Disclaimer: Harry Potter, etc, are the intellectual property of JKR; no infringement is intended.
Chapter 5
He's gone completely starkers! Hermione thought in horror as the sound of Ron's voice reached her window, and every window in the neighbourhood, she realised from the subsequent uprising of angry cursing that reached her even though her window was properly latched shut. Ron was singing a Muggle song; Hermione didn't know which one, and did not for the life of her know where Ron had heard a Muggle song let alone listened to it enough times that he knew it by heart but she decided to disregard this and listened to the lyrics that Ron was belting-out in a really, really, off-key voice.
"This year's love it better last; heaven knows it's high time, and I've been waiting on my own too long. When you hold me like you do, it feels so right. I start to forget how my heart gets torn, when that hurt gets thrown, feeling like you can't go on." Wow, that probably sounds nothing like the original, Hermione thought, referring to Ron's falsetto, although her heart couldn't help but skip a beat at the gesture. She risked a bigger peek out the window, no longer caring whether or not she was seen; Ron had already let her know that he knew her to be up there, anyway. Ron's arms were extended on either sides of his body, and his head was thrown back as he belted out the song…horribly off-key. He looked absolutely beautiful, in an odd way, with his clothes clinging to him, and his hair plastered to his face as the rain soaked through him. Hermione smiled, a warmth spreading over her chest, but quickly came to her senses as her neighbours began to make an even louder ruckus over the seemingly crazy man outside.
"What am I doing?" she scolded herself. Here she was grinning stupidly just because the boy she was madly in love with was making a complete fool of himself and she thought that it was the sweetest thing he'd ever done…well aside from belching slugs for an entire afternoon when they were younger; You have a sick, sick sense of romance, Hermione, and she grinned even more widely while Ron, who was on the second verse of the song by now kept his act going below.
"--If you love me got to know for sure, 'cause it takes something more this time than sweet, sweet lies before I open up my arms and fall, losing all control--" Hermione snorted. He'd already lost it. She took one last lingering look at the man below before shrinking against the wall and taking a deep breath, pressing her hands to her cheeks in a vain attempt to cool them, and ordering her wildly beating heart to calm down. What should she do now? I'm still mad at him! She tried to convince herself, though a smile kept tugging at her lips even though she was trying her damnedest to suppress it.
Hermione hesitated for only a second before running out of her flat, ignoring the fact that she was barefoot and was wearing the same rumpled clothes she'd fallen asleep in. As she took the stairs down four flights--it would be quicker than to wait for the lift--she didn't think about much of anything except how she would strangle Ron. It was just like him to do something like this. Every time she was angry with him he had to go do something so incredibly sweet--albeit incredibly embarrassing--to make her forget all about the reasons why she'd been angry in the first place. Her bare feet practically flew down the steps and she finally made it outside, the rain pouring over her although she didn't notice. She stood there, letting the rain wash over her as she scanned the side of the building for Ron, and scowled at him as best she could. As Ron saw her, he smiled and continued singing, only this time looking directly into her eyes as he walked towards her.
"Won't you kiss me on this midnight street, sweep me off my feet, singing ain't this life so sweet--" he came to stand directly in front of her as he sang more of the song. Hermione, now aware at all the eyes frozen on the two of them, placed her hand over his mouth, trying to muffle the words.
"Are you out of your bloody mind? Have gone completely bonkers!?" she asked, screaming. She loved him, but it was the principle of the matter that counted, and Hermione couldn't deny the fact that before he'd come here, despite the heartbreak she had suffered, she had been rather angry with him.
"Hullo, Hermione," he replied, although the words were grossly deformed as her hand was still over his mouth. He was smiling, though; she could tell by the way his eyes were glowing. Look away, do not look into his eyes was Hermione's mantra as she focused on a spot on Ron's forehead, taking a deep breath before continuing.
"Well I'm glad you think this is funny," she started, "of all the things you've done, Ronald Weasley, this is by far the worst, the most embarrassing thing I have ever had to live through. You are the most insufferable man I have ever met, and if you think that for one second you can walk over here, throw a few words around and make things alright again, you are sadly mistaken." Hermione took another shaky breath, and removed her hand from Ron's mouth…this was usually the part where Ron started yelling back at her.
"Are you finished?" he asked instead, his voice calm and hints of a smile playing across his lips. Hermione continually had to remind herself that she was angry.
"No I'm bloody well not, I--" She was cut off when Ron kissed her. It was nothing extraordinary, just the very sterile placement of his lips on hers for a few seconds…enough to make her shut up, Ron had told himself. It had worked, though; Hermione was looking at him completely dumbstruck, her eyes wide as saucers.
"I think you are," he replied, but groaned inwardly as Hermione recovered quickly.
"Don't presume to know what I am and am not, Ron. If you must know I am infuriated with you right now. I have spent the entire night wishing I had never met you." There, that's sure to put a damper on his spirits, Hermione conceded, trying not to betray the mad rush of electricity that was coursing through her veins from the kiss Ron had just given her. She couldn't help but frown, however, when instead of reeling at what she had told him, Ron instead burst out laughing as soon as the words had left her mouth.
"Now we both know that's not true," he said, recovering from his outburst. "Look in your hand, Hermione," he told her, still holding back a chuckle. Hermione frowned both in confusion, and aggravation, but did as he'd told her, and audibly groaned. There, in her hand, was his maroon jumper on which she still had a death grip. "I don't think you would be holding on to my jumper like that if you never wanted to see me again, now would you?" Ron asked in a most aggravating tone that made it clear that he knew himself to be right, and her to be wrong. Hermione groaned again.
