"Ron, hurry up! We're going to be late!" she shouted, opening her umbrella to shield her curls from the rain. Hermione was heading to a pub with her boyfriend, Ron, where they would meet up with her friends. Ron was an auror and very proud to be. He even wore his purple silk, aurors-only cloak everyday to prove it.
"Relax baby. It's only..." he glanced at his watch, and his eyes bulged slightly, "11 o'clock.
They raced towards the pub; it would be closing to minors in an hour.
"Where were you guys?"
"Sorry we're a little late," Hermione's answer was muffled by her friend, Ginny's shoulder. She released herself from the embrace. She had been missing her friends dearly since she and Ron had left school together at the beginning of the year. A few minutes later, after the "You look so nice!"s and the "Did you get a haircut?"s, they proceeded to the dance floor.
Hermione and Ginny giggled. They were dancing in a crowd of a million people. Their friend Luna and Ron were returning from the bar.
"If you dance 'til dawn without drinking any water, you'll drop dead!"
"Relax Luna. You worry too much. No one is going to die tonight," replied Ginny.
"Hermione, this place is really crowded. I'm just going outside for a few minutes to get some fresh air." Hermione heard every word Ron had said, but she didn't reply; after all, it wasn't as if she would never see him again.
A few expensive mocktails later, Hermione was spent. It had been a "few minutes" and more since Ron had left the pub, and he still hadn't returned. Hermione was getting madder every second he didn't appear. Her mind began racing with ever more irritating possibilities. Had he cut out for good? Had he gone home without her? Had he met another woman and decided to leave with her? No, that last one was impossible. The thought alone was enough to make her break into tears. It couldn't be true; it couldn't. He loved her and she loved him with all her heart... or at least she had before he became an Auror. She had made plans for their future. Maybe he had too...
She checked the time on the clock near the bar. Thirty minutes had passed. She started to panic. If he had not left her here… maybe something had happened to him! Maybe he had been run over by a car. What if he were in St-Mungos right now? For all she knew, he had gotten into a hit and run... Maybe, but… perhaps he had encountered a death eater! She had known that he shouldn't wear his robes without the protection of the other Aurors. Nevertheless, he had insisted. He wanted everyone to know that he was an Auror. He said it came with respect and dignity.
"Hermione!" Ginny shouted over the music. She and Luna raced to Hermione's side.
"Hermione, sh… we smuggled some non-virgin butter beer from Luna's parents. Do you want some?" Hermione forgot her worries. Her face erupted into a smile of anticipation. The smile vanished in a heartbeat as Hermione visited memory lane. As a precautionary measure, she declined. What if…
"Hermione? Are you okay?" Luna felt Hermione's forehead to see if she had a fever. Hermione swatted her hand away.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"In all the years I've known you, I've never seen you say no to butter beer," said Ginny.
"What's wrong?" Luna's eyes were as round as dinner plates.
"Well, it's just that… I don't know. I could be, but… maybe."
"Spit it out already!" Ginny was often impatient. Suddenly, Luna's eyes looked like they were in danger of falling out.
"Are you pregnant?"
"Maybe…" Ginny's jaw dropped.
Luna and Hermione were in the pub's bathroom. Ginny had run out to the nearest drugstore to buy a pregnancy test.
"Hermione, how did this happen?"
"I don't know," said Hermione uncomfortably. She hated lying to her friends.
"What would your parents say? You're supposed to be seventeen in six weeks after all. They should never have let you move in with Ron. How are you going to raise this child Hermione?"
"Luna, stop freaking out! I don't even know if there is a child!" The next few minutes until Ginny arrived were spent in silence.
"Try it right now," said Ginny as she took the test out of its box. Hermione took the unwrapped pregnancy test and locked herself into one of the bathroom stalls. When she finished, she unlocked the stall and held the test as far away from her body as she could. She placed it onto the bathroom counter and proceeded to wash her hands.
"It'll be five minutes before we'll know the results." Time seemed to stand still. They were all staring at the test willing time to speed forward. Four minutes left. Three minutes left. Two minutes left. One minute left. Thirty seconds left. Ten seconds to go.
"It's time," said Luna staring at her watch. The three friends edged closer to the pregnancy test. It was time to know Hermione's fate. But only she knew what the results would really mean.
Hermione left the pub early to search for Ron, to tell him. She walked towards the apartment she shared with Ron, hoping to run into him on the way. She had gone about a block when she noticed a dark, lumpy shape on the sidewalk, in the middle of an alleyway. She approached the thing slowly, treading carefully because there appeared to be some kind of liquid on the ground. She was about three feet away when she recognized it. It was Ron. She quickly closed the distance between them and knelt on the ground.
"Ron, it's me, Hermione," her voice cracked slightly as she muttered his name. He could not be dead, could he? She waited for more than 60 seconds for his answer. For every tick of Ron's watch, her heart raced, faster and faster. Maybe he was hurt... She sprang to her feet, and started backing away from him, stepping into what she now realised was Ron's blood. Salt water blurred her vision. She turned around and ran from the alley, screaming and crying. She sounded like a wounded hyena. She ran as fast as se could, searching for someone who could help. She quickly found a member of the department of magical accidents and catastrophes and brought him to the alleyway. They looked down at him. Ron. She willed the ministry of magic worker to tell her that he would be okay. That he was alive. He told her the opposite. She did not cry. She could not. Instead, a cold dread started in her heart, infecting every part of her, to the tips of her fingers and toes. She could not speak. She could only stand there, soaked to the bone, staring at the boy she still loved. Her eyes strayed from his body for the first time. A foot away from his lifeless corpse lay his precious purple cloak. The ministry worker noticed it too. He picked it up off the cold, hard ground and turned it over in his hands.
"An auror, huh?" he said. Whenever he wore his purple cloak he stopped being Ron, he became an auror. She turned to the ministry worker her eyes filled with grief.
"His name is Ron," she said in little more than a whisper. She knew that he had heard her. The ministry worker slung the cloak over his shoulder, took out his black pad, and opened it to a blank page.
"An auror," he said, and then started writing.
Hermione said her final goodbyes to Ron while the ministry worker finished his report. She couldn't bear to stay while the ministry investigated his death. On the other hand, maybe they would forget all about it. He was just an auror after all… Either way, she had to leave. She entered her apartment building and started climbing up the stairs. When she arrived on the second landing, she almost knocked into her next-door neighbour.
"Hermione, what's wrong?" he said.
"Oh, Harry, it's Ron. He's dead," her voice quivered on the last word. Harry was very surprised. He wrapped his arms around her, and she started to cry once more onto his shoulder.
"Harry, there's something you have to know," she stopped crying.
"What is it?" She pushed him out of their embrace.
"Do you remember last month when Ron joined the aurors? When he left for the weekend to do the initiation…" Harry felt the end of her sentence. He felt a cold dread in every fibre of his being. He felt regret.
"Uh oh…" Hermione laid her hand gently on her stomach, and confirmed his fears.
"Harry, I'm going to name him or her Ron."
The End