Gypsy Love Magick

Gypsy Love Magick

A/N Hi everybody! *in background* Hi Doctor Tinkerbell! I'm re-posting this story because the new chaptering thing scares and confuses me. This story is involves a spell I found in Gypsy Love Magick by Raymond Buckland. The book is very cool; you can find it at a bookstore near you!!! This is from Hermione's point of view and it starts the night before she goes back to Hogwarts for her 5th year. She has been made a Prefect. I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The night before returning to Hogwarts, a familiar owl landed on Hermione's windowsill. It was Viktor's eagle owl, carrying a roll of parchment and a package wrapped in brown paper. Hermione relieved the owl of its burden and unrolled the parchment. She read:

Dear Hermione,

How are you? I'm about to begin traveling with the team again; we're playing for the Eastern European Cup. We'll be gone for 2 months. I'm writing just to tell you to have a good school year and to remind you that I'll be thinking of you. As for your gift, I found it in an antique store in my neighborhood and I though it would suit you well.

Yours Sincerely,

Viktor

P.S. Congratulations on becoming Prefect; I know how much that means to you.

Hermione unwrapped the parcel that had come with the letter revealing a silver charm bracelet, small stars and moons hanging daintily from a gleaming chain. She smiled, and clasped it to her wrist. How thoughtful of him she thought. She quickly scribbled a thank you note for the owl to take back to Hermione had been asked to spend the summer with Viktor in his native Bulgaria, but her parents did not like the idea of their only daughter staying in a foreign country with some 18-year old they hadn't met. Viktor was very fond of Hermione, and Hermione, although wasn't exactly sure about her feeling toward him, thought he was one of the most intelligent people she knew. Not at all like Ron or Harry, her best friends at school. Harry wasn't all that bad, a little stubborn sometimes, but nowhere near as bad as Ron. She and Ron never got along; it was a rare thing to see them together when they weren't arguing about some frivolous issue. Ron's attitude toward her had worsened enormously that past year. He had been green with envy of her for having a date to the Yule Ball when he didn't and for being close to Viktor. Sometimes she seriously wondered why they were friends in the first place; the way he acted sometimes made her quite certain that he hated her. She hadn't heard from him at all that summer, and was a bit apprehensive about seeing him again the next day. Hermione was suddenly brought back to Earth by her mother's voice from the parlor.

"Hermione, dear, I think it's time for you to get to bed, you have to get up bright and early tomorrow morning."

"All right, mum," she sighed, "Good-night." She scaled the staircase up to her room were she changed into her pink nightgown and plopped onto her bed. She glanced down at Viktor's bracelet and became pensive again.

Does he still want to be more that friends? She asked herself, And if he does, do I want that too? She found that she really couldn't answer that question. She slowly fell asleep…

Hermione found herself walking through the shadowy Forbidden Forest along the path that was lit by the scarce beams of moonlight that managed to shine through the thick foliage. Confused and unsure as to why she was there in the first place, she followed her route uncertainly. Suddenly, she came to a fork in the path that branched off in two opposite directions. She could see a little ways down each, but not far enough to see where either led to. She supposed she had to pick one of them. As she was debating to herself which one to select, she heard a faint yell from behind her.

"Hermione!" the voice sounded strangely familiar, but she couldn't make out to whom it belonged to. She turned around to see shadowy figure, running toward her, becoming more and more distinct as he entered the light of the ivory moonbeams. She was just beginning to make out his shadowed features, when…

"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" Hermione's alarm clock bleared its bothersome racket causing Hermione to wake with a start. Her cat, Crookshanks, who had been sleeping at the foot of her bed, yawned and stretched, his hair crumpled where he had slept on it. She turned off her alarm, put on her jeans and sweater and joined her parents for breakfast.

* * *

(Change of POV, Platform 9 and ¾)

"Hi Hermione," Harry and Ron were standing outside the Hogwarts Express waiting for her.

"Hey you guys, how are you?"

Both of them answered as they looked for an empty compartment. When they found one, they brought in their trunks and said their goodbyes to their families. They sat down together and began catching up on things.

