A/N: Starting now, at the beginning of every chapter (and maybe in the middle of some), there will be a flashback to Ron and Hermione's seventh year from the events leading to their eventual breakup and beyond. They will alternate between Hermione's POV to Ron's POV.
To answer some questions:
Elanor Odd Socks: You'll have to wait and see if Harry and Ginny are going to get together. I read and reviewed your HP story. It's great so far. When are you going to post the next chapter?
animegirl-mika: Like I said, you're going to have to wait to see if Ginny forgives him. There's still plenty of story left to go.
Molly: We'll meet Ron's bride-to-be in Chapter Five.
Thanks for all the reviews, and now on with the story…
CHAPTER THREE
"That's it! I can't study anymore," Hermione said and slammed her Advanced Transfiguration textbook shut.
"I don't think you've studied nearly enough. You don't have this book memorized from back to front yet,"
Hermione looked at him, thinking he was being serious until she saw a stupid lopsided grin forming on his face.
"Shut up, Ron,"
She grabbed her pillow and smacked him in the face with it.
"How can you hit a defenseless wizard?" He said, playing hurt.
"You're not defenseless,"
"You're right. I'm not.
Before Hermione had time to react, he had her pinned to the bed and was tickling her mercilessly.
"Ron, stop!" She managed to get out in between laughing fits.
"Not until you say Ron Weasley is the most responsible person I know and I don't know what I'd do without him,"
"You – you can't expect me to say that," she said and giggled even louder when he started attacking her ribs. "When we both know that's a lie,"
"Then I guess you'll have to hope I'll take mercy on you," he said and continued his relentless tickling assault on her.
Hermione couldn't take anymore. "All right, all right. Ron Weasley is the most responsible person I know,"
"And?"
"And I don't know what I'd do without him!" She gasped.
"Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" He said, stopping.
"You're such a prat, Ron," she told him, but she was smiling.
He fell back on the bed beside her. "And that's why you love me,"
"Maybe," she said, laying her head on his chest.
They both grew quiet, but Hermione could feel Ron tensing up beside her. "What is it?" She asked, moving her head up to look at him.
"I don't know. It's just – do you realize that in less than nine months will be out of here forever?"
She couldn't resist grinning. "You're going to miss Hogwarts, aren't you?"
"What? No…. okay, maybe a little. All right. A lot," he said at last to satisfy her. "Most of the best memories I have are from here, but it's not just that. I don't even know what I'm going to do when I get out of here," he told her. "My dad doesn't understand why I don't want to work at the Ministry with him. He doesn't realize that it's not my dream to work for the almighty Ministry of Magic. No insult intended," he added..
"It's okay," she assured him. "I didn't know you thought about life after Hogwarts,"
"I think about a lot of things. Like us, for example," he said, looking down at her.
He leaned forward and kissed her deeply, moving his hands so they were running through her long hair. Hermione kissed him back with equal passion, moving closer to him until she was lying on top of him. The speed of their kissing increased, while Ron's hands traveled down her back, when Hermione stopped abruptly.
"It's late," she said, still leaning over him.
"I know," he said, not taking his eyes off her.
"You should probably go. If anyone finds you in here…"
"I know that, too,"
It was several seconds later before either of them moved. Hermione initiated it by getting off of him. Ron, rather reluctantly, followed suit and got up.
She walked him to the door.
"See you in the morning," he said to her.
"It's already morning," she corrected him.
It was one of the few times he didn't mind being corrected by her. "I could get used to these all night study sessions,"
They kissed briefly before he left and Hermione closed the door behind him.
There was a moment of disorientation for Hermione when she woke up the next morning. It took several seconds for her brain to click in and remember she was at the Weasley's.
She lay there for several long moments, staring at the ceiling, thinking, wow, that had been some dream. She hadn't thought about the time she and Ron had stayed up half the night, learning everything there was to know about Animagi – which was nearly half their textbook – in a long time. She remembered how surprised she had been when he had suggested they study together and how seriously he had taken it.
Weird. What had suddenly triggered that memory?
She decided not to dwell on the matter further. She got out of bed, and checking to make sure she was decent, headed downstairs.
She was only at the top of the stairs, when she smelled a delicious aroma coming from downstairs. Someone was up cooking breakfast. When she reached the kitchen, she pulled open the door – and nearly had a heart attack.
"Ron! What are you doing here?"
"He was up early looking for a job," Mr. Weasley answered, who was sitting at the table.
Ron sighed. "Dad, don't start,"
It wasn't that she minded that he was there. It was his family's house after all. But it would have been nice if she had known that he was coming over so she could have made herself a bit more presentable. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen her in her pajamas before, but that wasn't the issue.
