A/N: I am such a horrible person, I know it! Okay here are my reasons for an over month over due update: Band Camp, then School started. On top of school I have band until 6 every night, when I get home, I have a ton of homework. Friday nights are football games. Last Saturday I finished my RENT fic though, an epilogue will go up and then my time will be devoted to my three fics right now. This one, my Remus/OC and James/Lily fic and my fairy tale story called A Simple Fairy Tale, if you like my Harry Potter fics I do encourage you to read and review on A Simple Fairy Tale. Please update at the end of this chapter, I really need something to lift my spirits and take my mind away from AP. By the way, I don't think that this story will be over fifteen chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own the original HP characters.

Where I left you off:

"And me." He kissed her forehead. "I'll call you in the morning." She nodded and opened the door to her apartment. The night had been wonderful. She smiled and washed off her makeup before changing into some shorts and a tank top. She fell asleep almost instantly but woke up the next morning with regret. The past three nights had been heaven, but she feared something was about to change that.

"Will it last?" She thought before beginning her routine.

Confusion

Ron woke up to the sound of a beak scratching on glass. He groaned, rubbed his eyes, then looked over and turned the clock around so he could see the time. The angry face declared it was almost eight in the morning. "Damn bird." He muttered. He stood up and walked over to the glass balcony door and opened it, the owl flew in, dropped a letter, and departed quickly. Ron walked over to the bed and looked at the letter. It was from Harry. Ron eagerly opened it.

Ron,

How is New York? I understand the sights are quite spectacular. Anyway, I was wondering if you had spoken to the American Minister. The case keeps getting weirder and weirder than usual. Write back soon with a response. Another thing, Hermione has been inquiring about you. I did not know what to tell her, but I think it best that you write back to her soon. I do believe she regrets her actions, so perhaps there is hope to the situation you deserted far too quickly. She misses you Ron, as does your family. Please write to them. I hope this letter finds you well.

-Harry

Ron ran his fingers through his hair. His heart shattered all over again when Harry mentioned Hermione, and yet felt warm at the same time. He sat down at his desk. Looking around he realized that there was no quill or parchment, but instead the hotel stationary. Ron shrugged it off and began writing:

Harry,

Yes I have spoken to the American Minister, the main man and leader's name is Issak Denton. Apparently he's killed over one hundred families. He leaves the torturing and kidnapping to his minions, but he himself does the actual murdering. He's a real bastard. He was last seen in New York, and other than that I only know what the case files tell me of the murders. The group seems to be going after men of high power, as well as any wizard or witch that isn't a pureblood. His murdering type is the same. He stuns them, leaves them to be tortured, and then kills the man in front of the person whom he loves most. His followers torture the men by beating them, then hanging them by the wrists. However, the women remain untouched, and are usually let go after being blinded. The only thing that conflicts with this pattern is this: Issak sometimes murders the wife. I don't exactly know why, I'll need pictures of every woman ever to come into contact with him, but he does seem to get off on mothers or maternal types.

As for Hermione, I don't know where to stand on that. Do I dare hope that she will come back to me, or is it time to move on? I suppose I should write to her, but I'm willing to admit that my pride disputes this. She rejected me, therefore the initiative shall be on her part. If she wants anything to do with me, tell her this. I will write to my family today after I do some searching. Talk to you soon Harry.

-Ron

Deciding that was enough, Ron folded the letter and looked for an owl. Cursing himself for dismissing the bird, Ron stood up and walked over to a chair where he had lain a pair of black slacks. Putting the letter into the pant pockets, he then walked into the bathroom and turned the faucet head on. Stripping off his boxers, he stepped under the steaming jet and sighed at the warmth. His attention then turned to Hermione. He still cared for her, and he realized that he did want her back in his arms. She was his first and so far, only love. It was natural to him. Still thinking of her, he stepped out of the shower and continued his morning routine. Leaving the bathroom with a towel around his waist, he pulled out a clean pair of boxers and put on the black slacks that held Harry's letter along with a green sweater. Leaving his room, he walked downstairs and nodded at the main lobby workers. Putting on sunglasses, he walked outside into the cold temperatures. Knowing his destination, he turned left and headed toward a pub down the street that was known as entrance to the New York Diagon Ally.

"Hermione! This is crazy, you can't just leave for New York and expect to find Ron, you haven't a clue where he is!" Ginny told Hermione as Hermione rushed around their flat in England, throwing clothes into a suitcase.

"Well, what am I supposed to do? I want him back."

"Maybe you shouldn't have rejected him in the first place."

"That was low." Hermione stated, Ginny sighed.

"I know Hermione, I apologize, it's just how do you know he wants you back? He could have found someone else by now."

