AN: Happy Saturday, I hope you're all having a lovely weekend. The next few chapters leading up to the end take place over the space of a few hours, but it does go back and forth a bit! My betas are wonderful, and deserve all the credit for helping me write this chapter.

If you enjoy it, please let me know xxx

Ron finally gets to present his paper to the Auror Department. With roaring success, they head out to The Greenhouse to celebrate.

There is such a long way to go
I think I'll catch a ride
This time
I felt alone
So many nights
Just waiting around

Cruel & Unusual, Shock of Pleasure (2007)

Ron

"So, on that note, I think you'll agree that there is a lot of work for us to do, but with perseverance and Ron's strategic expertise, we can make some fantastic improvements which will see us well past the twenty-first century."

The largest meeting room in the Auror department was so quiet; you could hear a pin drop. Although I did the talking for most of the meeting, my boss wanted to deliver the conclusions to show that he fully supported everything I'd said. Robards stood next to me in front of the whole team, with the critical points of my report magically presented on the large, white wall behind us. Around me, my colleagues were either watching us or scribbling furiously on their parchment.

And I couldn't believe I was here.

I wanted to pinch myself and make sure this wasn't a dream, but I had already done so about twenty times this afternoon, and an angry red welt was forming on my arm. Instead, I let my eyes travel around the table. Harry was there, a proud smile on his face. He looked like all three of our dads at one of our school Quidditch games. Next to him was Lavender, who was beaming back at me. She was there to take detailed notes of the meeting, but just having her there with Harry gave me the moral support I needed to get through my speech. And I was grateful for it.

The blonde witch was instrumental in getting me to this stage and had been my biggest cheerleader over the past two or so months. We spent the evening after my disastrous date with Hermione catching up, hardly paying attention to the movie on my TV. Despite the unexpected end to my night, I was in a much better mood by the time Lavender floo'd home.

As soon as I stepped foot into the office the following Monday, it was clear she wasn't going to let Robards forget my report. She was like a niffler chasing a bag of gold, constantly nagging our boss to read it and tell her his thoughts, which she immediately proceeded to recant back to me. Soon Robards started to quote my own words around the office. Taking my time so as not to scare him off, I eventually persuaded him to review the way we do things in the department.

All of our hard work led up to this day. My boss was adamant that it should be my job to present the report and my suggestions to the team and get their feedback. It was nerve-wracking. I wasn't used to public speaking and was very good at putting my foot in my mouth. For most of the week, I'd been having nightmares that I would say something that would make the entire department hate me. I spent most of my morning before the meeting feeling sick, but Harry and Lavender helped me rehearse and fine-tune my speech, and once I was in full flow, the words spewed quickly from my mouth.

Hermione would be so proud of me.

A slight twinge of regret tugged at my heart as I recalled the bossy, frizzy-haired witch. Although I was moving on with my life, she was constantly in the back of my mind. Her smile was the first thing I pictured when I woke up in the morning, she was still the subject of all my wank fantasies, and she was the bloody last thing I thought of before I went to bed.

I moved through the five stages of grief in quick succession, especially for someone as dramatic as me. It didn't take a genius to work out why I felt blue—for all of my hard work, I could not make Hermione Granger fall in love with me, and despite the fact I was head over heels in love with her, I'd decided to call time on our relationship before she hurt me even more. That was simple and easy to work out.

Denial came first. There were moments during those first few weeks where I caught myself staring at my phone. Part of me hoped that if I wished hard enough, Hermione would ring me and confess her undying love for me before letting me know that she was ready and waiting to make up.

Next was anger. For a while, I banned any mention of her name amongst my family and friends, especially Harry and Ginny. Conversations soon became a minefield—even the first syllable set me off, and I'd fly into a rage about how unfair my life was and how it was cruel that I'd finally found the perfect match for me, only to lose her as soon as we were getting somewhere.

I pretty much skipped the bargaining stage. I knew there was nothing I could do to make Hermione love me, and I'd exhausted all the tools in my arsenal on that. My depression didn't last for long, either. Sure, I was so utterly heartbroken over the situation, but I think the fact that I decided to call things off helped me from sinking into the darkest corner of my brain. Being busy with work helped, and that pushed me through to the final stage: acceptance.

