I didn't originally plan on writing a second chapter, but I did. This one is from Ron's perspective. I guess Lavender is kind of out of character, but then again, she's older and presumably more mature than she was in her sixth year, so... You decide.
Discovering Hermione again was easy. It was like rekindling a fire that had burned out but hadn't completely died. I was eager to get back with her after reliving her memories in the Pensieve.
First, though, I had to deal with the hard part: breaking up with Lavender. Again.
When I reached the door to Lavender's flat, I almost didn't knock out of fear and anxiety. I had no idea how I was going to do this. Then I pictured Hermione, my beautiful, amazing Hermione, and my courage was renewed.
I rapped on the door with confidence and waited. I heard Lavender's footsteps coming closer until she flung open the door at last. "Ron!" she squealed. "I wasn't expecting you today! Is everything all right?"
I didn't quite know how to answer that question, so I avoided it altogether. "Can I come in?" I requested. "I need to talk to you."
"Okay," Lavender said. I followed her inside and sat down beside her on a sofa.
"Lav," I began, taking her hand in mine. "There's really no other way to say this, so I'm just going to give it to you straight. I'm breaking up with you." I held my breath in anticipation of Lavender's reaction.
"You're leaving me to be with Hermione Granger, aren't you?" Lavender said after a few moments of silence.
That was the last thing I expected her to say. "Yeah," I said, so shocked by her response that I confirmed her suspicions without thinking. But really, there was no point in trying to deny them, anyway. "How did you know?" I asked.
"Oh, I always knew you cared about Hermione," Lavender said with a sad smile. "I didn't want to believe it, but I think I could tell from the start that our relationship was meaningless."
I couldn't speak. All this time I had thought I was the one leading her on, when in reality it was the other way around. I wasn't exactly sure how to feel about this turn of events.
"I – I'm so sorry," I said once I had found my voice.
"It's fine," Lavender said. "There's no reason for you to apologize."
"I feel like I should," I said. "This is the second time I've broken up with you."
"Don't worry about it," Lavender assured me. "Go with Hermione. You're perfect for each other. I'll find someone else."
"Thanks," I said. I released Lavender's hand and stood up to leave. "Well, I guess this is farewell."
"I guess it is," Lavender agreed. "Though I'm sure our paths will cross again sooner or later." She walked with me to the door and held it open for me. "You're a great person, Ron. Hermione is very lucky to have you," she said as I stepped over the threshold.
"Goodbye, Lavender," I said. There was nothing else for me to say.
"Goodbye," Lavender replied. She closed the door, leaving me standing outside, wondering what in the world had just happened.
Hermione was already waiting for me at the Burrow when I arrived, leaning out of the kitchen window and staring up at the stars. I watched her for a while and admired her beauty before walking up behind her with a cloak in my hands.
"Hey," I murmured into her ear as I wrapped the cloak around her shoulders.
Hermione jumped, apparently startled by my sudden appearance. "What's this for?" she asked, reaching up to fasten the cloak.
"I want to take you somewhere," I replied. "It's a surprise."
Hermione turned to face me, smiling. "Let's go," she said.
I threw on my own cloak and then grasped Hermione's hand. I took her outside and started to walk through the tall grass. Hermione shivered; whether it was from excitement or the cold I couldn't tell, but I put my arm around her and pulled her closer just in case.
We walked for about fifteen minutes until we reached a small pond surrounded by trees and shrubs. "This is an odd place for a pond," Hermione commented.
"To be honest, I have no idea why it's here," I said, "but no one else in my family knows about it. It's a nice place to come to when I want peace and quiet."
We entered the secluded area and settled ourselves under one of the trees. Hermione leaned her head back against my chest and sighed in contentment. I couldn't help grinning at how natural our position felt. It was like nothing had ever changed.
"This is lovely," Hermione said. "Thank you for sharing it with me."
We were silent for several minutes, enjoying the quiet night and each other's company.
