Separate Worlds

Hermione stared up at him, scarcely believing her ears. Was he trying to..."Why not?"

Ron gave her an incredulous look, as if he couldn't believe what he just heard. "Don't pretend you don't know. Working with Finnigan, I'm sure you're well aware of the reason."

The surge of hope that had welled up in her dried up, replaced with sparking anger. The tension was rapidly thickening in the room. "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about; if you can't be polite about it, I suggest you let the lawyers speak for you."

"Sorry, that was a bit rude." The Ron she had known would have turned beet red and moved away. This Ron stood his ground, looking her straight in the eye as he made his apologies. It was completely alien to her; she was completely prepared for a confrontation and felt a little deflated.

"As you work for Seamus Finnigan, I assumed that you knew what I was talking about," he continued.

"Seeing as I don't, care to enlighten me?"

"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and Zonko's are both bidding for ownership of the Honeydukes chain. It's been shaky these past few years, and they've decided to sell out. Since I own the Wheezes, the papers would have a field day reporting on my divorce."

"What could they say? As you so graciously pointed out, we've been separated for quite a while."

Ron rubbed his chin thoughtfully, as if he was debating on whether or not to elaborate on his response. "It's been five years. Couldn't you wait a bit longer? Or are you in a hurry to get married again?"

She tossed her hair, stating, "Seamus has asked me."

"I see." His lack of emotion was infuriating, and Hermione felt the urge to knock his ego down a few pegs.

"We got reacquainted when I was studying in Boston and really connected with each other. That's why I accepted his offer of a job...I want to make sure I'm not making a mistake the second time around." She knew that with every word she spoke, she was coming closer and closer to accepting Seamus' proposal, but it didn't bother her much. Maybe she needed to actually see Ron to make her final decision.

"I'm glad you've found someone to love," he said. "I wish both of you happiness."

Hermione felt her jaw go slack but quickly checked it. She wanted to slap him, punch or kick him, anything to bring back that fiery, emotional person she had fallen in love with all those years ago. This man wasn't Ron, he couldn't be. Through the whirlwind of feelings coursing through her system, she managed to respond. "Thank you."

"But I still hope you consider doing as I've asked,"

"To help you with your career?" She questioned. "You own the entire chain of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, pushed it into households all across Britain, Muggle and otherwise, and, as sales have dramatically increased, have grown to be an excellent chairman...Not as great a husband, though," she couldn't resist adding the last bit to show Ron she could joke about their marriage.

"Yes, well...I hope I'll do better the next time around too," he answered. "But for the present, I'd like for us to stay married."

"Don't push it, Ron. I still have to discuss it with Seamus...if he agrees to wait, I'll go along with it."

"I'm sure you haven't lost the art of persuasion." Heat flooded into her cheeks at his comment, intensifying as Ron leaned down towards her. But it was only to get the suitcase containing the potion. She drew back, feeling indignant and incredibly stupid at the same time.

"I'll see you around, Hermione."

As the door shut, Hermione took a deep breath to steady herself. Hermione. It was always 'Mione' from him, and it was strange to hear her entire name spoken by his cool, clear voice. Her thought moved away from that tangent, focusing on their prior conversation.

What was the big deal if they got a divorce? Sure, Witch Weekly would probably run a story on it, but it would most likely be shoved into the back pages, unnoticed by most readers.

Would Fleur mind, or were they still together? And what about his family? She didn't know their opinions on divorce, but she did know their opinion on children: the more, the merrier. And Ron wouldn't have any until he remarried.

Children. When they had first gotten married, she imagined their own kids would be frolicking around with the rest of the Weasleys in the near future...around this time, now that she thought about it. The thought brought on an inexplicable feeling of regret.

"Hermione, you did the right thing. He cheated on you with Fleur Delacour, and after you drove him out, he spent the night with the tart. There's nothing to feel regretful about." This little pep talk did nothing to quell her sentiments, and she was distracted throughout the day.

"WHAT?!?" Seamus' reaction was just as she suspected; possessive and angry. "Don't tell me you're going to stay married to him." Hermione chose her words carefully, so as not to reveal how mixed up she was feeling towards Ron.

"Obviously getting divorced now would harm him. We aren't enemies, and it's mean-spirited to refuse." Seamus opened his mouth to say something, but just as quickly clamped it shut. "It'll only be around two months."

"If you put it that way, it'd be extremely mean to argue with you anymore." He stared moodily at his dinner. "And I hope you don't forget that one of the reasons you came back here was to spend time with me."

She could feel her lips melting into a frown and quickly caught it. That had never been a spoken intention, but it did seem that way when she looked at it in hindsight. "I'll see you at work every day...although we'd have to be careful about going out in public."

