A/N: Thank you all for your continued kindness! :) I want to reach through the internet and hug you all.
Since last time, I've posted a couple of one-shots for Ollivander's Challenge by simplypotterheads on tumblr. One's called "My Brother's Keeper" and the other is called "Like Soldiers." The first is Ron-centric, focusing on his relationships with Bill and George, and the second focuses on Ron/Hermione. They're available to read on this site if you're interested - just so you know. :)
To counter my self-promotion, I'll give you a recommendation - "To Know You Is To Love You" by CoyoteLaughingSoftly. Read it, love it, cry about Romione's perfection - all in a day's work.
Disclaimer: I've been J.K. Rowling all along, obviously.
"The Last Day of the First Job"
10 October 2002
Hermione felt a little ridiculous as she paced back and forth outside the door to her own flat. But it wasn't just her flat anymore; it was Ron's too, and it had been for more than half a year. He would be inside now - perhaps just finishing up the afternoon nap he always took after working the early shift. Hermione had originally half-heartedly scolded him for this practice, worrying that he wouldn't be able to get to sleep at a normal hour if he took a midday nap, but she soon learned that Ron possessed the innate ability to sleep for twelve hours out of every twenty-four if he was given the opportunity. Maybe he would still be asleep, and she would be able to put off the conversation she was dreading just a little while longer...
No, she was being silly. She glanced down at the beautiful ring on her left ring finger, anxiously twisting it a bit. That ring meant they were going to be married, and they were going to face their lives together. This was simply the beginning of that, and there was no sense in running away from it. With that thought in mind, Hermione finally gathered the courage to open the door.
Ron was not asleep, as she'd momentarily hoped, but busy in the kitchen area of their cozy little flat. "Hello, love!" he called brightly, turning to beam at her as she placed her coat and shoes neatly in their proper places. "How was work?"
"Fine," Hermione said hurriedly, returning his smile with one of her own, though she knew it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Are you cooking?"
Ron nodded, looking quite pleased with himself. "I thought I'd surprise you and make dinner. It's not done yet, my nap went a bit long, but you don't mind spaghetti?"
"Sounds lovely. Thank you," Hermione replied, setting her briefcase down on the table and moving to kiss him on the cheek.
"Of course. Just remember this grand show of domesticity the next time I've left my pants on the bedroom floor," he said, turning to grin at her again. This time, she was a bit too slow to return it, and his smile immediately became a look of concern. "Everything alright?"
Hermione nodded hurriedly. "It's fine."
"No it's not," Ron said simply, seeing right through her facade, just as she knew he would. "What is it?"
"Can we talk about it over dinner?" Hermione asked, sighing deeply and cursing his skills of perception. He'd always been fairly acute, as demonstrated by his affinity for chess, but since they'd left school, his emotional awareness had caught up as well.
"Okay," Ron agreed, eyeing her warily before turning back to the pot on the stove. "It'll be ready in five minutes or so."
"Perfect," Hermione said, kissing him once more, on the side of the mouth this time, before retreating to the bedroom for a change of clothes.
Deciding quickly that tonight would be the type that would require comfortable clothing, Hermione selected her favorite fuzzy green pajama bottoms and an old jumper of Ron's. She then moved to the mirror and muttered a spell to remove the little makeup she had applied that morning. Observing her reflection as she attempted to control and tie back her hair, she noted that she looked tired. No, not just tired - exhausted. It had been a long week as it was, and the weight of the decision she was being forced to make had been bearing down upon her all day. Sighing heavily, she twisted her ring anxiously once again as she made her way back into the kitchen, where Ron was busy setting the table.
"Merlin, you're sexy," he said by way of greeting, eyeing her choice of dress with a smirk. Hermione offered an eye roll and half a smile in return as she took her place at the table. "So?" Ron prompted once they were both settled, shoveling a large fork's worth of spaghetti into his mouth.
"How was your shift this morning?" Hermione asked instead of answering his implied question.
"The usual," Ron said shortly. "Now, something's up. Don't try to deny it."
Hermione took a large bite of her spaghetti, chewing slowly to buy herself time. Once she'd swallowed, she raised her eyes to meet Ron's, which had grown increasingly worried the further she'd dragged the process out. "I got a job offer today," she said slowly. "A promotion, technically."
"That's brilliant!" he replied automatically. "Quite right, too, as you're the best they've got."
