The rain was pouring down. The lawns of Hogwarts castle looked like an ocean. The lake threatened to be flooded. But all these details didn't matter. I just wanted to get hold of him.
"Wait!" I yelled at him.
He turned around hastily, almost knocking me over.
"What are you doing?" I asked irritably, but his eyes made me fall silent.
"If you only knew", he said angrily, "how much I have suffered for this, then you wouldn't even consider running off with that idiot!" I frowned.
"You don't own me, you know."
That was a mistake, I thought when he laughed hollowly, and turned away again. His red hair, flattened against his skull because of the rain, seemed to in such sharp contrast that I could hardly see him. It was so dark outside, and the grounds seemed threatening to me. I stopped.
No, running after him would truly be a mistake, and right now, the only mistake I could afford to make was the one telling him that I loved him.
"Ron, please!" I yelled after him. "Let's go in before you catch a cold! You've been out here for hours!"
He stopped, flung around with an expression of utterly agony on his face.
"And who's fault is that?" I couldn't see if he was crying or if it was just the rain, but whatever it was, I knew that I had hurt him deeply.
"Ron!" I begged, "Please don't be mad at me! I didn't mean to…"
"No, of course not, little Hermione does never mean anything bad, does she?" His sarcasm almost made me cry.
"I was drunk, Ron!" I yelled. "How the bloody hell could I know that he wanted to kiss me? I was so drunk that I could hardly tell the difference between him and Harry!"
Ooups, another mistake! I thought when his face turned white and his eyes narrowed. I didn't really feel loved at that moment.
"Well, fine", he said. "I won't do anything. I just wondered, how you could even think of kissing Draco Malfoy!"
I felt my lower lip trembling, and I turned away, because I didn't want to see him.
"I didn't kiss Draco Malfoy", I said lowly. "I honestly thought that I was kissing you." He looked as though he didn't believe me.
"Merlin's beard, Hermione!" he cried out. "What do you want me to think! I saw you guys kissing!"
"And why do you care, really?" I said now, calmly.
"Because…." he started, but interrupted himself. "Oh no! You're trying to make me feel guilty!" He flung around and continued walking. I ran after him.
"Please, Ron!" I yelled. "Why am I here, do you think? 'Cus I don't care about you?" He stopped. He hung with his head. Suddenly, I saw his shoulders shaking. He was crying.
"Ron!" I said, not believing my eyes. "Ron, I - I…"
"I like you, you bloody idiot!" he bellowed. "Don't you understand?" I swallowed hard.
"I like you too, you git", I answered, my heart beating rapidly inside my chest. "I really like you."
"You do?" His voice, sounding both surprised and hurt, started to tremble. "Hermione, I don't know what to think. It would be easier to die and leave it all."
"Ron!" I said, aghast. "What are you saying! You don't…. you don't honestly think about doing it, are you?" His eyes made me fall silent. I had never seen them so dark.
"I do." My god, his voice! There was no hope in it, no feelings. His face showed no expressions. My heart jumped in my chest, I felt sick. If he died…
"I love you." He looked up.
"I love you too." I flung my arms around his neck, and we fell and landed hard on the wet ground.
"God, Hermione, I love you so much that my heart almost breaks", he whispered softly into my ear. He kissed me. He tasted like rain. The heat from his breath came like smoke between our faces. I laughed silently.
"You fool!" I whispered softly. "A heart can't break." His breath was warm against my lips.
"It's really close to it, you know", he said, and kissed me again. We got up from the ground and walked slowly up towards the castle, hand in hand in the rain, not talking, just feeling the closeness between us. In the Entrance Hall we stopped and looked at each other. We were soaking wet, both of us, and had mud all over.
"You're beautiful", he whispered, before letting me go. He kissed me once more, a long soft kiss, and hesitated to let me leave.
"I don't want to wake up in the morning to see that this never happened." I kissed him.
"It did happen." He nodded and smiled at me.
"Come on, let's go and change clothes. Otherwise they'll wonder why we have mud all over."
We walked, very slowly and hand in hand, up the stairs to the seventh floor. Before reaching the portrait we stopped and kissed again. I let go of him.
"That just took us seven years to realise", I said. He nodded.
"Yeah. Well, I'm slow." Suddenly the portrait swung open and Harry stood in front of us. He took in the whole picture and then said:
"Finally."