DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything in the Harry Potter Universe. I have just used our beloved characters (owned by J.K. Rowling) and had a bit of fun with them!

A/N: I know that I am not the best writer out there which is why I've been looking for a Beta Reader. I've contacted a few Beta Readers and I've not heard back from them... So I thought maybe this would be a way to get one if I published a story. So if you are a beta or know a good one please PM me.

This story is entitled 'Aftermath' after Adam Lambert's song of the same name.

If you enjoy the story please leave a review! I want to know what you all think. Who knows you might help me with the remaining chapters!

Happy Reading!

Aftermath: Chapter 1

It was never like Hermione Granger to run away from anything. She was a Gryffindor nevertheless, she had courage and bravery. She always stood up for what she believed in and she never let any person control her life or tell her how to live it. She thought that it was her destiny to get married to Ronald Weasley. She knew him for over half of her life; they started out as friends and grew to be lovers.

She always knew that deep down she was going to marry Ron, get a job at the Ministry of Magic, settle down, have children and live out a fairy tale. Ron was her safety net; he was the path that everyone expected her to take. Her parents loved him as family, and his family loved her. It did not come as a surprise to her that he proposed on the eve of their graduation from Hogwarts. The yes jumped out of her mouth.

Ron of course wanted to get married that summer before he went off for Auror training, Hermione on the other hand always envisioned a long engagement. She had gotten accepted into one of the most prestigious Wizarding Colleges and she did not want to tote along a husband. After weeks of talking it over they mutually decided that they would wait until Ron finished his Auror training and she finished two years of college. After all, she was Hermione Granger she could finish a regular four year degree in two. And that is exactly what she did.

The two years after Hogwarts seemed too short for Hermione. She went away to the college while Ron globe-trotted. She kept to books and homework, whereas Ron got to travel the field and get down and dirty with his training. They corresponded in many ways, owls, muggle phones, and even the occasional trips to see each other. When they were together they had fun, and each second he reminded her why she fell in love with him. They were carefree, and wild; staying up all night; going to clubs and partying. Ron was humorous; making her laugh in situations that were not funny. But the feelings of love and admiration only lasted during their time together.

In the time they spent apart she never found herself missing Ron. She was always too busy to miss him. At times she did long for him, but those times were far and few between. She longed for those quiet moments spent together the summer after they graduated, but that feeling never lasted long because she had a knack of finding things that kept her mind focused on other things and busy. Of course, it was nice to see him when they got a chance to spend some time with each other, and there was always a part of her that never wanted to leave his side when they would wake up in the morning together. That changed as soon as they departed from each other. She did love Ron, but each day it seemed to her that she was not in love with him.

As the days of their education drew closer to a close she began to dread the impending date of their nuptials. She went through all of the motions with her mum and Mrs. Weasley. She made a guest list, picked the bridesmaids, debated over decorations, and tasted all of the food; she even found the perfect wedding gown to wear. The date was set, the food picked, the wedding planned along with the dinner afterward. As the days passed and her wedding grew close, everyone's excitement grew, while hers diminished.

Her mum told her it was cold feet, every bride got that way as their wedding day approached. Hermione knew that her feet we not at all cold, she just did not want to become Mrs. Hermione Weasley. But how could she tell this to Ron? To Mrs. Weasley? Or to any Weasley for that matter? Or to Harry, who wanted Hermione to join the Weasley family just as he did when he married Ginny? The truth was she couldn't. She feared that even if she confessed her fears to everyone they would find some way to convince her to marry Ron; saying that it would all get better with time.

Time… that was the answer everyone had to everything. It will all get better in time. She did not want time to fall back in love with Ron. She wanted time to travel, explore the world that surrounded her. Go to the places that she read about. And she did not want to spend that time with Ron tagging along. She was in school all of her life, surrounded by books, homework and deadlines. Ron had his time to be independent now she wanted hers. The place she was at in her life right now could not fit Ron into it.

She paced the floor of her little flat awaiting the arrival of Ron. They were supposed to be having a romantic dinner just the two of them to celebrate the next stage of the life they were about to partake upon. Little did Ron know she was about to break his heart. There was a week to the wedding and her time was running out. She was not yellow-bellied; she was not going to just disappear on the eve of the wedding. She was going to explain to Ron how she felt. Tell him that her life was leading her on a different path then what he wanted or expected.

