Tapping her fingers on her desk rhythmically she stared despondently at the envelope sitting before her on the large wooden desk. The envelope that would render her separation from Ron real and that chapter of her life would start to come to a close.

She knew she should be sending this letter directly to the editor of the Daily Prophet for print and delivery the very next morning but something inside of her wouldn't let her do it. It wasn't the fact that her life would change immensely, or the attention she would garner. No, there was something else sitting deep down within her soul that made her angry. She didn't want the world to know about her marital issues but as the minister, she and as such, her life, were basically front and centre on a pedestal for their world to see.

"Let me just take this." Susan made a grab for the letter, but Hermione lunged for it, their fingers brushed as Hermione came out the victor and clutched the letter tight in her hand.

"No. I don't think I am ready to send it yet. He owes me an explanation and I haven't been given one. I deserve an apology and he hasn't offered one. I deserve so much more than he has left me with, and I need closure. It's all well and good for him, he gets to trot off and start a new life without as much as a backwards glance but I am left wondering why I wasn't good enough and what I did to have this treatment bestowed upon me."

"So what do you propose you do, Hermione? I don't want to pry but right now you need some direction in your life, or you will fall apart. I know you think you know better and you might, but I know you well. You will end up doing something you regret terribly. You probably already have by fraternising with Lucius Malfoy but what is done is done. You can't tell me you thought that one through to the fullest. I know you are going through a lot right now and I know Ron hurt you deeply, but you need to think how all of this will affect your image when people know you are copulating with Lucius. You will be the talk of the ministry with this whole Ron saga but to add Lucius to the mix is incomprehensible." Susan sat gently on the edge of Hermione's desk looking down at her with just a touch of judgement mixed in her eyes.

"Look I-" Hermione began but was abruptly cut off.

"You can't tell me you didn't choose to sleep with Lucius to get back at Ron? Tell me that much, Hermione."

"Well…I.. no. I did it for myself. I am not here to get back at anyone, I was just trying to move on that's all." She sighed haughtily and rested her forehead on the smooth flat surface of her desk.

Susan glared at her awkwardly. Was this it? Was this Hermione giving up and having a meltdown?

After a few minutes, she sat up again, straightened herself up and folded her arms tightly across her chest. "Go fetch Ron for me. Take Titus with you in case he tries anything stupid and bring him back here. I have an idea."

Susan only looked incredulously at her before screwing her nose up and leaving the room, the burly man hot on her heels.

o-o-o-o-o

"We need to talk, Ron." Hermione motioned to an empty seat opposite her desk and he took it, perching uneasily on the edge as worry etched into the lines of his pale face.

"As the Minister, or as my wife?" He looked pointedly at her an eyebrow raised slightly in question.

She snorted. "Your wife? You are kidding me, right?" She smoothed her hands over her skirt and sat down, fingers tapping against the desk once more drawing Ron's attention to three envelopes lined perfectly on the desk.

"Look. Hermione. I am happy to talk but do they need to be here?" He inclined his head towards a tall, solid man towering over Hermione; Titus. Titus generally followed Hermione everywhere just in case things ever went wayward. It was well known there was a small minority within their world that didn't approve of a female running the place. He was not only intimidating but very handy with a wand and she found it usually kept most people from bothering her. Titus was probably the best Auror to ever come out of Durmstrang and Hermione chose him for his academics alone. And then he inclined his head to Susan.

"Don't worry about Titus, he won't be able to hear a thing and Susan gets to sit in for moral support whether you like it or not. Now. We are going to play a game. Whatever you say will be tallied against you and I will come to an outcome. Whatever outcome I arrive at will be the envelope I send to the Daily Prophet as to how our relationship dissolved. Answer wisely because one of these envelopes could tarnish your whole life as you know it." She smiled smugly as he squirmed beneath her gaze.

"You came up with that in the short time I was gone?" Susan glanced incredulously at her sideways almost in disbelief.

"Indeed. Now." Hermione clapped her hands loudly, Ron almost jumped out of his chair in turn. "Ron, I feel I deserve some closure on this. Yeah? I came home one day, and you tell me you have been having an affair for a year and that it is over. Just. Like. That," Her voice raised a few octaves as she fully pronounced the last three words with anger and articulation, her face began to flush red with anger.

" 'Mi-, Hermione. I didn't mean for it to happen it just did. She was there, you weren't…" He trailed off, not brave enough to look her in the eye for fear of the monster that swam deep within her eyes and the guilt the gnawed at him.

"Don't give me that cliched you weren't there for me shit. I was always there for you, Ron," She bit, exasperated. Throwing her hands in the air angrily. "Always. Family gatherings, celebrations, commiserations I was always there."

"You were there, yes. But you weren't there for me as a wife, in the capacity that I needed. It was always I need to stay back at work. I need to run off here and run off there. It was never come home and sit with me and talk." Gently he looked up just catching a glimmer of hurt in her eyes before they flicked dangerously again.

"So you found someone to fill that void in your life. Well, I hope she was worth it." She sniffed indignantly tearing her gaze from his own. His mere presence was making her stomach churn violently.

