Deception Hurts More Than Death

Ron had awoken the next day determined to spend the whole day looking through memories until he found the end to the story of Harry and Hermione. Ron couldn't wrap his head around why he had ended up with Hermione, if every time he traveled into the pensieve he was faced with Harry and Hermione professing their undying love for the other.

Ron was beginning to wonder if Hermione had this pensieve set aside to hide these memories from Ron, and if he was never meant to know the truth. He had made a big cup of tea and a plate of toast and settled into the office for the day. He was prepared to view as many memories as it took, hoping it wouldn't be too many. He swirled his wand into the pool of the pensieve and felt the familiar sensation of flying and closed his eyes.

He fell onto his feet and opened his eyes, trying to balance his stance and not fall over. He was on thesidewalk of Diagon Alley. He saw himself and Hermione walking a few feet in front of him and followed closely behind. He watched himself whisper something into Hermione's ear and she laughed softly and kissed the tip of his nose.

Ron's insides jumped. This was it, he thought. He had found the beginning of them and the end to her and Harry. Ron's suspisions of the real reason Harry and Hermione were out the day they died, left his mind. He followed himself and Hermione as they walked to Weazley Wizarding Wheezes. He followed them into the busy shop. He could see George bustling behind the counter trying to help the flood of children in the shop.

"Oy, George, you busy enough, mate?" Ron's old self yelled out over the crowd. Hermione jabbed him in the side with her elbow, and winked to George.

"How about you shut it and come and help me, little brother." George yelled back, and Ron removed his arm from Hermione's shoulder and walked towards the register. "Harry is in the backroom, Hermione, why don't you go and help him. He stopped by to help me organize things, you know how us guys are at 'neat and orderly.' He could probably use some help." Hermione nodded with a smile on her face and rushed for the back curtain.

Ron followed quickly behind and walked through the falling curtain as if it weren't there. The room was a jumbled mess of boxes and product. Hermione looked for Harry and could not find him. She heard a noise to her right and quickly hid behind a pile of boxes as high as her head. Harry came around the corner, and Hermione jumped out and yelled. Harry spun around so fast he slipped on a piece of loose cardboard and fell on his arse. He looked horrified, but soon came to look infuriated. All the while, Hermione was a mess, laughing so hard her eyes watered.

"Very funny, Hermione. I hate it when you do that." Harry raised himself from the floor, and brushed off his pants.

"You know I love to scare you. I still owe you a lot more than that. I still have to pay you back for faking to be dead at the final battle. I don't care if you had to or not. I'll never forget how horrified I was. I owe you a lifetime of scares for that." Hermione crossed her arms, her mood quickly shifting as she remembered the feeling she had that night thinking he had been dead.

"And I will apologize for the rest of my life, can't that be enough?" Harry had walked to her and placed his hand on her folded arm. Hermione looked up at Harry, and her face softened.

"I will always accept your apology but I still owe you." She smiled and Harry removed his hand and brough into a soft hug. Just as Hermione was unfolding her arms to hug him back, he backed away.

"So are you going to help me with this stuff or did you just come back here to scare the shit out of me?" He chuckled and picked up a heavy box to move it.

Ron watched for the next hour as Harry and Hermione bustled about the backroom, cleaning up the mess that George had created and listened to endless small talk. He wondered if it would get any more interesting, and assumed it would or the memory wouldn't be lasting this long.

"So how are things with you and Ron?" harry had finally asked. Hermione smiled away from Harry and raised an eyebrow, obviously amused.

"Things are good, he treats me good and makes me laugh a lot. He's a good boyfriend. We still bicker and fight a lot, but that's probably something we will always do. And how about you and Ginny." Hermione acted truly uninterested in the fact that Harry was now staring at her with a sad expression. Either that or she was a good actress, Ron thought.

"Oh, Ginny and I have always been fine, now haven't we. The only time we had problems was during the war, but who wouldn't?" Harry acted more upbeat, trying to upset Hermione.

