Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling created and owns the world of Harry Potter.

An Afternoon of Almosts

A Half Blood Prince Missing Moment

By: DaggerQuill

"Destination, determination, deliberation. Destination, determination, deliberation." Ron muttered the steps again and again.

"You're going to be fine, Ron," assured Hermione. She looked just as nervous as he felt, not that she had any need to worry. "Just relax."

"Granger!" A voice called out. It was Twycross, The ministry worker sent to proctor the Apparition tests. "Are you ready?"

Hermione smiled nervously at Ron before walking off. "Good luck!" Ron weakly called after her.

'I can do this,' Ron thought as he heard Hermione disappear with a 'POP!'

'I can.'

"Greengrass!" POP!

'I've done it before.'

"Hopkins!" POP!

'There's no reason I can't do it now.'

"Ji!" POP!

'Hermione just did it.'

"Jones!" POP!

'She managed not to leave any body parts behind.'

"Macmillan!" POP!

'If she can do it there's no reasons I ca- Oh, Bollocks!'

"MacDougal!" POP!

'It'll be okay,'

"Nott!" POP!

'Charlie had to retake his apparition test…twice.'

"Parkinson!" POP!

'It wasn't a big deal.'

"Smith!" POP!

'No, Ron, you can do this."

"Thomas!" POP!

'Just because you're the youngest doesn't mean you have to be the most incompetent-'

"Weasley!" Twycross called. Ron looked around and realized he was the last person waiting. "Now Mr. Weasley, today we are appariting across the village. You should land in front of the Shrieking Shack, you know where you're going, correct?" Ron nodded, feeling overwhelmed. "Good, you'll only need to wait a moment; I'll be right behind you with results and licenses. When you are ready, you may go."

The feeling was awful. Ron felt like something was trying to kill him, he'd never been so dizzy. His entire body was being squeezed with more suffocating pressure than the torture Lavender called "cuddling."

Then, suddenly, it stopped. Although his head was still spinning he could feel his feet planted firmly on the ground. He kept his eyes closed swaying in place for a moment when he heard someone scream a few yards away.

'Bloody Hell,' He thought 'I've splinched. I look like some sort of monster, wonderful.' Before Ron could open his eyes to assess the damage someone ran straight into him. She jumped up and threw her arms around his neck and he instinctively grabbed her around the waist.

"We did it! We passed!" Hermione exclaimed.

"We passed?" He repeated, but realizing the meaning of her words before she could answer he lifted her entirely off the ground and, spun in full circle causing her response to be more a shriek of laughter than a "Yes."

They stayed like that for a moment and laughed together. Ron felt grateful for this moment where, after months of not speaking, the two of them could just be happy together, but their laughter was beginning to fade and Hermione loosed her grip and slid her hand down, signaling Ron to put her back on the ground. Instead, for a reason unbeknownst to himself, Ron tightened his grip on her waist.

Then everything changed.

All at once, he realized each, individual change. Suddenly there was an electricity rushing around them, it was heightening every feeling that they had spent years denying. She was staring directly into his eyes with a look he had never seen before. She was right there in his arms, one of hers still wrapped around his neck, her other hand resting in the middle of his chest. Her face was so close to his.

He knew that in this moment, despite their history of never agreeing, they were thinking the exact same thing.

He immediately understood that moving only a few inches could change his whole life. That kissing Hermione would be like nothing else he had ever experienced. He wondered if he would ever want to stop. While he was pondering if he was ready to turn his entire life upside down, Hermione's eyes suddenly clouded over and narrowed, staring at him intently.

"Ron," she whispered in a voice he had never heard her use before "What's wrong with your face?"

The feeling was gone as fast as it had come. Ron was suddenly confused. He blinked at Hermione as if he had never seen her before, and couldn't figure out why he was within a hundred yards of her, let alone holding her in his arms. A final 'POP!' caused Ron to nearly drop Hermione back on the ground, andstartled them both to attention.

Twycross made his way straight toward them. "Congratulations Ms. Granger, you did wonderfully, as expected." He didn't attempt to hide the admiration in his eyes. "Here is your Apparition License." Hermione smiled up at Ron and he couldn't understand why he'd even thought about hesitating a moment ago.

"Mr. Weasley," Said Twycross, looking Ron straight in the eye. "It seems that you have also-" He stopped abruptly, his eyes searching Ron's features. "Splinched," he concluded.

"What?" exclaimed both Ron and Hermione. They both examined his body, in attempt to figure out which limb they hadn't noticed was missing.

"Yes, it seems you have forgotten half of your eyebrow. I can fix you right up right now." Twycross calmly explained as he waved his wand in Ron's face restoring balance to his features. "There, that's much better, and I wish you better luck next time, Mr. Weasley. Maybe Ms. Granger can give you a few tips."

"Wait! You really won't pass him because of a half of an eyebrow?" asked Hermione boldly.

"Laws are laws, Ms. Granger. It's time to be heading back to the school now, have a good day."

The shocked expression that had been frozen on Ron's face was slowing falling into chagrin. Hermione continued to stare incredulously at Twycross casually walking away.

"Well," she said, "Now I don't feel much like 'heading back to the school.' Why don't we go get a butterbeer, my treat. We can take the Honeydukes tunnel back later."

Ron didn't feel like going out for a drink. He felt more crawling into his four poster bed and never coming out. But then, he considered his options, breaking the rules with Hermione, or going back to potions class and Lavender. He muttered "Sounds great. Let's go."

There was one moment for the rest of the day that Ron didn't have even a lingering of the miserable feeling. While they were walking toward Honeydukes later that afternoon his hand accidentally collided into Hermione's and for a fraction of a second neither of them moved away. In that second the electricity returned and they glanced into each other's eyes. Again it fled, this time the moment their hands swung in opposite directions.

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