A/N: Recently I've read through many R/Hr fanfics and find some of them very interesting and worth reading. So suddenly a surge of enthusiasm struck me and made me do this – write this fanfic. I'm still not very sure whether or not it'll be a one-shot or with chapters. You'll find out once you've finished reading this chapter, I guess. So please enjoy and review. Thanks.
P.S. Mind you, when you read this fic, you really have to think it over and figure out things, in that way I think you'll enjoy it more.
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Think it over
Hermione's turn
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After all those sleepless nights, she decided.
She decided to leave and go for what she wanted - to explore, to see, to reach, to feel. She wanted to go on the trip of discovery, but she had to leave something behind. Something that she would miss so badly, something that she'd rather die to lose. She never knew, or even had any thought, that she would actually come this far to leave him behind with what they had. But she didn't really want to care, because she was determined – to go, and to come back.
"... I'm going to leave, for, I dunno, whatever place. You know what I want right?"
It was what she could utter, after the thousands of designing of dialogue. She was so lost. And she had found the "right?" too demanding. But hey, forgive her, she was stuck.
She looked at him with immense anxiety, until he said –
"I know."
It was what he could get out of his mouth, and he just stood there, staring at the wall. What more could I do anyway, he thought. And the thing is, he loved her. At this thought, he let go. Just let it flow boy. This was his last thought, his last thought of consideration.
She continued to look at him, somehow awe struck.
-
Down to the calendar, it was it. It came to the day when Hermione had to leave.
Ron, to Hermione, was oddly odd. Ron was usually the guy who liked to complain, complain and complain. However, surprise surprise, he did not give a slightest comment on the whole issue. In fact, he was devastated. It was like a sudden splash of cold water on his body, but this one was on his heart. He felt so cold, so numb, and so dumb.
He knew, for a fact, what Hermione always wanted. Out of her books, Ron knew deep inside that Hermione was so lost, lost in doubting her own self, lost in her own insecurity, and she was desperate, so desperate, like an ant in a hot pot, running all over the place just to escape. He knew it too well, and it felt like suffering for him. After all, they had been together for years. After all, he
loved
her.
So he let her go, even though it might be forever.
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A sea of guilt flooded Hermione. She was never used to being guilty, you know, after all those years of being the model student in Hogwarts, let alone the fact that she had broken some rules to save the world with her best friends, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley.
Ronald Weasley. A name that would bring her smiles as well as shivers to her spine. She had always loved him, really loved him. She was quite taken aback at how she could just leave him alone while she was chasing after her own desire. Her dream. It haunted her as if there was a ghost inside her, and she was even scared of herself. Selfish, she was, and she knew it perfectly well. However, no matter what, she would go, because then she promised, or rather, swore, to come back.
On the other hand, she thought it as a test for Ron. If time made him walk out of her life, then whatever, she would just forget him and wipe him out of her life, even though she had spent almost half her life with him.
"What if I was the one who forgets everything?"
She couldn't help muttering to herself this question. She just couldn't help it.
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"It's time to go," he said as he waited for Hermione on the couch of her apartment.
She just turned around and looked at him, leaving her nicely packed trunk open. It was just one step from closure. There was a strange expression written on his face, a cold one, to a certain extent, mixed with confusion. Suddenly, in that split second, she just wanted to cry. She then didn't focus on him, well, she didn't dare to, so she half-turned back to her trunk and stared at the floor.
"Okay," she answered.
They didn't say a single word on the journey. It was scary, very, very scary. The threat of losing each other, it was way too scary to think about, for both of them. Then they reached it, the train station.
Hermione couldn't stand the scaring atmosphere of dead silence anymore while Ron and she were waiting for the train to, first of all, France, since it was the nearest. She just stared at him, and constantly breaking the stare with a cast of look to the floor or whatever that surrounded them. She was just, just scared.
So soon after, they were standing at the platform, waiting for the train. 5 minutes left for the train to arrive, for them to part. Something struck him and made Ron seize the moment as he reached out his hand and brushed her hair back behind her ear. What to do? She really didn't know. She didn't even know a thing, didn't even know if her heart was beating, if she existed. Nevertheless, she threw everything away, really everything, and threw her arms around his neck. It was as if it was natural, so scary. He then locked his arms around her waist, and they just held onto that. Just like that.
She buried herself in him, never thinking anything, just feeling. It was a soaring sensation, what exactly it was, she didn't know, she just took in his scent and kept on burying herself. 3 minutes. He didn't do or say anything either, he was just enjoying the moment, though it was nothing for enjoyment. He knew so perfectly well that their time was nearly due, but whatever, he was going to stay. He felt like a big cushion that was usually hugged tightly when someone went to sleep. It sounded a bit reluctant, but, to make it clear, he actually loved being the teddy of hers.
1 minute. He had a strange feeling inside him, and his mind was telling him not to wait anymore. He pulled back and caught her stare. She thought he was going to say something, or maybe, worse, leave. However, her somehow stupid thought was washed – he didn't even give a second of hesitation or considerate, not even one, not any – he leaned in and kissed her. She didn't give any moment of hesitation either, she just responded.