"So, how was your summer you guys?" Hermione asked.

"Well, Dumbledore let me stay with Ron for the last week of vacation, but aside from that, nothing interesting happened." Harry replied.

"Oh, but what about you, Hermione, how was Bulgaria with Viktor?" questioned Ron with more than a little bit of spite in his voice.

"I didn't go," Hermione answered coolly. "My parents wouldn't let me."

"Well, I guess you were really crushed by that, I mean being separated from your sweetheart for an entire summer." He shot back sarcastically.

"Ron, what is your problem? Viktor is not my sweetheart, and I-"

Before Hermione could finish her sentence, the car door opened and in walked a very beautiful oriental girl with flowing black hair and flawless skin. She was already in her Hogwarts robes and she had a Prefect's badge pinned to her. It was Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw seeker.

"Excuse me, but is there a Hermione Granger in this car?" she asked, glancing around at the 3 of them.

"Yes, that's me." Hermione answered, wondering what Cho wanted with her.

"I'm supposed to give you the Prefect's orientation." She explained. "We're all sitting up front, come with me and I'll introduce you to all the other Prefects." Hermione noticed her glance fleetingly in Harry's direction.

"Oh, alright, let me just get my trunk." She heaved her trunk out of the baggage compartment and dragged out of the car, Cho lending her a hand.

"See you two later." She called back to Harry and Ron as she walked up the corridor between the cars, not disappointed for having an excuse for leaving them. They walked for what seemed like an eternity until they finally reached the very front of the train. Hermione looked around the car and saw about 2 dozen people sitting together, all wearing their school robes and their Prefect badges. Cho cleared her throat.

"Hey you guys, this is Hermione Granger, she's the new Gryffindor Prefect."

Everyone smiled amiably and said hello except for one boy in the corner whose nose was buried behind the cover of an immensely thick book. Three girls walked over to Hermione from their seats and in turn shook her hand.

"Very pleased to meet you," said a tall blonde girl.

"Glad to see some new blood around here," said another, completely opposite the first girl; being short and dark haired.

"We've heard a lot about you, getting highest marks in your year; I wonder why they didn't make you Prefect sooner." said a third, who looked somewhere in he middle; medium hair, medium height, with glasses.

"This is Irene, Cindy and Helen," Cho said, gesturing to each girl in turn. "Irene and Cindy are Ravenclaw 6th years, but Helen is a Gryffindor like you. Anyway, I guess I should explain the whole Prefect thing to you now. We have all been chosen as a result of excellent academic performance, and are the best minds of this school. Basically, by being Prefects, we are obligated to help our students and teachers to the best of our ability, and set an example to other, less motivated students. Of course, we have access to the Prefects bathroom, and we have monthly meetings in the library about improving the school. Any questions?"

"No, that sounds pretty thorough to me." Cho nodded and walked back over to her seat with Irene and Cindy. Only Helen remained, and she then turned to Hermione;

"So, wanna sit down?" she led her to two empty seats next to the older boy who Hermione had seen reading. Upon closer examination, she noticed that he looked rather similar to Helen. "This is my brother, Dave. Dave, this is Hermione." He looked up, smiled briefly, and returned to his reading.

"Nice conversational skills," said Helen disdainfully, rolling her eyes. "I apologize, my brother is mute and is frightened by strangers.

"Ah, shut up." he shot back, again, not looking up from his book. Hermione couldn't help noticing how attractive Dave was. He had brown hair, a bit lighter than Helen's, with hazel eyes and a muscular figure. And he must be really intelligent, she thought, Just look how absorbed he is in his book. She only realized that she was staring at him when Helen spoke again:

"So, what classes do you take?"

* * *

(As usual, I'm skipping over the Sorting, I find it rather boring.)