"No, Ron and I, we're meant to be. You may not understand that now Ginny but someday you will."

"You speak as if I am a child."

"You are younger than me."

"By a year Hermione, that hardly qualifies for a diaper and pacifier." Hermione shrugged.

"Okay I'm all set."

"I'm sure."

"If anyone asks, just tell them I'm looking for Ron."

"I don't think this is a good idea Hermione."

"Why?"

"I just don't think you are going to find what you are looking for." Hermione grunted, what did Ginny know anyway.

Jennifer finished cleaning her house and decided to spend her day relaxing in her room. After she had made herself a large cup of coffee, she opened the curtains, left the door open, and opened up the large French windows she had installed before settling down on the soft white plush couch with her copy of The Guardian. She turned on the stereo to classical music, and read the story of a U.S. Marshall and his protection of a Governor's speech writer. A mushy romance, she loved it just the same. Occasionally she would sip from her mug, she was quite comfortable.

After an hour or so, she heard a rustling at the door and looked up to see her father. "Hey daddy, how are you feeling?"

He shrugged, then walked into her room and sat on the bed. "How was your date last night?" Jennifer opened her mouth to speak then turned to her father in surprise.

"How did you"

"I'm old, not dead, besides, I heard you two talking last night."

"I'd thought you had gone to bed."

"I hadn't."

"Obviously."

"So you like him?"

"Much."

"What's his name?"

"Ronald Weasley." Michael scrunched his nose at the name Ronald. "What's wrong with the name Ronald daddy?"

"Nothing, if you're a pansy."

"Daddy" Jennifer warned.

"What?"

"You know I hate it when you talk like that."

"I can't help it."

"Yes you can."

"Nope. You know what they say 'You can't teach an old dog to catch the worm'."

"Daddy, I need to buy you a proverb book, this mix n' match shit just doesn't work."

"What?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Don't curse."

"You're one to talk."

"I'm a man, I have the God-given right."

"You're such a pig." Jennifer said fondly.

"I am, but that's why your mother married me."

"Among other things."

"I miss her." Michael whispered.

"I know, I miss her too." Jennifer said in an equally soft tone. For a moment the room was silent.

"What's he like?"

"Ron?"

"Yeah."

"Oh well, he's sweet, he's funny, he's intelligent, he's even a cop." Jennifer said, knowing the impact of the last part.

"Well he has me won."

"Thanks daddy."

"For what?" Jennifer only shrugged before standing up and kissing him on the forehead.

"Let's go out, just you and me."

"I'm game."

Ron walked into the pub and over to the bartender. "How do I get back into the ally?" The bartender looked him over.

"You a wizard." The man spoke in a thick Irish accent.

"Of course."

"Name?"

"Ron Weasley."

"So you're the bloke looking for the bloke killing off all those men and women?"

"Yes." Ron stated.

"Good luck. Just walk into the back of the building and place your hand on the fifth plank, a door will appear, open it up and walk straight through."

"Thank you." Ron said, he walked away from the bar and followed the bartender's instruction to the entrance of Cain's Ally. He walked straight through and followed the ally into the darker part. He walked into a potions store and immediately up to the store keeper. "I need to inquire about a certain man, would you be obliged to help?"

"And who would this man be?"

"Yes or no." The store keeper looked Ron over before finding trust in Ron, he nodded.

"I suppose so, and I suppose this about Denton." Ron nodded. "I'll talk, but not here. Meet me at Dorie's in half an hour." Ron nodded and left. He walked back in the direction he came and stumbled over a shorter man with blond hair.

"So sorry." The smaller man stated. "Wasn't watching where I was going, too many boxes I suppose." The man would have continued, but Ron held up his hand.

"It's fine. Can I help you with that?" He said, indicating the box load.

"I would be much appreciative. I'm Brian, Brian Dursley." Ron stopped at the man's last name. "Did you say Dursley?"

"Why yes."

"Would you by any chance be related to Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley?" The man stilled at the names before grunting.

"Not something I would like to admit to, but yes, Vernon is my uncle."

"But he's a..."

"Muggle I know, I'm muggle born."

"I didn't know he had any wizards on his side. I knew Petunia had a witch sister and a wizard nephew, but Vernon to have magic on his side...that's hilarious."

"Can't say much about him, never met the man, but I suppose he truly hates the magical world."

"Yes. Why haven't you met him?"

"My mother-in-law despised him. We never went to the reunions."

"Explains why Harry never spoke of you."

"Harry? As in Harry Potter? He's my cousin?!"

"Well yes."

"Damn. Didn't know that."

"Well the Dursely's did not advertise their 'freak of nature nephew.'"

