A/N: I just wanted to take a quick moment to thank everyone for all the wonderful reviews. Sorry it took so long, but chapter ten has finally arrived, and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

CHAPTER TEN: THE CHOICES WE MAKE

"I don't know why I let you talk me into this," Hermione complained.

"Hey, I didn't talk you into anything. Remember, you were the one who said you wanted to break the rules and come out and have some fun with us," Ron was quick to remind her.

"He has a point there, Hermione," Ginny spoke up.

Harry smirked at Ron. "I think that's the first argument you've ever one against her,"

Ron shot him a look. "Shut up, Harry," he said, punching him in the arm as they came across the source of their destination.

A bunch of seventh year Ravenclaws had managed to procure a house in Hogsmeade for the weekend and were throwing a party there that night. Everyone was invited of course, apart from for the Slytherins, but it's not as if they would have showed up anyways – except, perhaps to cause trouble.

It was much more difficult for them to sneak out then it had been in their earlier years at Hogwarts. They had each grown quite a bit, especially Ron and Harry, making it almost impossible to fit even two people under Harry's invisibility cloak. But thanks to the marauder's map Harry had inherited, it had allowed them to reach the passageway blocked by the humpbacked witch unnoticed. They entered the open tunnel and followed it until they came out at the cellar in the Honeydukes shop in Hogsmeade.

When they reached the property, the music that had been a dull noise before was much louder now.

Ron indicated for Harry and Ginny to go inside. "We'll meet up with you in there,"

"Ron, what is it?" Hermione asked, watching their friends disappear inside.

His face was serious when he spoke. "You don't have to go in there, if you don't want to. I didn't even think you would say yes when I asked you to come with me. But we can go back to Hogwarts right now if you don't feel right about this,"

She considered his offer for several moments before giving him her answer. "The only times I've broken the rules was to help you or Harry. I think I've earned this,"

Ron was grinning at her. "I always knew you head girl types were rule breakers at heart," he said, holding the door open for her.

If she thought it was noisy outside, it was nothing compared to inside the house – it was absolutely deafening. There were crowds of people all over the place, and some she didn't even think went to Hogwarts because she had never seen them before.

"I'm going to find Harry, I'll be right back,"

He had to shout in her ear for her to hear him, and she simply nodded her head to show she'd heard him, not feeling like screaming to give him her response.

When Ron had left, she wished she had gone with him. This was completely unfamiliar territory for her and it only made it worse that she didn't recognize anyone.

She felt awkward and stupid standing there by herself, leading her to the decision to see if she could find anyone she might know from school. She rounded a corner, stopping just in time to keep herself from knocking Lavender Brown over. Surrounding her, were her usual Gryffindor followers.

Of all the people here, why does she have to be the one person I know, Hermione wondered to herself. Even now she wasn't sure how she had managed to survive living with Lavender for four years. Thankfully, she had become a prefect and then Head Girl after that, allowing her the freedom of having her own room.

"Well, hello, Hermione," Lavender slurred.

She's drunk already? Hermione wasn't sure why she should be surprised after some of the stories she had heard about her.

"I'm a little surprised to see you here," she remarked. "I would have thought you'd rather have your nose stuck up a book then have some fun,"

"Sorry to disappoint you," Hermione said coolly.

Lavender shot her a nasty look. "What happened, did your friends ditch you?"

Hermione clenched her jaw to refrain from saying what was really on her mind. "They're around here. We just got separated,"

Even that sounded lame to her ears, so it was no real surprise when Lavender and a few of the other girls with her sniggered.

"I couldn't imagine why they'd want to get separated from you, with you being the life of the party and all," she said sarcastically. Then she shook her head. "I still don't get what he sees in boring, little old you. He could do much better,"

She was refering to Ron and Hermione felt extremely self-conscious at that moment. She knew Lavender was just trying to upset her, but her looks had always been an issue of self-doubt with her.

