Hermione spent the next week preparing for her trip. She booked a room in a wizarding village near where she knew her parents had ended up. She set up an appointment at the dentist office they had opened as a way to break the ice with them, rather than just showing up at their home uninvited. Mr. Weasley had insisted on setting up a port key through the ministry for her rather than let her take a ship. It was all ready to go. Hermione just needed to take the next step.
On the evening before she was set to leave, Hermione was pacing back and forth in the Weasley's living room. Ron, Harry, and Ginny were seated on various pieces of furniture, watching her. Her nerves were starting to get the better of her as she thought about doing all of this on her own. "Oh, they're going to be so angry with me. I know it."
"Hermione, calm down. You're going to wear a hole into the floor," Ron said, standing and placing a hand on either of her shoulders to stop her. "Your parents love you, or they will once they remember who you are," he joked. "Stop worrying."
She froze as she stared up at Ron. In all the time she had spent preparing for her trip, she had never gotten around to having a conversation with Ron about the way she was feeling. She knew she had to, and she knew it would probably be best to do it before she left. That way they had time apart to process everything. Her eyes found Ginny's where she sat on the couch next to Harry. The honey color of her irises sparkled sympathetically as she smiled at Hermione, as if she knew exactly what Hermione was thinking.
"Actually," Hermione started before taking a small step back from Ron, "do you think you and I could go upstairs to your room and talk alone for a moment."
Ron's forehead crinkled in confusion, "Okay."
He followed her upstairs and into his bedroom. She made it a point to sit on Harry's bed in hopes that he would sit across from her on his instead of next to her. He seemed to take the hint and sat down on the edge of his own bed.
"What's going on, Hermione?"
Hermione shook out her hands and took a deep breath. Her fingers felt numb and it was as if her insides had vanished, like she was full of nothing but air and would just float out through the window if it were open. "I don't think we should be together anymore," she said with as much force as she could manage with how tight her throat had become.
Ron shook his head as if the words she said were rattling around in his brain and he was trying to steady them. "Wait, what? What brought this on? I thought everything was great between us?"
Tears started to pool in Hermione's eyes. She knew it was going to be hard to make him understand, particularly since she couldn't explain her whole reason, "Everything is great. You're great. It isn't you."
"You're kidding, right?" he said as he stood up from his bed and towered over her. "You're giving me the 'It's not you. It's me' excuse? I have to at least mean more to you than that."
He wasn't yelling which surprised Hermione. His tone was very even with a slight edge of hurt. Somehow that made this harder. She wanted him to argue and fight, maybe it would make her feel better about all of it. That was selfish, though.
"It really isn't you, Ron. Really," she stood up, too. He was still much taller, but she didn't have to angle her head as far back to look at him. "I've tried so hard, but I just can't feel the way about you that you feel about me, and it isn't fair to either of us for me to keep pretending."
His face reacted to her words as if they were a knife to the gut, "You've been pretending this whole time?"
She knew she would say the wrong thing. Books, logic, facts, those were her strengths. Feelings were not. "I didn't mean it that way. I haven't been pretending to have feelings for you so much as I confused the love I have for you as my best friend for something more. I can't pretend that it's enough for us to keep going."
Ron sat back down on his bed without looking at her, "Could you leave, please? I think I'd like to be alone right now."
Hermione didn't want to go. She wanted to stay and beg Ron to forgive her, to convince him that they were better off as friends and everything could just go back to the way it was before. She hated hurting him like this. However, she just nodded even though he wasn't looking at her to notice before turning around and walking out the bedroom door, closing it behind her.
She made her way downstairs to Ginny's room where she hoped to collapse onto the bed and cry out all of her feelings. When she opened the door, she saw that Ginny was already in there sitting on the bed. She had put on a pale blue sweater with a large letter "F" on it that was much to big for her. She had it pulled over he knees to cover her legs while Arnold the pygmy puff hopped around on the bed in front of her. Hermione quietly closed the bedroom door as she took a step inside the room, and Ginny looked up at her, concern all over the younger witch's face.
"Are you okay?" Ginny asked as she reached down to grab Arnold and place him back in his cage on the nightstand beside her. She patted the spot on the bed next to her for Hermione to sit on.
