Five

Thanks go to Fizzabella for the beta read!

"Are you truly all right?" Ginny asked for the hundredth time.

"I was until you showed up," Hermione said crossly. "For the last time, Ron and I have made a decision, and we are going to stick by it."

"But it's mental! You two obviously love each other. Why do this to yourselves? Hermione, look at Harry and me. We..."

"Now you sound like Ronald. We can't compare ourselves to you or any other couple. No two couples are alike. You're ready for motherhood. I'm not. Ron wants a family now. I want to wait a little and establish myself first."

Ginny pursed her lips as she thought for a moment. "I just love both of you and want you to be happy. Together. Harry wants that, too."

"It's what I want also, but what if time passes, and then I decide that I rather like my job and don't want kids at all? How could I do that to him? Have him invest so much of his life and heart to me only to disappoint him?"

"But you wouldn't do that."

"No, I don't think I would, but that's not the point." She sighed and placed a hand over Ginny's on the desktop. "What if I do this? Stay with Ron, I mean. I might get pregnant in a couple of years, either feeling guilty about his wishes, either by accident, or whatever. What if years later I don't reach my full potential at work and feel it's Ron's fault? Or, worse, what if I resent my child? I don't want that to happen. That would be awful."

"That would be, yes."

"That's exactly my point, Gin."

Ginny nodded, flipped her hand over to squeeze Hermione's and then asked, "So... you want to come over for dinner tonight?"

"Who's going to be there?"

"Us... maybe Ron."

"Ginny!"

"What?" she asked, feigning innocence.

"It's only been a couple of days, and you're already trying to push us back together!"

"Do you really think he's going to try to move on?" Ginny asked softly.

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know."

"Do you want him to?"

"I... I don't know."

Ginny shook her head and threw her hands up in disgust. "This is ridiculous. What about one of those relationship counselors?"

"No thanks."

"Now you sound like Ron!"

"You approached him about this, too?"

"Well... I might have mentioned it."

"Please, Gin, stop trying to play matchmaker for us. We'll ask you if we need it, okay?"

Ginny nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. "All right. I don't mean to be a pain. Like I said, I just love you and worry about you."

Hermione smiled genuinely. "I appreciate that and feel the same way."

"Coming over for dinner then?" she asked brightly.

"You little shit!" Hermione laughed in amusement. "You don't give up, do you?"

"I didn't say I was trying to take over matchmaking like that Yenta Livery bloke. Just want my family to come over tonight. Besides, Neville is going to be there as well. That should prove it's not some trap to get you and Ron alone."

"Oh, all right. I'll be there, but no expectations, all right?"

"Thanks."

"Speaking of the Yenta Livery Company, did you hear that they might be closing a couple of their locations now that the founder has been hired by the Ministry?"

"Why though? The company would still make profit."

"I think the Ministry is insisting, wanting people to go through there only...probably to keep tabs on applicants."

"Government!" Ginny huffed.

"Oi, I work here," Hermione said with a grin.

"As I said..."

"I feel sorry for the ones they are forcing into this. It's barbaric."

"Not all of them feel as though it's a bad thing."

"Yeah? Tell that to the Malfoys or Professor Snape."

"Well, look at Stan Shunpike," Ginny said.

"He shouldn't be on probation for anything in the first place!" Hermione said hotly.

"The Wizengamot feels otherwise. I mean, he did hang out with the Death Eaters once they helped him escape."

"He felt he had no choice!"

"Anyway, my point is," Ginny said, loudly overriding Hermione's words, "Harry and I talked to him last night, and he's ecstatic. According to him, the YLC has already found three potential matches. He's met the three ladies and can't decide which to choose. He feels like this is helping him find someone when he thought nobody would want him before."

"What about lovers being torn apart? Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson for one example."

"Why would you care about that cow and prick?"

"I don't like them...either one...but still... say you and Harry weren't married already. Would you like the idea of having to go through this?"

"No, I suppose not. Thankfully, though, Harry's not an ex-Death Eater."

"And Professor Snape is?"

"Uh, yes," Ginny said snidely. "I know he was playing a role, but he wasn't always on our side, Hermione. He's done some things even in the name of good that aren't... admirable."

"I know," Hermione agreed. "I just feel sorry for them...yes, that does include Parkinson and Malfoy."

"Just be glad it isn't some nationwide mandatory thing and that you and other upstanding citizens," Ginny snickered, "are free to choose without going through the Ministry."