She only hoped that he could understand where she was coming from. Maybe part of him would feel the same way and they could just conclude that they would be better as friends. She remained optimistic that this would happen, rather than a huge fight. With a glance at the clock she noted that Ron should be arriving any second. She took a deep breath willing her nerves to calm themselves before he arrived. After a few seconds she felt a bit better.

The door buzzed and after a quick one over in her hallway mirror she went and opened the door. Ron stood on the other end wearing a tee-shirt and a pair of faded jeans. It made her feel overdressed. He crossed the threshold and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hello, 'Mione you look nice tonight." He said giving her a bouquet of flowers.

"Evening, Ron. How are you?" She asked as she led him through her small flat and into her sitting room.

"I am good." He responded, taking a seat. It felt oddly formal to her. Like each of them had something on their minds.

"Dinner is not ready yet. Can I get you something to drink?" She offered trying to break some of the tension.

"No thank you, 'Mione."

Hermione knew that if she did not sit she was going to begin pacing again; she took the chair opposite of Ron. "Is everything alright, Ron? You seem a bit edgy tonight." She asked wondering if he knew what she was going to tell him shortly.

Ron sat there for a moment gazing into the fire that lit the room. He said nothing, but he seemed deep in thought. The both remained quiet, the silence was suffocating. She felt uncomfortable, "uhhh... Ron is everything okay?" She asked him again. This time his head turned to her-his face looked guilty. It looked like he just got caught being out of bed after hours at Hogwarts.

"Hermione." He said reaching for her hand. "We need to talk. I have something that I want to tell you. It is something that you should know before we get married next week."

She sat there confused and baffled what was he talking about. "Ron, whatever it is you know that you can tell me."

"You are going to hate me. I just know it. It never should have happened. It was stupid. I should never have done it but..." He stopped it seemed that he could not get out the words that he wanted to say. Hermione sat there and waited. Knowing Ron he was making a big deal out of something small and pointless. "Hermione I cheated on you." He said in a whisper that was barely audible. She was not sure that she heard him right.

"I am sorry, Ron, but what did you just say?" She asked a slight hysteric in her voice.

"I said that I cheated on you." Shame and anguish flowed with his words.

She pulled her hand away, shocked at this development. She had no clue what to say. For some reason tears started to escape her eyes before she could fully grasp what was just said. She remained in the chair still, as the tears fell. She was upset. And why shouldn't she be. She just found out her fiancée had cheated on her. Suddenly a ton of questions flooded her brain. She jumped to her feet and moved to the other end of the room. Ron got up to come near her.

"'Mione, I'm so..." He started to say as he walked over to her.

"Don't say that you are sorry, and do not come any closer. I want to know who she was, Ronald. I want to know who she was. Where you met her? How many times you were with her?" She shouted at him, her voice cracking. He said nothing just looked at her. She clenched her fist, trying to remind herself to not reach for her wand and hex him into next year. "Tell. Me. Ronald. Who. She. WAS." She yelled a bit louder this time her teeth clenched.

He said nothing except for one word, "is." She did not look at his face, she couldn't and the 'is' was very quiet, but she heard it as clear as day.

It did not make sense at first her mind was working too fast for her. "Is?" She mumbled to herself. "Is? Is... IS?" She yelled. She felt dizzy, sick, felt like she was going to faint as the realization hit. "Do you... Mean to... Tell me... RONALD. That you are... Cheating on... ME?" She said trying to get air at the same time trying to keep her voice from cracking.

He said nothing, which made her angrier. She wanted to reach to his throat and strangle him, make his eyes pop out of his head and turn his face blue. She needed her wand. She began rifling through her pockets, "where is my wand?" She asked herself out loud.

Ron looked dumbfounded, "why do you need your wand?" He asked.

"So I can hex you, Ronald." She shouted.

"Hermione, you need to calm down." He shouted back at her. "Can't we talk like adults?" He questioned.

"NO! We CANNOT! I don't even want to see you right now, and you think that we can talk like adults. YEAH RIGHT!" She said; her face red with anger and her perfectly styled hair frizzing. "GET OUT NOW AND NEVER COME BACK!" She yelled rushing at him and pushing him to the door. She was bawling, screaming and clawing as she threw open the door and threw him out on the stairs. "Never again, Ron, will you make a fool of me." She said slamming it in his face.