"No I don't suppose they would."

"I'm Ron by the way. Ron Weasley." Ron said shoving forth his hand which the man shook graciously.

"Where ya headed?" Brian asked.

"Dories. Care to join me."

"Not at all. I need to drop these boxes off at my mother's, but I can do so later."

"Great."

The two men walked into the café after a bit and grabbed a booth. After ordering two coffees and two chicken clubs, the two men immersed in conversation once again. "So what brings you to New York."

"Auror business." Ron replied.

"What kind of business."

"Do you know of Issak Denton." Brian looked taken aback.

"You're after him?"

"Yes. Why?"

"He isn't one to be trifled with."

"I'm aware of that."

"I don't really think you are. He'll take everything away from you in a heartbeat. His father was one of Voldermort's leading men, he's determined that his father's name not be burned in vain."

"Does he hate muggle-borns that much?"

"Even more so. Listen, you won't hear this from many people, it was luck that I heard it and am still walking around with my organs still in place. Issak Denton is a strange fellow."

"More than strange."

"Yes, but besides his murdering tactics, he's completely obsessed with feminist idols. He believes women are to be worshipped, weird I know. You see his mother was murdered in front of him when he was younger by Aurors. The Aurors of course had no clue that Issak was there, but ever since then, Issak has been determined. What angered him even more was tht the Auror that killed his mother was a muggle born. When his followers take the families, the men are taken in and to be destroyed later by Issak, but Issak first deals with the women.. He tests them, their faithfulness, and their devotion to their children. He thinks mothers are Saints. But if the woman does anything to the point where Issak finds her unworthy, he'll murder her. If the woman shows cowardice by trying to save her own skin at the hands of her husband or children, Issak will slit her throat and leave her on the ground, choking on her wedding band, before returning with the killing curse. He's nuts."

"Does he kill only mothers who remain unfaithful? Does he murder single-mothers."

"As Issak Denton? No. He remains to families."

"What do you mean 'as Issak Denton'?"

"I've gone to the Ministry but they will not hear me as this is muggle news. There is what the muggles call, a serial killer that is hunting down single mothers, or other women who care for others besides a mate. The reason I think that Issak and this man are one in the same is because of the serial killer's technique. He'll take a woman and slit her chest vertically from the top of her ribcage to the bottom of her naval. He then slits their arms and legs horizontally in three different distinct places, for the arm, the area between the shoulder and the elbow, the elbow, and then between the elbow and forearm. For the leg, he cuts the thigh, the front of the knee, and the front of the shin. He then slits her throat. Well, in one of Issak Denton's murders, Issak did the same as he has with every other woman, except for one small error, he cut the right arm as the muggle serial killer does. I think the man you are looking for is a monster with two conflicting identities."

"It's possible. But how do you know about the murder?"

"The woman and her husband were good friends of mine. Shelly and Andrew Taylor. I grew up with Andrew. Because of that, the ministry 'allowed me' a peak at their autopsies."

"They could be fired for that."

"They could, but they knew the importance of the situation, I needed to know why."

"Do you?"

"No. But now that you're on the case, you can find out for me." Brian ended. Ron nodded his head and looked up at the entrance where he noticed the man from the shop.

"I need to go, but here's my number. Call it if you can think of anything." Ron said, scribbling down the number to the hotel on a napkin square.

"I will."

"Brian..."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks, we'll find who murdered your friends."

"Id appreciate that." Brian said before picking up his load and leaving. Ron walked up to the man.

"Hello."

"Hello. Follow me." The man grunted, Ron followed reluctantly to the back of the restaurant. "It would be best if we did not switch names."

"I see."

"I used to be...well...one of them." The man said as they took their seats at a booth.

"Did you now?" Ron asked, leaning in closer, "What made you quit?"

"The day I had to kill some kids."

"Why did that make you quit?"

"Listen, I don't have a problem with dealing with grown men, they can fight back, but kids? They're defenseless."

"So are men who have no wands."

"Perhaps, but it's the knowledge that they could fight back that helped me toâ€well†you know."

"Not really, but go on."

"Anyway, Issak told us to take hold of the Langdon family, so we did. As usual, he took the woman and left us to beat the husband. However, this time things were different. After he tested the woman he came back into the chamber, his white shirt stained with blood. Henry Langdon began screaming. Issak killed him as he killed every man, but then he ordered us to kill the kids. Some of us hesitated, but Issak threatened us. So we followed his orders. After that I quit, I saw my sons face when I killed that little boy. I don't know how others do it."

"Can you tell me what he looked like."

The man shook his head. "Never saw him. He never saw us. We wore traditional Death Eater cloaks and hoods."

