CHAPTER 3

I quickly got ready but didn't know the way to ministry so I decided to use the guest entrance. As I entered the ministry I was shocked to find not only wizards and witches but various magical creatures like elves, and centaurs as well. Many of whom nodded to me. I guess I work with them daily. I tried not to give them any indication of my ignorance and nodded in return.

"Good morning Miss Hermione. You are a bit late today, any problem that I can help you with?" An ancient elf was standing behind me with a questioning look in his eyes. He was dressed in vibrant colors that only Dumbledore will think appropriate to wear but he was dressed in washed and clean clothes that caught my attention. It seems house elves are coming out of their shells. There was also nametag on his chest stating that he was representative of elves in ministry and his name was Ingrid.

"Nothing big Ingrid just didn't get much sleep last night and feeling tired. How are you?" I politely asked.

"I am as healthy as elf of my age can be. Should we proceed to the department together?" He asked me. Seeing as didn't know the way I nodded.

We went in lift together when he pushed the switch for fifth level. I was disappointed when we didn't encounter anyone on our way up. But that was okay, I was late and maybe everyone is already in their office. When we reached our destination Ingrid began walking in his cabins direction, and bid me farewell. His goodbye meant my office was in opposite direction. As I was walking I heard a Harry's name and out of character for me, I began eavesdropping.

"….if Potter was here we would have managed to pass this bill already, that guy had influence that even minister can't ignore." A manly deep voice.

"Yeah, damn weasely and her jealous husband. If not for them Potter would still be here." Said a second voice.

"It's not his fault you know. Harry and Hermione were pretty close. How would you feel if your wife spends more time with your best friend, to top it, there were rumors about those two from the school days." A woman's voice was saying.

"It's not like they were shagging or something. They were working pretty hard here and now we have lost half of our influence. She CHOSE to marry him for Merlin's sake" first voice replied.

My head was spinning from all that information. I quickly walked out of my hiding place and went towards my office which had my nameplate. As soon as I came out all the conversation stopped and they pretended to do their work. As I came in my office and locked door quickly and took a deep breath taking all the information with it and collapsed on floor. Ron's jealousy strikes again, we were at odds with each other. May that was what we were fighting last night. I must meet Harry, we have to clear this.

I called my secretary and was shocked to see none other than Lavender Brown. Then it came to me, she was bitten by Greyback in final battle. Seeing as she was werewolf herself this must have been her way to work for her rights. I told her to check if Harry was on work today, just to see if he was still working at ministry. She hesitated a bit and told me that I can find him in auror office. After a moment of hesitation she said

"Are you sure Hermione, what if Ron came along .it can get pretty nasty you know that." There was real worry in her eyes.

"I am quite sure Lavender. I need to do this. Anything else ?" I asked her.

"Yes you have meeting with your marriage councilor at 3, and don't forget to take your potion after lunch." She told me my schedule.

Marriage councilor, does that mean mine and Ron's problems were bigger than what I was making them? And what kind of potion? All this information was giving me headache. I decided to make a quick visit to harry and get it over with.

I didn't know why I was so nervous but for some reason my body was shaking and palms were sweating. Looks that all other aurors were giving me were not helping either. Maybe I was not very popular amongst them, everyone was shooting annoyed looks at me. Remembering that I was supposed to be Gryffindor I quickly knocked twice on door. There was voice of "come in."

As I opened the door and went in my senses were assaulted by familiar scent which screamed Harry and met by forest green eyes of my first best friend. He looked a bit shocked but collected himself quickly.

"I was unaware of our meeting being on today's schedule Mrs. Weasely. Is there any emergency?" He asked flatly.

I was shocked to hear how formal he sounded, like we just work together and nothing more. Now i was truly afraid. All my life harry had never talked to me like a stranger. Yes, we had our fights, but i was used to dealing with angry harry. Never was i faced with indifferent harry, and that scared me a lot.

" We need to talk harry." I said, directly coming to the point and not wanting to delay it any further.

"I have a very busy day, many things to do. And i can not lose any time arguing with you." He replied, dismissing me.

" More important things than our friendship?, after all these years of helping you that is all you think of me? Waste of your valuable time." I yelled at him. Not bothering that i was blackmailing him but i wanted some answers, and i was going to get them. I could have gone to ron but knowing him it would have been a biased version so harry was the only choice.

