My first stab at a Ron/Hermione fic. please don't eat me if you don't like it! I assure you, I WILL make it a happy ending! It just may take a while...
Thanks so much to AngelwingS for inspiring me to write this, and for giving me the song "Champagne High" by Sister Hazel.
I, unfortunately, do not own Harry Potter. If I did, there'd be a fifth book already.
A Mistake Mended
Chapter One: Champagne High
Hermione Granger, a normally prim and proper witch in her mid-twenties, was uncharacteristically sprawled across her bed, her head hanging off the end allowing her light brown curls to cascade to the floor.
"I just don't know, Gin" she told her best friend, who was sitting cross legged on the floor next to the bed, reading Cosmo Witch and painting her toenails. "I can't believe it's happened myself; I just, well, I don't feel anything there anymore."
"It's like a little piece of me has changed. It's not necessarily gone, per say, but I can't see this relationship I have with your brother really going any further."
Ginny's eyes widened in shock and she whirled around to face Hermione, knocking a bottle of Sevi's Perfect Color Nail Potion (Changes to match your outfit!) over and spilling the foul smelling goo onto the carpet.
"What?" Ginny managed to burst out. With a wave of her wand, the mess was cleared and the carpet returned to its previous state of immaculativity. "But, you two seemed so much in love. I've seen the way he looks at you, Hermione, there's no way he'd ever look at anyone else like that. He loves you. And you do care for him, why throw it all away?"
"Ginny, aren't I supposed to be the voice of reason around here? It doesn't feel right anymore. Something's missing. Besides, for years you've been trying to get me to act with my heart and not with my head. Well, now's that time. I need to do this."
Ginny started to say something, but Hermione sat up and held up a hand to silence the young redheaded woman. "I will do this, for his sake and mine. Merlin only knows I've needed some breathing room for a while, and there HAS to be some girl out there that's right for him. It just isn't me."
"I'm going to end it - tonight."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Flying around in the backyard of the Burrow with three of his brothers and two of his best friends, Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley was truly content to just feel the breeze in his face and to dodge enchanted miniature pumpkins, courtesy of Fred and George's Bludger Creation Extravaganza. With rogue gourds running rampant in the air around him, it was easy for him to forget the war being fought every day, and to slip back into happier childhood memories.
Now, the war against Voldemort had been won years before, in his sixth year. Harry, Dumbledore and Sirius had constructed an alternate dimension full of immortal, insufferably happy people for Voldemort to be caught within. No, he wasn't troubled by that war.
He needed to forget his internal war. The one about his relationship with Hermione. "I love her as much as I possibly can. Why am I even questioning this? She would have said something before if she didn't reciprocate at least a little of these feelings."
Ron pulled his broom in an abrupt about-face and sped off through the trees, following a small, cut broom path through the foliage down to his favorite spot by the river. Seeing his best friend's distress, Harry ducked to avoid a pumpkin and then followed. Calling back that he'd see the Quidditch group later, he raced to catch up with Ron.
Harry found the twenty four year old sitting under a large weeping willow tree, his knees pulled up to his chest with his head resting on one knee. A small black box was in his hand, and he kept turning it over and over in his palm before straightening up and motioning for Harry to join him.
"It's funny," he said when his friend was settled next to him. "To think, something so tiny could change your life forever." He opened the velvet enclosure to reveal a small gold ring perched on a pillow of midnight blue satin. A single, princess cut opal was set in the thin band, catching the light and shining rainbow speckles onto the ground near their feet.
"Ron, mate, when are you going to ask her? It's been over a month since you bought the ring. If you wait too much longer, she might get some crazy idea like, 'I think I'm going to go to law school today,' and ship herself off to Harvard Law in America. You have to ask her soon. Like tonight, when you go out to dinner."
Ron looked horrified. "She's leaving? Bloody hell! I thought she said she was done with school after she triple majored at Oxford! Why didn't she tell me? Oh, I should have asked her last week when I had the chance!"
Harry threw up his hands in exasperation. "No, Ron, as far as I know, she's not going anywhere. If you don't ask her soon, though, she may very well be. Do it tonight." As he spoke, an owl swooped down to land before him, holding a small, neatly folded square of pure white parchment.
