Forum: The Golden Snitch
Prompt of the Day: Cherry
WC: 525
Hermione grabbed Ron by his coat sleeve. "Come on" she said to her boyfriend. "The bus is going to leave without us and we'll miss the whole tour."
Ron looked up at the cherry red double-decker bus. "Hermione, are you sure this is safe?" he whispered to her.
Hermione resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Are you serious?" she asked. "Or are you not the same person who flew his father's enchanted car to Hogwarts when he was 12?"
Ron shuddered at the memory. "Don't remind me" he said. "I can still taste the slugs from when my wand backfired after the Whomping Willow broke it."
Hermione sighed and dragged Ron onto the bus. They found seats on the top.
"It's a perfect day for sight-seeing" the brunette said to Ron. "I was worried it might snow."
At that moment, the bus began to move. Ron grabbed onto Hermione's arm with both hands.
"Honestly, Ron" she said, rolling her eyes. "You've taken the Knight Bus before. This is just like that."
"Not true" said Ron. "For one thing, the Knight Bus never gets into crashes. I heard from a girl who took Muggle Studies that loads of Muggles die in crashes every year."
Hermione wasn't sure what to say to that. So instead she decided to change the subject. "Oh, look" she said, as the bus made its way down Broadway. "There's the theater where we're going to see Wicked tomorrow."
Ron stared at the poster. "Muggles sure have funny ideas of what witches look like" he said. "Mind you, there have been some witches who have done funny things to themselves and ended up green. At least, that's what my mom used to tell Fred and George whenever they were little and try to use her wand when she wasn't looking."
Hermione giggled in spite of herself. Then she lay her head on Ron's shoulder and wrapped an arm around him. It was the first time he'd made a casual reference to Fred ever since his older brother's death.
"I'm happy you agreed to come with me" Hermione said to the redhead after a moment.
Ron smiled. "Yeah, well, you wouldn't have forgiven me if I hadn't" he said.
"Oh look, we're coming up on Rockefeller Center" said Hermione, pointing.
"That's the place with the big tree you wanted to see, right?" asked Ron. He still couldn't pronounce the world Rockefeller if his life depended on it.
"Yes" said Hermione. "Of course, nothing is more beautiful than the Great Hall at Christmas. But this comes pretty close, at least by Muggle standards."
"What are those people doing down there in front of the tree?" Ron asked.
"They're ice-skating" Hermione said. Sometimes she forgot how much the Muggle world had that wizards had never adapted to.
Ron watched for a moment. Then he said "We'll have to buy Dad some of those for Christmas. He'll love them."
The thought of Ron's dad ice-skating made Hermione giggle again. "You're right" she said.
Ron stretched, then wrapped his arm around Hermione. "So how much longer does this tour go on for?" he asked. "Because I'm starving."