"I suppose," Hermione said, blushing a bit at his praise and lowering her eyes again.
"But there's a catch," Ron suggested knowingly.
"There's two," Hermione replied softly. She laid her fork down so that she could distract herself by wringing her hands together and twisting her ring again.
"What is it?" Ron pressed. "You're scaring me; you only do that thing with your ring when you're worried," he observed, gesturing toward her hands.
"Well, it's not exactly a voluntary promotion," Hermione replied slowly, her eyes trained on the ring rather than on Ron. "They've hired someone else to do my job already. The job I was offered today is the only open position in the department. If I don't take it, I don't have another option."
"Okay," Ron said cautiously. "So what's the job you were offered?"
"Head Ambassador," Hermione replied, her voice no more than a whisper. She finally gathered the courage to look up and gauge Ron's reaction: his face was set in a confused frown - it was as though he knew what the words meant, but didn't quite want to believe it. "It's a travelling position," she explained quickly when he didn't respond - though she knew he'd probably deduced as much himself, she couldn't take the silence. "I'd be in England most weekends, according to Mr. Cooper, but I'd be expected to represent the department internationally. I wouldn't have the time or money to come home very often."
Ron swallowed audibly. "Okay," he said slowly, setting his face into an expression of sheer determination. Hermione knew him well enough to recognize his pained expression - he was using a considerable amount of effort to remain calm. "Okay. We can make that work."
"Oh, no we can't!" Hermione whispered in despair. "We can't possibly - I'd be gone more than twenty days a month, Ron!"
"So what are you saying?" Ron asked in a low voice, his frown deepening.
"I don't want us to have a long-distance marriage, Ron! We'd be miserable," she moaned, burying her face into her hands, attempting to keep the tears at bay. Her spaghetti lay completely forgotten in front of her. The truth of the matter had been eating away at her all day; there was simply no way she could work abroad just as their life together was beginning. She internally cursed every senior member of her department, thinking the nasty words she'd been thinking since the meeting this afternoon, but never had the courage to say out loud.
The silence between them continued, but Hermione could not bring herself to look up. At last, she heard Ron's voice, gruff and low. "I understand," he said in a resigned tone. "I understand, but Hermione, please - we've got to try, haven't we?"
His voice broke in the middle of this sentence, and Hermione felt her shoulders begin to shake. Tears were falling now, she simply couldn't stop them. "No. I can't," she sobbed, her voice muffled by her hands. "I...I can't."
She heard Ron's chair scrape against the floor, and a moment later she felt him kneel beside her. "Hermione," he said urgently, rubbing her knee comfortingly. "Hermione, look at me."
Taking a shaking breath through her sobs, she at last lowered her hands and turned to face him, but she could hardly stand it - he looked broken. But why...oh. In a rush of realization, her mind caught up with his and she began damage control.
"I can't take the job," she clarified through her tears. "Oh, Ron, you didn't think-"
"I didn't know what to think," Ron said defensively, but he softened his tone as she began a fresh round of tears. "Oh, Hermione..." He pulled on her hands and guided her across the room to sit on the more comfortable sofa. He knelt in front of her, still holding onto her hands so that she couldn't hide again. He rubbed them soothingly as he waited for her to speak, knowing her well enough to understand that once she'd calmed down, she'd have plenty to say.
"Ron, I would never-" she choked out a minute later, when the tears began to subside. She squeezed his right hand hard with her left, so that he could feel her engagement ring press against his skin. "You have to know by now, I would never-"
"I know, I know," he assured her. "I do, I know."
"We're getting married, Ron," Hermione managed to say. "I could never take a position that kept me away from you, especially not now."
"Hermione, I know," Ron said more firmly. "I'm sorry, I jumped to conclusions, and..."
"No, I'm sorry," Hermione insisted, sniffing loudly as the last of her tears began to dry. "I should have been more clear; I'm just upset to be losing my job."
Ron was quiet for a moment before continuing in a fierce voice, "I mean what I said, Hermione. If you want to take it, don't let me hold you back. You know we can make it work, if that's what you want."
Hermione wanted to scream at him, to tell him to stop belittling himself, to smack the idiocy straight out of him. But she didn't; instead, she leaned forward and kissed him softly. "I want you," she said firmly when she pulled away. "Please, don't ever doubt that."
"Sorry," Ron muttered embarrassedly. "I know, Hermione, you know I trust you."
