"Miss Granger, could I see you in my office?" Professor McGonagal asked me one day after a particularly enjoyable transfiguration
lesson. The smile dropped off my mouth as I saw her face.
"What is it?" I asked nervously. "Did I do something wrong?" I asked again. The look on her face I couldn't quite read, but she shook
her head.
"No." she said, heading briskly towards her office. Oh, I am in so much trouble...
As we went to her office, we passed Harry and Ron. "What's going on?" Harry mouthed. I shrugged, probably
looking as confused as I was.
"I'm not sure," I mouthed back. Ron looked confused.
"Er- Professor McGonagal?" he asked. She stopped briefly to acknoledge him.
"Yes, Mr. Weasley? I'm in a bit of a hurry here," she said impatiently. Ron looked slightly nervous.
"Well, you see, the thing is... if Hermione is in trouble, Harry and I probably should be too," he finnished bravely.
"Miss Granger is not in trouble." she answered with a hint of a tiny smile. Harry and I looked at eachother,
shocked. It was a very un-Ron like thing to do. "Come along, Hermione." she said heavily. I followed her into the
room and she closed the door behind us. I could see Harry and Ron's profiles pressed against the keyhole in
the door, and had to feel a little less nervous.
"Please, sit down," she said. I did. Before she herself could be seated, I began to ask her questions.
"What's going on?" I asked nervously. Professor McGonagal sighed, looking extremely regretful and upset. It
was nervewracking, waiting those few moments before she answered. She sighed again, before starting.
"Hermione... your parents were in an accident," she said gently. My stomach twisted horribly.
"Are... are they alright?" I asked shakily. Professor McGonagal looked away, as if she didn't want to to continue.
"They were killed," she said, her voice breaking as she finnished. I sat there, disbelieving. Tears welled in my
eyes, but I didn't believe her. I tried to say something, but nothing came out. The next thing I knew, she was
hugging me tightly.
"What kind of accident?" I asked shakily. She pulled away from me looking at me uncertainly.
"Plane crash." she answered. An image flashed through my mind, but I closed my eyes tightly to make it go
away. "You're taking this a little too well..." she said.
"I..." I started to say something, but was interupted when it hit me- my parents were dead. Killed. In a plane
crash. Suddenly, I wanted to be out of that stupid, tiny, cramped room.... I wanted to get away from Professor
McGonagal, and her sympathies. I needed something,... I needed a wide, open space... I wasn't sure why I
suddenly felt so trapped, or why I needed to get out of that room, but I knew I had to... I jumped out of the chair
and flung the door open, knocking Harry and Ron onto the floor, and ran for the entrance door.Sobbing, I pulled
it open and ran out into the wintery snowscape. Not noticing the cold, I ran blindly until I tripped over a rock and
landed in a particularly deep snow drift. I lie there, crying bitterly, for minutes until I heard soft footsteps coming
close.
"Hermione?" asked a soft voice. I didn't answer, figuring my sobbing would be enough of an indication that I
was there. Suddenly, Ron's flame-red hair was visible.
"It's freezing out here," he said quietly, holding out a hand and pulling off his cloak. Without thinking, I reached
up to take his hand. Before I realized that I had wanted to stay down, Ron had me upright and wrapped in his
cloak. Tears continued to roll down my face although I willed them to stop. I could see Harry's outline a little way
off. I looked up at Ron finally, and the look on his face told me he knew. A new wave of sobs came over me as I
threw my arms around his neck. Suprisingly, he didn't throw my hands off of him and, on the contrary, he
wrapped his arms around me. Any other time, I would have been embarressed, but now there are more
important things to worry about...
For a few minutes, We stood there, with me crying into his shoulder, and him hugging me and saying that it was
ok. Sure. It was ok for him. Harry came over and I hugged him. After about a minute, we silently agreed to go
back inside, with Harry and Ron at my sides. Both of them had their arms around my shoulders, and I wiped my
tears away angrily, feeling stupid. When we got inside, people were gathering for dinner. They would probably
be making the announcement about my parents soon. I turned to face Harry and Ron.
"I'm going to skip dinner," I said hollowly. Ron nodded, looking understanding.