Things progressed as normal during their first week at Hogwarts. As Prefect, Hermione was one of the first to learn the new password to the Gryffindor common room (Dung bombs. LYL Elani!!!) as well as the password to the Prefect's bathroom. Hermione had become closer friends with Helen, and began harboring a small crush for her older brother. He had only spoken to her twice, one being him asking for the salt at the dinner table (when he took it from her, their fingers touched, causing her to blush and giggle silently.), but the more she observed him, the more she liked him. For example, when she was in the library Wednesday afternoon, he sat across from her and said simply: "You're sitting at my table."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she stammered, turning bright pink and gathering her books.

"No, stay, I'm just saying, you're at my table. Usually I'm the only one who sits here." He promptly took out a few books and began leafing through them, and unrolling a piece of parchment. Hermione watched as he carefully unscrewed the top of his ink bottle and dipped his owl feather quill into it. His hands are so beautiful she thought, now unable to concentrate on her Runes homework. He seemed so confident and quick-witted and gorgeous! Nothing ever seemed to bother him or distract him from his work. Just then, much to Hermione's disappointment, Helen sat down next to her, looking suspiciously from Dave to Hermione and back again.

"Why are you sitting with this Neanderthal, Hermione?" she said, eyeing her brother with contempt.

"Excuse me, young lady," Dave retorted coolly, "I was under the impression that this was a library, and therefore, only people who have their basic literacy skills mastered are allowed in. I'm afraid they don't supply material for people with your level of incompetence. And by the way, Mum wrote today and wanted to know which laxative you asked for; the plain kind or the chocolate flavored ones shaped like hearts." (A/N This is my favorite line of the entire story.)

Hermione snorted with laughter, covering her mouth to stifle the noise. Dave looked at her, looked right into her eyes, and winked. Hermione suddenly became light-headed and felt her stomach fill with butterflies (A/N nothing a little bit of laxative won't take care of!!!).

"Ah, shut up." Helen said to Dave, and then turned back to Hermione. "I'm just here because Cho wanted me to tell you about the Prefect meeting this Sunday. It starts at about 10, and Cho'll flip out if you're late. See you later."

Hermione had hardly heard a word of what Helen had said, but nodded all the same and said: "Yeah, later."

* * *

After a long week full of homework, studying for the O.W.L's, and obsessing over Dave, Hermione felt she deserved a nice long sleep that Friday night. As she dozed off, she began to dream a strangely familiar dream…

The trees of the Forbidden Forest loomed like shadowy giants, shielding the forest from the moonlight. Hermione walked on and on, growing more and more confused and frightened as she went. She reached a small clearing, where the path diverged into 3 different paths, one going to the left, one to the right, and one in the same direction as her original path. Each was equally dark and ominous. As she considered which one to continue upon, she heard someone crying out from behind her.

"Hermione!" She turned around to find a tall, darkened figure, running about frantically, seemingly looking for her. He turned his face in her direction, paused, and sprinted towards her, pleading at the top of his lungs.

"Hermione, stop! Please don't go! Hermione!!!"

She froze as he got closer and closer, anticipating the moment when she'd realize who he was…

"MEOW! HISSSSSSS!" Crookshanks was going wild, scratching and hissing at an owl that was tapping his beak loudly on the window. Hermione quickly jumped out of bed, pulled Crookshanks out of the way and let the owl in. Lavender and Parvati had been awoken by the cat's racket, irritated at being disturbed.

"Hermione, shut that thing up before I throw something at it." Parvati said groggily. Hermione pulled the letter off the owl's leg and let it fly off again. She tore it open and read:

Dearest Hermione,

I'm so glad you liked your bracelet, it means a lot to me to see you pleased.

The team is doing pretty well, we've won 2 out of 3 matches so far and we 're still going strong. Our next match is in Prague. The Czech team is supposed to be really well trained, but I guess we'll se. Hope school is good. Say hello to Harry and Ron for me.

Love,

Viktor.

As Hermione perused this letter, she felt a pang of guilt. She had been so wrapped up in Dave that she had almost forgotten that Viktor existed. As she toyed with her bracelet, the more distraught she became. Mixed with the guilt was a feeling of uncertainty; did she like Dave more that Viktor or was it the other way around? Which one did she feel more for, and which one did she belong with? These questions plagued her as she got dressed and crept down to the Great Hall for breakfast. She sat down in her usual chair at the top of the Gryffindor table where the Prefects sat. Only a handful of people were in the Great Hall, and Hermione was the only one at the Gryffindor table. She buttered herself an English muffin, and was so absorbed in counting the nooks and crannies that she didn't even notice that someone had sat down next to her.

