Disclaimer: I don't own any darn thing so there! (folds arms stubbornly and turns head away)
A/N: So here's a new one for ya! Sorry for the wait. Thanks for all the thoughts on why Ron left, they were helpful! And here we go…THIS MAY CONTAIN…STUFF.
Chapter 4
"You're not leaving, Hermione. Not until we talk." I couldn't move or think. I couldn't do anything but cry.
"Ron, I hate you for what you did! I hate it more than anything!" I screamed at him through my tears.
"No, you don't. You love me and you're not leaving."
He was right in front of me, I could feel him breathing he was that close. "Why are you doing this? I really…" I started to cry a little harder.
"You're not going anywhere," he whispered. I started to say something else to him but he kissed me, deeply and passionately until it took what little breath I had left away.
"Ron…" I finally whispered.
"Mione, just admit it; you want me still, as much I want you. I'm not letting you walk out the door. I won't lose you twice."
He pulled me away from the living room. I felt like I was in a dream. It was everything I ever wanted as he kissed me like that but it was everything I feared. I couldn't avoid him, as much as I tried to convince myself that I wanted to do just that. "Mione, I just want to be with you…please…" He whispered into my ear and kissed my cheek. "It's been so long."
I knew I shouldn't let him but when he kissed me like that and he whispered like that, even though everything with us happened so long ago, it was all there. I couldn't lie about that. I could feel what we had still and stronger than ever before. "Ron, I can't…we can't…"
He looked at me intently. "Do you love me Hermione?" I looked up into his eyes. "Do you?"
"I'm with Draco."
"Damn it Hermione, I know who you're with. That wasn't the question. Do you love me?" He looked at me still, as serious as ever. "Do you?"
"Ron…"
"If you say you don't, if you say your heart belongs with him and that what we had isn't anymore then I'll let you leave and I'll never bug you about it again. But if you love me, then I beg you to not leave me now. I love you. I want you. I need you. Don't leave. Stay with me. Please…" I looked into his eyes. I looked into those piercing eyes and felt my lips melt into his. I knew I wouldn't be leaving there as he swept me into his arms and carried me upstairs.
He kissed my breasts as I began to find my way to reality. I was really here—this was really happening/ I was with Ron again. All the dreams I dreamt every night for the last three years were finally coming true and I couldn't believe it. It was just too good to finally be real but yet, here it was. It was happening and I was with him. I was with Ron. We were here in this moment and as I felt him enter me, this moment was all that mattered.
"I love you," he said as he panted. I felt my fingernails dig into his back as my body felt like it had caught on fire. He moved inside me and I could barely catch my breath. I wanted to cry. I couldn't remember the last time I felt this way. It felt so good. I let out a whimper. "Are you okay?" he whispered heavily into my ear.
I shook my head and kissed him. "I love you," I cried as my hands ventured around his back and he swelled inside me more. He was part of me for what seemed like an eternity as we moved around the bed.
(sc)
"Wow you sure seem hungry," Ron laughed at me as I stuffed some more spaghetti into my mouth.
"I'm sorry. I guess you just worked up my appetite," I giggled back at him. He looked at me. I shifted because I felt like he was looking through me.
He kissed my cheek as he walked by me and grabbed a butterbeer. "I knew you still loved me," he said as he sat back down. He was joking as he said it but it made me remember the entire reason I went to the Burrow. "What?" he asked marking the change in my expression.
"So, I think it's time to answer my question. There's no more procrastinating, no more lying, no more secrets between us, Ron. What happened to make you leave? I need to know." He sighed as I looked at him.
"Okay, Mione. I'll tell you everything."
(FB) (Ron's POV)
"Look at this Ron. Which one do you like?" Hermione asked holding up some color samples with Ginny and Mum. I walked by with Harry.
"That one," I pointed nonchalantly. Hermione and Ginny looked and made a face.
"Don't you like the other one better?" Hermione asked me. I looked at her and smiled.
"Of course I do. I like whichever one you like Mione." She smiled and Mum wrote down the color. I slapped Harry on his back and we walked into the living room.
"What was that all about?" Harry asked.
"The wedding plans…I really don't care what anything looks like or smells like or even tastes like—I just want to marry her. We could get married on the moon for all I care and I'd be happy."
"Did you tell her that?" Harry asked me.
"Nah," I said falling into the chair. "I know Hermione; she'll want a wedding with everyone there. It's what she deserves, too. Besides, I bet the moon's already rented." I laughed and Harry smiled. "It doesn't matter really. I just want to make her my wife forever."
(sc)
"Why does it matter Ron?" Hermione bellowed at me through the house.
"Why does it matter? Because it does. It just does," I said back to her. Looking back now I don't see why it was so important. It was just a basement, but I really felt a house had to have one. I guess I was stubborn. But we had worked so hard to be able to buy something nice and bigger...something I never had. It was urgent. I needed it. The way Hermione felt about a basement, I felt about such a wedding—it wasn't that important.
