All characters, settings, etc, are the copyright of JK Rowling and Bloomsbury Publishing.
Freeze
Chapter 3: Bygones
Tapping his fingers on the arms of the chair, Ron took a look around Hermione’s living room. One wall was covered with bookshelves. No surprise there. Another chair like the one he was sitting in, a sofa, and small wooden chest for a coffee table were the only other furnishings in the room. Everything was a cream color with the exception of a few green pillows here and there.
Ron smirked as he remembered his own flat back in London. Ginny had told him that she would keep an eye on the place. Ron hadn’t kept a pet since graduation, and having given Pigwidgeon to Ginny, there wasn’t anything to keep an eye on. He eyed the sofa with disdain and shook his head with the realization that he would miss his own bed. He heard the tap and realized Hermione must be starting her bath causing him to sit forward with a jolt, eyes wide. His imagination was just starting to wander when an alarm rang, making him jump.
“Bloody hell!” he stammered, looking around for the intrusive noise. He got up and followed the incessant ringing. “Ah!” he said proudly, discovering the telephone. He could hear Hermione’s reprimand in his head: “Don’t touch anything you don’t understand.” So instead he sat there staring at it. Soon the ringing noise stopped and he heard a recording of Hermione’s starched voice. “Hello. I’m not available at the moment. Please leave a message.”
Ron looked down the hall noticing the still-running water. Suddenly he heard a man’s voice on the machine. “Uh, Hermione, it’s Tom. I had a really good time last night and I wanted to see if you if you were available this Saturday. I’d really like to see you again."
Ron slumped down again in his chair and said to himself, “Oh it’s like that, then, is it? Figures.” He shook his head and wondered why he even cared. He stood and decided to look for that bedding she mentioned.
It was going to be a long month.
~ * ~
Hermione turned the tap off, dropped her robe, and tested the water with a toe. Satisfied, she stepped in and sat down. The hot water calmed her frazzled nerves but did nothing for the butterflies going wild in her stomach. Ronald Weasley was in her living room.
She rolled her eyes as she slid down in the water. He had the nerve to be nothing short of gorgeous. His red hair had grown longer and almost brushed his shoulders. He had always been tall but he seemed bigger now, stronger, more sure of himself. That’s it, she thought to herself. He was an Auror now. Lord only knows what he’d been up to. Hermione remembered Ginny describing Ron as she and Harry’s savior at their wedding. Stopping a dark wizard in the thick of battle could be no easy feat. She smiled and sank down further in the water. She couldn’t believe it. I’m actually proud of him.
If only he had loved her as much as she had loved him. Hermione closed her eyes against the tears that threatened to fall.
It was going to be a long month.
~ * ~
Ron sat on the sofa and stared at Hermione’s books on the wall, the folded blankets lying untouched on his lap. One arm rested on two pillows that he had fetched with the blankets minutes before, while the other was draped lazily over the back of the couch.
The tap down the hall had stopped running.
He had begun to make his bed for the evening, but when he found his mind wandering again, he sat back down and hadn’t moved since. The old anger swelled inside of him all over again, and a hard frown found its way on his freckled face as he glared at the books opposite him.
“Dad, is it true? The attacks- are you sure?”
Arthur sighed, got up from his desk, and closed the office door behind his son so they could have some privacy. Ron knew that he had been out of line when he barged into his father’s office but just having heard the news, he had to find out for himself.
“Son...” Arthur looked down and gave a heavy sigh before answering. “We’re pretty sure, yes.”
Ron’s expression changed from shock to anger in a second. “I’m going with you.”
His father shook his head and offered him a chair. Ron took it and Arthur sat down opposite him. “Son, it’s too risky. You need to finish your training and let the Order handle this. They have a lead-“
“DAD! I can help. I know him better than the Order does!” He was determined and didn’t back down.
Arthur sighed and then he did something that took Ron by surprise. He nodded.
~*~
Hermione’s mind drifted as she lay in the warm water.
Ron was so close…
Suddenly she realized she was crying. The tears ran freely down her face. She covered her mouth with one wet hand to stifle the sobs. She didn’t want him to hear.
She sat packing her things. Hermione was leaving the Burrow to stay with her parents for a while before starting her research work at the Ministry. She was offered a much higher-paying job as a research analyst for the American Department of Aurors, but that meant leaving Ron or making him quit Auror training and she wouldn’t do that to him. So she had taken the lesser of the two offers and told Ron and Harry she would be working in London where she could see them both. She hadn’t told them about America.
Suddenly Ron entered the room unannounced, quietly closing the door behind him.
“Ronald! Really, I could have been dressing!” she said with a teasing smile, wishing she had been. She stopped short at the serious look on his face. “Ron, what’s the matter?”
He moved her case out of the way and sat down beside her. “Mione,” he said softly, “The Order has a lead on the dark wizard that hurt those women in London.” He took her hand in his.
Hermione shuddered, remembering the news about the most recent witch who had been brutally attacked in her home. “That’s promising. I hope they get him and put him in Azkaban where he belongs.”
Ron sighed and tightened his grip on her hand. Looking up into her eyes, he whispered, “Hermione, I’m going with them.”
~*~
Ron partially covered the sofa with a blanket and, standing, he noticed that Crookshanks was watching him from the hallway where Hermione had disappeared. Ron shook his head and tried, with no luck, to ignore the furry little spy.
“I guess I have to put this somewhere,” he said as he quickly tossed a green pillow directly at the cat. Crookshanks howled and jumped out of the way before the pillow landed on the floor with a swoosh. Ron grumbled as he finished tucking the blankets in and stood to admire his handy work.
It was a mess.