She then collapsed on the floor in front of the door sobbing, her breath catching and making her dizzy. It was true that she did not want to go through with the wedding. It could also be said that she was no longer in love with him. But, she did love him at one time, utterly and unconditionally. How long did the cheating go on for? How long did he think she would not have noticed it? Would he still have gone through with the wedding if she had not invited him over? Would he have continued to cheat on her?

She thought back to a month ago when they were in this very apartment, she just returned from school and he was back from his training, preparing for the Auror examination. He came over for dinner. They had not seen each other in two months, and it was a mutual homecoming. As soon as she welcomed him into her place they were all over each other, making love all over her apartment. They might have seen each other a few months earlier, but that was not private, the last time they made love was three months before that. To say they least they had around five months of making up to do. The dinner burned in the oven, but neither of them cared. They made love all that night, passing out on the bed in the late hours of the morning, only to wake up a few hours later, where they made love for hours again. It was beautiful, magical, it was so them, and at the same time so unlike them.

Her chest began to hurt as she shook the thoughts from her mind. She hugged her knees to her chest and began rocking on the floor. Only one thought in her mind, was he with the mystery girl before he came to see her that night? After? Was he thinking of her as they made love? She sobbed. Those questions would go unanswered now. He made such a fool of her! Who else knew? Was she the last to know? Were people helping her plan this circus of a wedding to keep her from finding out? She began to heave and bolted from the floor into the bathroom. As her mind raced with thoughts of Ron and some mystery girl, she vomited. She had little to eat over the past few days, but that did not prevent her from expelling everything in her stomach.

When she was finished she stood up weakly and stumbled her way to her bedroom. One look at the bed they shared made her want to puke again. There was no way she was going to lay in that thing tonight. She stumbled out of her room to the linens closet and pulled out a spare pillow and blanket. She carried them to the living room and curled up on the couch. She continued to cry until she passed out from exhaustion.

Ginny flooed herself into Hermione's apartment early the next morning, Ron was at her house right now sleeping on the couch. He rudely kept her and Harry up for hours last night. She was tired and would rather have been in bed, but she needed to see Hermione. The poor girl. She needed a friend right now, and Ginny was her friend. "Hermione?" She asked looking around the living room. She did not see her. She then proceeded to walk through every room in her apartment looking for her. She was not there. Ginny sighed and started walking back to the fireplace. It was then she noticed the little heap of her friend on the Victorian couch. Gosh, that had to be uncomfortable.

Quietly she walked over to her and tapped her shoulder. "Hermione, dear? I thought I would stop in and see how you were doing." She said, there was no response. Ginny shook her shoulder a bit, "Hermione?" She asked; again there was no response. She shook her a little harder and shouted, "Hermione!" She jumped awake.

Hermione blinked her eyes a bit and noticed the red haired Weasley standing in front of her. She was wearing a traveling cloak, her hair was pulled back and she had floo powder on her. Her growing baby belly was visible. "What…" Her voice was dry and raspy, her throat hurt. She cleared it a bit, "what are you doing here?" Her voice was still raspy but it sounded a bit better.

"I thought you could use a friend. So I stopped by." She responded with a smile. "Why don't you go change into something else and I will prepare some tea." She responded. Hermione said nothing but nodded and walked out of the living room, down the hall and into her bathroom. She looked in her mirror and noticed her swollen, red eyes; there were deep purple bags under them. Her hair was half up, and half down, and her makeup was smeared all across her face.

She turned on the water and slipped a glass under the cold stream. She filled it up and then took a deep drink. The cool water coated her throat and made it feel a bit better. She began to drink deeper, guzzling the water down. When she was finished with the glass she drank another. Once she was finished she returned the glass to its proper place and began washing her face with a washcloth. She scrubbed off the makeup leaving her face blotchy, red and painful. After that she took down her hair and tore a brush through it. It made her hair frizz, but she did not care. Once she was done with that she took off the dress she was wearing and put on her pajamas she wore to bed, a simple tee-shit and a pair of yoga pants.

In the kitchen Ginny Potter busied herself with making some toast and tea. Hermione looked like hell on wheels. She felt sorry for her. The poor girl had her life turned upside down just a few short hours ago. Ginny knew she could have never lived through that kind of pain. Her stupid brother! Why would he go and mess up a prefect life for some common tramp. It upset her deeply. And she was worried, if Hermione knew that Ginny was aware of the cheating, their friendship would be over. As she put the tea pot on the table and sat down the cups, Hermione entered. She did not look any better.

