She looked at the ground, and then back up at the tombstone. Feeling that it was rather pointless, because Harry would never answer her, Hermione sighed and got back up to her feet. With a heavy heart, she turned away from her friend’s grave and returned to the Burrow. Ron watched sadly as Melody was engulfed in green flames and instantly gone. He shoved his hands in his pocket and hung his head low. "You know you brought this upon yourself. You deserved this,” A cold voice said behind him. Ron turned around to look at Ginny, who was holding Lily in one arm, and looking at him with fire in her eyes. Ron had been seeing this look a lot lately. "Yeah, I know,” Ron mumbled, “I’m scum.” Ginny nodded and let her restless daughter down. At first Ron thought Ginny was going to hit him; she looked so mad, and if she had hit him, Ron wouldn’t have minded. Instead she calmly whispered, “Ron, I just want to ask you one thing. Do you honestly love Hermione?” Ron thought about it for a moment and assembled all of his feelings. He looked down at his feet before firmly looking up at Ginny and saying, “Yes, I love her. I want her to forgive me, but she has every reason not to.” Author's Note: I have to thank my beta, Leanne for all the work she did on this chapter. Good job Leanne... ten bouncing crazy people out of 10
Dust Has Only Just Begun To Form by just_riot
“Ron, are you sure you’re all right with this?” Hermione asked, handing Ron a gold ring with a very large diamond embedded in it. Ron sighed.
“Of course I’m all right with this, Hermione. I actually agree that rushing into marriage isn’t what we should be doing right now. Besides, we’re still going to be together, aren’t we? This won’t change anything.”
Ron took the ring, placed it back into the blue box, and stuffed it deep inside his pocket.
Two weeks after Ron proposed, Hermione asked Ron to break off the engagement until she had figured everything concerning her career out. Hermione didn’t want to break up with Ron, she just couldn’t have everything happening all at once. At the time she thought it was the smartest thing to do.
“Oh, Ron, do you have any idea how much I love you? You’re so understanding, thank you. We will get married, I promise, but I just want to wait right now,” Hermione whispered as she pulled Ron close to her. Ron smiled warmly.
“I love you too, Hermione. I always have, and I know that I always will. I could never even imagine loving anyone else,” he said softly. Hermione rested her head on Ron’s shoulder and sighed.
Hermione’s eyes fluttered open. She was lying on a wet floor and had a hard time lifting her body up off of the tiles. An instant panging feeling arouse in her heart, and it depressed her. However, she didn’t feel the need to cry anymore. She felt a little better. She struggled to her feet, went over to the bathroom mirror, and sighed at her appearance. She looked ghastly. Hermione dug into her robes and pulled out her wand. She mumbled an incantation, and held tightly onto the pedestal sink with her left hand. A soft pink mist surrounded her head for a few short moments, and when it faded, Hermione’s face was cleaned up. She smiled at herself in the mirror. Hermione suddenly felt strong enough to face the rest of the world.
Hermione held her head high as she unlocked the bathroom door, and tried to feel confident as she walked down the tiny corridor that led to Ron’s bedroom. She knew that she had to talk to him because it didn’t make any sense to avoid the conflict. After staying in the Burrow many, many times Hermione knew that she had to be quiet when passing Mr. and Mrs. Weasley’s bedroom, because even though they slept late on weekends, they were very light sleepers.
Ron’s bedroom door now seemed larger than ever before. She felt so tiny and insignificant standing beside it. With a deep breath and several thoughts of assurance, Hermione turned the brass knob and slowly swung open the door.
Ron’s room looked the exact same as it did when she first arrived at the Burrow several years ago. It was so juvenile, but it represented Ron, and she loved that Ron would never cease to have the spirit of a child.
Melody was standing over Ron’s bed, her suitcase packed and on the floor beside her. Ron was sitting in the corner, running his fingers through his flaming red hair and sighing. They did not even notice Hermione enter the room.
"Please, Melody, don’t do this. You don’t have to go,” Ron pleaded.
