Chapter 16

Hermione felt much better now that she had confided in someone. Never in a million years would she have thought that Lucius would be her confidant, but he had been the perfect friend. Listening, offering advice, but not judging. A part of her had hoped that he would have offered an opinion, but she knew that would be taking the easy way out. As he had said, she would have to be the one to make any decisions about her future.

When she Apparated home, she felt she was ready to face Ron. Surprisingly he was not there. She presumed that he was at The Burrow. She poured herself a glass of wine and checked the basket by Pigwidgeon's stand for the post, but it was empty. When she walked in the bedroom to change, she found a note stuck in the frame of the mirror.

Hermione,

Ron

She set the note on the dresser, not sure what to make of it. It wasn't an apology. In fact, he had made it clear that he thought he had done nothing wrong, that she was the one responsible for the trouble they were having. That meant that he expected her to make the first step towards reconciliation. It frustrated her that after all these years he still didn't understand that a relationship required compromise from both parties. Now he was hiding out at Harry's, likely hoping they would side with him to convince her to his way of thinking.

At least she had the flat to herself tonight. It would give her time away from him to reflect on just what she wanted and to consider her options. She hated the idea of giving up; it was like admitting she'd failed. No, that wasn't fair, she reasoned. It would not be giving up. They had spent the last two years drifting apart, and she had spent the last three months trying to bring them closer together, but to no avail. It was not something she could do on her own. He had to want the same things she did or they would continue to drift further away until they really hurt each other.

She picked up the note and reread it. She wished that he had owled her that note. It's not like Pigwidgeon wouldn't have been able to find her, and it would have shown her how important she was to him.

It made her wonder how important she really was to Ron. She rationalized that he could have put it in the kitchen, like she'd have done if leaving a note for him, that way she'd see it right away. Or he could have set it on her on her favorite arm chair, where she would have likely noticed it soon after returning from work, any number of places more visible than the mirror in the bedroom. Instead he'd taped it to her dresser, knowing I wouldn't see it until I changed my clothes, or right before getting ready for bed, she realized with a twang.

She sat down on the bed with a heavy sign, turning the note in her hands. Right now she was only important enough for a note on the mirror.

She couldn't help but think about the differences between Ron and Lucius. Yes, she knew that Lucius was much older than Ron, but Ron had not matured much since she had met him. And despite his efforts, he still had the expectation that she should be like his mum or sister, or Angelina and Fleur for that matter, happily contributing to the next Weasley Quidditch team. He still didn't understand her, or her desires or her needs in this relationship, what they needed in order for this relationship to work between the two of them.

Lucius on the other hand seemed to understand her all too well. He at least treated her as though she was the most important person in the world. He had asked her what was bothering her, helped her face her problem rather than continue to hide from it.

Besides what did a few years matter for having kids? So what if their kids were not in Hogwarts at the same time as his siblings' were? That would not be a bad thing. They'd make friends and probably still be on the house Quidditch team! Although, secretly, she hoped that at least one of her children would take after her and be studious. Rubbish. That's not the point, she thought in frustration, falling back onto her bed with a loud sigh of frustration. Ron didn't understand her – he never had. Even when they did things as a couple – it was what he wanted. He doesn't like the things I do, and in all fairness, what interests him is boring to me.

She thought back to her vacation and the conversations she had with Ron. They had agreed not to talk Quidditch, but she now realized they had talked about little more than the resort. Even then, Ron had never asked her what she had done during the week she was there alone; she had driven the conversation. On the other hand, she and Lucius had enjoyed conversations and hearty intellectual debates on a wide variety of topics. Talking with him had been so effortless. She knew that she should not be attracted to Lucius, but he provided her everything that her relationship with Ron was missing.

She reached over and grabbed her favorite decorative pillow her grandmother had given her for tenth birthday, hugging it for comfort. She was not considering leaving Ron because of Lucius – it was because her relationship with Ron was broken. The two of them just did not have enough in common and had drifted apart. She did not even know if it was broken beyond repair, but a part of her suspected it might be. They wanted different things, and she did not think they could come to a compromise. Both of them were incredibly stubborn.