"I don't even think Ron knows," she said, turning to her friends. "If he did, he wouldn't have come to me,"

Hermione did a sharp intake of breath. "You're delusional,"

Why was she was letting Lavender get the best of her? She was drunk out of her mind and didn't know what she was talking about.

"You don't believe me? Do you really think Ron was going to sit around waiting for you to be ready, when he could have me? Honestly, I never realized how naïve you were until now,"

She was laughing at her now, and it was all Hermione could do to restrain herself from strangling the other Gryffindor. That moment of anger soon passed, only to be replaced by the overwhelming sense of dread that Lavender was indeed telling the truth. She kept telling herself that Ron would never do that to her, but then she remembered how strange Ron had acted for weeks for no apparent reason. The way he had avoided looking at her in the eye for days, and sometimes not even wanting to touch her or hold her hand.

Lavender was watching her and smiling as she saw Hermione carefully piece everything together. Lavender was waiting for her to break down, but she refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

With as much dignity as she could muster, she pushed passed everyone, not even bothering to stop and apologize to Neville when she knocked his drink on himself.

"Harry!"

Harry turned to see Neville Longbottom rushing up the stairs to get to him.

"Hey, Neville, what's up?"

"Hermione," he began breathlessly. "She just ran out of here. I think she was crying,"

Harry's good mood disappeared instantly. Ron was a few feet away from him, deep in conversation with Dean Thomas about the upcoming professional Quidditch season.

Harry pulled him aside. "Neville said Hermione ran out of here crying,"

Ron's face went white. "When?"

"Just now,"

Ron tried to keep himself from panicking, but was not very successful. He didn't know what was going on. All he knew was he needed to find her and find out what was wrong.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Harry asked him.

"No, I'll find her,"

He knew Harry just wanted to help, but Hermione was his girlfriend and that's why he needed to go after her alone.

When he reached outside, he looked around the swarms of people crowding around on the front property to see if he could find her, but she wasn't there. He needed to calm down and think where would she go. It was several long moments before his thoughts cleared enough to come to the conclusion that she would most likely go back to Hogwarts.

He took off at a run back the way they had come. It wasn't until he had passed the last of the cottages and started passing the shops in Hogsmeade that he saw her lone figure walking through the deserted streets.

"Hermione!"

Either she didn't hear him or she was ignoring him altogether, he didn't know, but it only made him run faster to catch up to her.

When he got close enough to her he shouted, "Hermione, please wait!"

She still wouldn't acknowledge him, and the only thing he could do to keep her from continuing to walk away was to grab her arm, forcing her to look at him. She had obviously been crying. Her face was tear streaked and her eyes were red and puffy.

All it took was that one look at her face for Ron to know that she knew everything.

She broke free of his grasp and backed away from him.

"Is it true?"

How was he supposed to answer that without wrecking everything they had worked towards?

"Is it true?" She asked again, her voice shaking even more this time. "Ron, tell me," she begged. "If you tell me Lavender's a liar I'll believe you." She sounded almost hysterical when she spoke.

There was no hiding what he had done any longer. He couldn't lie to her anymore, even though a part of him wanted to so they could just go back to Hogwarts and forget this conversation ever happened.

"It was one time," he said in a low voice. Shame filled him, and he couldn't bring himself to look at her when he said it.

When he did look up, she was shaking her head and tears started falling down her cheeks again. When she looked at him, it wasn't disappointment or hatred that he saw in her eyes, it was disgust.

"Hermione, let me explain," he said urgently.

He tried reaching out to her but she pushed him away. "Explain what, Ron?" She shouted at him through her tears. "That you slept with Lavender just one time and that makes it okay? I trusted you!"

She was shaking all over now, and there was nothing he could do because she wouldn't let him come anywhere near her. "I'm sorry,"

She wasn't listening to him. "When did it happen? It was before Christmas wasn't it? Before we – " She broke off. "Ron, answer me!"

"It was before Christmas," he confirmed.

