Hi!
I am loving writing this fic! Unfortunately, I have been super slow with writing Ron's end of the rope, but I promise that I have not abandoned it. As soon as inspiration strikes, you'll see a new chapter ;)
As far as this story goes, there is SO much that's going to be happening and in quick succession too, so buckle up!
Annnnyway. Thank you to all who are reading and enjoying (or not enjoying) this fic. You are awesome!
oOo
When Hermione walked into her small office early Tuesday morning, there was a note floating lazily above her desk, waiting for her. Her curiosity piqued, she made her way over and snatched the small piece of paper from midair before unfolding it, her lips curving up into a smile as she recognized the sloppy handwriting.
Hello. This is Ronald B. Weasley reminding Hermione J. Granger that she has previously agreed upon lunch plans with him on this lovely Tuesday afternoon.
Feeling giddy, Hermione summoned a quill before turning the paper over and writing on the back.
Hello. This is Hermione J. Granger replying to Ronald B. Weasley. Please remind me of these so-called lunch plans. I'm not sure I remember having any.
Using her wand, Hermione charmed the paper to zoom out of her office before she could second guess herself for blatantly flirting. She didn't want to appear too obvious, but Ron seemed just as ecstatic as she felt about their rekindled friendship, and it was making her feel like a teenager again.
She sat down and got to work on a law she wanted to propose, and about five minutes later, another piece of paper squeezed itself under the crack in her door and flew towards her.
I hope you're joking. You're having lunch with me today whether you want to or not, Hermione. I'll pick you up at your office at noon.
PS-I'm paying.
Hermione chuckled and rolled her eyes before jotting down a response.
I suppose I don't have a choice, then. I'll see you at noon.
She sent it out, and again, five minutes later, there was another note.
See me at noon? For what? Who is this?
Torn between wanting to work and wanting to write back and forth and flirt with Ron all day, Hermione scribbled down a final reply.
. You're hilarious, Ronald. Now, as much as I am thoroughly enjoying our correspondence, I need you to stop sending me notes so I can get to work. Looking forward to lunch.
This time, Ron's note hit her on the back of the head as she was standing and going through a file cabinet.
Fine. I'll leave you alone. For now, anyway ;)
PS-Hermione, you always have a choice.
"Not when it comes to you," she muttered to herself, thinking of how powerless she was at fighting her feelings when it came to Ron Weasley.
Though she hadn't spoken to him since Friday night before she'd left the Burrow, Hermione's thoughts hadn't strayed far from the red-headed man. Her attraction to him was already driving her mad, and her mind refused to stop conjuring up erotic fantasies in which he was the star. Attraction aside, Hermione had been elated to find that even after five years, Ron was still the same funny, sweet, lovely person she remembered from Hogwarts. Add in the fact that he'd been so open and honest with her and now possessed the self-confidence he hadn't had as a teen, he was basically irresistible.
Hermione tried not to think too hard about what this would mean as far as moving forward now that Ron was again in her life. How was she supposed to remain level-headed whenever he was around? Would she be forced to pine over him in secret like she had done in school? How could she stop from throwing herself at him when touching him was all she could think about?
She wanted him. Badly. But did she even stand a chance to be with him?
Surprisingly, her gut instinct was screaming that, yes, she did. The way he'd looked and acted towards her on Friday spoke volumes. He'd been shamelessly flirting, but then again, hadn't he been flirting with her back during sixth year before he'd completely turned her down?
That was something that Hermione couldn't understand, and if she was being honest with herself, had been puzzling over for years. It was almost as if she were missing a vital piece of information, but for the life of her, she couldn't put her finger on it. What exactly had she done back then to cause him to be so angry with her? When she'd told him how she felt, it was as if all of a sudden he was a completely different person. Someone she didn't recognize at all.
But why?
Shaking her head, Hermione got to work and managed to push Ron to the back of her mind. As much as she wanted to understand the inner workings of his brain, she knew it did no good to dwell.