"I'll stay with you, if that's alright," he said. I nodded. Either way, it won't make any difference to me. Harry
looked at us.
"Should I bring you guys something to eat?" he asked. I shook my head, but Ron nodded quickly, which almost
made me smile. The boy loves food. We parted ways with Harry, and headed for the common room. It was completely
empty when we got there. Ron pulled a small, comfortable looking couch near the fire and motioned for me to sit down.
"Come warm up," he said, grabbing a blanket and waiting for me to sit down. I swear, he suprises me every day. I sat
down, and he sat down next to me. He wrapped the blanket around both of us as I stared at the fire.
"Are you alright?" he asked. I looked at him slowly, before looking back at the fire. Love him or hate him, he can be a little
dense.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked again, but not annoyingly. I flashed back to my image of the fiery plane that contained
my parents and dissolved into tears again. Ron pulled me into a hug, and we stayed like that for about an hour. The dinner
must have been running long. Soon, we could hear heavy footsteps coming to the common room.
"I'm going to bed," I said softly to Ron, who smiled softly at me. "Thank you," I said, hugging him. He smiled again.
"No problem at all," he said, kissing my forehead. I smiled and headed for the girl's dorm room.
**************************
over the next few weeks, I slowly grew accustomed to the fact that my parents were dead. Classes were harder to pay attention in,
but I was given a lot of freedom in that area because of my circumstances. Not that I wanted that freedom. Anyway, I hardly cried after
that night in the common room with Ron. I geuss it was because it was hard to believe. Or maybe I did, because I lost interest in a lot
of things. I lost interest in food, anything besides school work, and my friends. I was listless. It was a strange time for me. Then came
one of the Hogsmeade weekends, which I immediatly decided not to go to. What was the point? Ron and Harry both tried talking me
into it for days, but I wouldn't agree. Finally, Ron decided not to go either. I think it was a plan of his and Harry's to make sure that I
was alright. It was late that friday night, when the older students were at Hogsmeade and the younger students were fast asleep,
that Ron and I met again.
"Hermione?" Ron asked. I looked up from my Arithmancy book.
"Hmm?" I answered.
"I'm just wondering.... how you're doing... dealing with your parents and everything," he said lamely. I looked up again.
"I'm fine," I said easily. Ron closed the book, forcing me to look at him.
"I think that's the problem, Herm. You're too fine. I know if I... if I was going through what you're going through, I'd be crying my eyes
out all the time," he said worriedly. I raised my eyebrow at him.
"Maybe you're weak," I responded harshly. Ron closed his eyes tightly before going on.
"And that, too. You're rude and snippy, and you don't seem to want to do anything but study." I pulled the book out of
his grasp and opened it.
"Unlike you, I like to do well in school," I said icily. Ron kneeled down in front of me.
"Look... Hermione... just... tell me how you feel about it, alright? It'll make me feel better," he said. I glared at him.
"My parents die, and it's up to me to make you feel better?" I asked, before giving in. "Alright, alright. I feel... strange. Like it's not real,
but it is at the same time. Like I'm not sure if it actually happened..." I said. Ron inched closer to me.
"What if I told you it did?" he asked. I turned my head away, and my damn eyes filled with tears again.
"It didn't," I replied sharply, moving away from him. He grabbed my arm.
"It did." he said firmly. I began to struggle, trying to get away from his grasp.
"It didn't, it didn't, it didn't! It DID NOT HAPPEN!" I yelled, acting like a huge tantrum-throwing baby. Ron, being stronger than me,
pinned my arms to the back of the couch.
"Shhhh." he said soothingly as my eyes filled with tears. I layed my forehead against his, tears streaming down my face. He let my
arms go, so I was free to hug him.
"I'm so tired," I breathed after a few minutes.
"I'll help you to my room," he said. It didn't even occur to me that I was going into the boys' dorm, but I geuss that's what happens
when you have other things on your mind. He wrapped an arm around my waist and led me up the twisted stone steps. When we got
into the dark bedroom, he showed me to the third canopy bed from the left. As I got in it, he pulled the covers over me.
