Cappuccino After Eleven

While writing this, the sun set into a really bright yellow and stretching over the entire sky with its feathers and rolling clouds. It was beautiful. And now it is over.

Kristeen6teen: I brought him back for you!;) But I'm so so sorry (you'll find out why)

merendinoemiliano: Grazie mille!

Nprincess01: Thank you so so much, you make me blush

TheaMama: I freaking love your review hahahah. I hope I'm not too slow to update!

Chapter Thirteen

The Disappearing Act

"But we will write?" he'd asked her a long time ago, hopeful.

"Yes, definitely," she'd replied.

She had been stupid.

Now, even though their goodbye had been more than two weeks ago, she'd not heard a single thing from him. She had not received any letters, not a sound, not even one sign of life. There had been absolute silence from him the last two weeks.

It was as if he had sunken into a hole in the ground.

And they had not been writing.

And it hurt.

Hermione had got gradually sadder as the days, then weeks, passed, but in the end, only the rage was left.

The first days, she hadn't expected any letters. The owl had to fly over a long distance after all.

Then, she could understand not having the time to write, or if his owl didn't find her address. But, he knew his own goddamn address where he and Harry lived, and he could direct his letters to her through Harry.

But what enraged her the most, was that if he had never intended to write to her, he could have dropped the entire part of lying to her about it.

Hermione let out a loud "Aaargh!" and buried her face in her pillow.

On the other side of the wall, her lovely roommate Pansy knocked on the walls, and yelled, "Can you please shut up!"

Hermione bit her tongue and let out a much quieter "Aargh," instead.

She couldn't get the man out of her head.

She had thought about Ron every single day since he left for Hogwarts, because of whatever this super urgent situation he needed to attend was.

She'd thought about writing him a letter first, but she hadn't brought her poor owl from England. Her second thought had been using the S.P.E.W. pin Ron had gifted her and Harry to try and communicate with him through the messenger charm.

To no luck.

Apparently, the spell work wasn't as foolproof as they had all initially thought.

Hermione hadn't even thought about feeling worried until Harry suddenly showed up at her door, eyebrows knit tightly together and his mouth in a thin line.

"Have you heard anything from Ron?" he'd asked her, not even bothering with a 'hello' first.

"No?" Hermione asked, "I thought maybe he just didn't want to talk to me,"

Harry had the decency to laugh.

"He'd definitely talk to you Hermione," his smile turned into a frown, "If he could,"

Hermione clenched her hands together, "I don't understand why he hasn't written. He hasn't written to you either?" she asked.

He shook his head.

Then Harry left, and he somehow took her rage away with him. She was left with only worry. The anxiety felt like a tight ball in her abdomen. Could something have happened to Ron? Was he okay?

Another couple of days passed, and during that time, Hermione handed in her chemistry lab report and an essay for biology.

At the sixteen-day mark, Harry suddenly stood at her door again. This time, he seemed breathless, black hair windswept and messy.

"You need to come, Hermione," Harry breathed, eyes a little wild.

"What has happened?" she asked, not bothering looking in the mirror before hurrying out into the crisp autumn air with him. She was wearing grey sweatpants and a blue hoodie looking nothing special, but his tone had been that of an emergency, so she didn't dare doubt him.

"Ron is back!" he exclaimed.

They walked briskly to Harry's apartment, and Hermione felt a bad feeling creeping after her the whole way there.

When they reached the door and swept through, Hermione knew why.

Ron stood in the hallway, eyes bleary, a ragged brown leather bag dangling from his hand, hanging limply at his side.

He looked away when their eyes met.

"Hey," Hermione said softly, letting go of Harry's hand to go up to Ron.

She'd never seen anyone look so lost before.

"What happened?" she asked in a low voice.

He let the bag fall to the floor. Their eyes met, and there was something so indescribably emotional in his eyes.

The emotional range of a teaspoon, Lavender's voice rang in her head.

Fuck you, Lavender, she thought back.

They hugged. He trembled slightly, and she let her thumb run circles into his back.

He shook his head, gave her a caress on the forearm, and released her.

"I have to go back to Hogwarts," Ron finally said, the silence after him weighing heavy.

"But you were just there?" Hermione asked confusedly.

"No, no," Ron said, "I have to go back to Hogwarts. Permanently."

"Oh,"

Harry sighed behind her, and she could feel his dejection in his breath.