"It's okay," Hermione said softly. She had accepted long ago that Ron was the type that needed reassurance every now and then, and she didn't mind providing it. And besides, she'd probably have jumped to the same conclusions had the situation been reversed. The fact of the matter was that no matter how much trust and love they had between them, they were both acutely aware of just how much they were capable of hurting each other. They hadn't in a long time, and they had promised that they wouldn't ever again, but the fear of such a pain would never fully evaporate.
Giving Ron a small, encouraging smile, Hermione tugged on his hands so that he would sit next to her on the sofa. He obliged, wrapping an arm around her as she automatically cuddled into his side.
"I just don't know what to do," Hermione admitted. "I - I don't want to be unemployed, but Mr. Cooper made it perfectly clear that this was my only option within the department."
"When do you have to decide by?" Ron asked.
"Tomorrow afternoon," Hermione replied. "Twenty-four hours after the offer was made, you see. But it doesn't matter, I'd decided before I'd left the conference room, really."
"Okay," Ron said simply, squeezing her lightly but reassuringly. "So you go to a different department, yeah? You're brilliant, you won't have a problem getting in anyplace you please."
"I don't know," Hermione said quietly, as the truth of why she was so upset burned in the forefront of her thoughts. "I suppose I haven't got another choice, have I? It's just...the progress I was making, Ron, with S.P.E.W. and everything else...I was doing something so good in this job, and I just don't know how to go on with it outside of the department."
"This is such bullshit," Ron declared. "With all that you've done for them, what right do they have to give you an ultimatum?"
"It's a personnel issue, Ron," she replied sadly. "It's not really fair, but they've got to do what they see fit to make the department run as best it can."
"No, it's bullshit," Ron insisted, and Hermione didn't have the energy to argue - besides, though she understood the nature of the decision, she was inclined to agree with him on some level.
They settled into a comfortable silence. Ron rubbed slow circles on her arm with his fingers, and Hermione reciprocated by tracing patterns on his chest through his soft, cotton shirt.
"What if I can't find something that makes me feel like that?" she murmured doubtfully after a few moments.
"Feel like what?" Ron asked, a tenderness in his voice that hadn't quite been there before.
"Feel like I'm doing something worth doing," Hermione clarified.
Ron turned to look at her then, and his eyes met hers with an intensity that never failed to send her heart into a frenzy. "You'll make it worth doing," he said sincerely. "You're Hermione, and you're very nearly a Weasley. I'd take those odds any day, love."
Rather than speak, Hermione pulled Ron into a tight embrace, squeezing him as firmly as she could and smiling as he returned the favor.
"I love you," she said simply, because though this was just the beginning of what she felt for him, she could not for the life of her think of any better words to express what he meant to her. She loved every part of him, including his silly humor, but she was incredibly grateful for this sensitive, mature side of him, which only she ever truly got to see.
"I'm sorry to put us through this now," she lamented as she pulled back, but Ron shook his head.
"This is hardly the worst thing we've had to face," he replied with a small grin.
"Still, twenty-three's a bit young to be having a mid-life crisis, especially as we've got a wedding to pay for," she said doubtfully.
"First off, it hardly counts as a mid-life crisis. But Hermione, I don't care if we get married by Peeves in the Shrieking Shack, so long as the marrying part happens," Ron said sincerely.
"I don't think Peeves can leave the castle, you know. Though I appreciate the sentiment," she added before Ron could protest. He simply rolled his eyes and silenced her with a brief, loving kiss - the kind of kiss she'd seen her dad give her mum when she was little, and the kind of kiss she hoped Ron would never stop giving her.
"Speaking of the wedding," Ron said eagerly when he pulled away, "I took a look at some of the planning stuff before my nap this afternoon. We could have a look now, if you're up for it?"
Hermione nodded gratefully, happy to have something better to focus on than her impending unemployment. "And we've got some spaghetti to finish, I believe. Oh, I do hope it didn't get cold."
"It won't have," Ron said as they moved back toward the table. "Two-hour heating charm. Old trick of Mum's, and dead useful."
"Could have told me about it sooner," Hermione muttered indignantly, but Ron pretended not to hear her as he retreated to the bedroom to find the folder they'd been using to keep their wedding plans straight.
