Chapter 2
Alternate ending to Closer starts now
July 8, 1999
The next morning, Ron decides to tell his family at breakfast, “I want to move away.” Mrs. Weasley and everyone at the table was perplexed, with the Weasley matriarch asking, “Why? Why do you want to leave?” Ron then said, “There’s a job opening in Manchester for Aurors. I have to try out and if I do well, I’ll be accepted and will become a full time Auror there.” Mrs. Weasley then said, “But Ron, being an Auror is dangerous work. And why can’t you stay here and be in London?” Ron then said, “I read through the brochure that I found and the Manchester division offered an opportunity for me making it. After reading their rules and guidelines, I decided to put my name in their draw. And I’m going to do it. I leave in a couple of days.” Ron then left the table, leaving everyone shocked at what they just heard.”
After breakfast, Harry finds Ron and says, “This isn’t just about an Auror job in Manchester. This is also about Hermione, is it?” Ron tried to ignore Harry, but Harry aggressively said back, “Answer me.” Ron nodded in return. Harry then said to Ron, “I thought you forgave Hermione.” Ron said, “I did. But it’s not that easy.“ Ron sighed before he resumed, “Even though I forgave Hermione, the awkwardness between us is too much. She’s better off being with that Nathan bloke than me. So, I’m letting her be on her own with someone else that she thinks is better than me and I can move on with my life.” Harry bitterly responded, “Ron, I get it. She kissed another guy. But you can’t hold that against her forever.” Ron responded, “I’m not holding it against her. I’m letting her live her life. This also has to do with me not feeling good enough in my family.” Harry asked, “What do you mean?” Ron responded, “Even though you’re my best friend, I was kinda jealous of the attention you got. Not to mention, I always felt the need to live up to what I felt were the standards my brothers had set for themselves while they were at Hogwarts. I felt like an oddball. And to some degree, I still do. Working at George’s shop is cool and all, but I want to do something on my own. I’ve been thinking about this actually for a while and now, maybe it’s the right time.” Harry then said, “You know you’re hurting her as well as your family.” Ron responded, “I know, Harry. But this is something I have to do. It sucks we have to be apart but I’m doing what I think is best for me. Do me a favour while I’m gone, take care of my sister.”
*** A few hours later ***
Ron goes out to Diagon Alley to find George. Once finding his brother in his office, Ron tells him, “I’m tendering my resignation from Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. It’s nothing personal. But I want to be on my own.” George asks, “What do you mean on your own? What are you gonna do?” Ron responded, “I always wanted to be an Auror. And a job opening is lined up right now in Manchester. I’m thinking about taking it.”
George responded, “Does this have anything to do with Hermione? Cause if it is, you can say so.” Ron responded, “Partially. But it’s also mostly just me always feeling like the odd sibling out. I mean Bill and Percy are the smart ones, though Bill is cooler. Charlie was the quidditch star. And you and Fred were the pranksters. I know you guys didn’t cause this feeling but this is how I’ve felt and I feel as if I need to prove something to myself.” George then said, “We’ve never intended to make you feel as if you were the oddball in the family, Ron. We didn’t know. And your quarrel with Hermione, it’s bothering all of us. You should speak with her.” Ron responded, “I’ve made my decision and I plan on leaving soon.”
Hermione hears about Ron wanting to leave from Ginny, and starts crying. Ginny tries to console Hermione, but Hermione walks outside of the Burrow to give herself some space. Ginny follows her outside, and Hermione asks, “Where is he now?” Ginny said, “He’s with George right now. He’s probably telling him the same thing.” Hermione then went back inside the Burrow, got some floo powder, and yelled out “Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes” before flooing outside George’s shop. She goes inside the shop, where Verity sees her and says, “Hermione, are you ok?” Hermione responded, “Where’s Ron?” Verity answered, “He’s upstairs. What’s going on?” Hermione didn’t answer Verity’s question and went up to the George’s flat, and barged in. Once inside, she saw a surprised George and Ron, with George saying, “I can go back to work and leave you two alone.” George walked out of his flat, leaving Ron and Hermione alone.
Hermione then started crying, which Ron didn’t seem to care at this point. Ron then said, “Why are you here, Hermione?” Hermione still cried, and Ron asked again after almost a minute, “Why are you here, Hermione? Please answer me.” Hermione re-gained her composure and then said, “Ron, I’m sorry for what I did. What I did with Nathan was the biggest mistake of my life. I know I don’t deserve forgiveness but please, forgive me. I regret ever being with Nathan.”
