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Chapter 7:

After the small conversation with Harry this morning, I had been treating him a little harshly. But he had apparently, long forgotten the little mishap. I was doing the same thing to Autumn. If you want to be forward about it all, I was pretty much treating everyone like crap today, but I treated Harry and Autumn 10 time's worse.

I was outside on my balcony, avoiding the others, who were all talking in the dining room as they ate a pie I bought from a bakery.

I looked up at the cloudless, blue sky as I exhaled the smoke from my cigarette.

I was so tired of thinking about what I should do next. And I was really tired of thinking about Ron. But what else is there to put under consideration? But seriously, what's the next mission in my game plan? I'd always been so organized, and I was so skilled at knowing what I should do next. So feeling this empty inside was so foreign and disgusting to me. It's like I completely deflated.

"Are you coming in anytime soon? Or are you going to smoke yourself to death", a voice asked from the balcony door.

"Shut up, Autumn", I replied as I exhaled some more smoke.

"Wow, you sure are rude to him for him to be your best friend", the voice said. I turned around to find Ron with his hands in my pockets. "You coming back in so it can be all of us, just like old times?"

I snorted. Old times didn't include Samantha or Autumn. Old times didn't include this icy tension between all of us.

"No thanks. But I'll be out here if any of you need me", I said, turning back around to face the sky.

"Hermione, are you okay? Are you still sick from last night", Ron asked.

"No, I just wanted to be alone for a while", I said. He sighed.

"Hermione, you shouldn't have agreed to this if you were going to isolate us the whole time. Now Ginny, Harry, and I had really been looking forward to seeing you. And Samantha's been wanting to get to know you. Now that Fall, bloke is nice and all but we're not here for him. Can you please come and talk with us. For just one second", Ron pleaded. I looked at him, but tried to avoid his eyes because I knew it would just complicate things even further.

"I really wanted to smoke this cigarette, and I didn't want to harm the baby and everything. I'll be in there in an hour", I lied. I really didn't give a shit about my cigarette. My main objective was to get the hell out of the radar and let things go by for the rest of the week. I had no desire to talk with those bastards. All hopes of reuniting with my friends were beat up, stolen from, and had jumped off of a sixty foot cliff. I just wanted to get it over with.

Ron took the cigarette out of my hand, threw it on the ground, crushed it with his foot, picked it up, and threw it off of my balcony.

"What cigarette", he asked. I grunted and followed him inside, figuring it would seem really suspicious if I kept making excuses.

Everyone was still sitting there looking bored. Ron took his seat next to Samantha. I took a seat next to Harry, reluctantly.

"Ah, Hermione you're back", Harry said cheerfully. My cruelness towards Harry had not passed by unnoticed; as a matter of fact he'd been being extra nice to me.

I didn't reply. I simply took out my canteen of scotch, took a quick sip in slipped it back inside of my jacket pocket. I'm not an alcoholic or anything, I just felt like I needed to brace myself.

"Where'd you run off to", Autumn asked.

"I was smoking on the balcony", I replied curtly. He looked at me and rolled his eyes. Autumn was also stubborn, almost as stubborn as me, although he didn't dare try to retort.

"Hermione, you really shouldn't smoke and drink. It's very bad for your health", Ginny said.

"Yeah it can ruin your lungs, your teeth, and causes psychological changes in the brain", Samantha agreed. Great, she's cool, pretty, and smart, I thought there was no such thing as perfect?

"I know the side effects. I tried to quit but that didn't work out so well", I lied. I had never tried to quit, the thought never even crossed my mind.

"When was that", Autumn asked. He knew good and well I was lying but I was still too upset with him to feel guilty about it.

"Before I met you", I answered without meeting his eye.

"Well Hermione, what else have you been doing other than screwing up your health?", Ron asked.

"Nothing much I suppose", I retorted, "Why are we talking about me so much anyway? Let's talk about something happy and positive. As a matter of fact let's talk about the upcoming wedding."