"Are we still friends?" Hermione asked, rather bluntly.

"What do you mean? We'll always be friends." Harry looked to Hermione, confusion clearly written on his face.

"Well I was just curious. Last time I saw you was, what, a month now? You threw me against a wall and fucked me senseless, we almost get caught by my boyfriend and I haven't seen you since. I thought if we were still friends you wouldn't have been avoiding me after a night like that." Ron almost spit from surprise at how forward Hermione was being. He had never in his life heard her speak that way. Harry looked just as shocked as him.

"I.... well.... I was trying to give you some space to make things work with Ron. I figured if I was around too much it would be a distraction." Harry answered, stumbling at first. Hermione walked towards him, stopping just inches from him.

"That's rather conceided of yourself to think you have that much effect on me." Hermione smiled an evil smile. "Or maybe, Mr. Potter, you didn't want to be around me cause I would be a distraction from your prefect little relationship with Ginny. And you are the one trying so hard to make it work with someone other than the one you love."

Again Ron nearly choked as Hermione's behavior stunned him. Harry glared at Hermione, clearly upset with her comments. Harry turned and walked away from Hermione and kicked the shelf that had built earlier to organize some boxes. A stack of unsteady boxes from the top shelf fell off and onto the floor. Harry cursed under his breath and bent to pick them up. Hermione went to help him, suddenly aware of her uncalled for behavior.

Harry looked up and was inches from the top of Hermione's head. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He took in a huge wiff of the smell he longed to erase from his memory. She had always smelled like strawberried and vanilla, and the scent would make his knees crumble and his heart race. Hermione looked up at Harry, and stared at him, his eyes closed, deep concentration on his face. Her eyes teared as she thought of how hard she had been trying to erase that face from her dreams each night.

Harry opened his eyes and caught Hermione staring at him. He could feel her breath on his lips and realized just how close they were. Hermione licked her lips unconsiously, and Harry couldn't handle it. He grabbed her face and kissed her hard. and just as the shock wore off and Hermione started to kiss back, Harry pulled away.

"Fuck, I'm sorry." Harry shook his head, hating he had given in to temptation once again.

Hermione shook her head to, not willing to let him give up that easily. She grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him back. Their kiss was passionate and heated, a month of no contact pouring into it. Their tongues fought for dominance and hands began to roam. Just as Harry's hand began to snake under Hermione shirt, and Ron was about to walk away, the old Ron called from the store front.

"Hermione, are you still back there?"

Harry and Hermione broke apart. Harry stood from his spot by Hermione and looked down on her. She could read it in his eyes, he was going to apologize. Apologize for something she knew he wasn't sorry for.

"Sorry." And with that one word, she had been hearing too often from him he disappeared with a pop. Hermione ran her hands through her hair and wiped the aftermath of their kiss from her lips.

"Yes, Ron. I'll be right out!" She yelled to Ron's old self.

Ron stood by the wall, where he had been for quite some time and lowered his head in defeat. He watched as Hermione gathered herself and walked passed him and out to his old self. Ron tried hard to remember this day, but as hard as he tried he couldn't remember it. He knew it was fall, if it had been a month since the celebration party. The business of the store was definetly for kids heading off to Hogwarts. It wasn't long after this that they had become engaged and married.

Ron was shocked at what little time he had actually had with Hermione. Two years and one week, from the time they decided to be together. It was two nights after the celebration party. Ron realized how fast they moved. About as fast as Harry and Ginny, and now he realized they were trying to hard. Harry and Hermione were trying too hard not to be together. If it had been anyone but his wife and best friend, it this had been a muggle movie and not his life, he would have been rooting for them in the end. True love should never lose, and yet in this instance it did.

Ron closed his eyes and returned to the office. He took a sip of his now cold tea and ate a few bites of toast. He was determined to find a memory of him and Hermione. He closed his eyes and pictured them at the Burrow. They always had a good time there. He used that thought to search for a memory and swirled the liquid.