If it was possible for Hermione to get anymore upset, it happened at that moment. "You've been lying for months! Here I was thinking we spent our first time together, but you had already slept with someone. I'm so stupid. All the signs were right there in front of my face. You were acting so different, but I couldn't figure it out." She ran her fingers through her hair. "How could I be so stupid?"

"Mione – "

"Don't, Ron. Just don't. There's nothing you can say that can fix this,"

"I made a mistake,"

"You had sex with Lavender!"

She needed to get away from him, but he tried to stop her.

"Don't touch me, Ron!" She screamed. "Stay away from me,"

She took off, and there was nothing he could do except watch her run away.

It was still early when Ron found himself outside the door to Hermione's apartment. So early in fact that he was hoping he would catch her before she left for work.

After several knocks on her door, his theory was confirmed.

She was dressed in her work robes, but she looked like she had about as much sleep as he had – which was none. He had spent the night just walking. He had needed to be alone with his thoughts. If he had gone back to his flat Harry would have been there, and there would have been no chance in hell of being left alone if he had gone to The Burrow.

She looked at him uncertainly as she held the door open.

"Can I come in?" It sounded like a plea.

She didn't nod or anything, she simply moved out of the doorway allowing him to step inside.

It had been a long time since he had been in there, though it was a lot smaller then he remembered. But knowing Hermione, she probably spent more time at the ministry then at home and wouldn't even notice the size.

"It's a lot smaller then I remembered," he commented looking around.

She didn't say anything, which meant he had to make the next move.

"I know you probably need some time to think about everything," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "but I've been up all night thinking and I didn't know what else to do except come here,"

She stared at him hard before saying, "I didn't think I'd ever have to go down this road with you again,"

"You don't have to if you don't want to,"

"After last night I don't think either one of us has much of a choice,"

"You always have a choice, Mione,"

That sounded exactly like something she would say, but it sounded odd coming from Ron.

"I didn't come here to pressure you or anything," he said to her. "I just need to know if you meant what you said last night,"

She shook her head. He was a piece of work. "You want me to confirm that I still love you, is that what this visit is about?"

"Maybe I just need to hear you say it because I distinctly remember you saying six years ago that you would never trust me the same way again,"

"I do trust you Ron," she said, "just not with my heart,"

"You can trust me," he insisted, grabbing both her hands. "I've done a lot of growing up over the years. I know it may not show, but I have. I would never put you through all that pain again. I would die first. If I could change the past, I would, but I can't. Neither of us can. I'm not asking you to forget what I did, I'm just asking you to forgive me. Because if you can't do that, then there's really no point in my being here,"

"I forgave you a long time ago," she said softly. "I was just too afraid to let you back in because I always had this fear that you would break my heart again,"

He should have felt immensely relieved at her words, but finding out she had forgiven him was only half the battle. He couldn't get his hopes up too soon. "What do you want?"

"Ron, I don't know,"

"Yes, you do. Just forget for a minute that I'm getting married and tell me what you want,"

He was waiting for her to deny again that she didn't know what she wanted. When she did speak, her voice was barely above a whisper.

"I want you,"

He had been restraining himself from kissing her since the moment he had walked in there, but after hearing her utter those words it was all he could do to keep himself from picking her up and swinging her around in his arms. He settled for cupping her face with his hands and kissing her in very much the same way he had the other night at the wedding rehearsal. It started off soft, with Ron gently moving his mouth against hers, but quickly turned into the fire and passion they had both been so accustomed to at one time in their lives.

It was mutual when they ended up, each looking at the other looking quite breathless.

Letting her forehead rest against his, Hermione said softly, "you can't just call off your wedding, Ron,"

He repressed a groan. Only Hermione would tell him one thing and then do a complete one-eighty. "Why not?"

"Because what if Harry's right?"

Not this again. "Harry's not right,"

"What if he is and the only reason this is happening is because we're both to scared to let go of the past and move on. Ron, you can't just give up Gillian and everything you've worked towards without at least thinking about it,"

Why did she always have to be right?

"My dad got me a posting at the ministry," he said suddenly.

