Here it is then, the final chapter. Thank you so much for everyone who took the time to review and chat with me about the fic. This is the first time I've ever finished something like this, which given I originally started writing this in 2009 is a massive feat! There will be a sequel and I hope to start posting it within a week or so so please keep your eyes peeled for it!

Thank you again, I hope you enjoy it and please let me know if you do (or if you don't ;-) ) xxx

Hermione emerged from the marquee and was suddenly very conscious of Ron standing close to her. There were a few people outside already and she really didn't want to talk to him where everyone else could watch them, so she started to make her way slowly down to the lake, picking up her long dress slightly so it didn't catch on anything in the long grass.

Once she found a suitable spot for them to talk, Hermione glanced back up the field towards the marquee to check it was far enough away that nobody could see them. Magically suspended fireflies were only just starting to glow, trigged by the setting of the sun, and they could still hear the soft music playing faintly over the light summer breeze. In any other circumstance, it would have been a really romantic spot.

Hermione turned towards Ron, letting out a sad sigh. She'd spent the walk down to the lake planning out what she was going to say in her head, but now that she had him alone; she didn't know where to start.

Ron shoved his hands into his trouser pockets. "Nice wedding…" He nodded up towards the marquee as if the walk down to the lake had made them forget why they were there.

"It was beautiful…"

"You're beautiful…" The tips of Ron's ears turned pink, but he turned to look at her anyway.

Hermione tried to smile, but she just felt sad. "Do you want to dance?"

"Out here?" Ron shrugged slightly. "Sure…"

Hermione stepped closer to him, slowly sliding her arms around his neck. There was a brief moment of awkwardness when Ron couldn't work out where to put his hands, but he finally settled them on her hips. They swayed slowly in time to the quiet music and Hermione tried her hardest to memorise how his hands felt on her hips and the cadence of his chest rising and falling. If this was going to be the last moment she shared with him, she was going to make sure she remembered it for the rest of her life; though it was taking all of her restraint not to run away. Instead, she tried to hold a steady gaze with him, using the quiet moment to work out what she was going to say next.

The song faded into something more upbeat, but they still swayed slowly together. Eventually Ron broke the silence. "Ginny said you put me to bed the other night, after Harry's stag…"

Hermione shrugged slightly, tightening her grip on him. "You were so drunk; we were worried you'd floo yourself to the other side of the country…"

"Well… thanks…" Ron shifted awkwardly. "I didn't say anything stupid, did I?"

Hermione sighed sadly. "You told me you had to make a choice, but you fell asleep before I could ask you anything more. Given the way you've been avoiding me for the past fortnight, I think I've worked it out…"

Ron sighed and let go of Hermione, taking a few steps away from her. "Things haven't been great since that night. Lavender wasn't too impressed with my disappearing act and when she found out where I'd been, she hit the roof! I don't blame her though; I've been an idiot…"

"Well I gathered something wasn't right after Bill filled me in on the panicked early morning floo calls…"

"I should have left her a note and I can't even tell you why I didn't. I thought I had nothing to hide…"

"You didn't…"

"I did! I may not have been sleeping with you but I was turning to you for comfort instead of my girlfriend. We've been having an emotional affair and it was a shit thing for me to do…"

Hermione nodded before quietly replying. "I enjoyed the fact you were coming to me. I tried to pretend it didn't mean anything but I still accepted your late-night calls and I was still keen to have you over. But I promise I wasn't trying it on with you…"

"Right…" Ron scoffed. "You opened your bedroom door that night wearing only my favourite t-shirt when you know full well what used to happen when you wore it! For a second all I wanted to do was grab you and take you right there on the landing! I have a girlfriend, Hermione. I shouldn't even be thinking of being with someone else, let alone my ex-girlfriend! But not only that, I let you sleep in my arms and honestly, I didn't want to let you go. None of that was fair on Lavender…"

She wanted to reply again, but instead her cheeks burnt bright red. The past few weeks had been so confusing, all of their old feelings dug up and laid out in front of them. She hadn't realised how much of an impact their actions had had.