"Ron wont like you being here Hermione, and i dont want to give my staff a show."

" Ron does not dictate my life for me harry. I am my own person, and i wanna know why my best friend is not even my friend anymore."

"What' s there to tell, you must have heard what happened" he replied moodily.

"You know i was never a fan of rumors harry, and i want to hear your side of story firsthand so just humor me,will you. And start from the begining of what lead this to happen." I grabbed the opportunity to know everything that was happening.

"Well you know how Ron destroyed the locket and it showed you and me together right." I nodded so he continued while securing the door "Well it seems i failed to convince him that there was nothing between us. There was this fear within him which was boosted by the rumor mill and amount of time we spent together when i worked with you. It further increased when he exploded on our chief auror for berating about not following orders and was kicked out of ministry for lack of discipline. He blamed me for not standing up for him or stopping them from kicking him out." He looked a little sad here." You know I never liked using my fame for doing things and i honestly felt it was his fault they almost lost an auror because of his rash behaviour."

"He was already out of chudely cannon because of his nerves. I mean come on he was not good enough to play on school team until wood passed out and only made it to the team because i was the captain and his competitor had worse attitude than his. Tell me would i have selected him if he was not my best friend." There was bitterness in his voice. He stopped there and i thpught he was not going to say anymre when he spoke up

"Because you were the only one working, you had to move back to burow. And his inferiority complex started getting him and along with the jelousy thing we have what we call Ron. He started coming here at odd times and accusing us of goinng behind his back. In the end when we were working on this paid vacation bill for house elves, he storms into meeting full of official people and started going on and on about how i never his friend and always used him for my gains and neglected when i didn't need him anymore."his eyes were full of pain.

"Oh harry..." i didn' know what to say. Realisation hit me that just a few minutes before i said the same thing. I opened my mouth to say sorry but he cut me off.

"It's okay, i understand." His eyes were downcast." After that he made you chose between me me and him again. But this time choice was far greater than it had been before. You guys were gettiing married in few weeks and i didn't wanted you to suffer this and some fulish part of me wanted to lesssen the humiliation i would feel when when you chose him so i walked away from you guys. Changed depaartments and been working here since then." He stopped there, looking out of the window but not looking anything particularly.

Not knowing what to say or do i just sat there. What can i do? Ron was always like that but he came around, and when he did we accepted him back. But Ron never apologized directly. He always showed apology through actions. And I was not sure Harry wanted to leave it this time. It seemed our friendship which survived even Voldemort and a war was falling apart now.

"I didn't know what to do Hermione, I didn't want to force weasely's to make choice between me and their son, George still hasn't come out of his shell, Ginny blames me for the break up even when she was the one to break it up, Bill and Charlie are never in country and I don't want to give them further reasons to hate me because of your failed marriage. So here I am trying to create a life without all of you in it. It's damn hard, yes but I will succeed . I have to. It's the only option for me."

I was speechless. It seemed that we cannot mend our relationship until Ron accepts it. I got up and began walking towards door dizzily, when harry spoke up again.

"Hermione, I heard you were visiting marriage councilor today. Be careful and don't forget to take calming draught. It won't do any good for you to explode on him last time. Though I think that going on s daily dose of calming draught for controlling your blood pressure was not a good idea."

I nodded seeing in his eyes which were equally resigned to this situation as mine were. As I turned to leave again he called out again, this time I didn't turn. Not wanting him to see tears welling up in my eyes I just stopped giving him hint of having heard his call when he said in a whisper

"Try and work it out if possible, he needs you right now." And with that I ran

I did not return to my office, instead fled home. It was too much to take. I hadn't realized how much I needed Harry in my life. Whenever I would dream my future with Ron, Harry was always there. Without him none of my dreams would be complete. But now not having him with me was too painful. I wanted to wake up from this nightmare but didn't know how.

I kept trying to wake up but nothing was working. I tried pinching myself, took a cold bath but I was feeling those things like it was not a dream but reality. And dread filled my veins. What if it IS real?...

AN- I am finished with the Ron part guys. There will be one more chapter about explanation of Ron's behavior. I know there was not any actual confrontation with Ron but I think with Ron in scene there would have been only arguing and no decent explanation.

AN 2- I cant decide who should be next. So you are free to tell me who you want Hermione to be with next.