Ron then said, “Speaking of him, why don’t you go visit him? Talk to him yourself.” Hermione responded, “No, I want to talk to you. I want to be with you, Ron. Not Nathan.” Ron then responded, “You know what, let’s visit him together.” Hermione confused by what he said asks, “What do you mean, together?” Ron responded, “Let’s go.” Ron then grabs Hermione’s hand, and then using the deluminator, him and Hermione apparated to Australia, specifically to the place where Ron saw Hermione kiss Nathan.
Ron then says, “This was where I saw you kiss him. Right in front of that restaurant.” Hermione started to remember that night she kissed Nathan and started feeling horrible and crying more. Nonetheless, Ron said, “Now, we’re going to find out where he lives.” Ron then signalled a cab, with Hermione saying, “Ron, what are we doing?” Ron responded, “We’re going to visit Nathan. And you’re gonna profess your love to him.” Hermione said, “What are you talking about? I love you.” Ron then got in and said, “Unless you want to get lost in Australia, get in the cab.” Hermione wanted to object but she reluctantly got in the cab. Once inside, she then said, “Ron, listen to me. I’m sorry about what happened. I can’t take it back.” Ron ignored her and Hermione continued, “I wish I could take that back. I can’t though. What do you want me to do?” Ron responded, “You’ll see.”
Once they arrived at Nathan’s apartment, Ron and Hermione went up to the front door. Once there, Ron then said, “I want you to talk to him.” Hermione then asked, “What do you want me to say?” Ron responded, “Tell him you love him and that you want to resume your relationship together.” Hermione then said again, “Ron, please. I love you. I don’t want Nathan. Can’t you understand-“ Ron interrupted, saying, “Tell him now. Either way, you’re not coming back with me to England. You’re going to stay here in Australia with your parents while you date Nathan. That way you can be happy and move on with your life. Now go on and knock.”
Hermione reluctantly knocked on the door. It opened and Nathan was surprised to see Hermione and Ron, answering, “Hermione, it’s nice to see you. What are you doing here? It’s been awhile. And who is this?” Hermione then reluctantly said, “Hi Nathan, this is Ron. We need to talk. Can we come inside?” Nathan said, “Yeah sure.” As Nathan walked back, Hermione looked at Ron, not knowing what she was going to say. Nathan looked back and said, “Hermione, you want to come in and talk? You did ask to talk to me.” Hermione and Ron then walked in and both sat on Nathan’s bed, where she didn’t know what to say. Nathan said, “So, what brings you here to my place?” Hermione then said, “I…. I….” Nathan was confused at Hermione not being able to speak and said, “Hermione, what’s going on?” Hermione was able to make up something, “I… I may think about going to UWA.” Nathan smiled at that and said, “That’s great.” But then Hermione said, “No, it’s not.” Nathan then asked, “Why?” Hermione responded, “Ok. That’s not why I’m here. That was a lie. Look, remember when we kissed?” Nathan said, “Yeah.” Hermione then said, “Well, remember I was telling you about Ron?” Nathan looked at Ron, who was giving him a death stare, and nodded. Hermione continued, “Well, I was supposed to be dating Ron at the time when you kissed me and he saw what happened. I broke his heart and have regretted what happened that day and have tried to take him back.” Nathan said, “And what does this have to do with right now?”
Ron then said, “You kissed the love of my life when I was dating her. YOU HAD NO RIGHT DOING THAT!” Nathan got scared and said, “Woah, hold on. I didn’t know you two were dating. Hermione mentioned that you were supposed to accompany her _.” Ron then said, “It doesn’t matter. You had no right putting your hands on her and kissing her.” Nathan then said, “Look, I didn't know you two were supposed to be dating. But that was in the past. It doesn’t matter now. She regrets what happened and she just said she wants to take you back.” Ron responded, “Well, about that. I need to move on with my life. So, I suggested she get back together with you. I mean, she clearly cares about you a lot.” Hermione was surprised at the lie Ron just said, and responded, “Ron, I don’t care about Nathan. What part of ‘I want you back’ do you not understand?” Ron responded himself, “Like I said, I’m moving on. I can’t deal with the awkward chasm that’s going on between us, Hermione. It’s too painful.” Nathan then interjected, saying, “You’re trying to force Hermione and I back together, even though you’re heartbroken at me kissing her? What kind of messed up logic is that?” Ron said back, “You clearly like her. And she seemed to be more interested in you when you two had that dinner date.” Nathan responded, “She just said she regrets what she did. Why are you hurting her by trying to force her to be with me when she wants to be with you?” Hermione then said, “Yeah, Ron. Please listen to me. Take me back.” Ron just shrugged at what Hermione said, and responded, “Goodbye, Hermione.” Ron was about to walk away when Nathan said, “You know, it’s not my fault you weren’t man enough to take care of Hermione and make her happy. I can make her feel good better than you can and be a better boyfriend to her than you’ll ever be. Hell, I’ll even make a great husband and father to her children.”