Besides, the society page had been publishing information suggesting that Lucius was tied to some witch in Germany. Edna, Emma, Elsa Something-or-other. He was nothing more than a good friend, someone she could confide in without it slipping to the wrong Weasley.

She got up and readied for bed, knowing her mind was in too much turmoil to enjoy reading anything.

As she lay in bed trying to find elusive sleep, her traitorous mind kept rehashing all the things where she and Ron differed, and as much as she hated admitting it, how much she had in common with one Lucius Malfoy.

Again Hermione slept fitfully. Her dreams were muddled, and if she was the sort who believed in Divination, she would pore over the books trying to make sense of them. As it was, she kept shaking them off. In more than one dream she found Ron morphing into Lucius. Of course, that was something she didn't need to be some sort of Seer to understand. Lucius showed her the sort of attention she craved from Ron.

Still not entirely rested, she headed to work and found a letter on her desk. It was on company letterhead, and she recognized Lucius' handwriting on the envelope. After looking around to make sure that no one was watching her, she opened the envelope and looked at the piece of paper.

I've made a noon appointment for you at the office of Mr. Reginald Forsythe.

L

She couldn't believe that he had got her an appointment today, not to mention during her lunch break. Of course, when you were Lucius Malfoy, you were able to do a lot of things that most people considered impossible. She was not sure that she was ready to speak to a solicitor, but she reasoned this was just a fact finding interview – she was not committing to anything. She merely needed more information in order to make a reasonable, rational, well-informed decision about her future.

For the rest of the morning, she tried to focus on her work, but she was becoming more and more nervous as her appointment approached. She also found it hard to focus as she tried to imagine how the conversation would go. Thankfully she was able to make it to her lunch break without any lab accidents.

Finally, it was time for her to leave for her appointment. When she arrived at the office of Mr. Reginald Forsythe, she was hardly surprised to see a spacious, well-appointed office, clearly indicating that Lucius had recommended one of the best solicitors, one who she could most likely not afford to pay. But she could at least get the information she would need to decide if divorce was worth pursuing.

The receptionist had her wait a few minutes before admitting her to Mr. Forsythe's office. Again, she wasn't at all surprised that she was seeing the senior member of the firm.

He greeted her warmly with a handshake. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Weasley. Mr. Malfoy informs me that you are here to discuss a very delicate subject. Please, have a seat." He indicated a sofa at the side of his office rather than the chair by the desk.

"Er, yes. You see, my husband and I have grown apart and we want different things and it may be best for us to separate," she began nervously.

He looked at her thoughtfully. "Mmm. I see. You don't mind if I use a Dict-A-Quill, do you?"

She nervously considered his request for a second before replying, "Not at all," lest he think she didn't trust him. Unlike Rita Skeeter's Quick Quotes Quill, the Dict-A-Quill impartially recorded everything people actually said. In fact she had found them quite useful when working on Potions because you didn't have to stop to take notes. You did have to be careful about mumbling to yourself, though, as the quill would record everything uttered, as if spoken loud and clear. She once noticed it even wrote down something she'd been thinking very hard on one day... that could be problematic.

"Thank you." He swished his wand and the quill and parchment sprang to life, floating beside them. "Now, how long have the two of you been married?"

"Five years."

"Any children?"

"No, and that's the problem." Forsythe arched an eyebrow at her in inquiry. "You see, he wants to start a family, and I'm not ready for that yet. I enjoy my work, and I know that once I start having kids that I'll have to give that up."

"I see," he replied in a neutral tone. "And I presume that is main cause of marital discord?"

"Well, sort of. We otherwise get along, mostly," she added tentatively. "But he and his family are really pressuring me to start a family, and I don't know that I can take that stress anymore. I've tried to tell him that if we wait a few more years, it'll be better, but well, I don't think he believes me."

"And do you want children?" he asked pointedly.

"At some point, yes, but it's not something I have to decide this minute," she replied defensively, used to arguing this point with Ron.

"Of course not," he replied in his maddeningly neutral tone.

She knew it was good to have a solicitor who was non-judgmental, but it felt frustrating to get no emotional reaction from him. "I just think that maybe we rushed into getting married after the war." They had been riding the emotional high from defeating Voldemort, surrounded by all the attention and all the questions about their relationship. It was as though the Wizarding World was willing them to get married, and without really considering the ramifications, that was exactly what they had done.

