Careers and Confessions

"Sparks" Coldplay

A/N - I hope you're all enjoying this so far, I have so much more typed but I'm having it all beta'd before I publish it. Thanks to my beta's Afterglow 75 and thelonelyexecutioner. I reference a song at the beginning of each chapter, the song either had a particular effect on me while I was writing this bit or the lyrics inspired or reflected the emotions I thought the characters were feeling at this point in the story. If your curious, take a look at the lyrics of the songs I reference. Not all of them fit perfectly, but some of them (this one in particular) describe the emotions perfectly!

The sun was setting; light shining through the windows began to fade slowly into velvety blackness. The silence in the Common Room had been peaceful and serene; the four friends enjoyed it this way.

Harry wasn't sure how long they had sat there without speaking, but Ron finally broke the quiet with a question that he was sure was on everyone's mind.

"So…." he began, searching for the right words. "What happens now?"

"Right now, you shut up and enjoy the quiet," was Ginny's quick response. She opened one eye and glanced at her brother as Hermione and Harry sniggered.

"I actually was wondering the same thing myself," Hermione offered, straightening herself around on Ron's lap. "Obviously cleanup and trying to reorganize things here, but what about the Ministry? And Kingsley said there are still Death Eaters running free, so I'm assuming there will be warrants issued. But for us, I guess, it's one more year of school, then trying to find jobs and such….normal life right?" she asked, looking around at all of them.

"Hermione, after the year we've been through, I think that we should just automatically skip to graduation," Ron said, shaking his head. Harry sat up grinning; he had been thinking the same thing.

"Ron, any career you're going to go into is going to need more education behind it, and we didn't really get a chance to cover a majority of the topics that come up in N.E.W.T. testing. I'm sure they'll give us the option to repeat the year," she added, looking a little worried.

"I'm sure the 'hands on experience' would be enough to get us jobs for now. We can worry about advancing later on, I say," said Ron.

Hermione rolled her eyes and looked over at Ginny and Harry for support, her face exasperated.

Ginny shook her head and said "I don't know about you lot, but I'm repeating nothing. Whatever the case, if I go back to school this is my final year. I attended enough class last year and also had some 'hands on' experience that I think should count as well."

Harry gave her a curious glance; there was defiance in her expression, but a bit of fear behind her eyes. "What exactly do you mean by "hands on experience", Ginny?" he asked, unable to mask the concern in his voice. Ron and Hermione had leant forward as well, both their expressions mirroring Harry's.

"Nothing in particular, but I've done my fair share of Defense against the Dark Arts work; that was the only class that was really different. All my other grades would be fine if I tested, so I don't think that I'll need to repeat," she sputtered, trying to cover her tracks.

Harry wasn't convinced, but he decided not to press the matter at this moment. It was obviously something she didn't want to talk about.

"I'm not really that sure I want to repeat another school year either, but I know if I'll have a choice... McGonagall told me before O.W.L.'s that Aurors have to go through an additional three years of training, so I think I'm stuck unfortunately," he said, keeping his eyes on Ginny.

"Damn," Ron hissed. "I forgot about that. You'd be a shoo-in Harry! I'm sure of it. You should just ask Kingsley for a job. You have more experience than all of those other Aurors combined, I'll bet," he continued, sitting up and looking at Harry with excitement.

"Perhaps, but you know I'm not just going to expect to be handed something," he pointed out. "Besides, when I think back on it, I remember Moody and Lupin, and even Snape, being able to just look at things and determine if they were evil objects. I saw Dumbledore find things by just feeling along the walls of that cave and muttering. I think there's still a lot I have to learn before I can really go out there."

"What do you think you did all last year?" said Ron incredulously.

"I camped out looking for things I thought might hold a bit of Voldemort's soul. Then I beat him by working out some things by chance," he said, pausing at the shocked looks on their faces. "I suppose I'm brave, but there's a lot more to the job than bravery, I'm sure."

"That is a good point, Harry," Hermione agreed. "But I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit either way. You are smart, and you can figure out things and identify dark objects if you really think about it," she offered in an encouraging tone.

"There's also strategy involved being an Auror; you both know I'm not the best planner. It's a bit like a chess match I suppose, trying to plan your next move," he thought aloud.

"If that's the case, I should be a shoo-in, for the chess match I played seven years ago," said Ron with heavy sarcasm. They all laughed out loud.

"I completely forgot about that," said Ginny.

"Well you weren't here, now were you?" Ron reminded her.

"Yes, but when you came home for summer it was the only time I've ever seen Percy impressed with someone's accomplishment other than his own," she explained, making them all laugh even harder.

"I'd forgotten about that adventure as well," Hermione confessed. "I wonder what ever happened to that corridor and all the things that were down there."

"'Suppose once the stone was destroyed, the protection wasn't needed anymore, right?" Ron said.