"I have to go," Mr. Weasley said, draining the last of his coffee before getting up. "I'll see you kids later,"
He had a pile of paper work that needed to be done and had decided by going in on a Saturday when nobody would be there, would be the easiest way to get it done. Ginny had offered up her Saturday to go with him and give him a hand.
Hermione went and poured herself a cup of coffee, peering over Ron's shoulder to see what he was making. Scrambled eggs and sausages.
"Since when do you cook? I meant cook something that doesn't smell like it's on fire,"
"Since my mum got tired of me coming over here and taking food,"
"It smells good," she complimented.
"Do you want some?"
"No, thanks. I don't need that junk,"
"Like that coffee's so much better for you," he commented.
She declined to answer that, while she sat down in the chair Arthur Weasley had vacated.
She sat, sipping her coffee, briefly entertaining the idea of going upstairs and getting changed and brushing her hair, until her mind got around the fact that this was just Ron, and she didn't need to impress him. If he was that turned off by her appearance, he could find someone else to help with his wedding.
"So, really, why are you here so early?" Hermione asked him.
"I figured you'd be up early, so I thought we could get an early start today," he said, bringing his breakfast over to the table and sitting across from her. "I've made a list of things," he said, before shoving a forkful of eggs into his mouth.
He reached into his pocket and handed it to her. She took it, thankful that he had at least taken the time to write a few things down.
She nearly fell off her chair when she looked at it. "Ron, this list is a page long!"
"I know," he said sheepishly. "But look, a lot of its little things,"
She looked at his untidy scrawl and skimmed through the list: pick meal for dinner, decide on band, choose wedding cake, find something to wear…
"Please tell me you've at least handed at wedding invitations,"
"Of course. We took care of that at least two weeks ago,"
Well, that was something. But looking at the list again, she wondered if it was possible to get even half these things done with the wedding three weeks away.
"Ron, why did you leave all this stuff until the last minute? Do you know how hard it's going to be to find someone to cater a wedding at this late notice?"
He sighed. "I know. Gillian's just been really busy at work lately – she won't even be coming with us today. She called me this morning saying she had to go into work today because of some really important story,"
Gillian was an editor for the Daily Prophet.
"What's your excuse?"
"I've been busy too, you know. I may not have a big, fancy job but I've had things to take care of too,"
"Uh-huh," Hermione said, though she did not sound the least bit convinced. This was classic-Ron. Leaving everything to the last minute. "We should get started in London,"
He looked at her oddly. "London? What are we going there for?"
"Because I know more about weddings than you do and I say we're going to shop for this stuff there,"
"Yes, sir,"
She rolled her eyes. "You're going to be the death of me Ron, you know that?"
"I do my best," he said and picked up a sausage.
The morning was a hectic one. And Hermione thought she had it hard at the Ministry. Trying to shop in London on a weekend was hard enough; add shopping for a wedding to that and it all but spelt out the word 'migraine'. She would have thought most people would have gone away for the long weekend, but that didn't seem to be the case.
She had to give Ron credit, though. After some not so gentle nudging on her part, he managed to do a lot of things on his own, and Hermione was just there to put her input in and offer her opinion. Even in the muggle stores, he was a lot more comfortable then he used to be. Maybe Muggle Studies had paid off after all.
Of course, Ron was still protesting somewhat that they were shopping in London instead of a 'wizarding community' like Diagon Alley. Hermione carefully explained to him that having grown up as a muggle, she had never been to any wizard weddings. She only knew how the muggle ones were like. She told him he should have taken that into consideration before asking her. That seemed to shut him up and he didn't question her judgment again until later that morning.
The first thing they had had taken care of was the meal courses that would be served at the reception. That part alone had taken up several hours. Ron actually seemed to enjoy that part; picking out the food, especially the dessert part. He and Gillian had already gone over what they wanted to be served at the dinner. Next came Hermione's favourite part of the morning: watching Ron moan and gripe while he tried on half a dozen different tuxes. He complained that wizards didn't get married in those, but Hermione was quick to point out that it was more modern to get married in a tux than in a wizard robe. He complained some more, but nonetheless, tried on tux after tux until he found one that suited him.
Those two tasks alone had taken up the entire morning. It was only one o'clock and Hermione felt dead on her feet, and Ron did not look much better. They stopped by an outdoor café to grab some lunch.
"I have to admit," Ron began, after the waiter had taken their order, "maybe the 'muggle way' wasn't necessarily the wrong way to go with this wedding. It was a lot less complicated then what my parents were telling me,"
"You're welcome," Hermione told him.
Ron grinned. "Listen, I know this is only the second day we've spent together in a long time, but you already know everything that's going on with me and I know nothing about you except how you're job's going,"
"That's pretty much all there is to say about me," she said.
"I don't believe that. How's your parents?"
