Month 5 Continued

In Hermione's hysteria, she wasn't quite sure where she had Disapparated to. All she knew, through all the tears, was that she needed to get somewhere away from Ron. When the nausea-inducing tunnel sensation lifted, she opened her eyes, wiping the blurriness away with her hand. She looked around, trying to figure out where she was.

"Mrs. Weasley?"

Hermione whirled around, almost losing her balance. Even after several years under that title, she never really felt comfortable in it. Mrs. Weasley was Ron's mom, not her.

"What are you doing here?" The man questioned. Hermione squinted, trying to make out the finer features of the dark silhouette in front of her. Hermione didn't answer, and instead focused on clearing her eyesight to locate where she was. Once her sight was clear, it became obvious. She was in London, right outside the visitors' entrance to the Ministry.

"I work here." She replied, with a large amount of Duh in her voice. She was speaking to Cormac McLaggen, tall and sharp in front of her.

"Well I know that, but the Ministry is closed at this hour. And you just Apparated here."

"Good observation." She said sarcastically before turning around and stomping down the street. She knew a small café down the road, a place she could get out of the humid darkness. There were beads of sweat already rolling down her forehead. It was obvious it would rain any hour. The air was thick with moisture and the night was boiling.

"Hey, wait!" Cormac ran after her. She didn't look back.

"Why are you ignoring me?" He asked, grabbing her arm.

She spun around to face him, trying to push his arm off. "Because you have caused nothing but trouble for my family! Why would I want to talk to you? Go away, Cormac, leave me alone!"

She ran as fast as she could down the street. Before stepping into the Muggle café, she looked back. He was standing exactly where she had left him. Good.

The café was "air-conditioned", a genius Muggle invention that instantly cooled her boiling skin. She ordered a coffee and sat down at a table; resting her head on her hand and finally realizing what had just happened. Tears sprang to her eyes.

How could Ron say that? I thought he said I was beautiful no matter what! He thinks pregnant is ugly? Her hand instinctively rested on her belly, and tears flowed more quickly when she felt the baby give a light kick. He probably never wanted this baby. If he was lying to me about what he thought of my body for the past two months, he was probably lying about everything.

"Miss, are you okay?"

Hermione looked up. A young woman who looked around her age was standing in front of her table, looking concerned. Normally, Hermione would just nod and wave her on, but she had to get these damn emotions out. She shook her head No.

"Would you mind if I sat down?"

Hermione nodded.

"What's your name?" The lady asked.

"Um..Hermione."

"Wow! What a cool name!"

"Really?" Hermione giggled in spite of herself. "I don't get that often! What's your name?"

"My name is Evie. Evie Turner. But what's wrong? I can't stand to see someone so upset."

Hermione sniffled. "My husband is an inconsiderate, insensitive, and selfish moron."

Evie bit her lip. "Oh, that's not good." Her eyes fell to Hermione's stomach. "Are you expecting?"

Hermione nodded. "Five months, now. But I just don't know what's going on…"

"What do you mean?"

"My husband said he didn't want to be…er…" Hermione stopped awkwardly. "intimate with me in this state."

Evie's mouth fell open. "He didn't!"

Hermione nodded. It felt so good to tell someone what she was feeling, someone other than Ron's sister, or Ron's friend, or her friend who was also friends with Ron, or Ron's brother, or Ron's parents. Come to think of it, most of the people in her life she counted as friends were very close with Ron. She had very little friends outside that circle.

Taking a closer look at Evie, Hermione's first thought was that she belonged in one of those insipid fashion magazines. Her hair was lighter than Hermione's, it was a perfect shade of golden brown. It was voluminous, but not puffy, and even in this intense humidity in managed to stay smooth and shiny. Her eyes were hazel, her eyebrows perfectly done, her nose a tiny ski-slope, and her lips heart-shaped.

Evie was still contemplating the horrors of Hermione's situation. "If my husband ever did that….I'd throw something at him!"

Hermione let out a snort of laughter, "That's what I did!"

"Well good for you then!" Evie gave her a dazzling smile. "But what are you going to do now?"

Hermione tried but failed in keeping her tears back. "I don't know! Ron, that's my husband, is probably back at home by now…but I can't see him again after that." She sniffled.

Evie pouted. "Yeah, I get that totally. Do you need a place to stay tonight?" She offered suddenly.

Hermione looked at her cautiously. She seemed nice enough…but she'd read the Muggle news enough to know that murders often happened this way.

"Do you live alone?"

Evie shook her head. "No, I live with my husband and one-year old daughter."

"Well…I'm not sure…"

"Here, how about I go outside for a minute and call my husband, see if he's okay with it. You seem really nice and it's obvious you shouldn't handle yourself alone at the moment. Be right back." She took out her phone and exited the café.

Hermione sat in the cool room for a minute, her head on her hands again. She jumped when a figure sat down opposite her. "Evie, that was—"

But it wasn't Evie. It was Cormac.

Hermione practically snarled, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, you seemed upset."

"So you followed me?"

"Not followed…more like…er…"

Hermione snorted. "Get out of here."

"No, Hermione." Hermione registered the use of her first name now. "I thought I would offer you a place to stay tonight."

Hermione's jaw nearly dropped to the floor. "WHAT?"

"Well, you're not often wandering around without Weasley…something happen?"

"No, nothing happened." She lied.

He just raised his eyebrows.

"Stop that!" Hermione snapped at him. "Stop acting like you care! I don't know why you hate Ron so much but leave me out of it!" She tried to stand up but he grabbed her hand and pulled her back down. Hermione's eyes widened. He was incredibly strong.

Still holding her hand above the table, he started to say something but was cut off by someone else.

"Hermione? Um, hi…Ron, was it?"