Ron carried on without waiting for Hermione to reply. "The choice I had to make was between you and her. She still wants to be my girlfriend, despite everything I've done; but I have to cut you out from my life completely…"

Hermione swallowed heavily, her stomach churning. "I thought so…" With the noise of the party still behind them, she felt exposed; like everyone had a front-row ticket to watch her world fall apart. She had another urge to run, to get as far away from the wedding as possible and as far away as she could from the impending heartbreak that was already starting to make her body ache. "I never thought there'd be a time when I wouldn't be friends with you, despite everything we've been through…"

"It's not going to affect just me and you though, is it 'Mione? It's more than that. It's one of us having to give up Sunday lunches with my parents. It's making Harry and Ginny split their time with us, it's no longer sitting through shit muggle movies with them. I might as well be cutting you off from my family completely…"

"I could just visit them when you're not there…" Hermione bit the inside of her cheek hard, trying to supress the tears that were building behind her eyes. "I'm not a Weasley…"

"You might as well be! My family adore you; my mum treats you like a second daughter…."

Tears started to trace down her cheeks and this time Hermione angrily tried to ignore them. Hearing everything she'd have to give up out loud made it seem more real and even more painful.

Ron let out a shaky breath, wanting so hard to reach out to comfort her. "What you choose if someone gave you an ultimatum?"

Hermione looked confused for a moment, and she took her time before she responded to him. "I would choose the option that would cause the least heartbreak…"

"And would you ever make me choose?"

Hermione took a deep breath. This was her moment to get control of the conversation again. When she first come out here to speak to him, she was going to urge him to pick Lavender because she wanted him to be happy and with someone who made him happy. But she'd realised that this was the easy option, that it would mean she didn't have to fight for him. Hearing him say out loud that he had enjoyed sleeping with her in his arms had given her something to fight for. She wasn't going to sit there and let Lavender dictate his happiness; she wasn't going to let him be with someone who would make him choose. When she finally spoke, she made sure she was clear and calm.

"I would never make you choose if I thought it would make you unhappy. When I first asked you to come out here, I was going to tell you to choose Lavender. I was keen to do whatever would make you happy and I'd even considered moving back to Australia so that I could be truly out of your life for good. But then I realised that I've never actually fought for you. I was awful to you when you first dated Lavender in school, I ignored you for months. When you were finally mine, I just took you for granted. You were steady and consistent and willing to do whatever it took to keep me happy. You were what I needed to keep me grounded but I just upped and left you alone. I broke up with you because I thought I was doing you a favour, but I was just being selfish – putting my own interests before you…

"I should have been honest with you from the start. When I came home, I had all intentions of persuading you to finish with her and take me back but I didn't even put in any of the work to show you how I felt." Hermione lifted her head to make eye contact with him. "The truth is I want you to pick me, even if it's just to be friends with me because I can't imagine my life without you in it. I would never be truly happy. Our friendship makes me happy and I know it makes you happy too. I don't believe this is truly the end for us…"

Hermione held his gaze even after she finished speaking. To break it now would show she didn't believe in what she was saying and she really needed him to believe that she meant it.

Ron watched her for a moment before speaking again. "When I got home from the Burrow after that disastrous lunch, I invited Lavender over and I broke things off with her. We've been split up for two weeks now…"

Hermione frowned slightly. She hadn't expected to hear that. "I don't understand. You said you were happy with her and you stopped talking to me…"

"I was happy with her until you came home and it made me realise that something wasn't quite right. After seven months, I couldn't tell her I loved her. I tried, every time she said it to me I tried to say it back but it felt forced and I guess I never truly meant it. I like her enough, don't get me wrong." He sighed slightly. "Or maybe it was the fact that I allowed her to spend almost every night at the flat but I couldn't ask her to move in with me. The third strike was when I couldn't speak to her about the dreams, what kind of relationship is that?" Ron sat down in the grass, all of a sudden feeling tired. "You don't give someone you love an ultimatum. You want them to be happy and you work hard with them to make it work and when it doesn't work, you let them go so that they can go and be happy somewhere else…"

Hermione carefully sat down next to him, folding the dress around her legs. "That's what I thought I was doing when I broke up with you. I really wanted to make it work but I just felt like I was holding you back, that you couldn't be happy while you were waiting for me…"

"I understand that now. It was still a shit move because you didn't talk to me about it, but I get it…"

"You do know I regret leaving the UK and that I regret breaking up with you?"

