The last words they heard him say before he left were "Listen, I know it's not much of a lead, but I'm going to go and look at this statue, at least find out what the diadem looks like. Wait for me here and keep, you know -the other one- safe."
Ron and Hermione nodded, but stood rooted in the same spot that Harry had left them in, watching anxiously as he and Luna rounded a corner and hurried up the steep staircase that a small cupboard opened up onto.
It was a bit of a strange atmosphere after Harry left. Everyone was much quieter, and many people had now turned to the two remaining members of the trio, their faces raised in expectation, all wanting to know what Harry's last words to them had actually meant. Thus, making it slightly uncomfortable for the pair of them.
Not that either Ron or Hermione could blame the others for being curious though. Nobody but the trio, and Dumbledore obviously, had a clue why they'd mysteriously gotten out of completing their last year at Hogwarts, or where on earth they'd been spending the missing months for that matter. Most of the people in the room Ron and Hermione were currently waiting in were either close friends, family, or just fellow classmates, so naturally they were worried. The majority of them just seemed pleased that the trio that come back in one piece, however.
Ron and Hermione exchanged glances, and Ron shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other. He knew that it would be easier for the pair of them to wander off somewhere and wait quietly, away from prying eyes. That wasn't his only reason for wanting to be alone with Hermione either. The whole time they'd been horcrux-hunting with Harry, his entire being had been aching to be with her. This obviously couldn't really happen, what with Harry in tow, and having a mission to complete, but now...No Harry, and no horcruxes to take care of at that moment in time – Harry was taking care of the diadem. So all they had to do was wait. This was his perfect chance! Maybe his last chance. He didn't want to think up the worst, but if the war didn't come out in their favour, he might never get to tell her how he felt. To spend some time with his 'Mione. To tell her how much he needed her. It had to be now.
Closing the gap between the pair of them, Ron leaned in towards Hermione, murmuring quietly so only she could hear. "You wanna go wait somewhere where everyone isn't looking at us like we're aliens? Like, over there?" he gestured a little to their left. Hermione smiled up at him, nodding in agreement. Ron noticed that she blushed slightly at this close contact, and the whispers; he couldn't help but smirk at this.
Score one; Ron thought, as he led Hermione to one of many brightly coloured hammocks adorning the large room. He wanted to reach out, to touch her hand, more than anything, the whole way. But he didn't. He was afraid she wouldn't feel the same. If she didn't ...he couldn't even finish the thought. It was impossible to digest.
When they reached the hammock, Ron and Hermione clambered onto it, so awkwardly that Hermione fell onto Ron, her body inches from his own. They stayed like this for a short moment, gazing into each other's eyes, as if trying to read what the other felt, before making a move.
Hermione's eyes widened a little, out of shock or happiness, Ron couldn't be sure, and cautious as ever, she pulled away, blushing, out of worry more than anything else, settling into a seated position beside Ron, who was trying to hide his embarrassment by pretending to be suddenly interested in something out of the window. But it wasn't quick or aggressive; she released herself slowly, as if wanting Ron to stop her. Her wish soon came true. Ron, not wanting to let a chance like this slip through his fingers, terrified as he was however, gently pulled her back close to him, praying that she would just let him. He slung an arm round her shoulders, and, much to his elation, Hermione let her head rest on his shoulder. Ron smiled contently. This was how things were meant to be, he thought happily, she was all he needed. Ever. Even in the middle of a horcrux hunt, he had the one thing that mattered most to him right beside him. He felt like the luckiest man on earth.
They sat in awkward silence for a while, not used to be being able to be with one another with Harry interference, when Hermione spoke up at once, snapping Ron out of his daze. "I was just thinking, and even if Harry does find the other horcrux, the diadem, how are we supposed to destroy it?" she asked, gesturing to the small sequined bag Ron liked to call her Mary Poppins bag. "I mean, we still haven't gotten rid of the cup! There's no point us lugging these horcruxes around if we can't destroy them!"