"I broke up with Lavender today," I said finally.
"I had a feeling you would," Hermione said. "How did it go?"
"She took it better than I thought," I said. "She wasn't the least bit surprised when I told her why I was leaving her. As a matter of fact, I didn't even have to say it – she figured it out for herself."
"Hmm," Hermione mused. "Maybe I've been a little harsh in my judgment of her."
"Still, she's not right for me," I said. "Why didn't we realize it sooner?"
Hermione turned her head to glare at me. "All right, all right!" I said hastily. "Why didn't I realize it sooner? What happened between us?"
"I don't know," Hermione said, but she was avoiding my gaze, and I could tell she knew exactly what had gone wrong.
"Come on, Hermione," I said gently. "I need to be sure that doesn't happen again. I don't want to make the same mistakes as before."
"Well…" Hermione began hesitantly. "I wouldn't really say we made mistakes, we just weren't in the best situation. I think it started a few weeks after the battle of Hogwarts. All the remaining Death Eaters had been located, we had buried all the dead, and I had found my parents in Australia. We decided to spend some time alone with our families – you wanted to mourn the loss of Fred with yours, and I hadn't seen mine in months. We never got the chance to sit down and talk about our feelings for each other. Then it all went downhill from there because we kept spending more and more time apart."
"Well, let's do that now," I said.
"Do what?" Hermione asked in confusion.
"Talk about our feelings," I clarified.
"Oh. Okay," Hermione said. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Let's start with our kiss. Our first kiss," I suggested. "Why did you kiss me?"
"That's easy," Hermione said. "I knew for years that I cared for you and maybe even loved you. When you showed genuine concern for the house-elves, you erased any lingering doubts I had about that. And I thought to myself, we're in a war here. We've been lucky so far, but one or both of us could die tonight. I can't let that happen without telling you how I feel. So, I kissed you." She looked at me seriously. "You weren't upset, were you?"
I resisted the urge to laugh. "Isn't it obvious?" I said. "Of course I wasn't upset! It was the happiest moment of my life, and I'll never forget it. I had wanted to tell you how I felt about you, too, but I didn't know when to tell you or what to say. Thank goodness you had some sense, at least."
"I'm sure you would have said something eventually," Hermione said.
I had another question to ask. "Where do you see our relationship going?"
"I'd like to get married someday," Hermione answered, trailing her fingertips through the cool water in the pond. "And I think it would be nice to have kids."
I took Hermione's chin in my hand so she was looking directly at me. "Is that really what you want?" I said.
"More than anything," Hermione said.
"Say it," I commanded. I needed to actually witness the words leave her mouth to prove to me that she truly desired the things she'd expressed.
"Ronald Weasley, I love you with all my heart. I want to be with you forever. I want to marry you and have kids with you and grow old together. And I want you to know that I mean every word of that," Hermione said, her voice becoming increasingly confident as she spoke.
"That's exactly what I hoped you would say," I said softly. I pressed my lips against hers, marveling at how I could have ever thought I had stopped loving Hermione. She was my soul mate; there was no other way to describe it.
"I have something for you," I said when we broke apart.
"You didn't have to get me anything!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Now, wait a moment!" I said indignantly. "You haven't even seen what it is yet!" I fumbled around in my pocket and pulled out a small box, which I gave to Hermione. "Open it," I said.
Hermione lifted the lid of the box and gasped. Inside was a thin gold ring with a garnet in the center and rose-colored quartz on either side. "This is a promise ring," I explained. "It's a symbol of my vow to you that I will always stay with you and love you and protect you."
"It's beautiful," Hermione said breathlessly. "Thank you." She took the ring out of the box and slid it onto her finger.
"It's the least I can do to show you how much I appreciate everything you've done for me," I said.
"I wish I had a gift for you," Hermione said, rotating her hand to look at the ring from every angle.
I smiled. "You've already given me everything I need."
Sorry if that was sort of cliche... I hope you still liked it!