"Yes I know…" Ron tentatively picked up her hand, giving it a small squeeze. "Hermione, I didn't follow you out here to dig up all our old shit. We'd be here all night! Lavender was a rebound that turned into something that felt comfortable and I mistook that for happiness. I was fine with the way my life was, but that's because it was easy. I never loved her, but it was easier to have someone there for me and to ignore the fact that I was probably stringing her on for longer than I should have."

He ran his spare hand through his hair. "Don't get me wrong, I really liked her but I never saw a future for us. The ultimatum just forced my hand a lot sooner than I had planned. I don't like being alone…"

Hermione watched Ron's thumb as it rubbed a small pattern against the back of her hand. "So what does that mean for us? I still have feelings for you and I don't want to ignore them anymore, but if you tell me you're not interested then I guess I can try..."

Ron shrugged, but Hermione felt him tighten his grip on her hand. "I'm not sure yet. The reason I've been avoiding you the last two weeks was because I wanted time to get my head straight. I haven't even told Harry that I broke up with Lavender, although I wish I had because it would have meant that she wouldn't be here shooting me daggers every five minutes! I'm surprised nothing slipped out last weekend, I like to talk when I'm drunk…"

"You were pretty drunk; I may not have believed you anyway…" Hermione laughed slightly.

"Probably for the best then, huh?" Ron gave her a small smile. "I still have feelings for you too. When I saw you earlier you took my breath away and that scared me. Luckily, Ginny out shone you the second time you walked down the aisle or I don't think either of us would have seen the full ceremony…" He shifted closer to her and nudged her shoulder softly. "But yeah. That first time… I had to leave because I was worried I would just grab you and snog you silly. I don't think Harry would have appreciated me stealing his and Ginny's thunder…"

Hermione smiled, her mind working in overdrive as she tried to digest everything he had just told her.

"You okay?" Ron looked concerned. "You've gone quiet. The thought of snogging me that horrific, huh?"

Hermione shook the thoughts out of her head then moved to close the gap between them so their shoulders pressed together. "I've been trying so hard for so many weeks to supress my feelings for you so it's taking a while to sink in that you might feel the same way too." She turned her body more towards him. "Will you give me another chance?"

Ron turned towards her too, contemplating her question for a moment before breaking out in a warm smile. "It's not a flat-out no. I just don't think we should just jump straight back into a relationship with each other. I don't think that would be good for either of us. So I guess it's a yes but why don't we take things slowly, yeah?"

Hermione nodded; she was crying freely now, but she was sure they were happy tears. She used her spare hand to wipe them away, not caring anymore about preserving her makeup. "That seems fair. Why don't we just see how things go then; try and start afresh? We've both grown up so much over the past year and we're still not even 21. I think we forget that sometimes. The war made us feel like we had to jump straight into a serious relationship and I think we both forgot that we're allowed to have fun."

Ron nodded and used the hand he was holding to pull her into a hug, wrapping both arms around her and pressing her into his side. "I think that's a really good plan…"

Hermione felt relief flood her body. Being back in his arms felt right. She never thought when she invited him outside that she'd be offered another chance to make things right with him. She slid her hands up his back, clutching hold of his waistcoat in an attempt to pull him closer to her. She hugged him tightly for a little bit longer before seeking out his lips, pressing a soft kiss against them.

"I have something to promise you then…" She smiled softly as Ron lifted a hand to wipe the mascara stains from under her eyes.

"Yeah? What's that?" Ron gave her a gentle smile.

"I promise you this time, I'll stay. I don't want to leave this country again unless it's with you…"

Ron's smile grew wider and he dropped his head down, hovering his lips over hers. "That's all you had to do…"