Title: The Perfect Life

By: Lady-Resurrection and Infamous-Writer

Disclaimer: The plot is mines. The title is mines. Everything else is J.K Rowling's.

Full Summary: Everyone wishes to have a perfect life; one that consists of the perfect engagement with the perfect man, the perfect friends, the perfect job and the perfect things. But when everything is sugarcoated and too surreal, the so called perfect life isn't exactly as perfect as you assumed it would be. And let's say a certain seer decides to explore another side of the world of yours that isn't as perfect but just as good. What if you discover things that somehow seem more intriguing to you than the life you already live? Would you pursue that path before it's too late? Or would you prefer not to venture into the dark side of seduction, craving, lust, and above all love?

Pairings: Hermione and Draco and whoever else I want to couple.

Rating: PG-13

Chapter 1: Even With Completeness, There Is Doubt

Sometimes when you're determined, life gives you unexpected results. Fortunately, that's what occurred to Ronald Weasley. Life has always been a game to him, well since the day he made friends with the one and only Harry Potter, and he never really won anything in life besides the battle of good versus evil. It appeared that life was breezy ever since the death of the one man who made the lives of magical and non-magical people hell beyond imagination. And although Ron never worked twice as hard as he could have or made something meaningful out of his life after the sudden victory of the Order of the Phoenix, he was quite astonished with how the last couple of years had turned out. More so, he was quite overwhelmed with how he had developed from an immature adolescent to a slightly mature man. Maybe it was for this reason why he was able to catch the interest of his childhood adoration.

As he walked down the crowded streets of London, he could not help but smile to himself whenever he thought of her. Ron had finally won the heart of the one person he always felt perfectly right for and for that reason alone he felt like he was on top of the world. Sure, he had always bickered with her about numerous things such as her high interest in doing work rather than play but at the end of the day it was her smile, her laughter that brought a knot to his stomach. The day he comprehended how utterly pathetic he was for not realizing that the one person he needed in his life was none other than Hermione Granger, was the day he decided to pursue her.

Not technically pursue her but was aware of her presence more. But even with his new acknowledgement, Ron began to feel tense around her and noticed things that he over looked before; which lead him to get advice from his best-friend, Harry. However as much as Harry pushed him towards her, Ron could not able himself to do so. It was apparent that at the time his greatest fear was her rejection. No matter how many times he told himself that life would not come to a sudden halt if she did reject him, he still could not allow himself to so much as hint his new found interest in her. Sadly, his intentions were to watch her from a far. But thank the merlins; he never had to go that far. It seemed at the time, she was just as scared and fallen for him as he was for her. Credit to Harry's doings, Ron and Hermione were able to confess their undying love for each other -okay, maybe not undying love but their feelings for each other nonetheless.

Since then, three years ago, they were inseparable. Every waking hour was spent together. They've learned to appreciate what the other had to give in the relationship. But of course, with every laughter spent, there were countless times arguments erupted and countless times one of them would walk out on the other, only to come back to apologize and make up.

Ron's smile broadened at those times. It was the best part of a relationship, in his opinion. The make ups were just one of those things that brought a rush to his heart. And the break ups were just as heart-rushing too -in a different sense. He could never admit it to Hermione but every time she would get angry and leave him with lines like, "I wish I never see your face again, Ronald," always left his mouth dry and his vision unclear. He always blinked back the tears that would persist to come out because somewhere in his mind would tell him 'she's gone for good, mate'. But then it was his heart that held on to that very little possibility she would not turn the other cheek and come back into his arms.

And she always did.

At times like those, he wondered how she put up with his idiocy and his ignorant ways. How could she have the heart to love him the way she did? Especially when he would call her names that made him always wish he took back about a minute too late. Of course, he never ever resorted to calling her the foulest of foul names that only one person was able to do so and just the thought of that person, Ron always clenched his hands and gritted his teeth. It was like a part of him was being cut with knives whenever tears came down Hermione's eyes. Sure he had always over looked that when it was him who caused those tears but when he took the time to calm down and think about it; he felt like someone should punch the sense in to him for doing something as low as that to Hermione.