"Right," Harry said. "But still, that mirror was down there, and it was an actual passageway with rooms and everything. What was the purpose of it before the stone was hidden there?"

"The way you describe it makes it sound like another Chamber of Secrets," Ginny said with a shudder.

"It was, kind of, and that's still there. Just the way you two left it, basilisk and all," Ron reminded them. Harry watched as Hermione flinched at the memory of the giant serpent.

Harry nodded. Ironically, the basilisk Voldemort had once commanded had enabled them to defeat him. "I suppose it wouldn't be too bad an idea to venture down there and destroy it as well, along with Voldemort's body. A giant dead serpent isn't much good to the school. If we do that, we should probably save the teeth though; those came in handy," he said, thinking out loud again. The other three nodded in agreement. Silence resumed at the mention of Voldemort's final destruction.

Harry sat up and leaned back against the opposite armrest of the couch and motioned for Ginny to come to him. She stretched out and crawled up his body, curling her way into his arms and laying her head against his chest. One hand lay over his heart and she hugged him tightly around his waist. He wrapped his arms around her more snugly, and began run his fingers gently through her long red hair. He again felt that he would like to pull her inside of him, to protect her and keep her forever.

The heat he had felt earlier when they kissed slowly began to spread through his body, making his stomach turn circles. As he stroked her hair, he began to re-memorize its soft, silky texture and inhaled deeply, breathing in her scent. She smelled like lilacs and honeysuckle, and it was so sweet that it almost made his mouth water. He relaxed, laying down even further and pressed his lips to the top of her head. The impulse to kiss her, to press his mouth against hers and inhale her breath as he held her closer rose steadily in his chest. Harry remained very much aware of Ron and Hermione's presence in the room, however, and restrained himself.

Ginny's breathing evened out and Harry looked down to see her eyelids close peacefully as she fell asleep. He adjusted himself to try and make her more comfortable, grabbing a blanket and throwing it over the pair of them. His arms wrapped back around her warm body and he began to drift off as well, listening to Ron and Hermione pick back up the conversation they had dropped at the mention of Voldemort.

"Hermione, seriously, you want to come back to school?" Ron asked her.

"Yes, of course, Ron! I think it's very important we finish," she said, turning her body to face him and adopting the serious approach she took on when it came to school. "I still don't know what I want to do with myself. I want to make sure that I get as much education as I can to keep my options open. I think that after the last year, however, I have definitely decided against being an Auror; I will say that much."

"I suppose you're right," Ron acquiesced. "I don't really know what to do either. Being an Auror would be great, but I don't think I've got the stuff in me that Harry does," he said, looking over at his sleeping best friend and sounding depressed.

Hermione ran one hand through his shaggy red hair and shook her head, smiling. "You've got everything that Harry does except a scar. That's not an insult to him; it's a compliment to you both. You are brave, Ron. You are smart and clever, and you are stronger than you know," she continued, making him go red. "Look at all you've done. You've been by Harry's side, helping him accomplish all this, and you know that he'd say he couldn't have done any of it without you."

"You were there as well, you know."

"Yes, I am more than aware of that, but we're not talking about me. We're talking about you. And you needn't compare yourself to anyone. You're Ron Weasley, and that's all you need to be," She said sweetly, looking into his blue eyes.

There was much more she wanted to say to him, but the words wouldn't come for some reason. She wanted to tell him how she thought he was compassionate, loving, funny, and a whole list of other adjectives. Hermione had never thought herself shy, but she began to blush as she fumbled for words to describe how she felt.

"You can be rather oblivious at times, like right now for instance, but I suppose that's part of your charm," she finished, looking away from him sheepishly.

This didn't go unnoticed, as she had hoped it would. He reached up and pushed a few flyaway strands of hair out of her face; the rest was pulled up in a messy pony tail. Ron stared into her eyes, finding that feelings were rising in him that had laid buried deep for six years. He was surprised at how strong they were.

"Hermione, we didn't tell you the full story of what happened when I destroyed the locket," he suddenly blurted out. He instantly wished he could take the words back as he remembered standing in the snow, watching the figures of her and Harry emerge from the windows of Slytherin's locket.

"What?" she gasped, looking concerned. Something must have shone through in his expression because she grabbed his hands and gripped them tightly. "What happened? You both just said it screamed when you destroyed it! There was more?"

Ron gazed into her deep brown eyes. He had been surrounded by brown-eyed girls his whole life: his mother and sister, and Lavender, but he'd never seen eyes the same color as Hermione's were; like chocolate melted and molded into round ovals, flecked with hints of gold. He realized as he looked at her that there was no backing out of the whole story now; she wouldn't let him rest until he filled her in on every detail of what happened, including the shame and fear he felt when Voldemort's voice spoke to him.

