A/N: Hi! I hope everyone likes this. This is basically a filler chapter, because I needed some reason for Hermione to be able to let go and move on. I decided to go ahead and post this without my beta-reader because I don't know where she has gone. I haven't heard from her in weeks. Alybaby, I miss ya!

Disclaimer: Oh yeah. Mine. Uh-huh. Because I'm just that good. Horsesh!t.

Hermione stumbled into the shower the next morning, twisting the knob all of the way to hot. Leaning her head against the wall, she pondered the events from the night before as she let the steady rhythm of the water sooth away her headache.

'I like him. Maybe too much?' she thought to herself, sighing lazily as she reached down to squeeze shampoo into her hand.

'I admit it,' she continued, working her fingers against her scalp. She arched her back, smiling in contentment when it gave a loud, satisfying crack.

'It's about time,' the little voice whispered. 'I thought that you were never going to figure it out.' She snorted to herself as she squeezed body shampoo onto her pouf before lathering it up.

'But what would Ron say,' she asked it, her movements stilling, before she shook her head to rid it of unwanted thoughts before continuing to scrub away at her skin.

'I think Tobias is right,' the little voice countered. 'Ron loved you. He would want you to be happy, no matter what.' Hermione couldn't find any argument that could counter that.

She sighed to herself as she stepped out of the steamy glass and wrapped a rather large, white towel around her.

She made her way into her bedroom, and slowly pulled clothes on, the wet tangles of her hair making damp patches on the back of her red, button up blouse. She growled irritably at it as she walked back across her apartment into the bathroom, looking for her hairbrush.

The enticing smell of coffee wafted in through the door, making her hurry as she tried to get her hair and makeup in order.

Making a quick detour into her bedroom, she headed back out the door with one shoe on, hopping up and down as she made her way down the hallway, trying to get the other one in the same position. Sighing in relief as her shoe finally slipped into place, she stopped and fixed her hair, smoothing out unseen wrinkles in her shirt before walking calmly into her kitchen, as if she had very important guests.

She grinned to herself, shaking her head about how childish she was sometimes as she poured her coffee into the cup she had gotten from the cabinet.

'Now,' she thought to herself, as she took the first sip of that life giving beverage, 'what would Ron do if he were me, I had died, and some gorgeous woman who had everything he could ever ask for came up trying to date him.'

"I'd take her up on it," said a voice from behind her. Hermione froze, her cup slipping from her hand to shatter against the white tile of the kitchen floor, the coffee spreading in a large, dark puddle.

She turned slowly, heart thumping wildly against her chest like a wild bird stuck in a too small cage.

Ron stood behind her with his hands clasped behind his back, dressed the same as the last day she had seen him. He seemed to be at an eternal 28, for he hadn't aged a day, although he did seem to be slightly see-through.

Her jaw worked soundlessly, and Ron smiled at her, not saying a word.

"Are you a ghost?" she finally got out, wondering to herself if she was going mad.

"No," he told her, not making any movements towards her, leaving his hands behind his back.

"I've went on. But every wizard has the opportunity to go to someone they loved at a crucial turning point in that person's life. They allowed me to come because what I say will make a difference in your future."

"They?" she asked, still trying to process the fact that her late husband was standing in her kitchen, holding a conversation with her.

"I can't say any more than that on that subject," he said with a smile. He took a step towards her, and as he seemed to solidify Hermione took a step back, her hands reaching behind her to clutch the edge of the counter top.

She glanced around nervously before hearing the crunch of what was left of her coffee cup as she shifted her weight all to one foot. She grabbed a towel off the counter by the microwave, glancing at Ron nervously before kneeling down to clean up the mess.

Ron just watched as she stood and edged around him, dumping the mess into the trash bin before edging around him again to rinse the towel out in the sink.

He took the opportunity that was presented to him as she had her back turned to him and stepped up close behind her, resting his hands on either side of her body on the counter. He felt her stiffen, then turn slowly in his arms. He didn't move a muscle, simply looked into those chocolate eyes he had missed for two years.

"I never wanted to scare you Hermione," he said softly, taking a deep breathe to smell her perfume, which hadn't changed since he had bought her that first bottle of it when they were still in Hogwarts.

