A couple of days after the Christmas dinner, Hermione visited Harry's office and gave him the Time-Turner. She warned her friend one more time to be very careful with it, and Harry swore that he would be. Hermione smiled indulgently at him. Knowing her friend, the witch knew she had to be on her guard. After chatting for a bit, Hermione left Harry's office and headed to her own. Opening the door, she saw Mrs Potter sitting on the sofa and drinking coffee.
"Hermione!" said Ginny. "Finally! I've been sitting here for ages waiting for you. I even had time to drink a cup of coffee already." Ginny laughed, put the cup on the coffee table and went up to her friend.
Hermione hugged the other witch tightly and said, "I'm so glad to see you, Ginn. Did you need something?"
"Well, someone promised to tell me the rest of the story about that mysterious young man." Ginny winked at her friend and sat back down on the sofa. Hermione followed her example and sat down next to her.
"Are you really that interested?" Hermione looked her friend in the eyes.
"Of course I am, silly! I can see that whatever happened is gnawing at you. Dear, I can assure you that if you share the burden, you will feel much better."
Hermione smiled and continued her story, "After our first date, we started seeing each other every day."
"What? How? I've never seen you with anyone else except for Harry and Ron!" Ginny was shocked by her friend's admission.
"We met in secret. The idea came to me from our DA meetings. We started meeting in the Room of Requirement, where no one could disturb us. We talked and talked, and I just couldn't get enough of him. We spent every evening together, getting to know each other, and one day I suddenly realised that I had fallen for him. Ginn, I had never felt like this with anyone before. It was as if he was the other part of my soul. The missing piece of my puzzle. Summer was approaching and I couldn't believe that I wouldn't see him for so long..."
Ginny listened to her friend and couldn't believe that there was once such pure, bright and strong love in Hermione's life. How did she never notice it? What could have happened? Questions were swarming the witch's mind.
Meanwhile, Hermione continued, "One evening, I entered the Room of Requirement and just stood there at the entrance, stunned. The room looked exactly like the café where we had our first date." Hermione smiled warmly, immersed in her memories. "Then a soft melody started playing and he asked me to dance. I took his hand and melted into his arms. I don't know where he learned to dance like that, but it was like we were floating above the ground. It was such a wonderful feeling. When the song ended, we just stood in each other's arms. I looked at him then and understood that I didn't want to let him go, that I was ready to be with him despite everyone else's opinions. I wanted to spend my whole life with him. He looked at me and said the most important words, 'I love you, Hermione.' I laid my head on his shoulder, submerging into his scent. During our weeks spent together, it became so familiar to me, the smell of his cologne. I leaned into him and said, 'I love you too.'"
Ginny watched as one emotion replaced another on her friend's face. She looked so peaceful and happy that Ginny herself began to smile.
"Well, what happened next?" Ginny understood that something must have happened after that moment, something that made them break off their relationship, but she had to know. She couldn't watch her best friend suffer alone any longer.
"He changed a lot after he came back from the summer break." Hermione sighed sadly. "I noticed that he started distancing himself from me. We stopped spending time together, and one day, I couldn't stand it anymore and asked him, 'What happened? You came back from the holidays as an absolutely different person.' I looked into his eyes and saw such raw pain there. I couldn't understand what could have happened during that school break that changed him so much. He said to me, 'We can't do this anymore.' When he said those words, something inside of me broke. I couldn't believe that he was actually saying this to me after everything we'd been through together. I looked at his beloved face and felt tears running down my cheeks as I asked him, 'What are you saying?' He said, 'I'm sorry,' turned around and left."