"But are you…" she trailed off, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said solemnly, "There was a problem with my exchange permit, and also my scholarship,"

Harry stomped hard into the ground behind her, and she turned around to see him march towards Ron.

"Was it that prick Malfoy again?" he demanded.

Ron frowned, "I think so. Draco Malfoy – one of the prodigy Death Eaters at school –"

"And total fucking bully," Harry cut in.

"He really dislikes us," Ron agreed, "And he has a father working in the government. He must have made Lucius Malfoy change my permit. He and my father work together, and he has tried to get Dad fired multiple times already,"

"That is so childish! That Malfoy weasel seems to think it's funny to mess with people's education, as if it isn't important!" Hermione said, seething, feeding her own anger with theirs.

"What an arse," Harry agreed.

"Can't you file a complaint? Tell the principal? Your father?" Hermione asked.

Ron frowned again, "I already tried. Professor Dumbledore said he has no power over the permits, and he can't do anything about it, and Dad is afraid it'll only get him into more trouble with Malfoy and at work,"

Hermione bit her nail, "Shit,"

Harry swore, "Is the scholarship the problem? Or is there any other way to solve this?"

"No, not the scholarship," Ron gritted his teeth, and Hermione sensed that this was a topic they had discussed many times before, "The permit is the real problem. And it's no longer valid,"

"So, what are you going to do now?" Hermione asked, afraid to hear the answer, but knowing it was important.

"Go back to Hogwarts, I guess," he said, hesitating, "But Dumbledore said I might be able to take the exam in the courses I already started here. I'll just not have the scholarship anymore,"

"Okay, but that's wonderful! At least you'll get to be here a bit longer,"

Ron made a face.

"I won't be able to stay here. I'm only here to pack my things and go," he said, a sludgy look passing over his face.

Hermione saw Harry's face fall, and she understood that this was the first time he heard this too. She realized he must have run to get her the actual second Ron came back. She was grateful, and sad, and angry at the unfairness of the situation.

"When are you leaving?" Hermione finally asked, tumbling over the words in fear of the answer.

Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest. The blood wheezed as it passed her ears. It was deafening.

Ron blinked a few times, then brought his hand up to his hair, running it exasperatingly slowly through the red locks.

"In a couple of days," he finally admitted.

She didn't know what to say. Lucky for her, Harry did.

"Why didn't you write us? When you were away," he said. She had never heard Harry's voice with such an edge as the one it had now. It was hard and unwelcoming, and all-in-all very different from the Harry she knew.

He cringed at his own words, and Hermione recognized his warmth returning again. Harry looked apologetic, but Ron brushed it off.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I tried messaging you through the S.P.E.W. pins, but I think we garbled up the spell, because it stopped working when I crossed the border,"

Hermione smiled thinly, barely making a crinkle in her cheek. There was an ice cube in her chest, and it was dark and cold, and she felt terribly let down.

"Why didn't you owl?" she suddenly said.

To her surprise, he laughed.

"I'm really sorry, Hermione. And Harry," he said cocking his head between the two of them, looking genuinely sorry for a moment longer.

Hermione felt her ice cube melt.

Then he explained, "Pig, my owl, flew into a wall,"

As he said it, Harry suddenly laughed, too.

Hermione was shocked.

"You named your owl Pig?"

"That's actually a really funny story," Harry supplied beside her, patting her excitedly on the shoulder.

And then, suddenly, the atmosphere felt a thousand times lighter, and it was as if Hermione was transported back to the times before, before the last two weeks had ever happened.

Before Ron had disappeared.

The only remainder of the ugly truth was the nudging feeling in the back of her chest telling her that this wasn't going to last.

That she were going back to having no friendly Trio, no intricate paper birds flying onto her balcony, and most of all, no smoking red-headed neighborhood hottie.

When are you leaving?

In a couple of days.

She looked over at Ron as he laughed. Noticed the crinkle in his cheek, and the way the light bounced off the gold-tinted red of his hair.

Hermione laughed with them at one of Harry's jokes, but deep down she couldn't quite enjoy it. There was a weight in her stomach that she couldn't quite shake off.

Ron seemed to notice her distant look and snaked an arm around her shoulders.

"Only a couple of days left here," he repeated, "But let's make the best of it, yeah?"

She nodded.

"Yeah."

A/N: I swear, I didn't mean to make everything so complicated for them, okay? Okay, maybe I did. I'm sorry. It just can't be too simple. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please leave a comment about what you think so far! I appreciate it to bits!