Change
"Hermi, what do you reckon will happen?"
She looked up at Ron's freckled face. "What do you mean?"
Ron Weasley shifted a bit on the hard ground overlooking the lake where he sat with Hermione Granger. He started blankly across the calm, dark water. In a hushed voice, he said, "Graduation."
Hermione gave him a puzzled look. She wanted to ask, "What do you mean?" again, but she couldn't repeat herself. She wanted to answer him, but there were so many things that were going to happen – that were going to change.
"I suppose everything's going to change for us." She hoped her answer was what he was looking for.
For a moment, Ron almost looked scared. In fact, he was scared. Scared of change. He wanted everything to stay just the way it was. He wanted to be eighteen until he'd die.
"What do you think is going to change?" Ron asked, not sure what kind of answer he'd get.
Hermione looked up at the darkening sky and let out a sigh. She wasn't especially eager for change, either. It was easy when everything was so familiar to her, and it was all about to change.
"Well, I suppose we'll all go our separate ways. Some of us will go on to more schooling, and some of us will go right to having jobs." She didn't want it to happen at all. She was going to miss Hogwarts terribly, along with all the people there. She added wistfully, "Our whole lives are going to change."
Their whole lives. Everything. Changing. It just wasn't quite sinking in. Ron must have somehow thought that things would always be the same, that he would be a student at Hogwarts along with his best friends and that he'd never grow up. In the back of his mind, though, he knew there would be one day that it would all come to an end. But he didn't think it would be this soon.
They both sat in silence for a while, Ron's arm draped over Hermione's shoulder, and her arm around his waist. It was getting cooler, and they needed each other for warmth, for comfort. They just needed each other.
*~*~*~*
A/N: Well, I have the author's note here at the bottom because I didn't want to spoil any of the fic. It's not even really a fic… Plot? What plot? *grins devilishly* I really like this fic a lot. It's so short and sweet, and has a really interesting mood to it. I guess Ron's a little out of character, but it's 3 years from when we last heard from him. He could change! And also, we don't know what he's like when he's being affectionate, so he may not be OOC after all. Anyway, please review? =)