"How long did you know your husband before you were married?"

"Seven years, but six of those were at Hogwarts and then that one year we were on the run from Voldemort, well, he wasn't there most of that year. So there was really only about six months from the end of the war until our wedding. And we didn't formally date in school – but we were very good friends," she added. She remembered how horrible things were her first year up until the troll and again how horrible he'd been when she'd told McGonagall about the Firebolt and the row they'd have her fourth year because she refused to carry messages for him like an owl. Of course there was also the incident surrounding Ron not asking her to the Yule Ball until the last minute. "Most of the time," she added quietly.

He contemplated her for several moments and then reviewed his notes. "You said you mostly got along. Can you elaborate?"

She opened her mouth to tell him she had not meant that, but closed her mouth and considered her answer. She glanced at the quill, poised perfectly still as if waiting patiently for her to continue speaking, as though it were judging her. After taking a deep breath, she replied, "It was good in the beginning." She started remembering the past. "Though, Harry was over a lot before Ginny graduated from school." She began to realize that she and Ron had not really spent that much time alone before getting married, and even the first couple of years of their marriage. "Everything was fine while Harry was around." She realized that their 'troubles' started after Ginny stopped playing Quidditch and Harry stopped spending as much time with them. "I guess we never realized how little we have in common." She looked down at her hands. "I'm a bit of a bookworm, and if it's not something that pertains to his job, he's not interested. You know how you can sit down with someone and have a long conversation, sometimes about nothing at all? We never really had that," she finally admitted.

She waited for him to speak, and then looked up at him when he'd said nothing. "What do you think?" she asked expectantly as the silence dragged on.

"As you may or may not know, divorce is not common in the wizarding world. The differing philosophy on children is grounds for divorce, but that is not the reason commonly invoked. The lack of commonality... Well, that begs other questions about why to have gotten married in the first place. Obviously if you could prove any sort of infidelity on his part, it would make things less convoluted."

She tried not to be shocked by this suggestion. "He's not that type of person. I don't really want to hurt him, I just don't think we are good as a couple – we're too different."

"I see," he replied noncommittally. "I'm not going to mince words with you, Mrs. Weasley. The best way to handle this would be if you could get him to agree that you will both part ways. I know something of his family, so I'm not sure how likely that will be. If you can't convince him that dissolving the marriage is in your mutual best interests, this could be difficult. You would both have to testify before the Wizengamot, and you would have to convince them that you have ideological differences that make you incompatible. Questions will be raised about when these differences became evident – whether before or after the marriage – and anything that you admit you knew before the marriage will make it that much more difficult to gain the divorce."

She hadn't expected to have to prove to outsiders that their marriage should be dissolved. "Oh."

"It can get quite ugly. And because of who the two of you are, that could make it uglier."

He knew she was talking about both of them being heroes of the War. "But only if he contests it," she confirmed.

"That's correct."

"And if does contest, you think that I do have the grounds for it?" She knew this was the critical question.

"If it can be proven that you are being harassed about immediately starting a family and that you have made your wishes known. Since it is a matter of who said what, this can be hard to prove in court. But when you add in your other differences, it should be enough to tip the Wizengamot in your favor. The hardest part about this is that it may involve witnesses who may not wish to testify, though that is not a certainty."

"But if he agrees this is for the best?" she asked, hoping that she could get Ron to be reasonable.

"If he agrees it would be rather straightforward. You would submit your petition to the Wizengamot and they would approve it. There would of course be division of assets. If you own a house that could complicate matters."

"No, we're renting a flat. And I'm sure we could come to an agreement about the furniture and stuff." She was now glad they had never gotten around to buying a house. It just hadn't seemed important when it was the two of them.

She considered everything she had learned, trying to think of any other questions she might have, watching the Dict-A-Quill hovering beside her. It all seemed so academic here in Mr. Forsythe's office, even though she knew that it was anything but. "Thank you for your consult. You have given me a lot to think about it."

"It is my pleasure to do a favor for a friend of Mr. Malfoy. I only wish it were about a happier topic. I presume he has filled you in on the potential social ramifications?"

