A/N- Today is My Birthday!!!! (3/19) I am in a good mood, so I decided to upload the next chapter!!! :o) Thank you to my reviewers for the last chapter! Since I am a lazy person, I have decided to do a big Thank You thing at the end of the last chapter of my story! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I realize that I keep forgetting to put these damn things on so, this stands true for any future chapters I neglect to write this thing for. I don't own Harry Potter and all that crap.
Chapter Four- The Elemental
Oh, my God, Ron thought as he stood looking at the unconscious Hermione lying on the ground before him. He leaned down and looked to see if there was any blood, there was. It was coming from the back of her head, not quickly, but slowly seeping from the base of her skull. Ron's auror training had taught him first aid, both the muggle way and using spells, but he didn't think he would ever have to use them when his best friend slipped on oil at 10 o'clock.
Without moving her, Ron cast a spell to stop the bleeding, even if he couldn't heal the wound until he was sure it was safe to turn her over. He used his wand to detect any other injuries to her, but finding none, he picked her up gently, and disapparated to his apartment.
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When he arrived he walked into his spare bedroom, and laid Hermione on her stomach so he could heal the gash on the back of her head properly. When that was done, he turned her over, removed her shoes, pulled back the covers, slipped her beneath them, and walked into the living room.
He called The Burrow through the fireplace, and when his father's head appeared, he quickly asked to speak with his mother. When she got to the fire, Ron told her what happened.
"Oh my goodness, do you need me to come get you two, or her? Oh, no Ron, are you sure she is perfectly all right? I really should come get her, where are you?"
"Look, Mum, Hermione is fine now, she is unconscious but besides that she is fine. I have her at my flat, and she can stay over here tonight, because I don't want to let her apparate after a knock to the head."
"Are you sure you two will be fine over there by yourselves? Hermione doesn't need anything does she?"
He stared at him mother's frantic face, "No, Mum, we are absolutely fine, I just wanted to let you know she wouldn't be back home tonight. I have to go check on her, Mum, I promise to call if we need anything, or if anything goes wrong, okay?"
His mum sighed heavily, she knew Ron and Hermione were no longer children, but she hated leaving them alone together in Ron's flat. "Yes, alright, dear. Be sure to update me sometime."
"Bye, Mum," Ron's head disappeared.
Hermione sat up and groaned. Her head was pounding, and she was lying in some bed somewhere. The last thing she remembered was slipping on that damn oil and falling, then nothing. She put her palm to her head and gave a loud sigh.
Ron walked through the doorway, a bottle of some purple foamy stuff in one hand, and a mug of tea in the other. "I heard you groan and figured you might need this." He handed her the bottle, which, Hermione now realized, contained a headache cure.
"Thanks," she gulped down the horrid contents, and Ron handed her the tea, and she took a gulp.
"Hey, you don't have any of your stuff, but you are welcome to borrow these to sleep in if you want." He held up a pair of red and white flannel pajama pants, and a big black T-shirt that had "Top Secret" stamped in red across the front. Ron saw Hermione reading the bold lettering, "I don't know where I go this one. Some one most likely gave it to me. I haven't had a chance to do my laundry so unless you would rather sleep in what you are wearing or wear a dirty one, or nothing, it's your only choice." He smiled at her.
"It's absolutely fine, thank you." She smiled back, and reached up to grab the clothes.
"I'll leave you to change then," and he left.
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Hermione got changed, the pants were slightly big, but they had a drawstring waist, so that was easily fixed, even if they were a bit long. The "Top Secret" shirt was big as well, but Hermione didn't mind. The one thing that did bother her though, was everything smelled like Ron, and she may go insane from it.
She traipsed through the flat, into the kitchen where Ron was making tea, carrying her oily shoe. "Ron, I don't think that what I stepped in was oil."
Ron turned from the stove a bit confused. "What?"
Hermione held up her shoe. The bottom was covered in what appeared to be oil, but it had a green tint to it, and there was a faint green mist raising off the top. Ron came over to take a closer look and his face fell. He grabbed her shoe, and placed it into the freezer.
"Ron, what did you do that for?" she was staring at him as though he had gone mad.
"Look, go and sit on the couch, when the tea's done I'll bring it in, and explain." He turned back to the stove and hurried the heating process along a bit with his wand.
Hermione took a seat on the loveseat-sized couch in Ron's tiny living room. Soon he came and joined her with two steaming mugs of tea. They were sitting rather close because of the couch's size, but Hermione didn't mind and by the looks of things, Ron didn't either.
He turned his body so that one leg was half under him and the other was hanging over the edge of the couch. He was leaning against the armrest, and was situated so that he was facing Hermione. She also moved into a similar position, only with both legs on the couch.
Now Ron spoke. "Hermione, have you ever heard of an elemental?"
"Yes, of course! There aren't very many of them anymore, and they are very powerful, the Ministry is supposed to keep close tabs on them."
