I own nothing you recognize. I simply play in JKR's universe for fun.

The muse is still in overdrive.

Confrontation

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"Harry looked to you for mercy," continued Ron. "Even if I had realized what was happening, I couldn't have done it." He looked up towards the ceiling with eyes that seemed suspiciously wet. "Never think that you were betraying Harry. You were the one who was strong enough to keep faith with him right to the end."

"Voldemort would still be walking around in Harry's body, today" said Hermione. "I couldn't let that happen to him. There might even be a bit of Harry's consciousness trapped inside, knowing what Voldemort was doing."

"Harry would much rather be dead," confessed Ron.

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"I was too caught up in the moment and didn't want to believe that Harry couldn't keep Voldemort out," confessed Ron. "I only knew that it was your wand pointed at him when he died. I didn't even see Snape making his move on Voldemort."

"When the last horcrux broke with Harry's death," explained Hermione, "It reunited with the primary piece of soul in Voldemort's. That's the moment Severus was waiting for; when Voldemort became mortal. Severus certainly didn't have a problem coming up with enough hate to use Avada Kedavra on him."

"I should certainly think so," replied Ron.

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"I've never known rage like I did then," said Ron in a regretful whisper. "I turned on you; wanted you dead. I could have used Crucio, I was so angry."

Hermione felt the anger she'd buried for so many years begin to surface.

"I thought you knew me, Ron," she said, anger leaking into her voice. "After all we'd been through and all we meant to each other, how could you believe it of me? How could you think I wouldn't have a reason?"

"I couldn't see past my feelings, through that rage," he answered, shamefaced. "I totally lost it."

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"I noticed," replied Hermione, grimly. "You used Sectumsempra on me," she said. "If Snape hadn't been there to stop you, my intestines would have been all over the floor. I've still got the hex scars to prove it."

"I'm sorry," said Ron, his face a mask of pain. "I was so totally wrong. What I did to you was awful."

"It was beyond awful," she hissed at him. "You had so little regard for me that you decided to torture me to death. I always knew I was the third in our little trio, but you really brought it home."

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"Your actions made no sense," she ranted. "You kept yelling at me, asking me why over and over. You'd already sliced me up. I couldn't answer, no matter how much I wanted to.

"But what hurts more than anything is that you didn't believe my explanation. You didn't believe it when I told your father at St. Mungo's. You didn't believe it when I told Moody when he questioned me. You didn't believe it after the Wizengamot released me.

"You would rather believe I could kill Harry for some bizarre and frivolous reason than that Harry could fail to win."

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"I've already said I was stupid," Ron shouted back at Hermione. "I know I was completely wrong and what I did was unforgivable."

"Unforgivable is right," said Hermione, rising abruptly from the stair she was sitting on. "I was trying to deal with what I'd just done to Harry and you turned on me like a rabid animal."

"What do you expect me to say?" asked Ron, grimacing.

"I went into exile because you didn't believe me," she raged. "Harry Potter's very best friend – pureblooded Ron Weasley – rejected his muggleborn girlfriend. You didn't believe me so they didn't believe me."

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"You raised the suspicion and the press caught onto it," she challenged, pointing her finger at Ron. "Our friends took sides – yours. After all, I was an outsider and you were a Weasley. I had nowhere in the wizarding world to go. The death threats, the assassination attempt while I was still in St. Mungo's, the jeering in the streets were all because of you. You didn't love or trust me enough to question your first impression and you destroyed my life. If Dumbledore hadn't left the money for me to leave, I don't know what I would have done."

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"Did it make you feel better to destroy my life? Did that make things a little more even for Harry? You didn't kill me, because Snape stopped you. You let the press destroy me instead. You took away my friends, my home, and my future in the wizarding world. You left me swinging in the wind for twenty-five years and never took a step to fix any of it. If my husband hadn't sent that memory and Percy hadn't convinced you to look at it, you'd have never done anything about this.

"You are one selfish bastard, Ronald Bilius Weasley."

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"You looked at that memory and knew you were wrong," stormed Hermione. "You knew for how many months and did nothing? You didn't ask your father, the Minister of Magic, if he had any idea how to get in touch with me?

"You just did nothing."

Ron sat there, expressionless.

"I am giving serious consideration to hating your guts." Hermione glared as she turned to leave.

Ron's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

"I can't make up for what I didn't do, but I can fix things for the future," he said.

"How would you do that?" she retorted.

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Author's notes

Yes, this is an evil cliffhanger. I am also going to a conference for the weekend and won't have a chance to write, so this will be the last of the daily updates. I do plan to finish this story within the next week or two. Thank you for your patience and encouragement.