The Family Man

Summary: Ron has a great life. He's rich, famous, girls throwing themselves at his feet, what more could a guy ask for? He's about to find out when he is given a glimpse of what could have been if he had chosen love over money and family over fame. Ron wakes up one morning in a house that's not his, with a past love that is now his wife and kids he can't remember having. What if he starts to see what life is like for the people who may not be rich, but who are certainly prosperous in other ways.

Chapter 2

Ron woke up at seven o'clock the next morning and carefully detached himself from Padma and started looking for all of his clothes. He had to be at practice at nine and he wanted to go back to his flat and shower before that. He had a little trouble pulling his cap out from under the bed, but soon he was dressed and out of Padma's flat.

There weren't many people out at this time of morning, mostly businesspeople on their way to work. He kept thinking of Hermione, why did Padma have to bring her up? Hermione Granger was the love of his life, who he had lost because of his ambition and passion for Quidditch, but he had chosen Quidditch over her and now he was rich and famous and had many women throwing themselves at him. He wasn't depressed, but he wasn't content either. He stopped at a crosswalk and looked at the people who were coming toward him. Bushy hair? He only knew one person with bushy hair. He tried to get a look at the woman, but she had a newspaper held in front of her face. He kept walking past her and looked back a few times to see if she would turn around. He ended up bumping into an older man and stopped turning around after apologizing profusely to the man. Little did he know, that the woman finally took her paper down and turned to look at him with her sad cinnamon eyes.

"Oi, Weasley! Watch it, will you?" Josh Abbott yelled at him as he hit the Bludger away from his teammate.

"Sorry, Abbott, late night last night, you know?" Ron asked cheekily.

"Ugh, we don't want to hear about your sex life, Weasley!" Sophia Wallace shouted before she tried shooting the Quaffle into the left hoop.

Ron blocked it and threw the ball to Sophia's twin Olivia as she swooped over on her broomstick.

"Sophie, the object of the game is to get the Quaffle past the Keeper, not talk to him and then shoot while he's watching. If he's not paying attention, that's his problem!" Olivia teased her twin.

"Sorry, Weasley was telling Abbott about his sex life and I just happened to be averse to the idea of losing my breakfast, Liv." Sophia told her.

"Again? Come on, Weasley. Do we really need to know?" Sean Hamilton asked as he stopped looking for the Snitch and came to join the conversation.

"Sorry," Ron grinned impishly. "You know how it is, Hamilton."

"No, glad to say that I don't. I'm married remember? I wake up to the same beautiful face I've been waking up to for the past two years." Sean said with a smile.

"Yes, when are you going to try and settle down, Ron?" Rachel McMillan asked as she trailed her beaters' bat beside her.

"Oh, you don't know? I'm a confirmed bachelor." Ron told her with a smirk.

"Are we playing or are we gossiping like a group of women!" An outraged voice came from behind them. The last Chaser, David Price had arrived.

"Some of us don't appreciate that comment, David." Olivia said, glaring at him.

"Sorry, but come on. Let's go." David urged.

"Actually, I think we can stop for the day. It's already past three. We've been out here for a long time." Ron said as he led the team down the ground. "Good practice today, we put in a lot of hard work. I'll see you on Friday at ten o'clock." He told the team as they walked back to the changing rooms.

On his way home, Ron decided he needed to go grocery shopping. He quickly detoured to the nearest market and started to look around. He soon had a basket full of food and walked up to the cash register. The cashier started to ring up his purchases when a man in a mask came into the store and walked right up to the cashier.

"Give me all the money." The man in the mask said as he pointed his wand at the cashier.

"Whoa, do you really want to do this?" Ron asked, trying to soothe the man as the cashier looked at him with frightened eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sure." The man sounded amused and annoyed. "Now move, or I'll hurt you, too."

"Now calm down, mate. Just put the wand down. Do you need money? I could give you some, but don't hurt this man for it. That's it, just put it down," Ron coaxed as the man started to lower his wand.

"Sorry, I've been under considerable stress lately. I just lost me job, and don't have any money for rent." The man said downheartedly.

"I understand. Here, I'll give you fifty galleons, that's all I have left after groceries, is that going to be enough?" Ron asked as he looked into his money pouch.

"That's enough for two months. Thanks, mate. You're a real nice guy. Are you sure your wife isn't going to be angry with you?" The man asked.

"Oh, I don't have a wife." Ron chuckled as he paid the still scared looking cashier for his groceries and grabbed his bags.

"Really?" the man looked at him suspiciously. "Are you gay?"

"No, I don't swing that way, mate."

"So how come a nice guy like you doesn't have a wife?" The man asked incredulously.

"Well, I guess I never found the right girl." Ron stopped as he said that and Hermione's face passed in front of his eyes quickly.

"Are you happy with that?"

"Look, I've got everything I could want or need. I don't need a wife." Ron told the man a bit more harshly than he had meant to.

"All right. Sorry. Well, thanks a lot for the money, mate. Maybe thing's will be different from now on, eh?" The man walked away chuckling and mumbling, "Everything he could want or need, sure…"

Ron watched him for a moment and then headed for his flat. "Strange bloke." He thought as he fished his key out of his pocket and balancing his grocery bags.

Ron put his food away and noticed that there was an owl waiting on his perch. "Hello, Pig." Ron greeted as he threw him an owl treat. Pig caught the treat and extended his leg to give Ron his mail.

"Bill…Bill...Junk…Hello, what's this? It's from Michelle. She can't meet me tonight, apparently she has fallen ill, poor girl. Oh well, no date tonight." Ron smirked. "Looks like it's just you and me Pig." Pig hooted as Ron pet his feathers.

Ron prepared dinner and ate it quickly, anxious to look over some new Quidditch plays that had been given to him after practice by Rachel. He sat going over the plays carefully while drinking scotch, his preferred drink. He ended up getting a little tipsy and when the lines on the parchment started wiggling, Ron reckoned it was time for bed, so he stumbled down the hall and collapsed on his bed.

AN: This takes place when the trio is 25 years old. I thought I should go ahead and update chapter 2 as well, since I got that finished, I even managed to put some Quidditch in. I hope you enjoyed it. Please Review, flame if you must, but I probably won't read. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry, Ron, Hermione, or any other characters you recognize. I also do not own the plot to "The Family Man."