Author's Notes:

Sorry for the delay in an update.
I would have this up sooner, only I'm grounded from the internet for dying my hair black. My father unhooked my modem from his, so I have to wait until I come here, to my sister's to upload.

If there's a delay in updates, it's because of lack of internet access. Also I'm planning to have a friend of mine to come down sometime, so that's also taking up my time.

Next week we go back to school from Winter Break and that'll take a huge amount of time from my writing.

Thanks for all of the reviews!

Evan -

Annika:: Chapter Two

"Annika?" Ron asked.

"Your daughter."

"My- my? My what?" Annika tugged on Ron's trousers. He looked down at his daughter as she smiled sweetly at him.

"Hair! Hair! Red!" She said, pointing to Ron's locks and then to her own. He couldn't help but smile at the little girl. She was so much like him in her appearance, with his red hair, and freckles. She had Hermione's eyes, however, and Ron was willing to bet that she had her mother's sharp intellect. Hermione picked the child up, and handed her to Ron.

"Annika, this is Daddy." Hermione said. She smiled at Ron, with tears in her eyes. "That is, if you want to be, Ron."

"When did this happen, Hermione? Why didn't you owl me?" He asked.

"Before you left; before we broke up. I didn't want you to come back, Ron. That is why I didn't owl you."

"You didn't want me to come back?" He asked, sharper than he had meant, his snip made Annika's eyes tear up. Ron handed the wiggling girl to Harry and walked out of the door, outside. It was a clear sign for Hermione to follow him.

"No, Ron. I didn't. I didn't want you to throw your life away." She said, as she followed him out into the cool morning air.

"Throw my life away? How would me coming back to take care of my daughter be throwing my life away, Hermione?"

"You wanted to be an Auror so badly, Ron. I wanted you to be great. I wanted you to feel like you'd stepped out of your brothers' and Harry's shadow. I just wanted you to be the greatest wizard you could be. Being an Auror was something I thought you could do that with. I didn't think being a father would make you feel that way." Ron was flabbergasted.

"You don't think I'd make a good father?"

"Yes! I think you'd make a wonderful father. Just not something you could prove yourself with."

"Hermione.. I would have come back, I would have taken care of you and Annika. I wouldn't have been throwing my life away to be a father. Did you throw your life away being her mother?"

"Of course not. Annika is the most important person in my life, Ron."

"Did you know before I left?"

"Yes, but we had broken up by then, so I figured it didn't matter."

"How could it not matter?" He asked her, stepping closer, closing the gap between them.

"We had that horrid row before we broke up." She remembered that quite vividly.

"Ron, we have to talk about this."

"What do you want me to say, Hermione? You want to go off gallivanting around America for this rubbish called University! What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to come with me! I've wanted to go to University even before I knew I was a witch, Ron. This isn't a sudden thing."

"Feels like it. Why haven't I heard about this before?"

"I just didn't feel right saying anything. I just want to be in the Muggle world for this. I would come back after I graduated. We would come back." She begged Ron with desperation.

"If you really loved me, Hermione… If you truly did, you'd stay." Hermione gasped. She felt as if he had slapped her across her face. Her eyes stung.

"What?" She asked, her voice breaking, and her eyes shining with the tears that were ready to fall.

"If you loved me, you'd drop it and stay with me. You wouldn't ask me to pick up and go to America. You could go to University here."

"But I do love you. I don't want to stay in England for University, Ron. I've already been accepted into an University called Yale."

"You don't love me, Hermione."

"How could you say that? After all these years? After I gave myself to you? Do you really think I did that, and not love you?"

"Apparently." Ron's face was in a cold expression, his lips pressed into a thin line. Hermione tears were flowing freely now, her face red and her eyes puffy.

"Maybe you're the one who doesn't love me." It was Ron's turn to feel as if he'd been slapped.

"I love you more than anything, Hermione. You know that."

"Do I?"

"I gave myself to you, as you did me. Of course I do."

"If you did, you'd support me. You'd let me go to University. You wouldn't even question my love for you. You'd be happy for me."

"How can I be happy for you? When you want to leave me?"

"I don't want to leave you, Ron. I just want to further my education."

"Seems like you want to leave to me." She couldn't take this.

"Viktor would let me." She knew that would make him blow up.

"Oh, he would? Maybe you should have stayed with him then! Maybe you should have slept with him!"

"Is that what you think?"

"Yes. No, Hermione. If you want to hear this, fine. No, I don't love you." With that he stormed out of the flat they shared. He never told her about getting accepted into Auror Training.

"Did you ever go to University?"

"Not in America. I couldn't."

"Why not?"

"I couldn't bear leaving the memory of you behind." She said, sniffling. He wiped a stray tear away from Hermione's cheek.

"Then why didn't you stop me from leaving?"

"I couldn't. I couldn't let my pride fall, I couldn't let you throw away the Training Program." Ron sighed. They wasted three years because of where Hermione wanted to go to school. He felt foolish.

"I'm sorry I overreacted, Mione." He pulled her into his arms.

"I guess I should have said something sooner." She melted into his embrace, she'd forgotten how good it felt to be in his arms.