"Too right." Hermione nodded to her office doorway. "Now leave so I can finish my work, else I won't be able to join you lot tonight."

"See you around seven."

"Absolutely."

After her friend left, Hermione couldn't concentrate on the papers before her. She kept thinking about Ron and the decision they'd made. At times she felt so sure that she and he were doing the right thing, but at other times, she wanted to go to him and ask that they go back to the way things were. Life had been comfortable for the both of them. While she'd had her doubts about their future happiness and while certain things annoyed her, she'd not imagined breaking things off completely.

Ginny's words came back to her repeatedly. Would he truly move on? Did she want him to? Was it selfish of her to admit, deep down in the dark recesses of her mind, that she wanted him to wait for her? With a sigh, she tossed down her quill and sat back in her chair, rubbing her face with her hands.

Hermione swallowed nervously as she knocked on Harry's front door. Why she was nervous to have dinner with friends... and Ron was unknown to her. She mentally chided herself. She'd been having dinner with him for most of her life, more times as friends than as a couple, so this shouldn't be so strange for her. When the door opened, Hermione grinned. "You're looking dashing, Harry."

"Thanks," he said, beckoning to her. "Come in. We're in the living room."

"I... uh, thanks for the invite."

"Are you all right?" he asked, lowering his voice.

She nodded. "I am." When he cocked an eyebrow, she added, "Seriously."

"Okay then. We've got a surprise tonight!" he said, beaming again.

"What surprise?" she asked curiously, uncertain she could take any more surprises that might affect her. What had they planned? What had Ron done?

"It's not mine to tell. You'll have to see for yourself."

Suppressing a groan, she walked past Harry in the narrow hallway and entered the foyer, pausing when she heard unfamiliar feminine laughter. Her head slowly turned, her gaze meeting Harry's. Before she could ask the question on her mind, he spoke.

"She's not here with Ron."

Relief flooded her. "Okay."

"It's... it's Neville," he whispered. "Look."

She followed Harry into the room and paused once again. Sitting next to a grinning Neville was Hannah Abbot...someone Hermione hadn't seen at all in the years since they'd left school. "Oh... hi there," she said, looking between the two of them. "It's good to see you."

"Hello, Hermione," Hannah returned pleasantly, one hand moving to clasp Neville's. "It's been too long."

"I heard you'd gone to the continent to stay with relatives."

"I did for a while, but I've been back nearly a year now."

"Welcome back then," Hermione said warmly. "Neville, hello."

"Hi, Hermione," he greeted proudly.

"I didn't know that you two were seeing each other," she said, wondering when someone would fill her in. She hadn't known that Neville had been dating anyone. Each time she saw him, he talked about his duties Apprenticing with Madam Sprout, never mentioning his romantic interests.

"It only just happened recently," Neville blurted. "Y-you tell her, Hannah."

Hermione moved to sit in the only available space in the room... on the couch next to Ron, who nodded in greeting and took a deep drink from his glass of wine. "Do tell."

"Well, a couple of weeks ago I was reading about the Ministry opening its new geneamorology department, and I thought, 'You know, that's what I should do. I'm alone and never seem to run into anyone I'm compatible with.' So I went in and did it! I filled out the information. Last week, I received an owl with the first of several matches." She looked at Neville adoringly. "And to my surprise, it was Neville."

"We met straightaway and talked," Neville added. "Gran really likes her."

"And I like Gran, too," Hannah said.

Hermione tried not to grimace at the sickeningly sweet display before her. She was happy for Neville and Hannah, truly, but she was also a little annoyed that they'd stooped to use the Yenta Livery process to find each other. It seemed wrong somehow.

"Anyway," Neville said, "when I got the owl inviting me here tonight, I thought it might be a good time to let you all know about us and that she and I are going to be married."

"Wow," Hermione said, completely lost for the right words. She wanted to say it was too soon, but she had no right to put a damper on their happiness.

"A real whirlwind romance," Hannah said, "and I can't be happier."

"They're planning on trying to have a baby right away," Ron said, speaking for the first time that night.

Eyeing him speculatively, Hermione again said, "Wow."

"It seems fast, but according to the questions and answers we gave, we match perfectly," Hannah said a little defensively. She leaned back and snuggled against Neville. "I've always thought him handsome, but we never had the chance to talk much at Hogwarts. I'd like to think we would have got together ages ago if we had."

