Just so you know, I don't own any of these characters or anything else that has to do with the Harry Potter series.

Here it is the next chapter, yeah! I'm not sure about the ending of this one, please let me know what you think in the review.

I don't usually do this, but I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Maja, thanks for being my muse.

Special Guest

As I'm walking home from the market in an unseasonably cold drizzle I can't help but think of everything that's been happening this week. My parent's house must have looked like an owlery with owls coming and going night and day.

I know it wasn't fair to drag this on so long, especially since I figured out what I wanted as soon as I got home last week. I might have clued Ron in earlier but I just couldn't face him yet. I feel really bad for Harry and Ginny, they seem to be caught up in the middle of all this and they really didn't need to be. I just hope everything works out the way I want it to.

I'm fumbling in my pocket for my keys when my door swings open and my heart sinks. In the dim entryway I can see a figure leaning against the wall opposite the door. I recognise him immediately, he's a tall, slim man wearing faded jeans, a familiar orange t-shirt, and an unfamiliar ball cap pulled down over his eyes. Although he looks relaxed leaning there with his wand in his hand hanging casually at his side, I can see the tension in the way his jaw muscles are clenched.

"Took you long enough to find me." I say as I step through the door. I close it behind me, and set down my shopping before facing him again.

"Funny thing about that," he says without lifting his face. "Every time I came over here to look for you I got confused and went home. Sound familiar?" He raises his face and I can see that his lips are presses so tightly together they're almost white. Obviously he's referring to the charms I put on the house so he wouldn't find me before I was ready, but I hadn't lifted them yet.

"How'd you get in then?" A slight lifting of the side of his mouth lets me know that I may have underestimated him, not for the first time.

"Hermione I'm an Auror. I do this sort of thing for a living." Did he actually think I'd forget? But that doesn't explain how he knew I was here. Ginny said she'd give me two weeks, did she tell him earlier?

"How did you know I was here?" He takes off the cap in answer and I see 'PRAT' in angry red pimples across his forehead. Ginny.

"How'd you make her tell you?" If she did that to him there is no way she told him anything willingly.

"Veritaserum." He says as he stares at me through cold hard eyes. I have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, in his letters he was pleading not angry, and what exactly did Ginny tell him?

"Let me take a wild guess, George gave it to you?" He confirms by giving me that tiny half smile again.

"Of course." I pick my shopping up and try to pass him, but he puts an arm out to stop me.

"How could you?" He whispers without looking at me. Oh no, she told him, not like she had a choice, no wonder he's so angry. I can't think of anything to say to him and I can't look at him. I turn my head and feel the tears slide over my cheeks.

"How could you do it Hermione?" He growls at me and I cringe at the anger and betrayal behind the words.

"What did she tell you?" I whisper through my tears.

"What was there to tell?" He counters. Should I tell him? What if he doesn't know everything? This is my opportunity to tell him, but do I want to. If he doesn't know it was Draco, or if he doesn't know what we did, do I tell him? I take a deep breath and gather all the courage I can and I look up into his hard face.

"I cheated on you Ron, I didn't mean for it to happen, but it did and I'm sorry." I can hear my voice wobble and feel my stomach churn, but his face doesn't change at all. I try again to move by him and he lets me this time.

I make my way to my mother's kitchen. Although it's almost the polar opposite of Mrs. Weasley's, with its bright airy colours and ample counters and cupboards, I always had the same warm welcome feeling in both.

Ron follows me in and I put my shopping on the counter and begin to unpack the bags. It could be a completely normal scene in anyone's kitchen, except for the tears on my face and the scowl on his.

"Why?" He asks as he studies my face.

"I told you I didn't mean for it to happen, I'm not even sure how it happened. I was angry and upset about our fight and I started talking to this guy at the bar. It just happened. I guess maybe I kind of rationalized in my mind that because I told you I never wanted to see you again that meant that we were already broken up and, I don't know, maybe I slept with him to feel…I don't know…something positive. " I turn my back on him as I put the milk in the fridge.

"Are you trying to say this is my fault? That I don't make you feel good? You weren't complaining the night before you left."

"No, I'm not blaming you," I tell him as I turn to face him. "And you do make me feel good, just at that moment I was feeling really, really bad. This is all my fault. I stormed out, I went to the bar, I talked to someone I knew I shouldn't. I made all the wrong decisions and I wouldn't blame you if you never forgive me." I hang my head in shame, this is so hard, I don't want to hurt him; he's all ready hurting so much.

"But why didn't you tell me before now? Why did I have to get most of that from other people? Why did you make me wait a whole week without a single word?"

"I was, and still am, embarrassed." His face is so sad, although it's nice to see something other than stone; the sadness breaks my heart all over again, I never set out to hurt him. "I failed Ron. I cheated on you, regardless of what I said in anger, and you didn't deserve it." Suddenly his expression becomes hard again.

"Who was it?" Oh shit! I really don't want to tell him. Hope blossoms in my chest, maybe he didn't ask her, maybe he doesn't know.

"I don't want to tell you." His eyes, if possible, get a little colder, and I know he knows.

