A/N: A new romione modern AU story that I hope you all enjoy!
Summary: He pulled up and somebody else was sitting in the passenger's side, so she sat in the backseat. She tried to not let it bother her at first, but five weeks of sitting in silence behind her, which he talked of movies they've never seen. She realised that's how they used to be.
Inspired by the song 'Backseat Rider' by Sara Kays
Chapter 1: Six years later you bought your first car
Hermione was dreading her first day back at school. Her last year in secondary school, her last year in her hometown. Her last year with Ron.
She had been waiting outside her front door for five minutes now. Backpack slung over her right shoulder, hands buried in her jumper sleeves. Ron had left her a message to wait at her front door at 8:30am, and here she was, still waiting.
She shouldn't be surprised, he was always at least ten minutes late to everything, but the unbridled doubt sat uneasily in her stomach. She hadn't talked to him for an entire month, the longest she had ever been without him. He sounded fine in the message he had left her on her mobile phone, he sounded chipper actually. She was angry at first, at his message. How he could so easily act like nothing had happened a month ago, like she didn't just leave him without explaining herself.
An unfamiliar blue Ford appeared from the corner of her street, the driver pulling into her driveway and rolling down its window. Ron hung his head out of the window and smiled cheerfully at her, his red hair had been cut so it no longer fell over his eyes and his cheeks were bright red.
"Mione! Look!" he announced, spreading his hand at his car.
She smiled. She couldn't help but smile. That was what Ron Weasley did to you, he smiled and then you smiled.
"You finally got your car?!" she galloped down her porch and quickly found herself at his window. In her excitement, she had gotten so close to his face, that she stumbled backwards awkwardly and turned her gaze to the exterior of the car.
"Wow!" Was all she could say.
"Get in," Ron gestured to the passenger seat.
She hadn't seen him in close to - five weeks. She quickly notes how broad across the shoulders he had gotten, and then wonders how that's possible in just five weeks. She supposes it could just be his age, seventeen. She also remembers him saying something about a football training camp he was supposed to attend just weeks ago. She also notices his freckles, there's more of them scattered on his cheeks. From the passenger seat she maps them like little constellations, her favourite grouping - four freckles near his ear that trickle down his neck. He looks good, good enough that her heart aches heavily.
"You look good," she says boldly.
He very quickly takes his eyes off the road to look at her, the same inquisitiveness in his blue eyes that she had seen six years ago; but then they're back on the road again.
"You have a tan" is all he says back.
She smiles, amused. It's not really a compliment but she takes it. Just before she left, he used to compliment her every day, normally in ways that made her laugh and giggle. She supposes this is the type of compliments she will get now, statements.
She watches their small town blur away as they drive down the high street, Ron turns left unexpectedly and Hermione grips the car door with a frown.
"Where are we going?"
He doesn't reply but she looks at him to find him biting his bottom lip worryingly. This causes a sharp jolt of panic to fire up her spine.
He rolls to a stop outside a small house, a white picket fence surrounding the yard. She had no idea whose house this is, it's definitely not Harry's - Ron's best friend, who lives just a few streets away from them, who has his own car to drive to school in.
A girl skips out of the house. A girl with light blonde hair that curls neatly down her back, a pretty smile on her face as she gallops to Ron's open window and kisses him hello. Kisses him.
Hermione thinks she might throw up.
"Oh, Hi Hermione" Lavender greets, peering over Ron's broad shoulders and giving Hermione a tight smile.
"Didn't realise you were coming as well" Lavender says under her breath.
Hermione can only blink at the situation unfolding in front of her.
She had no idea Ron even liked Lavender Brown. She had no idea they even talked. She was in a few of their classes at school but they didn't run in the same circles and she definitely had no idea that Lavender was Ron's type.
"Um Won-Won, that's my seat" Lavender whines quietly.
Hermione might very well throw up now. She doesn't need to be asked and humiliated by Ron, so she quickly and clumsy climbs out of the car and shoves her backpack in the backseat. Settling behind the passenger seat, she busies herself with her seatbelt, refusing to acknowledge the backstabbing pain in her stomach and instead picks at her fingernails as Lavender climbs gracefully into the front seat.
She's livid. She cannot believe that her best friend of six years has omitted the fact that he has a girlfriend. His first girlfriend, if he hasn't lied about anything else. She feels stupid and angry and she has to pinch her thigh to stop herself from crying.
As they drive to school, Lavender chats happily to Ron, Hermione doesn't listen, she doesn't want to know what they talk about. But as they round the corner to the car park of the school, she looks up and catches Ron staring at her in the rear view mirror. His blue eyes are full of grief and concern and he looks at her with such apology that her anger quickly turns into spite.
As soon as his car stops, she shoves open the door and slams it shut, walking off without a word to the unexpected happy couple.
Hermione met Ron on her first day of secondary school. She was waiting anxiously at the bus stop down the road from her house when four red headed boys joined her. Her tight curls pulled back in braids, her black blazer dwarfing her small frame, she immediately noticed the boys not wearing their blazers and a sharp pinch of insecurity pulsated through her.
She tried not to stare at first but she was pulled by the curious longing to know what the Weasley's were really like. She knew of them of course. They had lived on the same street for years, but she had never had the opportunity to introduce herself. They hadn't attended the same primary school as her and her parents rarely socialised with the neighbours, so she had always watched from afar, curious at the large family in the small house on the corner.
He was very short back then, while the twins were a little taller but not by much. They were kicking a ball around together as they walked down the street towards the bus stop, the three younger boys shouting and tackling each other like siblings did. The older one walked slowly behind them, his backpack secured on his back and sporting a very serious scowl.
She remembered feeling envious of the way they were so comfortable playing together. They jostled insults playfully at each other while they joked and laughed. She never felt more like an only child than watching the Weasley siblings play together.
Ron had spotted her first. He had caught the ball before it had hit her shins, and she laughed nervously as she stumbled away.
"Hey, you live down the street from us!" Ron cried out, smiling like he had just discovered gold.
Hermione smiled tightly. She was never good at making friends, could never figure out how to say the right words back or even when to laugh at the right time.
"Hermione Granger" she nodded her hello.
Ron's eyes lit up with amusement at her serious greeting but he waved over his brothers and introduced them all.
Hermione anxiously greeted the boisterous brothers but her attention was mainly set on Ron. Boys her age normally wanted nothing to do with her, and girls her age always seemed like they were born on another planet, or maybe she was? Either way, she always felt leagues apart from kids her age.
Ron was nothing like anyone she had met. It was almost like he took her under his wing straight away. When the bus finally arrived and the group of them shuffled in, the twins instantly took off towards the back of the bus, Percy had secured a seat up front with another Hogwarts High Students, which left just the two of them.
"You want to sit together?" Ron asked politely, gesturing to the third seat from the back.
She nodded, thankful that she already had someone to sit next to. She had prepped herself to be as lonely as she had been in primary school but in just under five minutes she had made her first friend. She would never forget the feeling of anticipated hope at the new found friendship happening in front of her.
She had expected the conversation between herself and Ron to dwindle as they got closer to school but Ron had a way of asking unexpected questions that made Hermione laugh. He also didn't mind when she asked him questions, and in fact, briefly thought that Ron liked the attention she was giving him, as if no one had ever asked him a question before. She found his energy almost infectious, his curiosity similar to hers yet wrapped with imagination. Hermione liked to ask questions to understand logic whereas Ron liked to ask questions to understand the magic behind things.
That's how their friendship started. With them sitting on the bus together, both minds spilling with curiosity and imagination. Two twelve year olds that had no idea that meeting at a bus stop on the first day of school meant a friendship that no one could compete with.