Hermione was out of my life for good, at least in a romantic way. I wasn't an idiot; I knew that we might have to spend some time together in the future due to our mutual friends, especially since Harry announced his engagement to my sister. But I was getting to a place where I thought I could tolerate being in the same room as her and could even be civil—so long as she was too.

"Does anyone have any further questions?" Robards glared out at the room, daring someone to raise their hand.

My heart pounded in my throat. I still felt like a fraud standing in front of everyone and telling my colleagues what we would do to improve the department. My imposter syndrome was in full force. However, it seemed like my fears would go unfounded as my colleagues stared back at me with smiles on their faces.

The room emptied. Harry and Lavender moved to come and speak to me, but they held back as Robards got to me first.

"Good job today, Weasley." He held out his hand, and I shook it, trying my best to resist the urge to smile. "I'm going to speak to the bigwigs, see if we can't find you a promotion. You have a lot of work to do to get all of this implemented, but I have faith you can see it through."

Robards left, and I gawked after him, not able to fully understand the words he'd just said. It was only when I felt Harry clap me hard on the shoulder that I finally relaxed and felt the grin spread over my face.

"Holy fuck!"

"I know." Harry laughed. "Well done, mate, that was…truly spectacular."

"Wasn't it?" Lavender joined in. "The whole room was hanging on to every word you said. And you smashed it."

Rubbing my hand over my face, I turned to my friends. "Do you know what I think we need?"

"What's that?" Harry stared at me with glee on his face.

"A night at The Greenhouse. We should send Nev an owl; warn him we're going to be celebrating tonight. Invite Gin out if you want."

"She's taking her housemates out for dinner. She hasn't told them the news yet." Harry interrupted.

"Ah well, more booze for us. Lav, you'll come too, won't you?"

The look on Lavender's face was priceless. I knew she'd been anchoring for an invite to our socials for a while. She bloody deserved it. She had put in so much work to get me here, and the least I could do was buy her a cocktail or five to say thank you.

"Yes, yes, of course. What time?"

"Let's meet at six and see where the night takes us."

⁂

With a mountain of paperwork to complete before I left work, the bar was already busy by the time I made it there. As I weaved through the crowds to get to our table, the Aurors waiting for me burst into applause.

"Alright, alright." My cheeks flushed, and I held up a hand in protest, but I had to admit, the praise felt good. I'd worked hard for so long to get to this position, and I was determined to enjoy every moment of it. I just had to pretend to be modest for show. Nobody likes a big head, after all.

Neville and Harry were waiting in the middle, Goblets of Fire in hand. I practically snatched one out of Nev's hand and sucked on the straw, smacking my lips together with an over the top sigh. I deserved a hundred of my favourite cocktails tonight.

"So Harry has been telling me all about the great work you've been doing." Neville high-fived me with his spare hand. "Well done, buddy. All of your drinks are free tonight!"

"Hey, what about me?" Harry interjected. "I'm celebrating too!"

Neville laughed. "Okay, you can have one drink on me, but tonight is about Ron."

"I don't mind sharing, especially as this guy is about to become a Weasley."

"She's taking my name," Harry argued.

"Doesn't matter—you marry a Weasley, you become a Weasley."

Lavender hurried over to me. "Hey, you! I just wanted to say fantastic work again today." She threw her arms around me in a gigantic hug. "Honestly, you smashed it out of the park. Listen, I have to pop to the little girl's room, but I am looking forward to celebrating with you properly tonight."

"Uhm… thanks, Lav." I managed to respond before she trotted off in the direction of the bathrooms.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Neville and Harry rounded on me.

"Why are you not trying to sleep with Lavender, Ron?" Neville asked, his eyes narrowed.

"I agree!" Harry added. "She's such a better person than she was in school. Before, she was all girly and shrill and annoying, but now, even I can admit she's kind of sexy—just don't tell your sister I said that."

"As soon as she comes back to us, you need to wizard up, and just go for it! Do it for us. We're no longer single, and now we're both tied down, so we have to live our best lives vicariously through you." Neville was getting seriously into this.

"Yeah, wizard up, Ronald!"

"You keep on saying wizard up like you didn't cry when you were telling us that Ginny said yes." Neville rounded on Harry.

"I was surprised, okay?"

"If you were so surprised, why did you even ask her?"

