Disclaimer: not mine.

I am so unbelievably sorry about the super long wait you all had, but I'm back now, and it shouldn't be too long before I finish. Now this chapter may be a little slow and off the mark because I'm getting back into Ron's character, but give me a chance, the next one should be more to the style, so bare with me-you will not be disappointed-I promised you a heart to heart, and a heart to heart you will get, and with Harry in the room you just know it will be bad. Oh I'm so happy I'm back writing this, I missed it.

The Other Way

Dear whoever was listening to my thoughts-why was I even here? I should be at home, trying to make Draco talk to me, not sitting at Hermione's lovely dining room table loaded with equally lovely dishes of lovely food. But here I was. The silence was nearly unbearable, there had been a few strained attempts at the beginning between Hermione and Harry, but it had all kind of faded out.

It was so different from every other meal I could ever remember having with them, there was no friendly atmosphere, everything was so strained. I think it would have been the same had Harry not been there, I still hadn't forgiven Hermione for what she said, and I'm sure she hadn't forgiven me. And Harry, I hadn't looked at him the whole night, had barely spoken to him, I just couldn't, not with what I knew, and he acted like he'd done nothing wrong.

"So, Ron, how's Malfoy?" Hermione asked suddenly, and though she tried so hard to force it out of her tone I could still hear the bitterness. I saw Harry's head turn from the corner of my eye, and he looked at me expectantly. I suddenly wished neither of them knew I was looking after Draco.

"He's fine." I said, stabbing my fork into a carrot, fighting to keep the scowl off my face.

"Did you tell him Ron? What I told you before-what I asked you, did you tell him?" Harry asked, his tone pleading.

I closed my eyes, I wanted to scream at him, tell him that he was a bastard for what he did, that I knew he was lying about everything, to tell him he was no better than voldermort-hell, he was worse than voldermort, not even the dark lord would have stooped so low as to torture his lover-kill them outright, yes, but not torture, hell I had seen it happen, when Professor McGonagall had left his side in the last instance of battle, when she finally saw the error of her ways and left him, or tried to, he hadn't pulled her back and tortured her, he'd killed her, right there on the spot.

It had been a sight and no mistake, no one had ever expected it-but it made sense, in the end it did make sense, after all Professor Mc Gonagall had been the one to screen all the new teachers, no wonder so many bad things kept happening.

I opened my eyes slowly and raised them to look at Harry. "No, I didn't." I said softly.

His eyes flashed, the same way they had when I'd visited him in the ward. "Why not Ron? I need to see him Ron, I-"

I saw Hermione's expression close off, what was her problem with Draco anyway? Is sighed and looked back at my plate, I just didn't want to have this conversation; I just knew it was going to be bad, I just knew it.

"Yes Ron, why didn't you tell Draco Harry wanted to see him?" Hermione asked quietly.

I glanced over at her, she was studiously not looking at either of us, I glanced at Harry then back. And it hit me. "Is that what all this is about?" I asked, completely ignoring the question.

Hermione looked up with a frown.

"What?" Harry said, confused.

I ignored him, focused totally on Hermione. "It all makes sense now Hermione-that's why you won't believe the possibility that he actually did this, oh my god! Why didn't I see it sooner?" I exclaimed, I sagged back and stared at her, it all made such sense now-the way she wouldn't believe Harry capable of it-when they say love is blind they bloody well mean it. The reason she hated the idea of Harry going out with Draco as much as I did, only for a completely different reason.

"What are you talking about Ron?" she demanded, in that shrill angry way of her's.

"About you Hermione, about you and Harry."

She was out of her seat and dragging me out of the room by the arm before I had the chance to react, telling Harry very firmly to stay right where he was, she slammed the door that led to the dining room and spun to face me. "Just what the hell did you think you were doing?" she demanded.

I shook my head; there was little else I could do. "It makes sense now Hermione, all that time in school you spent with me was to get him jealous, but he never noticed, and then when he started dating Draco you hated the idea as much as me, but not for the same reason's. Hermione, do you realise just how dangerous he is." I asked plaintively. Even if I was angry with her, I now understood, and I wasn't about to stand back and let her walk into the same trap as Draco had.

"He's not to blame for that Ron, he's sick. He wouldn't do that to me." She trailed off quietly.

I put my hands on her shoulders, making her look up at me. "'Mione, please, listen to me, if he did it to Draco, who he professes to love, he would do it to you. Please, I couldn't live with myself if I let that happen to you."

"He's sick Ron, he's on medication, he'll get better, it's not his fault it happened-it was probably Malf-"

"Don't you dare Hermione, it is not Draco's fault this happened, it was Harry-Hermione, you know I'm not lying, whether it's another side of him or not, it's still Harry, and it's never going to go away. Please, I don't want to see you get hurt like that, not ever." She was about to protest again, I could see the argument in her eyes. "I know you think you'd be able handle it, find a way to make him stop-but if he started on you Hermione-you love him, you wouldn't want to give up on him, you'd stay, and you'd get hurt even worse-please 'Mione."

"How would you know?" she spat, pulling away from me, the tears were threatening to fall from her eyes. "How do you know? Come on Ron, tell me!"

I tried to keep my temper down, and it worked, mostly. "'Mione, Draco didn't love him, and look what happened to him-it would hardly be any better just because you loved him. Damnit 'Mione, come on, your not stupid, you know what I'm talking about!"

"Well maybe that's what it was all about. Maybe it was because Malfoy didn't love him! You don't know what it could be like for him to be with someone who loved him-you just don't know Ron. Just because you get to play happy families with Draco doesn't give you the right to dictate my life!"

"What?" I asked, stunned. "Happy families? Hermione, he's my patient."

"Oh, really?" she said, her voice gaining in volume. "He's living in your house, and he's you patient? Every time you talk about him it's 'Draco' this and 'Draco' that! When did he stop being just 'Malfoy' to you Ron-or was he always 'Draco'? Is what the Prophet printed true-did you and he plan all this to get Harry locked away so you could be together?"

And that's when I lost it. "Shut up Hermione-you have absolutely no idea what your talking about, so until you do just shut up. All I was trying to was help you out, and you accuse me of having a relationship with Draco? He's my goddamned patient Hermione, yes, he's at my place, but only because people like you believe everything they read. What would they think if they heard the truth about the great Harry Potter? He brutalised and raped someone he claimed to Love for four years Hermione, if you can live with that knowledge and still be friends with him-still love him, still want to be with him, then fine-I just don't want to see you the same was Draco is now-or the same way Ginny was. I couldn't go through with it 'Mione, but if it's what you want, then fine."

I shook my head; there was nothing else I could do. "Goodbye Hermione." I opened the door to the dining room, walked straight through to the living room and to the fireplace.

"Ron?" Harry said. "Where are you going?"

I looked at him for a second-there was nothing I could say to him-nothing that could change anything, so I stepped into the fireplace and went home.

Well, I don't know where that came from-it wasn't supposed to be quite so volatile, but there you have it, I hope you enjoy. Tell me if I recaptured Ron, I can't go on if I haven't, so let me know real soon. Well at least it's explained why Hermione's so off the wall.

Yay! I wrote another chapter-sorry again about the wait, the next one will hopefully be up soon, I'm alternating between this and Percy's Pain, so I have to write the next chapter for that one first. Please review and remember I love you all.