Ron smiled faintly at Hermione's thoughtful expression as she said this. She always did look so cute when she was thinking...He got so lost in her beauty that he had almost forgotten she'd spoken o him. "I know..." Ron agreed, "We need something that'll destroy all the horcruxes, like the sword."
Hermione nodded, then, lifting her head off Ron's shoulder, proceeded to rummage about in the depths of her bag for a book on the subject. "Everything but" she announced finally, looking troubled at herself for not being able to solve their problem.
"You can't solve everything 'Mione" Ron smiled; inwardly flinching as he realised he'd used the pet name for her he'd been subconsciously saying for the past month or so. Hermione, however, didn't seem to mind. When Ron laid a hand over her own in comfort, she surprised him by intertwining their fingers and squeezing his hand. "You're right" she returned the smile, Ron squeezing back. It was at that moment that a light bulb went off in Ron's head. Suddenly he knew exactly what they had to do.
"Hermione, the basilisk!" Ron exclaimed, Hermione looking confused. "Something to kill horcruxes!" he explained. He knew that Hermione had understood, for her mouth opened into a comical little 'o' as she hit his hand in excitement. "Oh my god, Ron, that's it!"
Ron beamed, pretty proud of himself. "Well, I just thought that, you know, it's dead, so we could get the fangs and destroy the horcruxes that way" he said, trying to sound modest. He would not tell her that it was she who gave him the incentive to even think of it. The touch of their hands made everything clearer.
"Why didn't I think of that before?! Ron, that's such a brilliant idea!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms round his neck before he could blink. Instantly grateful for this moment, he leant into her and put his arms around her waist. He knew that this might be only a celebratory hug, but what did it matter?
They broke apart, Hermione smiling. "So...Chamber of secrets?" she asked.
Ron nodded happily, and Hermione jumped up, pulling him by the hand in the direction of the door.
"Hey! Where are you guys going?" Ginny asked, her eyes travelling downwards onto Ron and Hermione intertwined hands, and smirking.
Ron and Hermione exchanged glances, and then Hermione said "Bathroom!"
"Bathroom?" Ginny asked sceptically. "You two are actually going out there, after everything we told you?"
Ron nodded. " Myrtle's bathroom. Tell Harry if he asks" Before Ginny could reply, he had already opened the door and led Hermione out.
Ginny shook her head. "At least they got together!" Lavender Brown said enthusiastically.
"'Bout time" Ginny agreed.
"We can't be seen" Hermione hissed in Ron's ear, as they tried to worm their way to the bathroom on the second floor going unnoticed – hiding behind gargoyles and things of the like. "After all, we are supposed to be missing"
"Yeah...It's a shame Harry's got the cloak" Ron said. At this, Hermione cast the muffliato charm on both of them to muffle their footsteps, and the quietus charm for their voices. After a while of dodging teachers and the Carrows, they reached the familiar bathroom they had visited in their second year, and Hermione released Ron's hand as they drew nearer to the coloured taps. She stopped at the desired sink; one with a snake scratched onto the tap, and looked up at Ron.
"Err, Ron, I think we have a problem" she said slowly.
"What?"
"We can't speak Parseltongue"
"Oh, that's not a problem!" Ron replied with a wave of his hand, "I've heard Harry do it enough times, I'm sure I can do a reasonable imitation of him"
Hermione raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Go ahead" she gestured him forwards.
Ron smirked back, taking a deep breath and clearing his throat. Then he made a very loud and very odd hissing noise. The taps, however, did not move. Hermione bit her lip to stop herself from laughing, and said, "Try again" This time, Ron tried to make the noise sound more snake-like, and lower in note, but as before, the taps refused to budge. Hermione couldn't contain herself any longer, and erupted into fits of giggled. "Sorry" she squeaked, as Ron gave her a dirty look, "Wrong time...You just sound so funny!"
"I'm glad I'm amusing you. You try!" he protested, beginning to get irritated.