He grinned at her. "That's alright with me...we can meet at your place or mine."

Sirens rang in Hermione's head, but she didn't indicate anything as they left the restaurant and he dropped her off at her home. Once there, Hermione tried to picture herself as Seamus' wife. But her marriage to Ron, brief as it was, kept overshadowing it. They HAD been happy once, and she wasn't sure if she could feel that way with Seamus.

As soon as she got home, she called Ron.

"Ron Weasley's office. Mr. Weasley is not in right now, but if you'd care to leave a message, do so after the tone..."

"Ron, this is Hermione. I spoke with Seamus-"

"Ron Weasley speaking." The phone had been hastily picked up, as if the person on the line was selective of which calls he would receive.

"Erm...alright. Anyway, I spoke with Seamus and he's agreed to wait, so I'll go along with it." A short, surprised silence followed.

"Thank you. I wasn't sure if you'd agree or not." His voice was again very calm and collected.

"No problem." Despite her efforts, Hermione felt a little shaken up as she rang off afterwards. She hadn't told Ron that her engagement wasn't certain, at least not yet. "Certainly it's no concern of his whether I am or not."

The next day at work, Hermione shut herself up in her office, intent on being alone with her work and her thoughts for the entire day. "This is all too much," she mused as she scribbled down the possible side effects of asphodel when added to the horn of a Manticore. She repeated the words to herself as they flew from the quill to her parchment. "It is best to avoid combining these two ingredients unless used in minute amounts; any more than two pinches each could prove to be extremely harmful. Our first test subject fainted after being administered the preliminary dosage. The concoction had the intended effect, but also made the subject..."

A sharp rapping on the door startled her, making her quill drop a gigantic navy-blue inkblot on her paper.

"Mrs. Weasley?" Another blot. No one had called her 'Mrs. Weasley' in years...

"Come in." She cleared the splotches with a handy Ink-Sucker Charm as someone stepped into the office, helping himself to the chair in front of her desk.

"I'm Paul Eastwood, Mrs. Weasley." His firm handshake fit his physical appearance. His hands were broad and rough. His dress robes weren't ostentatious, but well cared for, a pinstriped black. What little hair he had left was a deep brown peppered with a charcoal gray color; it stood up straight due to its extremely short cut. "Mr. Weasley's publicist."

"Publicist?" Hermione was confused. Why would he send a publicist? "Has Ron sent you here?"

"Oh, no." His face creased into a rueful expression. "He'd have my skin if he did." Seeing Hermione about to retort, he rushed into speech. "Anyway, I've only come here for one reason."

"And that is..."

"I want you to stop working for Seamus Finnigan."

"Why?" Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Come on, Mrs. Weasley, you know the answer as well as I do. Since Mr. Finnigan and your husband will both be fighting for the ownership of Honeydukes Enterprises, the wizarding press would hound you off the ends of the earth if they found out you were working here."

"Oh, for Heaven's sakes! What would they possibly have to say?"

"That you took this job to side with Ron's opponent."

She scoffed. "That's nutters."

"I know that, Ron knows that, and so do you...but think of how it looks to the average witch or wizard." Hermione glared at the shiny bald spot on the top of his head. "That's why I need you to stop working for Mr. Finnigan. When we gain control of Honeydukes..."

"Mr. Finnigan has as good of a chance as Ron does, Mr. Eastwood."

"Let's not argue over who's going to win this. Look, if you're really not Ron's enemy-"

"If I was, I wouldn't be doing this in the first place!" She cried in exasperation.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry, that was rude. But stop working here."

"I don't know...Mr. Finnigan may be upset by that." Mr. Eastwood's eyebrows shot up in sardonic surprise.

"Oh, I'm surprised that Mr. Finnigan hasn't asked you to leave himself."

Hermione pursed her lips. "Why...why do I get the feeling that there's more going on behind this than I know about? Is there something you're not telling me?"

Mr. Eastwood stood abruptly. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Weasley, but I shouldn't be telling you this if Mr. Finnigan hasn't. You should ask him first. You will do that, won't you?" He headed to the door.

"You're expecting quite a lot, Mr. Eastwood."

"Au contraire, Mrs. Weasley...I don't think I'm expecting much at all. I respect your husband very much. He's a good businessman and honest at the same time...it's a rarity, and he deserves to win."

Hermione stood too, and she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not going to reply to that...my loyalty stands with Mr. Finnigan."

He nodded concedingly. "Well...I'll be seeing you, Mrs. Weasley."

As the door clicked shut behind him Hermione's mind exploded with questions. There was something weird about this thing with Honeydukes, and she was determined to find out what it was.