I chuckled as Dumb and Dumber continued on their little patter. I was so lucky to have such good friends like them, and I much preferred them this way than the teasing banter they often liked to partake in. For too long, I'd been the clown of the group, and it was about time people started to take me seriously.

There was some truth in their words. Over the past few months, Lavender had been a rock, and although I wasn't in love with her like I was with Hermione, I couldn't deny that there had been a few 'what if' feelings, especially as we started to work closer together.

Harry and Neville continued to wind each other up as I kept an eye on the bathroom door. My heart skipped a little beat when Lavender reemerged, and I pasted the biggest smile on my face as she headed towards me.

"Hey!" I met her halfway. If I was going to chat Lav up, I needed to be away from my best friends so they couldn't tease me if it went wrong.

"Hiya! Those bathrooms are the coolest. They're full of plants!"

I chuckled. "Yeah, you know how Neville is. He loves Herbology. We all expected him to be a Professor and take over from Sprout once she retired, but whatever she is smoking is keeping the old girl alive for far longer than we expected."

"I thought the same thing about the Divination position, but Trelawney is still going strong." Lavender laughed.

"Yeah? You'd like to be a teacher?"

Lavender shrugged. "Or a healer."

"You're in the wrong office if you want to be a healer," I quipped.

Shoving my shoulder, she gave me a huge grin. "I don't know. After the werewolf attack, things were a little rocky. I didn't get many NEWT's in the end because I was so distracted. My Dad knew somebody in the Auror department, and I thought it might be a good stop-gap until I found something better. The next thing I knew, ten years have passed, and I realised I kind of liked my job."

"Huh."

Lavender had never disclosed her history as to why she was working where she was. We'd never gotten that close. There was a kind of intimacy between us that we'd never shared before, but I kind of liked it. I opened my mouth and was about to ask her out when she continued.

"Hey! Actually, I need to check something quickly with Robards, but I've left my phone at home. Do you mind if I borrow yours for a second?"

"Sure." I quickly pulled my mobile out of my pocket and passed it to her after unlocking it. I was grateful I'd finally switched my lock screen to a standard Chudley Canons background I'd found on the internet; the last step in accepting my relationship with Hermione was over.

"Brill. I won't be long."

Lavender wandered off, leaving me alone in the bar. She made it to the front door before frowning at my phone as it lit up in her hand. Holding it up, she quickly made her way back to me.

"Who is it?" I frowned. Everyone who usually called me was either here or were my parents.

"It says 'Do Not Call Her'. Do you want to take it? Is that Hermione?"

Suddenly, everything in the room stopped, and my head started to thrum in my ears. What the fuck. It had been two months of nothing, and then Hermione just calls me out of the blue. Before I knew what was happening, I reached out to take the phone from Lavender. My hands were shaking, and I could have hexed myself for being this affected by her still.

Sighing, I answered the call, trying to put on my most chipper voice. "Hello?"

"Hi," Hermione sighed down the line. It was so good to hear her voice, and already familiar feelings were pulling at my heart. "It's Hermione. Granger. From Camp Hogwarts. You tried to finger me?"

Her awkward laugh filled my eyes as my cheeks burned bright red. I was fuming that she thought it was appropriate to use our in-joke to try and win me over. It was such a low blow. I walked away from Lavender as my pulse began to throb in my neck.

"Yes, what is it?" I couldn't help the cold undertones of my voice. I'd worked so hard to get over her, and there was no way I was falling back into that trap again.

"So, I just found out that Harry and Ginny are getting married."

"Yeah, he told me like a week ago. Listen, do you need anything from me? Because I'm trying to celebrate the fact that my strategic plans are finally becoming a reality, which is a bit of a high point for me. I plan to get very drunk and would like to go back to the party."

Hermione gasped. "Robards finally listened to you? Oh, Ron. That's brilliant news."

Fuck. The flobberworms were already back and squirming in my stomach. All it had taken was two or three sentences from the witch, and I was entirely under her spell again. I was desperate to invite her to the pub so that I could celebrate with her, but my eyes settled on Lavender, who shrugged at me then gave me a reassuring smile.

I couldn't ask Hermione to join us. If I did, I knew that all the hurt she caused me would come flooding back. We would end up fucking, and then I would be right back in the same position I was in three months ago. I was fed up with trying to make Hermione Granger fall in love with me.