After what felt like minutes, but was actually hours later, Hermione stopped working five to noon to organize her desk so Ron wouldn't see it in such disarray. As she waited for him to show up, her heart was pounding. Fidgeting nervously in her chair and not knowing what else to do, she started tapping her short, cream-colored fingernails on the wood of her desk, hoping it would have a calming effect. It was ridiculous, and she knew it, but Hermione almost felt as if this lunch were a date, and she desperately wanted it to go well.
Ten minutes past noon, Ron still hadn't shown up, and she started to get worried. What if he had changed his mind? Or worse, what if something bad had happened that was keeping him away? When the clock read 12:15, Hermione walked out of her office to go and find him.
oOo
Not contacting Hermione all weekend and then all day Monday had been harder than Ron had anticipated. Now that she was back, and they were on good terms, the last thing he wanted to do was scare her away by coming on too strong. He'd woken up early on Tuesday morning, a smile on his face as he remembered he would be seeing her that day.
It hadn't taken long for him to realize that he still had feelings for her, and soon after that, allowed himself to internally admit just how deep those feelings went. It was almost like Hogwarts all over again, and it frightened Ron just how willing he was to jump in headfirst, not knowing what the end result would be.
Would it end like it had last time? And if it did, would he even be able to handle that again?
When they had all been at the Burrow, Ron had paid close attention and had carefully observed Hermione's interactions with Harry, trying to gauge if she still carried any romantic feelings for his almost-brother-in-law. The idea wasn't unrealistic, after all. Ron's feelings for Hermione had never gone away, though he had managed to bury them for a few years. Part of his Auror training had been on learning how to read people, and to Ron's relief, Hermione seemed to be long over Harry Potter. In fact, she seemed genuinely happy for Harry and Ginny, and she didn't look at Harry with any more affection than one would look at a very good friend.
To his astonishment, though, she had been looking at Ron in a way that highly suggested she felt more for him than just friendship. Her flushed face, her nervous mannerisms, and the way her breathing changed with the things he said or did left no doubt that there was something there. It could just be lust, but Ron didn't think so, not with how emotional she'd gotten when they'd talked.
Whatever it was, Ron knew he was willing to do anything it took to prove to Hermione that he was, as muggles liked to say, a stand-up guy. If he could only prove himself to be the kind of man she deserved, Ron could finally have the only girl he'd ever really wanted. Sure, he was no Harry Potter, but he'd grown up, and most days, he was proud to be the man he'd become.
The first thing he did after arriving at work was send Hermione a note. He didn't think she would have forgotten about their upcoming lunch, but he wasn't going to take any chances. After a few flirtatious back and forths, Hermione put an end to it, something that both humored and disappointed him. After that, the hours passed at an agonizingly slow pace, and Ron felt as if he were losing his mind waiting for it to be lunchtime. Finally, he forced himself not to look at the clock anymore and got to work. Some time later, Maureen barged into his office, and Ron knew by the expression on her face that something had happened.
"Another sighting," she said, before tossing a folder down onto his desk. "Just a few hours ago."
Ron urgently grabbed the folder and started going through it, looking for details. He hardly even noticed when Maureen slipped off her robes, revealing a small, skimpy dress underneath. Usually, this would do his head in, but he barely even glanced her way as she slid on top of his desk, her barely covered bum against his arm and perfectly round tits at his eye level.
"We're so fucking close to finding him," he grumbled once he was finished reading through the long, detailed report. He dropped his forehead to his desk. "This has gone on for too bloody long."
"Be patient, Weasley," Maureen soothed as she ran her hand through his hair, her long nails scratching his scalp. "We know the general area he's staying in. Everyday, we get just a little closer. We'll get him. The important thing is that he's not onto us. That works to our advantage. If he knows we're close, then he can bolt, and then we'd be right back to square one. It's moving slowly, but it's always better to play it safe than to jump in without knowing for sure."
"Stop telling me the truth," he groaned.
She laughed. "Well, I'm not going to lie to you!"
Ron was about to retort when there was a light knock and Hermione's head appeared in the open crack of the door.
"Ron, is-Oh!" Hermione's head then disappeared.
"Hermione!" he cried as he jumped up, horrified that she'd seen Maureen's hand in his hair. Not only that, his head had been resting right next to his partner's bare thigh.