Hermione looked up. Evie stood in front of the table, her eyes questioning.

With a good amount of effort, Hermione yanked her hand out of Cormac's and stood up. "No, this isn't Ron. What's going on?"

"My husband said it's fine, you can stay in the guest room."

Hermione let a huge smile break out on her face. "Great!" She wiped the last tears from her puffy eyes. She glared down at Cormac. "Don't ever speak to me again."

Evie's eyes were darting between Hermione and Cormac. She looked like she wanted to say something but thought twice, instead saying "Right, come on, we should get going."

Hermione nodded and followed her out the door.

"Who was that guy?" Evie asked as they made their way down the sticky street. She'd told Hermione that her house was only a few blocks away.

"Uh…husband's coworker, and ex-boyfriend."

"And he was holding your hand why…?"

"Because he's a rude, arrogant, jealous, selfish prat!" She ranted, her face growing red.

"All right, all right, calm down. Don't worry about him. But what do you think you're going to do about your husband? Are you two going to get over this?"

Hermione sighed. "Probably. You should've seen our fights when we were in school together. But we always get over them. I still…I still can't believe he said that though…" She started to tear up again, looking away. "I'm r-really sorry for acting like this, I'm really not this weepy all the time."

Evie grabbed her arm. "Don't worry about it, sweetie. We'll fix this."

Meanwhile, Ron had Apparated back home. Hermione came here obviously…where else would she go? She doesn't have many friends…

"Hermione!" He called upstairs. He'd packed up the beach house in a matter of minutes, paid, and gotten out. Placing the bags down, he proceeded to climb the staircase.

"Hermione, c'mon, I know you're up there." He made his way to the bedroom, expecting to see her on the bed. She wasn't. She's just trying to not be too obvious.

But she wasn't anywhere else in the room, or on that floor, or in the basement, or the kitchen, or even her office. Where is she? He was starting to panic a little, until he remembered Harry and Ginny. That's where she always goes.

He Apparated there quickly, knocking on the door. Ginny answered wearing only a tiny sundress.

"That's what you wear?" Was the first thing Ron said, a little shocked.

She just rolled her eyes. "Why not? Harry's the only one here and he's seen me in much less."

Ron blushed crimson but quickly remembered his purpose. "Hey, can I see Hermione now? I really have to talk to her."

"What are you talking about, Ronald?"

"She's—she's not here?"

"Did you lose her?"

"No, what? No, I didn't lose her, I—"

"What did you say?" She asked knowingly, opening the door to let him inside. He came in, shutting the door behind him.

"I didn't say anything that b—"

"Oh, right, if you don't think it's bad, that means it's not! Ron seriously what did you say?"

"I said she didn't look that great…you know, cuz she's pregnant."

Ron's words were met with a stinging slap to his face, courtesy of Ginny. "Ron you horrible senseless prat! No wonder you can't find her!"

Harry appeared out of nowhere. "Whoa, what's going on?"

"Ron told Hermione he doesn't like the way she looks pregnant." Ginny informed him before Ron could jump in.

"Oh man, Ron, seriously?"

"Harry, c'mon, you can't go off on this to!"

"Fine, I'll let Ginny be the mad one but I—"

"Just know if you ever say that to me," Ginny interrupted, "I'd be out of here before you could say Quidditch. Now, where did Hermione go?" Ginny turned back to Ron.

"You ask me like I know." Ron said sourly.

"Right, right…where else have you checked?"

"Wait, what's going on?" Harry interjected. "Where's Hermione?"

"That seems to be the question of the day." Ginny replied. "She ran off."

Ron was hitting his head. "You know what? I'll look for her in the morning; she'll probably come back anyway. She never stays away long." He ignored Ginny's dirty look. "I'll see you guys later." He Disapparated.

The next morning, Hermione and Evie were sitting on the couch in her house. It was even bigger than Hermione and Ron's, but Evie, it turned out, was a model just like Hermione had thought. Their house was giant, with a pool in the backyard and decorative fountains.

The two young women were laughing over a story Evie was telling, something about the elephant at the zoo and a feather boa. They were eating little crackers with cheese.

"You know, this is really nice Evie. I can't remember the last time I just…hung out."

"No problem! I know it sounds weird, but you'd think I'd have more of a…life, you know, with the job I have. But I don't. I go out to work parties and I wear fancy clothes for photoshoots, and then I come back home, buy some ice cream, and just relax."

"Wow. Oh, do you know what time it is?"

Evie checked her watch. "About…9 AM?"

"Oh shoot."

"What? What is it?"

"I…I probably should go."

"What? Why?"

"I don't want my family to worry about me."

Evie nodded understandingly. "I get that. Well…um…it was nice meeting you!"

Hermione hugged her. "Thank you so much. For everything. For the food, and the bed, and just listening to all my problems. I really cannot thank you enough."

"It's really no problem at all! You should come over again sometime! How about if you two feel up to it, bring Ron over here for dinner next Wednesday!"

"Really? Great! I'll be sure to come!" She hugged her again, and had to pause. She'd been about to Disapparate, but had to remember to walk out the front door instead.

She wanted to take the longest possible route back to the house. She both walked and took the Underground. When she got home she stopped outside the door. Ron was in there, waiting for her. And he was going to pay some more for what he had said. But all she really wanted was for him to take her in his arms and tell her she was beautiful, but would it be the same if he didn't mean any of it?

A/N: Hope you liked! I've been terribly sick the past week and was unable to write, and for that I am SOOOOOOO sorry! Ok, so I BARELY got the 20 reviews I asked for, so this chapter I'll make it 15. 15 reviews before next chapter? I think you guys can do it

XOXO, Love always,

Sparkshine