"Oh, yes, I know all about that. But I've never really been one to care what others think about me," she replied in what she hoped was an optimistic tone.

"Just know that the reason for your divorce will not sit well with many. The traditional role of the married witch is to be wife and mother, and you are essentially rejecting both of those roles," he cautioned.

"Thank you. I do know that, it's not that I don't want to be a mother – just not now. I want to wait, and he's not, well, he doesn't see things the way I do. But that's only one of the reasons, you know." She knew that would be the most difficult part of the whole process – if Ron were to contest, she was going against the traditional wizarding way of doing things. She rose to her feet, letting him know that she was ready to leave.

"Good day, Mrs. Weasley. And our offices are here should you need any further assistance," he offered warmly.

"Thank you, Mr. Forsythe. I'll keep that in mind," she replied politely, returning his handshake, before he showed her out.

Now she knew she had to talk to Ron about this and try to convince him that they would be better apart, and that he would be better with someone who wanted to be wife and mother first and foremost. It would not be easy, but then nothing in her life had been easy despite what anyone thought. This would just be one more difficult task for her to conquer. Of course, this would likely alienate her from almost all of the friends she had. If she had been less impulsive five years ago, not done what everyone expected of her, this all could have been avoided.

For the rest of the work day, Hermione found it incredibly difficult to concentrate on work. What she would say to Ron kept running through her head. She still hadn't really thought of a good way to bring divorce up. Every scenario she could come up with involved Ron freaking out. At this point she was reasonably sure that his freaking out was unavoidable.

When the work day wrapped up, she cleaned up her station and was just getting ready to leave when she noticed Lucius talking to Harold. Harold then turned to her. "Hermione, Mr. Malfoy would like to speak to you for a few minutes."

"Of course," she replied, sounding perhaps a bit too nervous.

Harold clasped his hand on her shoulder and said warmly, "Don't worry, you aren't in any trouble."

She gave him a reassuring smile and then followed Lucius as he walked out of the laboratory and to the conference area.

Once they door was closed, he said, "I was wondering how your consultation with Reg went."

"He didn't fill you in?" she asked, having expected him to have gotten the full report.

"My dear, even in the wizarding world there is attorney-client privilege," he replied instructively.

She hadn't even thought of that since she had never had reason to consult a solicitor. "Oh. It was informative. I think I have all the information that I need."

"I'm glad for that. If you have any other questions that Reg didn't answer for you, I thought I'd give you one last opportunity to decide before you possibly act on the information you have. I want to make sure that you fully understand the social implications if you do decide to file for divorce," he said seriously.

"I understand that it will likely be the scandal of the century," Hermione replied. "But that's only if he chooses to make it so. I'm hoping that he can be convinced to keep this low key and to just let us both get on with our lives." The more she had been thinking about it, the more she realized that their relationship was no longer one of husband and wife.

He gave her a reassuring smile. "I hope that you are right. And remember, if you have questions, please do not hesitate to ask me. Your husband has the advantage that he was raised in the wizarding world to a wizarding family. Do not underestimate that advantage," he said seriously.

"I won't. And thank you again. I really appreciate you arranging my consult with Mr. Forsythe."

Lucius urged, "If you need his services again..."

She cut him off. "I'll take care of myself. While I do appreciate being able to speak with him, I'm pretty sure the rates his firm would charge would be a bit out of my league."

"Of course," he replied simply and nodded in acquiescence. "Do be careful in how you handle this."

"I'll be fine," she reassured, for her as much as for him. He gave her an encouraging smile before leaving.

Since Hermione knew that Ron generally got home from work later than she did, she decided to wander Diagon Alley a bit and try to sort her thoughts out. When she found herself outside Flourish and Blott's, she decided to see if the latest issue of Potions Quarterly had arrived. As she was perusing the professional journals, a photograph of Lucius on the sidebar of the Witch Weekly caught her eye. She picked up the magazine and saw the sub-headline "Is Britain's Most Eligible Bachelor Off the Market? Pg. 12"

Normally she wasn't one to read the gossip section, but she found herself flipping to page twelve.