"I don't want a house unless it has a basement. Please update your list and owl us," I told the realtor as I walked out the door, pulling Hermione behind me.
"What was all that about?" Hermione snapped at me once we Apparated back to my apartment.
"What?" I shot as I fell into my chair.
"What? You were ridiculous Ron! That was absolutely unnecessary!" I scowled at her and paid my attention elsewhere. She looked me with disappointment and acted as if she had a lot more to say. Instead of saying it, however, she just Disapparated without even looking at me.
(sc)
"Why do you always do this?" Hermione yelled at me. I rolled my eyes.
"Hermione, you shouldn't go to lunch with….with him!" I yelled back. I wasn't going to give in on this one. I just couldn't believe that she did this.
"What's the big deal? It was just lunch."
"Just lunch?" I scoffed. "It's never "just lunch" where Draco Malfoy is concerned."
She laughed sarcastically at me, and her tone was not unnoticed. "Draco isn't who he used to be. He's changed since then—we all have. Some for the worse…"
"What's that supposed to mean?" I was shocked to hear my Mione say that to me.
"I'm just saying…some of us, are a bit more idiotic than we were in school. Not to mention a bit jealous in situations where there should be none."
"Jealous? I'm not jealous of Malfoy. I'm worried that you are trusting him too much."
"Well, I'm a big girl, I can handle myself. And I can go to lunch with whoever I please."
"Fine. Go to lunch with Malfoy. Go to lunch with Voldemort's spirit for all I care—But don't say I didn't warn you when you get hurt." I know it was a horrible thing to say to her but she was being ridiculous.
"Maybe I will, but that's my decision to make. Maybe I won't, however, stay here with you any longer. Maybe I won't ever stay here with you, Ronald Weasley!"
"Maybe you shouldn't." I snapped back. She shook her head and Disapparated to Ginny and Harry's.
I went after her later and we made up. But for some reason, we always fought about stupid things. We tossed empty threats about leaving left and right but we still planned on a wedding in April. Our last big fight was right after Thanksgiving. After that things were back on track—as much as they could be. Hermione occasionally went to lunch with Draco and didn't care what I had to say about the matter. But we were good. I loved her more than life and I couldn't wait for her to be my wife. (AN: I rhymed….sorry…ahem.)
(sc)
I didn't know why I was sitting there. Whoever sent me this owl must have been a wimp anyway. It wasn't signed by anyone and all it said was "Be at Three Broomsticks, 4:00 tomorrow…we have things to discuss." Harry said it could be a trap but I came anyway. Whoever it was, was either crazy or determined—neither of which could be good. I figured I'd just come now and forget about it.
I ordered a butterbeer and sat at the table, my eye on the door. But the person who sat down at the table beside me didn't come in through the door. He must have been waiting for me. "Malfoy," I growled. "I should have known."
"Hello you too, Weasel," he snarled at me.
"What do you want?" I asked, suddenly impatient.
"Oh, it's simple really…I want you to leave Hermione." He said as he took a drink.
"What?" I scoffed. I knew whoever I was gonna meet here was gonna be crazy.
"Yeah, leave her."
"Why?" I asked him, feeling my blood starting to boil.
"Because…you're going to kill her if you don't." I looked at him blankly and started to speak. "If you don't leave her Weasel, she'll die. I'll kill her…or have her killed—either way it'll be your fault. So it's better if you just leave her before you kill her."
I sat there a second trying to figure out what was happening. "You're crazy Malfoy. I knew you never changed. You may fool the rest of the world, but once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater—no matter how horrible at it you were. I'm not leaving Hermione."
"Then you sign her fate. You've been warned, Weasley," Draco said as he left the table.
(sc) Two Weeks Later
"Where is she?" I rushed past the information booth in Muggle hospital to the third floor, Harry and Ginny close behind me. I ran up the window where Hermione lay on a stretcher, bruises and cuts and fast asleep—at least I hoped. There were a few Healers standing near me and I turned to them. "Are you here for Ms. Granger?" they asked me. I shook my head.
"What happened?" Ginny asked.
The tall man with glasses answered her. "A car accident. Apparently, there was a malfunction with her brakes. Her car is totaled but Ms. Granger seems to be stable. We are fully confident she'll fully recover with only a few broken bones and some cuts. She was very lucky. Most people wouldn't come out of an accident like that alive." The Muggle Healer turned and walked away, leaving me there with my racing mind.
Hermione knew how to drive. She was as good in the Muggle world as she was in the wizarding world. This was no accident. This was Draco. I knew it was. He was serious about everything he had told me. As I looked in on Hermione, I knew that there were only two options left. I could try to convince Hermione that Malfoy was scum or I could leave her and "save" her life, what I wouldn't ruin of it. Both of those options seemed impossible as I looked in on her lying in that bed.