"Hi, Mione," Hermione nearly jumped out of her skin, her company had startled her so badly.

"God, you scared me to death!" she said crossly as she turned to face the source of the disturbance. It was Harry.

"Sorry," he muttered, looking down at his feet. "I just wanted to ask you something." He looked nervous and uncomfortable, squiring around in his chair and turning pink.

"Sure, what is it?" She said, unsure why Harry seemed so tense.

"It just- I was wondering- well, I've been having trouble with my Potions homework lately, I was hoping you could help me out with it. That is if you weren't too busy today."

"Oh, I'll be glad to help you, Harry!" she replied, relieved that it wasn't something more serious that was making Harry look so embarrassed. "How about we meet in the library at after dinner tonight?"

"That sounds great." He said, looking a little more relaxed. "I guess I'll see you then!" He paused, and then leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek similar to the one she had given him the year before. "By the way," he said, "I like your bracelet." He walked hurriedly toward the entrance hall and disappeared from her view. Hermione sighed, and returned to her muffin, wondering if Potions was all that was on Harry's mind.

* * *

That night after dinner, Hermione found herself waiting for Harry in the library, a pile of Potion books piled on the table. Harry's edginess had been cause for concern for her the more she thought about it. Why on Earth had he been nervous to ask for her help in a class she already knew wasn't easy. And since when did Harry care how poorly he did in Potions? Her thoughts were interrupted soon, however, by Harry's arrival. Hermione greeted him and opened the books she had taken off the shelves before he had gotten there.

"Hello, Harry, I was thinking we'd start with the Invisibility Potion we've been discussing, it was pretty complicated, but this book explains-"

"Hermione," Harry interrupted her, a grave expression on his face, "I don't need help in Potions. I got you to meet me here so I could tell you something."

"Oh, really?" she said hesitantly, her heartbeat quickening.

"I- well, you see- I, um-" By this time, Harry was the color of over-ripe strawberries and stuttering horribly.

"Harry," Hermione said in what she hoped sounded like a soothing voice, putting her hand on his shoulder, "Whatever it is, just tell me, it's okay."

"All right," Harry adopted the determined look Hermione knew so well, "I think I'm falling for-"

"Hey you guys, what's up?" Ron jumped out of nowhere, nearly giving Harry and Hermione heart attacks.

"Say, Harry, Fred and George were looking for you, they said something about new Quidditch moves. They're out on the pitch now waiting for you."

"Okay," Harry answered, giving Ron a fearful look. He got up and ran out of the library. Hermione was fuming.

"You stupid prat, what's wrong with you,?" she asked furiously, glaring at him with anger in her eyes.

"Whoa, what'd I do?"

"You just stopped Harry from telling me something really important!"

Ron blanched and his eyes grew wide with horror.

"And w-what was he about to tell you?" Ron now looked just about as nervous as Harry did.

"I don't know, thanks to you, but even if I did, it would be no business of yours! Ergh, you can be so thick sometimes!" This statement was a bit of a lie, for Hermione did have an idea at what Harry had been driving at.

"Well, excuse me, how was I supposed to know you guys were having some 'intimate conversation'?" Ron retorted viciously, his anxious expression being replaced with cold fury. "I was merely delivering a message to Harry, I never meant to interfere with his private business."

"And just what are you implying, Ron?" Hermione asked icily.

