A/N: Here's the next chapter!!! Hope you LOVE it!!!

Chapter 9:

A few days later, on Sunday, Hermione came over to the Burrow for brunch. The sun shone high in the sky, illuminating the soft white china of the plates on the kitchen table, which had been brought outside, and a warm breeze wafted over the people crowded around the table. It seemed that the whole family had arrived today, including Bill, Fleur, Charlie and Teddy, whom Mrs. Tonks had given to Harry for the day. Teddy was seated at the head of the table, in a high-chair across from Arthur, and Harry and Ginny kept smiling at him, clearly happy that they were now expecting a child of their own.

Ron reached for a plate of biscuits across the table from him. He smiled at Hermione, who he caught looking at him, and she smiled shyly back. Over the past few days, Hermione had insisted on helping him review his divorce papers, because she said the better they were, the more the Judge would side with him in the court room. Being judged on how he'd handled his marriage wasn't something Ron had considered before, and he was nervous for the first time. But upon telling this to Hermione, she had told him he hadn't done anything wrong, that the Judge would have to side with Ron, because infidelity wasn't something Wizard courts took lightly.

Tomorrow he and Hermione were going to take the papers to Lavender: Ron hoped that Lavender wouldn't try to pull anything on him, but he knew even if she did, he wouldn't back down. He'd made his decision.

He chewed on a biscuit slowly, mulling things over in his mind, before pulling the butter on the table towards him and spreading it on the rest of his biscuit with his knife. After finishing, he sighed and slumped back in his chair.

"You okay Ron?" Hermione asked him. He sat up in his chair, a little embarrassed, before nodding at her.

"Just thinking," he said.

Hermione knew him so well: "About tomorrow?"

Ron nodded adamantly, before looking out over the table and his family at the apple orchard up the hill. He decided he would fly his broom later, as he watched fluffy clouds scuttle along the horizon.

But he was brought back down to the ground when he felt someone's hand on his.

Looking down, he saw it was Hermione's, and he examined her hand for a moment: It was slender, and clean, but slightly calloused, he supposed, from flipping the pages of books so often. He looked up at her and saw concerned pity in her eyes, and something else he didn't recognize. She smiled at him. "Everything's going to be fine, Ron. You're papers are spotless."

He shook his head. "That's not what I'm worried about."

Hermione's mouth fell into a small 'o'. She pulled her hand away, and said softly, "I see… It's Lavender."

Ron nodded again, for what felt like the thousandth time that day.

Hermione stood up, and grabbed her plate off the table. "I'm sure she'll a-… I'm going to help your mother with the dishes."

Ron watched her hurry across the lawn, and realized only then that he was alone at the table. He pulled his wand out of his pocket, before pointing it at his bedroom window and muttering, "Accio Broom."

His broom flew out of his bedroom window and he caught it in his free hand. He felt that a good ride around the orchard was exactly what he needed.

He was unaware of the woman watching him from the kitchen window.

The next morning Ron took extra care in getting himself ready. He wanted to seem formal and well prepared when he brought the papers to Lavender, to show her how serious he really was. He hoped Hermione would think the same way, but reminded himself that Hermione was always well dressed, and he need not worry.

After combing his hair one more time on his way out his bedroom door, Ron took his time going down the stairs. He refused breakfast from his mother, something he rarely, if not never, did. Then he grabbed the forms, which he'd set on the shelf across from the kitchen table, and ran a hand over the smooth edges. He'd made sure to keep the papers away from other hands.

Hermione had told him she would meet him at the Burrow, and so Ron took a seat in his favorite chair on the porch to wait for her. It was a somewhat gloomy day, though there weren't any clouds, and it only made him more nervous than he already was. He drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair in a repeating pattern and was surprised to find, by looking at his watch, that Hermione was late. He'd never known Hermione to be late in her life.

After waiting a few more minutes, a loud pop announced Hermione's arrival and he watched in amusement as she put on her left shoe. "You all right?" he asked her.

She smoothed down her shirt, looking flustered, and pulled her sling-bag farther up her shoulder. "I overslept, I'm really sorry, but I hadn't showered in a while and…"

She blushed before adding, "Sorry."

He laughed at her, and she looked up at him nervously for a moment, before laughing with him.

"It's okay," he said, hand on his stomach. "I understand."

They stared at each other for a moment, before Hermione cleared her throat and said, "All right. We should… be going."

Ron let out a large breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Oh yeah," he said, halfheartedly, still worried about what he was going to do. "Let's get it over with."

He tried to smile as he grasped her small hand in his and turned on the spot, and the world disappeared in a whirl of dark.

Ron and Hermione landed outside of Lavender's door: Ron had apparated straight there so that he wouldn't chicken out before he got inside the building.

Hermione smiled encouragingly at him, before dropping his hand. She then nodded her head in the direction of the door, and upon seeing his reluctance, she pushed him forward. The jolt he felt in the bottom of his stomach when she touched his lower back was what motivated him to knock.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

Ron rocked back and forth on his heels: He could hear Lavender moving around on the other side of the door and his heart began to pound. He gripped the Divorce papers tighter before moving them to his right hand, and smoothing them down nervously. He looked up when he heard the door open.