"I'm sorry," Hermione's voice called out. "I didn't mean to-"
Ron ran to the door and swung it open to see her standing right outside of it, her face red. "You're fine, Hermione," he assured. "Are you okay? What are you doing here? I said I'd come to you."
"It's twenty two minutes past noon," she mumbled, her face still red.
Glancing at the clock on the wall for the first time in a long while, Ron let out a loud groan. "Fuck! I'm so bloody sorry, Hermione. We were working, and-" He ran back to his desk to grab his Auror robes and pulled them on, making sure his wand was tucked securely in the inside pocket. "Come on, we can still have a quick lunch."
Hermione's glance over at Maureen didn't go unnoticed by Ron, and with a sinking feeling, he realized that Hermione probably thought his beautiful partner was the actual cause of his forgetfulness.
"Oh," she said in a small voice. "I'm sorry. If you're busy, I can-"
Ron shook his head. "No! We still have time!" He was just about to usher Hermione out when he caught Maureen's eye and paused. The blonde was staring at him with an expectant expression, her face etched with amusement as she arched one of her perfect eyebrows.
"Oh. Uhm, yeah, sorry." He cleared his throat. "Hermione, this is my partner, Maureen. Maureen, this is Hermione."
Maureen slid gracefully off the top of his desk before extending a perfectly manicured hand out to Hermione. "Nice to meet you," she said in a friendly voice.
"You too," Hermione said, taking Maureen's hand. Although Hermione's tone was far from hostile, her demeanor was stiff, and Ron felt extremely uncomfortable.
"Let's hurry," he urged. "Limited time, remember?"
"Go on, Weasley," Maureen told him, already making her way back to his desk, this time to sit in his chair. "I'll keep looking through the papers. Take your time."
"Great. Thanks, Page," he said, shooting her a grateful smile.
Maureen nodded, and when Hermione turned around to walk towards the door, Ron's co-worker shot him a wink. Wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible, Ron took Hermione's arm, and together they walked out of his office.
"Where do you want to go?" he asked, making sure he had his wallet in his back pocket so he could pay for her food.
Hermione frowned. "Do we even have time to eat anywhere besides the cafeteria? I have to be back at my office at one."
"There's a small cafe right outside of the Ministry entrance," Ron suggested. "They're really quick, and they have amazing sandwiches. Does that sound alright?"
Hermione smiled. "That sounds good to me."
Ron led the way, and within fifteen minutes, they were sitting down at a cozy booth in the back corner of the cafe unwrapping their sandwiches.
"I know it's only your second day, but how's work been so far?" Ron asked before taking a big bite of his sandwich, letting out a satisfied moan at the taste.
"It's been great. Busy, but I can't complain," Hermione answered before taking a much smaller bite of her own food. "I'm really liking the job, and everyone's been incredibly nice so far."
"They better be nice," he said in a low voice. "Yesterday, I went to your department and threatened each and every one of them. Told them there'd be consequences if they dared be anything but positive to you."
Hermione's eyes widened in horror. "What? Ohgod, Ron! Please tell me you didn't!"
Unable to keep a straight face any longer, Ron burst into laughter. Hermione's expression went from horrified to irritated as she caught onto his joke. Saying nothing, she balled up her napkin and tossed it across the table, hitting Ron square on the forehead, only causing him to laugh even harder.
"I can't," he cried, wiping the tears from the corner of his eyes. "I can't believe you fell for that."
While at first, Hermione tried to look royally offended, Ron's laughter apparently triggered hers as well, and they laughed together for several minutes, the sight of the other in hysterics causing the laughing spell to last significantly longer than it normally would have otherwise.
Once their laughter faded enough for them to eat again, they ate in a comfortable silence. Ron snuck glances across at Hermione, still in disbelief that she was back in his life, and that they were friends again.
Friends for now, he thought.
"Does Harry ever join you for lunch?"