Ron had to shake his head at that as he finally made it to the entrance of Hendricks Café; a place he began to spend most of his time in. Not alone of course; it was where he hung out with Hermione. The café wasn't exactly a secret place but to them it was their privacy no matter how over-packed it was. It was the one place that had what they both enjoyed; books and food. It was a brand new café built during their last year at Hogwarts Witch Craft and Wizardy making it exactly three years old. Hendricks Café, located right outside Diagon Alley, always brought memories filled with laughter and love whenever Ron took a look around the inside.

And as his eyes grazed over the many heads at the tables and couches, he caught sight of the certain person he had been thinking about all evening. Hermione sat at their favorite love seat near the back corner of the café. She was curled up in a ball reading a book. As he took the time to watch her, he couldn't help but recognize that she was literally glowing -possibly even radiating with a thin veil of light. Her hair tied up in a pony tail that slightly bobbed every time she moved her head to follow the pages of the book made it seem like she was the most innocent and delicate of all humans to walk on this earth. He didn't bother to finish his study because he felt it was better to look at her up close and be able to touch her porcelain-like skin.

But with every step he took towards his fallen-angel, his heart tightened and his palms began to sweat within the pockets of his wool coat. His fingers laced around an object buried deep inside and a sigh of uneasiness escaped his lips.

'It's now or never', Ron thought to himself. But even with these mild positive thoughts, he couldn't help but feel his heart sink and his knee's waver. It seemed every step he took was a step closer to his whole life crumbling down. The clear future he had built in his mind seemed it could easily be shattered or simply be harder to reach. What he was about to do, being his first and hopefully last, was all that occupied his mind for months. And now, as he stepped closer and closer to her he felt he wasn't as ready as he thought he was. Gradually, his thoughts plagued with negative thoughts of his soon-to-be-done actions and his movements towards her became slower and slower.

And just as he finally made it over to the coffee table, the only barrier away from his destination, Hermione's head slowly turns up. As she does so, Ron no longer felt he was in his right mindset. Suddenly, it felt like her piercing brown eyes were searching his soul, found it and lugged it right out his chest like a dementor's kiss. And he already knew how that experience felt like but it also seemed that Hermione's searching eyes were far worse. Of course she didn't look any what dangerous, it was just the way Ron perceived because evidently, he no longer was thinking straight. All that occupied his brain cells was the thought of doing the wrong thing and risking the chance of loosing Hermione or pushing her away from him.

During the time he went unfocused; Hermione got up from the comfort of her seat, walked over to Ron and placed a warm kiss on his lips all the while not knowing he was not really alert. Her lips were like an alarm clock because it suddenly jolted him back to reality. Slowly, his eyes met a very curious and suspicious Hermione.

"Is something the matter?" Hermione asked, feeling that her kiss must have scared him off a bit for what reason she did not know of.

"No, of course not," Ron said catching himself from looking apprehensive again. He was already shaking from the insides with worry yet he had to make sure Hermione did not know of this.

"Great," Hermione said quickly as she grabbed his arms and dragged him to the couch, "today I stumbled across some very interesting artifacts about the lost city of Atlantis and then I decided to read it up. It was absolutely amazing how-"

"Hermione?" Ron had to stop her now before she got him lost in a conversation he did not come here for.

"Yes?" Hermione said briskly. She, naturally, felt offended by his abrupt interruption. It was a habit of hers to furrow her eyebrows whenever Ron did something like this. And usually that landed into an argument about not wanting to listen to the other and vice versa. But it was definitely not how Ron wanted the evening to end. In fact, he had other plans and he was going to make sure they went accordingly -with or without Hermione's cooperation.

Ron took both her hands into his and rubbed his thumbs over the back of her soft hands. He had rehearsed a million times for this exact moment and this time, being the real deal, he couldn't make any mistakes whatsoever. His bright blue eyes buried into her dark brown eyes with intense concentration. With a quick swallow of his saliva, he hesitantly began his speech.

"There are times I feel in our relationship that I completely screw up. And every time you waltz back into my life with another chance to rekindle our broken hearts, I feel like the luckiest man alive," Ron said in a slow, calm voice. Collectiveness was the opposite of what he was feeling inside which was screaming and shaking uncontrollably. By now, his hand movements stopped to make Hermione see how serious he was or at least focus her attention to his words rather than what he was doing with her hands. She, in return, was dead silent but apparently paid attention to every word that was escaping his thin lips.