"Hel-" Lavender took one look at him, and tried to close the door: He pushed it open with much force and Lavender looked shocked.

"Lavender," he said, walking inside. Hermione followed after him, looking around at the boring apartment he'd lived in for so long. .

Lavender sat down on the couch and looked out of a window…. Actually she looked anywhere but at Ron, who failed to notice when Lavender glared menacingly at Hermione. Hermione just smirked.

"What are you doing here?" Lavender asked.

"It's my house," Ron said, but Hermione shook her head. Get to the point, she mouthed.

He cleared his throat. "Right," he said. "I've gone over it a thousand times in my head and I've come to a decision: You were unfaithful to me, which I didn't realize until the last possible moment, and now that I look back on it, I was never really happy with you. There was always something missing. So…"

He handed her the papers and she looked at him for the first time: Her light green eyes looked slightly remorseful when she looked up from the papers and for a moment Ron longed to take it, and her, back, but he knew that was Bull Shit. Lavender had always used her eyes to get what she wanted, and now, especially, he wasn't going to fall for it.

"What do I do with these?" she asked him.

Hermione spoke for the first time: "You sign them. State what you want out of the divorce, choose a court date. It can happen quickly and painlessly. That's how w-… that's how both of you should want it done."

Lavender didn't look at Hermione. She just stared at Ron, before reaching across the table in front of her and grabbing a pen.

Ron watched apprehensively as she read and signed the first page, then the next, and so on. She didn't scratch anything out, or comment on anything either. Ron couldn't believe his eyes, and found that a heavy weight had been lifted off of his chest.

Freedom, he thought.

He glanced at Hermione: She looked triumphant, as if it was she who was losing the person who had hindered her, and Ron found that feeling a little strange in Hermione. He found it almost smug.

But when Hermione looked at him, and her deep brown eyes met his, her pupils wide, her eyebrows raised slightly and her lips curling up into a small smile, he realized Hermione was just happy for him, and he was lucky to have such a good friend back in his life.

She didn't turn away and Ron held her gaze, while his breathing slowed a little. He didn't notice as Lavender finished with her last form and cleared her throat.

Hermione turned to Lavender, and Ron followed, realizing Lavender was done.

"You can owl me if there are any problems," she said. "I signed everything you need and the 5th of June is the best date for me. That's a month from now."

Ron nodded, before standing up and taking the papers from Lavender. He wondered if he should shake her hand but decided against it. "Thank you," he said, and then he went straight out of the door, leaving his soon to be ex-wife alone in the apartment.

Hermione smiled at him, and he pulled her into a hug, squeezing her hard to convey how much she'd helped him. "Thank you," he said. "I couldn't have done that without you."

"You could've, Ron. You have a strong will."

Ron wasn't sure what she meant by that, though he knew it was a good thing, and so he asked her, "Would you like to celebrate with a butterbeer?"

Hermione licked her lips, and Ron felt something tug at his heart, deep inside of him. "Yes please," she said, and then she grabbed his hand and apparated them to the Leaky Cauldron.

They sat in a booth Ron remembered sharing with Lavender when they'd first been dating, but he found it didn't affect him. They ordered Butterbeer's and toasted, oddly enough, to 'The Divorce'. Hermione smiled the whole time they sat together.

Conversation came very easily for the first time since they'd become friends again, and Ron found that he could look her straight in the eyes and not feel weird about it. They talked about the Hogwarts Day's, the Battle, Harry and Ginny, and even what living with Lavender had been like. Finally, Ron asked Hermione about her personal life since they'd gone separate ways.

That was when Hermione stopped smiling, and the tension mounted.

"Oh…" she said, looking like she wished he hadn't asked. "Well, I've been very busy at work over the past 5 years. I brought my parents back from Australia and they love living in the U.K. again, which surprised me. The place they lived in Australia was so breathtakingly beautiful, and peaceful and romantic. I never would've left. Of course…"

Ron didn't listen to her talk anymore about Australia. Quite honestly, he found it boring, and he'd asked Hermione about her personal life to find out how much time she'd actually spent at The Burrow and whether or not she'd dated anyone important. She'd successfully evaded answering both of those questions, and Ron found it very mysterious.

After much talk of Australia and freeing the Elves, Ron asked Hermione to eat dinner at the Burrow that night, to continue the celebration, as he put. She politely declined, saying. "Oh, no, I really shouldn't. It puts too much stress on your mother, feeding all those people and I really don't want to impose. Besides, I'm dead tired and need to be up early for work tomorrow."

Ron nodded, before squeezing her hand one more time in appreciation, and then watching her apparate home. He followed suit, and when he crawled into his bed that night, and watched the Seeker from the Chuddley Cannons fly by on a poster across the room from him, Ron couldn't help but feel childish. Hermione had worked so hard for everything and Ron had always gotten by on luck, or asked too much of others. He felt inadequate when compared to her.

Ah, yes, this was a hard one to write. Please Read and Review! It's going to get very interesting soon!!!

: )