"Oh, nothing at all, Hermione, and besides, I'm too stupid to make insinuations, aren't I?" With that, Ron stomped off in a huff. Hermione gathered the books she had taken out for her and Harry to study from, and took them to their shelf. Her brief conversation with Harry troubled her greatly. Who was he going to say he was falling for before Ron joined them? Was he going to confess that he had feelings for her? Now what am I going to do? she asked herself as she slid books distractedly back onto the shelf, Do I like Harry back? And what about Dave and Viktor? As she tried to squeeze a particularly thick book into its space, she knocked a faded red book to the floor. The cover read Gypsy Love Magick in gilded letters. She chuckled to herself, Yeah, I really want this book. She picked it up to put it back on the shelf, but, as if it had a life of its own, it jumped out of her hands and landed open on the floor. She grunted with frustration, picked it up again, and scanned the page it was opened to:

This is a spell to narrow the field of choices for a person with several possible lovers. First, write the names of each person you care for on a separate piece of parchment (this spell is usually done with three names, but it can be done with more.). Before going to bed, place the slips of paper under your pillow. While you lie down in the dark, focus on each person, one at a time. Then, slide your hand under your pillow and pull out one of the slips. Don't look at it, but drop it on the floor beside your bed. When you wake up in the morning, take another piece of paper from under your pillow and drop it on the floor as well. The one left under your pillow is the one you were destined to be with. If you have more than 3 people to decide between, you can take out more than one at a time, as long as there is one left in the end.

Hermione read and re-read the spell, stunned. It was as though the book knew about her dilemma and chose the exact spell she needed to fix it. After a moment of hesitation, she marked the page with her spell on it, shoved it into her bag, and ran flat out to her dorm.

* * *

Once in the privacy of her dorm, Hermione pulled out the book, her quill and a roll of parchment. She tore the parchment into 3 pieces and wrote Viktor, Dave and Harry on them. After they were folded neatly and tucked under her pillow, she changed into her pajamas and blew out her candle. As the book directed, she thought about each one of them, Viktor's wit and intellect, Dave's good looks and humor, and Harry's valor and bravery. She reached under her pillow and removed one of the papers and put it on the floor. She tried to sleep, but the anticipation was too great. She only found herself nodding off around midnight…

3 paths shrouded in darkness. Hermione stood facing them with determination she had never felt before, conscious of the fact that she had been there before. She turned around before she even heard the young man crying her name. Without looking, without thinking she ran, ran as fast as she could away from the 3 paths, toward the boy that she sensed rather than saw. She eventually reached him, and wrapped her arms around him.

"You found me," he whispered, kissing her gently on the cheek. She backed away from him to get a look at his obscured face…

Hermione suddenly couldn't breath. She woke up gasping for breath and tried to get up, but the giant ginger-colored hairball that was her cat was snoozing on her chest, crushing her lungs. She pushed Crookshanks off of the bed and lied back down, panting. As oxygen filled her lungs once again, she remembered her spell, and pulled a second slip out from under her pillow. Once this piece was safely on the floor with its partner, she pulled the 3rd piece out with trembling fingers. She unfolded it, and nearly screamed with shock. The paper said…

"Ron?" Hermione read the parchment in horror, her pulse quickening.

"This is impossible!" She dove onto the floor and snatched up the 2 other slips and unfolded them as well, but they were completely blank.

"What's going on here?" she asked herself, panicking.

She turned to her bedside table and reread the spell she had preformed. She was certain that she had followed it perfectly; there was just no plausible explanation for Ron's name being on the parchment.

"Hermione!" Hermione started as she heard someone calling her name from common room. It was Helen.

"Hermione, it's a quarter to 10! You're gonna be late for the Prefect's meeting!" "Oh no, the Prefect's meeting!" Hermione had completely forgotten about it. She put the 3 slips of parchment inside the book, slammed it shut and returned it to her nightstand. She grabbed her robes and hastily pulled them over her head and dashed downstairs, her hair a mess and her Prefect's badge on crooked.

"Finally!" Helen said exasperatedly when Hermione met her in the common room. "I thought you'd never get up. Let's go, we're gonna be late!" The two girls hurried to the library, Hermione's mind still up in her dorm with her spell.