"It's Athena, must be Hermione's reply about dinner." Ron said absentmindedly, as he stared at the ring in his hand once more. Since Ron wasn't paying any attention, Harry took an owl treat from his pocket and gave it to Athena. "Let me give him the letter when he's sane again, okay? Go talk to Hedwig, she's back at the Burrow."
The owl launched into the beautiful April afternoon as Ron fell back into his memories of the last conversation he and Hermione had had about their future.
* Flashback *
Sitting together on the roof of the North Tower, Ron and Hermione cherished their 'alone time' as they called it. Sometimes they'd do homework, or catch up on what had been happening in their busy lives as Head Girl and Prefect, but mostly they just sat together in companionable silence, knowing that next year, everything would be different.
Today was one of those days. Ron was sitting up, leaning back on the small pillar which jutted out of the top of the gently sloping roof. Hermione was lying down on her back, watching the sunset with her head in Ron's lap. As the fiery orange sphere sank below the horizon, spraying a vast array of pink, peach and violet hues across the watercolored sky, Ron twirled a lock of Hermione's hair around his fingers, marveling at its softness.
"Hey, Mya," he said softly, not wanting to shatter the peace which had settled over the scene like a blanket. "What's going to happen to us when we graduate? I mean, I know I'll be at the Auror Academy, and you're going to be at Oxford majoring in who knows how many magical fields, but, well, what's going to become of our relationship?" His ears turned red as Hermione focused her chocolate brown eyes on his.
"Well, I expect that we'll see each other on holidays and weekends, Ron. The only reason I'm staying in England is because our families want me close until the terrorism threats are finished from that new overlord, Bianca, in America. Otherwise, I'd be over at the Liberty Conservatory in July. Why?"
Ron tried to hide his hurt expression by looking to the left of him, where the luminescent reds and oranges were fading slowly into a deep shade of purple. "I thought that we'd be able to see a lot more of each other, like everyday, maybe."
Hermione sat up with a huff. "Oh, honestly, Ron! You didn't expect us to get married right out of Hogwarts like your parents, did you? Almost no marriages directly after graduation work; most people are too naive to be involved in a serious relationship like that! Besides, your parents only got married when they did because your mom was already two months pregnant with Bill when school got out! They HAD to get married."
Ron shook his head. "You don't get it, do you? Everyday, I fall a little more in love with you. Each morning, I wake up, and my first thought is always, I get to see Hermione today. And then, my heart is filled with joy so pure and intense I didn't know it was possible to experience. Not until I met you. I don't care if you tell me that I'm too naive to feel these things, I just know what's in my heart. And it's you.
"Waiting a whole week just to see you, to hold you in my arms, to ask you how your day has gone, hell, that'd be torture beyond a thousand Cruciatuses. I don't care if you tell me that we need to get out and see the world, meet new people; I don't want to meet anyone new. And my world is sitting right in front of me.
"You're really all that matters to me now, Mya. Sure, I have my family, but you can only take so much of the Weasleys at one time. But you... I can never get enough of you, just sitting next to you. Talking about seemingly insignificant things. Watching you sleep. You amaze me every single day, and I'd like to keep being amazed, every single day for the rest of our lives. You're the only girl I'll ever want to be with, and I'm willing to stake my life on that claim. I love you, Hermione Elisabeth Granger. You're my one and only."
Hermione turned his face back towards hers, and gave him one soft, sweet kiss. Then collapsing, she fell into his arms, sobbing into his shoulder. Bewildered, but unable to control the feeling of euphoria that came whenever he touched her, Ron wrapped his arms comfortingly around her waist, patting her back until her tears subsided to the occasional hiccup.
"Thank you, Ron," she said quietly trying to clear her face of her tears with her hands, but failing. Gently, he took the hem of his cloak and wiped them all away, then kissed either cheek. Relaxing back into his original position, Hermione lay her head back on his lap, gazing at the now velvety blue sky, dotted with sprinklings of crystal white stars.