Ladies, could Lucius Malfoy be off the market before we even knew he was on it? The debonair and reclusive widower has been spotted at some of Frankfurt's finest restaurants in the company of the beautiful and highly available Elsa Schwartz over the last few weeks. Ostensibly this is all in the name of business, but witnesses report otherwise.

Could this Germanic vixen have done what none of Britain's finest could do – find a way in Lucius' grieving heart? Are more trips to Germany in his future? Time will tell, but based on reports, I think that may be the case.

There was also an accompanying photograph showing them at a restaurant table, apparently sharing an intimate moment.

Hermione closed the magazine and shoved it back on the rack. She couldn't believe she had read that drivel. And what did it matter anyway? It's not like someone like Lucius would be attracted to someone like her. Witches and wizards could just be friends – look at her and Harry. And that's exactly what they were and would remain, no matter what her imagination tried to tell her. It was all because she had read that silly romance novel while on vacation. Her mind had just taken to projecting the novel into her subconscious because Ron and Lucius mirrored the main characters in that silly novel.

She left Flourish and Blott's and wandered down Diagon Alley, trying to get thoughts of Lucius out of her mind.

Finally she decided it was time to get this over with, and she Apparated to Godric's Hollow. "Hi, Ginny, is Ron around?" she asked as she gave her sister-in-law a hug.

"No, they're still at work." As per usual, with one look, Ginny could tell that something was bothering Hermione. "Is everything alright?"

Hermione knew better than to lie to Ginny. "No, but I don't really want to talk about it."

"Are you sure? It might make you feel better," Ginny offered hopefully.

Hermione knew that Ginny was used to Hermione confiding in her, that she had vented some of her frustrations about Ron's behavior in the past, but this was something she had to discuss with Ron first. Of course, once she did, she was pretty sure that Ginny wouldn't want to talk to her ever again. "I'm sure."

Ginny looked at her skeptically a few seconds before saying, "Well then, why don't you give me a hand with feeding the kids?"

Hermione smiled. "Sure." She really didn't have anything against kids and enjoyed spending time with her nieces and nephews, but she just wasn't ready for one of her own.

After half an hour, Ron and Harry arrived. Ron smiled when he saw her. "Hermione!" he said excitedly, though his smile faded when he saw she was not as excited to see him as he was to see her.

"Hi, Ron. Ready to go home?" Hermione asked, hoping her voice wasn't giving anything away.

"Sure. Harry, Ginny, see you later," he said before leaving with Hermione.

Once they were home, he said, "Look I know I was a git..."

She put her hand up to stop him from saying anything else. "Have you ever noticed how many times you have to make that apology?"

He ruffled his hair. "Yeah, well..."

"And did you ever notice how many times you are apologizing for the same thing?"

She could see in his eyes that he realized that this conversation was not going to be one of their usual kiss and make up moments. "What are you saying?"

She had hoped she would have had more time to work up to it since he normally did not read between the lines this well. Well, she'd soften if as much as she could. "Are you really happy in our marriage?"

"Of course I am," he replied defensively.

"Ron, are you happy. I mean, really, really happy?" She put up her hand to stall the normal, yeah response. "I'm serious about this," she asked, hoping to get him to really look deep down at his emotions.

Rather than answer, he flung the question back at her. "Are you really happy?" he asked with a voice that said he did not really want to hear the answer.

"I'm mostly content, but I'm not really happy because I can't make you really happy." When he did not say anything she continued. "You want a family and you want it now. I'm not ready for that yet. You want a date for when I will be, but I can't give you one. I'd prefer to wait years, but I know you don't. It's causing a lot of stress for both of us because neither one of us is willing to budge. So are you really, really happy? And can you say that if it's another five or ten years before I'm ready – before we have kids?

"And that's not all. You know that I'm not into Quidditch, and... well... When was the last time you wanted to discuss anything new and innovative, or have been willing to let me tell you about a new theory or charm or transfiguration or well, anything that interests me?"

"You aren't saying...?" he asked, clearly unable to use the word.

"I think it's best for both of us," she said softly, forcing herself to meet his eyes. "I want my career, and you want me to stay at home and raise a family. You can't get much more different than that."

He was clearly in shock. "But it's not heard of! What will everyone think? Whose idea was this?" he demanded.

