Prompt: "Can you write a fic where Hermione has a row with Ron and she was wrong? She is doing everything she can so he can stop ignoring her and tries to apologize."

Era: Post-Hogwarts
Rating: K+.

TW: Mentions of character death.


Desperate Measures

Desperate times call for desperate measures, but sometimes the desperate measure could be as simple as an apology.


Desperate times call for desperate measures.

At least that's what Hermione kept telling herself to justify taking the day off of work. Not only that, she lied to her boss, and told him she was sick. It wasn't a total lie, she did feel ill. But not for the reasons implied to her boss. As far as she knew, nausea due to shame and guilt wasn't contagious.

Shame and guilt. That's that real reason Hermione was at home, making an epic mess in her kitchen on a Friday afternoon. She wasn't nearly as good at baking spells as Mrs. Weasley, and she was currently regretting turning down all of her past attempts to pass that wisdom onto her.

Hermione was stuck baking the muggle way, and it was probably going to be terrible, because Ron was used to the best treacle tarts in the world, and this was truly a sad attempt.

At least she had a second gift for Ron, if the treacle tarts turned out to be a disaster. A pair of tickets to the Chudley Cannons game this weekend was sure to get him talking to her again.

After setting the treacle tart into the oven, Hermione placed two plates on the table and lit a candle. She had picked up Ron's favorite brand of wine, and put the envelope with the Chudley Cannons tickets onto the table between them.

It seemed like an extreme gesture, but this was not the first olive branch that Hermione had extended this week.

It had been four days since the fight. On Monday Hermione was startled by Ron's abrupt entrance into their flat. She knew he had plans with his brothers that evening, but hadn't expected him to arrive home so late. And even worse, so drunk.

On Monday evening Ron arrived home, muttering something about having too many gin and tonics at the bar. He collapsed onto the couch and was asleep before Hermione could argue with him. She was mildly annoyed that he didn't communicate his timeline with her, but she was willing to let it go, even though that meant sleeping in their giant bed alone.

They didn't interact the next morning, sinceHermione had an early day at work and Ron wasn't supposed to be in until later, so she didn't think much of him sleeping in. At least until later that afternoon when she came home and he was still there.

She woke him up immediately upon her return.

"Ron!"

"Hmmmph," he grunted in his sleep.

"Why are you still sleeping?"

"What?" said Ron a little more clearly.

"Ron! It's three in the afternoon! Why aren't you at work?"

"Wait a minute," said Ron groggily. "It's three? In the afternoon?"

"Yes! And you're supposed to be at work!"

Ron groaned as he carefully lifted himself to a seat. "Fuck, I slept in," he muttered.

"You think?" Hermione said shrilly.

"I need to owl my boss," said Ron, as he cautiously rose to his feet. "But first, I'm going to be sick," he said as he ran off toward the loo.

Hermione was fuming when he reentered the living room looking somewhat presentable. "I can't believe you got so drunk on a weekday and missed work-"

"Hermione-"

"Really, how could you be so irresponsible? You could get fired for this."

"Hermione, please stop," Ron said while he scribbled his note to his boss. "I feel guilty enough, I don't need you to make me feel worse."

"Well you should feel guilty!"

"HERMIONE." She froze at the harshness of his tone. "Please stop. I don't need you guilting me. Seriously, it feels like we're in school and I missed an assignment."

"This is far worse than that, Ron," she said gravely.

"Do you even remember why I was out yesterday?"

"Does it matter?" said Hermoine. Truthfully, she didn't remember why he had gone out with his brothers during the week, or why that minor detail would even be important right now.

"I can't believe you." After owling his boss, Ron turned toward the bedroom.

"Where are you going," asked Hermione, following him.

"Well I'm going to work, Hermione. And I'm packing a bag, to spend the night at George's."

"And why would you do that?"

Ron halted, and turned back to face her. "Because he doesn't micromanage me like you do." Ron said as he shoved a change of clothes into an overnight bag.

"Ron-"

"Plus, he needs a brother right now."

Hermione didn't have time to respond before Ron disappeared. She was still angrier than ever and couldn't believe he would be so dismissive and irresponsible.


It wasn't until later that day when she checked her calendar that she realized the date, and felt her stomach tighten in guilt. It was April second. Ron must have spent the last night at the bar with George to celebrate his birthday, so he didn't have to celebrate it alone.

Since he never mentioned the reason to her, he must have assumed she knew. He probably expected her to understand, and rightfully so. But instead, she jumped to the conclusion that Ron was irresponsible and neglectful, when he was really just taking time to grieve with his brother.

He continued to sleep at George's, which concerned her, and she wanted him back. The next day after their argument, she appeared in his office at lunch time to ask him to eat with her. She even brought a sandwich from his favorite deli, but he told her he had a work meeting and would eat it later.

She left him to it, but later saw him eating lunch with Harry and a few other employees at the ministry cafe. Her first instinct was to be angry at his, but instead she just felt hurt. Then she became more determined to make it right.

The next day Hermione left a note on his desk for him to see when he arrived at work. It was simple, and didn't say much, other than the fact that she missed him and wanted him back home. Unfortunately for her, Ron had to spend the day in the field, and didn't even come to the office. She wouldn't have known that, of course, because he was still staying with George.

Yesterday, Hermione left even earlier than usual to make a stop at the bakery that Ron loved so much. She bought a chocolate croissant for both herself and Ron, and just like the note, delivered his to his desk that morning. She hoped he'd be in this morning to enjoy it.

On her lunch break, she received an owl from Ron, which simply told her that he was planning on coming home the next day, and they could discuss everything then. She was unable to work at all, caught up in her anxiety overthinking what Ron could possibly mean by "discuss." What did they even need to discuss?