"Was there anything distinctive of him?" The man thought for a moment.

"Yes! There was. One time I saw him and his sleeve was pulled up. He had a scar that reached from the top of his forearm to the middle of his palm. It's not gory or anything, in fact its very faint. But it's all I have of him."

"Thank you, that's more than any of us had. Anything else?"

"Just this, watch your step, once he finds out your on this case, he'll do anything to eliminate you."

"I won't let that happen."

"Good." The man then stood up. "I need to leave. I've spent far too much time here as it is."

"Go." The man nodded his thanks, then left. Ron then ran his hands through his hair and grasped the back of his neck. Before today, he knew only the stationary part of Issak Denton, now he knew his heart, and Ron wished he had the ignorance of before.

Jennifer and her father walked through the muggle streets when Jennifer walked into the same man Ron had bumped into earlier. Brian grunted, "Great," and Jennifer bent down to help him.

"Oh goodness I am so sorry. I'm such a klutz."

"It's fine."

"Is that everything."

"Yes, thank you."

"No problem."

"Have a good day." Brian said as he glanced over at Jennifer, both leaned back in shock as their eyes met.

"Yeah...you too." Jennifer ended after a moment. Brian nodded and quickly stood up before running off. "That was odd." Jennifer said to her father, who only nodded numbly. "Dad?"

"I'm fine. Come on, lets go." Her father walked a little faster, leaving Jennifer behind,

'That was weird.' She thought to herself.'

Ron returned to his hotel room around eight that night. He changed into cotton pants and sat down in a chair by the fire place, the letter to Harry long forgotten by now. He spread out the pages in front of him on the Denton case and rested his chin in his palm. He thought back on the events of the day, from the letter from Harry about Hermione, to the Denton case advances, Ron decided to leave his focus on Hermione. The phone rang a short time later, it was Jennifer.

"Hey Ron."

"Jennifer. Hey." Ron said, somewhat hesitantly.

"How was your day?"

"Long. Yours?"

"It was fine, I spent the day with Daddy, a good thing to do before the start of the week."

Ron smiled. "Ah, that's right. You come back to work tomorrow."

"Yes. That means you'll see me again after living one whole day without me." Jennifer laughed as did Ron.

"Unfortunately."

"Shut it, you know you missed me." Ron smiled as he realized he really had.

"You caught me."

"What did you do today?"

"Worked on a case."

"Oh."

"The case that I was sent here to solve."

"Find anything?"

"Tons." Ron stated, not too enthusiastically.

"You don't sound happy about it."

"This man is a complete monster."

"What has he done?"

"He kills anything and anyone, man, woman, and child."

"Children?" Jennifer stated, her voice somewhat chocked.

"Yes, even children."

"Catch him."

"I plan to."

"Was that all your day consisted of?"

"Unfortunately."

"Sounds like a bad day."

"It was. Anything exciting occur in yours?"

"No...well...I take that back. Daddy and I were walking down Broadway when we ran into this man carrying a load of boxes, the weird thing is though, I had never seen this man, yet when I looked at him, I felt like I knew him. When I looked at Daddy after the man had left, Daddy looked like he had seen a ghost."

Ron chuckled, "Maybe he did."

"Perhaps. It was just...I don't know, weird." Jennifer ended lamely. Ron settled back into his chair as the conversation between the two continued. He looked back on the days and smiled. Jennifer really was wonderful. She had taken his mind away from his grief and replaced it with something else. Something he only felt with...Hermione. Ron then began to think about Hermione, and soon he found himself completely and utterly confused. On the one hand, he had this beautiful brunette woman who new everything about him. No secrets. And being a witch, Ron could relate with her completely. But on the other hand, he had Jennifer, an equally gorgeous red-head that willingly took him into her life, despite his ignorant quirks. He found conversation was Jennifer was amazingly enjoyable, where as with Hermione, the conversations seemed to involve things Ron was not passionate about. Ron never realized he had stopped talking until Jennifer said:

"Ron, you there?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry. Zoned out for a second."

"Want me to call you back?"

"Yeah, well actually just come by in the morning."

"Oh. Alright." Jennifer ended lamely.

"And Jennifer?"

"Yeah?"

"I did miss your gorgeous smile." Ron said, genuinely.

He could see her smile in her response, "And I yours."

"Good night love."

"Good night Ron."

Click. Ron hung up the phone as he hung his head. Never before had he been in the position to where he had two women. His thoughts controlling his focus, he never did hear the pop. Only until he heard her voice was he shaken from his state. "Hello Ron."

"Hermione?!"

A/N: End of an overdue chapter. My sincerest apologies.