I was desperate to move on but to do so; I needed to be a hundred miles away from her.

"Yeah, he did."

"I know this is random, but I just needed to call you and say that…well…I miss you." Her voice broke with emotion, and I felt those bastard betraying tears prick behind my own eyes. "I miss you so much, Ron."

I cleared my throat. I knew if I gave Hermione even one inkling of how I truly felt, then this would all be over, and that wouldn't be fair on Lavender or Harry or Neville or anyone else that had helped me get through the past few months.

"Okay." I sighed. "I don't know what to say to that. You're," I paused to compose myself. "You're calling me because your best friend has just announced her engagement, and she looks happy, and everyone else is happy, but you're not."

"I thought…I don't know what I thought. I just…I guess I wanted to hear your voice." She was crying, I could hear it down the phone, but it only made me more resolved to see this through. "I mean, I know we broke up, but—"

"Hermione," I interrupted, needing to bring an end to this call before she ruined my night completely. "We didn't break up. To break up, we had to be in a relationship, but we never started. It was just sex, after all. Listen, I need to go. I'm out with my friends, so, have fun at your meal and tell Ginny I'll see her at the Burrow Sunday. Bye."

I hung up on Hermione before she could get another word in and leaned against the nearest table, too shocked to return straight away from my friends. The phone call had almost pulled the rug out from underneath me, and I was gutted to find out that she still had a stupid hold over me.

Lavender must have spotted my distress because she made her way back to me. She had two cocktails in her hand, and as soon as she got to me, she offered me one.

"Hey. Can I perch here too?"

"Of course." I gave her my biggest smile, although it felt utterly fake.

"What did Hermione have to say? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah." I sighed. I could already feel the impending doom creep in, but I shook all the negative thoughts out of my head before they had a chance to take hold. Taking one of the offered drinks off her, I took a long sip in the hope the alcohol would calm my nerves.

It didn't.

"Y-Yes," I stuttered. "I am going to be fine, but thank you for checking up on me."

"Good!" Lavender grinned and chinked her glass against mine.

"I never had the chance to say thank you, Lavender, for everything you've done."

"What?"

"This!" I gestured out to our group of celebrating friends. "There's no way I'd be in this position without your hard work." She tried to protest, so I pushed on. "No, I'm not here without you."

"That's not true, Ron. If you'd persevered with Robards, then eventually, he may have read your plan. All of this is because of your hard work."

I felt a sudden rush of admiration for the woman sat next to me, and feeling reckless; I didn't even consider what was coming next until the words fell out of my mouth. "Hey. Do you fancy finishing these drinks and getting out of here?"

She looked surprised, although she quickly covered the expression by drinking and nodding. "Yes, sure. That would be great."

"Alright."

Downing my beverage, I made eye contact with Harry across the bar, nodding my head towards Lavender. He instantly grinned and bounced his head back at me with an unspoken agreement that he'd stay away from home for a while or even the whole night if he could. I laughed as he lifted his drink in a 'cheers' then turned to tell Neville what had happened. Before Nev could get involved in teasing us, I took Lavender's hand. As I wasn't even that drunk and desperate to get her out of there before everyone we worked with noticed, I turned on the spot and apparated us to my front door.

⁂

Mine and Lavender's conversation was friendly as she leaned against the wall outside my house, waiting for me to let us in. In my excitement, I fumbled the keys twice before finally getting the right one in the lock and opening the front door. Retaking her hand, I pulled her into the house, grinning at her infectious giggle.

We made our way to the living room, and Lavender settled on the sofa whilst I got us drinks. Our conversation picked right up as soon as I was sitting next to her.

"So after the wolf bite, I had to go into therapy because, you know, things like that can be a bit traumatic. And three months in, my mind healer died."

"What?" I responded, incredulous. Only Lavender could have something like that happen to her.

"I know. I think someone must have cursed me when I was a child or something." Lavender laughed. "It was okay because the second one I had was a lot better anyway, and he taught me some brilliant techniques to train my mind."

"Well, here's to dodgy brains and all of us being fucked up in some way or other." I chinked my glass against hers before taking a long swig.

"I agree!" Lavender drank too.