Hermione shook her head vigorously. "No thanks. Try again. Make it sound more...sinister." she suggested, unwanting to try it herself.
"Ok" Ron replied, "Third time lucky" He waited a moment, then threw back his head and made the strangest noise Hermione had ever heard. Even weirder than when Harry did it. This time the noise was far more guttural and evil sounding, in the back of his throat.
"Maybe I'm not so good after a-"Ron began, but stopped when the sink opened into a narrow pipe.
"You did it!" Hermione exclaimed happily, "You really are amazing!" she bounded over to his side, where he stood looking proud of himself.
"We got there in the end" Ron smiled, glancing down into the small pipe the sink had revealed. "So, uh, who wants to go first?" Hermione shrugged. "Alright then, I'll do the gentlemanly bit and go first. Watch out for danger" he added, Hermione rolling her eyes.
Before she could say another word, he had jumped into the pipe, and was sliding downwards. Ron slid off the chute, dirty and wet, landing on a pile of mossy leaves. At the end of the chute was the tunnel leading to the chamber of secrets. He glanced up at the chute, wondering if Hermione had chickened out, when she came tumbling off the end of the pipe. Luckily Ron was just in time to catch her, looking dishevelled, her bushy hair soaked and her face coated with grime. Strange as it sounded, Ron thought she looked beautiful.
"Ooo! Thank you" Hermione squealed, trying to untangle the mass of knotted brown frizz round her face.
"Told you I was a gentleman" He smiled down at her in his arms, Hermione biting her lip, something Ron knew she did when she was nervous and uncomfortable. He didn't want to make their situation any more awkward, so he carefully released her and the pair of them moved forwards towards the tunnel.
"This looks creepier than when we came here last time" Hermione observed quietly. Ron nodded. It a dark and slimy underground stone tunnel, oppressive and very narrow. Hermione let out a small yelp, and Ron immediately went to her aid. He saw that she had spotted the many skeletons of small animals littering the floor, making a huge pile only a few yards ahead. Ron reached out for her hand, and Hermione gladly took it. Alongside them was a gigantic skin shed by the Basilisk. Ron thought it seemed longer than the basilisk itself had.
"Which way to the basilisk?" Hermione whispered, "It's been years since Harry went down here to stab the diary."
The pair of them had stopped at the end of one of the tunnels, three different narrow ones leading off it, and Ron glanced quickly down each one. They all looked the same. "Uhh...I think it's this one" he said, pointing to the one on the far left hand side, "I have a good feeling about it" Ron found that he was right, when, after walking down the tunnel for what seemed like ages, they reached a solid stone wall, carved with two entwined serpents with emeralds for eyes.
Hermione smiled up at him. "Get your Parseltongue out again!"
Ron groaned. "I forgot I had to use it here..." He couldn't help but inwardly smirk, however, as he thought of what Hermione had said, had sounded like an innuendo. He didn't realise his face had betrayed him until he noticed Hermione, hands on her hips.
"Oh Ronald Weasley, is that all you ever think about?!"She giggled.
He stuck his tongue out at her, and then focused his attention back to the stone wall. Or, at least, tried to. All he could think about was the marvellous beauty inches by his side and all the things he desperately wanted to tell her. He had to make sure everything was said, before they left again. Otherwise they'd never get the chance again. Not with Harry around.
Since he had practiced before, it took Ron only a couple of tries this time, and before he knew it, the serpents opened up into a huge temple-like room, lined with monumental statues of snakes, and housing two towering stone pillars with more carved serpents on bracing the ceiling. In the centre was a colossal and weathered looking statue of Salazar Slytherin, it's features ancient and monkey-like, from which the basilisk would of came when summoned, if it was still alive.
The most important thing in the room, the reason Ron and Hermione had come into the chamber, was lying on the far right hand side of the chamber, unmissable to anyone. The basilisk's body was extremely long, wound round the side of the wall, and the body seemed in perfect condition. The fangs were the real reason Ron and Hermione needed the creature in the first place. A few were lying on the floor near the thing's head, but the rest were not.
