Chapter 3
It was the day before Halloween, and there was plenty of excitement in the air, as Hermione saw evident in the influx of students coming into hospital with raging stomach aches due to excessive sweets. She did happen to notice that quite a few of the stomach ailments disappeared as soon as the students hit the beds. Funny, she thought, she might have to have a word with the Weasley twins about that particular malady.
It was only about 8 o’clock that night when she walked in the front door of her and Ron’s flat, and found it strangely dark. That’s odd, Hermione thought to herself, Ron never goes to bed this early. I thought I made it home fairly quickly tonight. She walked to the bedroom to find that, to her surprise, it was empty.
“Ron?” Hermione called. Nothing.
She furrowed her brow, wondering where he could possibly be, and without even leaving her a note. She decided to take a walk down to the only other place she could think he might be, The Three Broomsticks. Maybe he ended up going out for a butterbeer with another professor, or one of the twins, which would be a convenient time to have a chat about certain sweets. Pulling open the front door of the popular hangout spot, her ears were met with a familiar bark of a laugh, drawing her attention to a corner table.
There was Ron. Holding a half empty glass of butterbeer, and laughing at a joke she was unable to hear. That was fine, that would have been fine, except at that moment she saw a hand reach out to rest on Ron’s upper thigh. Hermione’s eyes widened when she looked up and saw Lavender Brown, leaning over and whispering something into Ron’s ear that had him laughing and leaning back into her. It was a small gesture, one that could even be waved off between friends, but as far as Hermione knew, Ron and Lavender weren’t really friends. She hadn’t even known Lavender was in Scotland. The last Hermione had heard, she had taken a job with the Ministry.
Hermione was about to move from her spot at the door and walk towards them, to make her presence known then, but before she could she saw Lavender reach her hand up from its place on Ron’s thigh to his neck, and she leaned over to press a kiss on the corner of his mouth. It felt like a red hot poker was stabbing Hermione in the gut. She wanted to cry out, to say something, to protest, but all she could do was clutch her jumper and stutter out something unintelligible, before turning and practically barreling through two witches walking in behind her.
Through slightly hazy eyes, Ron recognized the head of curly hair and the ratty satchel fast retreating through the door. Horrified, he stood up, subsequently shoving Lavender away in the process.
“Bloody hell, Ron…” Lavender slurred slightly as she righted herself, not knowing they’d been seen.
He mumbled out without looking at her, “Sorry Lav, this wasn’t supposed to happen. I’ve got to go”. He threw some Galleons down on the table and turned to follow Hermione out the door.
Once out in the street, he could see Hermione walking back towards their flat, quickly, and he began to run after her, calling out “Hermione! Wait, I can explain! ‘Mione!”
She heard him, but couldn’t bring herself to stop. Tears stung her eyes as she picked up her pace, ignoring him. She made it all the way back home before he caught up with her, opening the front door and barging in right behind her. “Hermione. Please, I can explain.”
Hermione stood facing away from him in the center of the open sitting room, hands balled into fists at her sides, tears rolling down her cheeks as she choked out “Why, Ronald? How could you do this? How did you let this happen?”
Ron was standing next to the kitchen table, suddenly void of every excuse. “I… I don’t know,” he muttered, shoving his hands into the pockets of his trousers. “I didn’t mean for anything to happen. Lavender came into the Broom and saw me sitting alone and struck up a conversation, we haven’t seen each other since graduation. But… I guess she had a few too many butterbeers..”
Hermione spun around then, anger suddenly flashing in her eyes, “A few too many butterbeers? Not seeing one another since graduation? How is any of that an excuse for her to quite literally put her hands and lips on you! I work a little late one night and suddenly you’re off cheating on me?!”
Ron’s head snapped up, his voice raising slightly, “A little late? ONE night?! Hermione, I have had dinner alone nearly every night since the start of term! I can barely remember the last time we went to bed together. We're newly engaged and we see each other less than coworkers, and we are coworkers! Ever since we came back to Hogwarts it’s like I’ve been fighting with that bloody hospital ward just to get a little time with you!”
Hermione blinked at him, heat rising in her cheeks, “I’m doing my JOB, Ronald. It’s a lot of work, there are a lot of students to take care of and-”
Ron cut her off suddenly, “Well what about ME then, hmm? When are you going to have a little time for me? Or our wedding? Did you even know Mum’s been trying to get in contact with you to get the planning started?”
Hermione scoffed at him, “Oh grow up Ron! Of course I know that, and you know very well there is a difference between you and sick or injured students. Just because you have practically no responsibilities outside of flying lessons doesn’t mean I can slack off too!”
“I don’t slack off! I take my job very seriously, thank you very much. I work hard, and I’m good at it. It’s no wonder they wanted to hire me so badly!” Ron retorted, getting louder with each word.
“Oh please, Ronald Weasley. The only reason you even have that job is because of me,” the words flew out of her mouth before she could process or stop them.
Ron stood still, eyes wide and slightly shocked, “What did you just say?”
