i: Mistake

Hermione perched on the edge of the fountain, restlessly twirling the ring around her finger. She tried not to look at it, to keep it out of sight, but wherever she looked it seemed to be somewhere in her peripheral vision, assaulting her eyes. It didn't look like her hand any more. It was a foreign object; garish, impersonal. She couldn't get used to the sight of it.

The party was still going on inside, but it had been several hours since it began and everyone had lost interest in the happy couple and gone to sit down with their particular friends. Ian, Hermione's boyfriend - fiancé, she supposed - was so drunk that he wouldn't realise if Hermione went missing for a few minutes to clear her head. His friends were dealing with him.

He'd sprung it on her. The party was a complete surprise - Ian had told her that they were going to a very posh restaurant, and to dress nicely. The last thing she'd been expecting was to turn into this huge, castle-like stately home. He'd looked at her expectantly, waiting for a comment, and she'd said something like, "It's lovely, Ian, but what are we doing here?" Looking back on it, Hermione realised that he'd probably expected a more radical reaction; he'd probably thought that somewhere like this would be the place of her dreams. Hermione had told him in the past that she loved castles. The truth was that she loved castles because they reminded her of Hogwarts, the time that she longed for again right then.

Then they'd entered the hall, and Hermione had seen the guests and the banners and the confetti and the streamers and he'd proposed to her, there and then, in front of what looked like everyone she'd ever known. She could hardly have said no.

She wasn't even sure she wanted to say no. It was just that she hadn't thought it through, and it was against Hermione Granger's moral code to make a decision without thinking about it first. She loved Ian, of course, otherwise how would they have got this far? But, thinking about it, she wasn't even sure of that. If she loved him, then why did the idea of marrying him feel so wrong? What was it even supposed to feel like, to be in love? Because it didn't feel like last time. No, she told herself firmly. Last time wasn't the same. Things are different now.

She closed her eyes and felt herself drifting into a sea of memories, and when she opened them again and saw the same face in front of her that had been swimming in her head seconds before, she was certain that she was hallucinating. But she wasn't.

"Ron," she said in surprise. She hadn't even noticed him amongst all the people flooding the hall. It was surprising that Ian had even invited him, given their history.

"Hi," Ron said casually, sitting down next to her. Hermione couldn't even remember the last time she'd seen him. In fact, she wasn't even sure if they had met since they split up. "Stuffy in there, isn't it," he commented.

"Uh... yeah," Hermione agreed, not quite sure what else to say. She fiddled with the ring again. It was very distracting.

"So. How is... everything?" Ron asked awkwardly.

"Fine," she said, even though it really wasn't. But Ron was not the person to be discussing this with.

"You're marrying Ian." It was a statement, not a question. If he had learnt anything from their relationship, Ron had learnt not to question Hermione's decisions.

"I... yes."

Ron looked surprised. "You don't seem sure," he guessed. Accurately. "So that whole thing in there, it wasn't staged? You really didn't know he was going to ask you?"

"No, I had no idea," Hermione told him truthfully. "But don't be silly, Ron, of course I'm sure!" She didn't know why she lied about the last part. She supposed some part of her subconscious wanted her to show Ron that she had moved on from him, that she was fine without him. She couldn't quite admit it to herself, but that wasn't quite true.

Ron shook his head. "No, you're not. That's the face you use when you're fighting with yourself. I know you, Hermione, and I don't think you should marry Ian."

"You don't know me any more," Hermione snapped, wounded. Why did he think he had the right to say that to her?

"Yes I do," Ron retorted. "There are some things about a person that never change." He looked at her sadly.

"Well, I have changed," she insisted, "and it's none of your business who I do or don't marry. You're ruining this for me, Ron Weasley, and if this is some sort of sick way to try and win me back -"

"It's not," he said, to Hermione's relief. "I still love you, Hermione, and you know that I always will, but I know that you left me for a reason. If it was two months ago, maybe I would try and get you back. But it's been three years, and you've moved on."

Ron's maturity still amazed Hermione. She shook herself, remembering why she'd left him. He was a symbol of her childhood, and she'd wanted to get past how she'd been in her Hogwarts years. She'd had enough of all the publicity they'd got after the Battle, and it was preventing anyone from taking her seriously, and she'd wanted that high-flying career. She'd outgrown him. (It sounded so pretentious, looking back.) And their relationship had gone stale. (But maybe that was her fault. She had really needed to reshuffle her priorities.) "I... I appreciate that, Ron," she said graciously.

"That doesn't mean that I won't always consider letting you go as the worst mistake of my life, though," he said softly. One of Hermione's curls had separated from the loose bun that she'd fashioned at the back of her head. Ron pushed it behind her ear tenderly.

Pulling away sharply as she glanced back up at the party, Hermione went red and started fiddling with her ring again. "Well, let's not talk about that."

"Sorry," said Ron apologetically. "I needed to say it."

There was an awkward silence. Hermione reached out behind her and brushed her fingertip against the surface of the water, watching the ripples intently so as to have an excuse not to look at Ron. "So if you're not trying to get me back, why do you care if I marry him or not?" she asked finally.

He looked at her incredulously. "Do you really think I'm so much of a selfish git as to only care about that for my own gain?"

Before, the honest answer would have been yes. But that was because since the break-up, Hermione had substituted all her memories of her Ron, sensitive Ron, mature Ron, with images of Lavender's Ron, the Horcrux's Ron, the Ron before the Battle, before he had seemingly had a personality transplant. Now, the real memories, the ones that mattered were coming back to her.

Ron continued. "Even if our relationship didn't work out, I still care about you. We were best friends for ten years. Doesn't that still mean something?"

Hermione's hands had gone back to the ring again, and Ron pulled them apart firmly. "Don't marry Ian," he instructed her. "He's not right for you. He's so... boring. Although you met him at work, so I suppose that's expected, in your department," he added, and Hermione should have been angered by this, but in reality she had to suppress a giggle. (It was so true.) "But seriously, Hermione, there's someone out there who's perfect for you, and it's not Ian, and it might not be me, either. But he's out there somewhere."

Hermione didn't say anything for a minute. Then she looked away from the fountain, and looked into Ron's eyes for the first time that day. "It was only ever you, Ron," she said quietly, passionately, and then their lips were joined, and it didn't matter that a few hundred yards away there was a party full of people celebrating Hermione's engagement to another man, it didn't matter that they didn't know who was watching, and it didn't matter that this wasn't supposed to happen, that there would be consequences, because it felt so right, and it was the touch that the two of them had been craving for all those years and the reason why their lives had felt wrong, incomplete, until that very moment.

After what seemed like forever, they broke apart.

Ron was the first to speak. "Well, this... complicates things a little," he said dryly.

Hermione shook her head. "No, it doesn't," she said. "It makes everything simple, clear. I know what I feel now, and I can't marry Ian," she said, taking off the ring and plunging it into the fountain. "Leaving you was the biggest mistake of my life. I'm sorry."

A/N: This was one of the hardest things I've ever had to write... I found it so hard to split them up, even though I knew they would be getting back together at the end! I am getting a little too obsessed. So it would have been impossible for me to write this without the fluff and the cheese. :)

Everything in this collection is for the Your Favourite Couple: Scenarios Challenge/Competition. This oneshot is also for the Titles Challenge - my title was "Mistake".

Feel free to point out any mistakes, as I will admit this was a bit rushed because I'm so organised with deadlines and that sort of thing. ;)

Disclaimer: I am not, and I never will be, J K Rowling.