As soon as she'd lowered her glass and set it on the coffee table, I decided to lean in and make my move. I didn't want to wait any longer and figured the sooner I 'got on it', so to speak, the sooner I could take the final step in getting over Hermione.

There was a momentary surge of guilt over the potential that I might be using Lavender. Still, I soon justified it with the fact that I did have some form of feelings for the girl, and she was here and consenting to have sex with me, even though she completely understood my history with our bushy-haired friend.

Lavender soon melted into the kisses, and I placed my glass next to hers so I could wrap my arms around her and pull her closer to me. She let out a content moan, and I took the opportunity to push my tongue past her lips to explore her mouth.

We kissed until my lungs felt like they were going to explode. Tearing my lips from hers, I started to kiss down the line of Lavender's jaw, delighting in the way she threw her head back and moaned again.

"That feels so good, Ron." Her fingers slid into my hair, guiding me around her skin. Although I naturally gravitated towards the places I knew Hermione loved so well, Lavender was very vocal in showing me what was turning her on. I was grateful Harry agreed to stay away.

Groaning my agreement, I concentrated on getting us naked. My fingers started to work on her blouse, fumbling over the delicate buttons.

"It's a good job I wore a sexy bra," Lavender giggled as the shirt dropped to the floor.

I was about to bury my head between her creamy mounds when we were disturbed by my phone ringing. "Just ignore it," I moaned against her skin.

"What if it's important?" She gasped, sliding her hands down my sides to tug at the bottom of my t-shirt.

"Forget it, Lavender. I just want to concentrate on you tonight."

She finally listened to me, and the ringing stopped just as I lifted my head from her chest so that she could pull my t-shirt over my head. With a growl, she pushed me back against the sofa and climbed over me before reaching back to remove her bra.

I could already feel myself growing hard, something I realised hadn't happened in a long time without thoughts of Hermione in my mind. Having sex with Lavender would be the pivotal point when I truly got over that blasted witch. As Lavender's hands trailed over my chest and down to my lower stomach, I felt a twitch of pleasure. Closing my eyes, I let myself get carried away with the sensations when…

My floo activated, and suddenly my mother's face filled the hearth of my fireplace.

"Mum! What the hell is going on?" I sat up and pulled Lavender closer to me to protect her modesty, desperately trying to calm down and hide the now rapidly deflating bulge in my jeans all at the same time.

I immediately regretted my harsh tone when my mum started crying.

"Ronald? Sweetheart. Oh, thank Merlin, you're at home. I haven't been able to get hold of anyone else. Your father is in St Mungo's; he's seriously unwell. We think it might be a heart attack."

"Okay, okay, Mum, calm down." I pushed Lavender off me with an apologetic look and tried hard to fasten my fly one-handed. Fortunately, my mum seemed too distressed to notice what she'd just interrupted. "What ward?"

"They've put him in Magical Bugs since they're not quite sure how to handle a heart attack. Wizards rarely have them. I don't even know how it happened."

"Shhhhh it's okay Mum. I know a few people who might be able to help. I'll be there as soon as I can."

As soon as my mum's face disappeared, I got to my feet and pulled my top back on before checking my reflection in the mirror. Aside from Hermione, Dean was the only person who had extensive knowledge about treating muggle ailments, but if I was going to go and grovel to him, I should at least make sure I looked extremely handsome.

"Are you okay?" Lavender asked from the sofa, where she was staring up at me with a dazed look.

"It's my dad. He's in the hospital," I repeated as if she hadn't just witnessed the floo call. "I have to go. I'm sorry."

"Oh jeez. Do you need me to go with you?"

"No, I'm okay. Uhm, can I just call you later?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll tidy up here then floo out. I can sort myself out, don't worry."

Lavender started to get dressed. I could feel her eyes on me, and I was pretty sure she was looking disappointed, but I couldn't bring myself to look back at her. Whatever magic was going on between us had been disrupted, and I wasn't sure if we could get that back.

"Thanks, Lav. I'll see you soon."

I made sure I had everything I needed before grabbing a handful of green floo powder and climbing into the fireplace. Trying my hardest to concentrate on my location and not the intrusive thoughts that I might be about to lose my dad, I called out my destination. The last thing I saw before my living room disappeared was Lavender's gutted face. I'd have to deal with that eventually, but I had more pressing things to concentrate on right now.