"Sit, honey. I made your favorite tea, and some toast." Hermione said nothing. She just walked to the table and sat down. Ginny waited until she was seated before taking the chair opposite of her. Neither of the girls said anything, Hermione did not touch her tea or toast. After about an hour of silence, Ginny stood up prepared to leave. It seemed that it was too soon for Hermione to have visitors. "Well, I guess I will go home." She said refastening her cloak.

"How long have you known, Gin? And who else knew? Who is she? Gin, you got to tell me. It is driving me insane. Please I beg on the basis of our friendship, please tell me." She begged. Her voice was small and full of emotions, it cracked at the end. Ginny sat back down and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry Hermione, but we all pretty much knew about it." She said. "But I thought it would end as soon as it began." She added quickly. She looked at her friends face it was void with emotion. She said nothing. Ginny continued, "mum and dad somewhat knew, but they thought it would pass, they love you so much and want you to be a part of our family so bad. They just thought he was sowing his wild oats." She stated. Hermione remained silent. "Harry tried to talk him out of it, and I think that Ron wanted to stop but couldn't. It really hurt him when you said you wanted to wait and go to college."

"Wait? How long has this been going on?" Hermione asked.

"About two years, Hermione. I'm so sorry." Ginny responded. Hermione's face remained unchanged.

"Who is she, Gin? Who, is she? Tell ME!" Hermione shouted.

"Luna Lovegood. But I swear nothing was going on while they were in school. I was in her same year and I did not find out until after we graduate last year. And I pretty much just walked in on them at our graduation party. I thought it was a onetime thing." She said.

"Thank you Ginny." Hermione said in a monotone voice. "You should take a cab back to your house, no flooing in your condition." She said not looking at her friend. "Let me call one for you." Hermione walked over to the phone on the table in front of the window and dialed the cab company. She gave them her address and they told her a cab was in the area and was being dispatched.

Hermione walked Ginny to the door where they waited for the cab. They said nothing. Ginny knew that apologizing would not get her anywhere. Hermione needed time, and then once she had that time, Ginny would find a way to get Hermione and Ron back together and they would all be one happy family. The cab pulled out front and honked the horn.

"Thank you for coming Ginny. Just give me a few days and I will call you. Right now I just need some time." She said hugging her friend. Ginny was surprised by the embrace and hugged her friend back. "I forgive you, Ginny. I know it was not your place to tell me. Ron should have never put you in that position. Tell Harry and your family that I love you all." She said pulling apart from the embrace. A silent tear fell from her eye, Ginny failed to notice it. "Now, hurry up. Take the cab home and get some sleep. You have to take care of your baby." She said opening the door, rain was falling hard. She watched Ginny walk down the steps and climb into the cab, Hermione waved at her and smiled. She then closed the door once it was out of site. When she turned around the tears she was keeping locked up while Ginny was there fell freely.

She began screaming and tearing through the house throwing things and sobbing. "HOW COULD YOU RONALD?" She yelled throwing a vase with flowers at the wall. "TWO YEARS!" She smashed a photograph frame on the floor. "WITH LUNA?" She said flipping over the couch. "AND MY FRIENDS! HOW DARE YOU KEEP THIS FROM ME?" She tore apart a pillow. "GUESS I AM HERMIONE GRANGER THE FOOL!" She shouted. For the next hour she tore through each room destroying almost everything in sight, screaming and crying at how big of a fool she was. She hated them all. She never wanted to see any of them again. Never!

When she got to her bedroom she took out two large suitcases from the closet and began filling them with clothes and things she would need for a trip. She was going to leave everything here behind and start anew someplace far away. It took her only a few minutes to fill the suitcases with clothes and toiletries. She then filled a bag with her books and wizarding needs.

Once she had her bags ready she charmed them to shrink in size and she threw them into a small purse she put across her diagonally. She was going to use apparition so she could not be traced by anyone. As far as she was concerned she wanted them all to think she fell off the face of the planet. She would never again face her so called friends. If they were any friends at all they would have told her about Ron and Luna long before now. They would have stopped her from planning the ridiculous wedding neither of them wanted. But they didn't, and she hated them for that. After taking one last look at her apartment she used her wand, "incendio." She shouted starting the place on fire. With a turn she disapparated from her apartment and apparated to the only place far enough away from England where no one would think to find her: Madagascar. And for the first time in her life she ran away from her troubles.