"Erm...How many do we need?" Hermione asked slowly, not wanting particularly to rip fangs out of the creature's mouth.
"I'm not sure" Ron replied, "Maybe three or four each to be on the safe side" He noticed Hermione's worries and shook his head. "No need to look so troubled, 'Mione, we can just accio them!"
Hermione sighed a breath of relief. "Oh yeah! I really can't think straight at the moment..." she trailed off, Ron glanced at her, wanting her to finish. He wanted to know if he was on her mind as much as she was on his. But she didn't, so he held out his wand and accio'd the three fangs on the floor. They all rose and flew into his arms at once, and he loaded them into Hermione's arms instead, then accio'd three from inside the creature's mouth for himself.
"Good job this thing's got plenty of teeth..." Ron retorted, grimacing at the blood, or some gross looking liquid, oozing from the space in the basilisk's mouth he'd just performed the spell on.
"Yeah" Hermione agreed, then she looked nervously from herself to Ron and back again, realising their predicament. "So, um, who's going to do it? Stab the cup I mean?"
"Oh, I think you should!" Ron smiled, "You haven't had the pleasure yet"
"Ok. How do I do it? Just stab the thing?"
"Yup"
"Right" With that, she accio'd three boulders over, that were lying on the left hand side of the room – two for them to sit on, and one to sit the horcrux on. Ron handed her one of the fangs, and suddenly felt a surge of fear. What if it tortured her the same way it tortured him? He didn't want for her to have to go through anything remotely painful. "Are you sure you don't want me to do it?"
Hermione looked slightly confused at this sudden change of heart, but nevertheless, shook her head. "Thank you, but I'm alright. Like you said, I haven't had the pleasure yet" she smiled, and Ron's insides turned inside out. She always had this effect on him, and had done for years. He couldn't help himself worrying about the horcrux though, and subconsciously slid his hand back into hers.
"Uh...Here we go" Hermione announced, raising the fang in the air, inches from the cup, releasing Ron's hand. With one downward motion, she quickly stabbed the cup in the middle with the fang, and a couple times more just for good measure. The cup emanated a red light, and then fizzed out.
"That was it?!" Ron demanded incredulously, confused and irritated at the same time. His horcrux had tormented him with images of Harry and Hermione together, but with Hermione's, it did nothing. "Are you ok? It didn't hurt you, or anything?" he checked.
Hermione seemed to find Ron's rambling amusing, and reached out to squeeze his hand in comfort. "Not at all. It was a bit of an anti-climax really" she added, sounding slightly disappointed.
"Oh" was Ron's only reply.
"I thought yours didn't do much either when you stabbed it" Hermione said slowly, aware that Ron wasn't telling the whole truth.
He paused, debating about whether to let out what really happened that night, or to keep his mouth shut. He thought that maybe by telling her what happened, it might illustrate how he felt about her. When he didn't say anything, Hermione prodded his side. "What really happened, Ron?"
He took a deep breath. He wasn't sure how she was going to take it, take his feelings. He wanted her to accept them more than anything, but he wasn't sure if she could. "Everything Harry and I told you that night was true. That I came and saved Harry from drowning, and then I stabbed the horcrux. But after that, when we said it just screamed and went away? That was false."
"Why? What else did it do?" she questioned him, curious now. It had to be something important if he didn't tell her the first time round.
"It, uh...When Harry opened it, a voice came out. You-Know-Who's. Saying that. And then...You came out of it."
"Me?" she was confused as to why this was such a bad thing.
"And Harry. But You-Know-Who versions of you and him. You were, uh...You were..." he trailed off, the words difficult to say. The words wouldn't form on his tongue.
"We were what?"
"Embracing" he managed, and then he added quietly, "And snogging."
"Oh" Hermione squeaked, understanding now.