"I dragged Harry out of that pool of frozen water, and the locket was wrapped so tightly around his neck I had to break the chain to get it off of him," he recounted. "We talked and made up, and the sword was there. He said that I had to be the one to destroy it…I didn't want to.

"Hermione, whenever I put that thing around my neck…it was like every single fear I had about myself grew into …something huge that I didn't know how to deal with, I didn't know how to handle it. You remember how awful I got," he added, wanting to hang his head in shame as she nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, Harry said something about he just knew it was supposed to be me. He said he was going to open the locket by speaking Parseltongue and I was supposed to stab it. When he was holding it on the rock the thing was…shaking…in his hand, like it was trying to get away. He hissed something and it opened and there were two eyes in both the windows," he said, remembering how Tom Riddle's brown eyes had looked up at him. Hermione clasped her hands over her mouth, but nodded in encouragement for him to continue.

"Harry told me to stab it, but the thing began to talk to me. 'I've seen your fears Ronald Weasley,' it told me. It said …my mum loved me the least because she wanted a girl instead of me, and then it said something…about…" he paused, feeling shameful and afraid of rejection. He looked into Hermione's eyes and found the strength to continue. "About you…'least loved, now, by the girl who prefers your friend.'"

He took a deep breath, trying to build his courage back up. "I could hear Harry screaming at me to stab it, almost begging…but I couldn't, I froze. I felt like the voice was…right…everything I was afraid of was true. Then…these figures of you and Harry appeared, like ghosts, except…real…and, well, horrifying. You were almost solid…I remember that I could see the color of your hair clearly, but both your's and Harry's eyes were red. And you and Harry…the figures…began to taunt me. Saying that there was no way anyone could prefer me when I was compared with Harry. And then you two…the figures…kissed."

He looked up at her again, and found that there were tears sitting on the edges of her eyes waiting to spill over. He put his hand up against her face trying to comfort her, and went on.

"I was so angry… so jealous… And then I heard Harry yelling…begging me to stab it…and that broke through and I realized it wasn't you standing there…it was just the Horcrux…Voldemort…taunting me. I stood up and stabbed it. I saw Harry roll away in the snow. At first I thought I had stabbed him because there was this horrible screaming sound and then it went quiet. Harry seemed like he was afraid to approach me, I'm sure I was a mess," he began to babble, trying to move on to a different topic. "But that's what happened, though I'm not sure why. Things like that didn't happen when we destroyed the cup or the-".

Hermione interrupted his sputtering as she curled herself into his arms, straddling him in the oversized arm chair, and pressed her lips to his fiercely, so overcome with emotion and adoration that she couldn't hold herself back anymore. She knew she had surprised him because for a moment he didn't respond, but when he did he threw himself into the kiss just as passionately as she had.

Her lips were warm and soft as they moved against his. He could feel wetness on her cheeks as he pushed stray strands of her hair back and wound his fingers into her ponytail. He pulled her close to him, pressing his body against hers as much as he could in the cramped space. He breathed in her scent, a mixture of vanilla and cinnamon, and ran his hands down her back. He pulled away for a second, kissing across her jaw line, down her neck, and across her collarbone, trying to take in as much of her as he could. He felt her shudder as she pulled his face back to hers and pressed her mouth to his once more, tracing his lips lightly with the tip of her tongue.

They kissed for what seemed like forever, both of them not wanting to stop. In his sleep, Harry groaned and clutched Ginny closer to him, reminding them that they were not alone. Hermione sighed and pressed her forehead against Ron's, both of them breathing deeply.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione," he said, looking up into her eyes, still swimming with tears. "I'm so sorry I left you …and Harry. When I came back, I remember thinking I'd do anything to make it up to you…and after what happened at Malfoy's house…" he trailed off, as she shuddered. "I don't want to ever let you out of my sight again. I'd do anything to take that all back," he explained, blushing a deep red.

Hermione smiled, running her slender fingers through his hair. "Ron, you're here now and that's all that matters to me. You don't have any idea how long I've waited and…hoped…that you would wake up and realize how much I see in you, and only you. Harry is like my little brother, Ron, he's always been that way," she said looking at him and brushing a tear away from his cheek.

"I'm kind of like a little brother to you too, you know," he confessed. "You are older than me," he said, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"I don't think I'd kiss my little brother that way," she laughed. "Ron, you don't ever have to worry about being second best, or sixth best, or anything but first in my eyes. You are who you are, and I … I adore you for that. Not for what you've done, or where you've been; what you've seen, or what your grades are, or any thing else that I know I worry about too much. You're everything I've ever wanted in a friend, in a companion…in a man."

Ron looked up at her and pressed his forehead against hers. He felt her wipe another tear off his cheek. He reached up, taking her face gently in his hands, and kissed her tenderly, no longer caring who was in the room with them, awake or not.