Hermione had been avoiding Ron for the last few weeks since he had returned after he had left. She had been too furious to face him, and he had been clever enough to avoid her too, for fear she would explode at him at any moment, which she might had if he had come anywhere near her.
After three weeks of holding a grudge, Hermione was beginning to lose patience on the Horcrux hunt, especially since she was so angry with Ron for leaving them. One night, she decided she needed to get away from the both of them, Ron with his constant jumpiness around her and his constant tapping with his wand on his stupid wireless; and Harry, who was avoiding them both and refused to discuss the hunt. Harry was on watch, so Hermione told him she was going for a walk. Harry nodded feebly, almost absently.
Hermione started walking faster, darting through the trees to get farther from the tent and the nagging voice in her head, urging her to forgive Ron…
The tent was almost out of sight when she heard another pair of footsteps behind her. She began to run, but she had a good idea on who it was behind her…she didn't look behind her for fear she was right…
She came to a clearing in the forest, and before she could go further, a pair of familiar hands grabbed her and held her from going on. "Hermione, you know it's me, will you just stop for a minute?"
Hermione's eyes shot at Ron and he recoiled as she shot bullets through her eyes. "Stop so you can do what, Ron? So you can apologize again? So you can apologize and assume everything will be fine, and I'll fall into your arms?"
"My god, will you just let me say something?" Ron asked exasperatedly. "I swear, just hear me out, and then you can scream at me as much as you want." Despite her mood, Hermione shut her mouth and scowled at Ron.
"Hermione, I know you're furious with me because I was the stupidest prat on earth again, but I'm begging you to forgive me." At this, Ron got down on his knees and looked up at her, and Hermione had to fight down an urge to laugh cruelly at his efforts.
"Look, I'm on my knees, alright? If you want something in return for giving me forgiveness, just ask it. I'll do anything, you know I will. I'm sorry for everything, and I really regret walking out on you." Ron was trying to meet her eyes, but Hermione was looking away furiously, fighting down her anger.
"I'm asking you to forgive me, again," Ron added. "I know there's only a very small chance you will, but I just needed to try." Ron sighed, and Hermione knew it had taken a huge amount of effort for him to say what he did. She raised her eyebrows at him and said, "Are you done?"
Ron got up off the ground and towered over her like always. "Yeah."
"Right, now it's my turn," Hermione said through clenched teeth. She heard thunder rumbling overhead and it started to lightly rain. "Do you not realize what you did? What you did to me? You left, Ron, after promising to both Harry and I that we were all in this together! And…you…you broke your promises!" She pushed Ron at the word "promises", though it barely affected him. He simply gaped at her. Hermione ignored him.
"You made a promise almost a year ago that you would keep us all together, and then you made a promise to me at the wedding that you would always be there to make sure nothing happened to me! And then you left, and Harry and I almost died!" She was in tears now, but Ron didn't dare approach her. It started to rain harder, and lightning flashed across the sky.
Hermione sighed. "I don't care as much that you weren't here for me. I care more that you broke your promises." She finally faced him, and saw a look of horror on his face. "Because those promises were the highest level of trust I had for you. And you betrayed me."
Even through the pouring rain, Hermione saw traces of tears in Ron's eyes. Tears were pouring down her own face and mingling with the rain. They were both silent before Ron spoke again, so quietly Hermione had to struggle to listen.
"You told me almost a year ago that you would always forgive me," Ron said. Hermione's eyes widened at the realization to her own promise. Oh no.
"You said no matter what I did, that you would always forgive me. I thought about that and if you're this upset about my leaving, then I can't imagine how you would feel if you could never forgive me." Ron stood there, looking quite pitiful, rain dripping from every inch of his body.
Hermione, however, was so angry that he had realized her broken promise that she saw red. "You don't DESERVE my forgiveness, Ron!" she shouted. "You might as well have stabbed me in the heart for what you did to me! Do you even know what you put me through?"
By now, Ron was happy to yell back. "How can I know what goes through your head, Hermione? You're a complete mystery to me, and it doesn't seem like I can ever make you happy!"
The storm raged on around them, but Ron and Hermione were quite oblivious to the fact that they were both soaked and arguing in the middle of a forest. Ignoring Ron's last comment, Hermione ranted on. "I couldn't eat or sleep for days, I missed you so much! I didn't talk to Harry for a week and…and I just can't believe you most of the time, Ron!"
Hermione was breathing heavily, but she finally felt like she didn't want to argue anymore.
"Look, Hermione, I'm sorry!" Ron yelled over the storm, still eager to shout. "I'm sorry for walking out on you and Harry, I'm sorry I made you cry, I'm sorry I'm probably the worst friend you've ever had!" He stood there, looking quite pitiful, watching Hermione carefully.
Hermione was determined not to show how she really felt about his words. "Why did you leave?" she asked quietly.
"It was the locket," Ron responded immediately. He too seemed like he was out of steam and urges to fight. "It made me see things that almost killed me emotionally…you could never understand; the locket doesn't affect you as bad as it did to me.
"And the day I left, everything that was building inside me because of the locket just…came out of me at you and Harry, I guess. I'm sorry for everything, and I hope you forgive me eventually."
He started to leave, and the one forgiving feeling that Hermione had been fighting down for the past few weeks finally overpowered her anger. She realized she would be just as miserable as before if she didn't forgive him.
"Ron," she called. He turned and looked at her expectantly. She approached him carefully, and stood in front of him, staring intensely into his eyes, the storm raging around them.
"I'm not happy about it, but…I suppose…I do forgive you." A grin Hermione could never explain broke out on Ron's face. "It's pointless to keep fighting like this, especially if I'll forgive you in the end anyway," Hermione said. "But if you do something like this again, I won't forgive you, promise or not."
She smiled at him, despite her efforts to stay indignant. "Let's go back."
They started back to the tent, Hermione leading and Ron following carefully, conscientious not to do anything that would set Hermione off. The only sounds were their trainers squishing in the mud, the pounding rain around them, and the howling wind whistling through the trees.
When they could finally see the tent, a dark shadow in the blurry, wet forest, Hermione couldn't take it anymore. Her relief that he was back completely took over her body. She turned around, causing Ron to flinch. "What? What's wrong?"
Before he could say much more, she flew into his arms, finally feeling like she happy for the first time in months. He embraced her harder than ever before, and she held onto him as if she would fall into a black hole if she let go. She felt a tear fall down her face.
They were finally home.