"I couldn't bear to watch it. You were taunting me, saying that you preferred Harry, and that I was good for nothing. But for some reason, I just couldn't stab the thing" Ron said, his words coming out in a rush, "I guess...I guess a part of me thought it was true. Thought that maybe you did prefer Harry. I mean, what am I? What help can I offer you guys? Harry's the hero and you're the brains of the operation, maybe I am just a sidekick after all." He hung his head, un wanting to meet Hermione's gaze, in case the worst fears he held close were in face true.
Hermione sat staring for a while in disbelief. Now his feelings are coming out...she thought. She had to tell him how she felt. How wrong he was. She took both his hands in hers and took a deep breath. It was now or never.
"Ron, how could you possibly think that? You know how much I care about you."
Ron's head snapped up. "You what? You do?!"
"Of course I do. Yes, I love Harry, but purely as a friend. I see you in a whole different way. I thought you knew that. You know that time in Slughorn's class last year when I wouldn't tell anyone the third scent in my love potion?" Ron nodded. "It was your hair"
Ron looked astounded, and pulled at a wavy strand of the red hair Hermione had come to love. "My hair?" he repeated. "Of all the things, you pick my hair. But then, you did pick fresh parchment and mowed grass, so what can you expect..."
"And the year before, at the Yule Ball. Why do you think I went with Krum?"
"Because you thought he was hot?"
"Because I knew you wouldn't pluck up the courage to ask me, and I knew that if I went with someone else, maybe you'd admit to your feelings and we could...you know..." she explained.
"You know?" Ron's eyes widened, thinking things only a seventeen year old boy with his crush could.
"Not that you know" Hermione rolled her eyes, "Get together I mean. I guess I just gotta accept that boys are slow specimens"
"But you...You feel something for me?" Ron checked, struggling to keep up.
"What have I been trying to tell you for the past ten minutes?!" Hermione exclaimed, "I love you" she smiled, looking up into his deep blue eyes. Everything felt so right, just how she'd imagined it...
"I love you too" Ron smiled back without hesitation, although he was still pretty convinced he was dreaming. "I've been in love with you since the day I first laid eyes on you. Ever since the dirt on my nose incident, I've always been very strict with my personal hygiene" Hermione grinned. "And every year after that, my love for you has only grown stronger. To begin with, I thought that maybe it was just a crush, but after I saw you with Krum...It just put things in perspective. And when I was with Lavender, I was you I was thinking of when I was kissing her. And this year, when I left you and Harry, I thought about what I'd done and I realised what an idiot I was. And how badly I missed you. Wanted to be back with you. I'm terribly sorry about that by the way, I think I needed time away to really realise how much I need you in my life. And boy, do I need you. Because, Hermione, in Malfoy Manor...when they were torturing you-"It made Ron's heart ache just thinking about it again, "I thought I was going to lose you. And I couldn't bear it. Couldn't bear the thought of living without you. Because I love you, and you complete me. Without you, I'm nothing. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I love you, and I'll be damned if I let anything happen to you. I just thought you needed to know how amazing you are, because I don't think you realise how truly beautiful you are – inside and out. You're my Heroine. Always" He finished just in time to see tears sliding down Hermione's cheeks, and he reached out a hand to wipe them gently.
"Ron" she managed, "That was beautiful. You know you're my hero. Especially after that. I love you too!" she cried happily, leaning over to throw her arms around him and kiss him on the mouth. Ron's arms instinctively wrapped around her tightly and returned the kiss with all of his love for her. It was the moment he'd been waiting for, for so long, and it was perfect. Everything had fallen into place the way it should; feelings had been spilled, and kisses had been applied. The world was right.
"Am I dreaming? Have death eaters knocked me unconscious or something?" Ron smirked, "Cos' that was bloody amazing!"
Hermione laughed. "You weren't too bad yourself!"
"I know this isn't the most romantic setting" Ron said, as the pair began to worm their way back to the bathroom.
"I wouldn't have it any other way" Hermione smiled contently, Ron slipping an arm around her shoulder as they made their way back through the tunnel.
Whatever happened next didn't matter to Ron and Hermione, because now they had each other to face the world with.