A Moment Ago

Lala Land 22

Summary: Ron is just trying to be a hero. He can stay or go. But what happens when Hermione and he end up in a place they never wanted to be. Can they really save their universe? Sequel to Long Time Gone.

A/N: I'm baaaaaaaaaack!!!! Hi, guys! Welcome to Chapter One of the sequel to Long Time Gone. I've never written a sequel and I'm so excited. Dance!!! Read on, and I hope you like it.

I stuck my sweaty palm in my pocket and attempted to wipe it off. I had to keep breathing and stay calm. This was the easy part. That's what George had told me. If you struggle with this, you're not ready in the first place.

Oh, who was I kidding? I'd never make it through this with my dignity.

"Ron, where are we going?" Hermione's voice asked, giggling slightly.

"You'll see," I assured her, sounding much more confident than I felt.

"That's the thing, Ron. I can't see anything." She laughed again.

"Well, good," I said, toying with the back of the blindfold over her eyes. I planted a small kiss on her lips. That made things seem a little easier.

"No fair!" she said. "I can't even see you, much less kiss you."

I laughed. "Get over it. There's a pretty big step here," I told her, putting my hand in the small of her back and nudging her up the stairs. She grasped the rail and turned around to where she thought I was standing.

"Ron, where are we?!" she demanded.

"Nowhere, just keep going."

She stuck out her tongue and went up the last step. She lost her balance.

"Whoa!" I said, pulling her back so she didn't do a face plant. She smiled at the me she couldn't see. God, she was beautiful. Her long, dark hair falling all over the place, the perfect teeth she was showing me. She smelled really nice. I didn't know what the bloody hell that scent might be, but it was so perfect for her. "All right, keep walking," I said,

pushing her forward.

"Are you trying to make me trip again?" she asked, pulling on the walls on both sides of us to move herself forward.

I stepped in front of her. "All right, stop."

She did as she was told and stood still, waiting for me to give her further instructions.

I pushed open the door to my left. "We're coming in here."

"Where are we?!"

I pushed the door closed behind her and forced her to sit in the cushion seat behind her. I reached my arms behind her head and slowly untied her blindfold, feeling my hands shaking the entire time. I took it off and stood back, allowing her space to look around.

Hermione's brown eyes traveled all over the place. She stood up and looked out the window of the compartment, staring at the children beginning to gather outside.

"Ron, where--"

Her eyes glued on mine. "Are we on the Hogwarts Express?"

I had apparently lost all ability to talk. Sure, I could face Death Eaters, dark creatures, and whatnot, but put me in front of the woman I loved with this task and watch me crumble. I was a failure. So, all I could do was nod mutely.

"But, why?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

C'mon, Weasley, you've been repeating this to your mirror for weeks. Just get it out.

I cleared my throat. She looked at me expectantly. "T-twelve years ago, I got on this train for the first time. I didn't have any idea of what was going to happen to me during or after that train ride. I didn't know I'd make friends with a hero and a know-it-all, have to fight Voldemort at least five times, and become an Auror myself. In fact, I thought it was just going to be a normal train ride." I shrugged. "I guess I was wrong."

Hermione smiled, still giving me a questioning look.

"The last thing I expected on that train ride was to meet such an annoying, pushy little girl. The girl I would fall in love with."

Hermione's eyes grew wide. She had finally caught on.

I got down on one knee. George was such a liar. This was the hardest thing I'd ever had to do!

"So, here I am twelve years later. Guess it's back to the beginning, huh?" Deep breath, I can't chicken out now. "Hermione, will you marry me?"

I could feel my heart pumping faster than it ever had. What was I doing? Why was she taking so long to answer?! Was she about to say no? Oh, bloody hell, I forgot to pull the damn ring out!

I quickly reached my hand in my pocket and withdrew the ring I had picked out, and held it out for Hermione's surveillance. Of all the things she could've said or done in the moment, what did she do?

She laughed.

"Hermione…" I turned red.

She shook her head. "Yes, Ron, get up and stop being ridiculous. Of course, I'll marry you."

I finally felt safe enough to crack a smile. I got up and pulled her up in my arms. She kissed me several times. After a couple of more celebratory kisses, I rested her on her feet. She held out her hand and allowed me to slip the ring onto her finger. It glistened there in perfection; it said, 'Hey, this girl is taken, back off before her fiancée kicks your ass.'

The door to our compartment was pulled open, and we both stared at the intruder of our rendezvous. It was a short kid; at least, a first year.

He turned and walked out. "I'm going home," the kid mumbled.

"What do you look so happy about?" Harry asked, as I strolled into the Auror headquarters at the Ministry of Magic.

I stopped whistling. "Nothing."

"That's not nothing," Harry said, spinning around in his chair. "That's a Hermione-smile."

That had became Harry's favorite term a year and a half ago when Hermione had dropped out of the blue and back into our lives. I would be out on a date with a different girl, and come back, and Harry would ask me why in the world I had a Hermione-smile. It hadn't been funny back then.

"It's none of your business," I told him.

"You proposed, didn't you?"

