A/N: Responses to Reviews follow the chapter.
JK owns HP etc etc…
Chapter 11 – The Truth, Finally
"Hey," Hermione said as she stepped out onto the Astronomy tower.
Ron stopped pacing and smiled nervously as she walked towards him. She returned his smile when she stopped in front of him.
"Um, so what did you want to do?" she questioned noticing the little candles floating above them. She breathed in the night air and recognized the familiar vanilla scent wafting in the air.
Ron noticed her looking at the candles, "Vanilla candles, I know they're you're favorite," he said before leading her to some cushions on the floor.
Hermione sat down and hugged her legs close to her body. Ron noticed her shiver and he took of his outer robes and placed it around her shoulders.
"Ron, don't be silly. You'll freeze to death."
Ron couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of her words.
"I'm fine, I'm feeling a bit warm actually," he said taking a seat beside her.
Hermione noticed Ron nervously strumming his fingers on his knee.
"What's wrong?" she said unable to keep the concern and panic from her voice.
"There's something I have to tell you…but I don't know if I…" Ron paused and turned to look at her, the night breeze loosened some of her curls and he pushed it back behind her ears, "Um, here," he finished unceremoniously placing the necklace in her hands.
"It's beautiful," Hermione gushed before handing it back, "but I can't it must have been expensive."
"Not really, I made it," Ron replied lifting the necklace from her hands and leaning over to place it around her neck.
Hermione felt her skin tingle when Ron touched her neck, he pulled her hair to one side so that he could see what he was doing, and Hermione took another deep breathe, this time smelling Ron's cologne.
"Don't ever take it off okay?" he said sitting back and looking at her uncertainly, "No, wait," he said when he saw Hermione open her mouth to speak.
"Just let me say this and get it over with…"
Hermione heartbeat quickened, 'This is it, he's going to finally tell me how he feels.'
"How many students do you know that are taking Advanced Divination?"
'Or not,' Hermione thought as she looked at Ron confused, "Uh…I don't…"
"There aren't any other students except me…" Ron took a deep breathe before continuing, "Because it's not really a proper subject."
Ron stood up and walked to the ledge unable to look Hermione in the eyes any longer.
"Ron...what do you mean?" Hermione moved to stand next to Ron.
"What Jessica is really teaching me is….well she's training me to be," he turned to see Hermione looking at him expectantly, "t-to be a Seer…not just a normal Seer if there is such a thing, but to follow her footsteps as 'The True Seer'."
Hermione stared at him for the longest time before speaking.
"Don't be ridiculous; Divination and Seers are a bunch of crackpots…don't be taken in by her nonsense Ron!"
Ron almost fell over when he heard Hermione speak. He shook his head in disbelief.
'I knew that Jessica was trouble,' Hermione thought to herself.
"You want proof? Fine…think something," Ron ordered pulling Hermione close to him and looking down into her eyes.
'What? What's gotten into him. His cheeks look all flushed…I should take him to Madame Pomfrey before he comes down with a fever.'
"I don't have a fever," Ron said moving away from Hermione, "I just need you to believe me!"
"Ron…"
'Okay, just play along until you can get him to the hospital.'
"No, don't 'just play along' Hermione!"
"H-how did you…" Hermione sputtered taking a step away from Ron.
"I can read your thoughts."
Hermione gasped, "That's impossible!"
But she stopped when she recounted the events in her head, she did find his behavior peculiar and the fact that he knew certain things like the tea…and what she was thinking about Jessica, though that was pretty obvious.
"Wait," Hermione said when she finally realized why Ginny and Harry have been acting so strangely around her, "How long have you known?"
"Since Christmas day…Jessica was the one who sent me that package."
Hemrione's eyes narrowed and her jaw clenched in anger, "So that story about a childhood friend dying?"
Ron's guilty expression answered her question and she pushed him angrily against the ledge.
"I'm sorry…I had no choice 'Mione-Jane."
"Don't call me that!" Hermione spat back angrily, 'It sounds too much like 'My Jane'."Of course you had a choice! You told Ginny and Harry didn't you?"
"Ginny already knew about it…and Harry well he…"
Hermione cut him off, "So you just all decided to lie to my face then! Am I the last person in the entire school to know about this?"
"No…well my family knows, so does Harry and the teachers and staff at the school…" Ron bit his lip to stop himself from talking when he saw the anger on Hermione's face.
Hermione grabbed the necklace and pulled it off furiousily. She clenched the necklace in her hand before throwing it to the ground.
Ron had to stop himself from screaming when he saw the necklace shatter into little pieces. He simply stared at the little shards in disbelief.
"Do you know how long…"
"SHUT UP!" Hermione shouted, "Just…just leave!" she pointed to the door behind them before turning her back to him.
Ron sighed and walked to the door; he placed a hand on the doorframe and looked at the stairs descending below him.
"There's something else,"
Hermione continued to stare stubbornly in the other direction when she heard Ron speak.
"I love you…and I'm…" Ron scrunched up his face unable to say the words 'die' aloud. He decided instead to leave.
Hermione whirled around in her spot to see Ron's robes disappear down the stairs. She stared at the spot where he had stood before collapsing onto the ground. Her hand touched something cold on the ground, she looked down to see the necklace that she had thrown broken into little pieces. Hermione touched one of the little pieces but pulled her hand back when her finger was cut. Hermione stared in disbelief when she saw the blood trickle down her finger before moving backwards just before the cut on her finger healed.
"What on earth!" Hermione said before looking at the broken necklace.
"Reparo!"
The little shards of the necklace repaired itself returning to the rose shape it was before. Hermione lifted the necklace in her hand before placing it carefully in her pocket.
"Ow!" Ron looked down at his finger and noticed it was bleeding.
'At least the spell is still working,' he thought just as he stepped into the common room.
A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, but writing Chapter 10 Snape/Jessica history really took a lot out of me. I hope to get back to writing normally soon.
Not So Sour Lemons: Thank-you so much, one of the greatest compliments a writer can recieve is that their work is original. Thanks for taking time to leave a note it left a smile on my face for the whole day:)
