Chapter Text
Hermione had spent the last two days holed up in her flat, ignoring calls from Harry and Ginny, and shutting down the Floo Network to stop any of her friends from coming round in the hope of speaking to her.
The day she returned home after the humiliation she had endured, she discovered that Ron’s clothes and belongings were gone.
That was when she realized he had planned everything and that he hadn’t intended to marry her for a long time.
She felt like a fool. She had followed the path that people had laid out for her without question; because it was all she had ever known. It was what she knew. Now she felt lost and hurt. At the end of the day, Ron was still the person she had fallen in love with, whom she had loved and, above all… one of her best friends.
Why had he done that to her? Had his love faded too quickly? Hermione was sure she would have tried if they’d got married; she would have fallen in love again, would have felt those sparks she’d felt as a teenager. Oh, Merlin… she knew she would have tried with all her might.
Monday dragged on for Hermione, passing with unbearable slowness. She put on her best two-piece outfit: a long black skirt and a white long-sleeved blouse.
She knew she wasn’t the first woman to have been left at the altar, and that Ron had been a fool to let her go.
As best he could, he gathered all his strength and, with his head held high, stepped into the Floo Network and headed straight for the Ministry of Magic.
She wouldn’t hang her head.
She’d let people talk, and in a few weeks they’d forget what had happened. She planned to focus so intensely on her work that they’d offer her the position of Minister in the blink of an eye.
She was so sure of it…
....
The moment Hermione set foot in the Ministry of Magic, she felt everyone’s eyes fixed on her back. The atmosphere felt tense and gloomy. It was as if there was something else she didn’t know about.
At first, she ignored the stares, keeping her head held high. She wasn’t going to let a few stares get her down. She’d fought a mad wizard, spent weeks being hunted by Death Eaters and nearly died under torture; of course she could handle a few judgemental stares.
She continued on her way towards the lifts that would take her to the Department of Magical Security Analysis, when she heard the first whispers.
«There she is! Ron Weasley was right, she’s turned into a frivolous woman.» «Now I understand how she got a position in the Department of Magical Security so quickly.» «She’s so desperate for power.»
What on earth was going on? Why were people saying that the moment she walked past them? Hermione couldn’t make head nor tail of it. She was sure everyone would be talking about how she’d been left at the altar, but instead, it seemed as though they’d discovered she’d been embezzling funds.
Once again, she tried to ignore those voices.
And she didn’t realise what was going on until she reached the Magical Security Analysis Office, when Theodore Nott grabbed her by the arm and pulled her in as soon as she entered the room, dragging her into her office. Her saw Theo was holding a copy of the Daily Prophet in one hand.
"What on earth’s got into you, Nott?!" she snapped, somewhat annoyed by the way Theo had grabbed her.
"Sorry about that! But you’ve got to see this," he said, handing the newspaper to Hermione.
She looked at him with a frown as she took it.
"What am I supposed to see?"
"Turn it over, it’s on the front page!"
She rolled her eyes at Theo’s obvious desperation, but did as he said.
Then her eyes widened.
A NEW COUPLE ON THE HORIZON? WHAT HAPPENED TO HERMIONE GRANGER? LEFT AT THE ALTAR BY RON WEASLEY?
We were privileged to find out what happened at the wedding of our favourite war heroes: Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley.
Everything seemed to be going well that Friday afternoon when suddenly… the groom didn’t show up! Minutes later, it emerged that he had left Hermione Granger standing at the altar.
As they say in some Muggle countries: He left her high and dry!
But that wasn’t all. We were fortunate enough to hear Ronald Weasley speak about what had happened, as he gave an interview to Rita Skeeter. In it, he spoke of the deterioration of his relationship with our war heroine.
Ron Weasley: I stopped feeling confident about our relationship when she joined the Ministry of Magic. Suddenly, all she cared about was climbing the ladder to get the job she wanted.
Ron Weasley: She’s changed. She’s not the same Hermione Granger I fell in love with at Hogwarts. She’s obsessed with power and recognition. I’ve realised she wouldn’t mind stepping on others to get what she wants.
Ron Weasley: And if I’m being completely honest, Harry trusted me, Ginny or any other member of the Order of the Phoenix more than he trusted her. During the war, she barely helped in the search for the Horcruxes.
Ron Weasley: I think she completely exaggerated her role in the war. In my opinion, Harry was very generous in giving her all that credit.
Ron Weasley: She became a woman obsessed with power. Hermione knew how to align herself with the right people to gain recognition within the wizarding world.
Ron Weasley: Astoria came to me like a light at the end of the tunnel. She’s different from Hermione in every way; she’s sweet and kind. She doesn’t seek the approval of others and doesn’t want to stand out. I made the right decision in choosing Astoria.
She felt as though someone had poured a bucket of ice-cold water over her. Her legs gave way for a few seconds —just a moment, but long enough for Nott to grab her by the arm—. She tried, with all her might, to hold back the tears that threatened to spill over. Now she understood everything.
The stares. The whispers she’d heard.
It all made sense now.
Ron Weasley hadn’t just humiliated her at her wedding, but had also ruined her reputation in the wizarding world.
"When… when did this come out?" she said, referring to the copy of the Daily Prophet in her hand. Her grip on the paper was tight, crumpling the corners.
"This morning. They sold out a in a matter of seconds," Theo replied in a low voice.
Oh no.
"So does that mean the whole wizarding world has already found out by now?"
"Yes," he said. And Hermione couldn’t help but let out a sob.
She let go of the newspaper and it fell to the floor. She covered her face with both hands and let the tears flow; she couldn’t hold them back any longer. It hadn’t been enough for Ron to humiliate her on her wedding day by standing her up; he’d decided to ruin her publicly as well.
As she continued to cry and Theodore held her, trying to comfort her, she saw in her mind’s eye how all her dreams were crumbling. The connections she had planned for her future candidacy as Minister, the foundations for the rights of magical creatures, her career in politics within the Ministry. Everything was shattered thanks to an interview in the Daily Prophet.
Because Hermione knew that, to publicly destroy anyone in the wizarding world, all you had to do was appear in The Daily Prophet, talking about that person —with or without evidence— so that the rest of the wizarding world would believe it without question.
Even if, weeks later, she were to come forward with her version of events and the truth. The wizarding world was just like the Muggle world, and it was clear they would prefer the version of a pure-blood —and a rich one, like Ron Weasley— to hers: a muggle-born considered a half-blood.
And, for the first time in a long while, Hermione Granger didn’t know what to do.