Hello guys! I am back with another chapter for you! I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. I know last chapter was a little slow but things will start to pick back up in this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, that stays with J.K. Rowling.

Chapter 2 - What Else

Hermione awoke the next morning feeling more drained than she has in the last couple of months. She had a rough time trying to fall asleep, her mind reeling over finding George, her fight with Ron and then him cheating on her with Astoria, and not having any leads on Harry. She feels as though she is caught in a current, not able to find a handle to pull herself out of the rushing waves of emotions that are threatening to crash down on her and drown her in their endless depths. She feels more alone now, she can't return to the Burrow, it's not like the Weasley's would understand, they would probably just blame her for her failed relationship with Ron anyway. She climbs out of bed slowly, grabbing her wand, some clothes, and a towel and heads for the bathroom. She takes a long shower, running over everything in her head to try to figure out what her next step will be to find Harry. Not knowing of anywhere else to look, she feels that she might need to get other members of the Ministry involved.

After her shower, she quickly dresses for work and heads downstairs to the kitchen to grab something small for breakfast. After she eats, she gathers her things and apparates to the Ministry, ready to figure out another way to find her best friend.

A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO

Ron and Astoria pull apart, sweating and Ron lays down on his side next to her. She is panting heavily and feels satisfied that she managed to actually finish with him. The two don't speak for a long moment, catching their breath but before long, Ron speaks.

"That was awesome, I'm glad you talked me into that." She rolls her eyes but then turns over onto her side to face the redhead with a small smile.

"I'm glad that I did too, I have to leave but I would like to see you again, can I meet you somewhere?" She puts an excited face and looks up to lock eyes with Ron. He smiles brightly and leans closer to her, gently running his fingers down her cheek.

"How about Friday, in the Three Broomsticks, say around 7:30pm? I should be off work by then and we can grab a butterbeer." Astoria thinks about this for a minute before she smiles again and nods.

"Friday it is then." She leans in and places a soft kiss on the red head's lips before getting out of bed and dressing for work. She smooths out her hair and clothes before turning on the spot and disappearing. Ron smirks as she vanishes and gets out of bed to start fixing the bed and and re dressing. He checks the time on the clock by the bedroom door and realizes that Hermione should be home soon so he rushes to the bathroom to take a quick shower before dressing in some fresh clothes. He throws his clothes that are soaked in Astoria's perfume in the wash and takes the bed sheets and blanket off of the bed before adding them to the wash as well and starting it. He puts a fresh set of sheets and a fresh blanket on the bed before ordering some dinner. Once the food arrives, he sets it out on the table as a peace offering and then sits in one of the chairs at the table to wait.

30 minutes.

1 hour.

2 hours.

Ron becomes increasingly angry as the time ticks by and still Hermione has not showed up. How dare she not come home! This whole things was her fault to start with and she has the audacity to not even come home to apologize?! He shouldn't even be trying to make peace with her, it should be her that tries to make peace with him! He feels like a fool, sitting her waiting on her when she isn't coming. Snarling in frustration, Ron scarfs down his food and stands roughly from the table before storming off into the bedroom.

The next day, Ron floos to the Ministry, intent on finding Hermione and demanding why she didn't come home the night before. He storms the halls, people moving out of his way as not have his famous temper turned upon them. Reaching her department, he flings the doors open and stomps over to the reception desk in front of Hermione's office door. The petite brown haired girl behind the desk looks up with a smile but it quickly disappears when she notices the anger on the older man's face.

"Mr. Weasley," she squeaks and he narrows his eyes at her.

"Penny, is Hermione in yet?" Frightened by his tone, she quickly shakes her head, her blue eyes bright with fear.

"No sir, she hasn't arrived yet." Ron growls throatily and slams his hands down on the desk, causing the younger girl to squeak in fear and recoil.

"Tell her when she gets in that I need to talk to her!" He snaps, not caring about the fact that Penny looks like she is about to faint and turns roughly to storm back through the Ministry to the floo. If she wants to avoid him, fine, he can play this game too.

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Days pass in a blur for Hermione as she goes to work and returns to Grimmauld place every night. George has slowly started to come around her more, their friendship not as strained but he keeps his reasons for disappearing off here to himself still and she has stopped asking. They sit together every night as they eat dinner and they talk about their old school days and she tells him about her life over the last 5 months and he tells her about his and about the joke shop. The twins best friend in Hogwarts, Lee Jordan is now running the shop but George drops by every now and then to check on him and make sure things are going good. George has been going out and meeting with investors and other people about expanding the Weasley shop into other parts of the wizarding world. He already has another shop picked out in Bulgaria and preparations already started to get it ready to open and running.

It's been two weeks since she first came to Grimmauld Place and she still hasn't been able to find any trace of Harry, she is increasingly getting depressed over the fact that after 5 and a half months, her life is turning out to not be what she expected it to be after the war. She has not attempted to make any contact with Ron, she can't bring herself to try to make amends with him. It wouldn't work anyway, he would twist it somehow to make everything her fault even everything she has been doing has been to try to bring the Chosen One home. He, however, only went out to the bars to get laid because she wasn't ready to give herself to him in that way. She has held onto her virtue for this long and she wasn't about to give up after only 5 months.

Suddenly, the front door opens and she looks up from her place at the bar counter in the kitchen to see George walking into the room, a grave look on his face.

"George? What's wrong?" He doesn't say anything at her question but instead places the Daily Prophet in front of her. With a questioning look, she picks it up and looks over the front page with confusion. However, a second later, a sharp gasp escapes her mouth and her hands fly to her mouth as tears spring to her eyes. George instantly wraps his arms around her shoulders from behind as a horrible sob tears through her throat.

Breaking News! Famous War Hero Dead!

Earlier this evening, investigators found the body of one of our famous war heroes in a back alley near a little hole in the wall pub in Diagon Alley. Our investigators don't know what happened previous to finding the body but there is one thing that stuck out to us. On the top left side of his chest, there was an R carved into his skin with what looks to be a knife. Could this be a new enemy arising from the ashes of the previously fallen Dark Lord? One thing is for sure, everyone should not go outside after dark and should always be with someone if you are going to go out. The Auror's are advising everyone to adopt the question at the door theory that was used during the first war. We will keep all of you up to date on any other news that we find out as the investigation goes on. Until then, everyone please stay safe out there. For more information, please turn to page 3.

After reading the short article, Hermione, who now has tears streaming down her face, turns to look over her shoulder at George. The red head simply nods and tightens his hold on her, his own tear slipping down his cheek as he looks over her shoulder and back down at the paper. The only thing running through both of their heads is one word.

Ron.

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Hey guys, here you go! I hope you guys are enjoying this story so far! Please let me know what you think! Until next time!

HL