"Their fine,"
"Harry told me awhile ago that you got a new place, how's that working out?"
"It's nice. It's not too far from the ministry,"
"Any boyfriend's?" He tried to ask casually.
"Is this an interrogation?"
"No, not at all. I'm just wondering,"
"To answer your question, no, there's nobody in my life right now,"
She couldn't tell whether or he was relieved by that news.
"I probably should have asked this earlier, but are you okay with this? I mean, us – together, planning a wedding,"
"Ron, if I wasn't okay with it I wouldn't have said yes,"
That wasn't entirely true. The only reason she had agreed to it was because Harry had talked her into it.
"That's good,"
Told you, Harry, Ron thought silently.
"I've got a confession to make," Ron began slowly. "The reason I asked for your help was because I was hoping if we spent some time together we'd be able to get back on track. I hate how even after all this time there's still this – this awkwardness between us. I know it's largely my fault – if not all my fault," he paused. He was no good at confessions or expressing how he felt, but he might as well get it over with. "I need to know if you've forgiven me,"
"Ron, that was a long time ago,"
"I know that. That's why I'm asking,"
"So, what if I do? What difference does it make? It doesn't change anything,"
"It changes everything. It's what can make things go back to the way they were between us,"
She shook her head in disagreement. "Things can never go back to the way they were, Ron. We're not kids anymore,"
"Why are you getting so upset?"
"Because I hate dragging up the past,"
"I know that I hurt you. All I want is your forgiveness,"
"God, Ron, you sound like you're seventeen all over again,"
"Hermione, I'm not seventeen anymore. I've grown up a lot – "
"No, you haven't," she cut in. "you still have no sense of responsibility. Look at you, Ron, you're getting married in three weeks and you're not even looking for a job. You're almost twenty-four years old and you still have no idea what you want to do with your life. And to top it all off, you're still relying on me to come charging in and rescue you whenever you need help. It's time to grow up, Ron,"
If Ron was shocked by her harsh words, it was definitely not more than she was. She couldn't believe those words had come out of her mouth.
Ron was refusing to make eye contact with her. His gaze was locked on a nearby table. His expression was an impassive mask, but his eyes gave him away. He was angry…. and hurt.
"I'm sorry," she said in a low voice. "I – maybe this isn't going to work. I think we should call it a day,"
Ron had no arguments with that. He got up from the table without a word and started walking back towards where Hermione had parked her car.
She followed him, careful to keep a considerable distance between them. It was not going to be a fun ride back to The Burrow.
It was the most miserable car ride Hermione had ever experienced. Ron had wanted to be brought back to his flat and didn't say one word on the drive there. When they arrived at it, he mumbled a barely coherent good-bye before stepping out of the car and entering the building.
On the way back to The Burrow, she kept thinking about how stupid she was for letting Harry talk her into something she had been completely against from the start. Boy, was she was going to give it to him next time she saw him.
It was mid-afternoon when she walked up the porch steps and entered the Weasley house.
She was glad no one was around to greet her. All she wanted to do was go up to the guest bedroom she had been given and be left alone, before she packed to leave that night.
Ginny was in her room, lying on her bed reading a magazine, when Hermione walked by.
"Back so soon?" Ginny teased.
"I don't want to talk about it, Gin,"
Ginny grew serious. "What happened?"
"I'm an idiot, that's what happened," she said, running her fingers through her hair in frustration. "I knew it wasn't going to work,"
"What did my brother do?" Ginny asked, sitting up.
Hermione walked into her room and flopped down on the bed. "He wanted to make things right between us and asked for my forgiveness and I threw it back in his face. I didn't realize a part of me was still mad at him even now,"
"It's okay to still feel that way, Hermione," Ginny tried to comfort her. "When you love someone and you think they feel the same way, it's hard to forget that they could do something to hurt you,"
"I'm a hypocrite, aren't I? Telling you to forgive Harry, when a part of me can't do the same with Ron,"
Ginny smiled. "You're not a hypocrite. You're just not sure what to do,"
"Six years is an awful long time to stay mad at someone,"
"You can't force yourself to forgive him,"
"I know that. But I also know that Ron's right. Our friendship will never go back to what it was if I don't move on. I've really missed him over the years. I know we still talk and everything, but it's not the same. I was always scared I'd let him back in and the same thing would happen,"
"What are you going to do about the wedding?" Ginny asked after some time.
"Ron can handle it. He's going to have to. This is going to be the one time I can't be there for him. And it's time he got used to that,"
She felt guilty for bailing on him, but Ron would understand. There wasn't going to be a wedding with the two of them working together. Ron may have been right about their friendship, but he was wrong when he took all the blame on himself. He wasn't the only one at fault.
Please keep reviewing. I'll try and have the next chapter up shortly.