"I'm sorry if I made you feel like I was calling you immature, Ron. I was really thinking more of myself. I'm not ready to settle down yet. I've got wings, and I need to try them out before they disintegrate. I don't know what to tell you, other than I'll try to see you as much as I can. I don't like this arrangement much, either, but it's the best, for both of us, at least until we finish school and obtain stable jobs."
They sat in silence, staring at the clear sky, illuminated slightly by a crescent moon bathing the grounds in a silvery mist. "What can I do, then?" Ron asked gruffly.
"Wait for me."
* End Flashback *
Ron sat up so hard and so fast that Harry, who was calmly sitting next to him opening the letter from Hermione, tore the paper cleanly in two. "Hera's thumbs, I'm tired of waiting! We're done with school, and we've had jobs for over three years now! I'm going to ask her tonight!"
Harry gave a sigh of relief. "That's good, and you better be ready for a night of a lot of excitement, apparently she's got something important to tell you, too."
Ron made a grab for the letter, pushing the two halves together so he could read the complete message.
Dear Ron, it read, Dinner tonight at The Plaza would be lovely. I have something very important to tell you, so the private room you have reserved sounds just perfect. I'll expect you at eight. Hermione.
Folding the letter up and putting it in his pocket along with the ring, Ron bounced to his feet. "C'mon, mate," he called to Harry. "It's six thirty! I've got to get ready for dinner with Hermione!" He jumped on his broomstick and sped off, feet grazing the tips of the treetops as he flew top speed towards the rickety old house.
Harry shook his head and reached for his Supernova 2, his graduation present from Sirius and Remus. I swear that boy's bipolar... we're gonna have to get him into a shrink before the wedding, he thought, laughing to himself. As the sun sank behind Ottery St. Catchpole, Harry flew back at a more leisurely pace than Ron. The biggest event in the trio's friendship was about to happen, and he didn't want to ruin any of Ron's excitement. Pausing a moment before entering the Weasley household, he played back his memories of Ron and Hermione. Smiling, he entered the comforting chaos that he now called home, wondering why none of this happened sooner.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Hermione sat on her bed, pulling on a pair of flesh colored stockings. "I don't need to hear any more of your excuses, Virginia Louise," she said. "I will go through with this! I don't need two guilty consciences nagging me until Ron comes to pick me up." Strapping on her black high heeled sandals, she stood up and walked over to the vanity.
Hands shaking, Hermione picked up her perfume bottle and sprayed her wrist with the light floral fragrance. Just don't think about it... the more you dwell on how hurt you think Ron might be, the worse it will seem when you actually tell him. Just breathe, and everything will go according to plan, she told herself.
Hermione inhaled the sweet aroma as she put the cap back on the bottle. As memories floated back to her from the Ministry of Magic Christmas Gala from last year, she was calmed and stopped shaking. In a very Hermione-like fashion, she had of course, planned out what she was to say and exactly when to say it.
Now all she had to do was wait.
"Hermione, are you sure about this? I mean, I thought-" Ginny's voice came from behind her, where she was magicking curls into a seemingly haphazard mound on the top of her head. Hermione cut her off.
"Hera's thumbs! Yes, Gin, I'm sure. It's for the best, for both of us."
Ginny shook her head sadly. "I wasn't asking if its for the best, Mya. I was asking if its what you really want. You could be the most successful businesswitch in the world, and not be happy if you had no one to share your success with."
As the doorbell rang, Hermione stood up. "I've got to do this, Gin. Wish me luck."
Ginny just nodded, and then tossed Hermione her coat from where it hung on the bedpost. "You'll need this, if you're going to walk or Apparate home. I don't know what kind of my mood my brother'll be in, so you might not be coming home together." She went to answer the door while Hermione straightened her short, slinky black dress.
Opening the door, Ginny's eyes found a very cleaned up and jittery Ron, and a smiling Harry. "Hey, come in!" she exclaimed, trying her best to look excited in order to reassure her brother. "Mya's coming Ron." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and whispered good luck in his ear before wrapping her arms around her boyfriend.
"It's just horrible... I'll tell you when they've gone. Oh, I feel so bad for Ron right now," she whispered into his ear. He pulled away and stared at her quizzically. Hermione chose that moment to emerge from the back room. All Ron could do was gape at how beautiful she looked.
