After all this time

Back at the Burrow

When Ron finally got to the Auror office he plopped himself down in his desk chair and put his head in his hands.

Harry then walked in at laid a nice thick stack of paperwork on his desk. Noticing that Ron wasn't being his normal goofball self, he got a bit worried.

"Good morning!" Harry said a little too cheerful for Ron's liking.

"There is nothing good about this morning." Ron said through the gap between his fingers.

"What's got your wand it a knot?" Harry asked him.

After a long sigh, he managed the courage to lift his head up and speak.

"I saw Hermione today."

Harry just stared at him in disbelief.

"OUR Hermione?" he asked

"No, the one from America, YES our Hermione!" Ron retorted sarcastically.

"Sorry just asking. We haven't seen or spoken to her in years." Harry said

"I know." Ron said with his head now back in his hands.

"What did she say?" Harry urged Ron to continue telling him about what happened.

"Well, not much. She said hi and I said hi and then...I might of...uh...yelled...at...her." Ron said suddenly filled with regret about what he did.

"Well she deserved it." Harry said much to Ron's surprise.

Seeing the astonished look on Ron's face, Harry continued.

"She just up and left you without any warning. Not to mention hasn't written or anything since we last saw her five years ago!" Harry was now just as worked up as Ron.

"Well, I just blew any chance I had with getting back in touch, didn't I?" Ron asked.

Seeing Ron depressed made Harry realize that Ron still wasn't completely over what happened.

"Not Necessarily. You could go find her and actually talk." Harry suggested.

"No use. I don't even know where she lives. She probably doesn't even want to see me after what I said to her."

There was a long silence in which both sat thinking about what to do next.

"Hey, I meant to ask, how'd it go with my sister?" he was referring to the proposal Harry was planning on making.

"Well, err, I kind of chickened out last night." Harry said bashfully.

Ron gave a small chuckle but Harry could see that he was still thinking about Hermione.

"Look, mate, go home. I'll cover for you." Harry said.

"No, I couldn't do that. Besides, we need to get going on the case if we don't want to get sacked." Ron said.

"You really think you're in your right mind to work on a serious case?" Harry said with a knowing look at Ron.

"You're right." Ron gave in and started to pack up his bag.

He gathered up the paperwork so he could go over them at home. Hoping that this case won't turn out like the last.

"I'll see you on Monday." Ron said. Now with a bit more color to his face. With that, he left Harry standing alone in his office.

Ron left the office finding that he didn't want to go home to his flat. He didn't feel like being alone. He needed to talk to someone. Unfortunately for him, Harry was working and covering for him, Hermione he could no longer talk to, and since it was eleven o'clock on a Friday, most of the people he would usually talk to, was working.