She ignored his last question. "So are you saying we doom ourselves to a life of misery? Seriously, Ron, think hard about the last several years. How many happy moments have we had? How many romantic evenings have we shared? What do we really have in common to build a solid relationship on?" She knew those questions would hurt, but that was the point.

He rose to his feet, his face flushing red in anger. "Well if that's the case, why did you marry me?" he demanded.

She had expected his tirade. "Because I loved you, and I thought we could be good together. I thought we could respect each other that we had enough between us to build a relationship on, but clearly I was mistaken." She realized her anger was feeding off his and moderated her voice a little. "Ron, I do care about you, love you and I value your friendship, but I don't know that it's enough for a marriage. In the euphoria following the war, we both lost track of who we really were. We were there for each other to bring each other through the emotional aftermath, but since then... You can't deny that we have drifted apart."

"Did you ever think that that was because you buried yourself in your work, that you were never at home to spend time with me?" he snarled.

This hit home for her and she stood up, staring him down. "And on those days when I did come home on time, then what? How many times did you choose to go to a Quidditch match or listen to one on the Wireless over spending the evening doing something together? How many times did you turn down suggestions I gave on something to do together because you just weren't interested in it? When have you ever done something that interested me? We went two years without taking a vacation together, and when we did, well..."

"How many times did you bend? I suggest stuff – but you don't want to do them – you'd rather read a book. I know you don't like Quidditch so I go without you. We go to book shops because you want to. We go out to eat where you want to go because you don't feel like cooking. How many times do we try something that I liked? Not many," he said defensively.

"We do do things you want to do." She furrowed her brows as she glared at him, her eyes sparking in anger. "That's because all you ever want to do is to stay in or to go visit Harry or your family – but when we do visit your family, have you ever stood up to your mother for me? No, you don't. You let her nag me until I've had enough and beg you to leave."

"I agree with my mum – I want a family. Everyone else is having children; she's only asking when we will. You talk about me not wanting to compromise – well, how about you? How much have you been willing to compromise?" he shot back.

She bit her lip as she listened to his words. She had tried at first, but as time went on... He was right, she'd stopped trying and started working later and later or avoiding him all together. She had to get him to see that for himself. "And that's exactly why we aren't good together as husband and wife. Neither of us is willing to bend for the other, because this isn't something that can be a compromise – it's one or the other. One of us would have to cave in, and I know neither of us want to because then we would have to bend too far. One of us would have to give up our needs and wants, but that's the problem. We would have to lose part of ourselves to get there." She gave him a few seconds to take in what she had said. "Ron, we are good as friends, great even, but as a married couple... everyone makes mistakes," she finished quietly.

"So that's what you think marrying me was?" he shouted. "Is it just a mistake because you couldn't bend me to your will, change me into your idea of the perfect man?" he accused

She suddenly realized what she had said and wished she could have it back. "No, because I think I'd break if I bent to your will. I'd have to stop being who I am, and I can't do that. I don't know that it was a mistake to marry you, but I think we just went along, rushed into marriage too quickly, and didn't take the time to really have a normal life. A boyfriend-girlfriend dating – no dark wizard or something trying to kill us – life. I think that we weren't ready. There were all sorts of questions that neither of us thought to ask. Things normal couples do. We were young and in lust. Once that lust was gone... where has that left us?" She wasn't sure that this was going to make it any better.

"So it was a mistake," he said quietly as he turned away from her.

Her heart sank. His tone of voice just made her seem like a failure, even though she knew they had both played a role in their marriage falling apart.

He walked away from her and headed towards the door. "I need some space," he said quietly as he slipped out the door.

She had expected that sort of response. All she could do now was wait.

After a couple of hours, there was a knock at the door. Hermione opened it and was not entirely surprised to see Harry. "Hi, Harry," she said weakly, knowing that he had come over to get her side of the story. "Come on in."

He came in, but he didn't take a seat. "Ron tells me you want a divorce. Well, not quite that simply, but that's what he said. Is that true?" he asked.

She sighed. The way Harry asked the question, it only hammered home how she felt like a failure. "It is. Harry, it's just too tough between the two of us, there's too much distance. Surely you can't be blind to that."

"It's a very big decision," he said simply. "Ginny and Ron told me how the Wizarding World views divorce."