"When I say I'm the luckiest man, Hermione, I'm not kidding. You have no idea how perfect you are through my eyes. You're beautiful, smart, a little bit too much at times, and you amazingly understand me. But with all of that said, you still have no idea what you do to me sometimes. It's like I'm not myself anymore and all that matters is living for you. And every time I bring a tear to your eyes, I wish I could give those tears back to you because you don't deserve to shed them. You are incredible and you deserve more than I'm giving you," He stopped to notice that Hermione slightly parted her lips. Her eyes dilated as well like she suddenly was catching his drift and knew exactly what he was about to say. And to Ron's luck, she hadn't stopped him yet which meant he had a fair chance of keeping her heart for good.

"I guess with all that's blabbering out of mouth, I just want you to know that I love you. Always have and always will. No amount of pain or torture can change that," He said softly. He had no idea that his voice declined so quickly.

He released one of her hands to fetch the object waiting within his pocket. Once he held it out for her to see, she slapped a hand to her already parted lips. He could see the glisten in her eyes that slowly turned into tears.

"This may not be the best ring you've ever seen in your life but it makes up for the real one which I plan to give you later on," He said slowly as he analyzed the twenty-four karat gold ring with one simple diamond in the center, sparkling under the light.

"Hermione Granger, will you marry me?"

Usually, situations like these would be magical and under the moon light or something. But Ron felt this very café was the best place to propose. To his luck, not a lot of customers sat around and the very seat they sat on was in such a corner that no one would hear their conversation unless they took the effort to eavesdrop. And even if that was the case, Ron could not give a damn because all that mattered was Hermione's response which was taking far longer than he had anticipated for.

It was this very moment he dreaded and feared the most. It was a very closed-ended question that did not need further explanation. It was now that he will know whether Hermione, after all the times she put up with him, really loved him. And as much as he wanted his heart to stop from slowly dropping or the rate from over beating to the point that it jumped out of his chest, he could not help it. It was a feeling tied to this moment.

Thirty slow seconds passed by and still Hermione hadn't said a single word other than her silent sobbing. He wished he could read Hermione's train of thoughts. If he knew why she was taking so long, then he would be able to quickly take back the ring that was lingering on her finger and leave. Of course those harsh actions would never change how hurt and disappointed he'd be but he'd at least not be waiting foolishly like he was doing at the precise moment.

His eyes searched hers, he wanted an answer. She gave none. She just sat there, awestruck and silent. Not even her sobs made a noise. The background commotion of the café was nothing to how loud his heart was beating. Every beat caved in on his senses. He could no longer look into those chocolate eyes that was fogged with tears and shock. And just when he thought all hope in a future with her was gone, she jumped on him. Arms tightly around his neck as her one knee pressed down on the couch for support while the other remained on the ground.

"Oh Ron, I'll marry you!" She exclaimed.

Ron took the duty to hug her back just as tightly; in relief, in happiness and in completeness. They remained in that position for a full minute before Hermione sat back down to allow him to place the ring in her finger. Once she did, Hermione jumped into his arms again and released tears of what Ron believed were tears of joy.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

A soft low breeze swept through the open shutters and nibbled on her exposed skin, tickling her along the way as her eyes fluttered open to the sound of birds chirping in the distance. Her face scrounged in fatigue as the rays of light beamed down upon her and a soft sigh escaped her lips as she stared directly at the plain white ceiling. In many ways, that was just how she felt. Plain…simple…bored…

Her hands under the soft white sheets clasped together. Her long manicured finger nails dug into her palms; it was a way to know she was truly awake and facing reality; a routine she had built her mornings on. Of course, her reality was not as feeble as she believed to say the least. Hermione Granger had everything she could have possibly wanted or imagined she would have. Like a dream come true, she was able to live out her fantasies of becoming the most respected and known witches of the world. Only at the young age of twenty, she was able to get a position as Head in the department of Magical Law Enforcement as well as a tractable Auror.

Because of that, her name was established through the Daily Prophet as the cleverest witch in London. Many people, since then, constantly spoke of her. She almost, in a way, felt like her best-friend Harry. She now understood how it felt to have your name fabricated all over the place. And her being close friends with him did not help her new found fame but invigorated it.