"No." Damn me and these damn ears. Why did they always turn red?!

"I can't believe you didn't even tell me, you prat!"

"Well," I dropped my voice, rolling my eyes, "we were going to tell everybody at the same time."

Harry nodded. "Ohhhhhhhh."

I nodded back.

"So, tell me then, how does one go about proposing?"

I made my way into Harry's cubicle and sat down on the chair in front of his desk. Different scribbling in various languages was tacked all over his walls. Then, there was a picture on himself, Hermione, and me, and posters of various Quidditch teams.

"Well, I took her onto the Hogwarts Express and I gave this speech, and I did the whole down on one knee thing and asked her to marry me."

"What did she do? Bet she freaked, didn't she?"

"No, not really. Well, see, first I forgot to take the ring out of my pocket, but then I remembered and did so, and she told me to get up and stop being ridiculous, because of course, she'd marry me."

"Sounds creative. Better than what I would have expected of you."

I should've beat him up for that last comment, but I guess my engagement euphoria lets things slide. "I'm just glad it's over. What's been going on here?"

"Oh, nothing much," Harry said, shuffling his papers around on his desk. "Bobby Loudon got a call about some weird going-ons up around Scotland."

"Near Hogwarts?" I asked.

"Nah," Harry said shaking his head. "Sounded fascinating though. I tried to talk Kingsley into letting me take the case, but," Harry sighed, "he was all, 'Potter, you're already on a case.'"

"Wayden's been gone for a while now," I said randomly.

"Yeah, things have been pretty boring without him."

Jamison Wayden had become somewhat of a fixation with me. Once he was dead, all of this mess would be over. There would no longer be two separate realities, my daughter would no longer be in danger from ex-Death Eaters, and there would no longer be the continuing looming fear of Voldemort finding the necessary means to return to power.

"What are you doing after work today?" Harry asked, evening out a stack of parchment.

"Well," I began, reaching in my pocket, "I just so happen to have four tickets to the England-Bulgaria Quidditch match tonight."

Harry jumped up from his desk and grabbed the tickets out of my hand. "No way!"

"Way."

"How did you get those?"

"Goldstein up in the Magical Games and Sports department set it up."

Harry handed me the tickets back, staring suspiciously. "Under what circumstances?"

"Griselda and him have season tickets from what I know. They couldn't go tonight since there's some special ceremony because Gris is now a certified healer for St. Mungo's."

"Wow," Harry said, nodding, "impressive." I had to agree. Griselda Raleigh, my ex-girlfriend, was admittedly a pretty impressive person. She was pretty impressive to talk to me ever again after she found out how I felt about Hermione.

"You know, when the next term ends, Ginny will be having her ceremony." I arched my eyebrows suggestively.

"You don't say?" Harry said, suddenly becoming very fascinated with the papers on his desk.

"Yep, my little sis, Ginny Weasley, is going to be a real Healer."

"Drop her a congratulations from me." Harry and my sister had officially severed ties after they broke up the previous year. Harry and Ginny had always been off-and-on in their relationship, so no one expected them to quit socializing all together after a huge row in July of last year. Hell, we're all at the same get-togethers all the time; I've yet to figure out how they've gone for over a year without speaking to each other.

"What's that?" I asked, swiping a piece of parchment out of Harry's hand.

"It's something from Dumbledore. It doesn't make much sense."

I scanned over the letter for a moment. "Why won't he just tell us where he's at?"

"It's top secret. It could be intercepted. The list of possible reasons goes on and on. But, apparently, he's still 'waiting' for us."

"Waiting for us?" I asked incredulously. "What the bloody hell does that mean?"

"I don't know!"

I ran a hand through my hair. Harry and I hadn't exactly made a lot of progress in the time since we'd realized about the time split, the Missing Link, and whatnot. In fact, the only other thing we'd really found out since than was that a prophecy made about my daughter, Baker, mentioned that she was a bi-product of two members of the trinity—the trinity being Harry, Hermione, and I. It wasn't like we were so dense we didn't already know that. And, she was going to help us destroy Voldemort. But, that was about it.

Harry picked up Dumbledore's letter and hurled it at the wall. He stubbornly crossed his arms. "Stupid Dumbledore."

"Was that you, Potter?" Kingsley's voice cut through the hall.

Harry muttered obscenities under his breath.

"Pick it up."

"I will not," he whispered, so just I could hear him.

"I mean now, Potter!"

Harry got down on his knees and started crawling around, picking up papers.

I had begun laughing quite uncontrollably now.

"Weasley!"

"Yeah," I said, suddenly stopping and looking back.

Harry sniggered at me, mouthing 'you're gonna get it trouble.'

"Good job today. Head on home."

Harry's mouth dropped open and I smirked at him, walking toward the lifts.

A/N: Short, sweet, not too much action, but hey, you gotta start somewhere! So, I am only still working on Chapter 2 since my plot is getting a bit of a facelift thanks to gay and/or queer computers! I'll see y'all again in a while. Don't be afraid to check out my other stories too.

'Hit That' (based on Hit That by the Offspring)

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