The ceremony was about eight months away now, and they were just finishing the beginning stages of planning. It had been decided fairly quickly that the ceremony and reception would take place at the Burrow, much to Mrs. Weasley's delight, and they had agreed upon the 21st of June as the date. Hermione had also chosen blue as the wedding color, a shade that very closely matched Ron's eyes, and had suggested daisies as decoration, because she thought they went nicely with the color scheme. Ron, of course, hadn't particularly had an opinion on these matters, so they had been decided quickly as well.
The most exciting part of the planning thus far, however, would take place the following weekend; Hermione's mum was taking her dress shopping. Now, she had been shopping with her mum many times, but she could honestly say this was probably the first time she was truly looking forward to the experience for the purchase she would make rather than the company she would keep. As cliché as it was, she couldn't wait to find the perfect dress - the dress she'd marry Ron in.
"I think the guest list is about done," Ron began, interrupting her thoughts as he reentered the room. "It looks as though we're inviting about a hundred people, and quite frankly I didn't realize we even knew that many, but Mum'll throw a fit if we don't invite my cousins, so I can't see it getting any lower."
"Okay," Hermione said. "We'll need to send out the invitations soon. There's no need to do a fancy design, of course, just the details about the ceremony and perhaps a photograph of the two of us."
"Have we got any good photographs?" Ron asked with a chuckle. "The one on the mantle's about three years old," he said, gesturing toward the moving picture that had been taken shortly after Hermione had finished her last year at Hogwarts. They hadn't known it was being taken, due to Molly's stealth with the camera, but it was Hermione's favorite picture of the two of them. They had been standing near the Burrow's garden one Sunday after a family brunch, simply smiling at each other and talking about the lives they were finally able to properly begin living. Hermione couldn't remember exactly what she had said, but Ron had leaned in to kiss her just as Molly had snapped the picture.
"We've got a nice one from Harry and Ginny's wedding," Hermione said, deciding that though it was her favorite, she didn't particularly want to share the mantle picture with every Weasley cousin on the guest list - it was their memory, after all. "It doesn't matter that it's a wizarding photo, seeing as the only muggles we're inviting are my parents."
It was true; none of Hermione's small extended family had been put on the guest list. Though they hid behind the pretense that they wanted to be able to celebrate with magic without worrying about breaking the Secrecy Statute, the truth was that Ron was very uncomfortable around the majority of Hermione's relatives, and she couldn't blame him one bit. She cared about them as one is obliged to care about one's family, but it was certainly no loss to her to exclude them from the big day. She hadn't worked out a lie to tell if any of them should ask why they hadn't been invited, but she was willing to bet just about anything that they wouldn't bother asking.
"Okay. We can get those done at that place in Diagon Alley, right?" Ron asked, making a small note at the bottom of the guest list.
"Yes, but we'll have to address and mail them," Hermione replied.
"Alright," Ron agreed, clearly making a concentrated effort not to complain about such a mundane task. "I looked through your notes about the ceremony, too. So we're going to have to sign some form thingy for the muggles?"
"Yes, but I believe we can do that beforehand," Hermione said. "We need to be sure our marriage is recognized as legal in the muggle world, but the ceremony itself will be the traditional wizarding wedding, unless you've got something else in mind."
"No, that sounds good. But what's this about me wearing a muggle suit?"
The hours went by quickly and blissfully. Hermione found that planning their wedding was the perfect distraction. While she was perfectly aware that Ron would probably not take such an interest for such a prolonged period of time if he weren't trying to keep her mind on something positive, she appreciated his efforts nonetheless. They made quite a bit of progress, and had managed to do so with minimal bickering. The more they talked about it, the more excited Hermione could feel herself becoming; more than anything else, she couldn't wait to marry the man she'd once described in a letter to her mother as "that awfully rude boy with the dirt on his nose."
However, Hermione's high spirits were short-lived. Throughout the years, she had found that no matter how hard she tried to avoid unpleasant thoughts, they had a way of creeping into her brain right as she got set to go to sleep, and this night would be no exception. Nearly the second Hermione crawled under the covers, her brain began to race with thoughts of the day she'd had and the day she'd likely have tomorrow. The difference now, though, was that she shared a bed with her loving husband-to-be, who seemed to have made it his own personal mission to keep her smiling - and she certainly wouldn't fault him for that.
"I can't bloody wait to marry you," Ron said softly as he joined her in bed a moment after she'd crawled in. It was as though he'd sensed her shift in mood without even looking at her.
