And here we goooo….
Hermione stood up and left her book on the couch as she turned and started walking towards the door. She could feel her heart beating faster as she could feel Ron catching up to her from the other side of the couch. They reached the door and exited at the same time. They both kept walking in silence until they reached a large empty hall, they could hear noise coming from the various rooms along it, but they had some privacy.
Ron was the first to speak. Calling on the last ounces of courage he had left in his body. He stopped dead in his tracks. "Why did you choose him?" he blurted out. He had been thinking about it for months and frankly regretted that this was the way the conversation had to start but it was the one thing he couldn't come up with an excuse for in his own head. He needed to know the answer.
Hermione heard the words and froze as well. She turned to face Ron.
"What?" she trembled. She couldn't believe that this is what he wanted to talk about, she was taken a back and didn't know how to respond.
Ron shifted his weight, he knew she heard him. "Oh come on, you're a smart girl 'Mione, don't play dumb with me. Why did you choose him?!" he said with a little more anger in his voice than he intended but couldn't take it back now.
"I didn't choose anything, Ron. It's not like there were options to 'choose' from!" she retorted. The anger crept in her voice as well, she didn't do well with people yelling at her. Especially Ron and especially about her love life, she all of sudden felt the need to defend her relationship with Harry even though all she wanted was to be with Ron.
"I don't believe you" he stared at her cooly.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me Hermione, why can't you just give me a straight answer. You chose him, you're with him. There has always been another option the whole time, you've just ignored it!" This wasn't going exactly how he wanted it to, but it felt good to get finally get some things out in the open.
"You have no idea what you're talking about." Hermione shot back, if the other option he was referring to was him he sure did a hell of a job of showing it.
Ron groaned "Care to enlighten men?" he looked past her.
Hermione sighed. "I didn't know this is what you wanted to talk about" she crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall staring at the ground she felt defeated. She wasn't prepared for this conversation at all, she thought she was but she was obviously lying to herself.
"What else would I want to talk about?" Ron asked confused and a little but angry.
"I don't know. Us!?" she answered back searching his eyes for something, anything.
Ron gasped aloud. "Us!? There is no us! You're with Harry, there can't be an Us. Remember!" Ron shouted. He saw the hurt in Hermione's eyes and immediately wished he could take the words back, but knew someone had to say it. "We kissed! And YOU pulled away, not me." He yelled while pointing fingers at the both of them.
"Ron stop it! You're just saying this to hurt me. Just Stop!" She came off the wall and stood just feet in front of him.
"I'm not trying to hurt you Hermione. Trust me you're the one who is killing me!" Ron had lost all conscious thought and was responding on pure emotion at this point.
Hermione opened her mouth to say something but no words escaped, so Ron continued.
"You don't know the type of pain I've had to deal with! Do you think it is easy to see you with Harry, to see you two kiss! " he frantically ran his hands through his shaggy hair trying to release some aggression without yelling anything else he would undoubtedly regret.
Hermione heard the words that were coming out of Ron's mouth but didn't want to. She didn't want to hear about the pain she had caused him, she had always wondered how he felt about the whole situation but didn't think it would be like that.
Ron had calmed down enough to ask her yet again "Why him?" his voice started to break.
Hermione had remained silent long enough, she listened to him yell, listened to him blame her for his pain. And while she felt bad she wasn't the only guilty one standing in this hallway. "How come I had to be the one to choose?" she paused. "Why couldn't you choose!? Why didn't YOU choose ME!?" she yelled as the tears welled up.
Ron looked at her shocked. Any thought that was in the back of his mind about Hermione sharing the feelings he had for her had always just been a thought. Now Hermione was standing in front of him asking him why it was her fault. She was right. He should have made his feelings known, but he didn't. Instead he just stood and watched slip away and then preceeded to throw himself pity parties.
"You're right. I…I'm sorry" They were the quietest words he'd spoken.
Hermione wiped a tear from her eye and Ron had to use all of his strength to not pull her close and comfort her, now was not the time.
Hermione looked away from Ron. "I broke up with him." She stated.
"What?" He snapped out of his thoughts.
"I wrote him a letter… after we…" she sighed and faced him "after we kissed".
Ron just looked at her. "I pulled away earlier because I couldn't do that to Harry. Not because I want to be with him Ron. You should know that by now. And I didn't want to end it in a letter either, but I did. I did because I want to be with you, not Harry. Why can't you see that?" She was shaking now and the tears were threatening to flow freely if Ron didn't say something quick.
Ron couldn't believe what he was hearing, she just said the exact words he had wanted her to say to him for years and he couldn't find the words to express how it made him feel.
It took him two quick strides to close the gap between them and cup her face with his hands, he pulled he to him and looked her in the eyes, hoping that his eyes would say all he wanted her to know. It was only a few seconds of silence before Ron brought his lips down to Hermione's for the second time that day only this time no one was going to be pulling away. It was the only thing he could think to do at the moment, it was the only thing he wanted.
This kiss wasn't like their first kiss which was soft and hesitant, this kiss was gentle but passionate. One of his hands moved to rest on Hermione's hip while the other cupped her face. Hermione could feel the tears flowing down her cheeks as she kissed him back. She reached up on her top-toes as her hands hugged his sides softly. Ron leaned them against the nearest wall and used his tongue to part her lips. She of course granted him access and the two continued like that for what seemed like hours but it was mere seconds.
Ron sucked lightly on Hermione's bottom lip before finally breaking the kiss to catch their breath. Ron stood up straight and brought the hand from her hip up to join his other hand in cupping her face again. Hermione's eyes were still closed as Ron wiped the remaining tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. He placed a single kiss on her forehead.
"Hermione" he whispered.
Hermione opened her eyes to see Ron's bright blue ones looking into hers. She didn't know what this meant for them but she knew for a fact there was nowhere in the world that she would rather have been than standing there in Ron's arms at that exact moment.
"This is me" he placed a kiss on her lips before speaking again "choosing you" he kissed her again and lingered there for a moment before pulling away.
Hermione smiled. "About time". And a new set of tears formed, but this time they weren't tears of sadness.
Told you I would update soon, more to come over the weekend. I get more inspired with more reviews… hint hint. Haha just joking, kinda. Hope you liked it.