"Oh, yes I do, Ron! You never told me that you were in a relationship with Hermione! In all of the times you mentioned her, not once did you tell me that you were romantically involved! Not to mention that you were practically cheating on her with me! How could you do that? I’m appalled at you. I also just feel so sorry for Hermione! To give your heart to someone, and have them throw it away like garbage, that is unheard of! You are a sweet guy, or at least you appear to be, so I would have never thought you were capable of something like this. I’m leaving Ronald Weasley, and there is not a thing you can do to stop me,” Melody shouted, as her eyes stared at Ron in a flaming heat of scorn. Hermione’s eyes widened and she started to back out of the room, silently. Unfortunately, at that moment, Ron’s owl, Pigwidgeon, decided to give away Hermione’s presence. Melody seemed taken aback to find Hermione standing there, looking so unbothered.
“I just wanted to see how you two were doing,” Hermione said lamely. Ron rolled his head back, not able to believe that his situation could have possibly gotten any worse.
"Hermione, I am deeply ashamed of Ron. I had no idea that-” Melody stated, but Hermione put up her hand to stop her.
"No, it’s all right. I’m not really angry with anyone. I just came up to talk to Ron, that’s all. I needed to just get the facts, so I can forget him and move on with my life,” she said. As she spoke the last sentence, she was looking directly at Ron. She wanted to tell Ron that she no longer cared for him, because she thought that would be what he wanted. He didn’t want to be tied down to her any longer, and she had to let him go, even if it meant heartbreak for her. “It seems that you two should really talk privately, so I’ll go out for a couple of hours. We can talk, Ron, when I get back.” Hermione held her head high with confidence, and walked out of the bedroom. As soon as she shut the door, a large and devious grin spread across her face.
This is exactly what Ron deserves. Melody leaving him is really justice, she thought. Not even a small part of her felt sorry for Ron.
But, as Hermione went down the creaky wooden stairs that led to the kitchen, she suddenly needed advice. But who would she go to? In her youth, Harry had always been the one to keep the peace whenever she and Ron were fighting, but now Harry was gone, and Hermione had no one else to turn to. Ginny was too busy raising little Lily, and the twins would never take her seriously. She was too afraid to talk to Bill, though he knew exactly what she was going through, and Mrs. Weasley tended to oversee Ron’s faults at times.
Then suddenly, out of nowhere, it hit Hermione. She knew where she had to go, even if it seemed a bit silly. Hermione pulled on her black over-cloak and wrapped a dark green scarf around her neck. She was desperate to find an answer to her problem. With a small little pop, Hermione vanished.
About a second and a half later, Hermione reappeared in a foggy mist. The ground beneath her was cold and moist, and she could see nothing off in the distance. All she could see were hundreds of tall tombstones, and an old sign that read: Godric’s Hollow Cemetery. Hermione peered over the gloom and walked forward until she found three identical tombstones, standing side by side only a few feet away from her. A shiver came over her as she crossed the hard, frosted grass to kneel in front of the last tombstone. Hermione felt a small tear run down her cheek like ice. Etched on the smooth gray stone, underneath a carving of a lightning bolt and the picture of a snitch read:
Harry James Potter
July 31, 1980 “ April 15, 1998
Hermione sighed. She knew that she would look a little silly talking to a rock, but she convinced herself that this rock was Harry now.
"Hello, Harry. I know that it took me a long time to come here, and I’m sorry. But I need you now. It’s funny that with all of the magic that I possess…I can’t bring you back. The Muggle way of death isn’t that different from ours.” Hermione stopped talking to gather herself, and then continued. “Ron hurt me, really badly. I have never felt the way I do now. I want to love him, and be with him, and I came back here so we could be happy together. But, he cheated on me! I want to be angry with him now, but I can’t. I love him too much. I want to hate him for hurting me. His girlfriend…Melody…she’s leaving him because of what he did. And I’m afraid that once she’s gone, he’ll want me again and then he’ll end up hurting me again. I’m just so confused and I need you. You always helped me through conflicts between him and me and now you’re gone… I feel so alone.” she cried.