Hermione and Terry couldn't see each other very often, both being busy with work and unwilling to change that. The hospital never ceased needing potions from Terry, and Hermione had more clients than ever through word of mouth, so spent long hours in her workroom to keep up with it all. She liked that about him, he didn't question her long hours as he kept his own; didn't advise her to slow down or rest, as he was getting by on liberal use of Pepper-up potion himself. Sometimes, they would arrange to see each other, then be so exhausted that one of them would fall asleep on the sofa while they chatted or snuggled. Neither took offense.
To the Weasleys' infinite excitement, Hermione brought Terry to a Sunday lunch in late June when they could both miraculously make it. Poor Terry had been subject to an interrogation worse than her own and what George called 'an induction prank,' to his mother's horror. Terry shrugged off the prank (and the chicken feathers) with surprising calm and answered all the quick-fire questions with a poise Hermione had been jealous of. When he'd left to start his shift at work, Molly had whacked George over the head for 'trying to ruin things' and the others had gushed their approval of Terry for the rest of her visit with them.
Hermione wished she could be as definite about Terry as they all seemed to be. In truth, she was struggling with her emotions concerning the relationship. They'd been seeing each other for over three months now, but still rarely saw each other more than once a week. She enjoyed their time together (when they weren't struggling with exhaustion) and knew she had found a great friend in Terry. She was just unsure if it could ever blossom into anything else. If she was being honest with herself, she couldn't feel a spark between them, a spark that she hadn't known existed until Christmas. The fire she had hoped would form between them hadn't, and it left her feeling awkward whenever things started to move forward with them sexually. They hadn't gone further than heavy snogging and grinding against each other, and it didn't matter how hard she tried (or ground, as the case may be), she couldn't make herself feel how she had felt with Charlie. The thought of him plagued her, especially at night, and left her feeling increasingly guilty about her failing relationship with Terry.
Enough was enough. The next time she and Terry arranged to meet, she asked him to come to her flat. He leaned in to kiss her hello, and she deftly turned her head to the side and caught it on her cheek with an apologetic smile. Forgoing her usual offer of a drink, they sat on the sofa slightly awkwardly as he looked at her with trepidation. She decided if she was going to do this, there was no point beating around the bush. She was sorted to Gryffindor for a reason.
"Terry, I'm sorry, you know I love spending time with you, but I don't see this going anywhere between us romantically." She rushed out the pre-prepared speech she'd been practicing all week.
His breath rushed out of him as he looked at her sadly. "I see." He nodded to himself silently. "Okay. You- you don't want to spend more time together and see if it grows into something naturally?" He asked, the hopeful look sprouting on his face making her want to cry. She grabbed his hand in hers.
"I'm sorry, Terry, I have been trying. You are so lovely, and such a gentleman, but I don't think it's fair to either of us to continue this when it's just not there for me."
"Is it because I work too much? I know we don't see each other much, maybe I could-"
"No! We both know I work just as much as you." Hermione squeezed his hand, then let go. She didn't know what else to say. The age-old 'it's not you, it's me' came to mind, but she couldn't bring herself to say it. "I don't think either of us have the time in our lives at this point to nourish a relationship as much as it deserves, but I think even if we did, we couldn't be more than friends."
"Oh," he said, dejectedly. He stared at his shoes for a minute while the silence around them became heavier. What more could she say? She could only apologise so much for something that was out of her control.
He looked up at her and gave a small smile before getting up and heading back to the floo. "I've enjoyed hanging out with you, Herms." She internally cringed at the pet name he'd started calling her. She wouldn't miss that. Just before he flooed away, he said seriously, "I hope life gives you everything you want."
Unbidden, an image of Charlie smiling down at her as he held a hand out to help her up flashed through her mind.
--
Hermione tried not to wallow for long after her break-up with Terry. If anything, she mainly felt relief at not having to try to force something that just wasn't there. She, as always, had so much to do that she kept herself busy and her mind off her bruised heart. Terry hadn't been it for her, but the break-up had churned up a lot of 'what if I'm alone forever' concerns. She didn't want to be alone, she had enjoyed their companionship, but she also knew she was speaking the truth when she said she didn't have the time for a relationship while her work was so hectic. It wasn't fair to anyone she got involved with, or herself. George's offers of a working partnership looked more tempting than ever. Her business, if it got any more busy, would take over her life completely if she had to keep up with it.