In the short amount of time that Ginny had taken to answer the door, Hermione had totally changed her outfit, wearing a halter sundress in the palest of yellows, with eyelet lace overtop the entire sheath, which stopped at just above her knees. Instead of her heavy coat, she had donned a white crocheted duster sweater, and the stockings had disappeared entirely, leaving her bare legs to tantalize Ron as he stared at how angelically beautiful Hermione looked.
Hesitating slightly underneath all the stares, the only thing that revealed this to be the same discombobulated young woman from minutes earlier was the underlying aura of strength and confidence which radiated around her.
Hermione walked over and gave Ron a quick hug, and then nodded at Harry and Ginny. Ron grasped her hand tightly in his, and brought it up to his mouth, giving it a soft kiss. Hermione looked up at him, startled, and their eyes locked, freezing the moment.
Like a deer caught in the headlights, Hermione found herself unable to move under the brightness of the love Ron was emanating from his eyes. Frankly, it scared her, and Ron obviously could see that, for he dropped her hand and said simply, "You look absolutely stunning."
She nodded her thanks and said weakly, "Ready to go? I'm starved!" Giving a little half-smile, Hermione told Ginny to just let herself out when she and Harry were done eating there, and she'd talk to her in the morning.
As soon as they Flooed out of sight, Ginny slumped to the floor, curled up in a ball and leaning against the back of the sofa. Silent tears poured down her cheeks as Harry dropped to his knees beside her. "Gin? What's wrong?" he inquired, brushing back a lock of her deep auburn hair to better see her tear streaked face.
Taking a deep breath, Ginny answered him in stuttering phrases. "Hermione is... going... to break... to break up with Ron!!" she managed to get out, and all he could do was moan.
"Bloody hell, he's going to ask her tonight; he brought the ring with him and everything! Damn it!" Harry swore, causing Ginny to cry even harder. "Come here, you," Harry spoke gently, and drew Ginny into a warm embrace, rocking her back and forth until all of her sobs subsided and she had drifted off into a troubled slumber.
Shifting slightly, he picked her up and walked around the couch, laying her down and then sitting next to her, stroking her hair as she shifted to lean into him. As a small smile crept onto his face, he wondered how Ron was doing.
Man, he thought, this is going to be a long night...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Over champagne, Ron and Hermione made small talk. "How has Auror training been? I know you've been assigned to Dennis Creevey... is training him as bad as it sounds?" Hermione asked.
"It's worse. But, I need to talk about something really important. Dennis and his disasters can wait for some other time," Ron replied, fidgeting slightly in his seat as his hand slipped into the pocket of his navy blue dress robes, feeling the small, yet comforting velvet box hidden within.
"Oh, good, I have something to tell you, too. May I go first?" Hermione inquired a bit formally, her nerves getting the better of her. Ron nodded, and she ploughed ahead.
"Lately I've been thinking, about the future, and where I'm going to be next fall when I get my promotion to CEW of MagiWeb. I'm going to be traveling more frequently, at least once or twice a month, and I'll have longer working hours, too. I've also had an offer to be the Arithmancy/Muggle Studies teacher at Hogwarts, which I'm seriously considering accepting. Of course, that would mean I'd have to live on campus."
Ron nodded, not quite seeing where this was going. "You know I fully support you in whatever decision you choose to make."
Encouraged, Hermione rushed forward. "I need to think about all of this and lately I've been slipping behind in my work in order to spend time with you and the family. I think... I think I'm really being smothered by it all. I need some air. I think we should call it quits, right here and now. I need to be out on my own for a little while, not permanently attached as one half of an item. I need to just be me. We need to break up."
Ron dropped his champagne flute, shattering it and spraying little shards of glass everywhere, along with tiny drops of the light beige colored liquid. A rather large piece sliced the top of his hand, but the pain in his heart was too excruciating to notice the trifling throbbing in his hand. "Wh-what did you say?"
