Chapter Text
Hermione Granger didn't want anything to do with the Weasleys. Not after what happened with Ron. She had walked into The Leaky Cauldron one morning for breakfast, just looking to get a quick bite to eat before heading into work. To her surprise, she found her own husband coming down the stairs with Lavender Brown, clothes wrinkled, hair a mess. Apparently, in the auror department, "working late" meant getting a hotel room with the department secretary. Ron took one look at her and Hermione bolted. She ran out without the food that she had already paid for and she apparated away. Truth be told, she didn't know where she was trying to go. She didn't care.
She found herself on Luna Lovegood's doorstep. It was perfect. She and Luna were friendly enough where she was certain that she would be able to stay, but not so friendly that Ron would come looking for her here. So she knocked on the door. Luna answered, and though she hadn't really spoken to Hermione in nearly a year, she took one look at the tears streaming down Hermione's face and invited her in. Luna put on a pot of tea, and Hermione figured it was best not to ask what was in it. Still, she sipped it gratefully and told Luna everything she had just seen.
She stayed on Luna's couch for a few days before deciding it was time to take action. She knew she couldn't look Ron in the eye, so she owled him the divorce papers. Ron sent them back a couple of times, with notes asking her to let him explain. She couldn't do it. She just kept removing the notes and sending the papers back time after time, until one day they finally came back signed. That was that.
Hermione tried to lay low for a while. She couldn't go back to work at the ministry. Everyone would ask her too many questions that she didn't care to answer. Ron worked in the auror department, which was only a floor up from hers. Even if he didn't ever try to come find her there, she couldn't bear the thought that she would run into Arthur or Percy. It was too much. So she sent an owl to Professor McGonagall asking if there were any positions available at Hogwarts. As luck would have it, they had been having trouble keeping a Transfiguration teacher ever since McGonagall was promoted to Headmistress. She offered it to Hermione on the spot.
And that had been Hermione's life ever since the divorce. Five years and she hadn't seen or spoken to a Weasley since. There were times where she missed them. They had been her family for three years while she was married to Ron, and had felt like family for longer than that. She had thought about Ginny more times than she could count. She had missed Arthur and Molly and their warmth and love, especially around the holidays. Even Harry was wrapped up in that Weasley world and she wasn't able to see him either. Maybe it was cowardly, and cowardly had never been Hermione's way. Still, she knew she could never face him.
But she had her friends. She was happy. Luna had been so good to her ever since Hermione had showed up on her doorstep. She spent every summer at Luna's house and was grateful for the companionship. Even at Hogwarts, she had Neville and Hannah. Neville had become the new herbology teacher, and Hannah was training with Madam Pomphrey to take over the infirmary.
She made a promise to herself that day in the lobby of The Leaky Cauldron. She told herself that she would never lay eyes on another Weasley for as long as she lived. Not if she could help it. But it was that very summer, five years after the divorce, that all her rules went out the window.