But unlike others who boosted their self-image, Hermione used her notoriety as a way of educating. Just like she always hoped, Hermione wrote books about her adventures, her knowledge of the magical and non-magical world, her expertise and her advice on life in general. This created frenzy within the magical community. Many loved her books and prized it, others tarnished it. Those who looked down upon her books were the ones she knew despised her personally because of her assistance in the defeat of Tom Marvolo Riddle also known as the famous Lord Voldemort.

Regardless, Hermione never once felt threatened by those lots. She would turn her nose up and carry on with her life. But life was a funny thing. Despite her wonderful career and her fame, she was incomplete.

Her head turned a little to her right and Hermione disheartened. There, in a slumber, lay her fiancé. His long bright red hair shadowed a large portion of his face. He slept on his back, exposing his tanned and toned chest. With a body that built Hermione often at times blushed. It was exquisite, to say the least. She adored his gentle touches and his sweet words. But at the same time, she felt it was too much for her. She couldn't explain why that was the case which generally left her confused.

Her mind and heart had to different voices; too different opinions. Whereas her mind felt she loved Ron dearly, it was as though her heart was beginning to doubt the love she assembled in her mind. She was beginning to doubt things she never imagined she'd ever ponder about. Hermione always knew she had feelings for Ron but at the same time, her over-the-top love for him wasn't in its right place. Sad to say, love no longer existed to that certain extent.

Feelings, she thought to herself. Why were her feelings towards Ron faltering? Wasn't it this moment she had been waiting for after all of this time? After all of those nights she cried herself to sleep thinking Ron would always remain immature, isn't this what she wanted? Isn't it what she needed?

Hermione had been with one guy before Ron. He never came close to rendering her heart the way Ron had done. So she assumed that Ron was the one and the need for being an opportunist in search of a soul mate was no longer required when he was right under her nose. And now, it seemed that the feelings she imagined herself she would have when he finally got the courage to propose to her would be incredible; like the world would stop spinning and like all that mattered in the world was their rejoice. And if that was the case why did she not feel that?

In her heart she knew she loved Ron, a lot, but the moment he popped the question it was nothing like she envisioned. There was no heart beating over the roof, or no non-existent music singing in the background, or the ground floating like a cloud. None of those things occurred, none of those things were felt. It was for this reason why her heart, her mind and her soul came to a dead stop when he asked the question.

Marriage was a big step; a huge step. A step in a relationship taken when living meant nothing without the other person in question. Yet, Hermione knew she didn't reach that part of their relationship. Whether Ron was doing this from the sincerity of his heart or the sympathy in her past pain, she felt she owed it to him to accept his proposal because declining his hand in marriage meant more confusion and more misunderstanding on both their parts. And honestly, Hermione was fed up with that. She wanted her life to be complete; to be perfect.

She wanted to have the right husband, the right job, and the right friends. With Ron in the picture permanently and not something lingering in her shadows, she would never have to ponder about the 'what ifs' in life because she now believed she had it all.

Nevertheless, she still doubted. She couldn't explain in words what it was in her life she doubted but there was that uneasy feeling she took the wrong path even though there was nothing really wrong with what she chose.

And even though she could never dream of telling Ron all of these recent hesitations that plagued her mind and heart, it was unfortunately still there. No matter how many times last night she tried to erase those thoughts and focus on making love to Ron, it was still there. Like a horrible, insufferable itch that just would not disappear no matter how many times she scratched it.

Hermione slowly licked her lips and bit down on her lower lip hard, enough to inflict pain but not to make it bleed. She inched closer to place her head on Ron's shoulder while her thin arm laced his firm chest underneath the sheets. Maybe her uneasiness was just a feeling that came to women who get engaged. Maybe it was just a phase she was sadly going through and her love for Ron was pure and true. Maybe all this doubting was just a part of life and she would soon forget it. Maybe her acceptance to Ron's proposal was what she needed to make her life finally…perfect.

Maybe…


A/N:
I would like to first point out that I am a beginner, so please do not flame me for trying my best. I also would like to personally thank my beta and half-author in this story, Infamous Writer…I love you girl! You are the best for taking time off your stories to help me create this one and suggest some cool ideas and so on so forth. If there are any questions about this story, please feel free to ask. I know it's a little bit umm…confusing to some but I promise, SUPER promise that it will be good.