On the Differences Between Soulmates and Lifemates

disclaimer: Harry Potter and all characters therein belong to J.K. Rowling and are borrowed by the author. Any other, original characters belong to the author. Don't take them they'll run away and come back home to me.

Chapter 5: The Mutual Agreement

It only took Hermione a few minutes to find Ron. He was on his way down to the little pond where he and Hermione had spent many happy, lazy hours together when they were at the Burrow. Hermione came upon Ron as he was skipping rocks across the water, and he heart broke as she remembered how he had been so amazed by how she could do it, he asked her to teach him. Now he could out-skip her by three to five every time.

"Ron, it's me, Hermione. We need to talk," Hermione said hesitantly.

Ron threw one more stone that hit the water and sank before he turned to face Hermione. "Yeah, we do. I didn't mean to blurt it out like that. But you wouldn't actually date one of my brothers, would you?"

Hermione laughed. "No, Ron. I love the twins, but they are like my brothers, like Harry or Neville are to me. You won't date Lavender again, will you?"

Ron shivered at the thought. "Good Merlin, no. The girl is rather like a kappa: she wants to catch you, but doesn't have the sense to set a decent trap. Besides, she got a little too friendly with a couple guys after we broke up. I'd rather stay away from that, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah. I don't think I want to rush into anything, either," Hermione agreed fervently.

"So why were you with Malfoy, Hermione?" Ron said emotionlessly.

"We have a project we have to do together for Slughorn. Draco invited me to have dinner with him to discuss the project. Somehow, we segued into my relationship with you, and I ended up spilling the beans about the soulmate theory. I'm sorry about what happened at breakfast. I didn't mean for all that to come out in the hall."

"Good. I wouldn't like to think that you'd just been waiting to get away from me," Ron chuckled.

"I think Draco wants the two of us to get back together. I told him about what we talked about and he lectured me about how young we are and how there was no way we could know if we were meant to be at this age," Hermione smiled as she noticed that they had regained their usual banter.

"Maybe Malfoy has a point. we don't know that we aren't meant to be. If we are, I don't want to miss a minute with you, Hermione. No matter who else comes into my life, you'll always be number one, romance or not."

"Ron, we just decided to separate. Give it some time before you try to get us back together," Hermione said.

"No, I don't want to push anything right now. But, think about it, alright? How about this: if we haven't found a match by the time we're twenty-one, we'll get back together, and we'll know that we were meant to be together," Ron said, coming to kneel in front of Hermione.

"Why twenty-one, Ron?"

"Because you're a muggle, and you always said that seventeen just didn't fit how you saw the world. Besides, you'll be seventeen at the beginning of our seventh year. You'd bash my head in if I tried to get you to agree to such a short time period," Ron said, blushing.

"I do love you, Ron. I just don't know that I'm in love with you," Hermione said, kissing him softly.

As she walked away, Ron turned back to the pond.

"I know. Isn't that good enough?"

AN: Brenna/ ladykyo here.

I know that this is supposed to feature Draco and Hermione. I'm getting there. Patience is good for character-building. I promise the sex drugs n' rock-n-roll are coming. Just let me get the characters used to the idea, okay?

love much

B/ ladykyo