"What?" That was completely unexpected. "Why?"

"Because I need a real job, that's why,"

"Ron, you hate it there. I know everyone's been on your case lately, but don't work there just to make everyone else happy,"

"You should probably go to work," he said, letting her go. "I don't want to make you late,"

He kissed her cheek before turning to go, but she caught his hand.

"Ron, just think about it. Think about everything before you make a choice,"

He left then, realizing the choices he had to make were no easier then before he had arrived there.

There was a soft knocking coming from the other side of her door, but she refused to answer it. She didn't want to see him right now, couldn't he get that through his head?

"Hermione, it's Harry, will you open the door?"

It wasn't Ron, but that didn't mean she wanted to see anyone else. Not even Harry.

"Hermione?"

No answer.

"I coming in, okay?"

She heard the unlocking of her door and then the sound of someone walking in.

She stayed where she was, curled up on her bed, facing the opposite direction with her face buried in her pillow. She didn't even acknowledge his presence when he sat down on the bed beside her.

He didn't try to get her to speak, he just sat there, listening to her cry.

"Harry, please go away," she said when it become evident ignoring him wasn't going to make him go away.

"I just wanted to know you were okay. I can't find Ron anywhere,"

Just saying his name, caused her to start crying all over again. Harry placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and she didn't fight it anymore. She sat up and buried her face in his chest, sobbing uncontrollably, while he sat holding her.

"Hermione, what happened?" He said softly.

She let loose everything that had happened at the party and afterwards. She rambled on about having loved Ron and having trusted him, and Harry sat listening to it all, never interrupting, until she finally exhausted herself out and fell off to sleep.

She woke up feeling terrible. Briefly, she had hoped she had dreamt it all, that it was all a horrible nightmare – but reality came crashing down when she spotted Harry sitting in an armchair beside her bed. She must have looked a wreck, but he smiled at her nevertheless.

"Thanks for staying," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her eye.

"Hermione, you don't have to thank me," he said. "This might be a stupid question, but how do you feel,"

She swallowed. "Empty,"

"I know you've been through a lot, but if we don't leave soon we're going to miss McGonagall's class,"

She had completely forgotten about classes. "I don't think I can go,"

"It will help get your mind off things,"

Using school as an excuse would only work on her.

"I can't. Everyone's going to be there. He'll be there,"

It was as if his name was a curse that she couldn't speak aloud.

"And I'll be there with you. It will be fine, trust me," he said, reaching out to give her hand a gentle squeeze.

She did trust him, even though she wasn't quite sure she believed him. She ended up giving in and letting him take her to class.

When they reached their transfiguration classroom, she hesitated before going inside. Harry waited until she was ready before opening the door and they walked in.

They weren't late, but it seemed like they were the last to arrive in the class and all eyes were focused on them. Even without looking around, she knew he was there. It took a gentle nudging from Harry for her to take one of the empty seats at the front of the class.

Transfiguration had never seemed to take so long to finish, and if someone had asked her what the lesson had been about she wouldn't have been able to tell them anything.

For the first time in her life, Hermione was one of the very first students to file out of the room when class was over. But even then that had not been quick enough.

"Hermione!"

She kept walking, with Harry right behind her.

She could hear the huuried footsteps getting closer.

"Hermione, please, we have to talk,"

Harry spun around to face him. "Sod off, Ron, she doesn't have anything to say to you,"

"What are you, her bodyguard? This is between me and her so get out of the way,"

"Come on, Hermione, let's go," Harry said, guiding her away from Ron.

"It hasn't even been a full day and you're all over her, Harry,"

"You being the expect on being all over people, right?"

Ron threw the first punch. His fist connected with Harry's jaw and sent him staggering back against the nearest wall.

"Harry, don't!" Hermione pleaded, grabbing his arm.

He shook her off and came back with a swing of his right arm, ramming Ron right on the bridge of his nose. The amount of blood gushing out of his nose only served to fuel Ron's anger. He lunged at Harry, tackling him to the ground and pinning him there…