"Likewise," Hermione replied with a small smile, adjusting her position so that she was closer to him. He took advantage of the situation by sliding his hand underneath her jumper to rub the skin of her back.
"Hey," he said softly, using his other hand to tilt her chin up so that she met his eyes. "I love you."
"I love you, too," Hermione replied, seeing her emotions reflected back to her in his eyes - a sensation she'd never quite got used to. "Thank you."
Hermione barely had the chance to register the intense look that had returned to Ron's eyes before he kissed her deeply, the hand that lay on her back sliding upwards. It seemed that Ron had found a new way to keep Hermione's mind on the good things, and she certainly wasn't about to object. She craved this; the kind of intimacy she could only ever find with him, a way to express their feelings without having to deal with any messy words or misinterpretations. And of course, it always felt, in Ron's words, "fucking amazing." Afterward, they lay close together as they drifted off into sleep. Hermione's last conscious thought was that everything would work out, so long as she and Ron were together. It simply had to.
One Week Later
For the first time in her life, Hermione Granger was lying on the sofa doing absolutely nothing, and she hated it. It had been a week since she'd been offered the ambassador position, and six days since she'd officially turned it down. Time seemed to inch by at a glacial pace now that she wasn't working. As per her mum's suggestion, she had not yet inquired into any other jobs.
"Give yourself a few days to relax," Mum had told her over the phone last weekend. "You ought to take some time to yourself, decompress a bit. I want to have a well-rested daughter next weekend for our big dress outing."
Hermione had been skeptical, but Ron had told her the same thing. "Honestly Hermione, you're being paid more in severance than you'd have made in two weeks anyway," he'd said on Monday morning as he got ready to leave for his shift. "Your mum's right, you could use a bit of a rest. I'll see you tonight." And with a perfunctory kiss on the cheek, he was gone, and Hermione was left to her own devices.
The first two days, Hermione had kept herself busy by cleaning every inch of the flat. Twice actually, much to Ron's amusement. When that had run its course, she threw herself headfirst into wedding planning, concentrating on every single detail of the preparation, ceremony, and reception. She even went so far as to make a list of songs she wanted for the dancing portion and in what order they should be played. However, there came a point when there was nothing more she could do for the time being, and then she was left to clean the flat again.
But by mid-morning on Thursday, she'd completely run out of things to occupy her time. So, she tried reading. However, after a third failed attempt at making it more than a page without getting distracted by her thoughts, she gave it up as a bad job and simply laid down on the sofa, finally allowing the feelings she'd been suppressing for the past few days to come to the surface.
When all was said and done, she knew that turning the job down had been the right decision. As much as she loved to travel, she had no desire to represent the Ministry abroad. Perhaps, if things had been different, she may have considered it, but she had different priorities now. It was funny, she thought - when she was younger, she never thought she'd put a relationship before her career. In fact, she'd been quite judgmental of women that did. Of course, that was before she'd fallen in love with one Ron Weasley and sorted out her priorities. Jobs were replaceable; her relationship with Ron was not, and she knew that if it came to it, he'd make the same decision for her.
However, she knew now that she should not have taken her mum's advice. She simply couldn't stand being idle. She needed to work, she needed to do something that truly mattered. Planning the wedding had been a nice distraction, but she couldn't do that indefinitely. She knew she could probably find a job fairly quickly if she looked; she'd had several offers from other departments when she'd left Hogwarts - but she didn't want to take just any job. She had loved her last position; she'd been given the opportunity to do something meaningful; there was no way she could settle into a trivial job now - but what if there was no other option? It was as though her biggest fear had been realized - being useless.
All her life, Hermione had worked hard to make something of herself. She would not be a meaningless existence, she'd begun to make sure of that from a very young age. She was going to make a difference in the world. She was going to be someone. That desire had stayed with her throughout the years in various forms; it was why she studied so much, it was part of the reason why she'd tried to take charge of helping Harry during the war, it was why she'd dedicated her career thus far to making life better for others. She was going to make an impact, that much she'd always been sure of.
But now what was she? She angrily wiped a few stray tears from her eyes as she burrowed herself further into the sofa. She knew she was just making it worse, lying there feeling sorry for herself, but she truly couldn't summon the energy to do anything about it right then. She didn't feel like doing anything at all, really, and that scared her more than anything.
