Fraternizing with the Enemy - Dramione

Ch. 3

"So wait...he ordered a set of quills from you?"

Ginny gave her an odd look from the large, cushioned chair that she had posted up in with her glass of wine, and Hermione could only shrug and say, "I know, it was so strange."

"But he's paying you for them, right?" Ginny asked curiously. "I mean, he should be considering how much work that would be."

"It's really not that much work," Hermione admitted before taking a quick drink. "It took longer to figure out how to build the spell to control them than it did actually implementing it. And yes, he is paying me. He said the amount would be in my bank account before the end of the day today."

Ginny raised an eyebrow then. "Did he say how much?"

"Um..." Hermione thought back to their conversation and much to her disdain... "No, he didn't."

"Well, just check tomorrow morning," Ginny shrugged. "Don't start on it tonight, especially if he's not expecting them anytime soon."

"I know, but he's potentially a good partner for the Ministry and I don't want to start off on the wrong foot," Hermione sighed.

With a snort, Ginny said, "He already did that for you back at school."

"Fair point." Hermione took a drink from her glass, avoiding looking around the apartment that was obviously less filled with items. Ron had apparently come by the apartment when she was at work to grab his things, and the absence of the missing items was painfully obvious to her.

Ginny picked up on what was happening and she sighed, reaching for the bottle of wine. "I really hope my brother being a bonehead isn't going to affect our friendship; it's going to take me years to find someone else who I'd have to reteach to deal with me again."

Hermione couldn't help but smile at this, shaking her head as she said, "Don't worry, you're not getting rid of me any time soon. No, it's just..." She hesitated for a moment before continuing slowly, "I never caught on that he wasn't happy, and I feel terrible for that."

"He also never told you," Ginny reminded her, reaching forward to refill her friend's glass. "Communication goes both ways, and like you said to him, you can't help fix a problem if you don't know there's a problem to begin with."

"Speaking of, you can tell Harry that he doesn't need to talk to him anymore," Hermione said quietly before grimacing. "I'm sure Molly will be happy to be the one hosting Ron's birthday celebration this year. No offence..."

"None taken," Ginny waved her off. "Mum's definitely a bit overbearing when it comes to Ron and I, especially Ron. He's her baby boy."

She practically gagged the last two words out and Hermione giggled, taking a drink of her wine before sighing again. "I just don't understand how things could fall apart with us within two weeks."

"I hate to say it, but I don't think it was just the past two weeks," Ginny said with a frown. "Typically when it's that level of unhappiness, that's years in the making."

"Not really helping, Gin," Hermione muttered.

Ginny gave her a sheepish look and said, "Sorry, that was definitely not helpful..."

"And he didn't even officially call the relationship off," Hermione continued then, waving off towards nothing in particular. "He just said that 'some space would do us both good'. How long am I supposed to wait for him to decide what he wants to do?!"

"As long as you'd like," Ginny said with a slight shrug. "That could mean a week, that could mean months. But honestly, Hermione, you shouldn't put your life on hold for him."