She tentatively reached one hand out towards his chest. Her hand stopped a mere half an inch away and her fingers curled back in before she took a deep breath and laid her palm flat against his chest.

Her eyes widened when she could feel him, could feel the warmth of his body, the fabric of the shirt that they had spent an hour arguing over when she had convinced him to buy it.

She raised her other hand up and used both hands to give him a pat down his chest and stomach before looking back up at him with her eyes large and full of tears before throwing herself at him, hugging him as tight as she possibly could.

He hugged her back, squeezing her as he buried his face into her lilac smelling hair, knowing that after today, he would never get to do this again.

When they finally parted Hermione was trying valiantly not to cry, and Ron had to reach a hand up to wipe away a few tears of his own.

"How long do you get to stay," she asked breathlessly, all thoughts of going to work swept out of her head.

"Until you have to leave for work," he said softly to remind her, glancing at the clock. She followed his gaze, seeing that it read 6:15 a.m., and gasped.

"But that means you have less than fifteen minutes!" Hermione cried in protest. He smiled sadly and nodded at her.

"Which means that we need to talk about that handsome stranger who is trying to date you," he told her, reaching out to grab her hand and led her into her living room.

He sat down on the couch and turned sideways, before pulling Hermione to sit in between his legs. She leaned back onto his chest automatically, ten years worth of practice taking over.

Neither said anything for a few minutes, simply reveling in the feel of touching once again, before Hermione sighed.

"I feel like I'm betraying your…well, memory, if I start dating Tobias," she said, reaching down to play with a loose thread on the end of his shirt.

'Tobias,' Ron mused to himself. 'Well, I like that better than his real name.'

"You're not," he told her, bringing himself out of his memories of the past, and she could feel the truth in his statement. She said nothing in reply, as she wasn't sure what to say.

"If our situation was reversed, and some beautiful woman who was rich was wanting to fall in love with me, and you knew that she could give me everything that I had ever dreamed of, would you want me to have nothing to do with her simply because the first woman I had ever loved had passed on?" he asked her, knowing what she would say.

"Of course not," she replied indignantly. "I would want you move on, not sit around mooning over me! Ronald Weasley, why in the world would you think I would want you too…Oh!" she said, then smiled sheepishly.

"And that's the reason I came, love," he told her gently, trying to ignore the tingly feeling inside his stomach that was telling him that it was almost time to go.

"If I hadn't, you would have let that Griffyndor righteousness talk you out of dating him, and then you would have spent the rest of your life miserable, always thinking about what 'Could-Have-Been'." Hermione said nothing in reply, simply picking up one of his rather large hands and tracing the lines of his palm with her finger tips.

"By the way," he told her softly, "tell Harry I said hello when you see him. And I promise that you'll see him sometime soon." She said nothing, trying not to cry as she thought of Harry, and everything that he had been to them.

Ron felt a tear slip down his cheek, followed by another, as he took in everything about her, trying to memorize every detail, knowing that this would be the last time that he would ever touched her, ever smell her perfume, ever hear her say his name. The last time he would ever see her looking into his eyes.

Memories of all of their years together came crashing into his brain, from the Mountain Troll their first-year at Hogwarts, to him proposing next to the tree by the lake, to Dumbledore pronouncing them Husband and Wife, to their fifth year anniversary in Paris, to the silly fight that they had over him wanting her to buy that negligee, to the last morning they were together, to their last kiss.

He tilted his head up to look at the ceiling, trying to blink back his tears as his heart broke at the thought of losing her all over again.

He finally gave a short, dry sob as the tingling inside his stomach became demanding. He coughed slightly before he softly nudged her forward with his chest.

"It's time for me to leave Hermione," Ron said hoarsely, pushing her slightly from behind to help her stand up. He stood after her, looking down at her with eyes full of pain and sorrow, never wanting to leave her.

She simply looked up at him, her heart breaking all over again. He had been her first everything. Her first crush, her first kiss, her first husband, her first time having sex, her first true love. Now he would go into that category under the first man she had ever lost twice.

"I can make the hurt stop Hermione," he told her, raising one hand to place it against her red shirt over heart. She gazed at him a few moments before nodding, deciding that she wasn't going to try to understand it.

His hand glowed a soft, bright blue against her chest, and she gasped as she felt all of the heartache melting away. After a few seconds, it was gone completely. She still missed him terribly, but the dull, aching pain of wound that had never healed properly was gone.