"Well, I'm happy for you then," Hermione said, accepting a glass of wine from Ginny. "To your happiness." She lifted the glass to toast them and took a sip as she heard Ron say, "Yeah, cheers." She sensed the bitter tone in his voice and wondered if he was jealous of the couple.

Of course he would be, she thought sadly. Neville, whom Ron always thought of as being the last to get any girls, was getting everything Ron wanted.

"Kreacher has gone all out tonight," Harry said. "Fit for the occasion."

"Thanks, guys," Neville said earnestly.

Good for you, Nev, Hermione thought, honestly happy for him suddenly. Why wouldn't he deserve to be happy after all he'd gone through? Hannah had always been a good, honest person, and it was apparent that she truly adored Neville.

"Shall we eat then? I'm famished," Ginny said as she stood.

Harry rose as well. "Yeah, and there's something...oof!"

Ginny elbowed him. "Not now." She pulled him from the room, giggling as she did so.

Neville and Hannah quickly followed, leaving Ron and Hermione alone. "All right, Ron?" she asked. "You seem down."

"I am." He tipped up his glass and drank the rest of his wine.

"Can I help?" she asked, reaching out and placing a hand on his leg. She realized her mistake the moment she'd uttered it.

"Of course you can," he said, eyes blazing, "but you won't."

"I thought we'd decided to..." She looked away and wished she hadn't agreed to dinner with her friends.

"It's just hard hearing them going on about how great life is, how they're starting a family." He frowned and growled in annoyance. "I mean, come on? Neville's getting a wife before me?"

"Sshh, Ronald, he'll hear you."

He shrugged and stood. "Time to eat."

"Have you changed your mind about our agreement?"

Ron's blue eyes gazed at her for a long moment before he shook his head. "No." And then he walked from the room.

She'd almost hoped that he'd beg her to take him back. It would make things so much easier. She could always say that she'd felt like she'd had no choice, that he'd convinced her their parting was wrong. However, as she watched him walk from the room, she mentally slapped herself. She had to be stronger. He was being strong, even though it was costing him. She could do it as well.

As she joined the others, she accepted another glass of wine from Harry and waited as Ginny poured herself some pumpkin juice. "Harry wasn't lying," she said to her friend. "Kreacher did a great job with this."

There was a feast spread out on the long table before them; Hermione felt as though she were sitting at the Gryffindor house table at Hogwarts. Before her lay lamb chops, Cornish pasties, roast chicken, jacket potatoes, peas, carrots, rice pudding, and even mince pies.

"Is there something more going on?" Ron asked. "How'd Kreacher know about Neville's announcement?"

"He didn't," Harry said, looking over to Ginny.

"Oh, all right!" she said in exasperation. "Go on then."

Harry adjusted his glasses before running his hands through his hair. "We're... Well, no, Ginny is pregnant. We're going to have a baby."

Hermione gasped in shock. "Oh, Harry! That's wonderful!" She leaned over and hugged Ginny tightly. "You didn't tell me! How far along are you?"

"I'm just over two months. We wanted to wait."

"Why didn't you invite Mum?" Ron asked quietly.

"We told her earlier, her and Dad both," Ginny said, her smile faltering slightly.

"Congratulations," Ron said, raising his glass in a toast.

"Thanks, mate," Harry said, putting an arm around Ginny.

"That's such great news," Hannah said. "Maybe we'll be pregnant at the same time."

"Maybe," Ginny gushed excitedly and launched into what the Healer had told her at her appointment the day before.

Hermione only half listened as she watched Ron, who was pretending to be happy as he talked to Harry and drank more wine. She knew he was hurting and could feel it radiating from him. How could no one else see it? Or did they see it and just didn't care? Could someone really be so wrapped up in his or her own happiness to not see someone's blatant misery? In the same vein, why couldn't she give in and do what he wanted? She knew he'd be happy, and in the long run, she would as well. Her mother had held a career and had been a good mother. Why couldn't she do the same?

Ron wants you to be what his mother is, a voice whispered in her mind. And that was her biggest fear, wasn't it? She wanted more from life than to be a housewife who raised a load of children. Ron would be happy with that if she chose it. If she wanted a child, would he stop there if she requested it, or would he cajole and beg for more? She knew the answer to that. He wanted what she wasn't ready to give...what she might never be able to give. And she refused to ask him to put his life on hold while she made up her mind.

Feeling more determined to stick to her decision, she tuned into the conversation and merrily toasted her friends once more before tucking in to dinner.

AN: Yes, it's a little slow going, but to me, I kind of like the build. Hope you don't mind!