Chapter 6 - Saturn shines bright

That night the Astronomy Professor Luna Sprouse stood alone on top of the Astronomy Tower after her class had finished and was watching the waning moon when another planter caught her eye. Saturn, who had started to vanish in the late spring, was suddenly visible brightly on the horizon. A gasp left her mouth and a chill went down her spine. She narrowed her brown eyes on the planet, but it didn't dim, making her aware that something had happened. The stars were often used in old forms of Divination and ignoring such a sign would make a fool of her.

Still, for now there was nothing to do beside watch it for the next days. The stars would offer their secrets, but never to those who had no patience.

The wind rustled her long light brown curls, the moonlight made it look blond at some spots, when she turned around and took the stairs towards her private chamber.

XxX

Ron met up with Hermione the next day, after she had spent the night settling into her new room at Hogwarts, if trashing around on her bed, plagued by nightmares could be called setteling in.

The room was on the 3rd floor, behind a drawing of a pair of boys, that hadn't wanted to let Ron in at first. He had to wait until Hermione opened the door from within to enter. The sitting room was a small space with a fire place, two chairs and a study desk. There was another door leading to a second room, he assumed would be her bedroom. The room itself was a mix of wooden inventory, green carpet and sunny yellow walls.

Ron felt unrested after spending the night alone in his bed. From the dark circles under her eyes, that hadn't vanished, he saw she hadn't fared much better.

He came with the goal to fix his marriage, but knew she would make it hard on him. He understood, that she had no memories of their time together, but maybe they could start over and get to know each other.

The woman in front of him was so different from his smiling Hermione. She had always fixed everything after a disagreement. He hadn't been at his best the day before and maybe this time he would do some grovelling until she agreed to work it out together. Because that's what they did, had done for decades, work it out.

Still he would have never imagined that she would start the conversation with the words she did, right after he entered the room awkwardly.

"I'm sorry Ronald, but I want to divorce you as soon as possible."

If it were physically possible his jaw would have hit the carpet on the ground of her room. Not even looking at him she continued breaking his heart, his plans shattering.

"From what I understand your marriage was falling apart long before I took your wife's place. But what's even more important: I'm not your wife. I always loved you as a dear friend and would like to get to know the man you have grown into, but I'm not your Hermione. I love my husband and my children. I just can't look at you."

She looked right into his eyes, unblinking and emotionless, but Ron was sure she didn't even see him. There was nothing on her face beside the paleness and wrinkles he had never seen on his wife's face. She looked older than the 40 years she would turn soon. Ron was twenty years married to her, had spend nearly thirty years beside her, but the woman in front of him was a stranger. He didn't know why he was punished like this, maybe he had taken the easy way out to many times. Maybe he hadn't cherished his wife enough. There was no way to know why, but the reality was, he was about to lose his wife. He wanted to rage, scream but the woman in front of him just kept talking.

"It will take some time to adjust to having two different kids here without faking a marriage with you. And it will grant me the reason to switch my job if we fall apart. I promise you, I will try to talk to your kids, knowing they would be mine, if things had been different. Merlin, I don't even know what my job is here, just that I need to quit it. I will stay at Hogwarts for now and I hope you can send me some clothes and stuff here. I'm overwhelmed at the moment and will take Minerva's offer until everything about the divorce is sorted out. I'm so very sorry you losing her, I really am, but I can't change it without risking everyone else. Please don't blame my son. I'm at fault for ending up here. He didn't knew better."

She had seen Ron's rage boil while she kept talking and now, when he finally had the chance to get a word into the conversation, he exploded. Mentioning her son again was the last straw for him.

"He is not your son. Hugo is. And nothing is fixed by saying you are sorry. That's what you always told me and our kids."

When Hermione just continued to look out the window, blinking unseeing Ron carried on in a calmer tone.

"Fine. Have your divorce. We've had it coming anyway. Looks like even the kids noticed. They both got your brain,so how about you telling them yourself. But don't come back complaining to me when you notice it was a mistake. It's not like that asserted husband of yours would take a mu-"

There was a short awkward break and they both knew what he had been about to say but Ron carried on, while Hermione gasped hurt. "-woman like you in this timeline. Blimy, you are to good for him!"

Tears spilled from her eyes, but her face remained averted. Ron's face showed that he regretted what he said the second it left his mouth, but he turned around and exited the door without another word, all his hope turned to ash within a few minutes. He had to leave now, or risk making everything worse, if that was even possible. His heart was broken and she hadn't even had the decency to look at him while doing it.

"I see. You still have your temper. At least it didn't kill you in this timeline." She whispered to herself and dried her tears with her sleeve.

Does this qualify as Ron bashing? I hope not and I made some changes to show his feelings more. If you are a fan of Ron, I promise you he might have his flaws, but he's a fine guy.

I like Ron, just not as Hermiones partner.

Luna Sprouse is a very old character and because of the many different people that will join us on our journey I wanted an OC that would be easy to write. So please meet my alter ego Luna.

Some of the older readers might remember to old boards were you would write stories with others. You had your character and all the different places around Hogwarts and the World to spin tales. For me it was always Luna Sprouse, I never had another chara. It feels great to meet her again after all this years and she fit right in.