Hermione brushed away a tear and continued, "I saw how hard it was for him to say these words, but he just left me there without explaining anything. I couldn't keep my balance and slowly sank to the floor. I kept crying and couldn't make myself stop. It hurt so much, Ginn. It was obvious that he hadn't made this decision himself. But how could you let your family dictate your decisions this way, that you could just go and destroy everything that was so meticulously built? After everything we had been through together, he still couldn't fight these stupid rules about the purity of blood." Hermione abruptly stopped. She hadn't planned to disclose this detail. This information could give her away, but she suddenly didn't care about that. She was crying on Ginny's shoulder, and all the pain that had been gathering in her heart for more than 20 years burst out of her. Ginny was whispering soothing words to her, slowly running her fingers through Hermione's hair. The red-haired witch already guessed who they were talking about but wasn't going to push her friend to confirm the guess. Right now, Hermione needed to let it all out.
After some time, Hermione pulled her head off Ginny's shoulder, wiped away her tears and continued the story, "After that conversation, he didn't even look at me, let alone talk to me or explain. You already know what happened next. Attempts to kill Dumbledore, the attack on Hogwarts, Dumbledore's death." Hermione began to talk openly with her friend, realising that she had already given away the identity of her 'secret lover'. "Then we went after the remaining Horcruxes. And after the Battle of Hogwarts, I never saw him again." Hermione fell silent.
Ginny hugged her friend and said, "Hermione, listen to me carefully. I'm sure that Malfoy didn't break up with you of his own free will. From your stories, it's clear how much he loved you. There has to be something here that we don't know."
"Ginn, he had a lot of time to come clean and tell me everything. Anyway, it's too late now. After Draco and I broke up and the boys and I went after the Horcruxes, I noticed that Ron wasn't as indifferent to me as I thought. The pain gradually began to recede, and I realised that I needed to move on and stop living in the past. Draco made his choice, so when Ron kissed me in the Chamber of Secrets, I kissed him back. And when, not long after the Battle of Hogwarts, he proposed to me, I gladly accepted it.
"Many years have passed before I finally realised that I made a mistake. Now, I understand that Draco must have had a reason for ending things when he did, and I only remember the good parts of our time together. I regret that it didn't work out between us, but it's too late to fix anything." Hermione sighed and laid her head on her friend's shoulder.
"It's never too late," Ginny whispered, but Hermione didn't hear her.
"Thank you for listening," said Hermione, hugging her friend tighter.
"Thank you for telling me, darling. Remember, I'll always be there for you."
Hermione's heart felt so much lighter. As she sat there, hugging Ginny, she realised that even if nothing could be fixed with Draco, it didn't mean she should just keep going with the flow. After so many years of living with Ron, she realised that she was simply tired. They had a good life together once, but that ended quite a while ago. Why torture both herself and him? At that moment, Hermione decided that it was finally time to talk to her husband. She was done tormenting herself. It was time for a change.
After their conversation with Ginny, Hermione returned home and found Ron sitting on the sofa and reading a Quidditch magazine. Their children were at Grimmauld Place, which was very convenient.
"Ron?" Hermione came up to her husband and sat down on the armchair next to the sofa.
"Hermione? You're a bit early today. It's weird to see home before midnight."
"Ron, we need to talk," Hermione went on, ignoring his mockery.
"Alright, then. Let's talk." Ron put the newspaper down and looked at his wife. The wizard could guess what the conversation was going to be about. Lately, his relationship with Hermione was only getting worse. Something had to be done, or there would come a time when they wouldn't even be able to look at each other.
"Ron, I think it's time for us to split up. Please don't interrupt me. I've been thinking about this for a long time and it will be better this way. For both of us. Marriage shouldn't be so hard, Ron."
"I know," Ron sighed and closed his eyes. "I've been thinking about it too. It's for the best if we do it now, when we still can have a civil conversation together and haven't yet started hating each other."
Hermione did not expect her husband to react this calmly. She had been preparing herself for yelling and fighting. But for Ron to agree to the divorce that easily? She really didn't know the man sitting next to her anymore.
"I think it's best if we take things step by step and tell the children first," said Ron as he looked up at Hermione.
"Yes. You're right. I'm glad we're on the same page about this," said Hermione, smiling.
"It really is for the best." Ron's smile was a little tired but sincere.
It's for the best.