It was time to give in. She wanted to enjoy her life, not spend it all in her workroom crunching numbers. She wanted to have enough energy to go out with her friends. She'd given running her business a good go, and learnt so much more than she'd expected. If working with George didn't work out, she could always come back to it, at a slower, more scheduled pace. Her hatred of work hanging over her head meant she didn't work well with "as soon as possible" deadlines and would work herself to the bone to try to complete it all expeditiously.
Besides, Harry and Ginny's wedding was on the 2nd of August, the weekend between their birthdays, and she wanted to be able to help with preparations during the weeks prior. She wouldn't be able to do that if she had a mountain of work to do.
She worked hard in the next week to complete almost all of her current work, and now that she wasn't renewing contracts with clients other than WWW, she felt confident she would complete it all well before the wedding. She suddenly felt like she could breathe again without the weight of a deadline on her shoulders. She just hadn't told George yet of her plan to finally yield to his request.
--
George had long ago stopped conjuring and vanishing their beanbags in the backroom, and left them as permanent furniture there for their meetings.
"You look more relaxed than usual." He said as she sat down. "Did you and Terry finally do the dirty?" He asked with a sinful grin, ready to dodge whatever she threw at him, which this time was her notebook.
He caught it and sat down next to her, offering it back with a butterbeer as a peace offering. Hermione waited until he'd taken a sip of his drink before saying, "No, we broke up."
He didn't spit his drink out, but it was very close, and he choked a little as he stared at her with wide eyes. She tried not to laugh at his expression.
"What happened?" He asked, incredulously. She supposed from the outside, it had probably looked like it was going well. Ginny had had a similar reaction. Harry had just nodded and asked her if she was okay.
"Nothing, that was the problem. It just wasn't going anywhere. There was no spark, no fire. Nothing that made me excited to be with him." George nodded sagely.
"No spark, like there is with you and Charlie?"
"Ye- what?" Hermione stared at him, guiltily. She sighed. "Yes."
"I take back what I said before, I think he might feel the same. At my birthday lunch, you may not have seen it, but the look on his face when everyone was discussing your relationship! He looked like he wanted to curse something." He grinned, then his eyes narrowed. "I saw him follow you afterward. What happened?"
"He just asked me if Terry was treating me well, and if it was what I wanted." She had been over the conversation so many times in her mind it was no trouble remembering what was said. "There was so much tension between us, even just standing near him looking at him, I could feel it. It was hard to go back to Terry and feel nothing."
George blew out a breath. "What did he say when you said Terry was what you wanted?"
"Well, I didn't exactly say Terry was what I wanted. I said something like, Terry likes me as a person and I wanted to give it a chance. He just looked sad. I couldn't stand it, I had to walk away. He was the one who said no strings, he shouldn't be allowed to look at me like that!"
"He looked like a kicked puppy the rest of that weekend. I think you may be the chink in his 'permanent bachelor' armour." He took a sip of his butterbeer, then pointed the bottle at her. "You'll see him at the wedding. What are you going to do?"
"What can I do? He lives in Romania, I live here."
"That didn't stop you at Christmas."
"No, but I feel like there's more at stake now. I don't want to be tossed aside as a no-strings tryst. I want him to want me as a person, too."
George tapped his lips in thought and hummed. "He wants you. He was jealous of even the mention of Terry."
"But how do I act at the wedding? I can't just run into his arms professing my undying love." George raised an eyebrow at her word choice and she waved him off. "You know what I mean. Especially not in front of your entire extended family."
"No, no, you'll have to play it cool. Let him come to you, let him come to terms with what he's feeling. I doubt Charlie has ever felt this way before. He's always been so sure romance or anything long-term wasn't for him."
"Do you think we should still... you know.." Hermione made a very out-of-character crude gesture with her hands that made George laugh loudly. "Bang?" She finished, with an impish smile at his snort.
"I doubt you'll be able to keep your hands off each other, anyway. It's just the romance part he'd struggle with. I remember Mum always being on at him when he first moved away about finding someone nice and settling down and it just made him cringe away from the idea even more."
"Ugh. This sucks. I want him to want more than just sex."
"He'll get there. He's probably already there and is just subconsciously rebelling against his own feelings." He deliberated for a second. "Probably worth keeping it quiet still though, the last thing you need is the family getting in the middle of it and confusing things for you both."
Hermione churned it all over in her head and sighed. "So, there's no real plan, I've just got to let things play out as they would?"
"Yep!" George popped the 'p' and grinned at her frown.
Her mind was only half with their following conversation about work, and she almost forgot to tell him her plan to join him. Just as he was draining his second butterbeer, she said, "Oh, by the way, George, I've decided I will join Wheezes."
This time, he did spit out his drink.