"I'll go get you some water," he said. I nodded. As he was gone, I pondered my situation. Why did they have to go now??? I let the
tears roll down my face freely now. When Ron returned, I motioned for him to give me a hug. He set the water down on the bedside
table before crawling over next to me and wrapping his arms around me.
"You'll be okay," he said softly. And that's the way I fell asleep, comfortable and slightly happier then I had been in weeks.
After about an hour, Ron gently shook me awake.
"Hermione, the guys will be back any minute," he said gently but hurriedly. I sat up quickly, focused my vision on him, and then
hopped out of his bed.
"Here, I'll walk you to your dorm," he offered. When we got there, I hugged him quickly.
"Thanks," I said, kissing him quickly on the tip of his nose. Where did that come from? A blush creeped over his neck and my face,
and I grinned weakly before slipping into the dorm.
"Idiot," I muttered, feeling extremely stupid.
The next night was the same situation- older Hogwarts students at Hogsmeade, and younger Hogwarts students asleep. Ron had
volunteered to stay with me again, to my pleasure. We sat in the common room, roasting marshmallows in the fire and joking easily.
We got into a marshmallow fight, wiping the sweet gooey blobs on eachother.
"I must look a sight for sore eyes," I joked, but Ron looked seriously at me. He wiped a huge wad of marshmallow off my cheek
and ate it.
"Of course you do," he said. I looked down.
"Oh, no I don't. I'm quite odd-looking," I said, but Ron shook his head violently.
"No, no you aren't! And don't say what your parents loved so much is odd-looking." he said. I looked up at him, and saw him
staring at me. I blushed.
"But I am," I said quietly. Ron brought my chin up so I was staring straight into his eyes.
"Your parents love you and think you're beautiful," he whispered."And so do I," he blushed furiously. I looked away, trying
to find a joke to come back with.
"Love me or think I'm beautiful?" I joked weakly, but it was more serious than I had thought. Ron looked me straight in
the eyes, and I swear I could see straight into his soul.
"Both," he said. It was then that I realized how much Ron meant to me, and apparently how much I meant to him. Slowly,
we both leaned in until our lips met, and we kissed for the very first time. It was amazing, how something on the outside
so unimportant, could mean so much. And I guess that when I lost my parents, I gained Ron...
lesson. The smile dropped off my mouth as I saw her face.
"What is it?" I asked nervously. "Did I do something wrong?" I asked again. The look on her face I couldn't quite read, but she shook
her head.
"No." she said, heading briskly towards her office. Oh, I am in so much trouble...
As we went to her office, we passed Harry and Ron. "What's going on?" Harry mouthed. I shrugged, probably
looking as confused as I was.
"I'm not sure," I mouthed back. Ron looked confused.
"Er- Professor McGonagal?" he asked. She stopped briefly to acknoledge him.
"Yes, Mr. Weasley? I'm in a bit of a hurry here," she said impatiently. Ron looked slightly nervous.
"Well, you see, the thing is... if Hermione is in trouble, Harry and I probably should be too," he finnished bravely.
"Miss Granger is not in trouble." she answered with a hint of a tiny smile. Harry and I looked at eachother,
shocked. It was a very un-Ron like thing to do. "Come along, Hermione." she said heavily. I followed her into the
room and she closed the door behind us. I could see Harry and Ron's profiles pressed against the keyhole in
the door, and had to feel a little less nervous.
"Please, sit down," she said. I did. Before she herself could be seated, I began to ask her questions.
"What's going on?" I asked nervously. Professor McGonagal sighed, looking extremely regretful and upset. It
was nervewracking, waiting those few moments before she answered. She sighed again, before starting.
"Hermione... your parents were in an accident," she said gently. My stomach twisted horribly.
"Are... are they alright?" I asked shakily. Professor McGonagal looked away, as if she didn't want to to continue.
"They were killed," she said, her voice breaking as she finnished. I sat there, disbelieving. Tears welled in my
eyes, but I didn't believe her. I tried to say something, but nothing came out. The next thing I knew, she was
hugging me tightly.
"What kind of accident?" I asked shakily. She pulled away from me looking at me uncertainly.
"Plane crash." she answered. An image flashed through my mind, but I closed my eyes tightly to make it go
away. "You're taking this a little too well..." she said.