"Do you honestly think I didn't ask her? I know it was Malfoy." His says so coolly, I think it might be better if he were screaming. "I just wanted to hear you say it. I can't believe you would betray all of us for a few minutes between the sheets with him. I can't believe you'd leave me for something you have to scrape off the bottom of your shoe." His disgusted tone sets me off. My head snaps up so fast I'm surprised I don't crack my neck. Suddenly I'm angry, I'm more than angry, I'm really pissed off. I don't want to put up with his crap anymore, no more worrying about his feelings, no more taking his shit!

"Don't you dare talk about him like that!" I growl back at him. The shock on his face is priceless. "You don't know him at all. Besides it's not like your some great prize. When was the last time you actually thought about some of the stuff you say to me?" I can feel my face redden in anger now. "You think that constantly fighting with me, disregarding everything I say, and undermining me in front of our friends makes you a winner. It doesn't." He must have thought that he could just come in here get pissy with me and I'd beg him to take me back, but what he didn't count on was that he wouldn't be the one I chose. "You make me crazy, I don't know why I ever agreed to date you, let alone marry you. You treat me like garbage most of the time, always taking your temper out on my and throwing tantrums like a little kid when you don't get what you want. I only stayed with you as long as I have because I didn't want to lose your family." I feel the tears falling and turn my back to wipe them away; even though they're angry tears I still don't want him to see them.

"Feel better now that you got that off your chest?" He sneers behind me, obviously over the shock of sudden mood swing. "Because let me tell you something Hermione, you're no treat either. You think you know everything, like stupid Ron could never know something you don't. All those things you just accused me of doing you do too; you constantly fight with me, disregard everything I say, and undermine me in front of everyone. If it doesn't make me a winner what does it make you?" He raises his hands and makes air quotes when he says 'winner'; classy.

"Then why are we still here?" I demand.

"I don't know." He says as he leans his hip up against the counter and I can see the fight drain out of him. "What I just don't understand is how you could even start up a conversation with a death eater after everything we went through, especially after everything you went through." His calmer, pleading tone helps the fight drain out of me too, but I really don't want to get into a blow by blow discussion with him about what happened. I don't think it would be good for either of us.

"He's not the same person anymore." I tell him.

"You think that changes anything?"

"It changes everything! You're not the same person anymore either, Ron, and frankly I like the person he's become a lot more then the one you have." He seems shocked when I say this; did he actually think I ended up with someone else because I couldn't stop thinking about how wonderful he is?

"And you haven't changed? You never use to be so weak. The Hermione Granger I knew would never let herself get so out of control that she fucks someone she shouldn't!" The sting of the venom in his voice feels like a slap. I can feel us falling back into the familiar pattern and although I try to fight it I can't help snapping back at him.

"Then maybe you don't know me as well as you thought."

"Obviously!" He says under his breath.

I really don't want to fight with him anymore, it's exhausting and painful, so with a deep breath I let it go.

"So what do we do now?" I stop and lean up against the counter next to him.

"Well you obviously made your choice. Are you moving back in here?" He's being a lot more civil than I thought he would, maybe he's sick of the fight too.

"I think that's for the best. I don't know how long it will be before Ginny forgives me and I don't want to have to worry about being hexed or jinxed every time I turn around."

"Tell me about it." He says as he rubs the pimples on his head as I follow the movement our eyes meet and we both laugh a little, it immediately lightens the mood.

"So are we okay?" I ask tentatively. He considers me for a few beats before answering.

"Not yet, but I think we will be." He looks around the kitchen, I wonder what he sees. At his parents there is no end to the things you can find if you look closely enough; it must seem so boring here. "I don't know if we'll ever be as good friends as we were before, but like you said, we're both different people now, so who knows."

"Yeah." There's so much more I could say, but for now I let it all go. I just want this to be over, I'm anxious to tell Draco what's happened. "For what it's worth, I am really sorry."

"I know you are. I am too." I think he's gong to leave it at that, but he goes on. "I don't think I'm as shocked as you by all of this, I think I knew it was coming eventually, I just wasn't ready to admit it or let you go." Forget shocked I am absolutely flabbergasted. Here I am feeling like dog muck for breaking his heart and he saw it coming.

"You knew this was coming? You knew I'd cheat on you with your sworn enemy and that I'd choose him over you?" He winces, but smiles sadly.

"Maybe not all of that, but you have to admit the rowing all the time was getting a little mad." I can't help but smile back at him.

"Yeah, maybe it's not that much of a shock after all." Time seems to drag as the silence between us stretches on. I don't think either of us is ready to say goodbye, but it's time.

"What are you going to do now?" He laughs again, but it's a humourless sound.

"I have to go tell my family, who loves you like their own, that I lost you." He says as he pushes away from the counter and heads towards the back door. My parent's home doesn't have a fireplace so he'll have to disapparate out of the garden.

"Good luck with that." He looks at me for briefly before opening his arms. I don't hesitate at all, I go to him and he wraps me in his arms. The familiar warmth and smell is wonderful, but not as electrifying as Draco's.

"They'll never be anyone like you Hermione Granger."

"I'll miss you too Ronald Weasley." I choke through my tears. He lets me go and turns to go through the door, but not before I see the tears in his eyes. And that's it, before you can say 'Quidditch" I hear the familiar crack as he disapparates out of the garden.

Your reviews help make me a better writer so please let me know what you think.

Did this go where you were hoping it would? Was Ron's reaction what you expected? Do you think he accepted it too easily? Do you think the end was to easy?

Thanks for reading.

Kris