This is my first fanfic, I never really intended to make one when I started here on ffnet but I couldn't get this story out of my head so I decided to write it down, I'm sorry if it isn't nice, I just needed to get this out of my head.

I'm a bit (actually a lot) terrified to ask for reviews or any reaction to this story since I'm really not a writer. I'm more of a reader, if you know what I mean. :)

anyway, here goes nothing!

I almost forgot my disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything Harry Potter. :)

PROLOGUE

Friday, July 29 2003

5:00pm

It has been more than four years since the second wizarding war ended. Life was seeping back into a stage of normalcy in the wizarding world unknown to muggles. The golden trio and the Weasley family have slowly begun to put some semblance of normalcy into their lives, getting back into old routines. After the loss of Fred, it was very difficult for the family to move on but with the help of Harry and Hermione, they were able to move on with their lives and were much closer than ever.

It was precisely that reason why the whole Weasley family along with Harry and Hermione were at a cabin in the mountains of Scotland for the weekend of Harry's 21st birthday. After the war, the golden trio was offered a chance to become aurors and while, Harry and Ron accepted the offer, Hermione did not, accepting instead an offer to be admitted early to Merlin University for college. Of course this came as no shock to everyone who knew Hermione as she was clearly at the top of her class with OWLs that were almost as perfect as Merlin himself. Today Harry and Ron are now the Ministry's top Aurors and Hermione just graduated from university with a medical degree, she is now a Medical Healer, a first in the wizarding world, she is now able to practice healing in the magical world and practice medicine in the muggle world.

Of course with their careers as bright as they should be, their lives were also on par. Harry and Ginny were engaged to be married after Ginny's tour with the Holyhead Harpies. Bill and Fleur are still happily married and inlove with their children Victoire and Dominique who were 3 and 1 years old respectively, Charlie still loved dragons and was still single, George is now married to Angelina Johnson and is pregnant with their first child, a son that they would be naming after Fred. Ron and Hermione have been together since they won the war but have not been able to move forward, they were still a bickering and arguing couple, they would always break up and get back together.

It was that afternoon when Hermione decided to take a drive down to town to pick up a present she had bought for Harry for his birthday dinner on Sunday. There was a small town just below the mountain they were at but since it was a muggle town, they decided to stay as far away from it since they had 2 children with them that were starting to show their magic, hence accidental magic was starting to become a regular occurrence and happens at any time varying from a disappearing tea cup to changing their outfits out of the blue to accidentally create bubbles in animal forms that make animal sounds. Basically, it was something they couldn't risk a muggle to see.

Hermione didn't bother apparating anywhere near the outskirts of the small town because her parents recently got her a car for her graduation, much to Mr. Weasely's delight when Hermione first drove her car to the Burrow.

It was at least a 2 hour drive from their cabin to the small town so Hermione had dragged Ron with her regardless of his complaining about missing the start of dinner but when Hermione told him he could drive going to town, he agreed, Hermione had always known Ron had a soft spot for cars just like his father.

They were about 20 minutes into their drive to town when Hermione suddenly broke the silence enveloping them "I know about her, you know." Hermione began, Ron looked at her, questioningly at first and then his face started to become a bit guarded "what are you talking about?" he said looking back on the road, it was starting to rain and thus, the skies were beginning to get darker.

Hermione leaned back on her seat, trying her best to keep her emotions to a minimum and continued on "Don't pretend like you don't know what I mean Ron, I've known about you and Lavender for about 6 months now, you two have been sneaking around since new year's." Ron looked nervous, torn between deciding whether or not to tell the truth or to keep denying it.

FLASH BACK

Hermione had known the truth since Ron decided not to show up to her parents New Year's eve dinner which they had done as a tradition instead opting to visit his brother Charlie in Romania as he claimed his older brother couldn't come home for the New Years, at least that's what he had told her. 3 days after New Year, Hermione sent Charlie a note thanking him for taking care of Ron during his stay in Romania (since Ron said he and Charlie bonded really well over his visit) and told him that she hoped he could come visit soon since everyone has missed him. To say she was surprised when she received a reply from Charlie saying that while he would be visiting soon, he had not spent the New year with Ron in Romania, in fact he didn't even know that Ron was in Romania.

Hermione and Ron had not been able to talk about it though because at that moment, Hermione was pretty swamped with several medical research journals as she was about to take her exam to become a medical healer and Ron had been away on Auror duties with Harry. After 2months however, Hermione was having lunch with her school mate from medical school at a muggle restaurant just across the leaky cauldron when she heard a familiar voice.