(sc)
"Hermione, please listen to me. Draco is evil. He's not this innocent person that he tried to pretend to be. Don't fall for it, Mione." I urged her.
"Ron, you keep saying that but you can't prove anything. You say you just know, well I know he's NOT. Ron, please. This argument is getting old. I can't handle it anymore!" Hermione snapped. "I don't tell you who to be friends with and who you can't!"
"Now you're friends with him?"
"Yes I am! I am friends with him! You should trust me enough to give me that freedom! I don't question you when you talk to Lav-Lav, now do I?" she watched my face, looking for a reaction. "And I think that I have grounds to be jealous and bothersome and check up on you…BUT I DON'T."
"Lavender? You're bringing Lavender into this? That was a long time ago Hermione! I can't believe you're even bringing her into this!"
"Why not? It proves my point. Who's to say you don't go there every weekend and have little rendezvous with Lavender Brown when I'm not around?"
"Hermione!"
"I'm just saying it's possible."
"It is possible—not probable, but yeah, it's possible. I could go there and be with her—I'm sure she'd have me in a second! But I don't! That's the difference! I DON'T! You DO go have lunch once or twice a month with Malfoy—a Death Eater. And you can't possibly compare a fictional relationship with Lavender to real lunch dates with a Death Eater!" I shouted at her.
"EX Death Eater…And I can see the comparison!" Hermione scoffed.
"Hermione, please…stay away from him!"
"I won't do it Ron! You're being a git! Draco is not evil! That's the end of it!"
I looked into her eyes as we stood in the middle of the living room. I looked at her and studied her face one more time before I walked out the door. If she wasn't going to stay away from Draco, then the only choice I had was to leave.
(sc)
It had been a lonely year. I hadn't really been in contact with anyone—even Harry. I felt it was best just to stay away and do some soul searching since I couldn't be with Hermione. But everywhere I went I was reminded of her by something. It had been a long time. My hair was longer and I hadn't shaved in a few days but I knew Mum would be glad to see me when I popped into the Burrow.
"Ron! It's so wonderful to see you!" Mum beamed as she pulled me into her arms. Her warm welcome was suddenly cold and hard as she pushed me away and smacked me across the head. "Where in Merlin's name have you been? Do you have any idea how worried I've been? Or what's been going on since you've been gone!"
"What? What's going on?"
"Oh dear, you don't know? I was hoping that was why you were here!"
"What Mum? Know what?" I asked as I looked at her.
"Look at the Daily Prophet," she commanded as she walked out the kitchen door.
I opened the paper and there, on the front page, was a beautiful picture of my Hermione. I didn't see the entire picture at first. I was so focused on her face but then I saw it...Malfoy, there beside her. Then I saw the headline, "CEO, Draco Malfoy gets married today." I scanned the article.
"Malfoy is marrying old schoolmate Hermione Granger…Wedding to take place in Hogwarts castle…6 pm Dec. 4…" I couldn't believe it. It all made sense…that's why he wanted me to leave—so he could steal her. He would've never really killed her! Mum walked back into the kitchen and I stood up and looked at her.
"This is real?" I asked, hoping she'd say no, even though I knew she wouldn't.
She shook her head and I kept my gaze on her. "Go get her Ronnie," she said as I Disapparated the closest to Hogwarts I could get.
(sc)
The Hogwarts gates were open, awaiting all the guests to the Malfoy/Granger wedding. I kept thinking to myself about all the hints Ginny would throw at me in her letters about the two of them. Saying she was the Maid of Honor in a wedding, how Harry didn't want to go because he didn't think they should get married. "Bloody hell," I muttered as I enter the door. I had no clue where to go.
I ran though the hallways, my mind focused on what I would say to her when I saw her. What would she do? What would she say to me? What would… "Hello Weasley," Draco said, Crabbe and Goyle standing behind him. "What an unpleasant surprise."
"You're scum Malfoy!" I yelled at him. "Scum. You tricked us. You lied about all of it. You were the reason she had that accident. And I'm going to stop her from marrying you."
He laughed at me. It was an evil, hateful laugh that urged me to challenge him. "She won't listen to you. You hurt her and you have no proof of anything."
"I won't need it. She'll believe me when I tell her."
"No she won't. She didn't believe you before you left—and she loved you then; There's no way she'll believe you now," Draco smiled at me. "Besides, you're not going to see her until after she's my wife."
"What are you going to do? Have a duel on your wedding day?" I threatened. His expression didn't change.
"No. I'm not going to be anywhere around when it happens," he motioned to Crabbe and Goyle. "Take care of this loser." He walked away as Crabbe hit me with an Unforgivable and I felt my body twist in pain.