Her anxiety grew into guilt and shame for getting angry at him for missing work and not understanding that Fred's birthday would come with a heavy dose of grief for him. That's when she decided to play sick- something she'd never done before, and stay home the next day to make sure Ron would return knowing how much he meant to her.


Funny that she was now the one missing work. How irresponsible of her. She couldn't help but feel a little bit like a hypocrite.

When the oven sounded, she turned back into the kitchen to remove them, and nervously awaited Ron's return.

She heard the door open and whipped around to see him standing there. He looked miserable. His hair was disheveled, his clothes were messy, and his expression was worn out and exhausted. She wanted to hug him, but didn't know if that would be welcome at the moment. She opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was a lame sounding "Hi."

"Hi," he said back, as he dropped his bag to the floor side the door. She hated when he did that, but it wasn't the time. "Rough day. Well, rough week, actually."

She walked forward to hug him. He wrapped his arms around her, but noted a certain stiffness in his embrace. They still had things to talk about. "I've missed you," she mumbled into his shoulder. "I'm glad you came back."

"Yeah, well. I missed you too." He pulled away and looked at the table over her shoulder. "What's all this?"

Hermione pulled away and looked him in the eye. "Because you're mad at me. I wanted to do something nice for you so you'd forgive me."

"Hermione-"

"You lied to me about not being able to go to lunch that day. And you didn't see my note, and obviously the chocolate croissant wasn't a big enough gesture-"

"Hermione please stop."

She paused and looked up at him with hurt in her eyes. "What?"

"Just listen. Please."

Hermione nodded.

"You didn't need to do any of that. Yeah, I was angry at you, but mostly just hurt that you reprimanded me. I shouldn't have gotten too drunk on a weeknight, and I shouldn't have slept in and missed work, but It was Fred and George's birthday, Hermione. Only the second one since Fred passed and George didn't want to spend it alone."

Hermione had tears in her eyes by the time he finished. "I realize that now! I do, I just didn't realize it at the time. I just thought you were being-"

"Irresponsible. I know."

Hermione nodded.

"I was Hermione. But guess what, I'm going to be irresponsible every now and then. You'll just have to accept that. I will learn from those times and I don't need you to make me feel worse. I hate it when you do that. It reminds me of being in school when you would reprimand me for breaking rules. As an adult it feels a bit condescending to be honest."

"I just didn't want you to lose your job."

"I didn't Hermione. Because unlike you, my boss was very understanding. Harry told him everything."

She ignored Ron's little jab and pressed on. It would be unproductive to add fuel to to another argument. "But why did you have to stay at George's for a whole week?" Hermione pleaded.

"Because I knew it would happen again. I am still grieving him, and I will be for a while. This week was very hard on George too, and he needed a brother with him. "

Hermione nodded. It made so much sense now. "Why could you tell me?"

"I needed to be with someone who wouldn't judge me for drinking a little too much this week, because I knew it would happen. I know it's not the best way to deal with everything, but having you guilt me about it would only make it worse."

Hermione flung herself into Ron's arms. "I'm so sorry Ron." His grip on her was tighter now, more secure and loving, which sent a wave of relief down her spine.

"That's all you needed to say," said Ron, pulling her closer.

"What was?"

"Sorry. You just needed to say sorry."

Hermione pulled out of the hug to press a kiss to his lips. He kissed her back lovingly. .

When they resurfaced Hermione asked, "So you didn't like my note? Or the Croissant? Or this dinner, for that matter? I even picked up your favorite wine and-"

"It feels a bit like you're bribing me to forgive you, to be honest," he interrupted.

Hermione hadn't thought of that. "So you didn't like it?"

"Oh I did, don't get me wrong. But hearing you admit you were wrong was even better."

Hermione laughed. "Yeah, well it's harder for me to do that than it is to buy you chocolate and cook you dinner."

"Exactly. That's why it means so much," he said with another kiss.

"Well in that case, I guess you don't need the treacle tart I just pulled out of the oven," said Hermione.

"Well I wouldn't want it to go to waste," he replied, flashing that lopsided grin that Hermione loved so much.

"Ok, we'll have the treacle tart. But since you've already forgiven me, we don't need the Chudley Cannons tickets…"

"Hold on… you got tickets?"

Hermione nodded smiling.

"For when?"

"Tomorrow's game."

Ron beamed. "You really did?"

"But I wouldn't want you to feel bribed into forgiving me," she said coyly.

"I take it back," he said, as he passed around her to reach for the envelope on the table. "You can bribe me." Ron opened the envelope and gasped. "Hermione these are fantastic seats."

"So you still want them?" she said hopefully.

"Of course I do!" Ron's face fell. "There's just one problem."

"What is it?"

"I told George I'd spend the day with him tomorrow. I'm so sorry, I really want to go with you."

"You know what?" said Hermione. "Take George to the game. He could use the distraction."

"Are you sure?" asked Ron, his face lighting up in excitement.

'Yes. Tell him I say happy birthday too."

"Hermione, he's going to love it. Thank you," he told her, pulling her into another hug.

"It's the least I can do," said Hermione, secretly relieved that she didn't have to go to the Cannons game, and could spend the day tomorrow reading instead. "Take him out for a drink after too, ok? On me."

"Really?"

Hermione nodded. "I was wrong before."

Ron smiled and kissed her deeply. "I love hearing you say that," he laughed.

Hermione laughed too. "Well maybe I should say it more often then," she said as she kissed him again.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, but sometimes the desperate measure could be as simple as an apology.