Pulled from his thoughts, Ron tried to focus on the conversation. "Nah. Not anymore. Ever since he's taken that damn promotion, he's been too busy to leave his office. When he took the position, I don't think he realized how much work it was going to be. Not only that, I can tell he really misses being out in the field. He's bloody good in combat, the git. He's fast, and he's never caught. Page is awesome, but I really do miss having Harry at my side."
"Page?" Hermione asked as she took a sip of water.
"Oh," Ron said, kicking himself for bringing Maureen up. "Page is Maureen's last name."
"Right." She paused. "Maureen seems nice."
Underneath the table, Ron's knee started to bounce. He was not at all comfortable talking about his work partner with Hermione. Even though there was no question that it was Hermione whom he wanted, there was nothing in Ron that told him it was a good idea to divulge to her what he and Maureen were. He could imagine it now. Hermione would probably be disgusted that he was casually shagging someone he was not with, while also believing that Ron was the type to sleep around, which wasn't true at all. Telling her might potentially lead her to think he was unable to be in a committed relationship, which also, wasn't true. He felt himself start to sweat and was glad his thick robes hid that fact from her.
No. If he told Hermione the truth, his chances with her would be non-existent. Ron couldn't let something so insignificant ruin this for him. Not when he finally felt he had a chance.
"She is," he agreed.
"She's really pretty," Hermione added.
Shifting in his seat, Ron kept his face as neutral as possible, trying to act casual. "Yeah. She's part Veela, so I guess pretty comes with the territory. She's also a bloody good Auror. One of the best, actually. But she's going to be an Unspeakable soon, apparently she's super close to being accepted."
"Oh!" Hermione said, her eyes widening. "I've always been curious as to what an Unspeakable actually does. It's just fascinating, isn't it?"
"You're telling me," Ron replied. "When Maureen's not working, she's down in the Department of Mysteries doing Merlin knows what while they show her the ropes. She's forbidden to talk much about it, but I've heard there's a huge amount of mental training involved." He shook his head. "Poor girl is so exhausted at the end of the day. I can't imagine going through that while also being a bloody Auror. No way I would manage."
Hermione nodded in agreement. "I'm sure that it is. Are you going to miss her once she changes departments? You two seem close. Well, from what I can tell…" she trailed off.
At those words, Ron knew for certain that Hermione was fishing for information about the status of his and Maureen's relationship, and he tried to push down his rising panic.
"We are," he admitted. "We've been partners for about six months now."
"Is she seeing anyone?" Hermione asked, her eyes on her hands as they played with the edge of a paper napkin.
"No. But I can tell her you're interested in a date if you want me to," he joked, wanting to ease the tension.
Hermione looked up at him, the corners of her mouth twitching. "No, thank you, Ronald."
"Then why ask?" he asked nonchalantly as he pushed the remainder of his sandwich into his mouth.
Hermione shrugged, her cheeks turning pink. "I was just wondering if you were-nevermind."
"There's nothing going on between me and Maureen," Ron blurted without thinking. "We're work partners. That's it."
He knew his face was on fire, and at that moment, he really wanted to fucking punch himself. She was probably going to see right through him.
Hermione blinked a few times, her flush spreading to her neck. "I didn't ask you that!"
Ron took a deep, calming breath. "You didn't have to. It was obvious you were thinking it," he muttered.
Her mouth opened and closed, but after several seconds, she shrugged. "Forgive me for being curious, Ron. I'm just trying to re-learn everything about you."
Ron reached his hand out and set it on top of hers. "I'm not mad, Hermione."
One day Ron would tell her the truth about Maureen, but today wasn't the day. Hermione didn't respond, and Ron spoke, desperate to fix the awkward silence.
"How's the, uh, the move coming along?"
Hermione's face went from pensive to mildly embarrassed. "Not great. My living area is still filled with unpacked boxes. My original plan was to, at the very least, unpack one box a day, but it's moving slower than I thought it would. I originally planned to use last week to finish unpacking, but instead, I was busy making lists and writing proposals." She blushed. "Leave it to me to start work before I even started work."
Ron couldn't help but laugh. "I can come help you unpack," he offered, not knowing if he was being too forward by inviting himself over so soon.