Shrugging, he sat down and, as he did, he heard the bathroom tap come on again. Leaning back into the blankets he sighed loudly. She probably couldn’t hear him anyway.
He became concerned when she didn’t speak right away.
“What?” She half laughed. “Ron, you’ve only just begun your training. You don’t-“
He shook his head as he dropped her hand and stood. “Hermione, they think it’s Draco Malfoy.”
She blinked and her mouth dropped open. “Malfoy… Are they sure?”
Ron nodded, put his hands in his pockets, and began to pace the tiny bedroom. He had to do this. He had to make her understand. Ron recalled the horrible circumstances in which the Muggleborn witches had been killed. Each of them had attended Hogwarts. They had all been top in their class. What if Malfoy came after Hermione and Ron wasn’t there to stop them? He refused to let that happen. After all they had been through together, he wasn’t going to lose her now. He just got her.
“I’m leaving right away. They know where he is. I heard Dad speaking with Remus. He told him that Malfoy’s not alone and that he’s with some former Death Eater friends of his father’s. The Order has a plan and Dad agrees that I may be able to help, though he doesn’t really want me to go either.” Ron kicked the bedpost and winced. “I know him better than they do. I can help, Hermione. I’ve been training now for two months.” His eyes begged her to understand that this was something he had to do.
She stood and looked up at him. “Ronald, you could be dropped from the program if they find out. There’s a reason for that. You’re not ready! Death Eaters are evil personified and you could get hurt or worse- Ronald, please don’t do this.” She grabbed his shoulders and looked up into his eyes. “Let the Order handle this, Ron. Stay and continue your training. It could take months to find Malfoy and even though you won’t be qualified maybe by then you’ll be ready-“
He frowned down at her. He knew she would be mad at him for breaking Ministry rules but it angered him that she would question his ability. After all they had been through, he thought she loved him. He thought she would stand by him. Encouragement was what he was looking for, not doubt. He had enough of that on his own. Maybe she didn’t love him after all.
“Are you saying I can’t handle Draco Malfoy? Do I seem that pathetic to you then?” he hissed.
~*~
The hot water washed away Hermione’s tears but it didn’t take away the pain. Washing her hair, the pain was quickly replaced by anger and she reminded herself that it was his doing, not hers. Had he not insisted on acting like a hero… Had he let the Order handle the situation, they would still be together.
But he wouldn’t relent.
They hadn’t argued in weeks and she recoiled at his harsh tone. Everything had been so wonderful and she wondered why he was acting this way. He was ruining it. “No! I never said-”
Ron cut her off. “Think he can take me then? Or maybe you think we should leave this sort of thing up to Harry,” he sneered.
Stunned that he would say such a thing, she shook her head, “Ron, don’t do this! You’re acting like a child! Even if Malfoy is guilty “ you don’t have to get involved. Let the Order handle this-“
He looked stunned. “I’m acting like a CHILD? HE’S A BUTCHER, HERMIONE! I have to help y- them- if I can! Bugger the training! Harry took on Voldemort with no training at all! I’M PRETTY DAMN SURE I CAN HANDLE MALFOY!” His face was red with anger.
She flinched. “That’s not what I meant! Ron -“
He cut her off again. “Hermione “ all of those things he said to you in school “ everyone he bullied “ the things he’s said about my family… I have to do this! I AM doing this!” He turned to face her again with a determined resolve. “It won’t take long. I’ll be back.” He sighed heavily and took her hands in his. “I promise.”
She snatched her hands back as the tears began to fall and she wiped at them angrily. “Ronald, if you do this, I…” she looked down and thought quickly. “ I won’t be here when you get back.” She had to stop him if she could. The Death Eaters had killed so many people in the war, and she wouldn’t let them take Ron from her. She just got him.
He dropped his arms and stood there looking at her. “Hermione, I’m going to do this.”
They hadn’t even been a couple for longer than two weeks and he was already willing to leave her. Maybe he didn’t love her after all.
~*~
Hermione closed her bathrobe tighter as she walked the short distance from the bathroom to her bedroom. She had planned on talking to him about the plan even if she hadn’t been able to think about it yet. Then she saw her red, swollen eyes in the mirror and decided against it. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had broken her heart.
The next morning, Hermione left the Burrow as planned.
Ron hadn’t even said goodbye. His mother had gone on for hours. She would never forgive Arthur for having let Ron do something so reckless. From the determined look in his eyes the night before, Hermione knew that even if his father hadn’t let him, Ron would have found a way.
Still, she couldn’t believe that he hadn’t listened to her. Evidently he didn’t care if she left or not. She came to the painful realization that she must not have meant that much to him after all.
When she arrived back home, she made her decision. With tears in her eyes, she contacted the Ministry and told them she would take the position in America after all.
The Ministry had told her that if she took this assignment, she would be unable to contact her friends for the duration of this long-term assignment with the ADoA by magical means or otherwise “ as it could endanger the whole project if she was found out.
She sent one last owl to Harry who had been in France working with Mad Eye Moody on assignment. He sent word back that he was very surprised that she was going so far away, asked her what was wrong and offered to meet her to talk about it. He guessed something had happened with Ron, and, judging by his letter, Hermione surmised he didn’t know about Malfoy. She sent a reply back telling him that she would be fine, not to worry, and when her assignment was done, he would be the first person she contacted.
One month later, she left for her new home in Chicago.
She never did hear from Ron.
~*~
Ron’s mouth turned into a hard line of determination as he switched off the lamp next to the sofa. Obviously she had changed her mind and wasn’t coming out after all. He settled down into the blankets and felt safe enough in the darkness to let the tears fall.
She left me.