Chapter 5 - The Separation
When Hermione arrived home that evening, she was feeling anxious about facing her husband. She had told her superiors at the Ministry that she accepted the job with the IWR and they were very pleased with her decision. They gave her a two week transition time to unload her current work on her legal colleagues and then she would start training for her new job. Things were moving fast.
When she walked in the door, she was surprised to see Ron sitting on the sofa. Normally he would arrive home after her and would show up just in time for dinner. It looked like he was waiting for her.
"Hi," she said tentatively.
`Hey," Ron nodded.
The tension in the air was palpable. They hadn't really spoken since their argument last night when Hermione stunned him and stormed out of the house.
Hermione took a deep breath and decided to jump in the deep end but Ron cut her off before she could say anything.
"You'll never guess who I ran into today."
"Who?" Hermione replied, frustrated but a little relieved for the distraction.
"Luna Lovegood." Ron said with a smirk.
"Luna was at the Ministry?" Hermione asked, as she removed her cloak and sat down on the opposite end of the sofa.
Ron shook his head. "No, I ran into her at a Muggle bar this afternoon. Um, Harry gave me the day off because I wasn't getting much work done because of….."
Hermione nodded. "I know. I saw Harry at lunchtime and he told me." Figures he would go to a bar, she thought. Ron had a fondness for alcoholic beverages that she had never adopted.
Ron felt the familiar jealous twinge upon hearing Harry's name, but tried to ignore it. He vowed to himself not to get into it with her. Back to Luna.
"Well, anyway, Luna is running The Quibbler now and she was meeting a writer there. She told me that she's divorced because her husband left her for a younger witch."
"Poor thing." Hermione commented. While she and Luna were never the best of friends, once Hermione had gotten over her initial disdain for her flights of fancy she had an appreciation for her honesty and unique perspective.
"Well, it gets worse, her dad got sick after her marriage fell apart and she went to live with him to take care of him, but he died a few months ago."
Hermione clucked her tongue. "Poor Luna, is she okay?"
"Surprisingly, she's doing very well. As I mentioned, she now runs her dad's paper and she's starting over."
"Good for her. She always marched to the beat of her own drum; I have no doubt that she will be okay." Hermione paused. "Does she have any children?"
"She didn't mention any, why?"
"No reason." Hermione thought that it would be a lot easier for someone to start over without any children.
The subject of Luna exhausted, the tense silence returned between them.
Hermione took another deep breath to tell him her news, but he spoke again.
"Hermione, I want to apologize to you for the way I acted last night. I shouldn't have lost my temper and I shouldn't have tried to hit you. I don't know what got into me. You know I would never hurt you."
Hermione was touched by Ron's apology but the angry look on his face and his attempt to strike her last night were still vivid in her mind. "I know you wouldn't want to hurt me, Ron, but you were very lucky last night."
"I know." He nodded fervently. "It won't happen again."
"I hope not." She paused and took another breath. "I've decided to take the job," she said briskly.
Ron sighed and looked away for a moment. Hermione watched him closely for the telltale signs of the Weasley temper rising. But his ears never turned pink and his breathing stayed even.
"I thought you would." He said quietly.
"You did?" Hermione asked in surprise.
"Well, it's a great opportunity for you, Hermione. You'd have to be mental to turn it down."
Hermione stared at him in amazement. If it weren't for the "mental" comment she could've sworn that someone was polyjuiced as Ron at this very moment.
"So you're okay with me taking it?"
Ron sighed again. "Well, I guess I have no choice in the matter, do I? It's obvious that you want this and if I stood in your way, you'd only resent me more than you already do."
"You think I resent you?" Hermione asked.
"Well, if you don't already - you would definitely resent me for keeping you from this job."
He paused.
"Listen Hermione, I did a lot of thinking today and I think it would be best for the both of us if we just took some time away from each other. Let's face it, we're not happy and this will give us the chance to figure out what we want."
Hermione was not expecting this at all. "What do you mean? Do you want to separate?"
Ron nodded sadly. "If that's what you want to call it, then yes, a trial separation."
Hermione felt tears sting her eyelids. Yes, Ron was giving her what she wanted but this was all so sudden. Nothing could prepare her for the impact of her marriage actually falling apart before her eyes. It was one thing to contemplate it, either in discussions with Harry or in the privacy of her mind. But now it was real.
"Is this what you want?" She asked Ron softly, meeting his eyes.
"It's not really what I want, but Harry asked me to be unselfish today and put your needs first. I'm not used to doing that, Hermione, but I'm doing this for you. If I'm what you really want, then you'll come back to me…."
Ron's voice faded and Hermione could tell that he was trying not to cry.
Hermione moved closer to Ron and reached for his hand, but he pulled away and stood up.
"Um, I think I'm going to pack a bag and find someplace else to stay tonight."
"Will you go to the Burrow?" Hermione asked, wiping her tears with the back of her hand.
Ron shook his head. "No, I can't deal with Mum right now so I think I'll go to the Ministry's guest quarters. It will be close to work, at least."
"Ron, but what do we tell the kids?" And when?"
"Well, nothing's definite yet - you should tell them about your new job but they don't have to know about my moving out. They're at school, what they don't know won't hurt them."
Hermione felt terrible for keeping this from Rose and Hugo, but maybe it was for the best in the short term.
"Okay, I will owl them in the morning and tell them about the job."
"Good, then it's settled." Ron agreed, and left the living room to go pack his things.
Hermione sat numbly on the sofa for a few minutes and Ron reappeared with his overnight bag.
"Well, I'm off." He announced. "I'll owl you tomorrow when I'm settled."
Hermione nodded automatically. "Okay."
They just stared at each other for a long moment, lots of unsaid emotions hanging between them. And then with a pop, he was gone.
Still feeling numb, Hermione was at a loss what to do next. She had lost her appetite for dinner. She considered going over to Harry's to see if they could talk but she knew it was their dinnertime and didn't want to disturb them. She could always talk to him tomorrow at work.
She did the only other thing she could think of. She went downstairs into her magic proof room that Ron had built for her where she could enjoy all of her Muggle electronics. The room had a television, DVD player, stereo and of course, a cell phone that she used to keep in touch with her family. She sat in a chair and hit the speed-dial.
"Hello, Mum?"
TBC
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