She started crying, unable to stop herself, and threw herself into his arms, kissing him passionately. He kissed her back with the same enthusiasm, one hand wrapping around her waist to pull her close to him, one coming up to bury itself in her hair. She could taste the saltiness of tears in the kiss, but she didn't know if they were hers or his.

He slowly cooled it down, the tingling in his stomach making him feel like he was going to be sick, even though he knew it was the last time he would ever kiss her. He slowly pulled away, his blue eyes twice as bright because of the shine of tears as he leaned down and softly kissed her one last time, then kissed her nose, then her forehead.

"By the way," he told her, reaching a hand up to wipe away the tear stains in her makeup, "Tobias has them." She blinked at him, not sure at the abrupt change, then looked at him in confusion.

"He has what," she asked, wracking her brain trying to figure out what in the world it was that Tobias had.

"You'll find out," he said mischievously, the old Ron from Hogwarts shining through for a second. He pushed her curly hair out of her face, searching it as he memorized every detail.

"I'll love you forever," he told her, and she let out a sob even though she was smiling.

"Forever is an awfully long time," she choked out, wrapping him once again in another hug and burying her face into his neck. He hugged her back, the tears coming once again as he rested his chin on top of her head.

"Exactly," he whispered. He closed his eyes as his heart gave another dull ache.

"Remember," he told her, neither of them moving from their position, "that my memory shouldn't stop you from dating Tobias. He is a very good man, and I'll support both of you with anything that happens in the future. You deserve to be happy." Hermione nodded her head, knowing that he would feel it. She felt as if a large weight had been lifted off of her chest, and she knew with certainty, even though she was hugging Ron, that the next time Tobias kissed her, she would definitely kiss him back.

Ron began to see the blue light shining from underneath his skin, but held on for a few seconds longer, wanting to never have to let her go. Wanting to simply hold her forever. He hated himself for loving her enough to let her go.

Finally, unable to stand it any longer, he pulled back from her, gazing into her eyes with all the love he had ever felt evident on his face. The blue light began to crack his skin and his hair was going everywhere in the wind as a blue column of light surrounded him. He gazed at her through the sparkles, and they both smiled even though the tears ran freely down both of their cheeks.

"I love you," she told him as he began to fade into the light. He smiled at her, his heart breaking again.

"I know. But it's still okay to love someone else. Always remember that." Hermione simply nodded at him, unable to speak.

Ron smiled at her, a true smile unmixed with sadness, a smile she had been missing for two years.

"You're still beautiful, you know?" he asked her, his love for her spilling out into the air.

Then he was gone.

Hermione collapsed to her knees, bawling into her hands. It hurt, but not like it had before. She still loved him, but now she felt ready to move on.

And through her tears, she was still smiling.

A/N: I hope everyone liked this chapter. I made myself cry when I was reading it, but I cry over everything. Movies, books, etc. I'm a total romantic. Anyway, PUH-LEASE review! Thank ya much!!

And on to the thank-yous!

D-daygirl: Thanks! I hope you liked this chapter as much as you liked my others!

TomFeltonsDancer: Lol, great name! You got lucky with a job like that! Anyway, yeah, the muggle world straightened him out. We all new he was a gallant gentleman at heart! And I hope that this chapter made you cry, since that was my intention! Thanks!!

Babeyx0brunette: I'm glad you love this one! And welcome to the FF.N writer's club. It's the best! Whenever you get your story posted let me know and I'll go read and review for you. I always love new stories! Thanks for reviewing!

Shayla: Thank you! I'm sorry I didn't let you know how long it would be. I have had it done since I posted the last one, but I was waiting on my beta-reader. I still haven't heard from her. I hope she's ok! Anyway, thank you so much, and I'm glad you like it!

Twincool: Thanks! That's my favorite part too! I'm glad you like it!

xXxRiP2PaCxXx: Thanks! Lol, you're review really made me feel good! Now if only I could get my boyfriend to say that about me! (J/k!) Anyway, thank you so much for your review. I hope you liked this chapter as well!

Spike1368: Lol, not for a while. I already have that chapter written actually, but it's a little ways ahead in the future. We'll get there though! Thank you for reviewing!