your reward money affords you the chance to take the job you want without having to worry about the pay. I have a feeling you'll be promoted soon enough anyway."
Dad took a bite of his lunch and went on. "Oh, I had a very interesting visit today from the editor of the Prophet wanting to get exclusive interviews with you two. I told her that she'd have to approach you two. Then she asked if Hermione was actually invited to your party; when I told her yes, she muttered something about a fact checker. Something else she muttered made me think that Hermione might actually be threatening to sue the Prophet."
"Why didn't Hermione just sue before since they were obviously printing lies?" Harry wondered.
"Well, before they told her they were allowed to print theories. You two weren't here to prove they were lies so they just kept on printing one story after the next. After a while, she just gave up. But now that you two are here, you might be able to help her. I'm sure she'd appreciate it."
I sat there looking at me desert and the side order of guilt my father just handed me.
That evening, Harry and I wanted to check the paper for available flats; I never thought I'd be ready to leave the Burrow so soon. As I flipped to the real estate section, sure enough there was a small article on what happened at the Ministry. It didn't actually say that Hermione had attacked me but reading between the lines one would surmise that.
To my surprise there was still a one bedroom flat available in Hermione's building. While Harry thought it was a horrible idea, I thought it was brilliant. Having been attached at the hip for the past five years, Harry and I agreed that we had no desire to live together anymore. Harry was interested in a small cottage not far from Godric's Hollow.
"I think I'll go and take a look at that place tomorrow." I told Harry.
"I hope you're not making a mistake."
My mum came into the living room distraught, "Why do you want to leave me again so soon?"
"Because I'm an adult mum, I need to be on my own. It's not like I won't come by."
"I have to agree with Harry that it's a bad idea for you to live in Ginny's building. Not that I don't want you to be close to your sister, it's just that I don't want Hermione to break your heart again."
"Mum, I'm the one who broke hers." I left for my bedroom and decided that I definitely needed out of the Burrow.
I couldn't get an appointment with the building manager until Friday and hoped that I'd be able to see Hermione while I was there. As I approached the building, I saw her walking from the other end of the street carrying some coffee. When she saw me, she stopped for a second, and then continued on.
"What are you doing here? Ginny's at work and I have to be to work in an hour."
"I'm actually here to see about a flat." I could tell that this shocked her a bit.
"Oh, well it's a nice building. The manager's office is over there." She said pointing to the painfully obvious door that bore the words building manager.
"Maybe I could see you when I'm through."
"I really do have to be to work in an hour. Every other Friday my boss lets us come in at nine."
"Right, you said that. Well, how about tonight? We could go to dinner."
"I kind of have a date tonight. Some other night though." She added as she saw my face fell. My heart felt like it was in my shoes.
'Sure, sure, some night soon." I said and she retreated up the stairs and I went to meet with the building manager.
The apartment was perfect. It was small without being too small so there wasn't a lot to keep up with. The manager, Franco, seemed happy to have me for a tenant when I signed my lease. He asked if Harry Potter might frequent the building and when I said probably, one would have thought he had won a Gringott's lottery.
After returning home and breaking the news to my mum, we set off shopping for furniture and other things for my new flat. Harry had gone to visit Remus so it was just me and my mum. I actually had a good time shopping. It was difficult to get used to being able to afford what I wanted. The various stores would shrink the large items and give me the spell to undo them after I moved in.
"I say we go out to dinner to celebrate. I could invite Lavender if you'd like."
I gave out a loud yell of frustration that scared my mother and passersby. "If I hear her name again, I'll move out and not come to visit. Please stop it with her okay."
"Well, alright dear. There's no need to shout. You're right though, I should just let it happen on its own. Besides there will be a lot of competition for you." She smiled and I felt like I was suddenly at a meat market and I was up for auction.
"Whatever mum, let's just go."
To my great surprise Ginny and Chris agreed to join us for dinner. Lupin and Tonks had already asked Harry to stay for dinner so it would just be a family affair. I'm sure he was relieved to have alternative plans. My parents, myself, Ginny and Chris went to dinner at a new restaurant in Diagon Alley that opened up just after the end of the war. With the crowd that was there, I gathered it was very popular.
"Weasley, party of five. We made reservations." My mum said to the hostess.
"Of course, just one moment while I'll check on your table."
I looked around the busy restaurant and my eyes fell on the beautiful creature having a drink at the bar. Of all the places to come to, we chose the one where Hermione was going to have her date. Just then she noticed us and gave a polite wave. Ginny excused herself to say a quick hello.
Chris tapped me on the arm and said in a low voice, "Gin's told me there's some history there." He indicated Hermione.
"Yes, I'm sure you know the story of us leaving." Chris nodded. "I basically betrayed her."
Chris gave me a quizzical look, "come on it can't be that bad. You were a kid after all."
"Yeah but I've heard that those wounds seem to hurt the most."
"Your right I think. My sister still talks about the first boy who broke her heart back in school. Mind you this is my oldest sister who's married with three kids."
I laughed, "Well that might not bode well for me then. Do you have a big family?"
"Yep, I'm sort of the inverse of Ginny. I'm the only boy with four sisters."
"Four sisters? I don't envy you; one is enough."
Chris agreed but switched back to the original topic. "I wouldn't give up on her. I think she still has some feelings for you from the way she's always talked about you. I'll warn you though…they weren't all good; but it was the way she said it."
"Thanks." I replied as Ginny returned and the hostess came to take us to our table. I looked back and saw Hermione's date enter and meet her at the bar. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and grabbed her drink while he went to talk to the hostess. She saw me and gave a small smile before returning her attention to the unfamiliar man.
I hardly celebrated during dinner. I was happy Ginny was there and understood that they came at Chris's urging, which I appreciated. Throughout the meal I would glance in Hermione's direction and a few times I caught her looking at me. They finished first and it killed me to see her leave with him. My family continued to talk around me but I was lost in my thoughts of the unintended consequences of having left her behind.