"Yes, but do you know what happens when an elemental uses very powerful magic?"
"No, I don't," Hermione look disappointed in herself. She had always prided herself on knowing things like that.
"Hermione, I didn't expect you to," he added quickly at the look of disappointment on her face. "The only reason I have any clue is because of that damn auror training I went through. We had to learn about every type of dark magic sign. Now, I am no expert on this, but I do know that there was some elemental doing some dark things tonight."
"How do you know?"
"Herm, when an elemental uses dark magic, that type of oil stuff appears at the scene. It can't be cleaned up, but what happens is when the temperature reaches 70º the stuff starts to evaporate. There is no way to tell who specifically did the magic, but they can tell what type of elemental. Yours was an Earth Elemental, you can tell by the green tinge and the green steam. Water is slightly blue, Fire is red, and Air is a whitish-gray."
"I thought an elemental couldn't do dark magic."
"They can't. But what they can do is a spell that hurts the element they get their magic from. The Earth one we came across probably did something to those flowers."
"They were blooming, he couldn't have done anything. Unless" Hermione had a brainwave and you could almost see the light bulb appear above her head. "Unless the person made the flowers bloom at night, which would throw off their sleeping pattern, if you will. That you make them bloom at night, and close during the day, eventually killing the plant!"
"Bright one you are!" Ron smiled at her, "Why anyone would want to do that, I have no idea! In the morning though we will have to have a ministry auror come look at the stuff, they need to know if something is going wrong."
"I have one last question," Ron looked at her. "It's not about the elemental, it's about what happened there tonight. Ron, what happened to me? The last thing I remember is hitting the ground, then nothing."
"You passed out. You fell on a rock, it hit the back of your head, made a pretty nasty gash. That's why you're here instead of at Mum's. I didn't want to let you apparate over there until I knew you were ok. You should wait until morning though, I don't think you should risk it. You can use the extra bedroom."
"Where did I get hit?"
Ron reached around the back of her head, and felt the base of her skull, until he found the spot where the cut had been. "Right here," he whispered in her ear, rubbing the spot gently, his touch making Hermione's skin tingle madly. Her breathing slowed.
"How can it be completely gone?" she murmured into his ear, and it was Ron's turn to shiver.
He didn't let go of her, and was still rubbing the spot where the blood had oozed from her skull not long before. "I healed it for you before you lost too much blood. You think that I would let some quack mediwizard heal that for you? They would keep you at St. Mungo's for a week for that tiny little nick."
He was still whispering, even though he had stopped rubbing, and still had his arm around her, his hand resting on her neck. "You made it sound a lot worse than a little nick.'" She breathed into his ear and accidentally let him know what he was doing to her.
He smiled, since Hermione couldn't see, and replied, "It was pretty bad, yes. But not bad enough to keep you there for a week. Believe me, in college, I got an injury much like yours, the school sent me there to be checked out, and they insisted on keeping me."
"Thank you, Ron," she whispered trying to gain control of herself. His breathing had stirred the hair that had fallen around her ears, and it tickled insanely, but also drove her crazy. They sat this way for a while more, before Ron pulled back a bit, not letting her go, but enough so her could see her face.
"We need to talk, Herm," his face was somber.
"About what?"
"About what happened between us."
Hermione shifted uncomfortably trying to get out of his grasp. "Oh, no, I won't let you leave. We need to talk about what happened, because we need to get over it, and I can't stand you avoiding me."
"If I were avoiding you, I wouldn't be here right now, and definitely not in the position I am in."
"But, if I tried to kiss you, I bet you would push me away." He looked in her eyes, and she saw there something she had never seen before.
Hermione didn't say anything, so he slowly leaned forward and pressed his lips softly to hers. When he pulled away a few seconds later, Hermione turned her head from his and stared at the beige carpeting. Her mind was spinning from just that few seconds of contact, and she wondered what would happen to her if the kiss had continued.
"See, I told you would do that. Hermione look at me." She turned her head, not completely, but enough so she could see him again. It wasn't enough to satisfy Ron though, and he placed his hand gently under her chin, and continued to turn her face until she was looking him in the eye. "Why are you scared of me?"
"I am not scared of you, Ron." Her voice trembled, she really didn't want to talk about what happened.
"Then why are you avoiding me?"
"I told you, Ron, I am not avoiding you!" she was getting angrier now and Ron was very aware of it, however, he stood his ground.
"Then how come you turned your head when I kissed you, hmm? Because I know you wanted me to, Herm, don't deny that." He looked into her eyes once more, and she tried her bast to look away but his gaze kept drawing her back.