When they arrived in the library, Helen and Hermione took their seats next to Dave, who rather than reading like he always did, was staring somewhere across the library. Hermione was so bemused about what the parchment said that she barely noticed him. Why did the slip say "Ron?" Hermione asked herself, What did I do wrong; I followed the spell's directions exactly! Oh no, does it mean I'm meant to be with Ron? But that's so not right, he wasn't one of the names I needed to choose from! We can't stand each other; it would never work out between us. He treats me so badly; I truly think he hates me! Oh God… Hermione was totally unable to concentrate on the meeting at all; she kept lapsing into thought about the early morning's unsettling events. She was only brought out of one of these lapses when Helen waved her hand in front of her face.

"Hello? Earth to Hermione! The meeting's over, so, do you want to go down and get some breakfast?

"Um, I guess so, I'm not all that hungry though." Hermione said.

"What's gotten into you this morning?" implored Helen

"N-nothing, nothing at all," Hermione replied unconvincingly.

"Seriously, Hermione, you're worrying me, tell me what's the matter."

"I don't want to talk about it, it's way to weird."

Just then, Hermione glanced at Dave, who had just rushed past her to a girl on the other side of the room. It was Cho. He put his arm around her shoulder, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. The two of them walked out of the library, arm in arm, talking and laughing.

"I didn't know Dave was going out with Cho," said Hermione incredulously.

"Yeah, he asked her out last night, apparently he's liked her for a long time."

Hermione didn't know how to take this- was she upset or relieved? She, again, found a question she could not answer.

While Helen and Hermione were walking down the marble staircase, someone tapped Hermione on the shoulder.

"Hermione," she turned around. It was Harry.

"Oh, hello Harry," she said nervously

"Can I talk to you? Alone?" he directed this last part at Helen.

"I'm going, I'm going," Helen said as she continued down the stairs.

"I wanted to finish telling you what I started to yesterday."

"Umm, okay,"

"I-I- I think I'm in love with Cho." he said quickly, as if he was afraid he'd lose his nerve if he took his time.

"Oh," Hermione was utterly speechless.

"Yeah," Harry continued, "I think she's just so wonderful, but I'm too scared to say anything to her. I was wondering, since you're both Prefects and all, if you could help me out, you know, put in a good word here and there."

"Oh Harry, I-I'm sorry, but…Cho already has a boyfriend."

Harry blanched, but recovered himself nicely: "Oh, well, um, thanks for telling me. I guess I should go now."

"Harry, I'm so sorry," Hermione said sympathetically.

"It's okay, I'm fine." He lied as he began walking up the marble staircase.

Hermione, not sure how to react to this surprising development, proceeded to the Great Hall. She sat down next to Helen, not saying a word.

"So, what did lover boy have to say?" she asked obliviously.

"I can't say." Hermione replied honestly.

Aw, Hermione, you're no fun." Helen said back.

Hermione ate her breakfast in silence, becoming more and more disturbed. So far 2 out of the 3 boys she believed had feelings for her were enamored with the same girl. As she was about to leave the table for her dorm, a haggard-looking owl landed in front of her, knocking her goblet over. It held out its leg, which had a message attached to it. Hermione took it and read:

Dear Hermione,

I know this is the second time I've written to you in 2 days, but something wonderful happened and I just had to share it with someone. Hermione, I've met someone! Her name is Olga and she is the most beautiful woman in the world. We met yesterday after our match in Prague. I was signing autographs after we won, and then I saw her. When I looked at her, the rest of the world faded away. Do you believe in love at first sight, Hermione? Well, after yesterday, I'll never doubt it again. She came over to me and we talked and talked for almost the rest of the night. She's my match, Hermione; I can feel it when I'm with her. Pray that one day you'll feel this way too about someone, it's the most amazing thing in the world.

Sincerely,

Viktor.

Hermione folded up the letter and put her head in her hands. Now all 3 of her possible matches weren't interested in her. It was a humbling feeling. She slumped down in her chair and sighed, staring out into space. The owl looked as though it expected a letter to take back to Viktor, but Hermione was too lost in thought to notice. Suddenly, the empty space she had been staring in had been filled with the form of a tall red-haired boy she knew very well.