"Hermione. Please don't make this any harder than it must be. She was there, you weren't, and I wanted to tell you sooner than I did, I really did but the time never felt right. I never wanted to break your heart but-"

She cut him off, holding her hand up. "Did you ever love me? Were you ever in love with me?" Her voice cracked as she forced the words out past her lips.

He sat still unmoving as if trying to form the right words in his head. "I loved you, yes. But I don't think I was ever in love with you, Hermione. How could I? You put everything before me. Everything. And you wonder why I didn't want to have a child with you? You would have done the same thing to the poor bloody thing. I know you too well. I held on for years in a hope eventually I could fall in love with you, I tried to be a good husband and it never worked. It was never good enough for you." He began to yell, spittle flying across the desk, cheeks getting redder than the hair that grew from his head.

She studied him for a moment as he yelled. He was tall and lean still, he hadn't grown a single strand of grey hair from his head. The lines in his face a little deeper and the freckles a little paler but he was still the man she had fallen in love with. Head over heels in love. The man she wanted to have a family with and the man she wanted to grow old with. Instead, she ended up with a man who she didn't even really know at all. A cold and calculating man who went as far to stop her from conceiving a child with him; did he hate her that much?

"Do you hate me?" Her voice eerily soft and level as her head tilted to the side. Tears shimmered in the corners of her eyes like tiny diamonds catching the light in her office.

"I… I well. Hate is a strong word, Hermione. I hate the fact you put work before me. Before our relationship. I resent you for it, but I don't hate you."

"I wasn't aware you were so needy, Ronald. I was certain you were a fully functioning adult who didn't need me to sit with you all day every day comforting you and telling you how amazing you were. I didn't know you needed someone to constantly hold your hand through life and lead you along the way. I was wrong in the assumption that you were an adult capable of caring for yourself. I had to work. I love my job and I am terribly sorry you felt you came second to it, but I loved you with every inch of my heart! I don't hate people Ron, but right now I hate you." She was shaking like a leaf as the tears began to fall and smear against her cheeks. Eyes red and vision blurry she sat watching him shift awkwardly in his seat.

"Why was Lucius in our home last night?" He asked as if she had just been talking about the weather and not pouring her heart out. He clenched his jaw tightly, annoyance playing in the lines of his face.

"It is my house you giant twat. I bought it, not you. And what do you think he was over for? A fucking tea party? It is none of your business who I have over. You relinquished those rights when you decided to follow your penis to the closest wet hole. I can't believe I gave the best years of my life to someone who couldn't even love me back. To someone who lied to my face daily, to someone who had no regard for me or my feelings. It is almost like you are a stranger to me now so it will be easy to do this, and I am not even sorry one bit! You willingly and knowingly administered a potion to me knowing it would alter my body and stop me from conceiving a child. You didn't have the balls to man up and leave me years ago when you knew you probably weren't happy and probably wouldn't be with me much longer. You laid down beside me every night and told me you loved me, and you knew it was a lie. I cannot even describe the hurt in my heart right now Ronald." She jutted her chin out as the tears flowed down her cheeks, she tried to school herself, but it was in vain because the tears just continued so slide silently down her cheeks.

She sucked in a jagged and wet breath, studying him for a minute; his face stoic. Not even a hint of remorse from him which annoyed her royally. She wanted to lunge across the desk, grab him by the shirt collar and shake some sense into him. Anger and sadness mingled together, and a large lump formed in her throat as an invisible band seemed to be tightening around her ribcage.

Hermione clicked her fingers loudly, dropping the charm she had cast to stop Titus from hearing the conversation. "Titus. Take Mr Weasley to the Magical Law Enforcement office with this letter." She pulled the middle envelope off the desk and handed it to the large man. His large fingers grabbed the letter with surprise gentleness and finesse that you wouldn't expect of someone of his size.

"Good luck, Ron. Your fate lays within the hands of our legal system now. I wasn't going to do anything about it, but you violated my trust and caused me to consume a contraceptive potion I knew nothing about and that is illegal, no matter how small of an issue you think it is. I now face the real possibility I might not ever conceive a child because what you force-fed me could very well have ruined my chances. May they judge go easy on and your girlfriend be waiting on the other side of what is about to unfold."

She stood up, hands hanging idly by her sides as she watched Ron being taken away by Titus. She knew his sentence probably wouldn't be harsh, but deep down she knew at least some type of justice would be served.

A blanket of sadness seemed to shroud the two women now left standing in Hermione's office, alone. Hermione turned to Susan, tears staining her cheeks and eyes glassy. "I… He…" She muttered under her breath before full breaking down.

Susan closed the gap between them, wrapping her arms around Hermione and rubbing a soothing open palm on her back. "He's a piece of shit, Hermione. Don't waste your tears on him."

"All those years. Wasted," She sniffed against Susan's shoulder. "What a waste."

A/N: My first chapter for the new year. Hurray! Slowly starting to piece the story together. I am not sure how often I will update but I promise, it will get updated eventually.

-Aliasmel1