"I..." I started to say something, but was interupted when it hit me- my parents were dead. Killed. In a plane
crash. Suddenly, I wanted to be out of that stupid, tiny, cramped room.... I wanted to get away from Professor
McGonagal, and her sympathies. I needed something,... I needed a wide, open space... I wasn't sure why I
suddenly felt so trapped, or why I needed to get out of that room, but I knew I had to... I jumped out of the chair
and flung the door open, knocking Harry and Ron onto the floor, and ran for the entrance door.Sobbing, I pulled
it open and ran out into the wintery snowscape. Not noticing the cold, I ran blindly until I tripped over a rock and
landed in a particularly deep snow drift. I lie there, crying bitterly, for minutes until I heard soft footsteps coming
close.
"Hermione?" asked a soft voice. I didn't answer, figuring my sobbing would be enough of an indication that I
was there. Suddenly, Ron's flame-red hair was visible.
"It's freezing out here," he said quietly, holding out a hand and pulling off his cloak. Without thinking, I reached
up to take his hand. Before I realized that I had wanted to stay down, Ron had me upright and wrapped in his
cloak. Tears continued to roll down my face although I willed them to stop. I could see Harry's outline a little way
off. I looked up at Ron finally, and the look on his face told me he knew. A new wave of sobs came over me as I
threw my arms around his neck. Suprisingly, he didn't throw my hands off of him and, on the contrary, he
wrapped his arms around me. Any other time, I would have been embarressed, but now there are more
important things to worry about...
For a few minutes, We stood there, with me crying into his shoulder, and him hugging me and saying that it was
ok. Sure. It was ok for him. Harry came over and I hugged him. After about a minute, we silently agreed to go
back inside, with Harry and Ron at my sides. Both of them had their arms around my shoulders, and I wiped my
tears away angrily, feeling stupid. When we got inside, people were gathering for dinner. They would probably
be making the announcement about my parents soon. I turned to face Harry and Ron.
"I'm going to skip dinner," I said hollowly. Ron nodded, looking understanding.
"I'll stay with you, if that's alright," he said. I nodded. Either way, it won't make any difference to me. Harry
looked at us.
"Should I bring you guys something to eat?" he asked. I shook my head, but Ron nodded quickly, which almost
made me smile. The boy loves food. We parted ways with Harry, and headed for the common room. It was completely
empty when we got there. Ron pulled a small, comfortable looking couch near the fire and motioned for me to sit down.
"Come warm up," he said, grabbing a blanket and waiting for me to sit down. I swear, he suprises me every day. I sat
down, and he sat down next to me. He wrapped the blanket around both of us as I stared at the fire.
"Are you alright?" he asked. I looked at him slowly, before looking back at the fire. Love him or hate him, he can be a little
dense.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked again, but not annoyingly. I flashed back to my image of the fiery plane that contained
my parents and dissolved into tears again. Ron pulled me into a hug, and we stayed like that for about an hour. The dinner
must have been running long. Soon, we could hear heavy footsteps coming to the common room.
"I'm going to bed," I said softly to Ron, who smiled softly at me. "Thank you," I said, hugging him. He smiled again.
"No problem at all," he said, kissing my forehead. I smiled and headed for the girl's dorm room.
**************************
over the next few weeks, I slowly grew accustomed to the fact that my parents were dead. Classes were harder to pay attention in,
but I was given a lot of freedom in that area because of my circumstances. Not that I wanted that freedom. Anyway, I hardly cried after
that night in the common room with Ron. I geuss it was because it was hard to believe. Or maybe I did, because I lost interest in a lot
of things. I lost interest in food, anything besides school work, and my friends. I was listless. It was a strange time for me. Then came
one of the Hogsmeade weekends, which I immediatly decided not to go to. What was the point? Ron and Harry both tried talking me
into it for days, but I wouldn't agree. Finally, Ron decided not to go either. I think it was a plan of his and Harry's to make sure that I
was alright. It was late that friday night, when the older students were at Hogsmeade and the younger students were fast asleep,
that Ron and I met again.
"Hermione?" Ron asked. I looked up from my Arithmancy book.
"Hmm?" I answered.