I woke up as rain fell on my face later in the dark night sky. There was a fuzzy light coming toward me. "Why are ya layin' there in the bushes? Get up," an old familiar voice whistled weakly. I opened my eyes and strained myself to look. "Ya need to go home." Somehow I found my way to my feet and looked at the old face of Hagrid. It had been 5 years since I had laid eyes on him and he looked the same as ever—only older. "Oh. It's ya Ron. It's been a long time. I reackon ya oughta get home. Ya probably have a lot of things to discuss." He smiled and turned from me. "That shoulda be'n ya up there today…welcome home Ron."
(sc)
"What on earth happened to you?" Mum asked me as I fell, exhausted into the kitchen chair. She touched my shoulder and I jumped in pain at least a foot in the air. "Oh Ron!"
Dad, Fred, George, Ginny, Harry, Bill, Fleur and Charlie all ran into the room. "Ron! You're back!" Harry exclaimed.
"Oy! What happened to you? You look bad," Charlie asked me.
"Did you just get here?" Ginny asked. "You missed it. Ron, today Hermione—"
"Married Draco; I know. I was there."
"You were there? You watched her marry him?" Fred asked.
"Bloody hell Ron! Why didn't you stop her?" George asked.
"What do you think I went there for? I went to stop her! I was going to explain everything to her and tell her why I left but I didn't even get to see her! That scummy git put his goons, Crabbe and Goyle on me…hit me with a few unforgivables. I'm not really sure how many times I got hit with a Crucio…I woke up outside. Piece of shit…" I screamed. I turned to the fireplace, everyone's eyes on me. I hit my fist on the mantle. "Damn it! What the hell am I supposed to do!" I looked at the faces of my family; none of them offered hope.
I sat back down in the chair, my body aching in pain still. Mum started to say something but crying came from upstairs. "Oh, Christopher eez awake. I veel get 'im," Fleur said, gladly excusing herself from the tense room.
Ginny sat down next to me. "It's not too late you know. You can still save her from him." I looked into her soft eyes and smiled.
"There's no way I can. It's too late. What can I do? They're already married, Gin. There's nothing to do." I looked at my parents and the twins and Harry, who had the saddest look in his eyes. "I think I'm going to bed. Excuse me." With that I jumped up and walked upstairs, knowing fully well that I wasn't going to sleep. I'd never sleep well again if I couldn't think of a way to get her away from him.
(NOW)
"I went to the house, Ginny gave me the address. I saw you sitting in the chair in your robe that night. I was going to knock but he came downstairs and kissed you. I just couldn't do it. I didn't know what to say to you. There were even a couple other times that week I'd see you somewhere and think about coming up to you. I could never find the words. I guess I was a coward or a fool but I didn't think I'd ever be able to explain it to you in a way that you wouldn't hate me," he looked at me and smiled weakly.
"Ron…I would've listened to you. Do you know how many nights I worried about you? I hoped you would rescue me, even at the wedding. I told Ginny if only you would come and say you loved me, I would've left him. Until I said "I do" I prayed you'd show up," I sighed. I felt tears form in my eyes. "If only I would've known that you were there…"
"It's too late now. I would've known, I would never have left. I thought about you everyday. There was no one else Mione. No one…there never will be," he said to me. I flung myself into his arms and let the tears rush from my eyes. This was what I wanted—answers to everything.
"I knew there was a reason you left. I always knew it," I cried. "I just—I can't believe I fell for all his lies."
"What are you going to do Hermione?" he asked me. It struck a nerve.
"I don't know. What am I going to do? Draco won't be happy when he finds out I know," I sighed. "I love you Ron."
"I love you too, Mione." He smiled at me.
"I don't know what's going to happen but I know I want to be with you. I love you, Ron and I've missed you so much and I don't want to spend another night without you," I said as I kissed him.
"I love you. I'm with you, whatever you decide to do." I smiled at him. "You know what I want to do?" He laughed as I kissed him again.
"I think I have a good idea."
"Really?" I smiled as he kissed me again. "I want to eat."
He laughed. "Then eat we shall." He pushed my hair behind by ear and kissed my forehead. As he warmed us up some food, and I sat there in the kitchen in a sheet, I felt myself smile. I don't know why. My whole life was turning into a lie and in a second, it was destroyed. The only thing I knew for sure was that Ron was the only man in my heart and I wasn't going to let my husband come between us again.
A/N: So there goes another. There's only like one or two chapters left. It may take a while to update again but we'll see. New classes are starting and it's gonna be crazy. Hope everyone had a great holiday! Please Review. And let me know if there's anything you want to see before the end!
Guess what? The Phantom of the Opera is there, inside your mind! (sorry, I'm watching that right now. Ha ha.)