"You're right, I did want it, ever since I was seventeen. When I told you, you pushed me away. You told me that we were too young to be in love, that we had no idea what love meant. You said that I was stupid and foolish and couldn't really know if what I felt was real or not. You told me that real love is something most people never find, and that we weren't ready for a relationship. I told you I loved you, and you essentially told me to get lost. So, I am so sorry, if I don't fall into your arms Ronald Weasley, but some memories never leave you, as well as some feelings." She pulled away from Ron, and jumped of the couch, she started running to the room she was supposed to stay in.
Ron let her go, he didn't want to push her any more tonight.
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Hermione got into her bedroom and shut the door. She tried to go to sleep, but could not get Ron out of her mind. His scent was all around her, from the clothes she was wearing to the sheets that were on the bed. Eventually though she must have drifted off because the next thing she remembered, was that morning had come at last.
She walked out into the kitchen to find yet another pot of tea on the muggle stove. She poured herself a cup and walked into the living room where they had had their fight the night before. There she found Ron sitting on the couch, the same place he had been the night before, staring fixedly at the empty fireplace.
"Good morning," Hermione said softly behind him. He jumped.
"Hey, I didn't know you were up." He didn't look at her, just kept his gaze on that fireplace.
"What's the plan for today?" Hermione didn't know how to start the conversation, it was obvious that they were both uncomfortable about the night before, and Hermione knew that they would have to talk about it before she left tonight, or she would never be happy with herself.
"The Ad Agency called. Said they liked the ads we turned in yesterday and we don't need to do anymore. I contacted the Ministry, and they are having someone come over around 11:30 to look at your shoe." He was still looking at that fireplace. Hermione wasn't sure what was so fascinating about it. She went and sat next to him on the floor. He didn't move.
"Ron, what's wrong?" Dumb question, Hermione thought immediately after the fact. He still didn't look at her. "Ron?"
"My friend," Ron started, "was going to tell this girl he loved her. But before he could even get the words out, she told him, she wasn't interested. So he sat in bed thinking about all the advice his brothers and his mother had given him about this girl. They all thought the two of them would be perfect together, that they would be happy. My friend knew that he had let her leave him once, and didn't want to do it again, but there was no point if his feelings weren't returned. So he got up at 6, and sat one the floor thinking, never coming up with an answer." When he had finished this tale, Hermione was more sure then when it was started, that he was talking about himself.
"And did this friend try talking to this girl about it. What had happened before, and what she had done to his heart, or what he may have done to hers?" She looked at him, but he was still transfixed by the fireplace.
"He tried, but never got past hearing a retelling of what he had inadvertently done to her, before she stormed from the room."
"What had he done?"
"When she told him a long time before about her feelings for him, he told her that he thought they were too young to believe in love. He told her that he thought they couldn't know what love meant."
"If that was the way he feels, then what changed his mind?"
"He realized that he never meant any of those things he said. He realized that he only said it because he was frightened. His best friend comes up and tell him she is in love with him, he didn't know how to react to it. Now, years later, the biggest mistake he has ever made, comes back to haunt him."
"And what do you think your friend should do?"
He was still gazing at the fireplace. "I thinkI think that he should go up to this girl before she can walk out of his life again, and tell her what he feels for her, show her what he feels for her."
"How do you know this would work for him?"
"I don't know. He would have to hope, that since it happened so long ago, she would be able to forget it. Let bygones be bygones, and start over."
"Would you care to test your theory?"
Now, Ron looked at her directly in the eyes and said, "Hermione, I'm sorry. I was scared when I said what I did, and I didn't know how to react. Last night
, I wanted to talk to you about it, and before I could say a thing about what I was feeling, you had told me you didn't want anything to do with me, and stormed off to your room." His voice was shaking, and Hermione felt tears come to her eyes.
"If you were confused, why didn't you say that when I told you how I felt? Why didn't you say you wanted some time to figure things out?"
"Because I was seventeen! A seventeen-year-old guy never tells anyone, except their best mate, what they are really feeling! A seventeen –year-old, doesn't know what to say when they find out their other best friend is in love with them. I still don't think I know what to say, but I have to try before I let you leave again!"
The tears in Hermione's eyes had finally over flowed, and she cried into Ron's shirt as she had done at the burrow, still whispering about being sorry, this time for a different reason. Again, Ron wrapped comforting arms around her, whispering words of comfort as best he could. "I forgive you, Ron. Just give me some time, I'll let you know when I'm ready."
"Sure, whenever your ready, Hermione, let me know, I'm here."
Hermione then looked up at him, their gazes locked and Hermione found she had trouble breathing. She leaned forward and kissed him tentatively, and not for long. She pulled back, not wishing to make him think she was ready, he knew though. Ron understood it was one of those I-love-you-but-give-me-time kisses. As they gazed into each other's eyes, happy that they had reached some kind of agreement over their problem, there was a knock at the door.
A/N- I am not sure if I am happy with this chapter, so review and let me know if I should leave it as is, of do it overmore fluffless and save it for later at a more fitting time? Let me know! P.-)