The train arrived. They stopped.
"Turn around and board after 3, okay?" he asked. So softly that he almost scared himself.
She just, so simply, nodded.
"3."
She was startled, but she swirled around, no matter what, no matter how, leaving all she had behind. She couldn't hold back, she cried and walked to the train.
He just stood there, watching her go. All in a sudden, everything, yes, everything from the past, every single bit of memory came rushing back to his brain.
She stopped at the edge of the platform and turned back to take a last look of him. He caught her stare and his mouth opened a bit.
She smiled a little too weakly to him and boarded.
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Dear Ron,
I can't believe the long time I haven't even contacted you, I'm so sorry. But what I'm going to say is, I love you. And the second importantly, I'm coming back.
He couldn't continue but just focused on the two phrases – "I love you" and "I'm coming back". He just couldn't help it – jumping all over the place, screaming like mad. How long had he not been so happy, so blissful? He didn't know, nor did he want to know. All he knew was that she was coming back, back to him, and she still loved him. What more could he ask for? What more? Nothing more. Nothing.
He then read over the place where she wrote the time when her train arrived. He read it for several times, and then he, surprisingly, hugged the letter she owled, like a teenage girl who first received a love letter, and smiled to himself. The innocence was quite a sight for a young man.
After all, 2 years have passed.
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Ron stood there, at the platform. He was nervous, so nervous. The train also stood there at the same platform as where he was. He went searching for her – his eyes travelled across the crowded platform; people with sleepy faces; people with trunks, bags; people with kids; people in red, blue, green, purple.................................. They all mingled before his eyes, the sea of people. So crowded, he couldn't even see clearly. Where was the bushy- head? He almost went frantic. He started up and joined the flood of people, squinting around, wandering around, without any destination. He was so lost.
"Ron!" she squeaked.
In that split second, he swirled around, so immediately that he frightened some people. He saw her. They both beamed. Really beamed. It was perhaps the most genuine beam ever happened in their lives. They both stayed like that, just like those couples in movies, after long journeys of frantic searches, until the sea of crowd cleared, the platform deserted.
And then again, so movie-ishly, she threw down all her bags and things, all those behind and ran to him, reaching for him, and wrapped herself over him so tightly like a koala, hungered for the mother's embrace. He, however, was a bit startled. Well, he hadn't had that for so long, forgive him. They were indeed koalas, both sadly hungry for each other's touch, so badly that they just stayed there for a long time with people coming and going, the platform crowding and deserting; both restless. They held onto that so long that made the platform-uniformed people cannot help but smiled knowingly, some wickedly.
The first thing she did was to take in his scent. One more time, after the long time. How she missed it. It was like discovering oasis in a desert, the joy of it you never know, because it was tremendous. Maybe it was a sea, and she was fully drowned, never knowing the time when she would actually emerge, or ever just merely stay alive. But whatever, she had her companion, always. She was sure that he would drown with her, no matter what. With that, nothing could be better.
-
Apparently, he was also drowned. So drowned. So drowned that he lost track of time, so drowned that he closed his eyes without feeling any slightest of things, but just happiness. So drowned that he even forgot all about his anxiety whatsoever, even the tumbling of his stomach. It was pure happiness that he felt, and there was no other thing that could actually come near to the edge of comparison of this happiness. Not even if some stack of gold appeared. Not even if a whole bank was dedicated to him. Not even if he could be a world-class Quidditch player. Not any of them.
It was as if it had reached a stage that only having her with him would give him enough resources for the rest of his entire life. It felt silly, usually, to him, even if he was this silly person. But it didn't occur to him that way today, it was just, pure joy, and even glory. I mean, seriously, that's what love could do.
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Inseparable. That was the word for Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger.
Of course there are millions of other words to describe them, but this was the best of all. Inseparable. They had somehow reached a level that could have annoyed the whole world, no matter what personality you possess, the sickening sweetness. You might take it as romantic, while you might also spew at it. But for them, everything was just right. Right.
Obviously, they spent an optimum amount of time together, perhaps even more than they were at Hogwarts. Hermione had, for once in her life, given up her ambition and spent time with Ron for the opening of his own sweet shop. Or, maybe, that was her ambition. No one could question her on this decision, because, once again, it was what love does, as everybody knew, and love needs not any reason for it.
Everyday, Ron would pick Hermione up from her apartment and go for breakfast together. Sometimes at the Burrow, sometimes out in the magical world, sometimes out in the muggle world. None of that mattered anyway. Then they would go back to Ron's unopened shop for further decoration, the painting and furniture and stuff. Ron would rather depend on Hermione's sense of beauty than his own. Then they would spare some time for private things, going out and blah, or hang out with friends. There were too many to say. They just never found their lives boring. And then they would cook by themselves for dinner, or, again, go out, or go eat at the Burrow.
Life was just so simple, so happy. It was as if there were worries.
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That was the best time of their lives. A/N: The end of it? You bet.
Please review and stay tuned for Ron's turn.