Hermione was too angry to really stop and rethink her choice of words. He did this. She caught him with Lavender's lips on him and now he was throwing her job in her face. Essentially blaming her! She wasn’t done yet.
“Did you really think you were offered the job without even applying? You had just failed Auror training, and were moping around the Burrow while I was being offered a position at Hogwarts. I felt terrible that I was getting my dream job while you had nothing, so I asked if you could fill an open position as well. That was the stipulation! And here you are, throwing my job in my face, acting like a right ARSE about yours, when you didn’t even earn it in the first place!” Hermione’s face was red with rage.
Ron felt like he had been slapped across the face. “You lied to me? You made me think I had gotten this job myself, but you had it handed to me?”
Hermione shook her head. “I did this for us, Ronald. I never intended for it to be a lie, I was trying to do something nice. But look at how I’ve been repaid.” Hermione finished quietly, looking away from him.
Ron took a step towards her, and started to reach out his hand, cooing “‘Mione…”
She stepped away from him, “Don’t. Regardless of how you feel about our jobs, you still went behind my back with Lavender. I’m not sure I can forgive that, Ronald. I think… I think I need some space, some time to think.”
Hermione grabbed up her satchel off the kitchen table, and headed towards the front door. “I’m going to be at the school. Please don’t come after me.” She stepped outside and apparated away before Ron could stop her.
The next morning found Hermione in an unsurprisingly foul mood. She had slept on a cot in the hospital wing, though she didn’t think one could really call what she had done ‘sleep’. She cried. She tossed. She turned. By the time the sun had come up, she could hear Poppy begin readying the ward for the day and Hermione felt as if someone had transfigured her eyelids into sandbags. She was just finishing up remaking the bed with fresh linens when she heard Madam Pomfrey behind her.
“Goodness, dear! You startled me! I wasn’t expecting you quite this early!” Poppy breathed out, hand pressed to her chest. She took in Hermione’s rather rough appearance and said, gently, “Hermione? Is everything alright, love?”
That was all it took for the flood gates to reopen, and fresh tears welled in Hermione’s eyes. “I’m so sorry Poppy, I slept here last night. Ron and I got into a huge fight and I needed to be away from him, this was the only place I could think to go…”
Poppy stopped her, placing a gentle hand on Hermione’s forearm. “Oh my dear girl, please don’t apologize. You can always come here, Hogwarts is your home.” She looked her in the eye then and added, “I have things covered here today. You go take care of yourself, I’m sure things between you and Mr. Weasley will be back to normal before you know it!”
Poppy patted her hand and gave her a smile, and Hermione knew arguing with the older witch would be futile. “Well, alright then, if you’re sure, it is Halloween and I know how busy it can get in here…”
“Of course I’m sure! I haven’t been Matron all these years and not learned how to handle students hopped up on sugar on Halloween!” Poppy looked at her pointedly, “Go. Enjoy the holiday, and get some rest! You look like you haven’t slept a wink!” Hermione groaned inwardly. She was obviously right.
Once outside the castle gates, she apparated home to quickly shower and change her clothes. It was roughly 8 o’clock by this point, she knew Ron would already be gone for the morning for his lesson. Thank goodness, she thought to herself, I am not ready to face him just yet.
After she had adequately cleansed herself, changed into her ‘muggle’ clothes, a jumper and a pair of denim jeans good for withstanding bush scratches, and brewed a cup of coffee to help wake her up, she decided to go foraging for potion ingredients. She knew the stores in the ward were getting low, and with the holidays now fast approaching, she wanted to have plenty of supplies on hand.
Gathering her satchel, she glanced towards her bookshelf. The one that Ron had tried to arrange for her. She swallowed down the lump that suddenly expanded in her throat, and shook her head. She didn’t want to think about that right now. Looking back at the books themselves, her eyes landed on the old journal from the box her mom had sent.
C. Fraser.
Hermione wondered again who she was. Deciding maybe she’d like something new to read while out in the highlands, she grabbed up the journal with the hand drawn muggle surgery depictions, and placed it carefully in her bag. With that, she was out the door, and heading somewhere hopefully new and full of fresh ingredients.
Around two hours later, Hermione found herself wandering up a winding path, towards a steep hill. She could see a patch of dittany at the foot of it, and stopped to gather up as much as she saw fit. A low, humming sound could be heard coming from the hill, and Hermione made a mental note to check and see if there were glumbumbles nesting up there; she had needed to replenish the treacle ever since she gave that second year Stillwell the last dose.
Satisfied that she’d gathered enough dittany from this spot, she cast a quick regrowth charm on the patch, and turned her attention to the hill next to her, placing her wand in her back pocket and heading up. The buzzing sound grew louder, and she was sure there was a nest. Once she reached the top, she stopped to catch her breath quickly, and took a look around.
Hermione stood at the edge of a circle of large, tall stones. The old oak tree that towered over her cast a large shadow, making the air seem slightly chillier than it actually was. A breeze picked up just then, and the humming sound grew even louder, much to her surprise. Peering around the edge of one of the stones, she placed her hand on the cool, smooth rock and suddenly, Hermione was falling.