"Oh no, it's Ron!" she whispered to herself. She was almost certain that he hadn't seen her, so she waited until he had taken a seat on the other end of the table before getting up and sprinting out of the Great Hall. She scurried up to the common room and up the spiral staircase to her dorm. She threw herself onto her bed and began punching her pillow.

"God damn it! Why did I have to cast that stupid spell? I'm such an idiot!" She buried her face in her hands, moments away from tears and whimpered, "Anyone but Ron, anyone!"

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Who-who is it?" she asked timidly.

"It's Ron. Can I come in?"

Hermione froze. She had a mad desire to jump out her window to escape from him, but resisted the temptation. Instead, she remained entirely silent; perhaps he'd leave if he didn't get an answer.

"C'mon Hermione, open up, I have to talk to you."

Hermione weighed her choices; she could ignore him until she was blue in the face, but, knowing him, his persistent temper would get the better of him, and he'd break down the door in his rage. On the other hand, she could allow him to enter, probably just so he could holler at her like he always did. She opted for the ladder and tremulously turned the doorknob.

"What do you want?" she asked blankly.

"Why did you run out of the Great Hall when you saw me?" Ron asked bluntly, his blue eyes flickering with fury.

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about-" Hermione answered unsteadily.

"Hermione, cut the crap, you've been avoiding me ever since you became Prefect."

"That's not true, I haven't-"

"Do you think now that since you're a Prefect, that you're too good to hang out with me anymore? That I'm just another moron who's not worth the time of day?"

"You couldn't be more wrong, Ron, but even if you were right, why does it matter, you don't give a damn about me, you never have! If you're wondering why I haven't been hanging out with you so much lately, just look at the way you've treated me over the years! You act like you can't stand me and I'm feed up with it!"

After she said this, Ron looked as if she had slapped him.

"How can you say that, Hermione?" he said, visibly wounded. "How can you think that I don't care about you?" He inched closer to her, looking wistful.

"Well, even if you did care about me, you have a demented way of showing it." she was trying not to look him in the eyes. All of a sudden, a loud "BAM!" came from the other side of the room. The Gypsy Love Magick book had fallen off the nightstand and landed open to the spell Hermione had used, the 3 pieces of parchment stuck in between the old yellowed pages.

"What's that?" said Ron as he stepped nimbly around Hermione and reached out for the book.

"No, Ron, it's nothing, don't-"

But Ron had already picked up the book and started reading the spell. He glanced the parchment leaves and dropped the book onto the floor. Hermione watched in horror as comprehension dawned on Ron's face. He turned to her and held up the slip that had his name on it.

"It's not what it looks like." Hermione said in vain, "I'm as confused about it as you must be, I didn't- it wasn't supposed-"

"Confused?" Ron interrupted Hermione's babbling with a serene look on his face, "Nothing's confused anymore, Hermione, it's clearer now to me than it's ever been."

Then, he took her face in his hands and pressed his lips gently to hers. Hermione was in a state of inexpressible astonishment. This has to be some kind of crazy dream she said to herself… the dream! It suddenly rushed back to her in even more vivid detail. The paths had become even more shadowy and indistinguishable than before, but the sound of her name being called into the darkness seemed to reverberate throughout the forest. This time, she recognized the voice, recognized the young man who was speeding in her direction. She turned to face him, to see him in exact detail for the first time. His wild red hair, his numerous freckles, his penetrating blue eyes; he ran up to her, wrapped his arms around her and she finally understood. It was Ron all along." Hermione snapped back to reality, still engaged in Ron's kiss. He withdrew from her, and grinning from ear to ear, whispered the words she had been expecting to hear: "You found me."

"Yes," she said meaningfully, "I finally found you." And with that she returned the kiss, feeling more contented than she ever had in her life.

A/N Hey, what did you all think????? Was it too mushy? I had toyed with the idea of doing this story from Ron's point of view because he seems to be the one who's clueless about his feelings for Hermione. Does that sound like something you would read? Am I dumb for suggesting it??? Will this author's note never end?????????? Well, I'm done for now, please review!!!!!!! J