"I know that. And it's one I've been thinking about since my vacation. This isn't something I decided on a whim," she said defensively. She hoped that Harry would be rational and listen to her reasoning.

"Why?"

"I'm sure that Ron filled you in on everything," she replied, not sure she wanted to go through spelling everything out to Harry.

"He did, but I wanted to hear from you. We both know how Ron can be," Harry joked, trying to add some levity to the situation.

She smiled weakly at Harry's comment. "We do. Basically, we just want different things from life. He wants me to be more like his mother, and I, well, want to be more like my mother. I want a job, a career, to make a difference, wait a few more years before starting a family." She hoped that would be enough to satisfy Harry's curiosity.

"Have you tried to work things out with Ron?" Harry asked, clearly not wanting to see his best friends at odds again.

"We've been trying this for months now, and there's nothing to work out. We're at an impasse on the children front. Not to mention that we don't really have a lot in common. We've just drifted too far apart over the years. What does it say when I'm happiest when I'm at work?" she asked pointedly.

Harry looked at her sadly. "Is that last part really true?"

"It is," she admitted reluctantly. "I still love Ron, but more like a brother. I just don't see that we have enough in common to make this work. I think we would both be happier apart. That way he could find someone whose views more closely match his."

"Hermione, you knew who Ron was when you decided to marry him," Harry said, clearly unhappy with what was transpiring.

She sighed. "Yes, to a point. Harry, we were young, in lust and on an emotional roller coaster from the War. We were alive, happy to be alive, euphoric almost. Everyone talked about what a great couple we were, and it was expected that we would get married by everyone – Ron's folks, you, the press, everyone. In that rush, there were a lot of things that we didn't ask each other, things that we should have discussed before we got married, things we forgot about the other person. It's always been a bit tumultuous between me and Ron and after he came back, well, I just kind of pushed away the ugliness of the past, thought he had changed. You have to admit that everything was rushed after the end of the War."

"It did, but, Hermione, Ginny and Ron have told me how divorce is viewed in the wizarding world," he said seriously.

Hermione interrupted before he continue, "I know that. But, Harry, neither one of us is happy, and in thinking about it, a lot of the stress in my life has been because of my relationship with Ron. You know I'm always mad at him for something or another. We fight all the time. He's spent a fair few nights in your spare room. We never talk much when we are both home, and neither one of us thought it was important to plan a vacation together for more than two years. We've lived in the same house, but we've been leading separate lives for a couple of years now. The most we've talked has been about kids and that has always led to an argument. And I can live with the stigma that's going to come from this." She knew her job was secure, and it wasn't like she mingled in society circles anyway.

"But what about Ron? Did you think about how he would react to that?" Harry asked pointedly.

"Yes I did, and I still think it's for the best. I just thought that it would make him happy to be able to move on with his life and find someone who's a better match, someone who wants the same things in life he does." She knew that Harry had to see reason given how well he knew the two of them. He was just in denial, like she had been for so long.

"He really loves you, and you know he never wanted to hurt you," Harry said in Ron's defense.

"That's what he says, but he keeps hurting me over and over. We keep having the same argument over and over. I just can't take it anymore. I've spent five years trying to make this work, and we just haven't been able to do that. I'm tired, Harry, really tired," she admitted.

"Maybe some time apart would be good?" he offered hopefully. "I told Ron he could stay with us, and he asked me to pack some things up for him since he'll probably be staying for a while."

"Maybe, but I'm not going to hold my breath. I'll go get his things." She went to the bedroom and quickly packed a bag using magic. She then returned to the living room and gave it to Harry.

"Think about this," Harry said. "I hate to see the two of you this way." He put his hand on her arm and gave a squeeze.

She smiled sadly. "I don't like it either, but I really do think we will both be happier in the long run if we separate. And I'm sorry to have put you and Ginny in the middle of this."

He gave her a hug. "It's alright. I just don't like to see either of you hurting."

"Thanks, Harry. And let him know that I do care about him and that's why I want to do this." She watched him leave, a sadness in her eyes because she knew that this would forever change her relationship with him. After all, he had been friends with Ron first and Ron's family was really the only family he had ever known.