"Oh, Ron, you know you heard me the first time! Be serious about this for once!" She was getting angry now. "We're both facing promotions at work, and I just can't see this relationship with you going any further than it is right now! Get over your boyhood crushes and face the facts! Something's changed between us in the past month, and you have felt it as well as I. Get your head out of the clouds, and wake up. We're through."
"But, Mya..." he trailed off. "You want me to be serious? You want me to be serious about this? Well, I happen to know that I am seriously in love with you..." A single tear rolled down his pale, lightly freckled cheek. "Isn't that all that really matters? I could care less about promotions. If I was the friggin' assistant janitor at the Auror Academy, and I had you to come home to every night, I'd be the happiest man alive."
Hermione shook her head. "I'm sorry Ron," she whispered, eyes glittering with tears she was unwilling to let through. "It's just not meant to be." She stood up and picked up her purse. "See you around," she said in farewell, and Disapparated with an almost inaudible pop.
Ron saw her leave, and then dropped his head into his hands and let the tears freely flow. 'It's all over,' he moaned to himself, 'she's gone forever...'
*I wasn't looking for a lifetime with you
And I never thought it would hurt just to hear
"I do" and "I do"
And I do a number on myself
And all that I thought to be*
The waiter came up to Ron and tapped his shoulder. "Sir, are you going to be all right?" The grandfatherly figure held a large amount of compassion in his merry green eyes, and Ron could tell he'd seen heartbroken young men and women in his restaurant many times before. "There's a nice path out back, takes you out to the lake by means of the forest if you need to clear your head. And don't worry about the wine, son. It's on the house."
Ron muttered his thanks and struggled to his feet. He emptied his pockets of change (4 Sickles and 12 Knuts) onto the table, saying that was the tip, and staggered to the back door. Every step seemed to be harder and harder with the piece of lead that was where his heart used to be.
*And you'll be the one
That just left me undone
By my own hesitation*
He broke into a run, dress robes becoming entangled within the brambles on the side of the narrow path whenever he veered off course. Running blinded by his tears, he almost pitched headfirst into the lake. Luckily, he tripped over a tree root and got himself a face full of sand, inches from the lake's surface.
He pushed himself into a sitting position and started as something fell out of his pocket. The ring. He stared at it for a moment, then picked it up gingerly with his thumb and forefinger, as if it had suddenly fallen from heaven, and not his pocket.
*And for the million hours that we were
Well, I'll smile and remember it all
Then I'll turn and go
While your story's completed,
Mine's a long way from done*
He opened the box, and there it was. The circlet of gold that should at that very moment, be on Hermione's fourth finger. With the opal shining in all its ethereal beauty in the moonlight, Ron suddenly became enraged that he had been taken for such a fool, had let himself be hurt like this. He snapped the box shut in anguish and fury. He stood up, infuriated that he had let himself fall victim to his emotions like that. Ron turned to face the lake, a seamless pane of glass shining in the moonlight, and hurled the small velvet box as far as he could, relishing in the victorious sound it made as it splashed into the cold water.
*Well, I'm on a champagne high
Where will I be when I stop wondering why
On a champagne high
I'd toast to the future but that'd be a lie
On a champagne high...*
Realizing what he had just done the instant the ripples dissipated, Ron collapsed into a heap on the shore, eyes stinging from the salty tears that threatened to spill once more. Letting the floodgates loose, he cried until there was nothing left to cry anymore. The moonlight bathed him in a supernatural glow as he lay there, curled up and in intense sorrow.
He wiped his face with the torn sleeve of his dress robes, and tried to straighten himself up before he returned to the restaurant to Floo home. He didn't trust himself not to get splinched if he was to attempt to Apparate in this state. As he trudged back to the building, his heart cried out in torment.
My one and only...
Like? Not like? Comments are very much appreciated! Flames welcomed, as long as they're constructive (I can use them to heat my history class... it's cold!), because then I can make it better! Many thanks to my sorta-kinda-maybe betas, Harmoni and AngelwingS...
Oh yes, my dictionary definitions of the day:
immaculativity = in a state of that which is immaculate; being very clean
discombobulated = being in total disarray, confused, especially where the areas of the heart are considered
Until next time, Melodi