He needn't have worried, though, because Hermione looked delighted at his suggestion. "Well, that would be great, Ron. Thank you. When did yo-"
"I'm free tonight." The words flew out of Ron's mouth before he could stop them. Merlin, he was going to seem bloody desperate if he kept this up.
"I- okay. That would be nice," Hermione said. She looked a bit confused, but overall pleased, so he tried to relax. "Honestly, though, don't feel like you have to help, Ron. I-"
"I want to help," he insisted. "That's what friends are for, right?"
She smiled. "Yes. I suppose so."
"What time do you get off?" he asked.
"I get off at five. What about you?"
"Five. I'll pick you up a little after, and we'll leave together."
She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. Ron held his hands up defensively. "I promise I'll pay attention to the clock this time." He shook his head. "Merlin, I can't believe I stood you up. All morning, lunch with you was all I could think about, and I had to force myself to stop looking at the clock."
Hermione's eyes lit up. "Really? You were that excited to see me again?"
Ron pushed down his embarrassment and cleared his throat. "We have a second chance at friendship, Hermione. I don't want to fu- mess it up again."
Her face softened. "We both did things wrong back then. You're not the only one to blame."
He bit his tongue, not wanting to ruin the moment by talking about the past. "Water under the bridge, yeah?"
Hermione looked as if she wanted to say more, but after a pause she nodded. "Right. Forward only."
They shared a smile before gathering up their paper sandwich wrappings. After discarding their trash, they walked out of the cafe and headed back towards the Ministry. They were walking through the atrium when Hermione pulled on the sleeve of his robes.
"Ron, is that Draco Malfoy Harry is talking to?"
Ron followed her gaze, and sure enough, Harry and Malfoy were walking together, their faces serious as they engaged in an obviously intense conversation. He turned to Hermione and couldn't help but chuckle at the bewildered expression on her face. "Weird isn't it? But nah, I'm sure it's fine. We're all on good terms nowadays. Not that we're best mates with him or anything, but Malfoy stopped being a git, and well, he's actually a pretty okay guy once you get to know him. Took me a while to come around, but you know how Harry is, he made me make an effort. Bloody peacemaker."
"I never would have thought," Hermione mused, her eyes on the pair of men walking ahead of them. "I wonder what they're talking about? Could it be about work?"
Ron shrugged. "Malfoy works in another department, not sure which one. I don't see what they would be talking about if it were work related stuff."
Hermione steered them left towards the elevators and Ron lost sight of Harry and Malfoy. "You don't have to walk me all the way back to my office," she told him.
He frowned. "What if I wanted to see your office?"
She laughed. "You can if you want to! I just didn't want you to think you had to. But to be honest, it's not like I have had any time to decorate it or anything. It's only my second day."
"Fine," Ron relented with a sigh. "I need to get back to work, anyway."
"I'll see you soon." To Ron's surprise, Hermione moved forward and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Even though it was quick and not very intimate, Ron's body warmed at her touch.
"See you," he responded in a strangled voice, and before he could formulate another word, Hermione had turned and was walking away. "Bloody hell," he muttered under his breath. He needed to get a grip on himself.
oOo
"I gotta go."
Maureen glanced at her watch. "It's five to five. We still have a few things we can go over!"
Ron pulled on his robes. "We'll pick it up tomorrow, Page. I'm leaving."
She quirked an eyebrow. "Got something to tell me, Weasley?"
Ron paused. "Actually, yes. I wanted to discuss a few things with you."
"About what?"
He again looked at the clock. "No time now, but as soon as we get a moment..."
"Want to come over tonight?" Maureen suggested. "It's been a while anyway, and I wanted to tell yo-"
"Can't," Ron quickly interjected. "I have plans. Maybe next time," he added, even though that was a lie. As soon as he had a moment outside of work to talk to Maureen, Ron planned to end things with her. If he wanted to pursue a relationship with Hermione, he couldn't very well be shagging someone else, regardless if there were no feelings involved.
Maureen's face fell, but then she shrugged. "Okay. We'll talk later."
His mind on Hermione, Ron nodded before leaving his office without a backward glance.