Ron then turned around and punched Nathan in the face, blindsiding him. Hermione screamed while Ron connected with Nathan’s face again, who tried to swing back, but Ron blocked him and then knocked him out with a hard punch to Nathan’s left temple. Hermione then said, “No. Please, Ron, don’t hurt him.” Ron then said, “C’mon you coward. Fight back.” Ron then wailed more punches at Nathan while he was on the ground, while Hermione tried to plead with Ron to stop. After a countless number of punches, Nathan’s face was bleeding all over, with both of his eyes being red and two nasty gashes on the sides of both eyes, his left side of his nose looking broken, and his mouth completely swollen all over his lips, plus some teeth went missing and some were chipped or bent over. Then, Ron said, “This is for you crossing a line, trying to steal the love of my life and ruining her life.“, before he picked up Nathan, put him over his table, and punched and elbowed Nathan in the back and his neck repeatedly, before proceeding to launch Nathan onto his desk, head first. Ron picked Nathan up again and put him over a chair on his kness, where Ron stomped on Nathan's head. Once Ron was done, he said to Hermione, “This is on you. His injuries are your fault.” Then, Ron left Nathan’s apartment, leaving a shocked Hermione crying, and apparated back to England with his deluminator, went to the Burrow got an ice pack to ice his hands.
Meanwhile, Hermione was in shock at what she just saw. Ron just assaulted Nathan. Nathan was lying motionless and couldn’t move. The damage done to his neck and back most likely paralyzed him. Hermione then went outside, where all of the neighbours on the floor of the dorm were wondering what the commotion was about. Hermione then yelled, “Call 911 now. Someone’s hurt.” A neighbour then called 911 while Hermione could only cry at what she just saw. Then, she went back to try to find Ron, but could only find a letter outside Nathan’s apartment door, which stated,
“Hermione,
I hope you’re happy here in Australia with Nathan. I really do. Since this is the case moving forward, I decided to head back to England early myself and leave you and Nathan alone while I will be heading to Manchester in two days. I wish you hadn’t had kissed Nathan, but you can’t go back in the past and change everything. I hope you’re happy with yourself cause I’m moving on from you.
Ron”
Hermione was crying over this letter that she read, with Ron insinuating that she was gonna was be with Nathan now, even though she just witnessed Nathan getting assaulted, and him deciding to move on from her.
***Meanwhile***
Ron arrived back to his house in the deluminator and immediately went to ice his hands. As Ron was icing his hands, Harry and Ginny then came down and saw Ron, who still had the cold expression on his face from assaulting Nathan. Harry then said, “Ron, what happened?” Ron didn’t respond and Harry asked again, “Ron, answer me. What happened? Where's Hermione?” Ron then looked back at Harry and Ginny, and then said, “Hermione and I took a trip to Australia using the deluminator. I insisted she go back with Nathan since I feel I can’t be around her anymore.”
Harry and Ginny were both shocked at what they just heard before Ginny asked, “Where is she? Is she still in Australia?” Ron didn’t respond, and Ginny yelled, “So, you kidnapped Hermione and dragged her to Australia just to be a petty jackass?” Ron then said, “She kept trying to cling onto me and the idea that I would come back to her and insisted she wanted me back. But I couldn’t do it. So, I brought her over to Nathan’s apartment, she tried to explain that what she did was wrong and that I was being unreasonable trying to bring her and Nathan back together. As I was leaving, Nathan mouthed off at me, saying that I wasn’t man enough to make Hermione happy and take care of her. He also said that he would’ve been a better boyfriend than I was and brought up how he could be a great husband and father to their children.”
Ron stopped before Harry then asked, “Then what?” Ron didn’t respond, and Harry asked again, this time yelling, “AND THEN WHAT, RON?” Ron reluctantly then said, “I blacked out and beat up Nathan.” Harry and Ginny were both shocked, with Ginny covering her mouth and then crying at the idea that her brother would assault someone because of jealousy over Hermione. Ginny then yelled, “HOW COULD YOU!?” Ron then yelled back, “I was gonna leave them be and let them live their life together for the rest of their lives. Blame Nathan’s big mouth for his injuries. He wouldn’t be in the hospital had he not mouthed off at me.” And with that, Ron went up to his room, closed his door and locked it so Harry and Ginny wouldn’t confront him even more, and finished his packing. Once that was done, Harry then said, “You’re not going anywhere alone. You’re coming with us to Australia.” Ron then said, “I’ll see you guys around. Take care of my sister, Harry.” And with that Ron left the Burrow and apparated to Manchester.