A/N: I’m back!!!!!!!!!!!!

Prologue

Hermione started to walk away, but he grabbed her hand tugged her back.  Hermione’s heart hammered as she found her body pressed flush up against his. 

She could feel his breath on the top of her head.  She looked up into his piercing green eyes.  There was something in that look that froze her body and turned her insides to mush.  She glanced at his lips, only a couple inches away.  If he just bent down… She wondered how those lips would feel on hers. 

That thought sent a shock through her body and she stiffened.  His hand, still gripping hers, fell limp and he pulled away. 

He was staring at her again; but this time it was different.  He seemed to be trying to puzzle something out.  At last his shoulders slumped and his gaze fell to the floor. 

He turned slowly and walked quietly out of the room, so different from how he had entered.   

Hermione sighed feeling tears come to her eyes and slip silently down her cheeks, leaving dark tracks.  She took a few steps back and collapsed onto her bed, staring up at the cracked ceiling as she had done so many nights before. 

He would be back she tried to convince herself, but she didn’t believe it for a second.  He was gone.  She had just lost her best friend and he wasn’t coming back. 

Finally she sat up and smoothed out her white dress.  She and Ginny had spent hours upon hours trying to find the perfect wedding dress and now she wasn’t even going to get to wear it.  A shame really, but she would not be taking a wedding dress where she was going now. 

Hermione slipped out of the dress and left it lying on the bed.  She took each one of the hundreds of bobby pins out of her hair.  Then she tied it up in a pony tail and slipped on a pair of old jeans and a t-shirt. 

Finally, she cleaned all the makeup off her face and stuffed several days’ worth of clothes in a duffel bag.  She slung the bag across her shoulder and exited the room the same way he had a half an hour earlier. 

On the dresser she left a brief note explaining that she was okay and she was sorry, but she just couldn’t do it.  She knew Ron and Ginny would understand eventually.  Ron would probably be relieved once he got over being mad at her. 

It was Molly Weasley that Hermione was worried about and she wouldn’t be waiting around to see the show when everyone found out that she was gone.

At some part of her mind, Hermione felt as if she was taking the coward’s way out by leaving Ron and the rest of the Weasleys to sort everything out, but she had made up her mind.

She did not linger outside the door like she would have months or even days ago, instead she held her head high as she walked swiftly away from her apartment.

She had no regrets.  After all what was worth chasing more than love?

A/N: So if you liked it please review.  I have a long weekend and I could be persuaded to write some more soon if enough people want me to.  Sorry about any mistakes I made.  I haven’t done this in a while and I don’t have a beta. 

Here’s the dress http://www.mydreamwedding.ca/wp-content/uploads/image/Kyla/Custom_Made__High_End_Wedding_Dress.jpg (the one on the top left)