"Why are you here, Ron?" she asked him in a voice that was meant to sound annoyed and detached, though Hermione had admitted defeat…darn jumper! When Ron didn't answer for a few seconds she looked into his eyes, and her gaze softened finally. She didn't want to fight anymore.
"Because, Hermione, I was scared out of my wits," Ron began. "I spent the night, in Canada no less, trying to figure out how I could spend the rest of my life without you in it. I know I messed up horribly; I know that I don't deserve to have you as a friend and that you've had to deal with my temper for twelve years, but I also know something else, Hermione, and that's that I love you, and I don't mean as a bloody friend either." Ron took a deep breath before continuing. "You are the one thing that keeps me grounded, the one thing that keeps me from doing something horribly stupid – last night excepted, of course—and the thought of losing you, that was enough to make me realise that I'm nothing without you, and that life without you isn't worth living. I--I realise that you love Shawn, and I'm sorry for what I did to him--"
"Ron, I--"Hermione went to interrupt, astounded that after all this time, Ron still had no clue as to her true feelings for him.
"No, please let me finish. I truly am sorry for what I did to Shawn. If you can find happiness with him, then that's all I want for you. More than anything I wish that things were different, that you could see me the way that I see you because then you would know how I feel about you, and how much it hurts to know that I'm never going to be what Shawn is to you; but, the prospect of losing you completely, of not even having you as a friend, that's too much for me. I couldn't bear that, I think I would die if you weren't in my life, Hermione. Please forgive me…for everything," Ron finished, looking at the ground and swallowing the huge lump that had formed in his throat. This was the hardest thing he had ever done. Not only had he told Hermione that he loved her, but he was letting her go as well. The truth was he abhorred the thought of her and Shawn together, but as he'd said, if it meant he had to swallow his pride to keep her in his life, then he would do it. He was surprised when he felt Hermione's hand on his arm, and looked up into her eyes where tears glistened. She was quickly becoming just as wet as he already was, but all Ron could notice was how beautiful she looked in the faint glow of the streetlights and his heart sank at the knowledge that she would never be his.
"You're right, Ron. I'll never feel about you the way I feel about Shawn," she told him, tears brimming in her eyes. Ron looked at the ground again as the gash in his heart was only deepened by her words, but the feel of Hermione's fingers on his cheek, cool against the warmth of the red welt where she'd hit him the night before made him look at her once again. She was…smiling? "I'll never feel about you the way I feel about Shawn because I think that Shawn is a bloody git. I don't give a flying Hippogriff about him, Ron. It's all about you; all this time it has always been about you, but I've just been too dense to figure it out. I love you, and you're right; I didn't spend all night wishing I'd never met you. I spent all night trying to come to terms with never seeing you again, and do you know what I worked out? That I can't. I can't live another minute without having you in my life. I love you so much, I don't know why it took me so long to let myself admit it."
"You mean that?" Ron asked, wondering if he was dreaming. Hermione's hand was still on his cheek and he took it in his own, weaving his fingers with hers.
"With all my heart," she told him, tears now spilling freely down her cheeks.
"Good," he told her, leaning closer until their faces were inches apart, "because there's something I've been meaning to do properly for a long time," he told her, closing the distance between them. The kiss was electrical, charged with all the emotions that they had been fighting for so long, and nothing like the two excuses for a peck they'd shared before. They heard cheers all around them, and broke apart. Surrounding them, people were bent out of their windows clapping and throwing out congratulations at seeing the outcome of the spat. Ron and Hermione laughed openly, Hermione blushing furiously, before giving-in to demand and kissing again as people went back to their business.
"We should go inside," Ron whispered against Hermione's lips a few minutes later.
"Why?" Hermione asked, too content to move.
"Because we're standing in the middle of the street, and because we're both soaked to the bone," he told her, matter-of-factly. Hermione looked up at the sky, as if seeing for the first time that the rain hadn't let-up.
"I hadn't even noticed," she told him honestly, a contented smile playing on her face. Ron took her hand, and they turned to go inside. The sound of someone clearing their throat made them stop, and they turned to their left to see Harry who was grinning like an idiot.
"Well it's about time," he told them in a knowing tone, still smiling.
"How long have you been standing there, and what exactly are you doing here?" Ron asked, his ears turning red in a slight blush even though he'd gotten control of his blushing years ago.
"I came to tell Hermione that Loren sent word to your parents that you had spent the night at her flat and not to worry, but I guess Hermione was too busy doing something else to do much worrying," Harry told them, laughing at the way Hermione's cheeks became redder at having him openly admit that she'd been worrying about Ron. "And, to answer your other question, Ron? Long enough to know that I should be coming in to one hundred galleons very soon. Fred and George will be awfully disappointed; they were off by three days."
"What!?" Hermione and Ron asked at the same time. Harry just laughed, and hugged them both.
"That'll be a story to be told on your wedding day," he told them, "I'll be sure to tell your parents that I found you," he told Ron, shaking his hand and kissing Hermione briefly on the cheek before Disapparating, the wide grin never leaving his face.
Hermione turned to Ron, and gave him a quick kiss. "What was that all about?" she asked, kissing him again. Ron smiled, and kissed her back.
"Who cares," he told her, resting his forehead against hers. "We'd better get upstairs soon, or we'll never make it," he said kissing her again.
"I love you, Ron," Hermione smiled, relishing the way saying those words aloud made her feel.
"I love you too, Hermione," he told her, taking her hand before they both walked inside.