I had no idea why those words had just escaped from my mouth. Perhaps I was just trying to hint to Harry and Autumn that I was so over Ron that I was capable of discussing his wedding. But I didn't want to hear about it. Did that mean Harry and Autumn were right? No. It's perfectly normal to not want to hear about your ex's wedding and his happy life.

"Oh! I'm so glad you asked, because I need a bridesmaid and I figured you'd be the perfect choice", Samantha said excitedly. I was paralyzed with shock. How did I manage to get myself into this?

"S-sure", I replied, but I wasn't sure at all. I was nauseous from the unease of the predicament and the mixture of so much alcohol.

"Great! The wedding is in April on the 27th. We have the colors all planned out, I've got my dress, and we've decided that it would be held at my parents' house in their garden. The reception will be on the inside, though. And now that we have you're okay we have all of the positions filled out in our wedding", Samantha said. She looked simply overjoyed. I felt guilty for feeling so bitter about their relationship in the first place.

"That's great. Are your parents' house nearby", I asked. I had no idea how I was managing to say anything. On the inside I felt like throwing up or maybe even getting the bloody hell out of this room.

"Oh that's the best part!", Ginny exclaimed, causing me to jump, "Her parents are filthy rich! They live in a castle, a real castle in Italy! It is so beautiful, Hermione, I just know you would fall in love with their library."

"It's really not that big, and we're not that rich", Samantha said, almost as if she's embarrassed.

"Not that big? All of England could fit in that house", Ron said. Samantha threw him an angry glance and he quickly shut his mouth.

"So what about the baby? Have you came up with any names? Are you hoping it's a boy or a girl", Autumn asked.

"We're swinging for a boy", Ron answered, "And we really haven't come up with a name for the baby yet."

"Actually, if it was a boy I was hoping we could name it Edward Arthur Weasley, after our fathers. And if it's a girl I was hoping to name it Molly Veronica Weasley, after our mothers", Samantha said.

"Well that's a great idea", Ron said smiling at her.

"I'm sure your father would love it. And maybe we could turn it into a tradition, you know? When little Edward Arthur, or Molly Veronica has a baby they'd name it after us", Samantha said.

"That sounds brilliant", Ron said. They were looking into each other's eyes again and he held one of her hands and their fingers were entwined together.

"Do you really have to do that around all of us", Ginny asked.

I looked away from the two of them and caught Harry observing my take on the situation.

"Oh, Ginny leave them alone. They're in love, it's not like we didn't have that problem with Harry and you", I said. I turned around to a smiling Autumn. From his expression, I could tell he was proud of me. I was proud of me. Besides it was true, they were in love. And until I could get that through my head I would never truly get over things and be over Ron.

I mean honestly, I can always find someone like Ron Weasley. Perhaps I could even do better. Regardless I'm going to have to get over it.

We all talked for another hour before it was decided that we were all hungry and could use a little more than a scrumptious pie.

Autumn and I went into the kitchen to prepare dinner. We didn't say anything for the first five minutes. Then the silence became unbearable.

"How did I do?" I asked. Autumn turned around from the refrigerator and smiled at me.

"I must admit I'm impressed. At first I was a little worried, but I've got to say, you hung in there", Autumn said.

"I'm still pretty upset with you", I said, almost forgetting that I was, in fact, supposed to be angry with him and Harry, "I mean honestly, I'm a grown woman. I know that I shouldn't try to get the prize if it isn't mine."

He opened his mouth to reply but I held up my hand to stop him, "Don't judge my analogy." He chuckled and took out his wand to place the pot on the stove.

Autumn and I prepared beef stew and served it to everyone. After we all ate we went to bed.

And tonight I was finally satisfied with myself for making some progress.

I am postive I have a lot more than 12 people reading, so why do I only have twelve reviews people? Please let me know what you think! Please, please, please, review!

Sincerely,

Jay

P.S: I'm desperate for reviews!