"I'm just wondering.... how you're doing... dealing with your parents and everything," he said lamely. I looked up again.
"I'm fine," I said easily. Ron closed the book, forcing me to look at him.
"I think that's the problem, Herm. You're too fine. I know if I... if I was going through what you're going through, I'd be crying my eyes
out all the time," he said worriedly. I raised my eyebrow at him.
"Maybe you're weak," I responded harshly. Ron closed his eyes tightly before going on.
"And that, too. You're rude and snippy, and you don't seem to want to do anything but study." I pulled the book out of
his grasp and opened it.
"Unlike you, I like to do well in school," I said icily. Ron kneeled down in front of me.
"Look... Hermione... just... tell me how you feel about it, alright? It'll make me feel better," he said. I glared at him.
"My parents die, and it's up to me to make you feel better?" I asked, before giving in. "Alright, alright. I feel... strange. Like it's not real,
but it is at the same time. Like I'm not sure if it actually happened..." I said. Ron inched closer to me.
"What if I told you it did?" he asked. I turned my head away, and my damn eyes filled with tears again.
"It didn't," I replied sharply, moving away from him. He grabbed my arm.
"It did." he said firmly. I began to struggle, trying to get away from his grasp.
"It didn't, it didn't, it didn't! It DID NOT HAPPEN!" I yelled, acting like a huge tantrum-throwing baby. Ron, being stronger than me,
pinned my arms to the back of the couch.
"Shhhh." he said soothingly as my eyes filled with tears. I layed my forehead against his, tears streaming down my face. He let my
arms go, so I was free to hug him.
"I'm so tired," I breathed after a few minutes.
"I'll help you to my room," he said. It didn't even occur to me that I was going into the boys' dorm, but I geuss that's what happens
when you have other things on your mind. He wrapped an arm around my waist and led me up the twisted stone steps. When we got
into the dark bedroom, he showed me to the third canopy bed from the left. As I got in it, he pulled the covers over me.
"I'll go get you some water," he said. I nodded. As he was gone, I pondered my situation. Why did they have to go now??? I let the
tears roll down my face freely now. When Ron returned, I motioned for him to give me a hug. He set the water down on the bedside
table before crawling over next to me and wrapping his arms around me.
"You'll be okay," he said softly. And that's the way I fell asleep, comfortable and slightly happier then I had been in weeks.
After about an hour, Ron gently shook me awake.
"Hermione, the guys will be back any minute," he said gently but hurriedly. I sat up quickly, focused my vision on him, and then
hopped out of his bed.
"Here, I'll walk you to your dorm," he offered. When we got there, I hugged him quickly.
"Thanks," I said, kissing him quickly on the tip of his nose. Where did that come from? A blush creeped over his neck and my face,
and I grinned weakly before slipping into the dorm.
"Idiot," I muttered, feeling extremely stupid.
The next night was the same situation- older Hogwarts students at Hogsmeade, and younger Hogwarts students asleep. Ron had
volunteered to stay with me again, to my pleasure. We sat in the common room, roasting marshmallows in the fire and joking easily.
We got into a marshmallow fight, wiping the sweet gooey blobs on eachother.
"I must look a sight for sore eyes," I joked, but Ron looked seriously at me. He wiped a huge wad of marshmallow off my cheek
and ate it.
"Of course you do," he said. I looked down.
"Oh, no I don't. I'm quite odd-looking," I said, but Ron shook his head violently.
"No, no you aren't! And don't say what your parents loved so much is odd-looking." he said. I looked up at him, and saw him
staring at me. I blushed.
"But I am," I said quietly. Ron brought my chin up so I was staring straight into his eyes.
"Your parents love you and think you're beautiful," he whispered."And so do I," he blushed furiously. I looked away, trying
to find a joke to come back with.
"Love me or think I'm beautiful?" I joked weakly, but it was more serious than I had thought. Ron looked me straight in
the eyes, and I swear I could see straight into his soul.
"Both," he said. It was then that I realized how much Ron meant to me, and apparently how much I meant to him. Slowly,
we both leaned in until our lips met, and we kissed for the very first time. It was amazing, how something on the outside
so unimportant, could mean so much. And I guess that when I lost my parents, I gained Ron...