AN: So this chapter is sort of a gift to my friend Hope who loves Harry Potter almost as much as I do. However we stand rather divided on the case of one character and several relationships. And although I know that she probably couldn't even force her way through my fic, I'll attempt to show her this as a peace offering! I hope you like it.

Chapter Sixty-Three: In Which Ronald Is Explained

"The inherency of time's passing is a fact that never eludes us. We know, but we forget to see. Perhaps it is only when we are able to look at the past, that we can have any idea of the value of the present. Perhaps only then, can we understand that the future is a hope, never a promise. Cherish this present. Hold it close."

~Tyler Knott Gregson~

"Wait up, 'Mione!" Hermione turned toward the exclamation to see none other than Ronald Bilius Weasley. She rolled her eyes and continued on her trek away from the Transfiguration classroom. "'Mione! Come on, give me half a minute." Within moments he'd caught up to her, with his long legged advantage.

Hermione glared at him but granted him with a, "What is it?"

Ron looked down sheepishly. "How have you been?"

"Well," was her terse response. The air between them felt like the strings of a piano, with eighteen tons of pressure wound up inside. Her single word response hung in the air for a few moments before she repeated her previous statement, "What is it?"

Ron flushed and said in his usual tactless manner, " I suppose I bloody well screwed things up, didn't I?" Hermione refused to respond. "I guess I wanted to say that I'm sorry. I shouldn't have ruined New Years like I did. I was an ass."

She regarded him crossly. "So Ginny wrote your apology?"

"No. I'm actually sorry. I mean, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you feel something for him. You've always been one to forgive and never really hated him the way the rest of us did."

"You should be happy for me Ronald." Although they both knew that he would never say he was happy that she was with Snape. She glanced down at her watch. If she was honest, she was more than able to spare a few more minutes with Ron. However, she said flatly that she needed to leave and trudged off, only to stop after a hearing Ron's voice in the now empty corridor,

"What's he do that makes you happy that I couldn't?"

This was not an inquiry that Hermione had expected from her friend of more than eight years. Yes, the two had sightly dabbled in a relationship the summer after the war, but Hermione had thought it had been rather mutually agreed that they were better as friends. There had been no hard feelings when Luna had caught the redhead's eye with her quirky ways. Hermione had seen the was Ron was with Luna and it was most definitely a happy relationship and seemed to be much more fulfilling for both, at least more so than her own relationship with him. So when the time had come and she had been matched with Severus, she never imagined that what fueled her ex-boyfriend's rage against the relationship was jealousy. She turned around to him slowly, his figure looking for once in his life swallowed up by the large corridor.

"Oh Ron..."

He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and rocked on his feet, looking up at the ceiling and away from Hermione. "I just mean...all we ever did was fight and you hated quidditch and I never could get books and studying and this charity and that lost cause like you...but... I only agreed that we'd be better off because I knew that you weren't happy... and now I have Luna and I do love her and we're happy." He took a deep breath in and finally looked down the hall at her. "It's not that I want you back. I just-...want to know why I wasn't good enough."

Hermione walked back over to him, pulling the redhead into firm embrace. "Ronald, it was never that you weren't good enough. Don't you understand? It was that you weren't the right kind of person for me. And I'm not even entire sure if Severus is yet but I know he's closer to fitting me. I'm not right for you either... It's never been about being good enough." She looked up at him and gave a smile. His own was a tad melancholy but it came at her bidding and he couldn't help but hug her closer and place a peck upon her crown. When the two broke apart they shared civil and friendly words before going off in their own separate directions.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter :) Nooooooow you know why Ron's been the way he has. I'm not a huge fan of Ron bashing, just so you know. I just happen to believe that he is characteristically very jealous and kind of prone to being a git sometimes. He'll probably never stop disliking Severus, nor will he ever completely show that he accepts Severus and Hermione's relationship. I hope that this shines a bit of light on where Ron is coming from.

Also...

To Whom it may concern:

I have not written much on any other fics in quite some time and if you would please send me a PM as to which one you would like me to start work on again, other than this one :) Pippip :)

~Lilly Rae~