"Its been so long Emilia! I can't believe you're getting married in two weeks!" said the familiarly irritating voice

"I know Lav! I'm so excited! I can't believe I'm finally marrying the love of my life!" Emilia began "speaking of, you better bring a date Lav! I can't have my maid of honor going to my wedding without one! I don't have time to set you up with someone as of now!"

Both girls laughed, then Lavender said "don't worry about me my dear cousin, I have someone in mind, of course that is if he agrees-" "No, no, no not him again Lav! Its been two months and clearly he still hasn't broken up with his girlfriend! I think its safe to say he's only after you for the shag!" Emilia said, cutting of what Lavender had to say. "I know he hasn't its not his fault that everyone seems to think they belong together! Ron said he wanted to end it but couldn't cause he didn't know what to stress Hermione out even more! She's studying to become medical healer and the exams for those are really hard! He said as soon as she passes, he'd end it!"

Hermione heard Emilia snort and said "fine, but believe me, if another 2 months time he hasn't broken up with her, don't come running to me complaining and crying."

The conversation ended there as they were approached by a waitress and taken to their seat. Hermione sat there frozen, 'so its true' she thought 'Ron has been seeing Lavender'. Hermione stood up and quickly left, leaving her friend at the table after making up an excuse and leaving her share of the bill on the table.

"The thing is Ron, I'm not mad, I mean I was but not anymore. I think I was pretty hurt you would cheat on me and lie to me but I think its time to admit that we're both just too different. I think its best if we end this." Hermione said unable to look at Ron, the guarded look he had on his face started to melt and relief soon replaced it. "I'm so sorry Hermione, I didn't mean for Lav and I to happen, and when we did, I tried to stop it but I couldn't, I didn't know why but I just couldn't stop. I didn't know how to tell you at the time, I really tried to make us work, hoping that if I tried harder maybe I wouldn't have such a hard time ending it with her, I just couldn't do it though." Ron said looking at Hermione briefly then looking back on the road "I really did want to tell you Mione, I'm really sorry I lied and cheated, I knew I was a lousy boyfriend to you." He said "Its okay Ronald, guess we could just go back to being friends, I think all this time that's all we should have ever been, I mean I do love you Ronald but I don't think it was ever the way Harry loves Ginny." Hermione started "Yeah, I guess you're right with that one Mione." Ron agreed then continued "Mione, can I be honest with you? I mean seeing as this is the first time we've actually been honest with each other in a long time" Ron asked, Hermione looked at him and smiled "sure go ahead" She said "Well," Ron began "now that you know about Lav and I, is it okay if I take her to Harry and Ginny's as my date?" he asked, with a hopeful expression on his face.

Hermione didn't know how she felt, first she was relieved and happy that Ron has been taking this conversation well. She thought he might deny it at first but he surprisingly owned up to his mistakes and even apologized! But then he brought up Harry and Ginny's wedding; she didn't know how she would feel seeing Lav and Ron together just yet but seeing as the wedding wouldn't be happening any time soon, she supposed she could deal with it, besides, she really wanted to take someone else too so she contemplated on whether she should start the next item on her agenda with Ronald tonight.

"Of course Ronald, I think after everything we've been through we deserve to be with the ones we truly love and care about" She started, deciding that it was probably now or never, she'd rather have this conversation now that they are completely alone rather than have anyone over hearing them, "The truth is I haven't been exactly honest with you either" Hermione continued, she was starting to feel very anxious as she saw the look on Ron's face start to become curious "Oh? Well, I don't suppose its as bad as what I did, go on" said Ron "I met someone too, I've known him for a while but we only got along while on medical school" Hermione said, the look on Ron's face turned to shock and she could see he was trying his best not to be angry "really?" he asked, "yes, he asked for my help with something and after I had agreed we got to know each other more. We've been friends ever since but recently something's changed and I really don't want to do what you did to me to you." She said, hoping that she hadn't pushed Ron too much, she knew he was a bit too emotional for his own good and that even if he was the first one who made a mistake, he would definitely lash out once he found out who she was talking about.

"Well, you were always the bigger person between us two, Mione" Ron said "so who is this guy?" Ron asked, Hermione knew that Ron would lose it if he found out who she was seeing but that thought didn't occur to her as she said his name "Its Draco" she said,the look on Ron's face was enough to make her realize that her luck with Ron's temper had ended as his eyes widened and his face redden with the anger he had clearly tried to suppress.

"What?! Did I hear you right Hermione or did I just hear you say Malfoy is the guy you're currently seeing?!" Ron exploded. Hermione knew that they were back to the old habit of exploding in each others faces so she did her best to keep calm and let Ron's emotions pass.