She wasn't sure how long she'd been brooding, and was fairly certain she must have fallen asleep at least once or twice, but eventually, she heard familiar footsteps outside the door. She wondered briefly how she could recognize Ron simply by the sound of his walk, but was thankful she could. It gave her a small moment to sit up and compose herself. As supportive as he'd been for the past week, she didn't want to trouble him any more than she already had.
"Her-my-oh-nee!" came an uncharacteristically singsong-y voice as the door opened a minute later.
She frowned a little as she turned to look at him; he had a ridiculous smile on his face. "Have you been to the pub?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nope," he said gleefully, throwing his Auror's cloak and bag haphazardly across the room as he made his way toward her. Without so much as a word, he lifted her up over his shoulder and spun her around effortlessly.
"Ron!" she scolded, though she was giggling. "What's got into you? Put me down!"
"Oh, nothing," he said nonchalantly, carrying her over to the kitchen and patting her bum a couple times before setting her right. "Let's go out for dinner tonight, shall we? I don't much feel like cooking."
"We ought to be watching our money a bit," Hermione fretted, though she had to admit a night out sounded lovely.
"Nah, we'll be fine," Ron said, reaching into his work bag and pulling out a folded piece of parchment. He handed it to her with an exaggerated wink. "Back in a mo'," he said before turning and making his way toward the bedroom.
She stared after him dumbly for a moment before coming to her senses and unfolding the parchment. Her eyes widened as she scanned the words on the page not once, but twice, unwilling to believe what it said. Surely she'd gone delirious from her lack of activity? It was simply too good to be true; there must be some sort of catch. Things couldn't get better that quickly, could they?
She only looked up when she heard Ron's footsteps returning to the kitchen. He was now clad in a dress shirt and nice trousers, looking quite ready for a night out. Her mouth was still gaping open when she looked up to meet his wide grin. "Perfect, eh?" he said.
"What did - how did you - ?"
"I didn't do anything," Ron replied, placing his hands on her shoulders gently as she continued to look at him in awe. "Got it handed to me right before I left; they were gonna just owl it off, but figured it'd just be faster to give it to me, since everyone in the bloody Ministry knows about our personal business. I don't mind, though, people knowing I get to come home to you every day. Brilliant, isn't it?"
"But why-"
"Well, it's technically the same department as me and Harry, isn't it?" Ron continued excitedly. "So they heard about you being available and figured they'd get the set!"
"How-"
"Oh, don't get touchy, I was kidding." Before Hermione could say that she wasn't even remotely upset, he barreled on: "Anyway, I know it's technically just an interview, but there's no way you won't get it. They sought you out, for starters, and more importantly, you're bloody fantastic. You'll be able to help so many people this way, too. Even better, we'll be on the same floor now! Easier to see each other during lunch, and there's a couple of supply closets down the corridor that'd do quite nicely if, y'know, you ever miss me during the day-"
This was enough to make Hermione smack him gently on the arm, though she didn't quite have the heart for a full reprimand. "I can't believe it," she said softly.
"Believe it, love. Now go get dressed, will you? I want to take my fiancée out for a romantic evening to celebrate," Ron said, his eyes sparkling happily.
"Thank you," Hermione said, resting her hands lightly on his arms.
"I didn't do anything," Ron replied, but Hermione quickly silenced him by pressing her lips to his.
"You did, though," she insisted quietly, then leaned in to kiss him again, this time far more thoroughly.
When they finally broke apart, Ron's smile looked as though it was likely to split his face in two. Hermione had no doubt her expression matched his. "Well, I'm not one to argue," Ron quipped. "Now go on. You should wear that nice blue dress you like."
"Why's that?" Hermione asked cheekily.
"Because I like it too," he said, feigning a great sigh of defeat. "Would you get dressed already, woman?"
"Gladly," Hermione said with a smile, kissing him on the cheek before walking past him toward the bedroom to get ready, the job offer from the legal office of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement still clutched tightly in her hand.
A/N: Hurray! Everything will be alright! :) That was sort of a fun one - a bit of a mix of angst and drama and fluff and stuff. Hopefully it all worked together okay. Anyway...it's very bittersweet to post this because I now realize that after this chapter, there's just one more and then the epilogue. AAHHH!
If you'd like to let me know what you thought (or read either of the new one-shots : shameless self-plug because I'm sort of proud of them), please be my guest. You're all wonderful people for reading this craziness. I love you almost as much as Ron and Hermione love each other. :)