There was only one day left before the teens would board the train to Hogwarts and Hermione knew she couldn't put it off anymore. Despite the fabulous job she did of avoiding this talk for the past week and a half, the brunette still realised it needed to be done. She was sick and tired of not knowing how to act around Ron when her hands were already full with Ginny anyway.
Mentally convincing herself that it really was necessary, she rapped gently on the boy's door. Inside the room she found both of the best friends and kindly asked for Harry to leave them to talk alone. The uncomfortable looks on the golden trio's faces all gave out their feelings, but the green-eyed boy left the room without complaints. Taking a seat on the bed, Hermione fiddled with the hem of her dress, contemplating how to breach this subject.
"Sooo, Ron... I understand that things have been tense between us for some time now and I want to fix that. I really valued your friendship and I'd like to have it back, but we can't go there until we talk things out." She gave a nervous laugh before she ploughed on, knowing that it'd be easier to get it all out in one shot. "Last year didn't end all that well for us... I know it's been almost three months, but we still haven't talked about what that meant for us..." Raising her eyes to Ron's blue ones, she just didn't feel the same warm tingle that she used to, the feeling replaced by a cold void where her feelings for the redheaded boy used to lay. "I think we've been over for a while now and we both know it, Ron."
She was surprised that he hadn't interrupted her sometime in the middle of her speech, but now she really wanted him to say something and yet he still stayed silent. It was quite unnerving.
"Is there someone else?" The boy's words were spoken quietly, but knowing him, that tone meant there was a simmering pool of white hot anger just underneath. She was appalled by his suggestion and barely reined her own temper in when she replied him, although her shock was clearly evident in the way she spoke. "How dare you! You really think I'd go behind your back and cheat? Do you really think that low of me, Ron?" Her voice had become choked and shaky about halfway through - the stress, piled up from days of silently dealing with Ginny's behaviour finally hit straight home. "Accusing me of unfaithfulness, when it was you who doomed this relationship! You were the one who kept wanting more and more, instead of waiting for me to be ready to give those things freely! You think I didn't try to make it work? I can't believe you, you stupid...freckled...Aargh! For god's sake, I can't even insult you properly!"
With a strangled cry of frustration she stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her as she rushed to find refuge in the twins' room. It seemed that her arguments with Ron would always end up like this, even though this time he - surprisingly, might she add - actually hadn't shouted back at her.
As soon as the door of her sleeping quarters was firmly closed, she dissolved into tears, seeing no point in trying to hold them back. She'd had romantic feelings for Ron for so long that it was hard to take in that this chapter of her life was really over. There was no denying that the only things she felt for him right now were anger and remorse - she really had wanted them to work, after all.
After a while, the tears stopped coming and Hermione was right down exhausted. Even though it was barely 7 o'clock in the evening she just curled up on the bed and fell asleep.
Hermione woke up extremely early the next day. It was just after dawn, which meant it had to be somewhere between 5 and 6 a.m. After calculating that she'd slept for almost ten hours, she thought it no wonder that she felt invigorated, refreshed and more relaxed than she had in a long while. Even though she wanted to deny it to herself at first, she had to admit that she was feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off her. She had finally talked to Ron (never mind the fact that they didn't actually solve anything) and as far as Hermione was concerned, she had done her part of the talking. When Weasley was ready to come and apologise, then they could talk some more. If that never happened... Well, it would just further prove the point that they didn't work together.
The brunette got up with ease and stretched her limbs, but then she realised a tiny thing. In all the excitement of last evening, she had completely forgotten to pack. God bless you, magic. Having already turned 17 the last autumn (she was, after all, almost a whole year older than Harry), she could cast freely and therefore had all her things neatly stacked in the trunk in under 20 minutes. She took a quiet trip to the bathroom to make herself at least semi- presentable and came out another half an hour later.
During the summer, the witch had thought a lot about her future, as she would after all be starting her last year of school, and had come to some conclusions. She was tired of living according to other people's expectations and needed to start doing things because she wanted to, not because she was expected to. One of the big changes which followed that decision was the change in her appearance. She had cut her hair to a short pixie hairstyle and added a few dresses to her wardrobe. The brunette was extremely curious to see people react to her new look, seeing as the Weasleys just told her that she'd look good no matter what she decided to wear. She was both proud and satisfied with her decision, especially the haircut - it made mornings sooo much easier.
Donning a pretty blue dress, she basically hopped down the stairs, a beautiful smile lighting up her face. It was a day for happiness and she felt great anyway, the mouth-watering scent flowing out of the kitchen only strengthening that. Molly was already busy at work, cooking up a feast to give them a nice send-off and Hermione was happy to offer her help to the woman. Getting tasked with preparing the table, the brunette got on with it and chatted excitedly while she did so. "A lovely day, isn't it? Too bad we're leaving; otherwise it would surely be perfect for a bit of sunbathing. Oh my God Molly, this smells amazing!" the girl exclaimed while leaning over to get to the cutlery before getting back to the table, even humming a cheerful tune to herself.
The Weasley woman couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, I see someone is excited to go back to school..." Hermione simply shot her a gleaming smile and put the last plate in its rightful place. "Well, of course! Why wouldn't I be?"
After breakfast, things at the Weasley household got hectic. People were running around the house, packing their final necessities and screaming at each other. It was a yearly ritual, really. In complete contrast to the chaos reigning in the Burrow, the brunette was sitting calmly on a sofa in the living room and reading a book on healing spells. She was completely oblivious to the things happening around her. She didn't have to worry anyway, since she, Harry and Ron would be apparating to King's Cross, which meant they could have almost another hour and a half more than usual before leaving. She didn't mind spending it reading in the least.
Again, huge hugs to everyone who followed, favorited or reviewed this story. It means a lot to me that people are even reading it, the thought of someone actually liking it is too abstract for me to process just yet... I hope you like this next installment! Oh, I'd also like to say that although I have been updating a lot up till now, I can't promise anything about the frequency of my updates, since i am not that kind of writer who always has one or two chapters already written up. I write this as i go. Anyway, enough of my rambling! Bunny out.