"You heard right Ron, Draco and I have been friends for a while now, we just didn't feel the need to let everyone know cause we knew everyone would probably react the way you did. But now that our feelings for one another have changed, we can't fight it anymore." Hermione said.

"Did he do something to you Mione?" Ron asked, shocked and angry that his best friend would mention that name alongside the word friend "You can tell me, surely you haven't forgotten what he's done to you back in school?! What he's done to all of us! Its because of him and his death eater family that my brother is not here with us, celebrating Harry's birthday and its because of him and his kind that none of the people we love are going to celebrate Harry and Ginny's wedding with us!" Ron screamed, Hermione didn't know if he was screaming because the noise from the rainfall had gotten stronger and heavier or if it was because he was just absolutely livid with what she had just said.

After the war, the Weasley family had a difficult time moving on after losing Fred, Mr. Weasely would stare at the family watch for hours hoping to see Fred's face move, Mrs. Weasely would cook all of Fred's favorite dishes and keep herself busy by doing household chores the whole day but when dinner came and Fred never came home for dinner with George and the rest of her children, she would lock herself up in Fred and George's old room (since Fred and George started their business, they moved out and lived together above their store) and cry all of her pain and longing, Ginny distracted her self with quidditch practice, George did his best to keep the business up but after work, once the shop closes, he would hole up in the pad he shared with Fred and cry for the brother he had lost, eventually it took its toll and his grief started to hurt the business, that's when Ron decided to help out. Ron never showed any of his grief to anyone, everyone was surprised when it was Ron who had kept it all together, comforting his mother, taking care of his father, making sure Ginny didn't burn herself tired with too much quidditch practice and helping George out with the business. He even started holding family dinners every Friday night even if he couldn't really cook, he tried his best to get some normalcy back into their lives, he was probably the only one who's happiness lasted when Bill and Fleur announced their pregnancy, he would often visit and make sure Fleur and Bill were okay living in Shell cottage alone.

But deep inside, Ronald was angry. He was hurt and was saddened with what the war had done to his family. He not only lost his brother in the war but he lost the happiness his family always seemed to have. He needed someone to blame for everything. After the war, most death eaters were sent to Azkaban, a few of them having gotten the kiss, but somehow the Malfoys were able to avoid Azkaban all together and were only sentenced to 4 years of imprisonment and no use of magic. But what really infuriated him the most was that Draco was able to walk a free man after his hearing had proved that he was being controlled by Voldemort through the imperious curse and was forced to become a death eater against his will. Ron never forgave the Malfoys for everything he, his friends and his family had suffered, therefore he directed his anger towards their family, most especially Draco.

Hermione stared at Ron, carefully thinking of how she would word her next thoughts "No Ron, I haven't forgotten, but its been 3 years and even I never thought we'd get on well, let alone be civil with one another" she began "besides, it has been proven that while Draco has been a git to us during school, he never really wanted any part of the war! I forgave him for the things he's done to me during Hogwarts because I want to move on, move past that awful phase of my life and I can't do that if I don't learn to forgive!" Hermione stated, feeling like she had to defend her actions.

Ron couldn't control his anger any longer "have you forgotten what he's done to my family Mione?! His family is the reason we're a mess! My brother is gone because of his family!" Ron was driving faster now, unconscious of how fast they had been going. "No one knew who caused the wall to collapse Ron, it wasn't any of the Malfoys seeing as Lucuis and Narcissa were with Voldemort thus, placing them in the forbidden forest and Malfoy was with the rest of the Slytherins in the Dungeon" Hermione said.

Ron was about livid, he couldn't believe Hermione was defending the Malfoys! "Yeah well, A deather eater blew up that wall and they may as well have done it seeing as they were at the top of that whole Death Eater list!- RON STOP!" Ron was about to add more but he heard Hermione Scream, cutting him off, and the next thing he knew, they were flying off, no falling off the side of a bridge.

UPDATE AS OF: 07/15/2013

HELLO! I DECIDED TO CHANGE SOME OF THE DETAILS HERE IN THE PROLOGUE AS I REALIZED THAT THERE WERE SOME INCONSISTENCIES WITH THE FOLLOWING CHAPTERS, ITS NOT MUCH AND I GUESS NEW READERS WON'T NOTICE IT ANYMORE BUT IN CASE ANYONE DECIDES TO RE-READ THIS AND NOTICE THAT THERE ARE SOME INCONSISTENCIES WITH THE FUTURE CHAPTERS, I FIXED IT ALREADY! YAAY! :)

XX

HEYANTOINETTE