A/N: This was written for Hermione's Haven during #HHBingo21 and for the #Roll-A-Thon21 joint event between Hermione's Haven and Draco's Den. This story filled square I1 - "Who knew this heart could break this hard and a love like ours could fall apart?" - Carly Pearce. My Roll a Thon rolls were Ron Weasley, Break Up and Dark!.

This is also written for the 31 days of Writing Challenge for the challenge: September 30th.

Beta work was done by Grammarly

This story was written for part of my event Birthday Bonanza, an event celebrating birthdays after the miserable year that 2020 turned out to be. This recipient of a story for Birthday Bonanza was xxDustNight88! I'm so sorry it's late!

Be sure to let me know what you think!

Love always,
~starr

The amber liquid burned its way down his throat as he slammed the glass down on the table, shattering it into a thousand tiny shards. With a hiss, Ron pulled his hand away from the broken glass. He looked down at his hand, cursing under his breath as he noticed the blood starting to pool in the middle. Balling his hand into a fist, he pushed himself away from the table and stumbled his way down the hall, careful not to touch the white walls with his bloody hand as he made his way to the washroom.

Ron pulled open the medicine cabinet, allowing the door to smack against the wall and bounce back toward his face, almost hitting him in the side of the head. Rolling his eyes, he continued his search for a plaster for the damage caused by the glass. In the distance, he heard the creak of their front door and let out a sigh.

"Bloody perfect," he groaned, pinching his eyes shut as he pressed the plaster against his hand. A jolt of pain radiated through his hand and up the length of his arm. He kicked the washbasin base in reaction to the pain, just adding to the pain he was already feeling. "Fuck."

Ron looked up in the mirror and noticed Hermione making her way towards him. He wasn't ready to deal with her yet, but he also knew that there was no avoiding the inevitable fight awaiting them. Ron avoided her since the students returned to the castle, and the professors were expected to report. Now one month into the new school year, Hermione was finally able to spend some time in the flat they shared - not that Ron had been spending many nights here since she left.

Ron painted a smile on his face with a deep breath as he stepped out of the washroom and met Hermione in the middle of the hall. "Hey, love," he said, tucking his bandaged hand behind his back. "It's nice to have you home."

Hermione rolled her eyes, stopping short of crashing into him. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked him up and down. "What happened to your hand?"

Ron furrowed his brow, looking down at his hand. "Just cut it on something," he shrugged. "How's the castle?"

"I saw the shattered glass on the table," Hermione huffed. "What in the hell happened?"

Ron scoffed, shaking his head as he moved past her and went on toward the kitchen. "Can't even get a hello when you come through the fucking door. I haven't seen you in a month, and you can't even be bothered to give me a simple greeting."

"What kind of greeting would you like?" Hermione hissed, turning quickly on her heels to follow him back down the hall. The click of her heel echoed off the bare walls of their flat. "Should I have asked if you were home alone before I came back to our flat? Or should I be shouting out a hello to Pansy, who's probably hiding in our bedroom? Oh wait, that's right, you don't bring her here."

"Keep her out of it," Ron growled, shaking his head as he grabbed another glass out of the cupboard and grabbed the bottle of firewhisky off the counter. He filled the glass to the brim before taking a long swig straight from the bottle. Ron noticed Hermione rolling her eyes at him on the far side of the room and chuckled to himself as he set the bottle back down. "She's got nothing to do with this."

"The hell she doesn't," Hermione huffed, biting back another smart remark. "We were happy before you met her, and there was nothing that could have come between us."

"Except for your job," he replied, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "It wasn't even a conversation about you taking that damn job at Hogwarts. You just told me that you were going, and that was the end of it. Now here we are at the end of the first month of school, and you want to come home and make accusations."

"My career choice isn't a mutual decision conversation," Hermione yelled, tossing her hands in the air as she moved into the kitchen and grabbed the bottle of firewhisky off the counter and took a swig. "Honestly, Ronald, you should have known that I was going to take the opportunity when you heard McGonagall mention it at the Quidditch match over the summer. If us living apart for a month was honestly that big of an issue, you could have come to stay with me at the castle."

"That offer was never presented to me," Ron replied, fighting the urge he felt to roll his eyes.

"I shouldn't have had to offer! You should have already known, but instead, you chose to stay here and be angry with me for finding a job and helping to provide a better life for us," Hermione said, leaning back against the counter as she watched him wrap his hand around his glass and tap his finger against the rim. She hung her head for a moment before glancing up at him through her lashes. "You love her, don't you?"

"What?" Ron said, glancing down at her. "Love who?"

"Please don't make me say her name," Hermione groaned, scrubbing her hands over her face. "I need to know, and if you do, then I'll walk away, and you'll never have to see me again. All I want is for you to be happy."

"We actually agree on something for once," Ron said, chuckling before he took a long sip of his drink. "You are happy at the castle, right?"

"More than I've ever been," Hermione said, nodding her head quickly. "And I'll figure my love life out someday."

"I guess so," Ron said, carding a hand through his hair. "What do we do know?"

Hermione took a deep breath and fought back the tears she could feel welling up in the corners of her eyes. Even though she was happy for him, breaking up was never easy. She forced a smile on her face and took a few steps toward the door. "I'm going to go back out into the early autumn evening and wait for the winds of change to blow as we welcome October in and wait to see what the autumn holds in store for both of us."

"So this is goodbye," Ron mumbled, brushing his thumb along the rim of the glass.

Hermione nodded her head and made her way out of the door without another word. She knew her voice would crack if she said anything more, and she'd end up a crying mess on the hallway floor. Knowing Ron, he would leave their flat behind and go to spend the night with Pansy and tell her all the words he could never muster for Hermione. That knowledge broke her already fragile heart, but the welcoming winds of October welcomed her with open arms to look onward to a brighter tomorrow.