Hermione wiped the tears from her eyes and cheeks and joined Ginny on the bed. "I ended things with Ron. I know it was the right thing to do, but I hate hurting him."
Ginny scooted so she could rest her head on Hermione's shoulder and placed a hand on Hermione's knee. "I'm sorry things between you and Ron didn't work out the way you expected them to, Hermione," she said as she gave Hermione's knee a gentle squeeze. "The right person is out there for you, though, even if it's not Ron. Charlie's still single, I believe, if it's a Weasley you want." Ginny lifted her head from Hermione's shoulder so she could nudge it playfully with her own.
Hermione's stomach felt like it flipped inside out at that choice of words. Ginny didn't know just how close to home they were hitting. It was, in fact, a Weasley that Hermione wanted, but it definitely wasn't Charlie or any of the other boys for that matter. She would never say that, never admit it out loud, certainly not to Ginny. "I'm sure I'll find someone, eventually," Hermione replied instead. "For now, I'll just focus on my parents and going back to school."
The rest of the evening played out rather normally with the exception of Ron hiding in his room for most of it. When he came out, he refused to make eye contact with Hermione or say more than a few words in her direction. He didn't seem angry, just hurt. She hoped in time that he would forgive her, and they could go back to being friends. She hoped that time would come sooner rather than later because she did care about him so much and always had missed him whenever they weren't talking in the past. She knew this time wouldn't be any different.
The following evening, Hermione stood in the Weasley's living room with a popsicle stick in her hand that was to act as the portkey to her destination in Australia. It was set to leave in the next five minutes. All she had on her was her small, beaded bag, which was charmed to fit everything she needed. Bulky luggage would just make traveling by portkey too cumbersome. Ginny, Harry, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and surprisingly enough, Ron were there to see her off.
"You're sure you have everything you need then, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked her before handing a container of leftovers from dinner the night before. "That's just in case you get hungry later and don't feel like cooking for yourself."
"Thank you," she smiled gratefully at Mrs. Weasley, "and yes, I believe I have everything. If not, I'm sure I can find it in Australia."
"Of course, of course," Mrs. Weasley replied before moving back to stand next to her husband.
Hermione moved over to where Ginny, Harry, and Ron stood. She gave the three of them a week smile before forcing them into a group hug. "I'll be back before term starts. I want to ride the train back to school with Ginny," she pulled out of the hug and took a step back. "I'm sorry I'll miss your birthday," she said directly to the youngest Weasley. "I will send you something you'll love from a wizard shop in Australia. I promise."
"What if I come pick it out myself?" Ginny replied, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"What do you mean?"
She stepped forward so she was nearly toe-to-toe with Hermione, "I mean, I want to come to Australia to spend my birthday with you. If that's okay." Hermione's heart stuttered. Of course she wanted Ginny to come visit her in Australia. It would be amazing for it to be just the two of them exploring together, celebrating Ginny turning seventeen by discovering new styles of magic in a foreign country. Ginny's birthday was a couple of weeks away. That would give her time to settle in with her parents and get used to being in Australia. The thought of having Ginny all to herself far away from anyone who knew who Hermione was felt like what she assumed heaven would be. The idea that she needed time apart from Ginny to work out her feelings flew by the wayside.
Mrs. Weasley stomped her foot off to the side, interrupting Hermione's fantasy, "Absolutely not. My only daughter will not come of age on another continent. You will stay here and celebrate with your family. Sorry, Hermione."
Ginny rolled her eyes and stepped back, "I'll write to you. Maybe I can come after?" Her tone was excited and hopeful, she seemed to be searching Hermione's eyes for a reaction. Hermione hoped that her eyes didn't give too much away.
Hermione nodded at her, squeezing the popsicle stick tightly in her hand. "I'll send a letter as soon as I'm settled and can get my hands on an owl," she said to the room before adjusting the strap of the beaded bag on her shoulder.
"I will send Pig your way as soon as you've left," Ron said, looking at her with sad eyes and a small smile. "He probably won't make it there until you're settled anyway."
Hermione thanked him before saying her final goodbyes to everyone. As soon as the clock struck 8:00PM, she felt that familiar pull behind her navel as the port key pulled her to her destination.
