"Knock, knock." Hermione grinned as she stepped into Ron's, her fiancé, study.
Ron was bent over the desk scribbling furiously. He looked up at her arrival and smiled. "Hey."
Hermione glanced down at the paper. "You're STILL working on that file for the ministry?"
"Been working on it all night."
"We leave for Verona in twelve hours, and you haven't even packed yet? All it takes is one flick of a wand."
"Well, not all of us have time for anything but work."
Hermione flicked him. "Well, excuse me for wanting a romantic week away with each other. I take it that I'm packing for you then?"
"If you would."
Hermione rolled her eyes and headed out the door. "This is why you love me."
"Why else would I marry you? No one else can pack for me."
Hermione laughed and headed off to pack Ron's things.
"Hermione?"
Hermione mumbled and looked up at Ron. "What?"
"Look out the window. We're here."
Hermione sat up and looked down at Verona, Italy from the plane window.
"Why did we have to travel muggle anyway?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Because, I need to learn more about muggles for my department. And to learn about muggles, you have to act like one."
"And in doing so, you dragged me into it?"
"Shut up and look out the window."
Verona lay below them, a carpet of beautiful old buildings with lush green vineyards.
"I wish the plane would land already, I need to go sightseeing!"
Ron chuckled at his fiancé's excitement.
They arrived at the hotel in record time, and a porter took their bags up to their room. They followed behind and Hermione whispered to Ron "I feel so fancy!"
Hermione tipped the porter then looked around their room. It was large and tastefully done in black and white. Hermione immediately darted over to the bed and started jumping on it. "I. Freaking. Love. This. Place!" she enunciated each word with a bounce, then hopped off the bed and wrapped her arms around Ron's waist. "Let's go sightseeing."
Ron stroked her hair. "You know I'd love to, but I have to work. The ministry only let me have time off because I promised to do work on the trip. I have to go to a wizarding conference tomorrow as well."
Hermione pouted. "What's the point of a romantic getaway if we're not going to be together?"
Ron smiled and kissed her gently. "I promise I'll make time. You go sightseeing, and call me on this later," he held up the mobile Hermione had given him for his birthday and taught him to use. "And we'll meet up for dinner."
Hermione sighed. "Ok." She dug through her bags until she found her guidebooks. "I'll see you later."
Ron wasn't even in the room anymore.
Now, Hermione was depressed. Her romantic getaway had turned into a working holiday. She sighed when she heard someone shout her name from above.
She looked up and saw Ron leaning over the balcony. "Non dimenticate che io ti amo, mia bella Hermione!"
Hermione laughed. "Since when can you speak Italian?"
He held up an English to Italian dictionary. "I'm resourceful!"
Hermione smiled. "Look this up then: Anch'io ti amo, idiota dolce!"
She waited whilst Ron flipped through pages, then he stuck his tongue out at her. "I'm not an idiot!"
Hermione grinned. "Yes you are; you're MY idiot. Got to go now, ciao!"
"Stop speaking Italian, I'm not that good!"
Hermione giggled and wandered through the city.
Hermione was drinking in the beautiful sights of Verona, when she turned a corner and saw lots of girls writing on paper. There were a couple of men too, but it was mostly girls. As she watched, when someone finished writing, they folded the paper up and slipped it into a crack in a huge old stone wall.
She flipped through her guidebook, but couldn't find anything describing this. She tapped a passing woman on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, but what's this?" she gestured to the wall.
The woman smiled. "Juliet's wall."
"Juliet as in Romeo and Juliet?"
"That's right."
"So why are people putting notes in the wall?"
"It's an old tradition. Heartbroken people write a letter to Juliet and put it in the wall, and then they hope for an answer to their heartbreak."
Hermione looked as one girl placed her letter, then walked away, dabbing her eyes. "That's so romantic."
The woman laughed. "Yes, I love the tradition. See, I belong to an organisation. We take letters from the wall and write to the people who wrote them, helping them solve their problems."
"That's really nice of you."
"Thanks. You should really join, we need new members."
"Oh, I'm only here for a week."
"So? Just do a week's worth of letter gathering."
"All right then. I'm Hermione by the way." She held out her hand and the woman shook it.
"Gabrielle. But everyone calls me Gabby. With good reason," she laughed. "Because I never shut up!"
Gabrielle took Hermione back to the groups meeting place. "We meet in the public library every afternoon to go through letters we've found, and respond to them."
The library was full of dark wooden shelves, filled to the brim with leather bound books. The entire place had an air of mystery and ancient times.
"How old is this library?" Hermione asked.
"Early sixteenth century? Fifteenth maybe?"
Gabrielle led Hermione to the back of the library, where a group of three women: two old, one young, sat at a table flicking through letters.
"Hey, Gabby." The young one said. "Who's this?"
"Our newest recruit." Gabby replied. "Ladies, this is Hermione. Hermione, meet Lucy," she pointed to the young one, "And Elizabeth and Genevieve." The two older ones.
"Hello, Hermione." Genevieve said. She pointed to the stacks of letters. "There's paper, envelopes, and pens under the table. Grab a pile of letters, and write back. Make sure you sign them from Juliet. Give the letters to Lucy when you've finished so she can track down who wrote them."
Hermione sat and picked up a letter.
Juliet,
My boyfriend dumped me for another girl, I know he's not worth it, but I can't stop thinking about him. Please, help me get over him.
Katie
This was easy. Hermione picked up paper and a pen and wrote a reply:
Dear Katie,
You're right, he's not worth it, but I'm afraid there's no easy way to get over someone. It will take time, but you'll heal. It won't be easy, but the pain WILL go away. Time heals all wounds.
Love
Juliet
She gave the letters to Lucy and picked up another one.
Dear Juliet,
I'm in love with this guy. Trouble he is, he only sees me as his friend. I want to admit how I feel, but I'm worried that it will ruin our friendship. Please help.
Love
Miranda
Hermione scribbled down a reply.
Dear Miranda,
There's a chance your friendship could be ruined. But you can't keep your feelings bottled up; just tell him how you feel. If he stops being your friend because of this: he wasn't worth your love in the first place.
Love
Juliet
This was going to be an interesting day.
AN: What Ron said in Italian: "Don't forget that I love you, my beautiful Hermione!"
What Hermione said back: "I love you too, you sweet idiot!" Also, "Bye!"
Characters don't belong to me, sob sob. Still undecided whether it's romione or dramione. Depends what you think , probably Dramione though. This is based on the film Letters to Juliet, even though it's not out yet. Based on the trailer
